Good morning,
It is a beautiful morning of one of the "ten best days". We already have a crocus in full bloom here at the parsonage. One of my friends sent a note saying that he had sighted a robin. Spring is on the way!
We have heard from Sunita. She sent an e-mail from Uganda, saying that she is doing well. Keep praying for her.
In her book, "Holding On to Hope", Nancy Guthrie tells the story about how she and her husband gave birth to a baby daughter, only to find out that the baby had a metabolic disorder called Zellweger Sydrome, which keeps the child’s body from being able to get rid of toxins. It’s a condition for which there is no treatment and no cure, and there are no survivors. Most children with the condition don’t survive much more than six months. That was the case with Nancy and David’s little girl, Hope, who was born in November and died the following June. Compounding the pain, a couple of years later Nancy and David were expecting another child, a little boy, also was born with Zellweger Syndrome, so they walked through the same experience all over again.
Nancy began writing during this time. She struggled with why her family was experiencing this storm in their lives. She wrote, “The world tells us to run from suffering, to avoid it all costs, to cry out to heaven to take it away. Few of us would choose to suffer. Yet when we know that God has allowed suffering into our lives for a purpose, we can embrace it instead of running from it, and we can seek God in the midst of our suffering.”
She went on to say, “The Cross is the ultimate example of God’s ability to work all things together for good – even the most wicked deed darkness ever conceived. Surely if God would require such intense suffering of his own Son who he loved to accomplish a holy purpose, he has a purpose for your pain and for my pain. And perhaps part of that purpose is to learn obedience from what we suffer.
“Why has God allowed so much suffering in your life? Ultimately, the purpose is not to disfigure you for life but to mold you into a person who thinks and acts and looks like Christ.”
How do you respond to storms with that kind of assurance? It is only possible when you know the One who ultimately has authority over the storm. Jesus awoke to find a boatload of terrified disciples expecting to die. What did Jesus do? Luke records that He rebuked the storm – it’s the same word the gospels use elsewhere to describe what Jesus said as He commanded demons to leave a person. Jesus commanded the storm to cease, and suddenly there was calm.
There’s an interesting connection here, for Luke tells us that as soon as the boat reached land, Jesus and the disciples encountered a demon-possessed man living among the tombs, and Jesus also commanded the demons to depart from him. What’s going on here? As the disciples responded when the storm stopped, saying, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.” (8:25)
Who is this? This is the Lord. This is the One who created the universe with a word. This is the One who sustains the created order by the power of His word. This is the One who has authority over the physical and the spiritual order – the One who commands both storm and demon, and they must obey. He is the One who is with us in our storms. He is the One who enables us to face even tragedy and suffering with the assurance that He is with us and He will carry us through, no matter what.
For the same reason the apostle Paul, even as he was facing his own execution, could write, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7) We do not have to be afraid, because He is with us.
On March 1, 1991, Jean and Ken Chaney took a trip to Fresno, California. On the way, they were driving on a non-maintained road in the Sierra National Forest when their car skidded into a snow bank. This devoted, elderly couple died in their car waiting for a rescuer who never came. Their bodies were found May 1st – two months later. When the road crew found their car and their bodies, they also found their diary. The entry on March 18th describes Ken’s death. “Dad went to the Lord at 7:30 this evening, March 18. It was so peaceful I didn’t even know he left. The last thing I heard him say was ‘Thank the Lord.’ I think I’ll be with him soon. Bye. I love you.”
How can a person reach that stage so that even death loses its terror and becomes a homecoming? It is because Ken and Jean knew the One who controls the storm. As a result, they could soar like eagles all the way home.
If you were following news reports of the Iraq war early a few years ago, you will remember David Bloom, a prominent international reporter for NBC News. Bloom chose to go to Iraq to be deployed with the Third Infantry Division. He became well-known for his reports from a mocked-up personnel carrier that came to be known as the “Bloom-mobile.” One morning, the 39-year-old reporter had been cramped up in his vehicle for several hours. As he finally stopped, he climbed out of the vehicle and collapsed. Within moments he was dead from a pulmonary embolism.
What many Americans didn’t know until that time was that two years earlier, David Bloom had given his heart to Christ while reading Chuck Colson’s book, "Born Again". He had become part of a weekly Bible study, and even in Iraq was continuing to share devotional materials via e-mail. A week later, hundreds of prominent and influential leaders from media and government participated in a memorial service for David at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Most who had come to pay their respects had not been aware of David’s faith in Christ. During the memorial service, the audience heard one after another of the e-mails David had sent to his wife, Melanie, describing his growing faith in Jesus Christ. The last e-mail had been received just hours before David’s death. It was read to the crowd and later published in a national magazine. It contained this testimony: “You can’t begin to fathom, cannot begin to even glimpse the enormity of the changes I have and am continuing to undergo. God takes you to the depths of your being, until you’re at rock bottom, and then, if you turn to Him with utter and blind faith and resolve in your heart and mind to walk only with Him and towards Him, (He) picks you up with your bootstraps and leads you home.”
Because of David’s faithfulness, his death became a powerful testimony to a lost world. And because of David’s trust in the One who controls the storm, he could soar like an eagle all the way home.
What do you do when you find yourself in a storm? First, make sure you are in the right place. There are some places you don’t want to be during a hurricane, aren’t there? When that kind of storm is on the way, you want to get to a safe place. Yet, not all storms arrive with winds and waves. Some storms hit us where we work, in our family, or in our health. When life’s storms hit, God’s family is a safe place to be. This is where God has called us to help one another, share with one another, encourage and support one another when those storms hit. Be in the right place.
What else do you do when you find yourself in a storm? You must make sure you have the right equipment. Whenever a hurricane is on the way, the stores are jammed with people buying bread and milk, batteries, plywood, and on and on. When a storm is coming, you need the right stuff on hand. When you are facing a storm in your life, there is no more important equipment than having the Word of God, the Bible. Chuck Swindoll told the story of William Cowper, who went through a terrible crisis in his life and tried to commit suicide. He first tried poison, but it didn’t kill him. The next day he tried to fall onto a sharp knife but the blade broke! He later tried to hang himself, but was found and taken down unconscious but still alive. At that point he picked up a Bible, began to read the book of Romans, and gave his life to Jesus Christ. As Swindoll puts it, “The God of the storms had pursued him unto the end and won his heart.” Years later, Cowper sat down and wrote these familiar words: “God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform; He plants His footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm.”
God’s Word will point you to God’s truth in the midst of the storm. What else do you do when you find yourself in a storm? Not only do you want to be in the right place and have the right equipment, you also want to make sure you have the right help. Whatever the storm, there is no greater help to have than the One who has authority over every storm. Whatever storm you may be facing, know that God will be with you. That is why the Psalmist could say, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1).
No matter what the storm may be – a hurricane or a terrible disease, a job loss or a family crisis, or something altogether different – we have confidence in the knowledge that we know the One who controls the storm. Whether he calms the storm or simply carries us through it, He will not leave us alone.
If you have given your life to Jesus Christ, then you are part of God’s family. Your Father is the One who controls the storm, so you don’t have to be afraid any more. You can face the storms with confidence, knowing that when the time comes, He will help you soar like an eagle all the way home.
Jesus is the Christ in every crisis.
Brown
Click here to view video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgTT88bm7FU
We can stand affliction better than we can prosperity, for in prosperity we forget God.
... Dwight Lyman Moody
Friday, March 7, 2008
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Brown's Daily Word 3-6-08
Good morning,
Praise the Lord for the way He reigns and rules. He calls us out of the tumult of our days to deny ourselves, take up the cross, and follow Him in full surrender and obedience. In my walk with the Lord I have been often reluctant and often disobedient. Sometimes in my life my response to Him has been a delayed response. As I grow older, the Lord is teaching me and nudging me to be reckless in obedience to Him, to let go of myself and let Him have His full say. The Lord is calling us into reckless obedience to Him and to His cause.
Reckless obedience is following Christ no matter what, no matter where you are, who you are with, or what you are doing, and no matter what the cost. Reckless obedience steps out of the boat when Jesus calls. The more I think about it, the more I realize that reckless obedience is the path to life’s greatest joy and accomplishment. More than that, when we learn to live a life of reckless obedience for Christ, we will find ourselves used of God to accomplish incredible things for His Kingdom.
In our visit to the Holy Land in February of 2006, we came down from the Mount of Beatitudes and the mountain where the Lord fed the five thousand. We came to the Sea of Galilee from the Northern shore, where we got onto a boat. It was evening, and there was one of the most glorious Sunsets I had ever seen beyond the horizons, over the sea of Galilee.
In that same area, Jesus had been ministering to the crowds, teaching, healing the sick, and, just before this, He miraculously fed 5,000 people from five loaves and two fishes. Then He sent the disciples on ahead in the boat, and He spent several hours alone in solitude. Meanwhile, back in the boat, it was rough going for the disciples. They should have already been across the Sea, but they were caught in a storm, and the driving wind kept them from making progress. Finally, at the fourth watch – which is between 3:00 am and 6:00 am in the morning – Jesus came out to join them on the boat. Of course, He took a shortcut, straight across the water.
The disciples were tired and weary, since they had been fighting the wind and waves for hours, and suddenly they saw a shadowy figure coming toward them across the water. Immediately they are seized with fear, thinking that it was a ghost, or an evil spirit. But Jesus sought to calm them as He called out, “Take courage. It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
There is an interesting thing to note here about what Jesus said to them. The phrase translated “It is I” in most of our Bibles, is literally the statement, “I am.” So what Jesus was saying was “Take courage. I am.” Why is that significant? If you look at Exodus 3:14, as Moses met God at the burning bush, God told Moses His name, “I am who I am.” And he told Moses to tell Israel, “I AM has sent me to you.”
It’s the same thing Jesus said as He walked across the water to a group of frightened disciples. He was saying, “Take courage. The same God who created this water, the same God who crafted the wind, He’s standing right here with you. You don’t have to be afraid.”
If you thought God was standing next to you right now, do you think that might give you a little more courage than you might otherwise have? He is – He is right there with you. Does that make a difference? It certainly made a difference for Peter. While all the other disciples stood there shaking and dripping, Peter said, “Lord, if that’s you, tell me to come to you on the water.” The word “tell” does not fully capture the force of what Peter is asking; he was really saying, “Lord, command me to come to you.” Here was a moment of remarkable faith in Peter’s life. He believed that if Jesus gave the order, he could do it. There could have been twelve disciples out there on that water, riding those waves without skis or a surfboard, but only one asked. Only one expected something special from God – and he got it.
Do you know what is the richest place in any city or town? It’s not the jewelry store, or the country club, or anything so modest as that. It’s the cemetery. Go by any cemetery, and it is full of riches that people carried to their graves. There are great songs that were never written, magnificent works of art never created, life-changing achievements never attempted, powerful testimonies for Christ never spoken. Can you think of anything more tragic than to go to your grave never having tasted the great things God made available to you, all because you never asked?
In Ephesians 3:20, Paul says, “God can do anything – far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!” (The Message) He calls us to come out of the boat. To live in reckless obedience means we are going to expect great things from God. But it also means we will attempt great things for God. This was the motto of William Carey.
Faith is a wonderful thing in the abstract, but the critical moment comes when it’s time to get out of the boat. Reckless obedience requires stepping out of the boat. After it was over, you can just imagine the disciples talking to one another, “I knew that was Jesus out there. I knew He could do that. I could have gone out there.” Lots of folks have faith in theory, but that night, in the storm, only one of them got out of the boat. Peter not only believed Jesus could enable him to walk on the water, but he acted on that belief.
Faith is not simply knowing that God is there, that Jesus can save – it is more than mentally believing. It also involves doing something about that belief; it means getting out of the boat.
In 1789, William Wilberforce stood before the British Parliament and called for an end to human slavery within the British empire. Every year for the next 18 years he introduced a bill to end slavery, and every year for 18 years his bill was defeated, but he never gave up on his campaign. Then, in 1833, just four days before he died, Wilberforce saw Parliament pass a bill abolishing slavery. It never would have happened if someone had not stepped out of the boat.
Faith is the ability to trust what we cannot see. When we are willing to step out of the boat in reckless obedience, we are freed from the obstacles of life that would entrap us. Peter stepped out of the boat and joined Jesus in doing something no other man had ever done before all because, when Jesus said, “come,” Peter got out of the boat.
