Hear the messages that Father Jeremiah delivers each week
to the congregation of Grace Anglican.
Jesus spent time in deep prayer for his disciples and all those who will come to believe in Christ through their word. What does this prayer reveal to us about he work of Jesus after his ascension? We see through his words that he knew he would ascend and that he would continue to present us to the Father that we might be washed and sanctified in the truth of God.
Image: The Ascension of Christ, Pietro Perugino, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
On this Sunday after the Ascension, we hear from Jesus’ high priestly prayer found in John 17. As Jesus prays for all who believe through the Disciples, we are reminded that in his Ascension, Jesus continues to pray this prayer for us before the Father. He is thus cultivating us that he might be in us and we in him.
image: Unknown authorUnknown author, FAL, via Wikimedia Commons. Location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gethsemane_Macedonia.gif
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/
In Ephesians 4:1-16, St. Paul tells the Ephesians to walk in a way that is worthy of the calling they have in Christ. In doing this, he reminds them of the work of that has been accomplished for them by the Holy Trinity and the gifts that they have been given that enables them to walk worthy and to make Jesus known. These same gifts are ours today and we have the same calling! So St. Paul is calling for us to receive these gifts that will build up our calling in the Lord.
Image: Phillip Medhurst, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons. No changes made.
www.gracegastonia.com/sermon-blog/2021/8/1/receiving-gifts-for-the-calling-ephesians-41-16
St. Paul longed for the return of Jesus Christ because it meant the renewal of his body. It meant the putting off of the temporal tent and the putting on of the eternal, heavenly body. Why? Because he understood that the resurrection and ascension of Jesus meant all the promises of God the Father were going to be fulfilled for those brought into his family through Jesus Christ.
Image: Resurrection of the Dead (lower left section of the Last Judgment), Michelangelo, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. Image location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Resurrection_of_the_Dead_(lower_left_section_of_the_Last_Judgment)_MET_MM55713.jpg
Jesus’ ascension is an oft overlooked event in our Savior’s life, and yet, it brings a completion of redemption as he presents himself to his Father in heaven for our sake and becomes our eternal intercessor. Father Jeremiah considers a few of the implications of this reality in his sermon for the Sunday after the Ascension.
Image: Christ Ascending into Heaven (Detail from an embroidered in the Dominican convent at Stone, Staffordshire), photo by Lawrence OP, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0, no changes made. Image location: https://www.flickr.com/photos/paullew/7214076440/in/photostream/
The Ascension of Jesus is a very important day in the Church calendar. Its observance is one that reminds us of all that is dependent upon Jesus returning to the Father. In this sermon, Father Jeremiah explains some important reasons for Jesus’ ascension and why it matters to us today.
On the night before Jesus’ crucifixion, he prayed for all that would believe in him through the word of his apostles. In that prayer he asked that we might all be one as he and the Father are one and that we would know the love of the Father for the Son in ourselves. In Jesus’ ascension forty days after his resurrection, this prayer began to be fulfilled. How does Jesus’ ascension connect to his high priestly prayer? Listen now to find out.
Image: Agony in the Garden, by El Greco [Public domain]. Image location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:El_Greco_019.jpg
Does it really matter that Jesus ascended into heaven bodily? What kind of impact does that have upon my own faith? Does it make a difference to my daily life and the life of the Church? Far from being unimportant, Jesus' ascension of utmost necessity for our redemption and salvation. Hear what Father Jeremiah has to say about this extraordinary event in both Jesus' life and the life of the Church.
Image: The Ascension, by Benjamin West, [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. Location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Ascension)_by_Benjamin_West,_PRA.jpg
Grace Anglican Church, Sundays @ 10 AM, 800 Robinson Rd, Gastonia, NC
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 551081, Gastonia, NC 28054
