Anglican Orthodox Church sm
Worldwide Communion
Seventh Sunday after Trinity
July 19, 2026
Sunday Report
Seventh Sunday after Trinty
The propers are special prayers and readings from the Bible. There is a Collect for the Day; that is a single thought prayer, most written either before the re-founding of the Church of England in the 1540’s or written by Bishop Thomas Cranmer, the first Archbishop of Canterbury after the re-founding.
The Collect for the Day is to be read on Sunday and during Morning and Evening Prayer until the next Sunday. The Epistle is normally a reading from one of the various Epistles, or letters, in the New Testament. The Gospel is a reading from one of the Holy Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The Collect is said by the minister as a prayer, the Epistle can be read by either a designated reader (as we do in our church) or by one of the ministers and the Holy Gospel, which during the service in our church is read by an ordained minister.
The propers are the same each year, except if a Red-Letter Feast, that is one with propers in the prayerbook, falls on a Sunday, then those propers are to be read instead, except in a White Season, where it is put off. Red Letter Feasts, so called because in the Altar Prayerbooks the titles are in red, are special days. Most of the Red-Letter Feasts are dedicated to early saint’s instrumental in the development of the church, others to special events. Some days are particularly special and the Collect for that day is to be used for an octave (eight days) or an entire season, like Advent or Lent. The Propers for today are found in the Book of Common Prayer page 198-199.
The Collect for the Seventh Sunday after Trinity.
LORD of all power and might, who art the author and giver of all good things; Graft in our hearts the love of thy Name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and of thy great mercy keep us in the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Epistle for Seventh Sunday after Trinity. Romans vi. 19.
I SPEAK after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord
The Gospel for Seventh Sunday after Trinity. St. Mark. Viii. 1.
IN those days the multitude being very great, and having nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples unto him, and saith unto them, I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat: and if I send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way: for divers of them came from far. And his disciples answered him, From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness? And he asked them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven. And he commanded the people to sit down on the ground: and he took the seven loaves, and gave thanks, and brake, and gave to his disciples to set before them; and they did set them before the people. And they had a few small fishes: and he blessed, and commanded to set them also before them. So they did eat, and were filled: and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets. And they that had eaten were about four thousand: and he sent them away.
On Point:
The Heart of Man – It’s Nature
Gen. 6:5. "Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.''
Emmanuel refuses even to allow a letter from Diabolus to enter the town of Mansoul. (Holy War, Bunyon) A preacher has well said: "There must be no correspondence whatever. The evil’s letters are evil hints and suggestions, and if you entertain them, then you are opening up a correspondence with him. Whenever you get a letter addressed in his hand-writing, with the postmark of hell on it, destroy it at once.”
Luther said, "I cannot help unclean birds flying over my head, but 1 can keep them from building and breeding in my hair." So we cannot help evil thoughts crossing our minds, but we can keep them from dwelling there.
Metropolitan AOC Worldwide
We are fortunate to get copies of Bishop Jerry’s you tube links, devotions on the Prayer of the Collect and sermon notes.
Bishop Jerry creates videos on various subjects, they last just under ten minutes and this week’s videos are listed below:
Bishop Ogles
Blog:
https://anglicanorthodoxchurch.blogspot.com
Bishop Ogles
You Tube Channel
that is free to subscribe: all of his videos at:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuW3bgXBJFomPB5mZ4Oigxg
Midweek Video Devotional:
Abraham and Issac as types of God the Father and of God the Son
Bishops Blog: https://anglicanorthodoxchurch.blogspot.com/2026/07/abraham-and-isaac-as-types-of-god.html
You tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uL5qEAgBM20
Friday Video Devotional: Things seen made of things Unseen
Bishop’s Blog: https://anglicanorthodoxchurch.blogspot.com/2026/07/youtube-video-player_01253275361.html
You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hunol5BURGs
SNAILS, ANTS, AND
SPIDERS ~ July 19 – Daily Devotional
by Bishop Jerry Ogles
“The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. 4Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; 5Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely. 6Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD. 7Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces. 8As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun. 9Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath.” (Psalm 58:3-9)
The Lord makes ample use of the particular creatures of His making. For example, the spider is a most industrious creature that labors to build its intricate web in places deemed by him to bring the best possibility to ensnare its prey. Its persevering spirit is not unlike that which must characterize the eager labors of the believing Christian. Though the net may break, though the prey may escape – still, the spider patiently undertakes to rebuild its web with uncanny ingenuity. And the spider does not stop until the job is finished. He enjoys certain privileges that many of his superior fellows may not enjoy.
