Praise the Lord for this glorious day. It has been raining today. It is cloudy and gloomy, but the Sun is shining brightly somewhere on our Lord's good earth. Laureen is home after spending very sunny days in Thailand. She shared with us that though it is the beginning of winter in Thailand the temperature was in the high 80's everyday with blue skies. Sunita and Andy will be coming home this evening. Jessica and Tom will be here this evening too. Janice, Jeremy, Micah and Simeon will be here Friday after spending Thanksgiving day with Jeremy's family in Pennsylvania. We are eternally grateful to Jesus for all His blessings and gifts.
Our Lord Jesus told a wonderful parable about some workers. It goes like this: The owner of a vineyard went out early in the morning to hire workers. Then he hired others in the afternoon, and still more in the evening. Each group originally agreed to a set wage. Then the Bible says, “So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’ But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’” (Matthew 20:8-15). The workers who went out in the morning were pleased to work for a denarius, the standard wage for a day’s work, but when they started comparing their wage to others they felt cheated and were filled with resentment. Comparisons breed envious thoughts, jealous hearts and grudging dispositions; they take the joy out of life.
A few years ago, a new book reached the #1 spot on the New York Times best-seller list. The book’s title was: Final Exit, by Derek Humphry, the director of the national Hemlock Society. It gives detailed instructions on a variety of ways to commit suicide. When a book is written about how to end your life, and it ends up on the best-seller list, you get the impression that there is something wrong out there — not much contentment or joy. All of this in the wealthiest land in all the world, with more privileges, freedoms and possibilities than anywhere else, at any time. It speaks of how much we take for granted, and how much ingratitude has poisoned our hearts. People have piled things on top of their pain, and found that they make poor anesthetics. Under all the luxury we are still more unhappy than many of those who live in abject poverty. Is there any more telling evidence that we are a people desperately in need of God? Can anyone come up with a more plausible explanation? We have denied ourselves nothing — except a relationship with our Creator.
An attitude of gratitude stimulates sharing. Chuck Swindoll tells the story of a young attorney in New York who was single. Every year at Thanksgiving the senior partner of the firm would buy everyone a fresh turkey for their Thanksgiving dinner. The young man never knew what to do with his turkey, since he did not have a family, but every year he accepted it graciously. That night, as he rode the subway home, he wondered what to do with the large prize sitting in his lap. He didn’t know how to cook it, and his family lived in another state. As he traveled home that night, a disheveled and discouraged looking stranger sat beside him on the subway. They began to talk, and the attorney learned that the man had spent the whole day looking for a job, but without luck. He had a large family, and was concerned about what he would do for Thanksgiving. The attorney was thrilled to find someone who could use the bird that had been given to him. He did not want the man to feel like a charity case so he said to him, “How much money do you have?” He said, “Only a couple of dollars and a few cents.” “Sold,” exclaimed the attorney and placed the turkey in his lap. The man was moved to tears and thanked him over and over again, delighted that his family could have a good Thanksgiving with such a fine bird, and at such a good price.
But the next Monday morning the attorney’s co-workers circled his desk with smiles on their faces. Some of them laughed as they asked him how he like his turkey. He sat horrified as they told him how they had replaced his real turkey with one made of papier-mache. They had carefully weighted the fake bird, and after wrapping it in brown paper, stuck a real neck and tail through the paper. For a week the he rode the subway for all hours searching for the stranger he had unintentionally wronged, but never found him.
People may make mistakes and fail us, they may even play tricks on us, but God doesn’t make mistakes when he blesses us with his gifts. He does not fool us, or play jokes on us. The Bible says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights” (James 1:7). That is why we can say, “This is the day the LORD has made; [we will] rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24). We are content, we are happy because we are a people of hope. We are a people of hope because we have a God who cares. He has made us, and he has made our world. He has made today and all our tomorrows. And out of the gratitude we feel toward him for all his faithful goodness, we want to share the blessings.
