Good morning,
Praise the Lord for this last Friday of February. The Lord gave us a very Spring- like day yesterday. It was very bright with abundant sunshine. Laureen, Jessica and I walked vigorously in one of the local parks. Praise the Lord for the way He prepares before us a banqueting table of grace and mercy in the presence trials and tribulations. He gives us our daily bread. Our cups are full to the brim with His love and grace.
We are planning for a great fellowship meal tomorrow. It will be held at the First United Methodist Church, Endicott. We will have two seatings. The first seating will be at 5 p.m. followed by the second seating at 6 p.m. The main menu will be Chicken cordon blue, along with home made pies and rolls. We are anticipating a great time of blessing and fellowship. There will be a special music ministry brought by some of the students from the Binghamton University.
I get thrilled and inspired by the stories and the testimonies of the servants and the soldiers of Jesus. Missionary David Brainerd was a soldier of Christ who knew God’s love and then passed the Lord’s love on to the American Indians in New York, New Jersey, and eastern Pennsylvania. By almost every standard known to modern missionary boards, David Brainerd would have been rejected as a missionary candidate. He was tubercular, and from his youth was frail and sickly. He never finished college, and was expelled from Yale for criticizing a professor and for his interest and attendance in meetings of the “New Lights,” a religious organization. Brainerd had only a few converts, but became widely known because of writings about him. His personal diary inspired William Carey, Henry Martyn, Robert McCheyne and Jim Elliot. (School of Tomorrow; Wikipedia Encyclopedia) God is still using his writings today to inspire and convict the Christians world-wide on matters of true Christian service. (Missionary Biographies, World Missions)
Brainerd’s first journey to the Forks of the Delaware to reach the ferocious Delaware tribe resulted in a miracle of God that preserved his life and revered him among the Indians as a “Prophet of God.” Encamped at the outskirts of the Indian settlement, Brainerd planned to enter the Indian community the next morning to preach to the Gospel of Christ. Unknown to him, his every move was being watched by warriors who had been sent out to kill him. F.W. Boreham recorded the incident, “But when the braves drew closer to Brainerd’s tent, they saw the paleface on his knees. And as he prayed, suddenly a rattlesnake slipped to his side, lifted up its head to strike, flicked its forked tongue almost in his face, and then without apparent reason, glided swiftly away into the brushwood. ‘The Great Spirit is with the Paleface!’ the Indians said; and thus they accorded him a prophet’s welcome.” David Brainerd, like King David, was a faithful servant of the Lord and that incident in Brainerd’s ministry illustrates more than Divine intervention of God in his life. It also shows the truth that God shows His love to those who will love Him enough to trust Him with their entire lives regardless of the circumstances they face and the enemies who stand against him. David Brainerd had been humiliated by being thrown out of college, and he constantly battled bitterness and disappointment from his expulsion from Yale. However, in June of 1742 he began several days of fasting, prayer and seeking God and found himself totally focused on what the Lord called him to do even when people and circumstances were against him. (Missionary Biographies, World Missions) Like David, Missionary David Brainerd, in desperate times found strength in his Lord. It all began with being able to say, “I love you, O LORD, my strength. (Psalms 18: 1) Holy Spirit-illuminated Christians are able to say to the Lord, “I love you” because they understand God’s love for them. “We love because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)
Thank you Jesus.
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYfBZnMve_E
Friday, February 27, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Brown's Daily Word 2-26-09
Good Morning,
Praise the Lord for this new day and for the season of Lent in the life of the Church of Jesus Christ our Lord. Praise the Lord that He became a Man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. He loved both sinners and saints. He reached out to the rich and poor, the wise and the foolish, the high and the low. He is the Man of all seasons and the Man in every season. He ate with the rich and with the poor. He ministered to the outcast.
One day the Pharisees saw Jesus eating with some outcasts. They asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” (Matthew 9:11). On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matthew 9:12-13). Instead of being angry with sinners, he longs for them to come to Him. Jesus’ desire is for all of us to come to Him. The Bible says, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). He said about the sinners in Jerusalem: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing” (Matthew 23:37). Jesus went to people of all back grounds and situations, and saw them as part of God's harvest. Because of his kind of caring and openness, they responded. We never know who will respond to the love of God and Good News of Jesus Christ, and it is not our job to figure it out. Instead, we are to keep reaching out to others and sharing the Good News. Mark Early tells the story of Gracia Burnham’s ordeal. She and her husband Martin were missionaries in the Philippines. They were on a much-needed, brief vacation near where they were serving, in order to celebrate their wedding anniversary, when they were abducted by Abu Sayyaf rebels. Many of these rebels were mere children who had been taken from their homes and forced into guerilla warfare. Early wrote, “For 377 days, Gracia Burnham, an American missionary, was held captive by Abu Sayyaf, a Filipino group associated with Al Qaeda. During that time, she experienced horrors we cannot even imagine. She also gained an insight to one of the world’s most pressing issues - the use of child soldiers. After being kidnapped, Gracia and her husband Martin were starved and force-marched through the jungle. Along the way they saw other hostages beheaded and raped. Finally, she saw her husband Martin die after a botched rescue attempt. One of Burnham’s principal tormentors was a 14-year-old Abu Sayyaf soldier named Ahmed. Burnham admits to loathing him for ‘hoarding food when she had none, throwing stones at her while she bathed — fully clothed — in the river, and pushing her along the trail saying ‘faster, faster.’ And yet Burnham prayed for a way to love Ahmed. She got her chance after he was wounded in a firefight and soiled himself. When she saw that he was embarrassed, she thought of her own son and felt love for Ahmed. She washed Ahmed’s clothes in the river before he was taken into the jungle on a stretcher, bound, gagged and ‘stark raving mad.’ To this day, she has no idea what happened to him.” I wonder if we are willing to go that far to reach out in love to those that many see as hopeless? The Bible says, “The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion” (Numbers 14:18).
In His Mercy,
Brownhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpodVp6LH8s
Praise the Lord for this new day and for the season of Lent in the life of the Church of Jesus Christ our Lord. Praise the Lord that He became a Man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. He loved both sinners and saints. He reached out to the rich and poor, the wise and the foolish, the high and the low. He is the Man of all seasons and the Man in every season. He ate with the rich and with the poor. He ministered to the outcast.