It was a powerful moment of faith for Peter, but then something happened. Instead of focusing on Jesus, he begins to look around at the storm, and that’s when he began to sink. He stepped out of that boat with his eyes and his confidence fixed on Jesus, but then started to look around. Our text says, “when he saw the wind, he was afraid.” He began to look at his situation and his circumstances, and he began to think, “Wait a minute. I can’t walk on water!” Then he started to sink.
Many of us have experienced that at one time or another, have we not? God has called us to a task, but we get our eyes off Him and begin to question ourselves.
We look at the circumstances. We see the wind and the storm, and we lose heart. A crisis comes into your life, and you begin to be caught up in that situation. This challenge is too great, this conflict can’t be overcome, this wind is too strong. That’s when you get your eyes off Jesus.
The truth is, when Peter realized he couldn’t walk on water, he was absolutely right! Of course he couldn’t! In his own power, he would sink like a rock. But for a moment, when he stepped out of the boat, he wasn’t operating in his own power; he was walking in the power of Christ. When we walk in His power, recklessly obedient to His call, walking on water is like walking down a sidewalk. Yet, it was at the moment when he felt himself sinking that Peter discovered a wonderful reality of reckless obedience – that in faith we can Accept great grace from God.
One of the amazing discoveries of walking with Christ is that it is in reckless obedience that we truly discover reckless grace. It is only when we are willing to step out of the boat in obedience that we are in a position to discover the awesome grace of God that is available to us. As Peter shifted his attention from the Lord to the storm, he began to sink, and he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Peter’s faith was not gone; he just lost his focus, but he still knew where to find help. In fact, there’s an insight in what Jesus said to him, “Why did you doubt?” That word “doubt” literally means to be “double-minded” – to be of two minds. That’s exactly what had happened to Peter. It’s not that He didn’t believe in Jesus; it was just that the wind was so strong and the waves were so scary that he lost his focus on the Lord. He became double-minded.
Have you ever had that experience? You know what God wants you to do, and you would like to be faithful, but there are other attractions, other things that are seeking to draw our attention. You want to trust Jesus, but you also want to fit in and be accepted at work or at school. You want to trust Jesus, but you also want to have your own way, and to be your own boss. You want to trust Jesus, but there are some other things you would like to experience also, things that other folks seem to be enjoying. So you are torn, double-minded, and you begin to sink.
There are two important truths contained right here that every Christian needs to understand. First, when you lose your focus on Jesus, that’s when you’re going to sink. Peter was walking on water until he started paying more attention to the wind than to the Lord. But there’s another equally-important truth to remember. That is, even when you’re sinking, Jesus is still there. As soon as Peter called on Him, Jesus pulled him out of the water and brought him back to the safety of the boat. Even when Peter’s faith-focus wavered, Jesus was standing right there ready to save him. That is grace.
Yet, Peter would never have experienced the saving touch of Jesus in that moment if he had never stepped out of the boat. It is when we practice reckless obedience that we put ourselves in a position to discover reckless grace, grace without limits, grace that doesn’t depend on our abilities or our goodness, grace that reaches through a storm and brings us safely home. If Peter had never stepped out of the boat, he would never have discovered that Jesus could save him in the middle of a storm.
On August 16, 1987, Northwest Airlines flight 225 crashed just after taking off from the Detroit airport, killing 155 people. One person survived, a four-year-old from Tempe, Arizona, named Cecelia. News accounts say that when the rescuers found Cecelia they did not believe she had been on the plane. At first they assumed she had been a passenger in one of the cars on the highway onto which the airliner crashed. But when the passenger log for the flight was checked, there was Cecelia’s name.
Cecelia survived because, even as her plane was falling, Cecelia’s mother, Paula, unbuckled her own seat belt, got down on her knees in front of her daughter, wrapped her arms and body around Cecelia, and then would not let her go. Nothing could separate that child from her mother’s love, neither tragedy nor disaster, neither the fall nor the flames that followed, neither height nor depth, neither life nor death.
Jesus Christ left behind the glories of heaven and came to live among us. At Calvary He covered us with the sacrifice of his own body. He gave Himself so that you and I can have life abundant. That is reckless grace.
It is in reckless obedience that we discover reckless grace.
Simon Peter: Dr James Geer Ph.D. will be presenting " Simon Peter", a dramatic monologue, this coming Sunday, March 9, 2008 at 7 p.m. at our Union Center UMC, 128, Maple Drive. It is a powerful and passionate portrayal of the life and testimony of Simon Peter, our Lord's disciple. Those who live in our area , join us. You will be truly blessed.
In Christ,
Brown
The World's Easiest Quiz
Passing requires 4 correct answers
1) How long did the Hundred Years War last?
2) Which country makes Panama hats?
3) From which animal do we get catgut?
4) In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution?
5) What is a camel's hair brush made of?
6) The Canary Islands in the Pacific are named after what animal?
7) What was King George VI's first name?
8) What color is a purple finch?
9) Where are Chinese gooseberries from?
All done? Check your answers below!
ANSWERS TO THE QUIZ..
1) How long did the Hundred Years War last? 116 years
2) Which country makes Panama hats? Ecuador
3) From which animal do we get cat gut? Sheep and Horses
4) In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution? November
5) What is a camel's hair brush made of? Squirrel fur
6) The Canary Islands in the Pacific are named after what animal? Dogs
7) What was King George VI's first name? Albert
8) What color is a purple finch? Crimson
9) Where are Chinese gooseberries from? New Zealand
WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU FAILED?
Praise the Lord for the way He reigns and rules. He calls us out of the tumult of our days to deny ourselves, take up the cross, and follow Him in full surrender and obedience. In my walk with the Lord I have been often reluctant and often disobedient. Sometimes in my life my response to Him has been a delayed response. As I grow older, the Lord is teaching me and nudging me to be reckless in obedience to Him, to let go of myself and let Him have His full say. The Lord is calling us into reckless obedience to Him and to His cause.
Reckless obedience is following Christ no matter what, no matter where you are, who you are with, or what you are doing, and no matter what the cost. Reckless obedience steps out of the boat when Jesus calls. The more I think about it, the more I realize that reckless obedience is the path to life’s greatest joy and accomplishment. More than that, when we learn to live a life of reckless obedience for Christ, we will find ourselves used of God to accomplish incredible things for His Kingdom.
In our visit to the Holy Land in February of 2006, we came down from the Mount of Beatitudes and the mountain where the Lord fed the five thousand. We came to the Sea of Galilee from the Northern shore, where we got onto a boat. It was evening, and there was one of the most glorious Sunsets I had ever seen beyond the horizons, over the sea of Galilee.
In that same area, Jesus had been ministering to the crowds, teaching, healing the sick, and, just before this, He miraculously fed 5,000 people from five loaves and two fishes. Then He sent the disciples on ahead in the boat, and He spent several hours alone in solitude. Meanwhile, back in the boat, it was rough going for the disciples. They should have already been across the Sea, but they were caught in a storm, and the driving wind kept them from making progress. Finally, at the fourth watch – which is between 3:00 am and 6:00 am in the morning – Jesus came out to join them on the boat. Of course, He took a shortcut, straight across the water.
The disciples were tired and weary, since they had been fighting the wind and waves for hours, and suddenly they saw a shadowy figure coming toward them across the water. Immediately they are seized with fear, thinking that it was a ghost, or an evil spirit. But Jesus sought to calm them as He called out, “Take courage. It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
There is an interesting thing to note here about what Jesus said to them. The phrase translated “It is I” in most of our Bibles, is literally the statement, “I am.” So what Jesus was saying was “Take courage. I am.” Why is that significant? If you look at Exodus 3:14, as Moses met God at the burning bush, God told Moses His name, “I am who I am.” And he told Moses to tell Israel, “I AM has sent me to you.”
It’s the same thing Jesus said as He walked across the water to a group of frightened disciples. He was saying, “Take courage. The same God who created this water, the same God who crafted the wind, He’s standing right here with you. You don’t have to be afraid.”
If you thought God was standing next to you right now, do you think that might give you a little more courage than you might otherwise have? He is – He is right there with you. Does that make a difference? It certainly made a difference for Peter. While all the other disciples stood there shaking and dripping, Peter said, “Lord, if that’s you, tell me to come to you on the water.” The word “tell” does not fully capture the force of what Peter is asking; he was really saying, “Lord, command me to come to you.” Here was a moment of remarkable faith in Peter’s life. He believed that if Jesus gave the order, he could do it. There could have been twelve disciples out there on that water, riding those waves without skis or a surfboard, but only one asked. Only one expected something special from God – and he got it.
Do you know what is the richest place in any city or town? It’s not the jewelry store, or the country club, or anything so modest as that. It’s the cemetery. Go by any cemetery, and it is full of riches that people carried to their graves. There are great songs that were never written, magnificent works of art never created, life-changing achievements never attempted, powerful testimonies for Christ never spoken. Can you think of anything more tragic than to go to your grave never having tasted the great things God made available to you, all because you never asked?
In Ephesians 3:20, Paul says, “God can do anything – far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!” (The Message) He calls us to come out of the boat. To live in reckless obedience means we are going to expect great things from God. But it also means we will attempt great things for God. This was the motto of William Carey.
Faith is a wonderful thing in the abstract, but the critical moment comes when it’s time to get out of the boat. Reckless obedience requires stepping out of the boat. After it was over, you can just imagine the disciples talking to one another, “I knew that was Jesus out there. I knew He could do that. I could have gone out there.” Lots of folks have faith in theory, but that night, in the storm, only one of them got out of the boat. Peter not only believed Jesus could enable him to walk on the water, but he acted on that belief.
Faith is not simply knowing that God is there, that Jesus can save – it is more than mentally believing. It also involves doing something about that belief; it means getting out of the boat.
In 1789, William Wilberforce stood before the British Parliament and called for an end to human slavery within the British empire. Every year for the next 18 years he introduced a bill to end slavery, and every year for 18 years his bill was defeated, but he never gave up on his campaign. Then, in 1833, just four days before he died, Wilberforce saw Parliament pass a bill abolishing slavery. It never would have happened if someone had not stepped out of the boat.
Faith is the ability to trust what we cannot see. When we are willing to step out of the boat in reckless obedience, we are freed from the obstacles of life that would entrap us. Peter stepped out of the boat and joined Jesus in doing something no other man had ever done before all because, when Jesus said, “come,” Peter got out of the boat.
It was a powerful moment of faith for Peter, but then something happened. Instead of focusing on Jesus, he begins to look around at the storm, and that’s when he began to sink. He stepped out of that boat with his eyes and his confidence fixed on Jesus, but then started to look around. Our text says, “when he saw the wind, he was afraid.” He began to look at his situation and his circumstances, and he began to think, “Wait a minute. I can’t walk on water!” Then he started to sink.
Many of us have experienced that at one time or another, have we not? God has called us to a task, but we get our eyes off Him and begin to question ourselves.
We look at the circumstances. We see the wind and the storm, and we lose heart. A crisis comes into your life, and you begin to be caught up in that situation. This challenge is too great, this conflict can’t be overcome, this wind is too strong. That’s when you get your eyes off Jesus.
The truth is, when Peter realized he couldn’t walk on water, he was absolutely right! Of course he couldn’t! In his own power, he would sink like a rock. But for a moment, when he stepped out of the boat, he wasn’t operating in his own power; he was walking in the power of Christ. When we walk in His power, recklessly obedient to His call, walking on water is like walking down a sidewalk. Yet, it was at the moment when he felt himself sinking that Peter discovered a wonderful reality of reckless obedience – that in faith we can Accept great grace from God.
One of the amazing discoveries of walking with Christ is that it is in reckless obedience that we truly discover reckless grace. It is only when we are willing to step out of the boat in obedience that we are in a position to discover the awesome grace of God that is available to us. As Peter shifted his attention from the Lord to the storm, he began to sink, and he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Peter’s faith was not gone; he just lost his focus, but he still knew where to find help. In fact, there’s an insight in what Jesus said to him, “Why did you doubt?” That word “doubt” literally means to be “double-minded” – to be of two minds. That’s exactly what had happened to Peter. It’s not that He didn’t believe in Jesus; it was just that the wind was so strong and the waves were so scary that he lost his focus on the Lord. He became double-minded.
Have you ever had that experience? You know what God wants you to do, and you would like to be faithful, but there are other attractions, other things that are seeking to draw our attention. You want to trust Jesus, but you also want to fit in and be accepted at work or at school. You want to trust Jesus, but you also want to have your own way, and to be your own boss. You want to trust Jesus, but there are some other things you would like to experience also, things that other folks seem to be enjoying. So you are torn, double-minded, and you begin to sink.
