Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
The Sunday Sermon
Exhortation of the mind to the contemplation of God
By St. Anselm
Edited by R.P. Woitowitz Sr.
Cast Aside all Worldly Thoughts
The mind of man should cast aside cares, and exclude all thoughts save that of God, that it may seek Him. Man was created to see God. Man by sin,( Genesis 3:6-12;) lost the blessedness for which he was made, and found the misery for which he was not made. He did not keep this good when he could keep it easily. (Genesis 25:32;)(a) Without God it is ill with us. (Psalms 28:1; Jeremiah 7:23;)Our labors and attempts are in vain without God. (Ecclesiastes 1:2;) Man cannot seek God, unless God himself teaches him; nor find him, unless he reveals himself. (Psalms 86:11; Galatians 1:16; God created man in his image, that he might be mindful of him, think of him, and love him. (Job 7:17;)The believer does not seek to understand, that he may believe, but he believes, that he may understand: for unless he believed he would not understand. ( Hebrews 11:1;)
UP now, slight man! flee, for a little while, thy occupations; hide thyself, for a time, from thy disturbing thoughts. Cast aside, now, thy burdensome cares, and put away thy toilsome business. Yield room for some little time to God; and rest for a little time in him. (Zephaniah 3:17;) Enter the inner chamber of thy mind; shut out all thoughts save that of God, and such as can aid thee in seeking him; close thy door and seek him. (Matthew 6:5-6;) Speak now, my whole heart! speak now to God, saying, I seek thy face; thy face, Lord, will I seek (Psalms 27:8; Isaiah 26:9;). And come thou now, O Lord my God, teach my heart where and how it may seek thee, where and how it may find thee. (Songs 3:2; Psalm 51:10;)
A prayer and praise to our creator:
Be it mine to look up to thy light, even from afar, even from the depths. Teach me to seek thee, and reveal thyself to me, when I seek thee, for I cannot seek thee, except thou teach me, nor find thee, except thou reveal thyself. Let me seek thee in longing, let me long for thee in seeking; let me find thee in love, and love thee in finding. Lord, I acknowledge and I thank thee that thou hast created me in this thine image, in order that I may be mindful of thee, may conceive of thee, and love thee; but that image has been so consumed and wasted away by vices, and obscured by the smoke of wrong‑doing, that it cannot achieve that for which it was made, except thou renew it, and create it anew. I do not endeavor, O Lord, to penetrate thy sublimity, for in no wise do I compare my understanding with that; but I long to understand in some degree thy truth, which my heart believes and loves. For I do not seek to understand that I may believe, but I believe in order to understand. For this also I believe, that unless I believed, I should not understand.
Genesis 3:6-12; Genesis 25:32; Psalms 27:8; Psalms 28:1; Ecclesiastes 1:2; Jeremiah 7:23; Psalms 86:11; Galatians 1:16; Hebrews 11:1; Zephaniah 3:17; Matthew 6:5-6; Songs 3:2; Psalm 51:10;
(a) Editor’s note - The use of a this scripture as a reference serves more as an illustration. The fact that Esau was more concerned about his present circumstances that he would give up his birthright for a pot of stew demonstrates to me that too many of us, myself included, have often times taken our eyes off the things of the spirit and have placed them instead on those things of the world.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
The Sunday Sermon
Knowing Nothing But the Cross
by Charles E. Jefferson (1860-1937)
Edited by R.P. Woitowitz Sr.
For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified - 1 Corinthians 2:2
Preface - by R.P. Woitowitz Sr.
So often we think upon the Joys of being a Christian. We will live with our heavenly Father and His Son Christ Jesus. We will be victorious in all we do, over-comers, conquerors, joyful and filled with the knowledge that God is for us, and with us at all times. But what do we bring to God’s table? Do we consider the price we pay? How often have we been told that it is a myth, a lie, a concoction of the mind of man? How often have we been accused of being self-righteous, judgmental? How many times have we had to defend our beliefs against the onslaught of a dying world that questions the very existence of God? During the Great Depression of the 1930s, there was a group of people, atheists by self confession, that wrote to our government to forgo the National Day of Thanksgiving. Their reason being; “ how can a merciful and loving God allow so many to suffer?” Many such people make that same claim today in various forms.