One day the Pharisees saw Jesus eating with some outcasts. They asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” (Matthew 9:11). On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matthew 9:12-13). Instead of being angry with sinners, he longs for them to come to Him. Jesus’ desire is for all of us to come to Him. The Bible says, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). He said about the sinners in Jerusalem: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing” (Matthew 23:37). Jesus went to people of all back grounds and situations, and saw them as part of God's harvest. Because of his kind of caring and openness, they responded. We never know who will respond to the love of God and Good News of Jesus Christ, and it is not our job to figure it out. Instead, we are to keep reaching out to others and sharing the Good News. Mark Early tells the story of Gracia Burnham’s ordeal. She and her husband Martin were missionaries in the Philippines. They were on a much-needed, brief vacation near where they were serving, in order to celebrate their wedding anniversary, when they were abducted by Abu Sayyaf rebels. Many of these rebels were mere children who had been taken from their homes and forced into guerilla warfare. Early wrote, “For 377 days, Gracia Burnham, an American missionary, was held captive by Abu Sayyaf, a Filipino group associated with Al Qaeda. During that time, she experienced horrors we cannot even imagine. She also gained an insight to one of the world’s most pressing issues - the use of child soldiers. After being kidnapped, Gracia and her husband Martin were starved and force-marched through the jungle. Along the way they saw other hostages beheaded and raped. Finally, she saw her husband Martin die after a botched rescue attempt. One of Burnham’s principal tormentors was a 14-year-old Abu Sayyaf soldier named Ahmed. Burnham admits to loathing him for ‘hoarding food when she had none, throwing stones at her while she bathed — fully clothed — in the river, and pushing her along the trail saying ‘faster, faster.’ And yet Burnham prayed for a way to love Ahmed. She got her chance after he was wounded in a firefight and soiled himself. When she saw that he was embarrassed, she thought of her own son and felt love for Ahmed. She washed Ahmed’s clothes in the river before he was taken into the jungle on a stretcher, bound, gagged and ‘stark raving mad.’ To this day, she has no idea what happened to him.” I wonder if we are willing to go that far to reach out in love to those that many see as hopeless? The Bible says, “The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion” (Numbers 14:18).
In His Mercy,
Brownhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpodVp6LH8s
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Brown's Daily Word 2-25-09
Good Morning,
Praise the Lord for this Ash Wednesday. It is going to be brilliant and beautiful with daytime highs in the forties. We will have a service of death and resurrection for Barbara Allen this noon. Barbara Allen went to be with Jesus this past Monday morning. Barbara was born and brought up in South Carolina. She and her husband, with their two sons moved to Broome County nearly forty year ago. Barb and her husband served the Lord by singing in the choir. Her husband died some 30 years ago. One of her sons was killed a few years ago by his father-in-law. Barbara raised her grandson all by herself. She was a wonderful and sweet servant of Jesus. Having not seen Him, she served Him faithfully and walked by faith obediently and joyfully. She called me fondly, "preacher" and "brother Brown." She was one of the saints of Jesus. A saint is one who makes it easier for others believe in Jesus. We praise the Lord for the life and the witness of Barbara.
Ash Wednesday is the name given to the first day of the season of Lent. Ash Wednesday, originally called dies cinerum (day of ashes) is mentioned in the earliest copies of the Gregorian Sacramentary, and probably dates back at least to the Eighth Century. One of the earliest descriptions of Ash Wednesday is found in the writings of the Anglo-Saxon Abbot Aelfric (955-1020). In his Lives of the Saints, he wrote, "We read in the books both in the Old Law and in the New that the men who repented of their sins bestrewed themselves with ashes and clothed their bodies with sackcloth. Now let us do this little at the beginning of our Lent that we strew ashes upon our heads to signify that we ought to repent of our sins during the Lenten fast." Aelfric then proceeded to tell the tale of a man who refused to go to church for the ashes and was accidentally killed several days later in a boar hunt! This quotation tells us that throughout the Middle Ages ashes were sprinkled on the head, rather than anointed on the forehead as in our day.
As Aelfric suggested, the pouring of ashes on one's body (and dressing in sackcloth, a very rough material) as an outer manifestation of inner repentance or mourning is an ancient practice. We especially recally that Job covered himself in ashes. (Job 42:6). Other examples of the practice are found in 2 Samuel 13:19, Esther 4:1,3, Isaiah 61:3, Jeremiah 6:26, Ezekiel 27:30, and Daniel 9:3. In the New Testament, Jesus alluded to sackcloth and ashes in Matthew 11:21: "Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes."
Typically, on Ash Wednesday Christians are invited to the altar to receive the imposition of ashes, in the shape of the cross, prior to receiving the Communion. The Pastor applies ashes on the forehead, speaking the words, "For dust you are and to dust you shall return" (Genesis 3:19). These are the words that God spoke to Adam and Eve after they eaten of the forbidden fruit and fallen into sin. They spoke to the couple of the bitterest fruit of their sin, namely death. The ashes on Ash Wednesday remind each penitent believer of his or her sinfulness and mortality, and, thus, the need to repent and get right with God before it is too late. The cross reminds us of the good news that through Jesus Christ crucified there is forgiveness for all sins, all guilt, and all punishment.
Many Christians choose to leave the ashes on their forehead for the remainder of the day, not to be showy and boastful (see Matthew 6:16-18), but as a witness that all people are sinners in need of repentance AND that through Jesus all sins are forgiven through faith.
Ash Wednesday, like the season of Lent, is never mentioned in Scripture and is not commanded by God. Christians are free to either observe or not observe it. It also should be obvious that the imposition of ashes, like similar external practices, are meaningless, even hypocritical, unless there is a corresponding inner repentance and change of behavior. This is made clear in Isaiah 58:5-7 when God says,
Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes ? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? 6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-- when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDpp_YdXnqs
Psalm 51 (Amplified Bible)
1HAVE MERCY upon me, O God, according to Your steadfast love; according to the multitude of Your tender mercy and loving-kindness blot out my transgressions.
2Wash me thoroughly [and repeatedly] from my iniquity and guilt and cleanse me and make me wholly pure from my sin!
3For I am conscious of my transgressions and I acknowledge them; my sin is ever before me.
4Against You, You only, have I sinned and done that which is evil in Your sight, so that You are justified in Your sentence and faultless in Your judgment.(A)
5Behold, I was brought forth in [a state of] iniquity; my mother was sinful who conceived me [and I too am sinful].(B)
6Behold, You desire truth in the inner being; make me therefore to know wisdom in my inmost heart.
7Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean [ceremonially]; wash me, and I shall [in reality] be whiter than snow.
