Bishop Jack brings the propers together today. His sermon is below the propers and can be viewed on videoHERE -> https://youtu.be/MtEQRDsWSS0
The Collect, Epistle and Gospel tie together, laying out, detailing and reinforcing the same message, ultimately. We have to have faith in Christ and God, and be willing to accept the Holy Ghost into us, that through Him, we may do good works on Earth and that we will receive our just reward for doing what is right in the end. As always, Jesus proved the naysayers wrong. He gave a very practical demonstration that much is denied men, but though God all things are possible. I hope you find it useful.
The propers for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Trinity can be found on Page 223-224:
The Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Trinity
The Collect.
O |
LORD, we beseech thee, absolve thy people from their offences; that through thy bountiful goodness we may all be delivered from the bands of those sins, which by our frailty we have committed. Grant this, O heavenly Father, for the sake of Jesus Christ, our blessed Lord and Saviour. Amen.
The Epistle for today came from the First Chapter of Saint Paul’s letter to the Colossians, beginning at the Third Verse. Writing to the people of Colossus, Paul tells them that he is constantly praying for them and exhorts them to do their very best to actually fulfill the promises they have made to God, to Walk the Walk, not just Talk the Talk; to study hard the Word and use the strength they will get from God to act on the things they have learned and professed.
W |
E give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints, for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel; which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth: as ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellowservant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ; who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit. For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness; giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.
The Holy Gospel came from the Ninth Chapter of the Gospel according to St. Matthew beginning at the Eighteenth Verse. While Jesus was talking to some of the disciples of John the Baptist, one of the local politicians whose daughter had just died came to Him with faith that He could return her to life. As he was leaving His meeting with the disciples to follow the politician, a woman who had been ill for many years, reached out in faith to “touch His garment.” She knew He was the key to her life, though she likely had no real understanding of just how. She had faith in Jesus. As she touched his garment, He turned saying, “Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole.” She was instantly healed. Like the Faithful Centurion[1]: Truth set her free, faith made her whole. Jesus continued on to the politician’s house and returned his daughter to the living. Consider that in none of these cases did Jesus’ saving grace hinge on actions by the saved, but rather their faith that Jesus would save them, then acting in accordance with that faith. It was not what they did, but what He did that saved them. But, His actions were in accord with their faith.
W |
HILE Jesus spake these things unto John’s disciples, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live. And Jesus arose, and followed him, and so did his disciples. And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment: for she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour. And when Jesus came into the ruler’s house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise, he said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose. And the fame hereof went abroad into all that land.
[1] The centurion at Capernaum whose servant is ill: Matthew Chapter 8 verses 5 to 13:
AND when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.
See how this story matches that of the woman:
· His servant was sick;
· He knew Christ could help;
· He was prepared to ask Christ for help;
· He knew that Christ was in a position of power;
· He didn't even have to be near the servant to help
The centurion wasn't someone who went to get a doctor, or an itinerant herbalist. He went seeking a miracle, and that is what his faith got him. This centurion had faith, greater faith than Christ had ever found. Yet who was he? He wasn't a scribe or Hebrew scholar. He wasn't a member of the local synagogue. He was a member of the hated, oppressing, occupying army.
Sermon - Bishop Jack Arnold
Anglican Orthodox Church of the United States
Diocese of the West
Church of the Faithful Centurion - Descanso, California
Today’s sermon brought the Collect, Epistle and Gospel together and is partly contained in the forewords above. Bp Jack’s sermon and can be viewed on video HERE -> https://youtu.be/MtEQRDsWSS0
The Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Trinity
The Collect.
O |
LORD, we beseech thee, absolve thy people from their offences; that through thy bountiful goodness we may all be delivered from the bands of those sins, which by our frailty we have committed. Grant this, O heavenly Father, for the sake of Jesus Christ, our blessed Lord and Saviour. Amen.
Consider these words from the Collect: … absolve thy people from their offences; that … we may all be delivered from the bands of those sins, which by our frailty we have committed…
The Collect asks God to pardon our offences, that is our wrongs, failures and failures to act as we should, where we have “erred and stray from His Way like lost sheep”, through His great mercy. Note, through the mercy of God, not because we have been good, but because we cannot be good without Him in the form of the Holy Ghost. We are utterly incapable of goodness without the help of the Holy Ghost. We are sinful, prideful beings without His Help. We are asking for His Help so that we can overcome our natural frailty. Also with His Help there is no end to the good that we can become. We have to recognize this fact and then consciously ask for the Holy Ghost to enter into our hearts and transform our hearts souls and minds. Without this transformation we are utterly lost. But with it, we become Paul’s New Man 2.0, an epic upgrade from our first revision.
In this world we will find that as far as sins go, truly there is nothing new. All the sins that will exist are present in this world and we aren’t making any new ones. The human heart is always as dark and depraved without the shining light of the Holy Spirit as it ever has been. We will find no problems on this Earth that have not existed since the time of Adam. Technology may change and nations may rise and fall, but the underlying human condition has remained constant. This is why the world is full of the same problems as it always has. Humans are naturally resistant to any form of change, especially spiritual change. It has been this way since the time of Adam. People are always seeking ways to get around God and His Laws, but they truly cannot. They will never stop trying to get around God but they will also never succeed in getting around God as that is impossible. Most of the problems we face here on Earth stem from people trying to get around God. If people would recognize and worship God and do their best to follow His Word, then our problems here on Earth would go away.