“The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings’ palaces.” (Proverbs 30:28)
The Lord has put wisdom in his inward parts to survive where others may fail for lack of effort.
The ant, too, is industrious and wise. It is not short on effort and perseverance, either. “The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer.” (Proverbs 30:25) Wisdom, like that of David against Goliath, is a gift of God and is able to compensate for any difference in size. In fact, it is one of the four small creatures into which that God has imbued wisdom – the ant, the crony, the locust, and the spider - small but exceedingly wise.
There is another creature that is the antithesis of these small, wise creatures mentioned – the snail! He cannot abide the light of the sun. He does not labor for his food, but crawls from under his rock and devours the vegetables of the garden that have grown from the labor of others. At the first glimpse of coming dawn, he slithers back to the cover of his rock leaving tracks along the way. There are two things a snail cannot abide – salt and light. The snail is akin to the sinner in character. They cannot abide the bright light of day, neither the salt of God’s Word. “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. 14Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:13-16)
The snail will shrivel up and waste away when exposed to the sun or to grains of salt. So does the sinner slink to the cover of darkness when encountering the Light of God’s Word. The sinful love the hours of darkness where their deeds, they believe, are hidden from public view. Most of our modern politicians fit this description completely as well.
The ant, the crony, the spider, and the locust strive diligently for their daily bread, but not the snail. Where do you fit in that equation, friend? Are you more like the oyster that lies at the bottom of the mud and lime with opened mouth to devour whatever falls within; or, like the eagle that eats only what it captures as its prey? Well did our founding fathers name the eagle as the National Emblem of the United States and not the socialist oyster.
Saint Paul's Anglican Church - Diocese of the Midwest Anglican Orthodox Church -Suffragan Bishop of the AOC
Morning Prayer – Seventh Sunday after trinity
Psalm 50; 1st Lesson: Daniel 5:1-9, 13-20; 2nd Lesson: Romans 1:17-21, 28-32
LORD of all power and might, who art the author and giver of all good things; Graft in our hearts the love of thy Name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and of thy great mercy keep us in the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
hymns # 563, 565, 430
“The contrast between good and evil.”
Our three selections of scripture for this Seventh Sunday after Trinity is a study of contrasts.
Not really too hard to find these contrasts, being as the clear delineation between good and evil. While revisionist theologians and preachers always seem to be seeking a way to soften the message and main thrust of the Word of God; they will go to great lengths to avoid the “inconvenient” verses and passages of scripture that shine a laser-focused beam of truth on evil.
Why? Because the Word of the Lord is very clear on what is good and what is evil. There is no shade or scholarly interpretation of the message. God hates evil. We must daily ask God to avoid evil, we must daily seek His Word, read it, inwardly digest it, and “increase in us true religion, nourish(ing) us with all goodness. Why? Because it is in our nature to flee from good, we are like the rental apartment cockroaches, when the lights come on they flee to the darkness.
When we address this very human nature to try and stay in the shadows of evil and sin, there is immediate conflict. The neo-cons, the liberal theologian, the sociologist who claim to be of Christian faith, ALL try their best to soften the heavy blows of truth that come from the Word of God.
When St. Paul was reaching out to the lost communities, both pagan and un-repentant Hebrews, he wrote about the great conflict or contrast between good and evil. In this brief but damning passage of scripture from his letter to the Romans, Paul outlines this great gulf or contrast between good and evil. The famous passage of scripture that shoved Martin Luther into faith, “...The just shall live by faith...”, illuminates the very issue at hand.
“...for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith...”. This revelation comes from God, revealed by the Word (Christ Jesus) and illumined by the Holy Spirit. Now come the sticky part, the next couple of verses are very difficult to explain away, so many preachers no longer use them for sermon texts.