There are two important truths contained right here that every Christian needs to understand. First, when you lose your focus on Jesus, that’s when you’re going to sink. Peter was walking on water until he started paying more attention to the wind than to the Lord. But there’s another equally-important truth to remember. That is, even when you’re sinking, Jesus is still there. As soon as Peter called on Him, Jesus pulled him out of the water and brought him back to the safety of the boat. Even when Peter’s faith-focus wavered, Jesus was standing right there ready to save him. That is grace.
Yet, Peter would never have experienced the saving touch of Jesus in that moment if he had never stepped out of the boat. It is when we practice reckless obedience that we put ourselves in a position to discover reckless grace, grace without limits, grace that doesn’t depend on our abilities or our goodness, grace that reaches through a storm and brings us safely home. If Peter had never stepped out of the boat, he would never have discovered that Jesus could save him in the middle of a storm.
On August 16, 1987, Northwest Airlines flight 225 crashed just after taking off from the Detroit airport, killing 155 people. One person survived, a four-year-old from Tempe, Arizona, named Cecelia. News accounts say that when the rescuers found Cecelia they did not believe she had been on the plane. At first they assumed she had been a passenger in one of the cars on the highway onto which the airliner crashed. But when the passenger log for the flight was checked, there was Cecelia’s name.
Cecelia survived because, even as her plane was falling, Cecelia’s mother, Paula, unbuckled her own seat belt, got down on her knees in front of her daughter, wrapped her arms and body around Cecelia, and then would not let her go. Nothing could separate that child from her mother’s love, neither tragedy nor disaster, neither the fall nor the flames that followed, neither height nor depth, neither life nor death.
Jesus Christ left behind the glories of heaven and came to live among us. At Calvary He covered us with the sacrifice of his own body. He gave Himself so that you and I can have life abundant. That is reckless grace.
It is in reckless obedience that we discover reckless grace.
Simon Peter: Dr James Geer Ph.D. will be presenting " Simon Peter", a dramatic monologue, this coming Sunday, March 9, 2008 at 7 p.m. at our Union Center UMC, 128, Maple Drive. It is a powerful and passionate portrayal of the life and testimony of Simon Peter, our Lord's disciple. Those who live in our area , join us. You will be truly blessed.
In Christ,
Brown
The World's Easiest Quiz
Passing requires 4 correct answers
1) How long did the Hundred Years War last?
2) Which country makes Panama hats?
3) From which animal do we get catgut?
4) In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution?
5) What is a camel's hair brush made of?
6) The Canary Islands in the Pacific are named after what animal?
7) What was King George VI's first name?
8) What color is a purple finch?
9) Where are Chinese gooseberries from?
All done? Check your answers below!
ANSWERS TO THE QUIZ..
1) How long did the Hundred Years War last? 116 years
2) Which country makes Panama hats? Ecuador
3) From which animal do we get cat gut? Sheep and Horses
4) In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution? November
5) What is a camel's hair brush made of? Squirrel fur
6) The Canary Islands in the Pacific are named after what animal? Dogs
7) What was King George VI's first name? Albert
8) What color is a purple finch? Crimson
9) Where are Chinese gooseberries from? New Zealand
WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU FAILED?
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Brown's Daily Word 3-5-08
Praise the Lord for this Lenten season. Praise the Lord for the Cross of Jesus, where the prince of Glory died.
On 29th October AD 312 the first Roman Emperor converted to the Christian faith, Constantine the Great, entered Rome. He was a worshipper of the sun god, Sol. On 28th October the forces he commanded were trying to conquer Rome. There was a great battle to take a bridge leading to the city. His army was greatly outnumbered but he claimed to have seen the sign of the cross in the heavens, hearing the message “In Hoc Signo Vinces” (“In this sign you will overcome”). He claimed that God instructed St. Constantine to put the cross on all the shields of his men.
In fact it was the letters Chi-Rho, a symbol is composed of the first letters in the Greek word for Christ, which made the symbol of a cross. Constantine’s army won a decisive battle and from that day there was freedom in the Roman empire for Christians to worship Jesus. He didn’t become a Christian on the spot but the victory made a profound impression on him and before he died some 25 years later he was baptised as a Christian. And the next emperor, Theodosius, made Christianity the official religion of the Empire in AD380.
The sign of the Cross of Jesus is a powerful symbol of the Christian faith. The Apostle Paul wrote that he could not boast about anything other than the Cross of Christ, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal 6:14). Why did he say this because for Jesus it meant His death? To the Jews it was "a stumbling block". It was a symbol of weakness, humiliation and defeat. The Greeks also had a problem with the Cross. It offended their sense of reason. No sane person would believe that kind of tale. A cartoon has been found on a wall in the ruins of ancient Rome showing how crazy the Christian message seemed to the people of that time. It’s a caricature of Jesus’ crucifixion, showing a man’s body hanging on a cross - but the body has the head of a donkey. There’s also a figure of a young man with hand raised as if in worship. Underneath is the inscription, "He worships his God!"
A crucified god? It just defied all reason – it doesn’t make sense. The non-Christian says that God would never involve himself in the world like that! Do we believe that? Well, that’s the choice we have to make. The Bible tells us that Jesus went willingly to be crucified to bear our sin because there was no other way that we could be forgiven. It was on the Cross that Jesus paid the penalty for our sin. To those who will not believe on the Christ of the Cross, it’s inescapably offensive, but to those who believe, it’s powerfully effective as "the power of God unto salvation" (Rom 1:16).
The symbol of the Cross is the centre of our faith. It’s often embroidered on the pulpit fall or the communion table. Let it be a reminder to us of what Jesus did for us on the Cross to make possible our salvation if we are willing to put our trust in Him and come to Him in repentance and faith. Let us look at"The Seven Words from the Cross "
The Gospels contain a most wonderful commentary on the Cross in the words of Jesus himself, spoken from the Cross itself. Seven sayings are recorded: if there were more we don’t know but surely it’s significant that seven is God’s perfect number. It represents completeness and wholeness. As Jesus hung upon that Cross almost two thousand years ago, he made seven great statements, treasured by believers as the Seven Words from the Cross. They cover the basic needs of mankind. Let’s meditate on them together as our Lord’s testament to a world wrecked by sin, bowed down by needs of healing in body, mind and spirit. The Words from the Cross reveal God’s answer to our basic needs.
"Father, forgive them" - there’s forgiveness for you at the Cross.
"Today, you will be with me" - there’s salvation for you at the Cross.
"Woman, here is your son" - there’s love for you at the Cross.
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me" - there’s atonement for you at the Cross.
"I thirst" - Jesus suffered for you at the Cross.
"It is finished" - Jesus was the victor over sin for you at the Cross.
"Father, into your hands I commit my spirit" - there’s eternal security for you at the Cross.
In Christ our Saviour,
Brown.
On 29th October AD 312 the first Roman Emperor converted to the Christian faith, Constantine the Great, entered Rome. He was a worshipper of the sun god, Sol. On 28th October the forces he commanded were trying to conquer Rome. There was a great battle to take a bridge leading to the city. His army was greatly outnumbered but he claimed to have seen the sign of the cross in the heavens, hearing the message “In Hoc Signo Vinces” (“In this sign you will overcome”). He claimed that God instructed St. Constantine to put the cross on all the shields of his men.
In fact it was the letters Chi-Rho, a symbol is composed of the first letters in the Greek word for Christ, which made the symbol of a cross. Constantine’s army won a decisive battle and from that day there was freedom in the Roman empire for Christians to worship Jesus. He didn’t become a Christian on the spot but the victory made a profound impression on him and before he died some 25 years later he was baptised as a Christian. And the next emperor, Theodosius, made Christianity the official religion of the Empire in AD380.
The sign of the Cross of Jesus is a powerful symbol of the Christian faith. The Apostle Paul wrote that he could not boast about anything other than the Cross of Christ, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal 6:14). Why did he say this because for Jesus it meant His death? To the Jews it was "a stumbling block". It was a symbol of weakness, humiliation and defeat. The Greeks also had a problem with the Cross. It offended their sense of reason. No sane person would believe that kind of tale. A cartoon has been found on a wall in the ruins of ancient Rome showing how crazy the Christian message seemed to the people of that time. It’s a caricature of Jesus’ crucifixion, showing a man’s body hanging on a cross - but the body has the head of a donkey. There’s also a figure of a young man with hand raised as if in worship. Underneath is the inscription, "He worships his God!"
A crucified god? It just defied all reason – it doesn’t make sense. The non-Christian says that God would never involve himself in the world like that! Do we believe that? Well, that’s the choice we have to make. The Bible tells us that Jesus went willingly to be crucified to bear our sin because there was no other way that we could be forgiven. It was on the Cross that Jesus paid the penalty for our sin. To those who will not believe on the Christ of the Cross, it’s inescapably offensive, but to those who believe, it’s powerfully effective as "the power of God unto salvation" (Rom 1:16).
The symbol of the Cross is the centre of our faith. It’s often embroidered on the pulpit fall or the communion table. Let it be a reminder to us of what Jesus did for us on the Cross to make possible our salvation if we are willing to put our trust in Him and come to Him in repentance and faith. Let us look at"The Seven Words from the Cross "
The Gospels contain a most wonderful commentary on the Cross in the words of Jesus himself, spoken from the Cross itself. Seven sayings are recorded: if there were more we don’t know but surely it’s significant that seven is God’s perfect number. It represents completeness and wholeness. As Jesus hung upon that Cross almost two thousand years ago, he made seven great statements, treasured by believers as the Seven Words from the Cross. They cover the basic needs of mankind. Let’s meditate on them together as our Lord’s testament to a world wrecked by sin, bowed down by needs of healing in body, mind and spirit. The Words from the Cross reveal God’s answer to our basic needs.
"Father, forgive them" - there’s forgiveness for you at the Cross.
"Today, you will be with me" - there’s salvation for you at the Cross.
"Woman, here is your son" - there’s love for you at the Cross.
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me" - there’s atonement for you at the Cross.
"I thirst" - Jesus suffered for you at the Cross.
"It is finished" - Jesus was the victor over sin for you at the Cross.
"Father, into your hands I commit my spirit" - there’s eternal security for you at the Cross.
In Christ our Saviour,
Brown.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Brown's Daily Word 3-4-08
Good Morning,
Praise the Lord the way the Lord has redeemed us and has given us the gifts of the Holy Spirit to serve Him and to serve one another to make His love and grace visible in the world of darkness and insanity. One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is Hospitality.
Modern society has been labeled as impersonal and self-centered. With our abundance of hotels and motels, we are less likely to bring people into our homes. When some people entertain, it is often for the purpose of personal gain, and not to share the love of God.
In the dictionary, the word “hospitality” is wedged between “hospital”, a place of healing, and “hospice”, a place of shelter. The root of all 3 words is the Latin word translated “guests”. Our homes are meant to be places of shelter and healing, havens of rest. The Greek word for hospitality (philoxenia) in the New Testament means “a love of strangers”. In Bible days, strangers were synonymous with enemies. One way to destroy enemies is to kill them. Another way is to make them our friends. Hospitality does that.
Hospitality is a mark of discipleship. James points out (2:15-17), “Suppose you see a brother or sister who needs food or clothing, and you say, ‘Well, good-bye and God bless you; stay warm and eat well’ –but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? Faith that doesn’t show itself by good deeds is no faith at all—it is dead and useless.” (The Message)
In his letter to the Romans, Paul directs us to “Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality” (12:13). “Dear friend, when you extend hospitality to Christian brothers and sisters, even when they are strangers, you make the faith visible. They’ve made a full report back to the church here, a message about your love. It’s good work you’re doing, helping these travelers on their way, hospitality worthy of God Himself! They set out under the banner of the Name, and get no help from unbelievers. So they deserve any support we can give them. In providing meals and a bed, we become their companions in spreading the Truth.” (The Message) The apostles whom Jesus sent out to proclaim the Gospel throughout the Roman Empire depended on the hospitality of others. John is referring to the needs of these early church missionaries.
Jesus expressed His gratitude, saying, “I was a stranger and you took Me in” (Matthew 25:35). He also encouraged hospitality towards others, saying, “If you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of My followers, you will surely be rewarded” (Matthew 10:42).
Peter urged believers to “Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling”. We should cheerfully open our homes to those in need. However, some people confuse hospitality with having a spotless home. We need to forsake pride and unrealistic standards when we have people over. To be truly hospitable, we need to show our true home…and make those visiting feel like they are part of our family.
