Luke 18:9-14
​9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Watch on Facebook, sermon begins at 17:09

KEY TOPICS
God of Mercy, sin, Parable of Jesus, heart, sinner, Pharisee and Tax Collector, Fasting and Prayer, contempt, Righteous Judge, Prayer of Faith, defile, people, publican, thinking, Pride or Humility, coat, faith, Proclaim the Gospel

Praise to you, Lord Christ. Let us pray. Come Holy Spirit. Come like the wind and cleanse, come like the fire and burn, convert and consecrate our hearts for our great good. And for your greater glory. Amen. Please be seated. Again, morning to everybody. Great to be with you all on this the 20th, Sunday after Pentecost, proper 25. Where's my stuff over here? Alright, so um what do we have this morning?
 
This parable that Jesus tells those folks in this morning's reading is preceded by another parable that he tells just before he gets to this one, and you I'm sure all remembered, it's the parable where the widow goes to the judge who's not afraid of God or man doesn't regard man. And she's wants this judge to avenge her adversary who's been harming her and continues to threaten harm to her. And the judge finally, agrees to do that for her only because she keeps bothering him, she keeps troubling him. And so in today's the parable than he gives today is about a person who is a sinner, and his sin is harming him, and causing him pain, through the actions that it causes him to do the guilt and misery that it causes him. And, as Jesus says, in that first parable, that the judge didn't care, either for God or man, and yet he did it because she kept bothering him, how much more will God who loves us and seeks after us, forgive us our sins, and free us from the bondage of our sins. And that, that the way in which sin owns us, and keeps us in bondage. So you have freed me from my adversaries from the widow. And here you have a guy, free me from myself, for you from the sin of from my own sin, my own bondage, my own evil ways.
 
But before I get to talking about that parable, first a couple of words about this morning's calling, because it kind of fits in here. In it right, we prayed give us the increase of faith, hope and charity, that we may obtain that which you have promised. Faith, hope and charity, they all go together. And they are in fact what God promises us. He promises us faith. He promises us hope. He promises us that we will become charitable in our hearts. We have faith in Jesus and His words and deeds right. We have hope in His truth, his love and the promises that he makes to us. And out of those things flow, the good works, that come from love and gratitude for what God has done for us. So they all work together. If we have faith in Christ, if we have hope and his promises, we will naturally be charitable, out of love for God and for our neighbors, which is what we are called to do. Those are the two commandments. Make us love what you command that colic praise.
 
I love that. On my own. I don't know if I can get behind some of this charity.
 
Make me love to do that. Make me love to be that way. Let us have faith and hope and charity through Jesus Christ our Lord, to do good works that were called to do for free for fun, out of love for Christ out of love for our neighbors, not be grudgingly right or to feed our pride and our ego or to make God our debtor which is what we're about to hear about in this parable I'm going to talk about remember in Ezekiel, y'all remember you Zico right? He was a great guy, God. God says through Ezekiel. Because He knows our hearts. Right? That's the other thing we learned about today. He knows our hearts. That's who we are. That's what he's looking at. Ezekiel says a new heart and a new spirit. I will put in you and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh instead. And that happens, of course, through Jesus Christ. In Him, we are redeemed and are given a new heart. In Psalm 51, this almost says, Praise to God, create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me. Because his he knows his heart is not clean. He knows he does not have a right spirit within him. So he prays to God, to give this to him. Knowing that's my problem, God is my answer. So, this is the promise that God has made for us. And if we come to him seeking it, he will give it to us ask and it shall be given knock and the door will be open. But we have to come to Him in faith, asking him to do this for us.
 
In Jeremiah, remember Jeremiah, he's a good guy. God said, I, the Lord searched the heart, and test the mind to give every man according to his ways. He searches our hearts and our minds, to give to every one of us according to our ways. I think what he means there is the disposition of our hearts. Accordingly, he goes on according to the fruit of his deeds, is the fruit, being self serving pride, that the fruit I'm trying to cultivate? Or am I doing things out of love for God and my neighbor. And of course, that sums it sort of up with Matthew and Matthew where Jesus says, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
 
So it's all about this purity of heart thing we've got going on here. Purity, humility, love. This is what Jesus preaches. So in the parable this morning, what Jesus does is he describes a specific moment when two men go to the temple to pray.
 
Now, it is a parable, though still, because the similitude of this is of all the ways in which we regard ourselves as superior to others. All the ways in which we regard others with contempt. Which of course is the opposite of what the kingdom of heaven is all about. Faith, hope, charity, purity, humidity, love. Alright, so let's, let's look then at what's going on with the Pharisee first.
 
So the Pharisees stood by himself, separated himself from the others, separated himself from the rabble separated himself up front. So that he could posture he display his singular righteousness. And he prayed Thus, God, I thank you that I'm not like other people. And you notice he doesn't say as Paul does, by the grace of God, I am what I am. He says, God, I thank you kind of a plausible introduction to my vein boasting. And I'll put a finer point on that later. So he proclaims and his prayer, such as it is, that he's not like other people. I'm not a thief. I'm not a rogue, I'm not an adulterer. Like all the rest of you are I think he kind of thinks everybody else are those things. Or even like this tax collector over here, geez, calls the guy out. He's over there. What is he doing here? He's so he's fascinating on some external sort of obvious sins. And then he kind of generally applies it to all the other people. So by doing that, by pointing to the sins of others, he keeps himself from looking at the sins that are within his own heart, the only sins that are within his own mind. One of which, of course, is the very thing that he's doing here. Thinking himself without sin, and therefore superior to all the others. All the others that he can show contempt for. As if you were God Himself. Above the fallen nature of of ordinary man our blindness right to to our fallen natures to be pretty intense.
 
I was think when I was writing this, I had a flashback on a moment. I've had many of them and still do. But one moment in particular when my blindness was sort of humorous to me later when it occurred to me, but when I first got sober, I wound up in a detox center in downtown Fresno. I mean, downtown Fresno, and not the rich side of town. And so one of the things they supplied for us for drunks, because we were sobering up was a can of tobacco outside. And there's a little courtyard and some rolling papers. So we could all go out there and roll cigarettes for ourselves. Well, it happened to be like the 26th of December when I found myself there. And the day before, my mother had given me a coat for Christmas, winter and all, you know, nice coat. So I'm standing out there rolling papers with the rest of these folks, and it suddenly dawns on me I have a new coat. Here the rest of these bums, what am I doing here man? I had a new coat. I thought I was pretty sweet. You know, I was, I had contempt for them in their rambly mess. I probably was years sober before it dawned on me my mother gave me that coat. I couldn't have got a new coat to save my life. So this is pretty much an example of how I my nature, how I function. I look for why I'm better than everybody else, so that I can have contempt for them.
 
So after the Pharisee announces all these things that he doesn't do. He goes on to proclaim some of the external, righteous things that he does do. For which God should probably be indebted to him, or a little something for these good things he's doing. What does he do? He fasts twice a week. Now, Chris is nothing wrong with fasting, right, we're called fastens certain instances. But that can be something wrong with this guy's fasting. And I think we can be pretty obvious what it is. Why is he fasting? Is he fasting? Because he's trying to gain some spiritual aid for himself, to try to draw closer to God to try to have a better understanding of who he is to take his inventory to, to meditate on Scripture and verse, is he separating himself from the food for those purposes, so that he can do that? Or is he fasting for prideful ends? So that he can just himself as justify himself as righteous? Look, God, which you you own me, because I fast twice a week. And I'm letting everybody here know, I fast twice a week. Take that. Why does he give a 10th of all his income? Because he's humble, and he's and he's out of gratitude for the blessings God has given him is he is going to therefore help feed the poor and the needy, and those who have less than he has, by the way we might add, which but for the grace of God, he's not one. Or does he do it again to justify himself so that he can tell everybody I give 10th of everything I income?
 
Take that. Do you owe me God? There is a quick observation. So these are good things, fasting, tithing, but look what you know, Satan, right. When he quit, he does your look at the interest he has in our in our fallen and unredeemed state, which he does, right? And you know that he delights in the in the ways in which we can take good things and turn them into sinful exercises of sinful pride, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So on the one hand, we're doing another hand one what's going on in my heart, what's going on in our hearts? Which, by the way, is what God's looking at. Is God looking at the 10% of his income that he's giving? Is he looking at him fasting? And drawing his conclusions from that? No, he's looking at his heart. He knows what's in this guy's heart. He knows that the guy is fooling himself. It doesn't do the Pharisee any good, to proclaim himself righteous. Because God has already proclaimed him a sinner. Right, Romans three, the sentence of God is that all have sinned, There is none righteous, no, not one, not even you Pharisee. Or as John Bunyan guy, the wrote Pilgrims Progress, which we kind of vaguely alluded to today. In his commentary and his passage, he says, it is no better than what the Pharisee didn't think of himself. God had proclaimed him a sinner, a sinner by original sin, and a center by reason of actual transgressions, personally, therefore, with reference to the true nature of their state, they were both centers, and both by the law under condemnation, true, the publicans, leprosy was outward. But the Pharisees was inward, his heart, his soul, his spirit was a foul and had as much the plague of sin as had the other in his life and actions.
 
So the parable then compares, of course, this Pharisee, with the tax collector or the Publican, as he's also called, one of the Publican do, you stood afar off? From the front of the temple? He came into the temple because he wanted to be with God. But he didn't, he knew he wasn't worthy to actually even come into the presence of God. He didn't even look up to heaven. He was aware, and he was admitting to himself, that in his own nature, he was not worthy to approach God. We pray every Sunday, do we not? We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under your table. We remind ourselves constantly of that truth, the truth by which we live, that we are sinners saved by grace. That is the truth by which we live in freedom. Freed from the condemnation of sin. The Publican beat his breast acknowledging that my sin is in here in my heart, it's at the core of who I am. Yes, he knew he did sinful things for which he sought forgiveness. But he knew that the impulse to do these sinful things came from within his heart, his own heart who he was Mark sevens. Jesus says, For from within, out of the heart of man come evil thoughts. Sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these things come from within, and they defile a person.
 
 Now, if you're like me, you go, well, let's see how am I doing on that area and steal her and kill anybody? You know? And then Jesus, of course, when I tried to get away with it like that, what does he do? He comes along and says, Well, you know, if you think bad thoughts about another person, that's the same thing as killing them. Adultery, I think you can think committed adultery. Oh, wait a minute. Jesus says if you look at our look on a woman with lust in your heart, you've committed adultery now the Pharisee he's probably thinking he's pretty cool. But he may have skim over the evil thoughts part. Which of course he's doing left and right. He may slide across the slander calling everyone thieves and adulterers he may slide across the pride part. And then just to wrap everything up foolishness that's something I really good at. Just ask anybody that knows me. All these evil things come from Within, they defile a person. That's what defiles me is the sense within my heart. That's why when God frees me from it through faith in Jesus Christ, I am given a clean heart. I am given a pure heart. Those things which defiantly are forgiven and washed away through the blood of Christ. That's the good news. Without Christ, I'm defiled, I'm stuck, I can't do anything. Now I know of course, the world has various ways in which it tries to tap into how we improve our self esteem. And we learn here from God Himself, that our self esteem is found in Christ. If I'm loving other people, if I'm obeying Jesus, and His Word and His commandments, which I'm called to do, I will feel fine about myself. Why? Because I'm obeying Jesus, I've aligned my will with God's will. And that is peace. I don't go around thinking terrible things about myself. Because I'm simply obeying Jesus who loves me. And in His love, I love you and myself. That's the great news. I don't have to look in the mirror and say, you know, Randy, you're a good guy. When people like you got ready for the day?
 
So the Publican, knowing in his heart that he was a senator, what was his prayer? The only prayer we can have? Thanks for you to God. He says, God be merciful to me a sinner. I'm coming to you caught. I recognize I need mercy. In your mercy, forgive me, in your mercy Create in me a clean heart, which is forgiveness does. That's the thing to remember. And renew a right spirit within me. I want to live rightly right, which is, of course righteousness. So the Publican came to know that he was a sinner. God, of course, searched his heart, as he does all our hearts. But he has searched his heart too. And recognized, like God knew about him, that he was a forlorn, hopeless sinner in need of a Savior. He came to know for sure that he was only by the mercy of God that he could be justified or made right or made righteous. Paul member he cries out, Oh, what a wretched man I am. Who will rescue me from this life that is dominated by sin and death. Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord. There's the answer. The Pharisee thought he justified himself and had made himself righteous, while others of course for awful sinners. It looked outside of himself, to find the flaws, the sins of other people. So that he could focus on those and then he so that he could, in his righteousness judge them as if he were God himself, as if he were the righteous one. Thank you, God, that I am not like other people, he said. I think it may follow something along these lines. Thank you for making me among all mankind, the one who is without sin, the one who is able to judge and condemn others, thank you God. It was that very sin, that sent him away unjustified. Thinking that he was somehow righteous in his own self, as far from the truth as you can get. He would not humble himself to look for and define that sin was in his in his own heart.
 