18For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; 19Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. 20For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: 21Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Notice, even though mankind has been exposed to the truth by way of the created world, understanding that God is eternal, they are without excuse when it comes to dismissing God, because they think they are smarter than their creator. What a sorry excuse the intellectual has for saying God is dead, or that God doesn’t exist, they are ignoring the very creation that points to a Creator, all to their own destruction.
Also notice something interesting. Nature hates a vacuum. Mankind does too. What does man do to avoid thinking about eternity? He fills his life with everything and anything that keeps God out of mind. Look at the list that Paul writes down. That is the hell-bent world in a nutshell. As a secular author pointed out some 40 years ago, “...we are entertaining ourselves to death....” Interestingly, he was spot on with his analysis. We are so busy being busy we do not take the time to be still and know that God is there. As David wrote, “...be still and know that I am God...”. Instead, we fill our modern lives with anything that will keep us from meditating upon the Word of God.
29Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, 30Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
So in all of this chaos and fervent activity, modern man is avoiding the obvious truth, instead running headlong into destruction and eventually eternal damnation. “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;”
32Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.”
I don’t know how much clearer the message has to be, but if we are ignoring it, we do so to our peril. Beloved, come to the Lord, he will relieve you of your burdens that you obtained at your birth. He will save you from your sins, because he died in your stead upon the Cross so many centuries ago. God has given us clear signs, we must turn from our wicked ways and live.
Now if you read the passage of Scripture from the book of Daniel, you will find, once again, man’s arrogance against God. Or in a more simple sense, evil supplanting good. Belshazzar, pretty much liquored up with strong wine, decided to honor Babylonian gods by using the sacred vessels taken from the Temple in Jerusalem. His father, Nebuchadnezzar, had the sacred temple items brought to Babylon after he destroyed the temple and sacked Jerusalem. But, interestingly enough, he had never used them for anything, good or bad. It would be up to his arrogant son to violate the sacred items by using them in a profane way, to worship pagan gods.
The prophet Daniel will rebuke Belshazzar for misusing the gold and silver vessels from the looted temple. Interestingly, Daniel, will praise Nebuchadnezzar as he is rebuking his son. We must not mock God the Creator, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We must ever be mindful of who we are in relation to who the Triune God is, let us not forget.
Repent and be saved.
Remember, many preachers are afraid of offending their folks, I am afraid of not serving my God and offering up my flock to the destroyer. May God be praised in this time of chaos and evil, may we as a nation turn our backs upon utter destruction and turn back to God.
Let us pray:
Almighty and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that Thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all those who are penitent; Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of Thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Almighty and everlasting God, who art always more ready to hear than we to pray, and art wont to give more than either we desire or deserve; Pour down upon us the abundance of Thy mercy; forgiving us those things whereof our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask, but through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord. Amen.
IN Christ alone during Trinity
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We are always grateful to get these wonderful sermons from Rev. Bryan, they keep us on our toes!
Sermon Text for Seventh Sunday after Trinity:
Scripture tells us that God has called all men to receive his free gift of grace (see St. John 3:16). We are also informed that those who choose to reject his gift of grace are, ...condemned already because [they] hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (St. John 3:18). And while we know that God is love (I St. John 4:8); we also know that he is holy, just and righteous. And on that account, he expects humanity to be likewise. When God told Abraham, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect (Genesis 17:1), he set forth the standard by which all would be judged of him. Yet being perfect is not something that mankind has the capacity to do under the best of conditions unaided by the Holy Ghost. So, we ought not be surprised to learn that there is absolutely no hope of pleasing God without a new nature. And that new nature can only be obtained in one way— we must believe on the name of Jesus Christ as our Saviour and live in accordance with his word and commandment.
The apostle Paul warned of God’s wrath in several of his letters. In our epistle lesson from Romans (1:18-32), he noted that, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them (vv.18-19). Consider also his message to the church at Ephesus regarding this subject: For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye partakers with them (5:5-7). And to the Colossians he wrote: Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: for which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience (3:5-6).