Hospitality is deeply rooted in the Scriptures. In Genesis 18, when Abraham saw three strangers approach his tents, he called for his wife and servants to prepare a meal for them, and watched over them as they rested in the shade of a tree. Living in the desert, hospitality was a cultural necessity, with the understanding that the host might someday be a stranger in need. Believing in the providence of God, Abraham regarded these strangers as divinely sent. This was quite true, as they turned out to be angelic messengers from God. For his humble graciousness Abraham received a rich blessing. The author of Hebrews likely had Abraham in mind when he wrote that we should “show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it” (13:2).
Later on, Abraham sent a servant to search for a suitable wife for his son Isaac. When the servant arrived at the home of Rebeccah, he was cordially received into her home, and her family’s hospitality helped convince the servant that Rebeccah was God’s choice for Isaac’s bride.
In Bible times, it was customary for a host to wash the feet of a visitor; although usually this menial task was delegated to a servant. Christ modeled humility and hospitality by washing His disciples’ feet (John 13) and concluding His humble act of servanthood, He directed them to “wash one another’s feet”.
The point of hospitality is not the lavishness of the food or surroundings, but the relationships we develop and the love we convey by involving ourselves with others. The food we serve is not the goal, but a means to the goal. True hospitality is not pretentious—it is bringing people into our homes as honorary members of our family.
Do we really know what it’s like to linger over a meal? This may be a lost art in our fast-paced culture, where eating has been reduced to a necessary function. Go to any fast-food place and the atmosphere, even the uncomfortable chairs, are intentionally designed to get people in and out in a hurry. Families rush through meals, and often do not even eat together, missing opportunities for closeness and communion.
Consider how we may apply hospitality to our lives. We are our brothers' keepers. This means that when we have an opportunity to assist someone in need, we should consider it a divine appointment. Believing in God’s providence means that there are no accidents, but only appointments! Hospitality is an attitude of heart, a way of life, and a form of grace.
Have angels been to your home? For many years Dr. Frances Schaeffer and his wife Edith ran a house of Christian hospitality and study in Switzerland called L’Abri. They opened their hearts and homes to hundreds of people seeking Biblical answers to life’s challenges. In her book What is a Family?, Edith offers this counsel, “Every Christian home is meant to have a door that swings open.”
"Lord, show us how we can befriend others. Make us channels of Your grace and instruments of Your love. Whether single or married, adult or young person, show us how we can demonstrate Christian hospitality. In the Name of Christ we pray, Who sacrificially gave of Himself fully, that we might have life. Amen."
In Christ, who became homeless that we might find an eternal home.
Brown
Praise the Lord the way the Lord has redeemed us and has given us the gifts of the Holy Spirit to serve Him and to serve one another to make His love and grace visible in the world of darkness and insanity. One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is Hospitality.
Modern society has been labeled as impersonal and self-centered. With our abundance of hotels and motels, we are less likely to bring people into our homes. When some people entertain, it is often for the purpose of personal gain, and not to share the love of God.
In the dictionary, the word “hospitality” is wedged between “hospital”, a place of healing, and “hospice”, a place of shelter. The root of all 3 words is the Latin word translated “guests”. Our homes are meant to be places of shelter and healing, havens of rest. The Greek word for hospitality (philoxenia) in the New Testament means “a love of strangers”. In Bible days, strangers were synonymous with enemies. One way to destroy enemies is to kill them. Another way is to make them our friends. Hospitality does that.
Hospitality is a mark of discipleship. James points out (2:15-17), “Suppose you see a brother or sister who needs food or clothing, and you say, ‘Well, good-bye and God bless you; stay warm and eat well’ –but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? Faith that doesn’t show itself by good deeds is no faith at all—it is dead and useless.” (The Message)
In his letter to the Romans, Paul directs us to “Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality” (12:13). “Dear friend, when you extend hospitality to Christian brothers and sisters, even when they are strangers, you make the faith visible. They’ve made a full report back to the church here, a message about your love. It’s good work you’re doing, helping these travelers on their way, hospitality worthy of God Himself! They set out under the banner of the Name, and get no help from unbelievers. So they deserve any support we can give them. In providing meals and a bed, we become their companions in spreading the Truth.” (The Message) The apostles whom Jesus sent out to proclaim the Gospel throughout the Roman Empire depended on the hospitality of others. John is referring to the needs of these early church missionaries.
Jesus expressed His gratitude, saying, “I was a stranger and you took Me in” (Matthew 25:35). He also encouraged hospitality towards others, saying, “If you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of My followers, you will surely be rewarded” (Matthew 10:42).
Peter urged believers to “Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling”. We should cheerfully open our homes to those in need. However, some people confuse hospitality with having a spotless home. We need to forsake pride and unrealistic standards when we have people over. To be truly hospitable, we need to show our true home…and make those visiting feel like they are part of our family.
Hospitality is deeply rooted in the Scriptures. In Genesis 18, when Abraham saw three strangers approach his tents, he called for his wife and servants to prepare a meal for them, and watched over them as they rested in the shade of a tree. Living in the desert, hospitality was a cultural necessity, with the understanding that the host might someday be a stranger in need. Believing in the providence of God, Abraham regarded these strangers as divinely sent. This was quite true, as they turned out to be angelic messengers from God. For his humble graciousness Abraham received a rich blessing. The author of Hebrews likely had Abraham in mind when he wrote that we should “show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it” (13:2).
Later on, Abraham sent a servant to search for a suitable wife for his son Isaac. When the servant arrived at the home of Rebeccah, he was cordially received into her home, and her family’s hospitality helped convince the servant that Rebeccah was God’s choice for Isaac’s bride.
In Bible times, it was customary for a host to wash the feet of a visitor; although usually this menial task was delegated to a servant. Christ modeled humility and hospitality by washing His disciples’ feet (John 13) and concluding His humble act of servanthood, He directed them to “wash one another’s feet”.
The point of hospitality is not the lavishness of the food or surroundings, but the relationships we develop and the love we convey by involving ourselves with others. The food we serve is not the goal, but a means to the goal. True hospitality is not pretentious—it is bringing people into our homes as honorary members of our family.
Do we really know what it’s like to linger over a meal? This may be a lost art in our fast-paced culture, where eating has been reduced to a necessary function. Go to any fast-food place and the atmosphere, even the uncomfortable chairs, are intentionally designed to get people in and out in a hurry. Families rush through meals, and often do not even eat together, missing opportunities for closeness and communion.
Consider how we may apply hospitality to our lives. We are our brothers' keepers. This means that when we have an opportunity to assist someone in need, we should consider it a divine appointment. Believing in God’s providence means that there are no accidents, but only appointments! Hospitality is an attitude of heart, a way of life, and a form of grace.
Have angels been to your home? For many years Dr. Frances Schaeffer and his wife Edith ran a house of Christian hospitality and study in Switzerland called L’Abri. They opened their hearts and homes to hundreds of people seeking Biblical answers to life’s challenges. In her book What is a Family?, Edith offers this counsel, “Every Christian home is meant to have a door that swings open.”
"Lord, show us how we can befriend others. Make us channels of Your grace and instruments of Your love. Whether single or married, adult or young person, show us how we can demonstrate Christian hospitality. In the Name of Christ we pray, Who sacrificially gave of Himself fully, that we might have life. Amen."
In Christ, who became homeless that we might find an eternal home.
Brown
Monday, March 3, 2008
Brown's Daily Word 3-3-08
Good morning,
Praise the Lord the month of March. We are just few days away from Easter Sunday. Jesus came, He saw, and He conquered sin and death. He is alive for evermore.
The Lord blessed us with a beautiful weekend. Saturday evening was a great evening of great fellowship around the table full of all kinds authentic Indian foods, meats, fish, snacks, and desserts. Those who came ate to their hearts content.
The Lord blessed us with a great day of worship and fellowship yesterday. Better is one day in His house than a thousand elsewhere. Laureen came home for an extended weekend, returning to Washington today. Jessica came home with her boyfriend, Tom. They returned back to Philadelphia yesterday afternoon. Sunita flew to Uganda on Saturday evening out of Washington. The Gospel reading for Sunday's message was taken from John 9. It is about mud pies and miracles.
Jesus and his disciples were walking through Jerusalem on their way out of the Temple area. They saw a man who was blind. In fact, they learned that he had been blind from birth. There are many points which this story addresses, and the first is the question of suffering. It was the common understanding of the day that when some tragedy or illness occurred, it was God’s way of punishing people for their sin. So, we are not surprised to hear Jesus’ disciples say, “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2). From the beginning of time people have been trying to understand why bad things which cause suffering in this world. The great thing about this story is that Jesus immediately cleared this up for us by saying that this had nothing to do with some sin in this man’s life or his parent’s. God was not punishing them. God was not angry with them.
Bad things don't happen in this world simply because God is angry with them. God is not punishing individuals or the world at large. In fact, in spite of the things which happen at times, this is a very good and pleasant world. Every day God shows his love and pours out his blessings, in spite of our sin and the fact that we do not deserve his blessings. God’s response to us is affection, not anger. The Bible says, “He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities” (Psalm 103:10). That’s good news since we would all be blind, deaf, and terminally ill if we got what we deserved.
For some, the presence of difficulties and suffering in the world means that God is punishing them for something. But, others believe that it is the sign that God is not able to do anything about the problems they face. Others wonder if he simply does not care. William Frey, retired Episcopal bishop from Colorado, tells the following story, “When I was a younger man, I volunteered to read to a degree student named John, who was blind. One day I asked him, “How did you lose your sight?” “A chemical explosion,” John said, “at the age of thirteen.” “How did that make you feel?” I asked. “Life was over. I felt helpless. I hated God,” John responded. “For the first six months I did nothing to improve my lot in life. I would eat all my meals alone in my room. One day my father entered my room and said, ‘John, winter’s coming and the storm windows need to be up — that’s your job. I want those hung by the time I get back this evening or else!’ Then he turned, walked out of the room and slammed the door. I got so angry. I thought, Who does he think I am? I’m blind! I was so angry I decided to do it. I felt my way to the garage, found the windows, located the necessary tools, found the ladder, all the while muttering under my breath, ‘I’ll show them. I’ll fall, then they’ll have a blind and paralyzed son!’" John continued, “I got the windows up. I found out later that never at any moment was my father more than four or five feet away from my side.”
In the same way, Jesus did not promise to spare us, but he did promise to be with us, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
The second thing addressed in the story from John 9 is the reality of spiritual blindness. There are two kinds of blindness in the story. One is that of the man who was born with a physical defect of blindness. The second is of the religious folk who had a spiritual defect and were spiritually blind. The story tells us that spiritual blindness is worse than physical blindness. Physical blindness can be healed, but spiritual blindness resists healing. In the story we have this interesting dialogue between the man who had been blind and the Pharisees.
The Pharisees began to question the man. They wanted to know how he received his sight. They wanted to know who healed him, and they wanted to know what the man believed about Jesus. They told the man who had been healed that Jesus could not possibly be from God, because he broke the religious law and healed on the Sabbath. They seemed to miss the point that the man’s healing was a miracle — a miracle that had never been heard of before. For some reason it did not seem to matter to them. The only thing they could do was to criticize Jesus for doing it on the wrong day. They were not sure they even believed that the man was healed, so they questioned his parents. “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?” His parents answered, “We know he is our son, and we know he was born blind. But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself” (John 9:19-21).
When their meeting with the parents did not prove helpful, they came back to the man to say, “Give glory to God. We know this man is a sinner.” But the blind man said, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” (John 9:24-25). He didn’t understand how he was healed. He didn’t know all the theology of it. He didn’t even have a really clear picture of who Jesus was; He thought he was only a prophet. But there was one thing he understood — he had been blind, and now he could see. That he knew! This man could see, and we begin to understand that the people who were really blind in this story were the religious leaders, the Pharisees. Oh they had good physical eyes, but they were spiritually blind. They approached the whole incident, and Jesus himself, with blind eyes. They were not about to see what was so obvious. They were willfully blind.
The Pharisees claimed that Jesus could not have come from God. But the man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing” (John 9:30-33).
Who is seeing and who is blind in this story? Here we have a blind beggar seeing more clearly than the religious leaders. Later on, when Jesus returned to the man, the man fell at Jesus’ feet and worshiped him. He not only saw with physical eyes, but he saw with spiritual eyes as well. Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind” (John 9:39). The religious leaders were those prophesied about by Ezekiel when he wrote, “They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people” (Ezekiel 12:2). For all their knowledge of the Scripture and religious practice, they missed the kingdom, and a poor blind man found it. His eyes were opened; theirs remained closed. You can enter the kingdom if you are physically blind, but you cannot enter when you are spiritually blind. Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains” (John 9:41).
