Sermon for October 31, 1999
Pentecost 21A
Feast Of ALL SAINTS the Seventeenth Anniversary of Ray Of Hope Church
The following
are the Scripture readings as scheduled in the "Revised Common
Lectionary," an ecumenical schedule of readings of Holy Scripture. Our
sermons are based on these readings.
Revelation
7:9-17
Pentecost 21 The Feast Of All Saints, the Seventeenth Anniversary of Ray Of
Hope Church, (Year A)
The first reading of the Holy Scriptures is found in the last book of the
Christian Testament on page 164 of your NRSV. The reading is Revelation,
Chapter seven, verses nine to seventeen.
After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count,
from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before
the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their
hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying, "Salvation belongs to our
God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!" And all the angels
stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures,
and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, singing,
"Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power
and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen." Then one of the elders
addressed me, saying, "Who are these, robed in white, and where have they
come from?" I said to him, "Sir, you are the one that knows."
Then he said to me, "These are they who have come out of the great ordeal;
they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For
this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship him day and night
within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them.
They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor
any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their
shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will
wipe away every tear from their eyes."
This is the Word Of The Lord! Thanks be to God!
Pentecost 21 The Feast Of All Saints, the Seventeenth Anniversary of Ray Of
Hope Church
Psalm 34
1 I will thank the LORD at all times. My mouth will always praise him. 2 My
soul will boast about the LORD. Those who are oppressed will hear it and
rejoice. 3 Praise the LORD’s greatness with me. Let us highly honor his name
together. 4 I went to the LORD for help. He answered me and rescued me from all
my fears. 5 All who look to him will be radiant.£ Their faces will never be
covered with shame. 6 Here is a poor man who called out. The LORD heard him and
saved him from all his troubles. 7 The Messenger of the LORD camps around those
who fear him, and he rescues them. 8 Taste and see that the LORD is good.
Blessed is the person who takes refuge in him. 9 Fear the LORD, you holy people
who belong to him. Those who fear him are never in need. 10 Young lions go
hungry and may starve, but those who seek the LORD’s help have all the good
things they need. 11 Come, children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of
the LORD. 12 Which of you wants a full life? Who would like to live long enough
to enjoy good things? 13 Keep your tongue from saying evil things and your lips
from speaking deceitful things. 14 Turn away from evil, and do good. Seek
peace, and pursue it! 15 The LORD’s eyes are on righteous people. His ears hear
their cry for help. 16 The LORD confronts those who do evil in order to wipe
out all memory of them from the earth. 17 ëRighteous peopleû cry out. The LORD
hears and rescues them from all their troubles. 18 The LORD is near to those
whose hearts are humble. He saves those whose spirits are crushed. 19 The
righteous person has many troubles, but the LORD rescues him from all of them.
20 The LORD guards all of his bones. Not one of them is broken. 21 Evil will
kill wicked people, and those who hate righteous people will be condemned. 22
The LORD protects the souls of his servants. All who take refuge in him will
never be condemned.
Pentecost 21 The Feast Of All Saints, the Seventeenth Anniversary of Ray Of
Hope Church (Year A)
Romans 14:1-12
The second reading is found in the Letters of the Christian Testament on page
158; First John, Chapter three, verses one to three.
See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of
God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it
did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not
yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be
like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him
purify themselves, just as he is pure.
This is the Word Of The Lord! Thanks be to God!
Matthew 5:1-12
Pentecost 21 The Feast Of All Saints, the Seventeenth Anniversary of Ray Of
Hope Church (Year A)
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his
disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. "Blessed
are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. "Blessed are those who
hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. "Blessed are
the merciful, for they will receive mercy. "Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God. "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called
children of God. "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness'
sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are you when people
revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on
my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the
same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Reader: This is the Gospel of the Lord; Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Brother Benedict, Sermon 195
Pentecost 21A, October 31, 1999 The Seventeenth Anniversary of Ray Of Hope
Church
Revelation 7:9-17
Psalm 34
1 John 3:1-3
Matt. 5:1-12
"See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children
of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that
it did not know him." (1John 3:1) That is how our second reading opens
today and it is a beautiful summary of who we are and why we are here
celebrating the Feat of All Saints. It is the tremendous love of God that has
sought us out, to find us individually, and to bring us into the eternal
Kingdom. This is why we are Saints in the fullest sense of that word. All who
believe in Jesus and acknowledge Him as the eternally begotten only son of God
are Saints. Saints then come from all times and all places and all kinds of
people. Today we celebrate the feast of All Saints.