So again I ask what do each of us need to bring to the table? Perhaps a better question should be, what should we bring to the table? Herein below then is one man’s suggestion; that we deny ourselves, and take up the cross.
RPW. Sr.
Let us think about the cross. And when I say "cross " I mean the cross set up on Golgotha. We are in the habit of using the word nowadays with many significations. The cross; what is the cross? It is an architectural decoration, a pretty way of ending a spire. It is a piece of jewelery dangling from a man's watch-chain, or hanging from a woman's neck. It is a figure of speech. Do we not talk about our "little crosses" and smile over them through our tears? But the cross about which I wish to speak is a piece of rough timber with a dying man nailed to it. That hideous spectacle lies at the very centre of our religion.
It is a misfortune of our age that Christianity is surrounded by a golden haze. When seen through this golden haze the religion of the Son of God seems to be a beautiful and ethereal thing. It is a poem whose rhythmic cadences soothe the imagination and satisfy our anesthetic nature. It is a lovely song, to be handed over to the lips of expert singers, and to be interpreted by the great masters of tone. It is a picture, tragic and pathetic, before which we can sit down in our hours of meditation and wonder or cry. It is a philosophy, to be studied and discussed; a learned thing, to be expounded in essays and eloquent orations. It is a dream, beautiful and luminous as the Syrian sky under which it had its birth. And when we speak about "the cross" we mean a certain line in the poem, a verse in the anthem, a color in the picture, an enigma in the philosophy, the central glory of the dream.
But that is not the religion of the Son of God. The Christian life as Jesus lived it was a simple, prosaic, practical thing. "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?"( Luke 2:49;) "I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day, for the night cometh when no man can work." (John 9:4;) "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work." (John 4:34;) So he said as he labored through the years. He went into society, where men and women were tied round and round with foolish customs and ridiculous fashions, and he defied these fashions by acting as a Son of God ought to act.
Not only was it certain to him that he must move steadily toward the cross, but it was equally clear that every man who would do the work which he was engaged in must also move toward a cross. His experience was not to be exceptional, but it was to be the established rule. ( Luke 9:23;) He could not allow men to follow him unless he was first assured that they understood the condition on which discipleship became possible. Jesus made the cross conspicuous because he knows what is in man.
-Be a Christian in order that you may help save a world-
When Jesus met those young men on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, He said to Peter and Andrew and James and John: "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men." (Mark 1:17;) This is to say one should get off of your snug little Sea of Galilee and venture out upon the ocean, where storms are tremendous and vast interests are in danger. And whenever throughout his life he succeeded in getting men to come to him, he immediately said: "Go preach the gospel. I send you like so many sheep into the midst of wolves." (Luke 10:3;) That is what it is to be a Christian: to throw one's self into the hard, rough work of bringing this world back to God. That is the appeal, and the only appeal that goes deep into a man's soul. That is the appeal which Christianity brings to the young men of America. My brethren, be Christians, in order to bring a world back to God.
No one can be a Christian without risk and loss. We are not in danger now of being cut to pieces by the knives of savages, but words are daggers and cause more suffering than drawn swords do. Bullets kill, but words lacerate and leave the heart bleeding. Popularity is as sweet to-day as it has ever been, but popularity is something we must be ready to part with at any hour. John Greenleaf Whittier once laid his hand on the head of a fifteen-year-old boy and said: "My lad, if you want to win success, identify yourself with some unpopular but noble cause." Whittier when a boy had done just that thing. He had identified himself with the antislavery cause. He had suffered many things because of his convictions, but in his old age he had the joy of seeing the world come round to where he stood. At the end of the day he wore a crown. One may suffer for a little while, but your light affliction is but for a moment. Without such suffering humanity cannot advance, nor can you be a worthy follower of the Son of God. " It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him : if we suffer, we shall also reign with him." ( 2 Timothy 2:11; Romans 6:8)
"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, counted it not a prize to be on an equality with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross." (Philippians 2:5-8;) Behold! Down, down, down! Up from the pit of his humiliation there comes the exhortation to "Follow me," and down from the heights of his glory there falls the great promise " To him that over cometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne." (Revelation 3:21;)
Scripture as used above
Luke 2:49; John 9:4; John 4:34; Luke 9:23; Mark 1:17; Luke 10:3; 2 Timothy 2:11; Romans 6:8; Philippians 2:5-8; Revelation 3:21;
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Friday, January 20, 2012
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
The First Epistle of John
Chapter 2 Verses 15-16
15 Love not this world, neither the things that
are in this world. If any man love this world, the
love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in this world, (as the lust of the
flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life) is not
of the Father, but is of this world.