The most important message in this story is one that is not so obvious. The third point addressed in this story is the hope of a new world. It is a hidden message and requires spiritual eyes to see it. When the disciples asked Jesus whether the man’s blindness was caused by his sin or the sin of his parent’s, Jesus replied: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life” (John 9:3). We usually think of those words in relation to what Jesus was going to do by healing the blind man. But I think Jesus had something greater in mind. The work of God in this man’s life would point to something larger that God was going to do in the world. In this man’s healing there was the promise of the final healing that God will bring to the whole earth. It is the mustard seed planted in the ground. It is the yeast hidden in the dough. It is the treasure hidden in a field. It is what the whole world is moving toward. It is the secret of what God will bring about on the Last Day when he transforms the world and we who are in it. Within the fallen-ness and suffering of the world there is the promise that something new is about to happen. The healing of the blind man, the raising of Lazarus, the forgiveness of the adulterer are all signs of this promise. Above all, the resurrection of Jesus is the sign that the end of the story has not yet been told. There is more to come. In the restoration of all things blindness, rejection, death and sin will be no more. We will hear a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” And he who is seated on the throne will say, “I am making everything new!’” (Revelation 21:3-5).
What happens when blindness meets the Light of the World, when sinners meet the Savior, when hunger meets the Bread of life, when thirst meets the Living Water, when lost sheep meet the Good Shepherd, the rejected meet incarnate Love, and the dead meet Christ who is the Resurrection and the Life? This is what happens: the blind receive their sight, the sinful receive forgiveness, the hungry are filled and satisfied, the lame walk, the sick are cured, people are made whole, the disconsolate find hope, prisoners are set free, those who once mourned are filled with joy, the dead are raised and eternal life is inherited. This is the promise of the risen, eternal Christ. Jesus said, “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world” (Matthew 25:34).
In this present world things do not always work out the way they are supposed to, or even the way we want them to. There is hunger, thirst and sickness. The question is, will we trust God until then, as we go through difficulties and disappointments? Will we live in hope? Will we only see the present circumstances and allow ourselves to sink into bitterness and despair? As surely as sunrise conquers the dark and Spring triumphs over winter, God’s new day will heal all the wrongs of the world. Weakness will be turned to strength. Rejection will be forgotten in God’s embrace. Joy comes in the morning. Love will conquer hate, good will triumph over evil and Jesus will reign. Jesus said, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
Jesus said that in the end, “The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. . . . Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matthew 13:41-43).
I recently read this story: “Back in the 1920's, when Lou Little coached football at Georgetown University, he had a player of average ability who rarely got into the game. Yet, he was fond of him, and especially liked the way he walked arm-in-arm with his father on campus. Shortly before the big contest with Fordham, the boy’s mother called the coach with news that her husband had died that morning of a heart attack. ‘Will you break the news to my son?’ she asked. ‘He’ll take it better from you.’ The student went home heavy hearted, but three days later he was back. ‘Coach,’ he pleaded, ‘will you start me in the Fordham game? I think it’s what my father would have liked most.’ After a moment’s hesitation, Little said, ‘Okay, but only for a play or two.’ True to his word, he put the boy in — but never took him out. For 60 action-packed minutes, that inspired young man ran and blocked like an All-American. After the game, Little praised him, ‘Son, you were terrific! You’ve never played like that before. What got into you?’ ‘Few people knew it,’ answered the boy, ‘but my father was totally blind. Today was the first time he ever saw me play!’”
All of us are blind and in need of Jesus’ touch. One day our healing will be complete on that Day when God will make everything new. It is the promise of God, contained in a simple story of a blind man who received his sight.
In Jesus, the Light of the world,
Brown
Please make a note of the following upcoming youth event. On Friday, April 11 at 7:00 p.m. there will be a "Five 4 Five" concert held at the Boulevard United Methodist Church. Five 4 Five is a national tour that features five bands in concert for just $5. The bands are: DIZMAS, THE SEND, A DREAM TOO LATE, CHILDREN 18:3, AND CAYERIO. Tickets are available at itickets.com or by pone at 1-800-965-9324. The event is being sponsored by the Union Center, Boulevard, and Hawleyton United Methodist Churches, First Presbyterian Church of Endicott, and First Baptist Church of Owego.
Dividing
On the outskirts of a small town, there was a big, old pecan tree just inside the cemetery fence. One day, two boys filled up a bucketful of nuts and sat down by the tree, out of sight, and began dividing the nuts.
"One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me," said one boy. Several dropped and rolled down toward the fence.
Another boy came riding along the road on his bicycle. As he passed, he thought he heard voices from inside the cemetery.
He slowed down to investigate. Sure enough, he heard, "One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me."
He just knew what it was. He jumped back on his bike and rode off. Just around the bend he met an old man with a cane, hobbling along.
"Come here quick," said the boy, "you won't believe what I heard! Satan and the Lord are down at the cemetery dividing up the souls."
The man said, "Beat it kid, can't you see it's hard for me to walk." When the boy insisted though, the man hobbled to the cemetery. Standing by the fence they heard, "One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me..."
The old man whispered, "Boy, you've been tellin' the truth. Let's see if we can see the Lord." Shaking with fear, they peered through the fence, yet were still unable to see anything.
The old man and the boy gripped the wrought iron bars of the fence tighter and tighter as they tried to get a glimpse of the Lord.
At last they heard, "One for you, one for me. That's all. Now let's go get those nuts by the fence and we'll be done."
They say the old man made it back to town a full 5 minutes ahead of the boy on the bike.
Praise the Lord the month of March. We are just few days away from Easter Sunday. Jesus came, He saw, and He conquered sin and death. He is alive for evermore.
The Lord blessed us with a beautiful weekend. Saturday evening was a great evening of great fellowship around the table full of all kinds authentic Indian foods, meats, fish, snacks, and desserts. Those who came ate to their hearts content.
The Lord blessed us with a great day of worship and fellowship yesterday. Better is one day in His house than a thousand elsewhere. Laureen came home for an extended weekend, returning to Washington today. Jessica came home with her boyfriend, Tom. They returned back to Philadelphia yesterday afternoon. Sunita flew to Uganda on Saturday evening out of Washington. The Gospel reading for Sunday's message was taken from John 9. It is about mud pies and miracles.
Jesus and his disciples were walking through Jerusalem on their way out of the Temple area. They saw a man who was blind. In fact, they learned that he had been blind from birth. There are many points which this story addresses, and the first is the question of suffering. It was the common understanding of the day that when some tragedy or illness occurred, it was God’s way of punishing people for their sin. So, we are not surprised to hear Jesus’ disciples say, “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2). From the beginning of time people have been trying to understand why bad things which cause suffering in this world. The great thing about this story is that Jesus immediately cleared this up for us by saying that this had nothing to do with some sin in this man’s life or his parent’s. God was not punishing them. God was not angry with them.
Bad things don't happen in this world simply because God is angry with them. God is not punishing individuals or the world at large. In fact, in spite of the things which happen at times, this is a very good and pleasant world. Every day God shows his love and pours out his blessings, in spite of our sin and the fact that we do not deserve his blessings. God’s response to us is affection, not anger. The Bible says, “He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities” (Psalm 103:10). That’s good news since we would all be blind, deaf, and terminally ill if we got what we deserved.
For some, the presence of difficulties and suffering in the world means that God is punishing them for something. But, others believe that it is the sign that God is not able to do anything about the problems they face. Others wonder if he simply does not care. William Frey, retired Episcopal bishop from Colorado, tells the following story, “When I was a younger man, I volunteered to read to a degree student named John, who was blind. One day I asked him, “How did you lose your sight?” “A chemical explosion,” John said, “at the age of thirteen.” “How did that make you feel?” I asked. “Life was over. I felt helpless. I hated God,” John responded. “For the first six months I did nothing to improve my lot in life. I would eat all my meals alone in my room. One day my father entered my room and said, ‘John, winter’s coming and the storm windows need to be up — that’s your job. I want those hung by the time I get back this evening or else!’ Then he turned, walked out of the room and slammed the door. I got so angry. I thought, Who does he think I am? I’m blind! I was so angry I decided to do it. I felt my way to the garage, found the windows, located the necessary tools, found the ladder, all the while muttering under my breath, ‘I’ll show them. I’ll fall, then they’ll have a blind and paralyzed son!’" John continued, “I got the windows up. I found out later that never at any moment was my father more than four or five feet away from my side.”
In the same way, Jesus did not promise to spare us, but he did promise to be with us, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
The second thing addressed in the story from John 9 is the reality of spiritual blindness. There are two kinds of blindness in the story. One is that of the man who was born with a physical defect of blindness. The second is of the religious folk who had a spiritual defect and were spiritually blind. The story tells us that spiritual blindness is worse than physical blindness. Physical blindness can be healed, but spiritual blindness resists healing. In the story we have this interesting dialogue between the man who had been blind and the Pharisees.
The Pharisees began to question the man. They wanted to know how he received his sight. They wanted to know who healed him, and they wanted to know what the man believed about Jesus. They told the man who had been healed that Jesus could not possibly be from God, because he broke the religious law and healed on the Sabbath. They seemed to miss the point that the man’s healing was a miracle — a miracle that had never been heard of before. For some reason it did not seem to matter to them. The only thing they could do was to criticize Jesus for doing it on the wrong day. They were not sure they even believed that the man was healed, so they questioned his parents. “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?” His parents answered, “We know he is our son, and we know he was born blind. But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself” (John 9:19-21).
When their meeting with the parents did not prove helpful, they came back to the man to say, “Give glory to God. We know this man is a sinner.” But the blind man said, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” (John 9:24-25). He didn’t understand how he was healed. He didn’t know all the theology of it. He didn’t even have a really clear picture of who Jesus was; He thought he was only a prophet. But there was one thing he understood — he had been blind, and now he could see. That he knew! This man could see, and we begin to understand that the people who were really blind in this story were the religious leaders, the Pharisees. Oh they had good physical eyes, but they were spiritually blind. They approached the whole incident, and Jesus himself, with blind eyes. They were not about to see what was so obvious. They were willfully blind.
The Pharisees claimed that Jesus could not have come from God. But the man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing” (John 9:30-33).
Who is seeing and who is blind in this story? Here we have a blind beggar seeing more clearly than the religious leaders. Later on, when Jesus returned to the man, the man fell at Jesus’ feet and worshiped him. He not only saw with physical eyes, but he saw with spiritual eyes as well. Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind” (John 9:39). The religious leaders were those prophesied about by Ezekiel when he wrote, “They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people” (Ezekiel 12:2). For all their knowledge of the Scripture and religious practice, they missed the kingdom, and a poor blind man found it. His eyes were opened; theirs remained closed. You can enter the kingdom if you are physically blind, but you cannot enter when you are spiritually blind. Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains” (John 9:41).
The most important message in this story is one that is not so obvious. The third point addressed in this story is the hope of a new world. It is a hidden message and requires spiritual eyes to see it. When the disciples asked Jesus whether the man’s blindness was caused by his sin or the sin of his parent’s, Jesus replied: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life” (John 9:3). We usually think of those words in relation to what Jesus was going to do by healing the blind man. But I think Jesus had something greater in mind. The work of God in this man’s life would point to something larger that God was going to do in the world. In this man’s healing there was the promise of the final healing that God will bring to the whole earth. It is the mustard seed planted in the ground. It is the yeast hidden in the dough. It is the treasure hidden in a field. It is what the whole world is moving toward. It is the secret of what God will bring about on the Last Day when he transforms the world and we who are in it. Within the fallen-ness and suffering of the world there is the promise that something new is about to happen. The healing of the blind man, the raising of Lazarus, the forgiveness of the adulterer are all signs of this promise. Above all, the resurrection of Jesus is the sign that the end of the story has not yet been told. There is more to come. In the restoration of all things blindness, rejection, death and sin will be no more. We will hear a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” And he who is seated on the throne will say, “I am making everything new!’” (Revelation 21:3-5).
