Commissioned, Empowered & Guided by the Holy Spirit (Ascension, Year A)

 Ascension is the final direct teaching moment in Jesus ministry. He is comforting the disciples with the news they will be commissioned, guided and empowered by the Holy Spirit. This is good news for us as we too live in a hostile and dangerous place. Like the disciples we cannot continue Jesus ministry on our own. Like them we need both a community for emotional support and the Holy Spirit to commission us, guide us and empower us for ministry. We live in the spiritual wreckage of failed politicized churches that did not depend on the Holy Spirit to commission, guide and empower them.

 1.  “You will be baptized by the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1.5)

Experiences of God's Glory Give Us Hope (Transfiguration)

 The supernatural worldview of the Bible has been lost to many in the Church. The power of God and the glory of God has been lost and forgotten. For many people Christianity has been reduced from a revealed religion to a philosophy of life. This has made us weak and ineffective. We all need experiences of the power and glory of God to give us hope in this dark time. The good news is that the Bible is full of examples and teachings that help us grow spiritually from knowing about Jesus to experiencing Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Our ministry is to share this good news and give those around us hope.

1.   The Hebrews Experienced God’s Glory

Resurrection Validates the New Covenant of Jesus

 Easter is a celebration of Jesus courage and love in overcoming the power of sin and death. It is God’s divine yes to the New Covenant of Jesus, that created a new way for us to be forgiven and made holy so we could be in the presence of God in heaven:

·      Challenges us to have the courage and love to experience and share that grace like Paul

 

 

1.   God Made a New Covenant of Grace

Deliver Us From Evil - Good News For Difficult Times

 

(Fr John is on vacation and will try to continue weekly Youtube services)

The readings are about faith. Faith is what holds us together in difficult times. Faith gives us the hope we need to carry on. It is very relevant to our present time. Joseph, the Cannanite woman and the apostle Paul all had faith that helped them get through difficult times. I found the Readings comforting after being reminded of the terrible corruption in American society watching a program on Hillary Clinton.

 

1. Joseph believed his hardship was God’s Plan

Right Relationships For Spiritual Life (Proper 13a)

(Available on John Gishler Youtube June 28)

 Today’s Readings challenge us to develop right relationships in this life as we prepare for our resurrection life in Jesus Christ. Last week we were challenged to love God more than family. This week we are challenged to die emotionally and spiritually to anything that competes with our love of God and to love our neighbour as ourselves. This involves painful challenges to the development and healing of our spiritual lives.

 

1. Right relationship with God

Thy Kingdom Come - My Kingdom Treasures (Proper 17)

The readings for the past few weeks (Matthew 13) have been teaching us about the Kingdom of God. In the Parable of the Sower Jesus focuses on how people respond to the Word of God. In the Parable of the Weeds Jesus teaches us how to deal with evil. In the three parables for today Jesus is teaching us that not everyone is included and how important it is to be included in the Kingdom. Those who are included should be able to bring out our treasures from our own experience of the Kingdom to share with others. Let me model this for you by bringing out three treasures from my study and experience of the Kingdom.

1. Let me share my treasure of knowing the Bible as True truth

“Those Who Are On the Side of Truth Listen To Me” (Reign of Christ)

The “Reign of Christ” is celebrated on the last Sunday of the Church Year. The Reign of Christ, which began with the Resurrection continues on until the end of time. This Reign is breaking into the physical world in our time as more and more people” listen to Jesus” and decide to come under His divine spiritual authority (John 18.37c). These are the ones who are “on the side of truth”. The point is that there is another side, made up of those who oppose (i.e. Islam) or chose not to listen to Jesus; and who have no part in His eternal Kingdom. Those who do chose to listen to Jesus are moving “from error into truth, from sin into right-relationship and from death to spiritual life” (Eucharistic Prayer 3, Book of Alternative Services).

1. Listening to Jesus moves us from error into spiritual truth

Jesus has revealed spiritual truth to us through the example of His life on Earth, His teachings as recorded in the Bible and through the gifts of the Holy Spirit that those who listen receive:

Mission Is To Boldly Proclaim Forgiveness, Healing and Freedom In Jesus Name (St. Luke's Day, Oct. 18)

We are a confused and deceived people living on a demon infested planet surrounded by lies and half truths. As Paul warns Timothy in commissioning him for ministry, false teachers have arisen in the Church to fill itching ears with what they want to hear - as opposed to the truth of our need for forgiveness, healing and freedom from spiritual oppresion. For example the clergy who selected the Timothy Reading for St. Luke’s Day deliberately omitted the first four verses of Chapter 4 – the key warning about false teachers. Many in our churches have failed to “fight the good fight” , “endure hardship” and “do the work of an evangelist” (2 Timothy 4.5, 7). In contrast, in our Readings Jesus reads the Isaiah (61.1-2) Prophecy and begins by stating that this Prophecy is fulfilled in their hearing. Jesus is claiming His destiny as Saviour and teaching us His Mission or Plan of ministry. All of Jesus ministry was related to healing the separation of individuals from God and others by speaking the truth to the half-truths destroying spiritual life and imprisoning people in false teachings. We all need to get back to Jesus authentic plan of ministry!