The word saint comes from the Greek word hagios and means separated, kept aside
for a specific purpose. When a person gives their heart, soul and mind to Jesus
they become separated for God’s way, God’s road, God’s plan. If God had not
loved us enough to save us from our choices and our self-centered decisions we
would certainly have perished. Look at our lives now. Let’s be honest. We all
make many decisions that are not in our best interest. Every one of us has made
decisions that are harmful to our immediate and long term welfare. Am I
speaking the truth? How many sitting here have made decisions that were harmful
to yourselves? How many people sitting here have always made every decision
with God’s best interest and desire being the final deciding factor? Imagine,
then, if we were left completely to our own natural abilities to fight evil and
choose God! Thank God we haven’t been left here alone to find God on our own
natural resources!
"See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children
of God; and that is what we are." (1John 1:1)
"God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever
believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not
send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through
Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does
not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in t name of the
only begotten Son of God." (John 3:16-18) What part of that do we not
understand? Jesus was not given to humanity to send us to eternal hell. No,
Jesus was given to humanity to assure our entrance into the eternal Kingdom of
God! This is a wonderful and magnificent work of God. You are SO loved, loved
in this way that you have been given the grace and favor of God and welcomed
into God’s eternal presence in spite of the fact that we have sinned, we
continue to sin, and as long as we are alive we shall sin. This is what mercy
really means.
God can not receive sin into His presence ever. However, God will receive those
whom Jesus covers with His blood. This is the greatest favor you have ever
received! Give God hand of thanksgiving and praise for caring so much for you.
Thank Him, Praise Him, Exult His Holy Name.
The day you realize the depth of what I am saying, you will enter a state of
eternal gratitude toward God. What other attitude could even start to be
appropriate? Wake up and praise the Lord!
In Revelation 21:7 Jesus says, "He who overcomes shall inherit all things,
and I will be his God and he shall be My son." Inherit all things? All
things? That means the entire universe itself! Saints, everything Science is
trying desperately to understand and discover is to be inherited by the sons
and daughters of God in Christ. We do not have spend billions of dollars to
lift tons of steel into the atmosphere, such work! We shall soon inherit all
things and that includes far more than any of our space vehicles have been able
to timidly explore! God doesn’t lie, God can’t life it isn’t possible because
it isn’t in God’s nature to lie.
The first reading was from Revelation 7:9-17 and in it Jesus is showing John
the beloved disciple what worship sounds like, what it looks like, and what it
shall always be. John sees a multitude so great that no human mind could count
it! That doesn’t sound like a mean and vengeful God who is supposedly trying to
condemn everyone! It sounds like only a very small portion of humanity will be
stupid enough to insist on being eternally lost, eternally self-centered rather
than God-centered. In this chapter John sees the billions of billions who have
made it to the eternal presence of God. God is in the center of the saved
multitude John is looking at. This really means the saved souls are
God-centered, literally! God is the center of our lives! God is the center of
our thoughts! God is the center of our intentions and goals! Once a person has
placed God at the center, everything in life and in fact in eternity takes on a
new and consequently a real purpose. Nothing is real in our lives until we
place God in our center. Until we do this our lives are off center, out of
balance, etc.