What happens when blindness meets the Light of the World, when sinners meet the Savior, when hunger meets the Bread of life, when thirst meets the Living Water, when lost sheep meet the Good Shepherd, the rejected meet incarnate Love, and the dead meet Christ who is the Resurrection and the Life? This is what happens: the blind receive their sight, the sinful receive forgiveness, the hungry are filled and satisfied, the lame walk, the sick are cured, people are made whole, the disconsolate find hope, prisoners are set free, those who once mourned are filled with joy, the dead are raised and eternal life is inherited. This is the promise of the risen, eternal Christ. Jesus said, “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world” (Matthew 25:34).
In this present world things do not always work out the way they are supposed to, or even the way we want them to. There is hunger, thirst and sickness. The question is, will we trust God until then, as we go through difficulties and disappointments? Will we live in hope? Will we only see the present circumstances and allow ourselves to sink into bitterness and despair? As surely as sunrise conquers the dark and Spring triumphs over winter, God’s new day will heal all the wrongs of the world. Weakness will be turned to strength. Rejection will be forgotten in God’s embrace. Joy comes in the morning. Love will conquer hate, good will triumph over evil and Jesus will reign. Jesus said, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
Jesus said that in the end, “The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. . . . Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matthew 13:41-43).
I recently read this story: “Back in the 1920's, when Lou Little coached football at Georgetown University, he had a player of average ability who rarely got into the game. Yet, he was fond of him, and especially liked the way he walked arm-in-arm with his father on campus. Shortly before the big contest with Fordham, the boy’s mother called the coach with news that her husband had died that morning of a heart attack. ‘Will you break the news to my son?’ she asked. ‘He’ll take it better from you.’ The student went home heavy hearted, but three days later he was back. ‘Coach,’ he pleaded, ‘will you start me in the Fordham game? I think it’s what my father would have liked most.’ After a moment’s hesitation, Little said, ‘Okay, but only for a play or two.’ True to his word, he put the boy in — but never took him out. For 60 action-packed minutes, that inspired young man ran and blocked like an All-American. After the game, Little praised him, ‘Son, you were terrific! You’ve never played like that before. What got into you?’ ‘Few people knew it,’ answered the boy, ‘but my father was totally blind. Today was the first time he ever saw me play!’”
All of us are blind and in need of Jesus’ touch. One day our healing will be complete on that Day when God will make everything new. It is the promise of God, contained in a simple story of a blind man who received his sight.
In Jesus, the Light of the world,
Brown
Please make a note of the following upcoming youth event. On Friday, April 11 at 7:00 p.m. there will be a "Five 4 Five" concert held at the Boulevard United Methodist Church. Five 4 Five is a national tour that features five bands in concert for just $5. The bands are: DIZMAS, THE SEND, A DREAM TOO LATE, CHILDREN 18:3, AND CAYERIO. Tickets are available at itickets.com or by pone at 1-800-965-9324. The event is being sponsored by the Union Center, Boulevard, and Hawleyton United Methodist Churches, First Presbyterian Church of Endicott, and First Baptist Church of Owego.
Dividing
On the outskirts of a small town, there was a big, old pecan tree just inside the cemetery fence. One day, two boys filled up a bucketful of nuts and sat down by the tree, out of sight, and began dividing the nuts.
"One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me," said one boy. Several dropped and rolled down toward the fence.
Another boy came riding along the road on his bicycle. As he passed, he thought he heard voices from inside the cemetery.
He slowed down to investigate. Sure enough, he heard, "One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me."
He just knew what it was. He jumped back on his bike and rode off. Just around the bend he met an old man with a cane, hobbling along.
"Come here quick," said the boy, "you won't believe what I heard! Satan and the Lord are down at the cemetery dividing up the souls."
The man said, "Beat it kid, can't you see it's hard for me to walk." When the boy insisted though, the man hobbled to the cemetery. Standing by the fence they heard, "One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me..."
The old man whispered, "Boy, you've been tellin' the truth. Let's see if we can see the Lord." Shaking with fear, they peered through the fence, yet were still unable to see anything.
The old man and the boy gripped the wrought iron bars of the fence tighter and tighter as they tried to get a glimpse of the Lord.
At last they heard, "One for you, one for me. That's all. Now let's go get those nuts by the fence and we'll be done."
They say the old man made it back to town a full 5 minutes ahead of the boy on the bike.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Brown's Daily Word 2-29-08
Good Morning,
Praise the Lord for this last day of February. It is one of the special days, as one of our nieces from the Maynard side of the family is getting married. One of our friends is also celebrating his 76th birthday. Some of his family are traveling from all around to surprise him on his special birthday. It is spring time in Orissa, India. The Mango trees are in full bloom along with all kinds of diverse wild spring blooming trees. The birds of spring are the harbingers of the glorious spring season. Our friends who are going to Orissa in the beginning of April will be experiencing mid-summer in Orissa. They will have two summers this year, one in Orissa and the other one is back here in the North-East of the USA.
We have had a bitterly cold February here in the North East of the USA. Praise the Lord that the power of old man winter is waning. The days are getting longer. The Sun is shining brighter and warmer. I love Daylight Savings Time.
The first words of God recorded in the Bible are: “Let there be light.” Later we find that “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). Darkness universally symbolizes sin and death; light corresponds to life and holiness and purity. Thus King David sings (around 1000 B.C.): “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” God’s “word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105), and "God wraps himself in a garment of light, even becoming fire and flame for the destruction of all evil. God’s light is “marvelous” (1 Peter 2:9), and heaven has no need for sun or moon, “for the glory of God gives it light” (Revelation 21:23).
Those who heard Jesus were well familiar with the frequent Biblical connection between light and God, which provides the background for John 8.12-20.
We know much detail about the Jerusalem Temple and its ceremonies from ancient Jewish writings. During the Feast of Tabernacles, one of the more popular events was the water pouring ceremony that Jesus used as an opportunity to cry out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” (That was in chapter seven).
The events related to Jesus’ claim to be the light of the world are also connected to the Feast of Tabernacles. The Talmud (Jewish commentary on the Bible) tells of the celebration surrounding the lighting of four enormous candelabras: “The young priests filled the lamps of the large chandeliers with oil, and lighted them all, so that the place was so bright that its reflection lighted the streets of the city. Hymns and praises were chanted by the pious ones, and the Levites praised the Lord with harps, cornets, trumpets, flutes, and other instruments of harmony. They stood upon fifteen broad steps, reaching from the lower floor to the gallery, the court of the women. And they sang fifteen psalms as they ascended, and the large choir joined voices with them….”
These huge oil lamps reminded the Jews of the pillar of fire that guided Israel in their wilderness journey. Thus Jesus has presented himself as the reality to which the three most significant “wilderness images” point. In John 6, Jesus feeds thousands from a few loaves of bread to show that he is the true manna, the bread of life from heaven. In John 7, Jesus speaks during the water ceremony because he is the rock which followed Israel and gave water in the desert. And now he stands beside the massive temple lamps and claims to be the pillar of cloud and fire which guided and guarded Israel to the promised land: “I am the Light of the world.” As he often did, Jesus shapes his sermon around “external circumstances to arouse the greatest attention and fix the words in the hearts and minds of the people.” Surely the three most important aspects of God’s essence are: Life, Love, and Light.
Modern electronic navigation tools have rendered the old lighthouse system essentially obsolete, but there was a time when they were essential for the survival of shipping. Darkness or fog would leave boats as easy targets for sharp rocks and hidden reefs. The lighthouse directed the captain around the danger. Jesus offers similar guidance for us.
Of course, in order to see the light in Jesus we must first look for light. If the captain does not stare into the darkness for a lighthouse, it will not guide him. Or, as John Calvin notes: “No one will ever present themselves to Christ to be enlightened except those who have known both that this world is darkness and that they themselves are altogether blind.” Jesus: “I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind” (John 9.39).
The presidential candidates preach differently; they tell us to blame others for our woes rather than mourn our greed and envy. The self-help section of the bookstore wants us to be cocky and self-confident, not humble before God. The glamour magazines ask women to hunger for outward beauty and thirst for power over men. The Bible insists that true beauty is found in a gentle and quiet spirit which enables you to hope in God and submit to His Lordship and Authorship.
Light gives direction, and Jesus’ lights guides accurately in a dark world. In him and his word we see the sin and selfishness which darkens relationships and destroys lives. Jesus’ light reveals God, the spiritual realities around us, the rewards of heaven, and the means of reconciliation with the Father. Jesus lights the path in a dark world.
The desert wilderness where Israel wandered was not hospitable. During the day, the intense heat parched their throats as it boiled their skin. Night promised relief, but the darkness and cold were equally dangerous. So, God’s presence with Israel was a cooling shade by day and a warming fire by night.
Jesus protects us from the baking heat a guilty conscience. He is the cloud which absorbs the burning noonday sun. Jesus also protects from the darkness and cold of a fallen world. This is the power of Christ’s light. “I am the Light of the World.” And he continues: “Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Following Jesus requires seeing him as he is, coming to him humbly, submitting to his cross before his crown, and seeing him lifted up. Luke 9.23: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”
For those who do not know Jesus, his presentation is not very convincing. The only way to know God is to be known by him. That comes by faith in Jesus.
We are planning an evening of Indian food and fellowship, tomorrow, Saturday, March 1, 2008. It will start at 4.30 p.m. Some of the best Indian cooks will be preparing the foods, including one of the Chef's from Mogul Restaurant, one of the premier Indian restaurants in our region. Those of you who live in the area, please join us. It will be worth your trip. See you there.
Join us for our TV outreach tonight at 7 p.m. on Time Warner Cable channel 4.
Plan to invite friends to join you for worship this coming Sunday.
In Christ,
Brown
"We have become so accustomed to the idea of divine love and of God's coming at Christmas that we no longer feel the shiver of fear that God's coming should arouse in us. We are indifferent to the message, taking only the pleasant and agreeable out of it and forgetting the serious aspect, that the God of the world draws near to the people of our little earth and lays claim to us. The coming of God is truly not only glad tidings, but first of all frightening news for everyone who has a conscience. "
... Dietrich Bonhoeffer, "The Coming of Jesus in Our Midst," in A Testament to Freedom: The Essential Writings of Dietrich BonnHoeffer, ed. Geoffrey B. Kelly and F. Burton Nelson, Harper San Francisco, San Francisco, Ca., 1995
"Jesus has a particular eye for the ironical and paradoxical. He gave His disciples nicknames: Peter the Rock who was big on words, but a coward when it mattered; James and John, hotheads, were 'Sons of Thunder'. He told stories about judges who gave justice only after being pestered repeatedly, businessmen who amassed riches only to die the next day, and about priests too precious to help a man who had been beaten up. He talked about people who gave stones in the place of bread, and saw the speck in the eye of another but ignored the log in their own eye. He talked about the blind leading the blind. He called the holy men of his day whitewashed walls"
"Many of His comments would have had the audience laughing incontrollably, while at the same time making a deep point. The pictures of 'blind Pharisees straining at a gnat but swallowing a camel' (Matt 23:24) is hilarious. Similarly it is reckoned that shepherds were the butt of Galilean society's jokes, and so the one about the shepherd leaving the 99 to search for just one, would have also raised a laugh."
Praise the Lord for this last day of February. It is one of the special days, as one of our nieces from the Maynard side of the family is getting married. One of our friends is also celebrating his 76th birthday. Some of his family are traveling from all around to surprise him on his special birthday. It is spring time in Orissa, India. The Mango trees are in full bloom along with all kinds of diverse wild spring blooming trees. The birds of spring are the harbingers of the glorious spring season. Our friends who are going to Orissa in the beginning of April will be experiencing mid-summer in Orissa. They will have two summers this year, one in Orissa and the other one is back here in the North-East of the USA.
We have had a bitterly cold February here in the North East of the USA. Praise the Lord that the power of old man winter is waning. The days are getting longer. The Sun is shining brighter and warmer. I love Daylight Savings Time.
The first words of God recorded in the Bible are: “Let there be light.” Later we find that “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). Darkness universally symbolizes sin and death; light corresponds to life and holiness and purity. Thus King David sings (around 1000 B.C.): “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” God’s “word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105), and "God wraps himself in a garment of light, even becoming fire and flame for the destruction of all evil. God’s light is “marvelous” (1 Peter 2:9), and heaven has no need for sun or moon, “for the glory of God gives it light” (Revelation 21:23).
Those who heard Jesus were well familiar with the frequent Biblical connection between light and God, which provides the background for John 8.12-20.
We know much detail about the Jerusalem Temple and its ceremonies from ancient Jewish writings. During the Feast of Tabernacles, one of the more popular events was the water pouring ceremony that Jesus used as an opportunity to cry out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” (That was in chapter seven).