8Make me to hear joy and gladness and be satisfied; let the bones which You have broken rejoice.
9Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my guilt and iniquities.
10Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right, persevering, and steadfast spirit within me.
11Cast me not away from Your presence and take not Your Holy Spirit from me.
12Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit.
13Then will I teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted and return to You.
14Deliver me from bloodguiltiness and death, O God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness (Your rightness and Your justice).
15O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
16For You delight not in sacrifice, or else would I give it; You find no pleasure in burnt offering.(C)
17My sacrifice [the sacrifice acceptable] to God is a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart [broken down with sorrow for sin and humbly and thoroughly penitent], such, O God, You will not despise.
18Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
19Then will You delight in the sacrifices of righteousness, justice, and right, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering; then bullocks will be offered upon Your altar.
Praise the Lord for this Ash Wednesday. It is going to be brilliant and beautiful with daytime highs in the forties. We will have a service of death and resurrection for Barbara Allen this noon. Barbara Allen went to be with Jesus this past Monday morning. Barbara was born and brought up in South Carolina. She and her husband, with their two sons moved to Broome County nearly forty year ago. Barb and her husband served the Lord by singing in the choir. Her husband died some 30 years ago. One of her sons was killed a few years ago by his father-in-law. Barbara raised her grandson all by herself. She was a wonderful and sweet servant of Jesus. Having not seen Him, she served Him faithfully and walked by faith obediently and joyfully. She called me fondly, "preacher" and "brother Brown." She was one of the saints of Jesus. A saint is one who makes it easier for others believe in Jesus. We praise the Lord for the life and the witness of Barbara.
Ash Wednesday is the name given to the first day of the season of Lent. Ash Wednesday, originally called dies cinerum (day of ashes) is mentioned in the earliest copies of the Gregorian Sacramentary, and probably dates back at least to the Eighth Century. One of the earliest descriptions of Ash Wednesday is found in the writings of the Anglo-Saxon Abbot Aelfric (955-1020). In his Lives of the Saints, he wrote, "We read in the books both in the Old Law and in the New that the men who repented of their sins bestrewed themselves with ashes and clothed their bodies with sackcloth. Now let us do this little at the beginning of our Lent that we strew ashes upon our heads to signify that we ought to repent of our sins during the Lenten fast." Aelfric then proceeded to tell the tale of a man who refused to go to church for the ashes and was accidentally killed several days later in a boar hunt! This quotation tells us that throughout the Middle Ages ashes were sprinkled on the head, rather than anointed on the forehead as in our day.
As Aelfric suggested, the pouring of ashes on one's body (and dressing in sackcloth, a very rough material) as an outer manifestation of inner repentance or mourning is an ancient practice. We especially recally that Job covered himself in ashes. (Job 42:6). Other examples of the practice are found in 2 Samuel 13:19, Esther 4:1,3, Isaiah 61:3, Jeremiah 6:26, Ezekiel 27:30, and Daniel 9:3. In the New Testament, Jesus alluded to sackcloth and ashes in Matthew 11:21: "Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes."
Typically, on Ash Wednesday Christians are invited to the altar to receive the imposition of ashes, in the shape of the cross, prior to receiving the Communion. The Pastor applies ashes on the forehead, speaking the words, "For dust you are and to dust you shall return" (Genesis 3:19). These are the words that God spoke to Adam and Eve after they eaten of the forbidden fruit and fallen into sin. They spoke to the couple of the bitterest fruit of their sin, namely death. The ashes on Ash Wednesday remind each penitent believer of his or her sinfulness and mortality, and, thus, the need to repent and get right with God before it is too late. The cross reminds us of the good news that through Jesus Christ crucified there is forgiveness for all sins, all guilt, and all punishment.
Many Christians choose to leave the ashes on their forehead for the remainder of the day, not to be showy and boastful (see Matthew 6:16-18), but as a witness that all people are sinners in need of repentance AND that through Jesus all sins are forgiven through faith.
Ash Wednesday, like the season of Lent, is never mentioned in Scripture and is not commanded by God. Christians are free to either observe or not observe it. It also should be obvious that the imposition of ashes, like similar external practices, are meaningless, even hypocritical, unless there is a corresponding inner repentance and change of behavior. This is made clear in Isaiah 58:5-7 when God says,
Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes ? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? 6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-- when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDpp_YdXnqs
Psalm 51 (Amplified Bible)
1HAVE MERCY upon me, O God, according to Your steadfast love; according to the multitude of Your tender mercy and loving-kindness blot out my transgressions.
2Wash me thoroughly [and repeatedly] from my iniquity and guilt and cleanse me and make me wholly pure from my sin!
3For I am conscious of my transgressions and I acknowledge them; my sin is ever before me.
4Against You, You only, have I sinned and done that which is evil in Your sight, so that You are justified in Your sentence and faultless in Your judgment.(A)
5Behold, I was brought forth in [a state of] iniquity; my mother was sinful who conceived me [and I too am sinful].(B)
6Behold, You desire truth in the inner being; make me therefore to know wisdom in my inmost heart.
7Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean [ceremonially]; wash me, and I shall [in reality] be whiter than snow.
8Make me to hear joy and gladness and be satisfied; let the bones which You have broken rejoice.
9Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my guilt and iniquities.
10Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right, persevering, and steadfast spirit within me.
11Cast me not away from Your presence and take not Your Holy Spirit from me.
12Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit.
13Then will I teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted and return to You.
14Deliver me from bloodguiltiness and death, O God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness (Your rightness and Your justice).
15O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
16For You delight not in sacrifice, or else would I give it; You find no pleasure in burnt offering.(C)
17My sacrifice [the sacrifice acceptable] to God is a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart [broken down with sorrow for sin and humbly and thoroughly penitent], such, O God, You will not despise.
18Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
19Then will You delight in the sacrifices of righteousness, justice, and right, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering; then bullocks will be offered upon Your altar.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Brown's Daily Word & India update 2-24-09
Good Morning,
Praise the Lord that we serve a God who is a very great and generous giver. "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and for righteousness". Praise the Lord that He gives us Joy in giving. Praise the Lord that we can use the God-given time, talents, and treasures to bless Him and to bless His people.