So it kind of has to begin there, I think, doesn't it? We have to humble ourselves, to look within ourselves to be tried to be honest with ourselves as to what the nature of our heart is. The fair See, would not humble himself before God or man to confess than his fault, that even he was a sinner in need of mercy. Just like everyone else, God in His mercy, sent Jesus into the world, so that we may be recognized reconciled to God in him, not in our own merits, but in the merits of Jesus, who alone is the righteous one. In Jesus, we are made righteous, as our sins are forgiven.
 
So, the message this morning I think, can be summed up, at least partially in, we need to stay humble. We need to recognize confess our sins which we do every Sunday of course, and our need for God's mercy. Because then that is the freedom that God wants for us. So we go to God, we humbly ask Him in faith, for our redemption through Jesus, Jesus as our Lord and our Savior in Him, we are redeemed. Let us pray.
 
Father God, we thank you for these parables that Jesus gave us to instruct us in your ways and in your truth. And we pray, Father God, that you would make us love that which you command that you would pull me out of myself, pull us out of ourselves so that we would seek you in honesty and humility. Help us Father God, not to judge others as as Jesus has instructed us not to do. Help us not to judge with the love and to be charitable towards each other. In Jesus name, we pray to your Father. Amen. 

Watch on Facebook, sermon begins at 14:42.

KEY TOPICS
Holy Baptism, Sacrament of Baptism, Unity of God’s People, Baptized by Jesus, Temple of Holy Spirit Wash Away Sinfulness, Real Presence, church, holy, coming, Water of Baptism, John the Baptist, Faith and Grace, Ancient Israel, Life, Participating Together, Purifying the Heart, Initiation Rite of the Church

Lord, this is the day that you have made. And we rejoice and we are glad to join you in the midst of it. We thank You, Lord, for Your presence here among us, for your Holy Spirit that indwells us. And we thank you for this Holy Sacrament of Baptism, in by which our lives are joined forever with you and with one another. And we pray now, Lord, that You would come and certify your presence here today. And Speak to our hearts touch us, Lord, we pray with your love. In this hour, in your holy name we pray. Amen. Please be seated.
 
Welcome, welcome. Once again, welcome to all of William's family and friends who are joining us. Welcome to our visitors. Welcome to all out there on live stream. We're delighted to have you with us as well. This is a wonderful day a day of rejoicing a day when we get to once again celebrate the liturgy, the sacrament of Holy Baptism. I think that the opening portions of the liturgy really just invite us right in to what God is doing here in our midst this morning. one faith, one Lord, one, baptism. The Sacrament of Baptism resides at the very heart of Christian unity of oneness with God, and with one another. He binds together, the people of God, it binds us together, as the family of God as the family of Ascension. But beyond that, and into the family of the whole church. It binds us together as the people of God into one community. One church joined together as followers of Jesus down through the ages and on into eternity forever and ever.
 
Today, we are blessed to participate together in this sacrament, this sacrament of Holy Baptism, as William comes to be baptized this morning, he is coming in faith. He is bringing the faith within his heart, to declare that to the Lord and, and to offer his obedience and his faithfulness to God. He is coming with expectation. And as we shall or should as well with the expectation of God's grace, that is flowing through the waters of baptism. And we join with him as his church family, with our resounding welcome into the family of God into this oneness into this unity, which is created in the sacrament of baptism.
 
So baptism is a common part of our life together as a community as the people of God, as the church is a common portion. It's at the very bedrock at the heart of our unity. As I said, As Christians, we also follow Jesus and his directions, his commandment to go and what baptize, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and the name of the Father, the Son, Holy Spirit. And William is coming as a disciple, which really literally means learner, a learner, of Jesus, a learner of God's Holy Word, a learner of God's presence of His Holy Spirit is life. And he is coming to be baptized, to to join his heart and his life, together with God.
 
We we hold baptism as as a common part of our life together in the church, but we don't often take much time to talk about the meaning of baptism. So let's take some time this morning to think about just what is happening here. In this mystery, this holy mystery that we're participating in, what are we participating in here together this morning with William? How is the Holy Spirit of God present and participating with us also, as we come in a few moments around the baptismal font and welcome the newly baptized into the church. There are three qualities or characteristics I want to just reflect on for a minute, before we actually come to the waters of baptism. First, a little bit about the roots of baptism. Where does baptism come? Where did it begin? How did this whole thing get started. And secondly, just a little thought about baptism as a sacrament. How is this a sacrament in the life of the church. And finally, just the characteristic of baptism as being the sort of the rite of initiation, the entryway into the community of faith into the church, over on our old campus, and this is common in the Anglican churches, we used to have the baptismal font set where, by the door, by the entryway, symbolically indicating that this is the door, this is the way in, this is the entrance into the family of God.
 
So the roots of baptism, the sacrament of baptism, and the initiation, how it initiates those into our family.
 
Baptism has its roots, all the way back, way back, even before Jesus back through the Old Testament back to the very tabernacle that they used to set up in the desert, the people of Israel, baptism has roots in the worship of ancient Israel, and the center of that worship, first the tabernacle, and then the temple. Remember the temple in Jerusalem, and in the in the entry way in the doorway, when you came in the entry point into the temple, there was set basins of water. And those who would come in then would would take time and they would purify themselves as they came in to the presence of God. It was set up there for purification. But this this is not my say purification. This is not like, Oh, I'm coming in, I gotta wash my hands, you know, got a little grit on my hands, wash my feet, it's kind of dirty. No, think about what's happening. We're coming into the temple, the dwelling place of God, the Holy God, we're coming into His presence, and and the Water God set up in a sacramental manner, to wash, to purify the heart, to purify the soul, to put away sinfulness and the purification, as as they would enter in, to pray humbly, with, for God's grace, to wash away their sins that every impunity that the world had impinged upon.
 
And as William comes today, and the water is poured over him, is there, the effect of the Holy Spirit is to wash away and to purify him from all sinfulness from all the the ways the world that have tried to cling to Him, because He comes in faith, he comes in humility, to present himself to the Lord. And so once there's the you, if there was this purifying of the heart, then the person would enter in to the worship, then we can come into the presence of God, into the Holy of Holies. We are the place where heaven and earth touch. And so baptism has its roots way back in the worship of ancient Israel.
 
Now, by the time of the New Testament, but by time that Jesus arrives or just prior to Jesus arriving, who comes on the scene, John the Baptist, okay, John the Baptist, you know, that he's, that's his name, the baptizer. He's gonna take baptism, like to another level, because by that time, when it happened in the temple, it did become worldly itself. It became a place of worldly power and religious striving and trying to make money.
 
The whole purpose then, of this purification was being being forfiet  it was being polluted. So, God anointed John as a prophet by the power of the Holy Spirit, to to revive to renew baptism, and to call the people out from the world to call them out, even from religion, that we had taken over worldly ways taken on worldly ways, and to call them out into To the wilderness into God's creation, there's a special presence of God and His creation isn't there in the stars and the heavens and in the mountains and in the rivers and streams. And John called the people to come out, come out of the world come out of this religion, that's gone. apostate, come out into the pure presence of God and be baptized in the river, Jordan. And it was an amazing, actually an amazing revival that took place in John's, John's time 1000s upon 1000s, came out to be baptized by John in the Jordan. And you see what what's happening here is, he's, as I said, baptism is an initiation into the community, John is preparing them to come into a new community, a new community of God's people, that is gathered around a temple not made with stones, but a living temple, Jesus Christ Himself. He is the living temple of God, as he walked on the earth.
 
John begins to revive and renew baptism. And the entire intention, once again is the washing away of sinfulness. Repentance, which means to turn around, to turn from the ways of the world to turn from the ways of our flesh, to with humility, come back to God and join our lives with him. Jesus, even Jesus was baptized, when by John in the Jordan River. And then once Jesus is baptized, then he moves on to complete the transformation and turn baptism into a sacrament, a sacramental connection with God, he completes the full meaning of holy baptism for all those who follow Him, transforming Holy Baptism, into a Holy Sacrament, his disciples began almost immediately to baptize in his name, welcoming more into this new community, Jesus remember, and his time as he's physically present, is the living temple of God. And he's gathering and those who God is calling into this new community gathered around his person coming to Him in faith, like John's baptism, that this baptism continues to be an act of repentance, a moment of turning, as I said, from the sinfulness of the world. It's not just a ritual. It is a inward spiritual reality that's taking place. As those are baptized, they've come to faith in Jesus, and they are baptized, they are changed inwardly. And outward visible sign the waters of baptism are an outward visible sign of an inward spiritual reality. Amen. That's like the classic definition by the way of a sacrament, the outward visible sign of an inward spiritual reality.
 
The Sacrament of Baptism. Our lives are touched by the presence of God, in the midst of this act of faith that William is taking today. And that by extension, by the way, all of us, I think, almost all of us here have been baptized or if you're waiting that you'll have you'll be next on the list. Just let me know. This, in the midst of this act of faith, what happens? Jesus comes, the Holy Spirit comes, God is using the water in a sacramental manner as a conduit.
 
William is coming in faith and God is using the water, he's infusing the water with his presence with His love with his power. You could sum it up by saying the grace of God is flowing through the water of baptism, a sacramental conduit through these, these conduits through the water of baptism through the the wine and the bread of Holy Communion. God touches our lives. He puts His grace and His love into our hearts and into our lives. And especially in this moment of baptism, we are made one it is the heart of Christian unity, we are joined together and with the, with a connection with God that can never be broken a oneness, we indwelt by the Spirit, one with God, one with one another. In this moment of baptism, our connection with God is enhanced, it is magnified. There's a quantum leap, any physics guys here, entendres here, Quantum Leap, you can explain that to us all after service and copier. It's a little electron pulsing, they go to another level. And when they do what happens? They shoot off the light, photons,and energy is released. William is about to go and have a quantum leap here this morning.
 
Light, God is going to shoot out. He's going from dialogue to cable. From an old landline to an iPhone. This connection of God is going to be magnified, lifted up. Did you like that? I have to have some. It says here, try this maybe humorous. But you know, in truth I, I kind of see baptism that way. You know we we we can have we can even have faith in God and be following God and have a connection with God. But something in the sacrament a Baptism that just it just gets totally magnified. And all of a sudden it's like, wow, that's God's voice. This is his direction. This is the calling. It is dial up to cable. So on baptism, we are incorporated into the body of Christ and the sacrament of baptism is in the sacraments. Heaven is opened, and having an earth touch. And God touches us tangibly, with his presence with his immanence, that's a theological term meaning God is present here in this world. And how wonderful that God has chosen elements of his very creation, for this purpose, very water, that is the the most common element on the earth.
 
So the roots of baptism go back to ancient Israel, the sacrament of baptism, transforms and enhances our connection with God in a way that can never be taken away or changed. And baptism then is the initiation into the community. Like that purification. In ancient Israel, baptism is the way in to the temple. Jesus, when he was here, when he was physically present, he was the temple. His body literally was the temple. Now he is ascended into heaven. And the Holy Spirit has been poured out upon the church. And we have become the temple. You've heard me say this many times, as we gather together, we are living stones, see all the stones that are holding up this temple in here, which one is you? I take all of them to support and to hold the temple together. We are now the temple, the church, the living stones of God. So baptism is the then the means by which a new member a New Living Stone is grafted in is Masoned into the wall. What's the metaphor I'm trying to use? Finds the place in the temple of God.
 
In the early church. Those who are preparing for baptism, baptism are called catechumen. And in certain sense, William is a catechumen here today and the kind of came in late sometimes prepare for as long as two years and then be baptized, welcomed into the community on Easter vigil and then come to receive their First Communion. And that's what William is going to be participating in. This morning. Once he's baptized, he is going to come then and receive the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, his first community so now this morning, we are welcoming him as he participates and we're participating participating with him in this second Middle moment. Holy Baptism is a vital part of our life together as followers of Jesus. In this sacrament, God uses the most common element on Earth, that is water, as the means of connecting our life with him as the conduit of His grace, His love, His presence, His glory. In in joining our lives, in common with him, and in common with each other symbolically, we are baptized, then into the the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus himself, and his grace. As it says in Second Timothy here this morning, this grace was given to us in Christ Jesus.
 