Romans 12:2; James 4:4; Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13; 1 Peter 1:14; Galatians 1:4; Ephesians 4:23; Titus 3:5; Ephesians 5:10; John 15:19; Ecclesiastes 5:10-11; 1Timothy 6:10; Hebrews 13:5; Philippians 1:27;
Suggested Additional Reading Matthew 13, Jude 1, and Psalm 37
Monday, January 16, 2012
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Saturday, January 14, 2012
The First Epistle of John
Chapter 2 Verses 3, 6
3 And hereby we are sure that we know him,
if we keep his commandments.
6 He that saith he remaineth in him, ought even
so to walk as he hath walked.
John 14:15; John 15:10; John 5:19; 1 Corinthians 1:9; 1 Corinthians 10:13; Deuteronomy 7:9; Nehemiah 1:5, 9; Leviticus 26:3, 9, 12; Proverbs 3:1; Proverbs 4:4; Proverbs 7:1-2;
Thursday, January 12, 2012
The First Epistle of John
Chapter 2 Verses 1-2
1 My little children, these things write I unto
you, that ye sin not: and if any man sin, we have an
Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Just.
2 And he is the reconciliation for our sins: and
not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole
world.
Hebrews 7:25; Hebrews 9:11, 24; Romans 8:34; Romans 3:25; John 1:29; 1 John 4:10; Acts 14:16; Acts 17:30; John 15:22; Ezekiel 2:5; 1 Peter 1:19; Revelation 5:6;
Suggested additional reading Hebrews 9 and Hebrews 10
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Monday, January 9, 2012
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
The Second Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians
Chapter 11 Verses 12-15
12 But what I do, that will I do, that I may cut
away occasion from them which desire occasion, that
they might be found like unto us in that wherein
they rejoice.
13 For such false apostles are deceitful workers, and
transform themselves into the Apostles of Christ.
14 And no marvel: for Satan himself is transformed
into an Angel of light.
15 Therefore it is no great thing, though his
ministers transform themselves, as though they were
the ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be
according to their works.
Related Scripture
1 Corinthians 9:12; Acts 20:30-35; 2 Corinthians 6:3-10; Mark 13:21-22; 2 Thessalonians 2:9; Acts 15:24; Romans 16:24; Galatians 1:7-8; Philippians 1:15; 2 Peter 2:1; Revelation 2:2; Philippians 3:2; Titus 1:10; 2 Peter 2:15; Hosea 9:1; Malachi 3:5;
Editor’s notation - Some notes from the Geneva Bible
Paul’s adversaries sought all occasions they could, to be equal to him. And therefore seeing they had rather eat up the Corinthians, than preach to them for nothing, they sought another occasion,
to wit, to make Paul to take something: which thing if he had done, then hoped they by that means to be equal to him: for they made such a show of zeal and knowledge, and set it forth with such a glossing kind of eloquence, that some of them even despised Paul: but he showeth that all this is nothing but colors and painting. Now at length he pointeth out these fellows in their colors, forewarning that it will come to pass, that they will at length betray themselves, what countenance soever they make of zeal that they have to God’s glory. By light is meant the heavenly glory, whereof the Angels are partakers.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Monday, January 2, 2012
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