John sees that the saved are from every tribe, and every people, and every
language. There is no ethnic group that has any greater claim to the eternal
kingdom than any other group. All nationalities, all ethnicity, all varieties
are seen here in the saved Kingdom. This is why there is no room for prejudice among
the saints now or ever. Again, if one is prejudiced they are so focused on
themselves that they fail to see co-equality of everyone around them. God has
made and God has called all people and their varying ethnicity to celebrate
their sexual orientations, other interests, or family blood lines as a gift
from God.
This is the company of persons we are members of for ever.
The Gospel we have been entrusted with to proclaim is the very information
every human needs to live in this glorious kingdom of holy people, chosen
people, God’s special people, the kingdom of priests to serve our God. If we
understand the power, the reality, the destiny of the saints we should be
motivated to tell everyone we know about this.
The psalm says; "I sought the Lord, and he answered me, and delivered me
from all my fears. Look to him, and be radiant; so your faces shall never be
ashamed. This poor soul cried, and was heard by the Lord, and was saved from
every trouble." THEN, listen to this: "The angel of the Lord encamps
around those who fear him, and delivers them." These were verses 2-7 of
Psalm 34. I suggest we celebrate these verses this weekend because every one of
us can make these verses our personal song of praise. All of us have sought the
Lord of Heaven and Earth, and He has chosen to hear and answer us and to love
us with His eternal love. This last sentence is very significant where the
Angel of the Lord promises to be personally present to those who fear Him and
He promises to deliver the believer from danger. This is exactly what Jesus,
who is the Angel of the Lord, has promised in the Gospel; to never leave us
orphaned, to be with us always, even to the end of the age. It is this mission,
it is this Gospel, it is this promise of real presence while we labor to
proclaim it that has called us together into this body of believer, this
ministry of the Gospel of Christ known as Ray Of Hope Church.
With this weekend we begin our seventeenth year of ministry in Central New York
State. This weekend is our anniversary. I think it is wonderful that the
anniversary of Ray Of Hope Church is on Reformation Weekend and All Saints
Weekend. Are we participating in a reform? Yes, we absolutely are reformers.
What are we reforming, or re-shaping? It is the special call of this
congregation to join other congregations who boldly proclaim the Gospel of
Jesus Christ is for all people who believe. There are many voices in the
so-called church today who loudly proclaim condemnation for persons who are
different than themselves. They are not proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus, the
one based on His word, based on His promises. They are teaching a message of
their particular denominations, their particular bias and daring to call it
Christianity.
God has called us to unashamedly proclaim the full Gospel of Jesus, making it
clear and easy to understand. This is what the reformers of every age and pace
have tried to do. Our motivation comes from the Holy Spirit. Our measure of
success is easily seen in how faithful we are to this special call we have
received. Ray Of Hope Church has made it through sixteen years, thanks to God.
I seriously doubt any of us knew eighteen years ago that we would inherit the
task of this mission, this presentation of the Gospel to be passed on here in
Central New York. Moreover, who could have known we would be entrusted with the
future of this work of God? Further, who would have known that we would not
only be sustaining this expression of God’s Will, but that we also would be the
ones to take it into the next Century?
That is exactly what has happened. You and I are called to raise up an example
of church where the diversity of the Body Of Christ is clearly celebrated as
good and holy. We are called to witness to our respective communities and show
them the only real connection to Christ is through the Scriptures, the
Sacraments, and the Saints. We must show our community that it not only is
unnecessary, but, in fact is sinful to abandon the Christian faith, especially
in results to the sins of people in the church.
I invite you to consider our Statement of Faith, and our Statement of Purpose
in your meditation time this week. Let us continue in total commitment to this
great gift God has called us to proclaim. It is my joy to wish all of you a
happy anniversary on this Reformation weekend, and the Feast of All Saints. Let
us embrace our call with tremendous resolve, tremendous gratitude, and
tremendous motivatio
"See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children
of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that
it did not know him." (1John 3:1) sly so that we can continue to evolve as
better ambassadors for Christ.
To His Name be the glory both now and forever. Amen.
May almighty God bless you, In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Spirit. Amen.
TOTUS TUUS! Totally Yours, Lord Jesus Christ.