I heard a story the other day about a couple that went to the county fair and they wanted to take a plane ride and the pilot was taking people up for rides, charging them $5 a person. They did not want to pay that much so they tried talking him into $5 for two. He said, “No, it’s going to be $5 for each of you." They tried negotiating, and finally the pilot said, “I’ll tell you what. Since you really don’t want to go for $10, I’ll tell you what I’ll do. If you go up in this plane with me and never say one word, when I come back down, I will return your $10." The husband agreed and gave him $10.
The pilot had an open cockpit airplane, and there was mischief afoot. He did loops, barrel rolls, and turn-arounds for about 15 minutes. Much to his surprise, there was not a word from behind. He even became a little sick himself and had to go land the plane. After he landed, he reached in his wallet to give the $10 back to the man, and said, “Man, I can’t believe it. You get your $10 back; you never said a single word.” The husband replied, “I’ll tell you what. I almost said something when my wife fell out.” That’s financial enslavement.
One of the great verses on stewardship in the Bible is found in I Timothy 16:17-19. “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited.” In other words, if you have wealth, don’t brag about it. Do not be conceited about it “or fix (your) hope in uncertainty of riches, but fix (your) hope on God who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.” In other words, if you have it, it is because God has given it to you. This gives you nothing in which to boast or to fix your hopes upon. Verse 18 then gives instructions in how to use wealth as a blessing. “Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good work, to be generous.” If you have been blessed then you are required to be generous and ready to share the blessing.
Each time we give, every time we share with others it helps to break down our materialism. One reason that God wants us to be givers is to break the cycle of materialism. Every time we give it loosens the grip on those things which God does not want us to hold tightly in the first place. Giving also strengthens our faith. In Malachi 3:10, God says that we are to bring the whole tithe to the storehouse. He also issues a challenge with this command. “I want you to test me in this, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out to you a blessing that there is no more need”. In other words we are to put God first financially, begin to tithe, and God will take care of us. It is interesting that God has to nudge us to trust and test Him, who alone has given us everything. It is the only place in the Bible that God tells us to test Him. Every other time that we test God, it indicates a lack of faith.
In 1 Chronicles, chapter 29, when David and the people brought their money to the temple, they rejoiced because they had so willingly made their offering to the Lord. Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive”. In other words, giving makes us happier than receiving.
The root word of miserable is “miser.” The least happy of all the people in the world are people who are misers, who are stingy, who have never let go, who are constantly looking out for themselves, and who have a mind-set of greed. Carl Meninger, a famous psychiatrist once said, “Giving is a good criteria for mental health.” He also said, “Generous people are seldom mentally ill.” Martin Luther said, “I have had many things in my hands and I have lost them all, but whatever I have placed in God’s hands, I still possess.” If you want to increase your assets, give. If you want to decrease your assets, keep on hoarding. It’s a biblical principle. Jesus said, “What you keep you lose and what you lose you keep.” This is such a paradox. Humanly speaking this cannot happen, but God's way is not the way of mankind. God teaches us to let go, to hold lightly, every thing we have. There is really nothing wrong with having things as long as things do not have us or possess us. The moment that you and I begin to hoard "our assets", believing them to belong to us, that’s when we get in trouble.
There is a true story about a man in the early 1920’s who gave $100,000 to a Methodist college. He later lost all of his money in the 1929 stock market crash. In the 60's the administration of the college wanted to find the man who had given them money to begin this college, so they did a search for him. They found him in the south side of Chicago. When they asked him if he would like to see the school, he twice said no and, finally, on the third time he agreed. They flew him to see this school that he had helped establish in the early 1920’s. When he stood in front of the hundreds of Christian students at this Christian college he wept, and then he turned to the president and said, “The only thing I have left is what I gave.”
How true it is. Every one of us will soon understand that everything we keep for ourselves, we are gong to eventually lose. But everything that we give now for the kingdom, we will always keep. Paul told the Church at Corinth that they had proven their earnestness and the sincerity of their love by their giving.
I learned a long time ago that we can give without loving but we cannot love without giving. When we begin to become givers, we focus on things which are eternal, instead of the temporal.
Alexander the Great, who possessed enormous wealth, insisted that when he died and lay in state, that they put his arms up and his hands open. It was because, according to Alexander the Great, “I want everybody that marches by me when I die to understand, although I conquered everything, when I left this world I took nothing.”
How true it is. None of us are going to take anything and all of that biblical stewardship does is it teaches us to focus on the eternal instead of the temporal.
Dear friends,
Praise the Lord for this new day. Praise the Lord for His faithfulness and everlasting love. Praise the Lord for David Godoy who is back home from Iraq.
We praise the Lord for the life and witness of Barbara Allen, a wonderful servant of Jesus. She went to be with Jesus yesterday. Continue to pray for her family, especially Chris Allen.
Praise the Lord for many, whom the Lord has raised up to minister to Chris in these days while Barbara had been hospitalized. May the Lord bless all of you richly.
Continue to pray for the following:
John Conlin (Kathy Tewksbury's father, who is going in for surgery today)
Millie Rood (who is hospitalized with bruised ribs, she is at Lourdes hospital)
Michelle Head (hospitalized for two weeks with migraine headaches, she is at Lourdes hospital)
Tricia O' Neal (40 yrs. old, received a lung transplant yesterday in a NYC hospital)
Dave Hettinger (colon cancer, surgery March 4, 2009)
Marc Leniek (at home recovering from an infection)
Sandy Wingard (Mike Wingards' mom, having surgery in Pittsburgh on March 4, 2009)
Carol Hower (having surgery on Friday, February 27, 2009)
Patel Naik (he is in jail in India, please pray for strength)
Pray for our Nation, for the Lord to pour upon our leaders wisdom and anointing.
God's Blessings
Mercy.
Favor.
Grace.
Peace.
Protection.
May these overflow in your life as you cling to your Savior and Friend!
The Lord bless thee, and keep thee. Numbers 6:24
In His Love For You,
Good morning,
I would like to thank each of you for keeping my niece Jennifer in your prayers. Below is last night's update.
God is AWESOME!! Just two days ago they were comptemplating keeping her in the hospital another 5-7 days, and then in rehab 1-2weeks. The Lord works incredibly beyond anything we could think or imagine!! He is Huge!
Please continue praying for Jennifer and her family...looks like something is going around, and it needs to stop!
Thankyou again....The Lord continues to amaze and humble me, and having you all to pray...just blesses me so much!
