AOC Two

   Happy Fourth Sunday in Lent!  The AOC Sunday Report is available  RIGHT HERE ! This week we have really good sermons from Bishops Jerry and Roy, as well as from Revs Jack and Bryan. Each one of them is significantly different, each one is very informative and enjoyable. Rev Jack's sermon can be viewed on video  RIGHT HERE . There are always a lot of people who need your prayer, today is no exception. Please start with Jim and Tricia and Shamu and work out from there. There is a lot going on this week, Rev Jack and I are flying to Dallas tomorrow for work, back on Wednesday.  We will be available by phone or email if you need us. Are you having trouble understanding what good there is in the world? We often do, when that happens open your heart to the Holy Ghost and see if you can find some good, He's a big help there. Have an EPIC week! Godspeed, Hap Church of the Faithful Centurion Descanso, California United States of America

Rev Jack's sermon can be viewed on video  RIGHT HERE ! Sermon – Reverend Jack Arnold - Time and Action Church of the Faithful Centurion Descanso, California Today’s sermon brought the Collect, Epistle and Gospel together and is partly contained in the forewords above.    Consider these words from the Collect:   … we, who for our evil deeds do worthily deserve to be punished, by the comfort of thy grace may mercifully be relieved …   In the Collect, as is often to the case we acknowledge to God we have fallen way short of our goals He set for us. We are also acknowledging we deserve to be punished for our failures; by His Grace we are relieved of that punishment. Jesus accomplished that relieving by laying down His Life so we might be free of eternal damnation.                                                                                           In order for us to enter heaven, we have to be accounted as perfect.  Most of us know we are so far away from perfect, it would not see

The Propers for today are found on Page 130-132, with the Collect first:   The Fourth Sunday in Lent. The Collect.   G RANT , we beseech thee, Almighty God, that we, who for our evil deeds do worthily deserve to be punished, by the comfort of thy grace may mercifully be relieved; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.   And due to the rubric, the Collect for the Day is followed by the Collect for Ash Wednesday, which is found on Page 124:   The first day of Lent, commonly called Ash Wednesday. The Collect.   A LMIGHTY  and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all those who are penitent; Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.   ¶ This Collect is to be said every day in Lent, after the Collect appointed for the day, until Palm Sunday.   T

The Fourth Sunday in Lent. The Collect.   G RANT , we beseech thee, Almighty God, that we, who for our evil deeds do worthily deserve to be punished, by the comfort of thy grace may mercifully be relieved; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.  Amen .   A S  it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one   (Romans 3:10)     F OR  all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God  (Romans 3:23)                 We must have learned long ago in our childhood Bible school there is not anything we must do to go to Hell. Hell is where we are headed the moment we are born into the world. If we simply do nothing, then we shall surely wind up in the fires of Hell. Similarly, there is nothing we can do to earn eternal life – it is a gift of God to those who believe. If you have believed upon the name of Jesus Christ, then you have responded to God’s call as His chosen and elect. Our good works will not keep us from Hell, nor earn for us an entrance into Heaven.  But faith, responding

The Fourth Sunday in Lent. The Collect.   G RANT , we beseech thee, Almighty God, that we, who for our evil deeds do worthily deserve to be punished, by the comfort of thy grace may mercifully be relieved; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.  Amen .               The Collect for today confesses we are all sinners apart from the saving Grace of God and deserve no mercy - though we have received mercy. The only comfort we can take, as Children of God, is not in our good works, but His mercy and Grace alone.   And due to the rubric, the Collect for the Day is followed by the Collect for Ash Wednesday, which is found on Page 124:   The first day of Lent, commonly called Ash Wednesday. The Collect.   A LMIGHTY  and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all those who are penitent; Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all merc

I don't often write about things like this, but considering the times of materialism in which we live, I thought it might be fitting to remember a brave girl who found beauty and comfort in a cold harsh world.   During the late Choson era many of the Korean people lived in abject poverty, subsisting on the crops they were able to harvest each year and having little money for anything else. If they did manage to save a little money they were often quickly relieved of it through the squeezing taxes of the Yangban (nobility). Often the harvests failed and as a result, many people starved to death. Others, out of desperation, sold themselves or members of their family as slaves. It is difficult for us to understand but sometimes slavery in Korea was preferable to freedom. A slave was fed, clothed and sheltered by the slave's owner, but a free person was often left to fend for himself and sometimes starved to death during years of famine.   Ok Pun-ie was born in 1892. Her family, mo

            I just wanted to relate an incident that happened to me almost 60 years ago which I shall never forget.               One Friday night in the Fall of 1961, I had a date with a really nice and pretty young lady to go to a ball game in Copper Hill, Tennessee. I was a high school student and didn't really know my way around much - but thought that I did. I borrowed my mother's car and picked up my date.               We had to drive about 50 mile through the mountains of East Tennessee to get to the game. It was a really lonely and desolate drive, the moon was out in its brilliance and reflected off the waters of Lake Ocoee as we drove. The mountains stood brooding and joyless on the opposite side of the road.               When we reached the halfway point in our travels, I had a flat tire. No problem. I went to the trunk to get the spare and there WAS no spare. Later I learned that my mother had left it at a service station for repair and forgot to pick it up. An aut