"This grace, that we're living in participating in this morning, was given to us in Christ Jesus, before the ages began, and it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, the temple, the living temple of God, who abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel."
 
 This is the gospel, the baptism, baptism of Holy, Holy Sacrament of God and coming into His presence and in an sh. Then joining our lives with Jesus for all eternity, he accomplished that he put away sinfulness. That's what we're doing this morning, we're washing away sinfulness. We're coming up. It's as if William will rebaptised into the, into the waters into the watery grave with Jesus and burial and then raise them up again in new life, and his true new identity in the kingdom of God.
 
The Sacrament of Baptism resides at the heart of Christian unity. Baptism has his roots, all the way back into ancient Israel and the people of God. From the very beginning of the community of God's people, Jesus fulfilled the ancient right and transformed baptism into a Holy Sacrament, the means of initiation of incorporation into the church. And so now then, let us welcome William as he comes to the waters of baptism to be washed, be connected with God, and to come forth in the true identity that God has made him and let us welcome him as he comes in to be baptized in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

Watch on Facebook, sermon begins at 15:44.

KEY TOPICS
Lazarus the Poor Man, Rich Man, God, Jesus, Abraham’s Bosom, Haughty Spirit, Heaven and Earth, Mercy and Judgement, Pursue Righteousness, People of God, Parables of Jesus, read, Remember to be Content, Angels and Prophets, works, world, Dressed in Purple, industrious, place

Come like to wind and cleanse, come like the fire and burn, convert and consecrate our hearts for our great good and for your greater glory. Amen.
 
Please be seated. Well, again, welcome to everyone. Last week, we had a Gospel reading that ended with, and I quote, "You cannot serve God and mammon." You remember that? Remember that, Jack? The perplexing parable? Yeah,  I noodled over it myself somehow, after that.
 
Well, what happened there was that that ended. And, you know, of course, we got to the basics of the parable, which was that the shrewd servant was shrewd and industrious, and looking out for his well being. Once well, he cheated his master while he was with him. And then when his master said, You're gonna go, he started plotting and planning on how we could set things up for him, once he gets kicked out. So it could be okay. So that he could have, you know, a place to live and to do and that sort of thing. And he was praised for that. But what about those of us who are interested in what happens when we get when we depart this world? Are we concerned with the world to come with eternity? Do we live our lives in such a way that we store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, as Jesus suggests that we do. So the Pharisees didn't like it, but it goes on. There's some other the lines following that, where they say that they derived Jesus for that sermon. And they ridiculed him and mocked him. Why? Because in their worldview, if you were rich, and fancy, and special, and important, you were favored by God. If you were poor and miserable, too bad for you. Something's going on there. Something's wrong with you. So this whole notion that I'm supposed to serve God and not wealth, What do you mean I'm not supposed to serve riches I'm not supposed to go after riches. I'm not supposed to make that my main thing. I'm not supposed to address a fancy and all that sort of stuff. But that that was the whole point. And it's easy to fall into that trap isn't it? Right, what I wear, how I look kind of car I drive all that sort of stuff. But no, that's not the point.
 
So Jesus tells them another parable to try to make more clear what he's what he's saying. What it is that we should be concerned with here in this life and in this world and it's not the things that we think they are and you know, if you look at this morning's first read of reading to Timothy you know, he he spells it out really really well here so I just want to read some of it. So that you cannot serve God and mammon. So there is great gain and godliness combined with contentment, oh contentment, what is that? For we brought nothing in the world we can take nothing out of it.
 
But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. Okay. motorhomes. motorhomes. There. They're not necessary, apparently. But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmless desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And in their eagerness to be rich, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. They went after mammon, they said, I want to be rich, and I'm going to do whatever it takes to do that. And if I have to violate God's will, then I shall do that in the process. Because this is where I'm staking my happiness and my enjoyment.
 
But he says, As for you, man of God, so those who want to be godly, who are interested in that In a shuttle that pursue righteousness, the fellow from last week's sermon pursued what he pursued to clever means in order to secure his happiness after he gets fired. He was busy being, plotting and planning and making this bringing this to fruition. And he was said, hey, that's, that's really good work that you've done there. I was very industrious of you and clever of you. Well, here, Paul saying, Pursue righteousness, seek that. Upon seeking righteousness. I ask do I get up in the morning and when I pray and say, What do I do I get up in the morning, say, Okay, today I'm going to seek righteousness, and godliness, and love, and gentleness. Those are my goals today. Generally, I wake up well, now that I'm retired, not as much, but when I used to be worrying, I wake up, I had all kinds of plotting and planning going on. That didn't really include some of these things. Fight the good fight of the faith. Believe that's not always easy to do is it because the world it wants us to pursue Mammon. So we have to fight it, we have to fight the good fight. We have to take hold of the eternal life, to which we've been called by God, the eternal life. That's what's important. That's what I'm supposed to be thinking about. As for those who in his present age are rich, commend them not to be haughty. Again, it's not the money. That's the problem. It's the love of money, , Jesus in one place tells the one guy to sell all the stuff and give it to the poor, because he had a particular that guy needed to learn a lesson. Here he says, Don't be haughty. In the uncertainty of your riches, like we're gonna hear about the guy who dresses in purple. He was a little haughty commanded not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on an on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Isn't that great? He provides us everything we need for our enjoyment. If we turn to God, if we pursue God and godliness, that's what columns I'd like I said many times, you know, I'll pursue some of these worldly things like a motorhome. And because I want enjoyment, and I do get enjoyment out of them. But I also get a lot of problems and pain. I do this thing up here. I pierced myself with many pains. Because these things are, you know, have problems come with them. And as I said about boats, which I heard some guys--they went, that was the greatest thing ever. Since the two best days of boat ownership is the day you buy it and the day you sell it. That's what we're getting at here.
 
But not with God. When you find God and you rest in God, you find enjoyment that is eternal. Okay, they are what they're gonna do some other things here. There do you do good, to be rich in good works. Not just rich and mammon, but rich and good works. That's the important thing. Generous, ready to share all the things that of course, the fellow in the parable we're talking about here that Jesus told did not do. says if you're if you are rich and good works, and you're generous, and you're ready to share, you are thus storing up for yourself the treasures of a good foundation for the future in heaven. So that they may take hold of the life that really is life stored up for yourselves treasures in heaven. Jesus said, not the things on earth that rust and decay and go away. So be about good works. BJ generous. These are the things He tells us to do. Again, do I wake up in the morning and take a moment to think to myself, I want to remember to be generous today. I want to remember to do good works today. Because I've been called to do that by Jesus Himself. God Himself has set aside good work for me to do. Do I get up and I think about that. I need to because that's that's the whole point. Okay. So we go back to the guy the week or so now we go ahead to the guy in purple is rich guy. He did all kinds of things, right? He ate sumptuously every day, it says, never took a day off for being sumptuous.
 
Okay, so was it the wealth that condemned him? No.
 
It was what he didn't do as well. If you forgot, he never even considered why God gave him that wealth. I'm sure he thought I did. Look at me. So the condition of his heart was what his problem was. He didn't believe Psalm 146, which we have right here. Where it says, God who made heaven, an earth, the season, all that is in them, who keeps his promise forever, who gives justice to those who are oppressed and food to those who hunger, the Lord sets the prisoners free, the Lord opened the eyes of the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, ie Lazarus out of the gate. He did he, I don't know if he read that he may have. But if he did, he read it and he didn't do it.
 
So Abraham says in the story here, he says, John, remember that doing your your, during your lifetime, you receive your good things and Lazar, some like manna is evil things. So he did receive some good things. But again, he did not use them according to God's will. He did not use his talents to Increase God's mercy in the world. As Jesus instructs us in another in another in another parallel. He dressed in purples to show other how important and special he was, he dressed in purple and did all these fancy things to feed his worldly ego. He used fine linen for the same purpose he feasted sumptuously every day, to not only impress other people, but to impress himself with how awesome he was. I'm God. Why Lazarus, of course, hoping he could get a crumb of bread. That was his day. And you notice how there's this faith, isn't it that I'm going to come here and maybe I'll get across to bread live. And you notice how you don't hear him complaining or whining? was a pretty amazing guy. And he's there. Why is he said because he's got sores. He's got some kind of disease. He had sores. He can't do anything. He's really probably had to carry in there. He just lays there it says he so we couldn't keep the dogs from licking his wounds and wounds. And you think about the dogs, right? I wanted these dogs probably belong to this rich purple guy, right? The Purple Guy as he's known by the rich purple guy, he's probably his dogs. I'm sure he fed his dogs pretty pretty well. You know, we think about that I you know, we take care of our dogs. And sometimes I think, you know, by taking care of my dog and more than I'm taking care of the people in the world who are suffering our border and have real problems. You want you to the dogs come to rich, maybe they were nicer and then the rich guy they were they were coming to lick his wounds to try to alleviate some of the pain I don't know either that or it was just further torture for it. And we know that the rich man knew that he was there wasn't like he didn't know he was there. He even knew his name isn't hurting his call tell Lazarus to come dip his finger and cool my tongue.
 
So he knew he was there. He just didn't do anything to help him he may not like those sores Lazarus is in a bad way. We can't refer either Can we now who who God loves Richard the poor I can't wait because right here pretty obvious to God loves Lazarus so let's talk about Lazarus he's poor he's he's poor in spirit as Jesus says is a good thing to have.
 
I'm actually gonna go back to the rich guy for a minute. Because this is another thing we learned from Jesus. No, it's not enough just not to be mean to people. Were called to help them. Remember when Jesus this is really powerful message he gives to us at one point when he talks about how Have you guys over here? You didn't, I was hungry, and you didn't feed me? And they say, well, when did we what? What are you talking about here? Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for the least of these my brothers you did not do for me. And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. And that's what's happening here to the rich guy. He's going away into eternal punishment, because he'd stepped feet, Lazarus. So we're taught very specifically, very important things we're supposed to do. And that's to use the talents were given by God in the service of others. In the name of God.
 
So, there he is, and then guess what happens? They both die. I'm sure the man in purple was surprised. And let's imagine for a moment his funeral dignity dignitaries, probably came, because he's carrying, you know, some probably a, you know, a bit, maybe a fan. To carry them there. It was great pomp and circumstance around the burial of this fellow, I'm sure.
 
But what happened to Lazarus? Well, a band of angels came to get him. So the rich man has this temporary last moment of look how awesome I am. He's buried. Go straight to hell. You know, we say that sometimes at persons should go straight down. Well, that's apparently what happened. He went straight down.
 
And Lazarus went straight into the bosom of Abraham, and haven't lifted up and carry there by a band of angels, angels who look after us in this life, and who will come to meet us and take us with Him in Heaven. I remember when my father died. I think this is what was going on. He's laying in the bed there and everybody was laying around, are standing around him. And he was looking at us this is like, just before he died, and he looked up, and he goes, and he says, this person's name and that person's name and that person's name and that person's name. And then he goes, who's that? And then later, right, I can't remember who it was. One of us walked by the hall and they looked through and he was busy talking to whoever that was. So the angels come to get us. So death, it's not necessarily that scary thing is to die. The angels are there to take care of you, to lift you up and bring you to Heaven. rich man's and how suffering. He looks up, he sees Abraham. Remember, Luke's Jesus says this another time earlier and Luke He says, you know, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves are thrown out. Now, this is a tremendous addition to his torment, isn't it, that not only is he in this terrible place, but he looks up and he sees Lazarus is in heaven. And he realizes, wait, there's this other place where he's been comforted by Abraham goes on. He says, people will come from east and west and north and south and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. Indeed, there are those who are last who will be first and first who will be last. And this of course, is a good example. I think of what he's saying there.
 