Julie
Hi,
We brought Jennifer home from the hospital this afternoon and she is doing quite well. She is able to move her arm and leg now but the movement is somewhat restricted. She uses a walker and is able to get up and down to use the restroom. She hasn't had a fever all day but is still having trouble with the hearing in her left ear. Jenn and Dennis have an appointment tomorrow with the neurologist and with the ENT. The rehabilitation center in Dallas was completely booked up so she will start physical therapy on Tuesday here in Rockwall. Praise the Lord she is doing so well.
Please pray for Andrew, he began to cough yesterday and was up coughing most of last night. Late this afternoon he had a temperature of 101. We'll do our best to keep Jennifer and Andrew on separate floors tomorrow. Please keep them in your prayers.
With love,
MaryBeth
Mon, 23/02/2009 - 9:30pm Suprme court to hear petition to prevent communal violence
New Delhi, Feb 23 : The Supreme Court today decided to hear a petition seeking laying down of guidelines for preventing communal violence like the Kandhamal riots in Orissa in which the Christian community was targeted after the assassination of a Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader.A Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice P Sathasivam issued a notice to the Centre and tagged the PIL on the issue with another pending petitions relating to communal clash in Orissa.
The petition filed by Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) said that parameters should be clearly laid down for holding the responsibility of the authorities, be it under the Centre or the state governments in case a clash takes place, leading to loss of life and property.
Senior advocate Soli J Sorabjee and Romy Chacko, appearing for the CBCI, said Kandhamal incident should be probed by the CBI and it should be made mandatory that in events of any communal clash irrespective of the community, a judicial authority should be set up to decided the issue of compensation among the victims.
The Bench said it was already seized with a petition relating to the year's communal clash in Orissa in which all these concerns were raised, the PIL by CBCI will also be heard with it.
posted in: Current Issue, Persecution, East India
read more newsman's blog add new comment
Mon, 23/02/2009 - 8:24pm Oscar awards to Slumdog Millionaire to focus on violence against Mionorities
Oscar night belongs to Slumdog Millionaire, a look into a violent Indiaby Nirmala CarvalhoThe documentary Smile Pinki gets best award telling the story of a child who is ostracised for a cleft lip. Indian minorities hope that these successes will put the spotlight on the violence endured by Muslims, Christians and the marginalised.
Mumbai (AsiaNews) – India is celebrating Slumdog Millionaire's sweeping success at the Academy Award ceremony last night. In addition to the movie by director Danny Boyle, which took home eight Oscars, Smile Pinki won for Best Documentary Short Subject, telling the story of a six-year-old girl from the village of Dabai in Uttar Pradesh who becomes a social outcast because of a cleft lip.Despite this achievement few Indians received any award from the victories of British director Boyle and US documentary maker Megan Mylan; they were composer A.R. Rahman, singer Sampooran Singh Gulzar and sound designer Resul Pookutty.Slumdog Millionaire producers have also been dogged by controversy. They have been accused of underpaying the two child actors who worked in the film, Rubina Ali and Mohammed Azharuddin Ismail, who after the completion of the movie went back to live in their slums.Still for ordinary people success in Los Angeles has been cause for celebration in the streets. Even schools stayed close.What the movie celebrates is not India's cinema which produces hundreds of movies each year, drawing an average 23 million spectators per day, but the country and its stories, placed under the limelight of Hollywood for once.The stories of Mumbai's slum kids, that of Muslim boy Jamal and Pinki from Dabai, are but two of the many faces of today's India, faces almost always ignored until Slumdog Millionaire's triumph put the spotlight on them.As a celebratory mood grabs the country many people are hoping that the movie's success will bring greater attention to the problems and events it describes. For Boyle's film especially highlights Hindu anti-Muslim violence, rekindling the memory of the 1993 anti-Muslim attacks in Mumbai by Hindu nationalists.Ram Puniyani, a member of the Committee for Communal Amity (EKTA), told AsiaNews that the "film captures that reality very well. The popular notion that riots are caused by Hindu-Muslim or Hind-Christian differences is misplaced. In the last two decades incidents of violence have been triggered by some offshoot of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (a Hindu nationalist organisation), looking for a pretext to begin the carnage. In Gujarat it was the event of Godhra train catching fire (in February 2002) and in Kandhamal it was the murder of Swami Laxamanand by Maoists (on 23 August 2008)."Puniyan, who wrote 'Fascism of Sangh Parivar', hopes that Slumdog Millionaire's success will "encourage international agencies to pay more attention to this problem and shed light on the violence" as well as "put pressure on India to protect its minorities."
Praise the Lord that we serve a God who is a very great and generous giver. "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and for righteousness". Praise the Lord that He gives us Joy in giving. Praise the Lord that we can use the God-given time, talents, and treasures to bless Him and to bless His people.
I heard a story the other day about a couple that went to the county fair and they wanted to take a plane ride and the pilot was taking people up for rides, charging them $5 a person. They did not want to pay that much so they tried talking him into $5 for two. He said, “No, it’s going to be $5 for each of you." They tried negotiating, and finally the pilot said, “I’ll tell you what. Since you really don’t want to go for $10, I’ll tell you what I’ll do. If you go up in this plane with me and never say one word, when I come back down, I will return your $10." The husband agreed and gave him $10.
The pilot had an open cockpit airplane, and there was mischief afoot. He did loops, barrel rolls, and turn-arounds for about 15 minutes. Much to his surprise, there was not a word from behind. He even became a little sick himself and had to go land the plane. After he landed, he reached in his wallet to give the $10 back to the man, and said, “Man, I can’t believe it. You get your $10 back; you never said a single word.” The husband replied, “I’ll tell you what. I almost said something when my wife fell out.” That’s financial enslavement.
One of the great verses on stewardship in the Bible is found in I Timothy 16:17-19. “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited.” In other words, if you have wealth, don’t brag about it. Do not be conceited about it “or fix (your) hope in uncertainty of riches, but fix (your) hope on God who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.” In other words, if you have it, it is because God has given it to you. This gives you nothing in which to boast or to fix your hopes upon. Verse 18 then gives instructions in how to use wealth as a blessing. “Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good work, to be generous.” If you have been blessed then you are required to be generous and ready to share the blessing.
Each time we give, every time we share with others it helps to break down our materialism. One reason that God wants us to be givers is to break the cycle of materialism. Every time we give it loosens the grip on those things which God does not want us to hold tightly in the first place. Giving also strengthens our faith. In Malachi 3:10, God says that we are to bring the whole tithe to the storehouse. He also issues a challenge with this command. “I want you to test me in this, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out to you a blessing that there is no more need”. In other words we are to put God first financially, begin to tithe, and God will take care of us. It is interesting that God has to nudge us to trust and test Him, who alone has given us everything. It is the only place in the Bible that God tells us to test Him. Every other time that we test God, it indicates a lack of faith.