The events related to Jesus’ claim to be the light of the world are also connected to the Feast of Tabernacles. The Talmud (Jewish commentary on the Bible) tells of the celebration surrounding the lighting of four enormous candelabras: “The young priests filled the lamps of the large chandeliers with oil, and lighted them all, so that the place was so bright that its reflection lighted the streets of the city. Hymns and praises were chanted by the pious ones, and the Levites praised the Lord with harps, cornets, trumpets, flutes, and other instruments of harmony. They stood upon fifteen broad steps, reaching from the lower floor to the gallery, the court of the women. And they sang fifteen psalms as they ascended, and the large choir joined voices with them….”
These huge oil lamps reminded the Jews of the pillar of fire that guided Israel in their wilderness journey. Thus Jesus has presented himself as the reality to which the three most significant “wilderness images” point. In John 6, Jesus feeds thousands from a few loaves of bread to show that he is the true manna, the bread of life from heaven. In John 7, Jesus speaks during the water ceremony because he is the rock which followed Israel and gave water in the desert. And now he stands beside the massive temple lamps and claims to be the pillar of cloud and fire which guided and guarded Israel to the promised land: “I am the Light of the world.” As he often did, Jesus shapes his sermon around “external circumstances to arouse the greatest attention and fix the words in the hearts and minds of the people.” Surely the three most important aspects of God’s essence are: Life, Love, and Light.
Modern electronic navigation tools have rendered the old lighthouse system essentially obsolete, but there was a time when they were essential for the survival of shipping. Darkness or fog would leave boats as easy targets for sharp rocks and hidden reefs. The lighthouse directed the captain around the danger. Jesus offers similar guidance for us.
Of course, in order to see the light in Jesus we must first look for light. If the captain does not stare into the darkness for a lighthouse, it will not guide him. Or, as John Calvin notes: “No one will ever present themselves to Christ to be enlightened except those who have known both that this world is darkness and that they themselves are altogether blind.” Jesus: “I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind” (John 9.39).
The presidential candidates preach differently; they tell us to blame others for our woes rather than mourn our greed and envy. The self-help section of the bookstore wants us to be cocky and self-confident, not humble before God. The glamour magazines ask women to hunger for outward beauty and thirst for power over men. The Bible insists that true beauty is found in a gentle and quiet spirit which enables you to hope in God and submit to His Lordship and Authorship.
Light gives direction, and Jesus’ lights guides accurately in a dark world. In him and his word we see the sin and selfishness which darkens relationships and destroys lives. Jesus’ light reveals God, the spiritual realities around us, the rewards of heaven, and the means of reconciliation with the Father. Jesus lights the path in a dark world.
The desert wilderness where Israel wandered was not hospitable. During the day, the intense heat parched their throats as it boiled their skin. Night promised relief, but the darkness and cold were equally dangerous. So, God’s presence with Israel was a cooling shade by day and a warming fire by night.
Jesus protects us from the baking heat a guilty conscience. He is the cloud which absorbs the burning noonday sun. Jesus also protects from the darkness and cold of a fallen world. This is the power of Christ’s light. “I am the Light of the World.” And he continues: “Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Following Jesus requires seeing him as he is, coming to him humbly, submitting to his cross before his crown, and seeing him lifted up. Luke 9.23: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”
For those who do not know Jesus, his presentation is not very convincing. The only way to know God is to be known by him. That comes by faith in Jesus.
We are planning an evening of Indian food and fellowship, tomorrow, Saturday, March 1, 2008. It will start at 4.30 p.m. Some of the best Indian cooks will be preparing the foods, including one of the Chef's from Mogul Restaurant, one of the premier Indian restaurants in our region. Those of you who live in the area, please join us. It will be worth your trip. See you there.
Join us for our TV outreach tonight at 7 p.m. on Time Warner Cable channel 4.
Plan to invite friends to join you for worship this coming Sunday.
In Christ,
Brown
"We have become so accustomed to the idea of divine love and of God's coming at Christmas that we no longer feel the shiver of fear that God's coming should arouse in us. We are indifferent to the message, taking only the pleasant and agreeable out of it and forgetting the serious aspect, that the God of the world draws near to the people of our little earth and lays claim to us. The coming of God is truly not only glad tidings, but first of all frightening news for everyone who has a conscience. "
... Dietrich Bonhoeffer, "The Coming of Jesus in Our Midst," in A Testament to Freedom: The Essential Writings of Dietrich BonnHoeffer, ed. Geoffrey B. Kelly and F. Burton Nelson, Harper San Francisco, San Francisco, Ca., 1995
"Jesus has a particular eye for the ironical and paradoxical. He gave His disciples nicknames: Peter the Rock who was big on words, but a coward when it mattered; James and John, hotheads, were 'Sons of Thunder'. He told stories about judges who gave justice only after being pestered repeatedly, businessmen who amassed riches only to die the next day, and about priests too precious to help a man who had been beaten up. He talked about people who gave stones in the place of bread, and saw the speck in the eye of another but ignored the log in their own eye. He talked about the blind leading the blind. He called the holy men of his day whitewashed walls"
"Many of His comments would have had the audience laughing incontrollably, while at the same time making a deep point. The pictures of 'blind Pharisees straining at a gnat but swallowing a camel' (Matt 23:24) is hilarious. Similarly it is reckoned that shepherds were the butt of Galilean society's jokes, and so the one about the shepherd leaving the 99 to search for just one, would have also raised a laugh."
Brown's Daily Word 2-28-08
Good Morning,
Praise the Lord for this beautiful day, truly a gift from the Lord. I will be conducting a service of death and resurrection for a man who died at the age of 49. All of us live just a breath away from eternity.
In the Python movie, a comedy of unique tastes, a man comes by yelling, “Bring out your dead! Bring out your dead!” One man responds by bringing out a very old man, but he’s not dead yet. The cart owner says it’s against the rules to take a body if it’s still alive. “He’ll be dead soon,” the man replies. Meanwhile, the old man gets up and says, “I’m not dead yet, I feel fine, I feel like dancing!” With some prompting the cart owner hits the old man on the head and moves on. Death is inevitable, the story teaches – it comes to all, ready or not.
Black plague is a note in history books. Today we are the conquerors of bubonic plague, polio, diphtheria, and smallpox. We are getting better at exercise and looking and feeling younger. We have this impression that we are conquering death itself. And yet the death rate remains the same: 100 %. The truth is, we have conquered certain diseases and new ones have sprung up. Our newest plague is HIV. And it’s been joined by Bird Flu and Asian Flu. Need we mention that heart disease is still a factor alongside cancer? Death is inevitable.
We may try to avoid it with pre-planned funerals but the shock of death still gets you every time. Dealing with death is something our culture doesn’t do very well. Death is our greatest enemy.
In the book of John, Jesus performs the seventh sign in raising Lazarus from the dead, as He goes to Jerusalem to give His life as a ransom for many. In the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead we see that Jesus is able to take the sting out of death. The story unfolds in three movements where Jesus interacts with Martha, Mary and then Lazarus. Now we’ll see how Jesus brings out the dead.
Dreams can die quick deaths. Relationships have a way of dying if they are not nurtured. Even faith can find itself dying in the face of overwhelming trials. Jesus got word that his good friend Lazarus was dying. When we hear of a friend who is near death we naturally drop everything and go see them. Not Jesus, not in this case – he waits two more days. When Jesus arrives, Lazarus has been dead for four days. The point is, Jesus made sure Lazarus was as dead as local customs perceived death. Jesus had a purpose for this death. Martha comes out to meet him with the words, “Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” If only, if only…how many times have we said words like that? Martha knew that Jesus could heal people. She knew that he had given sight to the blind, and made the lame to walk. If only Jesus had been here while Lazarus was sick, he would not have died. If only…these are words of despair. It’s too late now. Are these words of rebuke for Jesus? Probably not. Martha simply resigned the situation to hopelessness.
What about her confession that God would give Jesus whatever he asked? Isn’t this faith? Was there a glimmer of hope that Jesus could raise the dead? Not if you consider v. 39 where Jesus wants the tomb opened and Martha’s concern is only for the stench. There is no clue in her that Jesus would raise her dead brother.
Martha’s faith in Jesus has not matured to the point of boundless possibility. And when faced with death our faith takes a beating, especially a premature death. We wonder why God would take our loved ones when they had so much life to live. Sometimes we go down into despair and come up in faith, growing through the experience. Some stay down, faith in God having died in the heartache.
Jesus says to Martha, “He will rise again.” She replies, “Yeah, at the final resurrection.” Then Jesus makes the most powerful statement in the whole Bible, in the whole world really: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”
If you have a fear of death, Jesus addresses your fears in two groups in these words. The first group refers to those who have already died. Those who have believed and are dissolving into dust, our loved ones who have passed away, are not dead. D. L. Moody said, “One day you will hear that D. L. Moody…is dead. Don’t you believe it! In that day I will be more alive than I have ever been before.” Death can seize my body, but I will live.
The second group, “Whoever lives and believes…” This is us. We’re not dead yet. Jesus says, you never will. The Greek says very literally, “He will never, ever die forever.” Yes we will die, our bodies will collapse, but if you believe in Jesus, you will pass immediately into life. Your eyes will close in this world and open in the next. Now death, where is your sting?
“Do you believe this?” Jesus asked Martha. “Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.” Has her faith been resurrected? Not yet. It sounds like faith, but she is still unsure of what Jesus is talking about. Do we understand the implications of who Jesus is?
Mary is summoned to come and meet Jesus. You remember Mary, she’s the one who was enthralled with Jesus, sitting at his feet and drinking in his teaching. Martha was stoic in her grief, but Mary wears her emotions on her sleeve. She comes to Jesus, falls at his feet, and weeps. This is her Jesus. She needs him now. Her heart is crushed at the death of her brother. What she needs is not a lesson in faith, but someone to share her sorrow.
Yes, she too says, “If only…” But she comes at it differently than Martha and it draws two reactions from Jesus. One is that “…he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.” These words are too cryptic. What they mean is – Jesus was angry. The word in Greek describes a horse snorting with anger. Why is Jesus angry? We’ll come back to that.
The other reaction is that famous short verse of the Bible: “Jesus wept.” It’s been joke for a long time. Easiest to memorize of all verses. It just happens to be the most eloquent verse in the Bible. Jesus broke into tears. Yeah, Jesus knew he could raise Lazarus from the dead. That wasn’t the point. His friends were hurting and he hurt with them. Grief is not logical; it doesn’t have to be. Sharing in our friend’s grief is not a problem to solve; it is love we share through quiet companionship.
Everyone is weeping. Jesus is weeping. The scene is one intense group session. The Jews say, “See how he loved him!” Then of course, there are accusations. If Jesus could give sight to the blind…well! If the doctors had caught the disease in time. If only he had gone to the doctor sooner.
You read John and you will see this word associated with Jesus over and over again: LIFE. Jesus came to bring life to us so that we may have it to the full. He is the bread of life. Whoever believes in him has life. He is life!
“Take away the stone,” Jesus said. This is where Martha objects, “It stinks in there – he’s rotting.” So Jesus didn’t get to see the open casket? He wants one more look?
Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” That old saying, “Seeing is believing” is turned on its head here to “Believing is seeing.” When Jesus turned water into wine we saw a glimpse of his deity. Now we are witnesses to the full glory of God in Jesus in this seventh sign. Believe and you will see the glory of God. If you do not believe, I’m sorry you can’t see what we see.
When Jesus had prayed, he called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”Lazarus knew his shepherd’s voice; he recognized the voice of Jesus.
Lazarus was stone-cold dead in the tomb. When Jesus said “Come out,” in the twinkling of an eye, the color came back to his face, blood pumped through his veins, his eyelids twitched and nerves connected with his brain stem. The heart began to beat again, and the breath of life started carrying oxygen to every part of that decaying, stinking body. When he heard the voice of Jesus, Lazarus CAME OUT! And Jesus said, “Take off those grave clothes, they’re for dead people. Lazarus, my friend, is alive.
Whenever Jesus performed a sign, the interesting thing is his innate need for people to do something, to participate, to be involved. He had the servants fill the water jars when he turned water to wine. He told the official to go home. He told the lame man to get up, pick up his mat and walk. Note here how we can help him resurrect lifeless bodies:
He wants us to take away the stone. There are people we have given up on in the community, in our families, in our relationships. These are people who we feel will never commit to believing in Jesus. We have buried them in their tombs and lost all hope for their salvation. Jesus says to us: “Take away the stone.” We reply, “But it stinks in there. It smells like death.” These people won’t even come to church. Doesn’t matter: take away the stone.