So he's surprised so is there no relief in hell? No. i Let's think about it. This is no relief. Now. You read through the story, this rich man is in a bad way. And there's no every time he asked for something, no, no great chasm. God ordained that this was the way it was going to be. You had your time. Now, this is the situation you're in. So that when you think about that, that's very serious. But then we think about what did God do to save us from that predicament? That's pretty intense what he did too Isn't He sent His only Son into the world, to teach us about his mercy, and, and his salvation and to suffer and die on the cross, to pay for our sins, so that we would not have to go to this terrible place. So God did a tremendous thing. And if we think about that, we can understand why now. This is a bad place that we have consigned ourselves to, by our disobedience. So the rich man's punishment includes not only his loss of his stuff, but actual pain. It's made worse like I said, he sees Lazarus, than the dialogue he has with Abraham represents the thoughts ofChrist. Son, remember, Christ says to him, Abraham says to him, just think about that son, remember? Wow. That's probably the last thing you want to hear when you're in his situation.
 
Remember your Creator. Remember your Redeemer. Remember the many warnings I gave to you that you did not regard.
 
Remember the many offers I made to you have eternal joy in life that you ignored or rejected. Remember the gifts I gave you. And that you were not grateful for them? Should I use them as a blessing for others?
 
Remember your unkindness and the little you did for others. Remember how you did not improve upon the talents that I gave you. So it's too late for him to ask for help.
 
Now all he can do is remember that this is the great mercy and grace of God for those who accept his offer. When we go into heaven, our sins are forgiven and washed away. And they are remembered no more. That is the great, amazing gift. Especially when you compare it to what the rich man is left to do for eternity. We are forgiven through His mercy and grace. We will not remember any of that. It's gone. But for him, it is too late now to ask for help. The day of help has passed, the day of mercy has gone. If he had asked for help in his life, he would have received it. He begs Lazarus, then go to my brother. Tell them hey, look, They have Moses and the prophets dumb to read that. No, no, they won't. That's there to read blah, blah, Moses prophets. They need something special to come. Right? We get used to these things. And you just tell us look, if they did not listen to Moses and the prophets and either where they live, be convinced even if someone does arise from the dead and go to them, their hearts are hardened. That's not gonna it won't do anything. They have the written word. That is the ordinary means and a miraculous and merciful means by which God has given us to be convicted and converted of our sins and to accept His mercy. That's how it works. That's it. But they gotta have something special for them. No, that's it right there. Foolish people. We like to think that any any kind of method of conviction or you know, God is better than the one God came up with? What does he know? So they find reasons to reject God. Probably because they just don't want to believe that it could be because of the Pharisees and unlike what he teaches, but they don't know that they're rejecting the joy, of eternal life with God and the joy that is found every day on this earth with God.
 
Where's it at? Here it is. God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Trust God. And those of us in this is this I think, father, Jack Winchester last week in this country so rich and everything. We all the poor has always been with us. Jesus said, Therefore we always have work to do to succor and help those in need.
 
The dead if they came back, they could say no more than what is in Scripture. And they could say it with no more authority. Then the scripture says that Jesus verifies this very point. Both when he raises Lazarus always wondered, did he did he have? Did he come up with the word Lazarus here? He's telling the story, because he knew I'm gonna raise Lazarus from the dead here little while? I think so. You know, a lot of people weren't convinced by that. Who else was raised from the dead? To show the power of God, Jesus himself. You tell that to people. They won't be convinced even if someone is raised from the dead. Therefore, what do we do? We ask for God's mercy. We pray for His mercy for us and for others, that we would all come to see and hear and learn and see that the word is true and taste of it and taste how beautiful it is. But we must read it and we must ingest it in order for it to it for us to experience its beauty, the beauty of holiness that is there for us.
 
Let us pray. Father, God, we thank you so much for the gift of your word, and for the teachings that Jesus came to bring us so that we would know the wonders of Your mercy and forgiveness and the wonders of your salvation. Help us Father God, to obey you and to follow Jesus in pathways of righteousness so that we go about doing good for others in your name. Help us Father God, to be about your business. In Jesus name we pray, Amen. Please stand now and turning to page seven in your booklet let us confess our faith in the words of the Nicene Creed. We believe in one God, the Father and the Almighty.

Luke 16:1-13
16 He also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. 2 And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ 3 And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. 4 I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.’ 5 So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 He said, ‘A hundred measures[a] of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ 7 Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures[b] of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ 8 The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world[c] are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. 9 And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth,[d] so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.
10 “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. 11 If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own? 13 No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

Watch on Facebook, sermon begins at 18:01.
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KEY TOPICS
Stewards of Kingdom , Parables of Jesus, wealth, The Dishonest Steward, master, Wisdom of the World, Wisdom of God, Jesus Teachings. Slashes the Debts, Story and Parables, People in Scripture, throw, Commended by the Master, Love of Money, Cannot Serve God and Wealth, kingdom, Acted Shrewdly, homeless guy

Lord we pray send your spirit now, to open the Word to our understanding,  illuminate the scriptures and guide us as we consider this holy gospel this morning, and your holy name. Amen. Please be seated
 
Well, that Gospel reading is perfectly clear, right? I mean, easy to die see what Jesus is talking about.
 
I was thinking, you know, a father Randy and I kind of play Bible scripture roulette up here, because each week the lectionary comes around, and we're not sure who's going to get what passage Exactly. Although the parables of Jesus and all the Gospels, the one from this morning's reading is perhaps the most perplexing. What's commonly known as the parable of the dishonest steward or the unjust steward. The dishonest steward is conniving. He embezzles the Masters funds, he alters the books, and he skims off the top. And when he is called into account, he calls those who are in debt to the master and slashes the bills. How much do you owe 100 jugs of olive oil? Quick. Write down quickly, make it 50. How about you? Well, I 100 containers a week, okay, make it at any slashes that masters property, produce, just like that. Now, one would expect that for these actions, he would be punished. One would expect him to when he's called do an account to be thrown into jail or, you know, having to make restitution. But as the parable unwinds, as a parable unfolds, what happens next? He is commanded. What? The unjust not the end just steward is commanded. The master commends the dishonest manager, because he has acted shrewdly.
 
What is going on here?
 
Every time I read this parable, and I read through the Gospel of Luke, or we come to the lectionary, that's the question I asked what is going on here? In this story, it's hard to break into the density of what Jesus is trying to teach, at least for me, you can all give me your insights, following the service. Instead of being punished, the master commends the dishonest manager, what is going on? Instead of being thrown into jail, he gets a commendation for fleecing his masters goods. And at first glance, it may seem like that is what the parables teaching. So how are we to make sense then, of this perplexing story, this perplexing parable that Jesus is telling? Because parables are just that they are stories, which are dense, and they are layered with God's truth. And Jesus taught in parables. Why? Because stories are easy to remember. And after this morning, you're always going to remember this story of the unjust steward, the dishonest steward. So Jesus taught in parables so that they can be remembered and that they would convey the deep truths of God in the kingdom.
 
So let's dig in just a little bit into this parable, then this morning, how do we make sense of this perplexing parable? Well, to begin with, let's look for the bottom line. What is the goal? What is the end? What is Jesus trying to teach in this parable? What is the point that he is reaching for in telling this story? Secondly, after we look for the bottom line, let us look back more carefully and consider what exactly is this dishonest steward this dishonest manager? What exactly is he being commended for? And finally, let's consider what the Spirit will may be saying to us what God is saying to us today as we enter into the story, so we're gonna look for the bottom line. We're gonna look back in See what exactly is being committed for. And we're gonna listen. When listen for the voice of the Lord, as we always listen, when we gather, we hear his words, we're gonna listen, what is God's saying to us? So Jesus is telling this parable to make a point. That's why he told the parables you wanted to make that make a point and teach a truth about God's kingdom. Parables are designed to convey spiritual truth.
 
So what is the main point of this story? What is the bottom line? Well, if you look to the bottom line, in the Scriptures this morning, the final line, the bottom line that Jesus is trying to teach, you cannot serve God. And well. This is the point. This is the truth. This is what this parable is designed to convey this where Jesus is going with the story. The tell us as it were, the end purpose. You cannot serve God. And well, no one can serve two masters. You see, Jesus is clearly teaching those who are listening teaching us You cannot serve two masters, we cannot serve God and the kingdom and or and work the world and wealthy aspirations. The dishonest steward has a divided heart.  Perhaps he started out with good intention. Perhaps he started out faithfully, serving only the master. But somewhere along the way, he was tempted by the promises of wealth, tempted by the promises of the world. Do we ever experienced that temptation? Anyone? We live in the wealthiest nation in the history of the world, the history of the planet? Sometimes I think we don't even realize because we're so immersed in it, just how incredible wealthy we are. Compared to the history of mankind, I mean, just to you know, have like food and running water is like a miracle in some cases.
 
Perhaps the steward started out faithfully serving the master, but he was tempted by the promises of wealth. What are those promises? What is it that wealth promises? When you look at, you know, to look at the uber rich, you know, what, what is that temptation? What is being offered there? Well, power. Wealth is, is power. Once someone has enough wealth, if they've got everything that they need, then it becomes a quest for power, and more wealth, and more. It's insatiable, isn't it? Because the things about the temptations of the world is, they are insatiable aren't they.  Insatiable it means they cannot be satisfied. You keep trying to get more and more. It only creates more of a hunger.
 
 So the dishonest steward is tempted by these promises of the world, the promises of wealth, power, pleasures, and possessions, three Ps I would call. Somewhere along the way, he's tempted, He crosses over, the desire of his heart is changed. At first he is desiring to serve the master. He is content with his wages. But when he gets pulled aside by these, the lure and the promise of wealth, then he begins to compromise, the desire of his heart change, his heart is divided now, it is not fixed, faithfully serving as a servant of his master. No, now he is serving his own desires his own ends. And that leads him to compromise and to lie to cheat and to steal. You know, first he's skimming off the top, and then once the master finds out the scheming off the top, then he goes out there and slashes the bills to try to gain favor. With those who actually legitimately owe a bill a debt to the master, he desired to be faithful and content gives way to desire to get more, more for himself to have more and I think you that change that division of the heart, then there's no contentment. When our hearts are divided, we lose contentment. We're no longer we're discontent, we're searching and trying to find something, fill the emptiness within. He exchanged the love of God, the master, of course, was representing God here in the story. He exchanged the love of God, for the love of money.
 
Now, oftentimes, you may have heard it said, what I think is kind of popular theology in our culture around us. Have you heard this said, Money is the root of all evil, you're gonna put that proverb in the land. Money is the root of all evil. But that's not actually biblical. That's not actually what the scripture says. It's a little edit that takes place, it changes it dramatically. What the Scripture actually says is the love of money. I see you nodding your heads because you know, the love of money, is the root of all evil. This desire of the heart, you see, is the desire of our hearts for God, and to serve Him and to acknowledge him, or is the desire to have wealth and power and possessions and pleasures. First Timothy, chapter six, the love of money, is the root of all evil. Jesus is teaching in this parable, he's teaching us to guard our hearts. That what you love, is that whom you serve that whom you love. Is that which you serve? What are the desires of your hearts this morning? Which master Are you serving? In your life ? It's easy for with all the wealth and power and prestige and the lures around us, it's easy for our hearts to slip and become divided. And to begin to try to crave more, instead of putting our trust in God and giving, being thankful for all of His provision and being content. Godliness  brings great contentment which are the desires of your heart this morning?
 
Well, to be clear, the dishonest steward is not being commended for being dishonest. Amen. Maybe I should have started with that to begin with. Let's just clear that up. You guys probably already have seen this seen through this. But he's not being commended, because he was, you know, stealing from the master for being dishonest. Now why is he being committed? What's he been committed for? Anybody want to help me out? Being shrewd. Thank you, Anna. The dishonest steward is being commended for acting shrewdly, for acting with wisdom. Using his masters wealth, in a wise manner in a worldly wise manner, not a kingdom manner, but in a worldly manner. He's using worldly wisdom to accomplish his goal, not to get thrown out on the street. James says there, there is wisdom from above, and there's wisdom from below. And wisdom from the below is worldly, it essential, it is demonic. But the wisdom from above is first peaceable and gentle, full of righteousness without partiality without hypocrisy, and it brings peace. It brings contentment to those who live in the designers steward that is being committed for being shrewd in the ways of the world, making a way for himself when he's in a terrible predicament. Now, we would still think that, perhaps that well, how's he going to get out of this because the master would clearly want to throw him in jail for what he had done. But we must remember that there's certain context in which the story is being taught this parable in the villages of Palestine, to those who lived and and made their life there.
 