In 1 Chronicles, chapter 29, when David and the people brought their money to the temple, they rejoiced because they had so willingly made their offering to the Lord. Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive”. In other words, giving makes us happier than receiving.
The root word of miserable is “miser.” The least happy of all the people in the world are people who are misers, who are stingy, who have never let go, who are constantly looking out for themselves, and who have a mind-set of greed. Carl Meninger, a famous psychiatrist once said, “Giving is a good criteria for mental health.” He also said, “Generous people are seldom mentally ill.” Martin Luther said, “I have had many things in my hands and I have lost them all, but whatever I have placed in God’s hands, I still possess.” If you want to increase your assets, give. If you want to decrease your assets, keep on hoarding. It’s a biblical principle. Jesus said, “What you keep you lose and what you lose you keep.” This is such a paradox. Humanly speaking this cannot happen, but God's way is not the way of mankind. God teaches us to let go, to hold lightly, every thing we have. There is really nothing wrong with having things as long as things do not have us or possess us. The moment that you and I begin to hoard "our assets", believing them to belong to us, that’s when we get in trouble.
There is a true story about a man in the early 1920’s who gave $100,000 to a Methodist college. He later lost all of his money in the 1929 stock market crash. In the 60's the administration of the college wanted to find the man who had given them money to begin this college, so they did a search for him. They found him in the south side of Chicago. When they asked him if he would like to see the school, he twice said no and, finally, on the third time he agreed. They flew him to see this school that he had helped establish in the early 1920’s. When he stood in front of the hundreds of Christian students at this Christian college he wept, and then he turned to the president and said, “The only thing I have left is what I gave.”
How true it is. Every one of us will soon understand that everything we keep for ourselves, we are gong to eventually lose. But everything that we give now for the kingdom, we will always keep. Paul told the Church at Corinth that they had proven their earnestness and the sincerity of their love by their giving.
I learned a long time ago that we can give without loving but we cannot love without giving. When we begin to become givers, we focus on things which are eternal, instead of the temporal.
Alexander the Great, who possessed enormous wealth, insisted that when he died and lay in state, that they put his arms up and his hands open. It was because, according to Alexander the Great, “I want everybody that marches by me when I die to understand, although I conquered everything, when I left this world I took nothing.”
How true it is. None of us are going to take anything and all of that biblical stewardship does is it teaches us to focus on the eternal instead of the temporal.
Dear friends,
Praise the Lord for this new day. Praise the Lord for His faithfulness and everlasting love. Praise the Lord for David Godoy who is back home from Iraq.
We praise the Lord for the life and witness of Barbara Allen, a wonderful servant of Jesus. She went to be with Jesus yesterday. Continue to pray for her family, especially Chris Allen.
Praise the Lord for many, whom the Lord has raised up to minister to Chris in these days while Barbara had been hospitalized. May the Lord bless all of you richly.
Continue to pray for the following:
John Conlin (Kathy Tewksbury's father, who is going in for surgery today)
Millie Rood (who is hospitalized with bruised ribs, she is at Lourdes hospital)
Michelle Head (hospitalized for two weeks with migraine headaches, she is at Lourdes hospital)
Tricia O' Neal (40 yrs. old, received a lung transplant yesterday in a NYC hospital)
Dave Hettinger (colon cancer, surgery March 4, 2009)
Marc Leniek (at home recovering from an infection)
Sandy Wingard (Mike Wingards' mom, having surgery in Pittsburgh on March 4, 2009)
Carol Hower (having surgery on Friday, February 27, 2009)
Patel Naik (he is in jail in India, please pray for strength)
Pray for our Nation, for the Lord to pour upon our leaders wisdom and anointing.
God's Blessings
Mercy.
Favor.
Grace.
Peace.
Protection.
May these overflow in your life as you cling to your Savior and Friend!
The Lord bless thee, and keep thee. Numbers 6:24
In His Love For You,
Good morning,
I would like to thank each of you for keeping my niece Jennifer in your prayers. Below is last night's update.
God is AWESOME!! Just two days ago they were comptemplating keeping her in the hospital another 5-7 days, and then in rehab 1-2weeks. The Lord works incredibly beyond anything we could think or imagine!! He is Huge!
Please continue praying for Jennifer and her family...looks like something is going around, and it needs to stop!
Thankyou again....The Lord continues to amaze and humble me, and having you all to pray...just blesses me so much!
Julie
Hi,
We brought Jennifer home from the hospital this afternoon and she is doing quite well. She is able to move her arm and leg now but the movement is somewhat restricted. She uses a walker and is able to get up and down to use the restroom. She hasn't had a fever all day but is still having trouble with the hearing in her left ear. Jenn and Dennis have an appointment tomorrow with the neurologist and with the ENT. The rehabilitation center in Dallas was completely booked up so she will start physical therapy on Tuesday here in Rockwall. Praise the Lord she is doing so well.
Please pray for Andrew, he began to cough yesterday and was up coughing most of last night. Late this afternoon he had a temperature of 101. We'll do our best to keep Jennifer and Andrew on separate floors tomorrow. Please keep them in your prayers.
With love,
MaryBeth
Mon, 23/02/2009 - 9:30pm Suprme court to hear petition to prevent communal violence
New Delhi, Feb 23 : The Supreme Court today decided to hear a petition seeking laying down of guidelines for preventing communal violence like the Kandhamal riots in Orissa in which the Christian community was targeted after the assassination of a Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader.A Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice P Sathasivam issued a notice to the Centre and tagged the PIL on the issue with another pending petitions relating to communal clash in Orissa.
The petition filed by Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) said that parameters should be clearly laid down for holding the responsibility of the authorities, be it under the Centre or the state governments in case a clash takes place, leading to loss of life and property.
Senior advocate Soli J Sorabjee and Romy Chacko, appearing for the CBCI, said Kandhamal incident should be probed by the CBI and it should be made mandatory that in events of any communal clash irrespective of the community, a judicial authority should be set up to decided the issue of compensation among the victims.