Returning to our lesson from Romans (1:18-32), God intends to punish the wicked on account of their knowledge of him and not for their ignorance of him. Nevertheless, when you talk to the unregenerate, they are quick to reference the notion of ignorance as a defense against the coming wrath of God because— as some will say— “God will not punish those who did not know about him.” Nevertheless, is that statement based upon the Word of God? To answer that question, let us have a look at that issue. Upon what is this so-called “ignorance” of God based? The Bible identifies its source. It is of course Satan himself and his jolly band of miscreants who have sought over the millennia to deceive as many souls as they can by fostering within them a state of denial concerning the truth of God’s word written. In the Old Testament, the Devil convinced the majority of people in Israel to reject the word of the patriarchs and prophets. While in the New Testament, he managed to turn many of the Jews against the words and works of our Lord at his first advent, as well as the ministry of the Word since his ascension.
One of Satan’s principal victories can be seen in the growing number of counterfeit bible versions. What better way to rend the truth of the Word than to re-interpret it and then pass the changes off as “scholarly updates” which were unavailable to the King James translators. It has been all too easy for these workers of iniquity as they have replaced sound Bible doctrine with the error of the wicked. They have re-interpreted Scripture via their assorted revisions to the sacred text, and, in the process, they have sown the seeds of confusion and uncertainty within the church and destroyed the faith of many. No doubt there will be no small number of souls who will plead innocence by means of ignorance because they were never taught to take the Scriptures seriously as truth in spite of what the Bible says (see St. John 17:17 and II St. Timothy 3:16-17).
But no man— regardless of their favored bible translation— can truly plead ignorance of God’s presence. As the apostle Paul has written, For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse (Romans 1:20). God says that by virtue of his creation, humanity can see his handiwork which has been affirmed by the variety and complexity of the things which are before them. As the noted British scientist, Lord Kelvin once opined, “Mathematics and dynamics fail us when we contemplate the earth, fitted for life but lifeless, and try to imagine the commencement of life upon it. This certainly did not take place by any action of chemistry, or electricity, or crystalline grouping of molecules under the influence of force, or by any possible kind of fortuitous concourse of atoms. We must pause, face to face with the mystery and miracle of creation of living creatures.”
And yet in spite of all that God has done in nature, the unregenerate block such from their thoughts, and why? Sir Arthur Keith explained: “Evolution is unproved and unprovable. We believe it because the only alternative is special creation which is unthinkable.” Every sinner would rather not think about the existence of God especially when he or she is living in disobedience to his expressed word and commandment. Does the adulterer contemplate God’s wrath while in the act of adultery? Does the murderer remember the commandment of God, Thou shalt not kill? Does the burglar, the robber, and the thief as well as the greedy in politics, gaming, and business dwell on, Thou shalt not steal? But to a person, they know that what they are doing is wrong. They know that every sinful and inordinate desire is condemned, and if persisted in will result in a separation of that person from God eternally.
Given what we learned thus far, we should not be surprised at the lengths to which the wicked will go in their denial of the one true and living God. They will embrace every false notion of God, and bow before every image or idol that comes along. And on account of those behaviors, God will darken their hearts in agreement with their choice to reject him as the God of all creation and the Saviour of their souls (Romans 1:21-23). They will then be open to worshiping and serving, the creature more than the Creator (Romans 1:25). That creature—that created being— is the Devil. Over the ages, he has sought to redirect to himself all the worship and glory which mankind was supposed to render to the Godhead. And that, dear friends, has been and remains the basis for all idolatry. St. Luke’s gospel account of the temptation of our Lord in the wilderness supplies us with Satan’s testimony: All this power [speaking of the kingdoms of the world] will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore, wilt worship me, all shall be thine (4:6). And the apostle Paul also confirmed the same when identified the forces behind idolatry: What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing? But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God... (I Corinthians 10:19- 20). All of which is in line with the First and Second Commandments of the Law: I am the LORD thy God... Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image... Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them... (Exodus 20:2-6).
We ought to disabuse ourselves of the false notion that humanity has somehow changed from the time of the apostles— or from the time of the expulsion from the Garden. Mass man— or the bulk of unregenerated humanity—worships all sorts of things. You name it, and it can become an idol. But when human beings fall into idolatry, God takes away his hand and the evil one comes and infuses his wicked nature into those who have fallen under his spell. And wickedness knows no limits. Consider also the words of the apostle Paul in Romans 1:24-27. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves... For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections... Long ago, God established boundaries regarding the relations between men and women (see portions of Leviticus 18-21). So, when people choose to act in ways that are beyond God’s laws for life— idolatry, whoremongering, inordinate desires of the flesh, etc.—they are, in essence, replacing the will of God with their own. At that moment they have become as gods (Genesis 3:5), and in so doing they will suffer God’s wrath.