In his book poet and Present scholar and linguists Kenneth Bailey, explains that All villagers in Palestine, all the Palestinian villagers understand this parable perfectly. You see, he went and lived there among them and he studied the language. And what he found is that out in rural Palestine in these little villages, things haven't changed much in 2000 years. And when they read this story, and they hear this parable, they all just nod their heads. Yes, that's right. That's right. He he he acted shrewdly he got out of the predicament when the dishonest steward slashes the bills of the debtors, those who owe the debt and all the other villagers around them, would naturally assume that it was not the steward, not the manager who was cutting their bill. But the master. And the master would be held up in great honor for his his generosity, what can he do, then he can go back and then throw the steward in jail, because everyone would know that he wasn't the Generous One would have forgiven all these debts. So this was a shrewd maneuver, using worldly wisdom. And everyone in the village would be rejoicing in the great generosity of the master who had slashed the bills, and they probably throw a big party for him and in honor of his name, make a big celebration to honor him. You see, they are all the villagers, all the those who had their death counseled with no with would assume and to their way of thinking, they would know that it was the master who had done this. You see, the steward is only the servant of the master.
 
The steward, the manager is only the representative of the master. The master represents his intentions, through his steward, through his managers, and the people of the village, know the character of the master. Through the actions of the steward, through the lens of his management, they come to know and understand this is who the master is, this is what he's like He in this case, they would think he's generous, and kind and forgiving, giving this this break on all the all the bills, and like manna, you see we are stewards also are. We are stewards of God. We are stewards of God's creation, everything belongs to him, we're stewards of all His provision, all his abundance, the ways in which we act. Also, we reflect to those who are around us in the village. The ways in which we use the provision and the wealth and the money that he's given to us, reflect the character of God to those who are around us. As a result, the people in the village look to how we are acting, and they make assumptions. They make understandings about who God is. How are we using the wealth God has entrusted to us? Remember, it demonstrates his character to those around us? We are his stewards. parable goes on the master commended the dishonest steward, because he adapted shrewdly children of this age are more shrewd than the children of light. And people in the world are more actively engaged. They're wiser in the world using this wealth in a worldly way, then the people of God using the resources that he's giving us to advance the kingdom, Jesus is saying, Make Friends of the dishonest wealth now that's a pickle of a scripture to get get around, isn't it? He was faithful and little is faithful in much. In other words, Jesus is saying, Be Wise With the worldly wealth that God has given to you Use it wisely for the Kingdom. As a demonstration of the love and the character of God, be wise, with what is entrusted to you, live honestly, in contrast to the manager in the story, be content. And give joyfully because as we give joyfully we reflect the the great love and joy and the abundance that God provides in our lives, if we truly know of the abundance of God's provision that we see, and we kind of hold in, in wealth or in money, and we know that that's coming from God, and we open our hands to give joyfully, we are receiving and giving freely. And in that, in that joy, then the world around us receives the testimony of God's love of His provision, and, and what it means to be faithful.
 
 I was thinking about one time. And I know some of you have shared stories like this as well. When we're out into in the world, and, and there are those around us that are watching us, they were they know you're a Christian, because the Holy Spirit is within you to begin with. And you just can't hide it. You can run but you cannot hide. Once the holy spirit is within you, those around you, wherever you are on the world, sooner or later, they're going to realize this person is a follower of Jesus. And then they're going to be watching to see as, as you as a steward of God's provision, his creation, how you are representing that. So but for father, Randy and I am, we have a particular significant way of being seen when we're out and, and known when we're out in the world is called a collar. See these things right here. So when you put on when I put on my clergy shirt, and I'm wearing my collar, and I go to Home Depot, everyone who looks at me knows immediately, this guy is a priest. Watching, what's he doing? What's his attitude? Is he getting mad at the counter girl or not? So it kind of creates an interesting sort of target when we're out and about, and I can relate this on Randy. So one day I was at Home Depot, I was wearing my collar, and I walked out. And so there was a homeless man there. And I really am very reluctant, I would not encourage you to give money to the homeless, we all know this. Because it's really not helping them. It's just probably perpetuating their addictions and the drugs that are out there on the street. But we want to have compassion, we want to represent the master with the resources that he's given to us. So the homeless man came up to me and I was expecting to say, Hey, can you give me you know, $5? Can you give me some money? But instead he said, Can you buy me something to eat? I'm hungry. So I said, yeah. Yeah, let's go over to a Pollo Loco.  and you know, buy, I'll buy lunch, whatever you want.
 
So I go into Pollo Loco, and I'm still wearing my collar, right? So as soon as I walk into Pollo Loco everyone looks, There is a priest in here, What's he doing you just be everybody's like, Oh, because you know, you'll actually see people with collars on very often. Like, even when I'm out. I don't see other priests out there very often. So it's kind of unusual.  So the homeless guy comes in with me. So now people were looking at him. And they're looking at me. And I said, What do you want to have to eat? He said, I'd like one of those big chicken burritos. I said, Yeah, let's I'm gonna buy him lunch. I'm gonna give big give him a big chicken burrito. So you got the burrito and got a big coke. And we sat down that's out there and talk to him for a few minutes. And as I was doing that, the whole the whole attitude. I mean, the first few we're looking at the homeless guy. What's he doing here? The whole spirit of the place changed. The people behind the counter. Oh, hang on. Let me help you. Did you need some some salsa? Yeah.
 
And the people in the restaurant were like, Oh, look, look what's happening. Hear, someone is buying someone giving some something to eat and compassion, me as the humble father or Jack broken servant of God that I am, I am representing the master. You represent the master we represent the master with worldly wealth, wealth with them the monetary means that he is given to us. And I would like to think that everyone there at that restaurant, went home thinking. God is a compassionate God who loves even the lowly and the outcast.
 
The Parable of the dishonest steward, it is perplexing at the title of this sermon, the perplexing parable. And there's probably much more here than I've touched on this morning. But the bottom line of this parable is, is this You cannot serve God and wealth as God's people we cannot live with a divided heart. Along the way in the story, Jesus teaches us to be wise, to be honest stewards of money, of wealth and possessions of all that God has entrusted to us. And to remember that we are revealing his character to those around us as we do. When we are faithful in these mundane things of the world. He will also entrust us with the true riches, the true riches of the spiritual life in the kingdom of God. Amen. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
​

Watch on Facebook, sermon begins at 15:20.

KEY TOPICS
Life in Jesus; Give up Possessions; Christian Benefits, god, Surrender to the Lord; Count the Cost, Disciple of Christ, Possessiveness verses Trust; Procedure in Faith; Conflict with the World, Passages of Obedience, Cost of Discipleship, Morning Liturgy, Witnesses for God, shocks, Contrast in Scriptures; Oriented toward Benefits; Scriptures of Salvation

Lord, we pray this morning that our hearts could be open to your Word. Lord, you speak to us in so many ways through directly through your, your scriptures, to your presence in the worship. In this Holy Sacrament, in our time together, we pray God that your words or words of life would come into each one of our hearts this morning, and to us as the community of ascension, Anglican, and your words would bring life and create life within us. Your holy name we pray. Amen.
 
Please be seated. Good morning, good morning, once again to everybody. Good to see you. Good morning to all those who are joining us live stream on Facebook, we're delighted to have you with us as well as our extended church family here on this first Sunday in September, August is flown by. And now we're coming into the new season.
 
I was kind of taken as I was looking through the scriptures this week and reading through really all of the scriptures together. And what I was seeing there was a really clear contrast that was being made. We see a clear contrast between those who will follow God's ways. And those who will not those who are followers of Jesus, His disciples, and those who choose to follow the ways of the world, those who will not follow Jesus who reject Him. In this choice, there are certain costs that are evident. Certain costs involved here.
 
There are costs involved in following God. We Don't think about that often. Mostly, we think about the benefits of following God. There are costs involved and following God, there are costs to being a disciple of Jesus, as well as the great benefits that we receive through following him. Likewise, there are  costs to rejecting God, there are costs for not following Him, consequences to refusing his offer of salvation. In fact, there is an ultimate price to pay for rejecting and not following God.
 
So in the scriptures, we see this contrast between those who follow God, and those who will not those who will follow Jesus, and those who reject Him. And there's a very clear sense of the costs that are involved in it come to light. For each each group. There's cost to following, there's cost to not following. Now, I don't know about you, but I mostly oriented toward the great benefits of following Jesus, amen. And that's mostly what I'm preaching up here on Sunday morning is give your heart to Jesus, follow him, and and the blessings of God will begin to flow in your life, you will be blessed with the presence of God in your life, you will be blessed with the Holy Spirit in your life, you will be blessed with eternal life. And so I am mostly oriented in that way. I'm a follower of Jesus, and I get the benefits. I don't know if that's a cultural thing for us or not. As Americans, you know, we're like, Okay, what's the benefit for this activity I'm going to do. But it's also the promise is part of the promise of the gospel. But as we follow Jesus, we have, he promises these great benefits, the benefits of His grace in our life. And so I'm mostly oriented that way. So when I read the scriptures this morning, it's a little startling, actually, to hear the words that Jesus is saying and the contrast that God is putting in these passages.
 
So I'm oriented that way toward the benefits of following Jesus. And I think also were his original disciples were oriented that way, and the crowds that were following him, they were coming to seek, what benefits that they could have, by being around this amazing person that appeared and the power of God. But in the Gospel, Jesus makes clear that there is a cost that we must count the cost. And I think in in kind of a way, he's kind of shocking. I don't know anybody shocked by the some of the things in the Gospel today. You know, we'll get there in a minute. But I think he's trying to shock them into realizing that there is a cost. And that cost, ultimately, to follow him, is laying down a decision that must be made of who will be Lord, in your life. So he makes it clear he shocks them and maybe shocks us perhaps. And I was thinking, you know, we we just know the love of Jesus. And he's so kind. And I'm often up here talking about his loving kindness. And so when he comes up with something like this, it can be shocking. But it's the truth, that Jesus is not all warm and fuzzy, is what I'm trying to say. Amen. Jesus is not all warm and fuzzy, He is the righteous King of Glory, who comes to rule and reign in power. And he speaks truth into our lives, which is sometimes rather uncomfortable, or really shocks us into to a deeper level of understanding who he is and who we are, as as people.
 
Jesus goes on in this Gospel passage with two parables that it that say to us that we must realize that to follow Him, we must first count the cost. This passage in the Gospel is commonly known as the cost of discipleship. The cost of discipleship is made famous by Dietrich Bonhoeffer a follower of Jesus, a Christian in Nazi Germany who stood against the evil of Hitler's regime, and ultimately was executed. For his faith, the cost of discipleship in the book by the same title.
 
The Gospel passage begins then saying, Now large crowds were traveling with Jesus, no doubt they were there, for the potential benefits. Large crowds gathered around him. They wanted to see a miracle. They wanted to see something incredible. Perhaps they wanted something personal from for themselves. They wanted a miracle of healing or a miracle of restoration. They were there for the benefits. Maybe they wanted free fish and free bread that they heard that he had a doled out by the 1000s. And especially at that time, the people of Israel, they wanted the benefit of having the Romans kicked out, because they were under subjection to the Roman Empire. And they were looking to Jesus as this Messiah King, this worldly King, who was going to give them the great benefit of kicking out the Romans.
 
But Jesus gives them a wake up call. If you want to be my disciple, he says, If you want to follow me, you must first count the cost. Like the man building the Tower, if those of you built homes, or churches or whatever in your life, you know, first you sit down and you make a plan. And you think what is required to see this through to the end, or the king going out toward what is required for me to prevail in this conflict, and not be overwhelmed by the forces of the enemy. The cost of discipleship, Jesus says if you want to be my disciple, count the cost. Whoever does not hate father, mother, wife, sisters, brothers, family, and even your own life. You cannot be my disciple. That's pretty radical, isn't it? I mean, it's like, wow, Jesus, what happened to you this morning? Did you not have your coffee before you got out here and started preaching?
 
Whoever does not hate father, mother even life itself. You cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the crosscannot be my disciple. On those days, that was clearly evident what that meant, because they'd all seen those prisoners who were being executed carrying their crosses out to be crucified, sacrificing or losing, giving their life. Whoever , the famil does not hate family and life; who doesn't carry the crosswhoe; whoever does not give up all possessions. No one can become my disciple, unless they give up all their possessions. I think in our culture in our time, this world that is really radical, isn't that to think, wow, how can we do that? I mean, the whole world is oriented toward having possessions of some kind, and possessing what we've got, and keeping it and so that it gives us comfort and security. So this comes across, rather harsh, I think. But Jesus is trying to dig down deeper, to see to get them to the place of really acknowledging the Lordship of Christ in their life. Not just the potential benefits, but the person of Jesus, the person of Christ as Lord, who we follow with devotion.
 