The Bench said it was already seized with a petition relating to the year's communal clash in Orissa in which all these concerns were raised, the PIL by CBCI will also be heard with it.
posted in: Current Issue, Persecution, East India
read more newsman's blog add new comment
Mon, 23/02/2009 - 8:24pm Oscar awards to Slumdog Millionaire to focus on violence against Mionorities
Oscar night belongs to Slumdog Millionaire, a look into a violent Indiaby Nirmala CarvalhoThe documentary Smile Pinki gets best award telling the story of a child who is ostracised for a cleft lip. Indian minorities hope that these successes will put the spotlight on the violence endured by Muslims, Christians and the marginalised.
Mumbai (AsiaNews) – India is celebrating Slumdog Millionaire's sweeping success at the Academy Award ceremony last night. In addition to the movie by director Danny Boyle, which took home eight Oscars, Smile Pinki won for Best Documentary Short Subject, telling the story of a six-year-old girl from the village of Dabai in Uttar Pradesh who becomes a social outcast because of a cleft lip.Despite this achievement few Indians received any award from the victories of British director Boyle and US documentary maker Megan Mylan; they were composer A.R. Rahman, singer Sampooran Singh Gulzar and sound designer Resul Pookutty.Slumdog Millionaire producers have also been dogged by controversy. They have been accused of underpaying the two child actors who worked in the film, Rubina Ali and Mohammed Azharuddin Ismail, who after the completion of the movie went back to live in their slums.Still for ordinary people success in Los Angeles has been cause for celebration in the streets. Even schools stayed close.What the movie celebrates is not India's cinema which produces hundreds of movies each year, drawing an average 23 million spectators per day, but the country and its stories, placed under the limelight of Hollywood for once.The stories of Mumbai's slum kids, that of Muslim boy Jamal and Pinki from Dabai, are but two of the many faces of today's India, faces almost always ignored until Slumdog Millionaire's triumph put the spotlight on them.As a celebratory mood grabs the country many people are hoping that the movie's success will bring greater attention to the problems and events it describes. For Boyle's film especially highlights Hindu anti-Muslim violence, rekindling the memory of the 1993 anti-Muslim attacks in Mumbai by Hindu nationalists.Ram Puniyani, a member of the Committee for Communal Amity (EKTA), told AsiaNews that the "film captures that reality very well. The popular notion that riots are caused by Hindu-Muslim or Hind-Christian differences is misplaced. In the last two decades incidents of violence have been triggered by some offshoot of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (a Hindu nationalist organisation), looking for a pretext to begin the carnage. In Gujarat it was the event of Godhra train catching fire (in February 2002) and in Kandhamal it was the murder of Swami Laxamanand by Maoists (on 23 August 2008)."Puniyan, who wrote 'Fascism of Sangh Parivar', hopes that Slumdog Millionaire's success will "encourage international agencies to pay more attention to this problem and shed light on the violence" as well as "put pressure on India to protect its minorities."
Monday, February 23, 2009
Brown's Daily Word 2-23-09
Good Morning,
Praise the Lord this new day. I trust that you had a great weekend of worship, fellowship, and rest. Praise the Lord for the Lord's Day, in which we can gather in His house to worship Him and honor His Holy Name. Yesterday was Transfiguration Sunday. The account of the transfiguration is recorded in Mathew 17, Mark 9 and Luke 9. In this account Jesus took Peter, John, and James to a High Mountain. There He was transfigured before them. What an incredible event! Imagine being one of those 3 apostles, seeing Jesus changed into a being brighter than the noonday sun. What would it have been like to be there with Jesus, seeing Him chatting with Moses and Elijah, heroes of the faith from thousands of years in the past? In this incident, Peter, James, and John witnessed Jesus having a conversation with Moses and Elijah. These two men were among the most important people in the history of the Jewish race. Moses was the great law-giver, the one to whom God delivered the Ten Commandments on MT. Sinai. Elijah was the ultimate prophet. He never died; God just whisked Him up to heaven in a chariot of fire. In this passage Jesus was, simply put, chatting with the law-giver and the prophet!
Jesus life on earth is not some contingency plan that God threw in at the last minute when everything else He tried failed. Through this incident we learn that Jesus is the culmination of everything God had been doing for thousands of years. Paul explained in several places in the New Testament that the plan to bring us grace by sending Jesus to earth was set into motion even before creation. Everything before Jesus, including the Old Testament law and prophets, pointed to Jesus. The writer of Hebrews said in 1:1-2, "In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe." This is really important for us to know, because we have to realize that God isn’t just some big powerful human being muddling along by trial and error until He finally gets it right. God is completely in control, completely faithful to accomplish everything He wants to do. He never fails to accomplish His Will.
God’s plans for our lives are also perfect, without flaw. We need to know that He will never fail us. It may at times seem that things are so messed up that God has lost control, but He never does that. God is in complete control. His purposes never fail.
When Luke recorded this incident he let us in on what Jesus, Moses, and Elijah were talking about. He said, "Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem." Later as the disciples reflected on the events here on the mountain, and then considered the events that soon were to occur in Jerusalem, Jesus’ trial and crucifixion. They came to understand that those events were never spiraling out of control. God never lost control, and He never will. As the 3 disciples who witnessed this event tried to explain to the others what happened, can you imagine how frustrating it must have been? Matthew’s account reads "His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light." Mark’s gospel says "His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them." In Luke 9:29 it says, "As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning." You can almost sense the frustration as the gospel writers attempt to describe the indescribable. They were trying to explain to people something that was beyond human comprehension.
The term in our Bible translated "transfigured" is the same Greek word from which we get the word, "metamorphosis". It is, in fact, the term we use to describe the process of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly, spinning a cocoon, and then being seemingly transformed from one creature to another. As the disciples described it, it was as if, for a moment, Jesus’ human body, the shell that made Him like us, was peeled back. These disciples got a glimpse of who Jesus really is, God in the flesh. Witnessing this event on the side of the mountain made an indelible impact on Peter, James and John. When we read through John’s writings, one of the most prominent ways that he refers to Jesus is as "the light." In 1 John 1:5 he writes "This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all." Many years after the transfiguration, as Peter approached the end of his life, he wrote (2 Peter 1:16-18), "We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.' We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain." The encounter with the overwhelming majesty of Jesus was startling to the disciples. They not only saw Jesus changed, but they also heard the voice of God. In the Bible when people came face to face with the majesty of God, their first response was one of fear. The physical presence of God must be overwhelming!What was once an incident filled with fear, as the disciples came face to face with the incredible presence of God, all at once became a great source of comfort to them. There perspective was changed because they recognized not just the power and majesty of Jesus, but they also came to understand the love He had for them.