It is vitally important that Christ’s ministers teach the whole counsel of God to their congregations, as the apostle Paul proclaimed, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth: to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith (Romans 1:16-17).
Sadly, a fair number of preachers will not mention the judgmental aspects of God’s word. They are thus content to preach the false gospel of universal acceptance which appeals to the unregenerate who attempt to salve their souls with such. They have convinced themselves that a veneer of godliness is sufficient to warrant God’s grant of salvation. They also believe that they are somehow different from those who have no veneer at all. It is nothing but a mask covering their true spiritual natures. They have been so deceived by the evil one, and so hardened against God’s word written, that they have stopped their ears concerning his warnings regarding their particular lifestyle choices. They are so fondly attached to their sins and do not want to hear about that fiery eternity which awaits them if they do not repent and turn unto to Christ.
Friends, I ask you to recall that moment when you came to accept the Lord Jesus as your Saviour. You came to see your old life as God saw it. You had to admit that you had become a minion of the evil one and that you were dead to God. But when you came to know the Lord Jesus as the Saviour of your souls, everything changed. You were transformed. You were made whole in the eyes of God. You were born again of the Holy Ghost. You became citizens of God’s coming kingdom and your names were inscribed in his Book of Life (Revelation 21:27). St. Paul tells us as much in his first epistle to the Corinthian church: Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived... And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God (6:9-11). And in his epistle to the Romans he noted that, There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit (8:1). And in his first epistle to the Thessalonians, the apostle wrote the following: For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ (5:9).
As born-again Christians, we have been called to proclaim the “good news” of Jesus Christ to all, that they might come out from among the wicked and be made clean by the blood of Christ. We also have been called to remind those of our fellowship that a new life in Christ excludes a continued participation in wickedness. We must therefore, abstain from all appearances of evil (I Thessalonians 5:22). Only then can we avoid the wrath which is to come: that all-consuming fire of our righteous and holy God.
Let us pray,
O holy Father, help our witness to those who are as yet in darkness and the shadow of death, that they too will turn and embrace the free gift which you have offered to all who would believe and accept the Lord Jesus as their Saviour; for this we beg in his most holy name. Amen.
Have a blessed week!
Bryan+
The Rev. Don Fultz
Rector of St. Peter’s AOC located in the AOC National Office
We are grateful to have this sermon today from Rev. Don Fultz from St. Peter’s AOC, Statesville NC
Seventh Sunday after Trinity Sunday
John 15: 12-16 “Friends of Christ”
The friendship that Christians have with Jesus is absolutely amazing. It is amazing because Christians don't believe that Jesus is simply another prophet. They in fact believe that He is the creator and sustainer of the universe, the only begotten Son of God.
It is a wonderful thing to have Jesus as our friend, but the reality is that there are many people in this world who rather than being a friend of Jesus are in fact His enemy. Why are they His enemy? They are His enemy because they, rather than choosing to have a friendship with Jesus, have chosen to have a friendship with the world. This is made very clear to us in James 4:4 where it says, “Friendship of the world is enmity with God.”
So why am I talking to you about friendship this morning? I am talking to you about friendship because Jesus in John 15:12-16 talked to His disciples at length about it. So why did He do this? He did this because He wanted to comfort them in light of His imminent departure and what better way for Him to do this than by assuring them that they are in fact His personal, intimate, and beloved friends.
So let me read for you John 15:12-16. “This is my commandment, that ye love one another, just as I have loved you. (13) Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (14) Ye are My friends, if you do whatsoever I command you. (15) Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. (16) You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you.”
So let me ask you this question in light of the verses that we just read.
Did Jesus in fact call these eleven disciples His friends? The answer is yes! Jesus, in John 15:15, made it very clear to His disciples that He considered them His friends. They had become His friends when they by faith had embraced Him as the Christ, the Son of the living God, just as we also become the friends of Christ when we embrace Him by faith as our Lord and Savior.
