Hear the messages that Father Jeremiah delivers each week
to the congregation of Grace Anglican.
Jesus tells us that if we love him, we will keep his commandments. What are we to make of this statement of his? Does it mean that our salvation is because of our good deeds? Or are these words his way of showing us how to realign and calibrate our lives to the salvation we have received by faith? Father Jeremiah helps us understand Jesus’ calling today.
Image: By Tobias Aeppli. Free to use. image location: https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-holding-compass-in-forest-1125272/
Jesus came to be baptized in the Jordan by John the Baptist so that the Holy Spirit would descend upon him. Now, through Jesus, we receive the very same Holy Spirit. Father Jeremiah helps us to see the connection between Jesus’ baptism and our own baptisms, that we might be more and more renewed by Jesus.
Image: The Baptism of Christ, James Fuller Queen. No known restrictions. Image location: https://www.loc.gov/item/2003677556/
What is the purpose of giving the Holy Spirit to the disciples and to us? The Spirit calls gives gifts that are to be used for the good of the Church and to make Jesus known through those gifts! Father Jeremiah explains this in his latest sermon.
image: Tongues of fire descend on the apostles at Pentecost. Lithograph, See page for author, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons. Image Location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tongues_of_fire_descend_on_the_apostles_at_Pentecost._Lithog_Wellcome_V0034957.jpg Original location: https://wellcomecollection.org/works/qqwwq4dm
When Nicodemus visits Jesus at night, there is more to their talk than meets the eye. How does Jesus being the light go with Nicodemus visiting him at night? How does someone hearing the wind go with hearing Scripture? Father Jeremiah speaks on these questions in this sermon.
Image: Visit of Nicodemus to Jesus, by John La Forge, Public Domain. Location: https://www.lookandlearn.com/history-images/YSA003406/Visit-of-Nicodemus-to-Christ
When the people attempted to build their tower, they wanted to make a name for themselves instead of receiving their recognition through the grace of God. They sinned by refusing God’s command and thus were scattered. But that scattering meant hope of receiving that new name that will come through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
Image: From the illuminated manuscript Vaux Passional, pubic domain. Image location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pentecost_descent_of_the_Holy_Ghost_as_a_dove_%28f._151%29.jpg
After the Last Supper with the disciples, Jesus’ reminds them that he will shortly be taken from them. Whta does he mean? Is he only referring to his crucifixion? Or is there more to this, especially when the Holy Spirit is involved? How does our love play a role in the Father’s love for us? So many questions to consider from this short passage, and Father Jeremiah walks through them in this sermon.
Image: Jesus and His Disciples at the Last Supper, from the book, Half Hours with the Bible, 19th Century. Scanned by Martin LaBar. License: CC BY-NC 2.0. No Changes made. Location: https://www.flickr.com/photos/martinlabar/6876657/in/photostream/
The Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost, which is a Jewish feast. Why did He descend on that particular day? Father Jeremiah walks through this unique coming of the Holy Spirit during a very particular Jewish festival and the way that He came reflecting the actions of God in the Old Testament.
image: The Holy Spirit Initiates the Pentecost, Engraving by A. Mochetti after N. Poussin (?), Public Domain. Image location: https://wellcomecollection.org/works/r9jwfqh9/items
When Jesus was baptized, many things happened! Father Jeremiah looks at this event and helps us to understand how all of it relates to our own baptisms.
St. Paul continues to direct us to the work of the Spirit in our passage today. Here the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness and encourages us through his work in us that for those who love God, all things will work together for their good. We are united with Christ and thus he dwells in us and we in him and through the intercession of the Spirit, we are strengthened in our prayers by his work in us. We can have assurance and comfort in this reality as believers. And this even includes our waywardness in the all things when we are drawn back by the love of Christ for us.
Image: Veni Sancte Spiritus, photo taken by Fr. Lawrence Lew, OP, used under license CC BY-NC 2.0, no changes made. Image location: https://www.flickr.com/photos/paullew/1103809343
In Romans 8.8-17, Paul continues speaking of the conflict between the flesh and the Spirit and how the affects us. We, though we will die in the body, will live because of the Spirit of Christ who dwells in us. Thus we are made children of God by the indwelling of the Spirit that we might live. Paul’s words are an encouragement to us to push forward in this life now because of the blessings that we have received.
Image: St. Paul at Notre Dame, photo taken by Lawrence OP, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. No changes made. Location: https://www.flickr.com/photos/paullew/9163364497
What happens when the new man and the old man come into conflict? It becomes a wrestling match between the Law of Sin and the Law of God. And only through the Spirit of God can we find victory in this fight and put to death the Law of Sin in us. Listen now to find out more about this match within.
Image: John Barrymore as Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde. Dr. Jeckyll image from Motion Picture News pg 2 (Mar-Jun 1920); Mr. Hyde image from Shadowland, pg 33 (Sept 1919-Feb 1920). Both images public domain.
As the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples on the first Pentecost of the Church, we ask why he came to dwell with and in the disciples. What did they immediately begin doing? Was it all about them speaking in different languages or was there a supreme purpose for that “tongue-speaking” on that Pentecost Sunday? Father Jeremiah explores these questions and helps us to understand the foundational role of the Spirit in our lives.
Image: Tongues of fire descend on the Apostles at Pentecost, Lithog, License: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0). Found at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tongues_of_fire_descend_on_the_apostles_at_Pentecost._Lithog_Wellcome_V0034957.jpg. No changes made, see link for author
Guest preacher Jonathan McClure takes us through John 14.8-17. He shows us that our own impatience can blind us to Jesus being amongst us as he truly is. When we miss who we have and what we have in Jesus, we must look to what the Father has promised us in Jesus to bring our eyes back to Jesus. In doing that, we will see how Jesus displays the Father to us, realize that Jesus is working through us, and that Jesus provides the helper we need.
Image: Stain glass from Queen’s College, Oxford, by Abraham van Linge, c. 1635. Photo taken by Lawrence OP. Used under license CC BY-NC 2.0. Location: https://www.flickr.com/photos/paullew/2482601503.
Jesus can tell his disciples and us to not be afraid and to not let our hearts be troubled because of the great hope that he sets before us. What is that hope? Our hope is the coming of the Holy Spirit and the coming of the new Jerusalem. Both of these are a reality for us today. Listen now to find out how this is.
Image: Merciful Christ (Icon), photo taken by: Steven Zucker. License: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. No changes made. Location: https://www.flickr.com/photos/profzucker/7173082023
We worship a God who is different from all other gods. Our God is a trinity of persons who is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This God has redeemed us from our sins and only a God who is a Trinity can do this. Only a God who is a Trinity can can change our hearts so that we can worship Him.
Image: By AnonMoos [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
On Pentecost nearly two thousand years ago, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the Church. Who is this person that the Father and Son have given to the church? Why does he do what he does and what is it that he has come to do? Listen now to find out more about all of this from Father Jeremiah.
Image: Heilige Dreifaltigkeit by Andrej Rublev [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
We encounter Jesus' teaching on the Holy Spirit in the Gospel of John in the midst of Easter. What will the Spirit do for the disciples and for us? How can we live the life that will receive the Spirit? How does our having the Spirit relate to Christ dwelling in us? Listen to find out more!
Image: The Last Supper, Simon Ushakov, [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. Located at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Simon_ushakov_last_supper_1685.jpg
Grace Anglican Church, Sundays @ 10 AM, 800 Robinson Rd, Gastonia, NC
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 551081, Gastonia, NC 28054