This word hate is kind of kind of strong. I mean, is Jesus saying, unless you intensely dislike your family, and you even hate your life, you can't follow me. But the word really what he's saying there, and it says, it says it differently. in Matthew is, you must not love these more than me. If it comes to a choice, if it comes to a conflict between these things, and following me, you must follow me this must be your whole heart, your whole being, as we prayin our liturgy every Sunday, worship the Lord with all your heart, while your mind with all your soul with all your strength and all that is within us. The pulpit commentary says this, The Lord's teaching in this  this passage, in the parables and the sayings, presses home to his followers that no home love, no earthly affection, must ever come into competition with the love of God. If we are to be his followers, his disciples, that is the priority, the love of God. If a collision occurs between must those things must be gently Laid aside. Everything must be sacrificed to the cause. Jesus calls all to follow him in a word, to surrender. Amen. Have you surrendered to Jesus, surrender your life, surrender your plans, surrender your family, lay them in his hands, we can do that, can't we? Because ultimately, he is trustworthy. And Jesus calls his disciples to surrender all. And trust in him.
 
The Lord is calling us to a deeper level of trust here, to carry the cross and to give up all possessions, to carry the cross means  to take up the ways of Christ and go after him. When we carry the cross we make we sacrifice we make sacrifices in our life, for the benefits of others. Isn't that what Jesus did? He sacrificed his life for our benefit. When we carry the cross, we may expect an experienced persecution. carrying the cross means we will experience persecution and judgment in this world, from those who are on the other contrast, those who have rejected Jesus who are not following his God's ways. And then they are convicted by you and I are those who have surrendered to the Lord, and are being witnesses and trying to bring the kingdom out.
 
I remember when I used to work years ago when I was going to college, at a resort hotel. And God put me there and I was witnessing to everybody, all my fellow staff, as you know about Jesus, you know, you surrendered your life to him yet, and you have you have eternal life is awaiting you. And there was one young lady there who is very, you know, kind of resistant to what I was saying and but I was trying to, you know, be faithful to, you know, witness to her and to others. And so one night her friends came by to pick her up and I was working as a valet out front and they came driving up and she got in and the head of windows rolled down and, and I heard say,he's a Christian. Oh my gosh, they thought that was the most opportune moment. Hey Christian, Hallelujah, Hallelujah. Praise Jesus mocking.
 
So carrying the cross means we will experience times when we get mocked. When we get persecuted, our brothers and sisters around the world are being killed,tortured and killed. I mean, that was just a little to me. And so naturally my response was, Lord, bless them, keep them, by Your Spirit upon. That's, that's an aspect of carrying our cross. Surrender. You cannot be my disciple. Unless you give up all your possessions. We give up all our possessions. When we acknowledge what when we acknowledge it, everything belongs to God,that we are not Lord over those possessions. God is Lord over those possessions. We are stewards of those possessions. We give up all possessions when we bring our ties in offerings, and bring them into the temple. So that that God's name may be glorified, and that the kingdom of God when we maybe participate with God, in the work of bringing the kingdom, we give up all our possessions, when we realize our very lives and souls are not our possessions. They are God's possession.
 
I had a real dramatic experience of this last Monday. Thank you for your prayers. By the way for last Monday, I went in for my procedure. On Monday morning, I checked into the hospital at 4:45 in the morning. And they wheeled me right in about quarter past six or 6:30. So we didn't go looking for this procedure. I was talking with some of the ladies last Sunday before and I said you know I think I I know I've reached a certain wonderful mature age in life when I can start having procedures. Yes, I have arrived to see some procedures. So they take me in for my procedure and the guy wheels me in, he's the anesthesiologist who says I'm going to give you a little something, you're gonna go Twilight. So you're gonna be like little Twilight experience. And you know, previously they make you listen to the recording, it says, Now some people will just sleep, the whole thing. Some people might be just kind of, you know, not really super aware, or some people might be wide awake. So you get me in there, they get me on the operating table, they hook all the things onto me. And I'm wide awake, I was wide awake for the whole thing. So that the surgeon comes in, I had an angioplasty, by the way, if you didn't know is where they went in, they put a couple stents and blockages and my arteries in my heart. So what they do as you're waiting there, and then they put a little thing in your wrist, they put a look out there in there. And they run a line, some kind of a strict you know, cable, I don't know, fiber optic thing, all the way up into your heart. So I'm laying there, and the surgeons, the guy and the team is going okay, now pushing it a little bit more. We're gonna go this way. And I'm like, wow, this is trippy. And I want to tell you, I realized at that moment, I am not in possession of my life. I am not in the driver's seat. God is in possession of my life. My life belongs to him. And thanks be to God and thank you for your prayers, that God decided he wants me around a little longer in this world. But it was a very dramatic instance of realizing that God is the one who owns my life, not me. I don't possess this life. I don't possess this body. It's given to me.
 
What I can possess and what we do possess is our true identity in Christ. And in that true identity, we will possess a physical body, a spiritual body, a resurrected body that will not have to have procedures any longer. Amen. surrender all to Christ. Trust in the Lord, give up our possessions. I think I wrote here, really what Jesus is calling us to do is to give up our possessiveness, our possessiveness, it says, This is my stuff. This is my life. This is my agenda, my glory. This surrender the cost of discipleship, then as a surrender of all these things, and a following of Jesus, this is the essence of our faith, my friends, it is out of this surrender out of this yielding, then that we begin to follow in obedience. And as we follow in obedience, then come the great benefits of following Jesus. We see this contrast clearly taking place. And the other passages today in the Old Testament. It spells out clearly the difference between these choices, follow God's ways, and receive the blessings, reject God's ways. And there are consequences. See, I have set before you says in Deuteronomy, see I've set before you life and prosperity, or death, and adversity. Which one will you choose? The contrast of choices? Gee, let me think which one, I think I'm gonna go with life and prosperity. obey the commandment of the Lord, loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, observing his decrees, and the results are life and blessings.
 
Now, it does require some intension, intentionality doesn't it?  to love the Lord. And surrender the love of other things that would get in the way.Some intentionality to walk in his ways. And not get pulled aside to walking in the ways of the world. Because all around us the message is being being data's love these other things, walk in the ways of the world. What's the matter with you, you Christians, you're you're you're not, you're not getting getting to you observe his decrees, and the results are life and blessing. But turn away serve other gods. And the Word of God says clearly, you will perish. There is an ultimate cost for those who reject God's offer of salvation, heaven and earth as witnesses I have given I've set before you this day, life and death, choose life. The song itself says happier they who are happier those who delight in the law of the Lord. They're like trees, planted by streams of water, I think is a really powerful image for us who live here in Bakersfield and then late summer with a heat scorching down. You know, the trees that are planted down there by the river. They're, they're not withering, they're nurtured and water of life is flowing into them. They're not touched by the heat.
 
So my friends in Scripture today, there's a clear contrast between those who follow God's ways. Those who are followers of Jesus, His disciples, and those who will not those who instead choose to follow the ways of the world, there are costs, Jesus makes clear, there is a cost there are costs of following him. Ultimately, that cost is a surrender, of allegiance of commitment, everything that is not from God. And there are also benefits, marvelous benefits that come as indeed there are costs to rejecting God. And the world often offers us false benefits. Try to lure us away. In the cost of discipleship Jesus calls all who will follow him that's you. Amen. And me and all of you out They're in Facebook land, and extending on out into the world. He calls us all to follow him in a radical surrender of faith in trusting the Lord, to let go of our possessions, our possessiveness, and trust in Him.
 
To be a disciple of Jesus. To be a follower of Jesus, then is to count the cost and count it a cost, worthy to pay, counted a cost, a willingness to give, count the costs of surrender in faith, and then to receive the benefits, His love, His presence, His provision, his grace in our lives, eternal life. I'd say that's worth the price. Amen. My friends here at Ascension, we are followers of Jesus, disciples, learners. Having counted the cost, we surrender our lives, we surrender our possessions, our possessiveness to you this morning, Lord, let us continue to follow Christ as our Lord and Savior, Christ our King. Let us yield to God's way so that he see he may lead and guide us, let us yield to God's ways and participate in the kingdom of God. And in doing so, we receive in in paying the price, we receive all His benefits. Amen, the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen. 

OPENING PRAYER
Lord, we do pray that You would give us grace, to love you with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our minds and all of our strength. And give us extra Grace Lord, to love our neighbors, to love one another. As we love our own selves. Open your word now to our hearts, Lord, open our hearts to your word, in your holy name we pray, Amen. 
Good morning, once again, good morning, I want to begin this morning with a profound yet simple truth - a simple truth that comes radiating to us from heaven above. God is speaking! a simple, profound truth. God is speaking. In the beginning, God spoke and created all the heavens in the earth. Down  through the Old Testament, God spoke through the prophets, his chosen ones, to the people of Israel. He sent Jesus, the living word, to proclaim to speak for the gospel. Then the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the apostles, and they spoke forth and wrote down the entire New Testament for us. God is speaking, simple and profound. Truth. Today God is speaking, and he continues to speak to us through the Holy Scriptures. 

What is God saying to you this morning? Did you hear his voice as the word of God was being read?

​In the epistle to the Colossians, God is speaking through Paul the Apostle to the church. He is speaking to the church in Colossae. And he's speaking to the church at Ascension Anglican, as well. St. Paul was writing prophetically; he's writing under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Remember, all scripture is, what? It is God breathed. God breathed, the word there is Ruach. It’s the word for breath, that's the same word that you use, as one of the names of the Holy Spirit, the Ruach of God. All scripture is God breathed. And Paul is sort of breathing out or God is breathing out through Paul, this letter to the Colossians. This word to them he's speaking to them, he's speaking to us. Because the words of God, the Word coming, words from Heaven, continue to speak and resonate down through time. Let's consider them. The voice of God embedded in the Scripture. The Word of God. What is he speaking to you this morning? What is he speaking to me? What is he speaking to us as a church? As we listen and hear these opening verses of the Epistle to the Colosseum, to the Colossians. God is speaking.

I hear three main components, three main things to what he's saying, in this passage we heard read a minute ago. Or I should say, the passage we heard, proclaimed a minute ago.

Three main things: 
First is a greeting: Grace and Peace.  
Next, faith, hope and love, the foundation of Christian life. 
And thirdly, a litany of prayer for the building up of the church. 

Paul opens with a greeting, a greeting from God. Amen. A greeting from God. God is here this morning, and he wants to greet you as you come to Him. And how does he greet you and in this epistle, Grace to You, and peace, grace and peace to the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ. To the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Ascension Anglican Church, to the saints and brothers, faithful brothers and sisters in Christ on Facebook livestream. Grace to you. Peace to you. From God, our Father God is speaking grace. Greetings. This is what the immediate thing that God says to us when we come into His presence: Grace, peace. The first thing that God is saying whenever we are listening to him, whenever we come to Him and we're talking about the Lord’s grace: you are accepted. Grace, whatever standard you're trying to measure up to just put them aside. I love you. Grace and unmerited favor. You don't have to earn my love. Grace enabling power, I will strengthen you with my grace. God is speaking grace to you this morning. Or maybe speaking peace. Welcome, greeting, peace, Shalom. Shalom is the peace that is not just like the absence of distraction and war or anxiety. It's an inner peace that that flows out over our whole lives, the whole being, spiritual peace, emotional peace, economic peace. Peace in the world. Peace. Be With You, as we say, all is well. Greetings. Peace be with you all is well. I am with you, says the Lord. Grace and peace, open the door. It's the greeting. You notice that Paul, or God, is often speaking this,  as Paul begins his letters, the first thing that we hear is grace and peace, they open the door and open our hearts to hear the word. That's the first thing that I hear this morning, God speaking in the Holy Word of God. Grace and peace is the first thing, the point of entry. 

And having opened the door, then Paul turns to the foundation of Christian life. Did you catch this? The foundation of our life as Christians: faith, love and hope. In our prayers for you, we always thank God, he says, for we have heard of your faith, of the love you have for all the saints. Because of the hope laid up for you in Heaven: faith, love and hope. Now you may have noticed up here in front every Sunday, we have a tripod set up that from which on top of the iPhone sits, which gives us a portal to the world so that the gospel and the worship of God can be broadcast out, proclaimed out throughout all the nations I mean, literally, that connects us to the entire world. Anyone in the whole world can connect and hear the Word of God, can hear God speaking through this live stream setup.