And how did Christ seek to confirm for His disciples that they were His friends in these verses that we just read? He did it by pointing out the difference between how someone might treat a person who was simply a servant over and against how someone might treat a person who was also his friend. Part of the nature of friendship is the nature of the communication they enjoy with one another. A master simply tells a servant what to do without explanation and the servant must obey. Within a friendship, there is a cooperation that occurs. Plans are disclosed and discussed as to their reasoning and purpose. Jesus confirmed this part of the friendship is also true in verse 15, when he said “Henceforth I call you not servants, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. “Jesus had discussed and confided in them His total plan of salvation. Jesus told them why His Father had sent Him. He told them why He was going to lay down His life. He told them why He had to leave this earth. He told them what He was going to do after He returned.
Jesus is continuing to talk to His friends and telling them what He is doing. And if we are His friends He is continuing to talk with us in this very same way. And how is Jesus doing this? Jesus is continuing to talk to His friends through His word, the Scriptures, as the Holy Spirit makes it come alive to them (1 Corinthians 2:12-13).
St Paul tell us in 1 Corinthians 2:12-13. “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things are freely given to us of God, (13) Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.”
What a wonderful thing it is to be a friend of Jesus and have Him speak to us through His Word and through the teaching ministry of the indwelling Holy Spirit. But how can we know that we are in fact truly His friends and that He will make His Word come alive to us in the same way as He made His Word come alive to the eleven? We can know we are Christ's friends and that He will speak to us through His Word if we are habitually obeying His commands. Here is what Jesus said John 15:14. “You are My friends, if you do whatsoever I command you.” The friends of Christ do what He commands them and those who are not His friends don't. It is that simple.
Our obedience to Christ and His commands does not establish our relationship with Him, but it is always the key in determining whether or not our relationship with Him is real or imagined. This is true in respect to whether or not we are “abiding in Him” as we saw in John 15:7. This is true in respect to whether or not we are “abiding in His love” as we saw in John 15:10. And this is also true in respect to whether or not we are truly a “friend” of Christ as we have just seen in John 15:14.
Friendship with Christ is a wonderful privilege and those who are enjoying it will be characterized by five different things that are outlined for us in John 15:12-16. So, what are those five characteristics? The friends of Jesus love each other. The friends of Jesus will know divine truth. The friends of Jesus have been chosen out of the world. The friends of Jesus bear fruit and that fruit will remain. And finally, the friends of Jesus will have their prayers answered. So let us begin this morning by looking at the very first characteristic.
The friends of Jesus will be characterized by their love for one another (John 15:12-13). “This is my commandment, that you love one another.” Those who are friends of Christ, as I have already mentioned, will obey the commands of Christ, and the command that Christ chose to highlight for His disciples in John 15:12 was the command for His disciples to love one another. And how important is this command? Those who say that they are the friends of Christ but do not love one another are still walking in darkness.
1 John 2:9-11 says “He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. (10) He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. (11) But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not wither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.” So how important is it that friends of Christ obey the command of Christ to love one another? Jesus commands us to love one another as He has loved us. Jesus example of superior love (Agape) is the highest standard of love for all Christians. We are committed to one another as commanded in Philippians 2: 3-4, “Let nothing be done through strife or vain Glory; But in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.”
Loving one another is the necessary and expected behavior of every friend of Christ because every true friend of Christ will be taught by God to do this. St Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 4:9. “But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write to you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.”
So how important is it that we as friends of Christ obey the command of Christ in respect to loving one another? It is totally necessary. But exactly what kind of love is Christ looking for in terms of how we relate to one another. The kind of love that He is looking for in terms of how we relate with one another is certainly not superficial. He wants something far more than that.
Let us again return to John 15:12 but this time let us read the entire verse. “This is my commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.” And how did He love His disciples? He loved them sacrificially. When Christ commanded His disciples to love one another as He had loved them, He was commanding them to love one another sacrificially. All are to be loved with an active, self-denying, self-sacrificial love.
It is a love based on obedience to the will of God. It is not a self-centered love based on emotions or feelings toward others. It is the sacrificial love that Jesus shows for us from God, the Father. And, of course, this is what He is calling us to do as well. Sacrificial love is not only important in confirming for us that we are the friends of Christ, but it also is important in confirming for the world that we are the friends of Christ. Jesus tells us in John 13:34-35. “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another, as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if you have love one to the other.”