The stone is our attitude. We need to develop an attitude of hope for those who we see as lost, to believe that as long as they have breath they can come to the Lord. We can’t raise them to life, but we can remove their stones of ignorance, fear, doubt, prejudice and despair. We can speak the word to them.
He wants us to pray boldly and verbally. Before Jesus raised Lazarus, he prayed “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me. It is the most uncomfortable thing to pray with and for an unbeliever. But what an impact this could make. They may not know what to do with it afterwards. Chances are though, they have never been prayed for before. Pray to the Father for their benefit, for healing or some kind of achievement – not necessarily for salvation. Just see what God will do in them.
c) Take off the grave clothes and help them walk. When by the grace of God these people are raised to new life, help them unwind the grave clothes of old thinking and discouragement and fears and so on. Help them to walk the new walk of Christ.
Jesus is the master of life. He reverses the effects of sin and death. He is the resurrection and the life. This is what the seventh sign reveals to us about Jesus, and it is glorious. Bring out the dead…remove the stone, and bring out the dead. No one is too far gone that Jesus cannot raise them to life.
Praise the Lord for His miracles. I have included a testimony from Jack Hoppes.
Please pray for Jessica Burrelle, a 17 yr. old teenager who is in Rochester hospital.
Pray for our daughter Sunita who will be flying to Africa the first of March for two weeks.
Pray for Evvie Binder who has pneumonia.
Happy birthday to Nate Young who is 89 yrs. old.
Happy birthday to George Cameron who is 85 yrs. old.
A special Happy birthday to Glenn Wolfe, who will be celebrating his birthday on February 29.
In Christ,
Pastor Brown
IT'S GONE.......PRAISE GOD........IT'S GONE
As you can probably tell, this is a great news update.
Jo and I just left the doctor's office. His opening comment as he entered the room was; "your prayers have been answered." And how right he was. We are just thanking God for his wonderful healing power.
The report concluded with this: (Since the examination of December 27, 2007 there has been a change in that there is no longer significant increased metabolic activity identified in the region of the pancreatic head. There is no evidence of metabolically active neoplastic deisease on the basis of today's study.)
Jo and I want to thank all of you who have joined with us in prayer over this matter. This is proof positive that prayer does work. Please thank all of those that you had also asked to pray for me.
Dr. Kloss recommends that I still go through precautionary treatments because of the type of cancer it WAS which I have agreed to do. I again will have three treatments and a week off, then three more. After that I will have a PET scan in one or two months. I totally believe God has touched me and will thank Him continually.
Thank you all again. You'll never know what this has meant to me.
In Christ,
Jack (Jo too)
Praise the Lord for this beautiful day, truly a gift from the Lord. I will be conducting a service of death and resurrection for a man who died at the age of 49. All of us live just a breath away from eternity.
In the Python movie, a comedy of unique tastes, a man comes by yelling, “Bring out your dead! Bring out your dead!” One man responds by bringing out a very old man, but he’s not dead yet. The cart owner says it’s against the rules to take a body if it’s still alive. “He’ll be dead soon,” the man replies. Meanwhile, the old man gets up and says, “I’m not dead yet, I feel fine, I feel like dancing!” With some prompting the cart owner hits the old man on the head and moves on. Death is inevitable, the story teaches – it comes to all, ready or not.
Black plague is a note in history books. Today we are the conquerors of bubonic plague, polio, diphtheria, and smallpox. We are getting better at exercise and looking and feeling younger. We have this impression that we are conquering death itself. And yet the death rate remains the same: 100 %. The truth is, we have conquered certain diseases and new ones have sprung up. Our newest plague is HIV. And it’s been joined by Bird Flu and Asian Flu. Need we mention that heart disease is still a factor alongside cancer? Death is inevitable.
We may try to avoid it with pre-planned funerals but the shock of death still gets you every time. Dealing with death is something our culture doesn’t do very well. Death is our greatest enemy.
In the book of John, Jesus performs the seventh sign in raising Lazarus from the dead, as He goes to Jerusalem to give His life as a ransom for many. In the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead we see that Jesus is able to take the sting out of death. The story unfolds in three movements where Jesus interacts with Martha, Mary and then Lazarus. Now we’ll see how Jesus brings out the dead.
Dreams can die quick deaths. Relationships have a way of dying if they are not nurtured. Even faith can find itself dying in the face of overwhelming trials. Jesus got word that his good friend Lazarus was dying. When we hear of a friend who is near death we naturally drop everything and go see them. Not Jesus, not in this case – he waits two more days. When Jesus arrives, Lazarus has been dead for four days. The point is, Jesus made sure Lazarus was as dead as local customs perceived death. Jesus had a purpose for this death. Martha comes out to meet him with the words, “Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” If only, if only…how many times have we said words like that? Martha knew that Jesus could heal people. She knew that he had given sight to the blind, and made the lame to walk. If only Jesus had been here while Lazarus was sick, he would not have died. If only…these are words of despair. It’s too late now. Are these words of rebuke for Jesus? Probably not. Martha simply resigned the situation to hopelessness.
What about her confession that God would give Jesus whatever he asked? Isn’t this faith? Was there a glimmer of hope that Jesus could raise the dead? Not if you consider v. 39 where Jesus wants the tomb opened and Martha’s concern is only for the stench. There is no clue in her that Jesus would raise her dead brother.
Martha’s faith in Jesus has not matured to the point of boundless possibility. And when faced with death our faith takes a beating, especially a premature death. We wonder why God would take our loved ones when they had so much life to live. Sometimes we go down into despair and come up in faith, growing through the experience. Some stay down, faith in God having died in the heartache.
Jesus says to Martha, “He will rise again.” She replies, “Yeah, at the final resurrection.” Then Jesus makes the most powerful statement in the whole Bible, in the whole world really: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”
If you have a fear of death, Jesus addresses your fears in two groups in these words. The first group refers to those who have already died. Those who have believed and are dissolving into dust, our loved ones who have passed away, are not dead. D. L. Moody said, “One day you will hear that D. L. Moody…is dead. Don’t you believe it! In that day I will be more alive than I have ever been before.” Death can seize my body, but I will live.
The second group, “Whoever lives and believes…” This is us. We’re not dead yet. Jesus says, you never will. The Greek says very literally, “He will never, ever die forever.” Yes we will die, our bodies will collapse, but if you believe in Jesus, you will pass immediately into life. Your eyes will close in this world and open in the next. Now death, where is your sting?
“Do you believe this?” Jesus asked Martha. “Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.” Has her faith been resurrected? Not yet. It sounds like faith, but she is still unsure of what Jesus is talking about. Do we understand the implications of who Jesus is?
Mary is summoned to come and meet Jesus. You remember Mary, she’s the one who was enthralled with Jesus, sitting at his feet and drinking in his teaching. Martha was stoic in her grief, but Mary wears her emotions on her sleeve. She comes to Jesus, falls at his feet, and weeps. This is her Jesus. She needs him now. Her heart is crushed at the death of her brother. What she needs is not a lesson in faith, but someone to share her sorrow.
Yes, she too says, “If only…” But she comes at it differently than Martha and it draws two reactions from Jesus. One is that “…he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.” These words are too cryptic. What they mean is – Jesus was angry. The word in Greek describes a horse snorting with anger. Why is Jesus angry? We’ll come back to that.
The other reaction is that famous short verse of the Bible: “Jesus wept.” It’s been joke for a long time. Easiest to memorize of all verses. It just happens to be the most eloquent verse in the Bible. Jesus broke into tears. Yeah, Jesus knew he could raise Lazarus from the dead. That wasn’t the point. His friends were hurting and he hurt with them. Grief is not logical; it doesn’t have to be. Sharing in our friend’s grief is not a problem to solve; it is love we share through quiet companionship.
Everyone is weeping. Jesus is weeping. The scene is one intense group session. The Jews say, “See how he loved him!” Then of course, there are accusations. If Jesus could give sight to the blind…well! If the doctors had caught the disease in time. If only he had gone to the doctor sooner.
You read John and you will see this word associated with Jesus over and over again: LIFE. Jesus came to bring life to us so that we may have it to the full. He is the bread of life. Whoever believes in him has life. He is life!
“Take away the stone,” Jesus said. This is where Martha objects, “It stinks in there – he’s rotting.” So Jesus didn’t get to see the open casket? He wants one more look?
Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” That old saying, “Seeing is believing” is turned on its head here to “Believing is seeing.” When Jesus turned water into wine we saw a glimpse of his deity. Now we are witnesses to the full glory of God in Jesus in this seventh sign. Believe and you will see the glory of God. If you do not believe, I’m sorry you can’t see what we see.
When Jesus had prayed, he called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”Lazarus knew his shepherd’s voice; he recognized the voice of Jesus.
Lazarus was stone-cold dead in the tomb. When Jesus said “Come out,” in the twinkling of an eye, the color came back to his face, blood pumped through his veins, his eyelids twitched and nerves connected with his brain stem. The heart began to beat again, and the breath of life started carrying oxygen to every part of that decaying, stinking body. When he heard the voice of Jesus, Lazarus CAME OUT! And Jesus said, “Take off those grave clothes, they’re for dead people. Lazarus, my friend, is alive.
Whenever Jesus performed a sign, the interesting thing is his innate need for people to do something, to participate, to be involved. He had the servants fill the water jars when he turned water to wine. He told the official to go home. He told the lame man to get up, pick up his mat and walk. Note here how we can help him resurrect lifeless bodies:
He wants us to take away the stone. There are people we have given up on in the community, in our families, in our relationships. These are people who we feel will never commit to believing in Jesus. We have buried them in their tombs and lost all hope for their salvation. Jesus says to us: “Take away the stone.” We reply, “But it stinks in there. It smells like death.” These people won’t even come to church. Doesn’t matter: take away the stone.
The stone is our attitude. We need to develop an attitude of hope for those who we see as lost, to believe that as long as they have breath they can come to the Lord. We can’t raise them to life, but we can remove their stones of ignorance, fear, doubt, prejudice and despair. We can speak the word to them.
He wants us to pray boldly and verbally. Before Jesus raised Lazarus, he prayed “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me. It is the most uncomfortable thing to pray with and for an unbeliever. But what an impact this could make. They may not know what to do with it afterwards. Chances are though, they have never been prayed for before. Pray to the Father for their benefit, for healing or some kind of achievement – not necessarily for salvation. Just see what God will do in them.
c) Take off the grave clothes and help them walk. When by the grace of God these people are raised to new life, help them unwind the grave clothes of old thinking and discouragement and fears and so on. Help them to walk the new walk of Christ.
Jesus is the master of life. He reverses the effects of sin and death. He is the resurrection and the life. This is what the seventh sign reveals to us about Jesus, and it is glorious. Bring out the dead…remove the stone, and bring out the dead. No one is too far gone that Jesus cannot raise them to life.
Praise the Lord for His miracles. I have included a testimony from Jack Hoppes.
Please pray for Jessica Burrelle, a 17 yr. old teenager who is in Rochester hospital.
Pray for our daughter Sunita who will be flying to Africa the first of March for two weeks.
Pray for Evvie Binder who has pneumonia.
Happy birthday to Nate Young who is 89 yrs. old.
Happy birthday to George Cameron who is 85 yrs. old.
A special Happy birthday to Glenn Wolfe, who will be celebrating his birthday on February 29.
In Christ,
Pastor Brown
IT'S GONE.......PRAISE GOD........IT'S GONE
As you can probably tell, this is a great news update.
Jo and I just left the doctor's office. His opening comment as he entered the room was; "your prayers have been answered." And how right he was. We are just thanking God for his wonderful healing power.
The report concluded with this: (Since the examination of December 27, 2007 there has been a change in that there is no longer significant increased metabolic activity identified in the region of the pancreatic head. There is no evidence of metabolically active neoplastic deisease on the basis of today's study.)
Jo and I want to thank all of you who have joined with us in prayer over this matter. This is proof positive that prayer does work. Please thank all of those that you had also asked to pray for me.
Dr. Kloss recommends that I still go through precautionary treatments because of the type of cancer it WAS which I have agreed to do. I again will have three treatments and a week off, then three more. After that I will have a PET scan in one or two months. I totally believe God has touched me and will thank Him continually.
Thank you all again. You'll never know what this has meant to me.
In Christ,
Jack (Jo too)
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