Three legs on the tripod, faith, hope and love. It takes all three to create a stable solid foundation to make the portal so that it can function so that it can live stream the gospel out to the world. It takes all three to make a solid base. In the same manner, faith, hope, love, create that solid base in our lives, in the life of the Church, which hold us up which turns us into a living stream - a living stream of God's Word to those around us and to the world. So that we can literally stream out the gospel, faith, hope and Love are the structure upon which we stand in the Christian life. 

Faith, and a very important distinction here, faith in Jesus Christ. Amen? 
There are lots of different faith options out there in the world today. And most of them are designed to take us away from faith in the One true Savior, Jesus Christ: the narrow door, the certain way, faith in Jesus, trust, surrender, acceptance of Jesus alone as Lord. That is the first leg of the tripod, though, upon which we stand. 

Love. Love for the saints and for one another. And that's biblical love Paul's talking about, that's the love that is giving, self-sacrificing, with care with concern, with compassion. It's the love that I see you living out day by day, week by week, here at Ascension, caring for one another, praying for one another, bearing one another's burdens, rejoicing with those who rejoice, weeping with those who weep.

Hope. And hope laid up in heaven. Hope that is not dependent upon anything in this world. You know, biblical hope is like of a different quality, a different characteristic than the hope in the world. It's not, it's not just like wishful thinking, like, I hope it rains again tomorrow. You know, that's kind of like, well, I wish it would rain again tomorrow, that'd be good. No, but when I say I have hope that Jesus Christ will return one day and rule on earth, that is substantial. Amen. I have hope that Jesus is in heaven right now praying and interceding. For me, for you. That is substantial. Real hope, that is hope that gives resilience that resonates to us from heaven. These three form the tripod, upon which our Christian life stands. 

And Paul is beginning in his letter to the Colossians first to acknowledge the tripod is strong. The base that you have is solid. The Colossians are “live streaming” the gospel. They are a living stream of the gospel to their generation. They just use a little different technology than we happen to have today. Paul is saying I see your faith in your love and your hope. He is  affirming the essentials, as we always need to pay attention to those three essentials in our own walk with God, in our life together as a community. So that we're not led astray to let our faith be pulled aside to some other gospel, or that our love grow cold, and turn self centered, or our hope be diminished, but remain strong as we have a strong foundation of our life together. So what comes next? And so we have this greeting. And then we have the essentials of the Christian faith. What is God saying to you this morning? God is speaking. 

What comes next is this wonderful example of what I would call prophetic prayer. Paul, the apostle, filled with the Holy Spirit, literally breathing out as we said, the Scripture that is going to now speak for generations. He turns to prayer. God is speaking. Paul is responding. He's entering the conversation with God in prayer. Paul is praying and God is speaking. What follows is a kind of litany of prayer then that just flows out line upon line, precept upon precept with spiritual nourishment and designed to enhance our life. You see there's a foundation that's been laid: love, faith and hope. And now Paul says Let us pray to build upon that foundation in our spiritual life.

A prayer that speaks to the Colossians, and a prayer that speaks to us. It's a prayer that we can make our own. Which brings me to my handout for today, all of you received in your service booklet, The prayer of Colossians. So, this was something that I did, years, years ago, looking at the prayers of Paul in his various epistles, and then basically just editing them to make them a personal prayer that you can pray for yourself. Or if you want to change the little italic pronouns there, we can pray for all of us together. Paul's prayer to the Colossians is a prayer that we can make our own. And think about what that does, we have this prophetic prayer, this breathed out by the Holy Spirit. Now, if we begin to pray it, we're taking it. We're breathing it in, and then we're breathing it back out to God. We’re oxygenizing our spiritual lives and, and being filled with the Spirit. We're entering into that conversation then with God. So I think it's very fascinating to note, what are the things that Paul prays for? When I got to this point, I thought, well, what are the things that I pray for? In my garden with my coffee every morning. I'm like, Lord, I pray for a good day and pray for a good harvest from my crops and then pray and you know, I mean, I'm not diluting belittling my prayers, I pray for all of you. I pray for needs, and I will think yeah, I've got it pretty good, I've got a good prayer life going. But this time around, when I began to look at what Paul was praying for. I just kind of thought, wow, you know, holy moly. What if I was praying for these things? How are my prayers lined up with his prayers?

So let's, let's take a moment and walk through this prayer and ask yourself, which one of these do I need most? These things of this litany that Paul gives us, which one of these do you need most? Just listen, what is God speaking to you? What is he saying to you in this prayer, as we come into it? In the epistle, Paul says, Epaphras, the faithful minister of Christ, has made known to us your love in the Spirit. For this reason, we have not ceased praying for you. 
​

Asking that you'd be filled with a knowledge of God's will. Now there's a prayer that's been resonating with me since I was writing the sermon. I just started praying, Lord, I pray to be filled with the knowledge of your will. It's like, Whoa, I just feel the Spirit just go right into my bones. For spiritual wisdom and understanding, let's just let the Litany roll here.

Which one is God calling you to, which one do you need in your life? What is he saying to you? 

• Spiritual wisdom and understanding that we will lead lives pleasing to the Lord. 
• Bearing fruit in every good work. 
• We grow in the knowledge of God made strong and the strength of His glory is power. 
• Prepared to endure everything with patience. Oh my. I'm staying on that one. 
• Prepared to endure everything with patience. Yes, Lord. I may be prepared to endure but I don't have that patience part. 
• Joyfully, giving thanks to the Father.
• Enabled to share the inheritance rescued from the power of darkness, transferred into the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption through forgiveness of sins. 

Are these the things that you naturally pray for in the morning?

See Paul, breathing out the word of God, God speaking to us, is directing us to grow your life. To grow from the foundation of the Christian life, into vibrancy. You know, we proclaim our vision that we would become a vibrant church family that honors and glorifies God, a place of healing, serving and growing together in Christ. Lord, fill us with a knowledge of your will. That we may bear fruit and every good work we joyfully give thanks you, oh, Lord. Is there a one line or two that really stands out to you?

What is God speaking to you? What do you need most in your life as a Christian at this moment, spiritual wisdom and understanding? Or perhaps it's to be strengthened with God's glorious power? We need that strength, don't we, as we go through the trials and the tribulations and the sorrows and the losses and the confusion of this world?

Are there one or two that resonate with you? Well, the good news is that we don't have to choose one, we can pray for all of them. Amen. Yes, we can pray for all of them. You're not limited here. You get the whole enchilada, the whole smorgasbord is available, laid out to you and to me to be able to pray. We can pray for them while engaging in conversation with God in joining with this prophetic prayer of Paul. God is speaking - a profound and simple truth. He spoke the beginning; he spoke to the prophets. He spoke through the living word Jesus. And he spoke through the apostles to the Holy Spirit and breathed out his word. His voice is literally embedded in the Holy Scripture. Words from heaven, the voice of God, what is God saying to you today? What is God saying to me today? To us?

He's inviting us to join in the conversation, I think, praying the prayer of Colossians. For ourselves, or our families, for our church. What will happen? If we all pray this prayer, every day, for a week? What will happen? I'd like to find out, I'd like to see what happens. How about you? Your midsummer spiritual assignment is to pray the prayer of Colossians every day, for one week. And observe what happens within your own spiritual life. What's happening in the life of your family, and what's happening in the life of our church? Let's find out as we pray the prayer daily. Only when you pray the prayer of Colossians, don't rush. Take your time. As you pray, give time also to listen. And remember that profound and simple truth. God is speaking.

What is he saying to you? As we pray, don't rush. Enter into the conversation in prayer. Pray, listen and hear. Do what God is saying to you in this week ahead. Amen. 

Let us pray. Father, we pray that we may be filled with a knowledge of your will; grant us spiritual wisdom and understanding. We pray that we might walk in a manner that is worthy of you, Lord, fully pleasing you, being fruitful and every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. Strengthen us, oh Lord with all power, according to your glorious mind, and grant us patience and endurance with joy. We give thanks to You, Father, for in you, I'm qualified to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. You have delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of your beloved Son, in whom we have redemption and forgiveness of all our sins. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Luke 24:44-53
44 Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.’
The Ascension of Jesus50 Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. 51 While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; 53 and they were continually in the temple blessing God.

KEY TOPICS
Christ's ascension, Jesus Christ, Ascension Sunday, God's presence, exalted Jesus, man in heaven, Christ in heaven, time to pray, just pray, completing God's plan of salvation, part of Easter, disciples of Christ, Holy Spirit

Let us pray. Lord, once again we pray and we ask that even as you were lifted up into the heavens on that day, and as you sit at the right hand of God, the Father interceding for us now, pray for us, Lord, that we too can be lifted up into Your presence into the glory and exultation of your throne. In our hearts and our minds and our spirits, even in our physical bodies, Lord, we pray, lift us up in this day, in your holy name, Amen. Please be seated. 

A wonderful thought is to be lifted up, above all that kind of clamor, darkness and muck and mire of this world. 

Well, good morning once again. Good morning, and welcome to Ascension Sunday, Ascension Sunday. Thank you, Lord. This is our special feast day. Because we are Ascension Anglican Church. We are named for this feast; named for this Sunday. Well, technically liturgically, this is the seventh Sunday of Easter, the last Sunday of the Easter season. And technically it's the Sunday called the Sunday after the ascension. Because as you may be aware, the actual Feast Day of Ascension, always falls on a Thursday, 40 days following the celebration of Easter. Forty in the Scripture always signifies the fullness of time, the completeness of everything that needs to take place. So Jesus' ascension comes after he's resurrected from the dead and that fresh open that new life comes forth. He spends the complete fullness amount of time that is needed to be with his disciples, to complete the work that he had come to do here on Earth. And then he ascends back into heaven. 

So the actual Feast Day for Ascension was last Thursday and always comes just prior to the end to the completion of the Easter season and the celebration of Pentecost, which is next Sunday. So just before we go to Pentecost, as Easter ends, the ascension takes place. But because of this, because the the ascension is kind of sandwiched in between Easter and Pentecost, the significance of the ascension is often missed, I think. As the church focuses on the grand events at the resurrection of Jesus, Easter bursting forth from the tomb. And then next, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, empowering the disciples to be God's witnesses throughout the earth, establishing the church, as the church is focused on the resurrection and on the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the Ascension just can become a little blip on the radar, a blip on the calendar going by, especially since it comes during the week, on a Thursday. For my friends, the significance of the ascension should never be missed. It cannot be understated. 

Let me quote from my dictionary of biblical theology. You guys have that on your shelf, right--a little light reading in the evening, the dictionary of biblical theology regarding the ascension. The Ascension is not only a great fact of the New Testament, but a great factor in the life of Christ, and of Christians. No complete view of Jesus Christ is possible without it. Without the inclusion of the ascension and its consequences. It is the consummation of his redemptive work, is the completion of God's work of salvation. The Christ of the Gospels is the Christ of history, the Christ of the past. But the full picture of the New Testament is the living Christ, the Christ of Heaven. The Christ that's seated at the right hand of the Father, the Christ that ascended there, present, and future. All this depends on what? The ascension.

It all depends on the the ascension. 

So the significance of the ascension should never be missed. Perhaps that's why God named us Ascension Anglican, you know, there aren't very many Ascension Anglicans around. I mean, we're all here, but in your churches. If you look in the church, you know, Anglican Church directories, you just there just aren't any. There are some churches of the of the ascension. But I Ascension Anglican is our particular name. God named us that way, I think because he doesn't want us to miss the significance of the ascension. And he wants us to embody, to represent the significance to the church and to the world. So that we may grow in understanding so that the world may also see and think, What is this ascension? Why, why is this so important? We are the people of the ascension. The community of faith is designated--that's our identity. God has written ascension in our hearts. Amen. He's written it on our forehead, like they say in Revelation, they write his name on our forehead. He's put it on our signs, he's embedded it into our identity. 

How do you identify with that? I'm curious, I'd like to hear. We've been Ascension Anglican for many years now. How has God formed you into that identity? What does the ascension mean to you? Or what special characteristics? You know In the Bible, we were talking the other night about this about names when someone is named in the Holy Scripture. There's deep significance to that. The name describes the character, describes the nature, sometimes the calling, the purpose that God has given to that person. Even we see names changed, like Abram to Abraham, the father of the nations, or Jacob, which literally means schemer, heel grabber to Israel, the one who leans on, depends on God. 