We live in a very casual society in which the concepts of intimacy and friendship have been greatly watered down. Once people would never think of calling others by their first names until invited to do so. When you first met someone, you referred to the person as "Sir" or ’Ma’am." A great change in our culture has occurred, for better or worse. Unfortunately, that kind of casual assumption also slips into the way people relate to God. Some refer to God or Jesus as, "The big guy in the sky." I cringe. Jesus is not someone to be taken casually. He is the Alpha and Omega, the creator and sustainer of the Universe!
I am certain that the disciples who witnessed Jesus’ glory never took their relationship with Him for granted. Though they were with Him day in and day out for several years, the more they knew who He was, the more they marveled at the fact that He had a relationship with them. When you think about Jesus, that He is God in the flesh and that there are no words that can adequately describe Him, you can’t help but marvel at who He is. Beyond that, it is such a privilege it is to be able to call Jesus our friend. In John 15:14-15 Jesus said, "You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you." This privilege is a gift offered to us by the incredible, awe inspiring, overwhelming grace of God. When we come to understand who Jesus is - the perfect Son of God - and when we also come to realize who we are - sinful, self-centered creatures - we cannot help but marvel at the privilege of being able to be called a friend of God. Yet, we can have that kind of intimate relationship with Him if we come to Him in faith, trusting Him to guide us through this life and beyond.
In Him,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjhOHs5CdkY
Praise the Lord this new day. I trust that you had a great weekend of worship, fellowship, and rest. Praise the Lord for the Lord's Day, in which we can gather in His house to worship Him and honor His Holy Name. Yesterday was Transfiguration Sunday. The account of the transfiguration is recorded in Mathew 17, Mark 9 and Luke 9. In this account Jesus took Peter, John, and James to a High Mountain. There He was transfigured before them. What an incredible event! Imagine being one of those 3 apostles, seeing Jesus changed into a being brighter than the noonday sun. What would it have been like to be there with Jesus, seeing Him chatting with Moses and Elijah, heroes of the faith from thousands of years in the past? In this incident, Peter, James, and John witnessed Jesus having a conversation with Moses and Elijah. These two men were among the most important people in the history of the Jewish race. Moses was the great law-giver, the one to whom God delivered the Ten Commandments on MT. Sinai. Elijah was the ultimate prophet. He never died; God just whisked Him up to heaven in a chariot of fire. In this passage Jesus was, simply put, chatting with the law-giver and the prophet!
Jesus life on earth is not some contingency plan that God threw in at the last minute when everything else He tried failed. Through this incident we learn that Jesus is the culmination of everything God had been doing for thousands of years. Paul explained in several places in the New Testament that the plan to bring us grace by sending Jesus to earth was set into motion even before creation. Everything before Jesus, including the Old Testament law and prophets, pointed to Jesus. The writer of Hebrews said in 1:1-2, "In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe." This is really important for us to know, because we have to realize that God isn’t just some big powerful human being muddling along by trial and error until He finally gets it right. God is completely in control, completely faithful to accomplish everything He wants to do. He never fails to accomplish His Will.
God’s plans for our lives are also perfect, without flaw. We need to know that He will never fail us. It may at times seem that things are so messed up that God has lost control, but He never does that. God is in complete control. His purposes never fail.
When Luke recorded this incident he let us in on what Jesus, Moses, and Elijah were talking about. He said, "Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem." Later as the disciples reflected on the events here on the mountain, and then considered the events that soon were to occur in Jerusalem, Jesus’ trial and crucifixion. They came to understand that those events were never spiraling out of control. God never lost control, and He never will. As the 3 disciples who witnessed this event tried to explain to the others what happened, can you imagine how frustrating it must have been? Matthew’s account reads "His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light." Mark’s gospel says "His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them." In Luke 9:29 it says, "As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning." You can almost sense the frustration as the gospel writers attempt to describe the indescribable. They were trying to explain to people something that was beyond human comprehension.
The term in our Bible translated "transfigured" is the same Greek word from which we get the word, "metamorphosis". It is, in fact, the term we use to describe the process of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly, spinning a cocoon, and then being seemingly transformed from one creature to another. As the disciples described it, it was as if, for a moment, Jesus’ human body, the shell that made Him like us, was peeled back. These disciples got a glimpse of who Jesus really is, God in the flesh. Witnessing this event on the side of the mountain made an indelible impact on Peter, James and John. When we read through John’s writings, one of the most prominent ways that he refers to Jesus is as "the light." In 1 John 1:5 he writes "This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all." Many years after the transfiguration, as Peter approached the end of his life, he wrote (2 Peter 1:16-18), "We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.' We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain." The encounter with the overwhelming majesty of Jesus was startling to the disciples. They not only saw Jesus changed, but they also heard the voice of God. In the Bible when people came face to face with the majesty of God, their first response was one of fear. The physical presence of God must be overwhelming!What was once an incident filled with fear, as the disciples came face to face with the incredible presence of God, all at once became a great source of comfort to them. There perspective was changed because they recognized not just the power and majesty of Jesus, but they also came to understand the love He had for them.
We live in a very casual society in which the concepts of intimacy and friendship have been greatly watered down. Once people would never think of calling others by their first names until invited to do so. When you first met someone, you referred to the person as "Sir" or ’Ma’am." A great change in our culture has occurred, for better or worse. Unfortunately, that kind of casual assumption also slips into the way people relate to God. Some refer to God or Jesus as, "The big guy in the sky." I cringe. Jesus is not someone to be taken casually. He is the Alpha and Omega, the creator and sustainer of the Universe!
I am certain that the disciples who witnessed Jesus’ glory never took their relationship with Him for granted. Though they were with Him day in and day out for several years, the more they knew who He was, the more they marveled at the fact that He had a relationship with them. When you think about Jesus, that He is God in the flesh and that there are no words that can adequately describe Him, you can’t help but marvel at who He is. Beyond that, it is such a privilege it is to be able to call Jesus our friend. In John 15:14-15 Jesus said, "You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you." This privilege is a gift offered to us by the incredible, awe inspiring, overwhelming grace of God. When we come to understand who Jesus is - the perfect Son of God - and when we also come to realize who we are - sinful, self-centered creatures - we cannot help but marvel at the privilege of being able to be called a friend of God. Yet, we can have that kind of intimate relationship with Him if we come to Him in faith, trusting Him to guide us through this life and beyond.
In Him,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjhOHs5CdkY
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