Do you want to confirm not only to yourself but also to others that you are a true disciple of Christ or the friend of Christ? Then you will need to sacrificially love the brethren.
Sacrificial love can be expressed in many different ways other than the ultimate sacrifice of dying for one’s friend. As Christians we should being willing to sacrifice some of our personal time and energy or other resources in helping others that are in need spiritually or physically. Loving one another can be just an expression of outreach in comforting someone in times of sorrow or sickness or just visiting someone in a hospital or nursing home. Or it could be just listening and accepting the ideas or needs of others. These are all expressions of showing our love for others and obeying the commands of Jesus.
“Greater love hath no one than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” This, based on the words of Christ, is the greatest expression of sacrificial love. So, what exactly did He mean by this? When Christ told His disciples, He was primarily referring to His sacrifice on their behalf at the cross. There He laid down His life on behalf of His friends. But Christ's sacrifice on the cross on behalf of the eleven was not limited to the eleven who happened at that moment in time to be His friends.
His sacrifice on the cross also included dying for His enemies and the total world. (John 3:16) St Paul tells us in Romans 5:10 “For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved, by His life.”
Christ's death on the cross on behalf of others, whether they are described as friends as we see them described in John 15 or as enemies as we see them described in Romans 5:10, is the ultimate expression of sacrificial love and that expression of love on the part of Christ for ourselves and others becomes the standard in terms of sacrificially loving one another.
This kind of love that willingly sacrifices itself, even if necessary to the point of death, should be common among believers. St. John in 1 John 3:16-18 forces us to examine the depth of our love: “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us.” So how do we know that Christ loves us? We know that Christ loves us because He died for us. At the end of verse 16, St. John goes on to exhort us to demonstrate this same kind of love when he says, “And we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” Then in verses 17-18 he says “But whoever hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? (18)My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and truth.”
May God give us the grace to love one another sacrificially even as Christ Himself has sacrificially loved us. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost Amen
I have received updates from a few and those will be the first added to the list. Please send all prayer requests and updates to aocworldwide@gmail.com for future reports. If you would like to be removed from list just respond with remove in the subject line.
Prayer Needed:
International Council of Christian Churches (ICCC) – meeting in Africa all week-congress
Charlie Carlisle – recovering at home now following various elements
Donny Clark – hospitalized for stroke – Anne – overseeing his care
Beverly Tatum – Fall, injured shoulder, Howard Tatum – cancer Treatment, caretaking
Kathy – multiple surgeries for skin cancer coming up
Camella – Breast Cancer – Praise God at church this week! – doing well
Chelsea – expecting Baby in July (Baby heart issues, will need 3 surgeries right after birth, finance problems, pray for Zach – Chelea’s husband and the baby
Donny – hospitalized due to multiple strokes and inability to speak, pray for David and Anne, family who are helping him in recovery
Betty Davis: stroke, hospitalization and praying for complete recovery
Deborah Johns – heart issues – pray for heart strength & strong blood oxygen levels for surgery
Ben Hancock – treatment for colon cancer
Rev. Geordie: needs prayer for medical issues
Debbie Grimes: colon cancer – surgery
Man, who is a friend of many – Brain Cancer
Bobby Effinger – recovery from heart surgery and ongoing heart issues
Brannon – hospitalized due to chronic unknow source of muscle spasms – 3 year old
Joseph Broddie – recurring throat cancer
David Williams – serious cardiac issues – pray for David and wife Sherie for coping with changes
Colby Landry – cancer. Please pray for his wife, Leah and their family at this time of trial.
Persecuted Christians – subject to persecution and imprisonment for their faith.
Bobby Bryan – suffering with cancer and cardiac issues.
For an increase in the true faith in Jesus Christ here and across the globe.
USA – Leaders, citizens, military, first responders – President Trump & all Cabinet Members Safety
David – recovering from transplant – continue to pray
Ophelia – crippling arthritis pain
Dennis Potrikus – fall with bad knees – recovering his rehab
Donna – ongoing radiation and Chemotherapy. Pray for successful remission
Dave – COPD – new diagnosis of Diabetes type 2 – learning curve
David – home recovering from hip replacement
Mary Lou – strength for downsizing life-long home and moving
Extended Issues need continued prayer;
Laurie with long Covid Symptoms – Extreme exhaustion, heart palpitations, breathing problems and unstable blood pressures are constant worries causing depression to settle in.