Our only hope is to be in Him and be reborn in the Spirit. As Abraham Lincoln said in the famous Gettysburg address “That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom.” Only under God, can we be reborn a new, and as he said, our freedom will be reborn again. We can only be reborn in the spirit and not the flesh as Nicodemus found out when he came to Jesus by night. In order to be reborn a new in the spirit, we first have to ask for our sins to be pardoned and be delivered from our sins by Jesus Christ Our Lord and Our Heavenly Father. The key word is ask. This will never happen for us if we do not take the first step and ask God to enter into our hearts and regenerate our spirit. He will not come in uninvited into to our hearts. We have to allow the Holy Spirit access in order for our spirits to be revitalized.
And once we ask for our sins to be pardoned, we have to go forth and persevere in our efforts not to sin again. Only then can we be truly re-born. We cannot be truly reborn if we keep falling into the same sin again. We have to make an effort to improve ourselves and do our best not to do the same sin over and over again. Through a sense of godliness, we obtain that “new birth” of freedom. If everybody in this country followed that simple advice, just think of how great our country would be. Look at Abraham Lincoln for an example of a Godly man, one of the greatest Presidents ever elected, who by following God and His Word, helped preserve the Union of this wonderful nation, albeit at a great cost to our freedom and with a huge expansion of government.[1]
In the Epistle, Paul tells the Colossians if we are to be reborn through Christ into a “new birth of freedom”, as Lincoln said, we must place our hope not on Earth, but in Our Heavenly Father and his abode above. It is truly a place where nothing will be corrupted and thieves will not break through and steal. It is very safe to place our hopes in heaven in other words. So we must train our hearts, souls and minds to focus on this.
In heaven, we shall encounter none of the imperfections we see here on Earth daily. It is truly a wonderful place to be. We must keep our sights on our destination of heaven. We have to always keep this in mind every time we are weighed down by the woes of the world and of troubles in our lives. We have to always keep flying our spiritual airplane no matter what happens in this life. If we put our goal as going to heaven and setting our airplane on the magenta line towards heaven, eventually we will get there. We may encounter severe turbulence from events in our lives that threaten to upset our spiritual state, but as long as we keep flying the spiritual airplane, all will be well in the end. Heaven is truly the only place where we can place any hope and not be disappointed. God will never fail us; we just need to not fail Him. We have to do our best to follow Him here on earth and do our best to spread to Word to the people around us. If we do this, the truth shall shine forth through in our work, at home, in our daily lives and people shall see Christ working through us for His purposes. If we follow what God asks, which is a very common theme in the Bible, as it is in my sermons, we prosper and do well.
Which brings us to the point of the Gospel, in which Christ heals a woman who has such supreme faith in Christ healing her, that if she but touches his cloak, she knows she will be healed. She did not have any doubts about Christ’s power to heal her. She truly had a solid faith. She depended not on the talisman of the cloak, but the power of Christ with which she expected to connect. She knew Christ had the power to heal her and believed He would heal her. Christ was impressed by the woman’s faith. If we had the faith of this woman in Christ, imagine how we could impact the world around us. There would be little we could not do for our fellow men and women. And, I might ask, what is stopping us? The ruler whose daughter had died also shared this amazing faith in Christ. He had zero doubt whatsoever Christ would do these things.
Also, the faithful centurion and the man whose son was sick had this tremendous faith. The faith of all of these, in particular the ruler whose daughter died, was truly strong. Christ recognizes this man’s faith and rewards with the girl’s resurrection. Quite a surprise for those who had just laughed and scorned him, basically telling him “That is impossible, you can’t raise the girl from the dead.”
As always, Jesus proved the naysayers wrong. He gave a very practical demonstration that much is denied men, but though God all things are possible. But, we need the faith of the woman, the faith of the ruler and the faith of the centurion. Jesus showed us that if we do indeed have the great faith of those people, there is not a lot that we cannot do. He is showing us that faith is a key corner stone to following Him. We must follow Him and the plan He laid out for us. We have to be willing to listen and be ready to follow Him. In time, we too shall have an amazing reward, through our faith and be in a “new birth of freedom” from otherwise certain death. We can do things thought impossible, if we put our trust in Him, as I have aforementioned.
This is what Jesus meant when he said we could move mountains with our faith. If we put our trust and faith in Him, nothing that we need to do is impossible for us to achieve. We must keep listening to His Guidance and to do our best to follow Him. However, we must back up our faith with actions. If we truly have faith, then we will act and perform good works for Him. Without actions, our faith is meaningless.
Jesus’s miracles were all about actions, not just in word, but in deed. He did both, as we must also. If we only talk the talk, but do not walk our talk, then our words mean nothing. If we walk the walk also, our words have weight, meaning, as we become men and women of the Word. I say of the Word and not like the old saying, he is a man of his word. For we want to become a Man/Woman of His Word, not our word! If we go by His Word, we can never go wrong. We always seem to go on our word and that is where we get into trouble. It is action not just diction which counts. The two can go together, but in the end, actions speak louder than words.
The Collect, Epistle and Gospel tie together, laying out, detailing and reinforcing the same message, ultimately. We have to have faith in Christ and God, and be willing to accept the Holy Ghost into us, that through Him, we may do good works on Earth and that we will receive our just reward for doing what is right in the end.
Heaven is at the end of an uphill trail. The easy downhill trail does not lead to the summit.
The time is now, not tomorrow. The time has come, indeed. How will you ACT?
It is by our actions we are known.
Be of God - Live of God - Act of God
[1] The American Civil War was fought not over slavery, but over States Rights. Make no mistake, the right being disputed at the time was slavery. Many will say the wrong side won, including the noted thinker Thomas Sowell. Slavery was an institution whose time was long passed, it did not serve anyone, master or slave. It was counter to the Word and should never have existed here. Truly it was an instrument of the Devil and was used to harm our country.
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