God has named us Ascension, what sort of characteristics, sort of things is he working in you? As people have the Ascension, I think it's good for us to reflect on that, isn't it? So join with me also this morning then in reflecting on some of these characteristics, some of the themes of the ascension that we may also grow in our own identity as the people of the ascension. So first, we're gonna think about the actual event of the ascension. 

The ascension is an event. It's a part of the drama of salvation history that concludes Jesus' time here on Earth. Secondly, I want to think about the spiritual principle of a sending, or a ascent, which is found running throughout the Holy Scripture. And you often hear me pray this way or say things like this, like we are ascending the holy mountain, who shall stand in the presence of the Lord, those who ascend up into his blessing, into His presence. So the event of the ascension, the spiritual principle, the discipline of ascending, ascension is discipleship. And then lastly, our own ministry here at Ascension. As we bring that ascending message that ascending grace, as we reflect that, shine that out into the world, shine it out onto Facebook and beyond to our community around us. So you might have noticed this morning that I, took a little pastoral prerogative, first my scripture reference here. Pastoral prerogative, and for this morning, I actually took a step back and used the scripture readings from the actual Feast Day of Ascension, because in these scriptures, we have the actual event, the story of Jesus' ascension taking place. 

So first and foremost, the the the ascension is an event of great significance. As I said, it completes God's plan of salvation--completes the conclusion of Jesus's earthly ministry here as he brought the kingdom of God, as he brought the Gospel as he came to redeem us. And if we track it through, you know, we always, we're gonna say in just a few minutes here, in the Holy Eucharist, "Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again." Those are all great events of salvation history. But there's one that's missing. Remember, we did a little blip in there as we were going past, from Easter to the return of Christ. 

Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ has ascended. Then Christ will come again. Christ is ascended--then the Holy Spirit is poured out. Christ is ascended. He can't return until he first goes back to heaven. Christ is born, I think we could add that and often think at Christmas time, it's like, well, we're kind of missing the fact that Christ was born. Now, Jesus, the eternal Son of God began in the heavens, he was actually the agent of creation that created all that we see, all that we are. He's the head of the church, he began with God, in the creation, and as we rebelled and fell and had no way to get back to God. Then he came, he came down, he descended first, he descended to be among us, he was born, he gathered up our sins, absorbed them on the cross, He was resurrected from the dead. He overcame. He came to redeem us, to gather us, and then to take us back into heaven. In the event of the ascension, our humanity is redeemed back into the presence of God. 

There's a man in heaven! See, there it is, look up there. What if they had ancient newscasters, right? And newscasters could go back, you know? "That's right, we're here today and Jesus has just ascended. There's a man in heaven! News at 11."

Don't miss the significance of that. Our humanity now is in the presence of living man human Jesus, redeemed man is now in the presence of God. He can stand in the Holy of Holies, in the holy presence of God without fear. He's redeemed, and he brings us also to be redeemed. There's a man in heaven returned to be with God. Adam fell, he descended Christ ascends. He redeems our humanity and takes us home. That's where we're going, my friends. Jesus said, "In my Father's house, there are many mansions. And I'm going to prepare a place for you." Well, he could have said, "I'm ascending there to prepare a place for you." And if I ascend there, then I will come and get you. And you will ascend there to dwell with God. It's a homecoming. The Ascension results in our homecoming. 

Jenny was at a conference, Daughters of Holy Cross, recently, and Bishop Mark Lawrence was there. And he got on to talking about the ascension. And this is what he said. He said, "The Ascension is our homecoming. The ascension is the most vital thing. Jesus did everything. He accomplished everything. But the the final step was he took us home, he took our humanity home." And I think he told the story about actually a baby being born. And first opening his eyes and it was so bright, he could hardly open the eyes. But then the father was standing by there, and the baby recognize the father's voice, because after all the babies can hear in the womb. And he turned to us looked at isn't that right? And he said, This is what the ascension is. We're gonna you know, it'll be so glorious that we'll be trying to get our eyes open but then we will hear our father's  voice! We will hear our father's voice because we will be home. The journey is not finished until the plan of salvation is not complete without the ascension. Jesus cannot return, come again without first ascending. The Holy Spirit, the promise of the Holy Spirit could not be fulfilled, cannot be realized until Jesus ascended. He said to the disciples, it's expedient that I ascend because if I don't, the Holy Spirit won't come. And here at the event of the ascension, then, is the promise given a certified to wait because the power of the Spirit is coming next week. Next week, it's coming on Pentecost. The good news is not complete without this final ascension, this event into the presence of God. 

This is the gospel. We are destined to come home, to be home with God, to join Jesus there where we will see God and see him face to face. Jesus's ascends and this event, the completion of God's plan of salvation. There's a man in heaven now and makes possible the coming of the Holy Spirit. He concludes his earthly ministry. 

And the other part that is really clear in Scripture about the the ascension is that in this event, Jesus is exalted. He is exalted. And we hear that in our reading from Ephesians, the immeasurable power that towards those who believe he worked in Christ, when he raised Him from the dead, and ascended him is seated at the right hand and heavenly places. Now, Jesus is glorified. He is exalted. He is in his next state of being, as King of kings and Lord of lords over all the world, all the universe. He exalted, far above all rule, authority, power, dominion, and every name that is named -- not only in this age, but in the one to come.

He put all things under his feet, and gave him his head of all things to come to and head over all the church. So in this event, then, God's plan of salvation, Jesus' ministry is completed, and he's exalted into heaven. So the ascension is an event. Ascension also embodies a biblical principle, one that we try to walk in. One that I would encourage us to lay hold of, on this Ascension Sunday--the biblical principle of ascending, of ascent, making our ascent to God. That's the journey isn't it? I've often said that the journey through this world is the journey of becoming who God has created us to be. It's the journey of becoming our true identity. It's a journey of becoming the the name of the white stone that God will, the Lord will give to each one of you when we stand before him. Your character, your nature, it's a journey of ascending, ascending out of this slogging along and slogging through the mud and the blood and the confusion and the lies and the sin and the whole cauldron that you know, the sea of confusion that has gripped this world. And the climb. Climb up. Those of you who have climbed up in the Sierras, you know what I'm talking about? Doug Starr, my good friend, he took us on a journey of ascent. He climbed up higher into the mountains. As you climb, what did he find? The air was fresh, water pure, fragrance of the pines. All God's creation in splendor around him--closer into the presence of God. 

In a similar manner we in our spiritual lives, we are called, Jesus calling us, "Come up here come higher." To climb up. To leave our sinful ways to breathe the clear air, to to purify our thoughts and our hearts from all the pollution. To ascend is spiritual principle. It's a spiritual discipline, Who shall ascend to the hill of the Lord, who shall stand in his holy mountain? The one who has clean hands, and a pure heart. If you have been raised then with Christ, set your thoughts on things above. Let your thoughts ascend to things above where Christ is. 

Jesus is lifted up in the Gospel, and in the Gospel of Luke he is he is lifted up, lifted up into the heavens. And as followers of Jesus one day we will also be lifted up out of this world into His presence. So the ascension calls us as the people of ascension to live it, you know, and it was a principle of ascend, of being lifted up, to rise up above the fray, to rise up above our sinful natures, to rise up our natural inclinations to you know, get in there and do what we think we should do. Hhave you ever experienced that? It's not easy to get up above the fray is it? Can you think of a time when you were like, just lifted up and you just stayed above the fray? And in doing that you had brought God's presence and His kingdom into whatever situation? Not long ago, I went to Rite Aid because I had to get a prescription. And I came in and I thought, "Oh, great. There's no line. I'm the only one." But when I got to the little footprints, there where to stand on little footprints and wait. Then I realized there was another man in front of me at the counter. And he was just railing against the pharmacy girl that was there. "I want my prescription!!!" And she's going well, I'm sorry. But you know, you can't get this filled until, you know, for another week, because it's a controlled substance, and you can't get it until then." "Well, you've got it all wrong. What's the matter with you incompetent people? I want to say the pharmacist!" 

So all of a sudden, I'm thinking, "This guy's out of control. I better step in there and tell him, hey, you need to shut up my friend."

I don't know, you know, I might not be such a good. Oh, and he's just just berating the staff. And I'm just like, "Where's security?" Then, "No, you don't need to jump into the fray. You need to be above the fray." I mean, I wasn't thinking that at the time. But I just feel like God said, "Just pray. And you know, I have people here who have authority here, and they're gonna deal with it you know. So I just began to pray. And then pretty soon he's like, "Oh, I'm out of here. If you guys can't do this for me," and he stomps out. I'm next in line. And they're just like, I mean, you know how it is, when you run into something like that the poor, you know, the little girl and the pharmacist woman there. "You guys really handled that well. Bless you. That was really difficult. I just pray that God will lift you up." And it was an opportunity. And as I thought about this sermon, this one I thought, you know, what was happening there was I was inviting them to ascend up above all of that conflict and all that mess and those lies that were thrown. And I was able to pray and say, Lord, I pray, Lord, bless them, restore them, lift them up into your presence. And you could just see the countenance just go, Ah, this guy's not gonna yell at us like the last guy. 

My friends, that is that discipline that God calls us to live in. To live above the fray, lift it up. That's our destiny. I've been saying, you know, we're on the way to the resurrection. We're also on the way to the ascension. We will all one day ascend. Either when we die and we complete this journey we'll ascend into God's presence then, or will ascend when Jesus returns and we see him in the sky, and we all, Paul says, are lifted up. We ascend up into the air. 

As disciples, as followers of Jesus, we are making our ascent, Amen. Upward into holiness, repentance and holiness, climbing the holy mountain, step by step, day by day; and if we slip and fall back down always, then we get back up and Jesus helps us and we begin again. Climbing closer into the presence of God. 

We are making our ascent when we set our minds on His Word. We are making our ascent when we set aside time to pray. We are making ascent when we reach out with compassion. When we preach the gospel, we are making our ascent and when we come into His presence in the Holy Sacrament.

How will you be following Jesus in this week ahead? Where will you be ascending? Where is he is calling you to ascend? We make our ascent when we decide we're going to come to church. And maybe it's been a long time, and it's really scary. But we ascend up, and God gives us our grace, gives us grace to be here. 

So the ascension is an event. Ascension is a spiritual principle that has now become part of our very identity, our ministry, it's a way of life, my friends, a way, a mode of being. The significance of the ascension cannot be missed. It cannot be understated. That's why God named us Ascension Anglican. He's calling us to live in that state of being lifted up, growing closer to God. It's our calling our identity. It's the name that God has written upon our hearts. You have ascension in your hearts. As we gather on this Ascension Sunday, we embody that event and we display that principle. And we bring to mind we bring them to mind and we show them like I did, that on that moment in the pharmacy, we show that it's possible to live lifted up above this world. Because Jesus has ascended into heaven. He has redeemed our humanity and taken us home. And one day, we will all follow Jesus. We will all ascend there as well. 

My final thought here this morning on this Ascension Sunday, something that really I noticed for the first time in reading in reading the Gospel, and the story of Jesus' ascension, he gathers the disciples, he's completing his time with them. He's giving them His Word. He's explained to them everything's fulfilled, the law the prophets, all's done. He's telling them instructions, wait for the promise of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is coming. And then he leads them out as far as Bethany and lifting up his hands, he blessed them. He blessed them. There's a special blessing that takes place in the ascension, a blessing that he gives to His disciples as he's lifted up. He leaves he's leaving them with this blessing. And what does that blessing do? They worship Him. And they return in great joy. And they're continually in the temple, praising God. On this Ascension Sunday, I pray, Lord, that we would receive the blessing of the ascension, that we may continue with great joy and worship in your holy temple. 

God has written the ascension in our hearts. It is our homecoming. It is where we're going. So in the days ahead, let us all live then. Let's live as the people of Ascension Anglican. Let's live with ascension in our hearts, that the world may see and come to know Jesus as the exalted, ascended, Lord of Glory seated at the right hand of the Father. Until that day when we also make our own ascension and join him there. Until that day, let us live in the final blessing of the ascension. Amen. 

Let's pray. Lord, we pray and ask for the blessing of The ascension to be upon us today that that blessing would give grace and mercy and cause us to be lifted up, lifted up above the fray, lifted up above our own sins, our own guilt, shame, the things that hold the things that try to drag us down, Lord, that they will be cut off and we would receive this blessing. The Lord bless you on this Ascension Day, this Ascension Sunday. Amen.