Malcom Allred – Cancer Treatment
Keep Praying for the following:
Shamu-health issues, Jan Jessup-neuro dementia, AOC USA, AOC Missions, Harper-IBS,
Jim Sevier- God’s
Peace, Linda –
multiple myeloma, Donna-last chemo this week,
Alicia-caregiver, Sophie, Colin and Lori Beall –
cancer, Malou –
cancer,
Archie- CHF, Eloise, Janice, Katie, Bobby, Myra Cox, Faye Miller,
Kristen, Diane, Alice, Yves Mera, Lucile, Ryan, Steven, Rency, Jack
& Karen
Points to Ponder:
Take heed to our spirits after we
have heard the word, lest we lose what we have gained.
The Rev. Matthew Henry
There is nothing so deluding as
feelings. Christians cannot live by feelings. Let me further tell you that
these feelings are the work of Satan, for they are not right feelings. What
right have you to set up your feelings against the word of Christ?
The Rev. Charles H. Spurgeon
I am at a loss to understand how
anyone can read the Acts of the Apostles, and the epistles to the Corinthians,
Ephesians, Timothy, and Titus, and deny that the ministry is an appointment of
God.
The Most Rev. J. C. Ryle – Knots Untied p.302
Wrath is one of the Divine
perfections. If God did not punish evildoers He would be a party to evil doing,
He would compromise with wickedness, He would condone sin. Of necessity God is
a God of Wrath. Consider an argument from the less to the greater. In the human
sphere he who loves purity and chastity and has no wrath against impurity and
unchastity is a moral leper. He who pities the poor and defenseless and has no
wrath against the oppressor who crushes the weak and slays the defenseless, but
loves them too, is a fiend. Divine wrath is Divine Holiness in activity.
Because God is holy He hates sin, and because He hates sin His anger burns
against the sinner. As it is written, "Thou hatest all workers of iniquity"
(Psalm 5:5). And again, "God is angry with the wicked every day" (Psalm
7:11).
The Rev. Arthur Pink– (excerpt from an article entitled The Wrath of God
, February, 1917).
Also notice something interesting.
Nature hates a vacuum. Mankind does too. What does man do to avoid
thinking about eternity? He fills his life with everything and anything
that keeps God out of mind. Look at the list that Paul writes
down. That is the hell-bent world in a nutshell. As a secular author
pointed out some 40 years ago, “...we are entertaining ourselves to
death....” Interestingly, he was spot on with his analysis. We are
so busy being busy we do not take the time to be still and know that God is
there. As David wrote, “...be still and know that I am God...”.
Instead, we fill our modern lives with anything that will keep us from
meditating upon the Word of God
The Rt. Rev. Roy Morales-Kuhn (excerpt sermon Seventh Sunday after Trinity)
It is vitally
important that Christ’s ministers teach the whole counsel of God to their
congregations, as the apostle Paul proclaimed, For I am not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth:
to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of
God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by
faith
The Rev. Bryan Dabney (excerpt sermon Seventh Sunday after Trinity)
What a wonderful thing it is to be a friend
of Jesus and have Him speak to us through His Word and through the
teaching ministry of the indwelling Holy Spirit. But how can we know that we are in fact
truly His friends and that He will make His Word come alive to us in the
same way as He made His Word come alive to the eleven? We can know we are Christ's friends
and that He will speak to us through His Word if we are habitually obeying His commands. Here is what Jesus said John 15:14. “You are My friends, if you do whatsoever I
command you.” The friends of Christ do what He commands
them and those who are not His
friends don't. It is that simple.
The
Rev. Don Fultz (excerpt sermon Seventh Sunday after Trinity)
The ant, the
crony, the spider, and the locust strive diligently for their daily bread, but
not the snail. Where do you fit in that equation, friend? Are you more like the
oyster that lies at the bottom of the mud and lime with opened mouth to devour
whatever falls within; or, like the eagle that eats only what it captures as
its prey? Well did our founding fathers name the eagle as the National Emblem
of the United States and not the socialist oyster.
The Most Rev. Jerry L. Ogles– (excerpt Snails, Ants and Spiders, devotion).