1. “The Spirit of the Lord is on me because He has anointed me to proclaim Good News to the poor.”

Jesus ministry is anointed and guided by the Holy Spirit. We have in our time many false teachers and self-appointed ministers. These people have no authority or power from God. False teachers are hard to identify as they generally speak in platitudes about love that sound good but are just a little off. They rarely talk about healing as this would involve the supernatural Biblical worldview and spiritual warfare which they generally regard as mythical. Teachers anointed by the Holy Spirit have the truth and proclaim it fearlessly:

We All Need To Have Our Eyes and Ears Opened (Proper 23)

The Readings for today focus on the difficulty of coming to faith in Jesus as the miracle worker of the
Bible. Jesus opened the eyes of people who were physically blind and the ears of people who were
physically deaf. These miraculous healings demonstrated His spiritual authority and authenticity as a
teacher, spiritual healer and exorcist. People in our time tend to dismiss these signs and wonders as
superstitions. The truth is that they are essential evidence to opening the eyes and ears of our faith. If we can not believe in the miraculous; then we have a faith that is weak and incomplete. We need to have our spiritual eyes and ears opened as the final step in our conversion to serious Christianity.

1. We have been blinded by our faith in Science as the way to discern truth

You Are Witnesses of These Things (Ascension Readings)

The Ascension of Jesus marks the end of Jesus visible ministry on Earth, until His coming again in the End Times. In between these times, Jesus tells us our ministry is to proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins in His name to all nations. (Luke 24.47). The Good News is that Jesus did not abandon His followers in this mission. Jesus promised that they would receive “power from on high”, the gift of the Holy Spirit, that he would “open their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.” (Luke 24.45) If we are to be effective witnesses to the life, sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus we need to understand:

• Why we are witnesses
• What we can witness too
• How the Holy Spirit helps us
• Our responsibilities as witnesses

1. A witness is a person who has seen or experienced something
Jesus was speaking to His followers who had personally heard His teaching, seen his healing miracles and personally seen His Resurrection body.

The Resurrection Means I Will Not Die But Live! (`Easter)

Easter is a celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from physical death. This gives us the hope that when we die, our soul and spirit will live on in a different dimension and in a new Resurrection or spiritual body. The Readings assigned for Easter remind us of the Isaiah (25.7) Prophecy and Psalm 118.17 that God promised to intervene in His Story and create a way to save us from the fear and shame of physical death. The Gospel Reading describes the first human encounter with the Risen Jesus and the Acts Reading reminds us that those who believe in Jesus Christ will also experience this new form of life.

1. “He will destroy the shroud that enfolds all people (Is. 25.7)

This is a profound Prophecy about the human condition. We all die. This raises the question of what happens when we die? We all fear death, particularly as we get older and experience the loss of people we love.

Transfiguration Was the Ultimate Epiphany Experience (Transfiguration)



An Epiphany moment is when we see something in a dramatic new way. In this case Peter, James and John see Jesus with his body and cloths changed in a dramatic, visible way; talking to Elijah and Moses (Mark 9.2-13). This is not a dream. There are three very awake and frightened witnesses. The witnesses are having the epiphany moment of their lives. They are seeing Jesus as part of another eternal spiritual dimension. This is nothing less than the heavenly kingdom in visible form intruding on our physical world.

 1. We have trouble with the Biblical supernatural worldview

We have been raised in a culture based on science and reason. The Age of Reason and Enlightenment rejected as Biblical myths. Modern Theological Liberals reject the supernatural as superstition

Baptism, Experience and Faith

Several people have asked me if I noticed the dramatic difference between my January (Anglican ) Sower article on the “Battle Belongs to the Lord” Conference at St. Peter’s, Okatokes; and the opposite facing article “Understanding Aspects of Christian Faith” (which questioned both sin and spiritual evil). I did, and believe this has given us an opportunity to reflect on how differences in our teaching and experiences of God can lead to very different interpretations of our Baptismal Faith. This points to a need to listen to those who have different experiences of spiritual life - as opposed to dismissing them as misguided. Allan Miller has done us a great service by raising basic questions about the Nature of God,  sin and evil and the meaning of Baptism which are on the minds of many modern people. It is not just theological ignorance, but differences in our personal experience of the spiritual dimension that affect our interpretation of Faith and understanding of Baptism.

1. The Nature of God