In his book, Stan Toler writes: “I was a church planter at one time and felt impressed by the Lord to send $50 to some missionaries. When I shared with my wife what had been laid on my heart, we took a look at our checkbook and found $54 in our balance. Not much room for error there. She said, ‘Honey, I wasn’t raised quite like you, but I trust you and have faith in your stewardship commitments. Let’s do it.’ So I wrote the check and sent it to the Carters in Arizona, who were ministering to Native Americans in a small reservation village. Even though I knew it had been the right thing to do, I did begin to wonder how we were going to manage. The next day I went to the post office, and I picked up a letter from a student at Asbury Theological Seminary who had been one of my roommates at college. The letter read, ‘I just had you and Linda on my heart and felt impressed to write you. I’m enclosing a check for you, knowing you will probably put it in the offering plate next Sunday, but it is not for your church. It is for you.’ Fifty bucks! When the check we sent arrived in Arizona, Doug Carter called immediately. ‘Stan, your check just arrived. What timing! We had an appointment with the doctor for our daughter, Angie, but we had no money to pay the bill. I was just about to make the dreaded phone call to tell the doctor, but I paused to look at the mail first, and there it was. The Lord was right on schedule, wasn’t he?’ How could God touch a poor church planter on the shoulder and say, ‘Send $50 to missionaries in Arizona,’ even though he knew the church planter needed it, and at the same time touch a student at Asbury Theological Seminary on the shoulder and say to him, ‘Send $50 to the Tolers’? A cynical person might ask, ‘Why didn’t God just impress the Asbury student to send his $50 directly to the missionaries in Arizona?’ To the first question I say, that’s how God works. To the second I suggest that God wanted to pour out his blessings on three families instead of two.”
Having an attitude of gratitude is an act of faith. It means we are unafraid to live and be joyful, because we have faith in a God who cares for us and provides for us. He is faithful and his promises are true. He never fails. And because we have a relationship with this wonderful God we have joy and a desire to pass on some of what God has blessed us with. To trust is to thank. It creates an attitude of gratitude. Praise the Lord for the season of gratitude.
I praise the Lord for all of you. Have a blessed Thanksgiving Day tomorrow and a blessed weekend. I'll post my next devotional next Monday, November 30. Thanks for sharing and caring and praying.
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cyqn2LxKVk
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Brown's Daily Word 11-24-09
Good morning,
Praise the Lord for this season of Thanksgiving. One of my dear friends calls it ""The season of gratitude". We are so grateful to the Lord for all His manifold blessings. We thank the Lord for you. Laureen landed safely here in Binghamton last night after a ten-hour flight (including stops in San Antonio and Washington, DC). It is a great thrill to have her home. Sunita called yesterday and shared with me that she has been invited by the White House for a reception at the White House for the Prime Minister of India, who is on a state Visit to Washington.
In two days we will celebrate the Thanksgiving here in the United States. However, Thanksgiving has become less and less about gratitude and more and more about gluttony. Thanksgiving has become a day where prayer and praise have been replaced by the uniquely American trinity of food, family, and football. (The family part is good, because the Lord has given us to live in families.) In spite of what the holiday has become, there is great value in remembering why the holiday began. Thanksgiving is supposed to be a day in which we stop and give thanks to our God.
I have been reading from Jonah 2:1-9. Admittedly, the book of Jonah is not the first book you think of when you think of thankfulness. Yet, in Jonah 2, that is exactly what we find. In verse nine we find that the rebellious prophet is no longer running from God, and is now reaching up to God with gratitude. Jonah says, “But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.”
Jonah's was by no means the traditional thanksgiving. As we prepare to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday, I want us to look at Jonah’s statement in verse 9, and see what we can learn about true thanksgiving.
First, we must consider the Situation in which Jonah found himself and was Thankful. Normally, we equate thankfulness with times of blessing and prosperity but at the moment Jonah uttered his thanksgiving to God, he was imprisoned somewhere inside a giant fish. This setting reminds us of the words of the Apostle Paul in I Thessalonians 5:18, when he wrote, “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
Let consider a couple of things about Jonah's day of thanks.
He was in a Deep Place. Jonah was literally inside the fish. It was deep, dark, and difficult. While none of us can fully relate to the inside of a fish, we can all relate to the deep, difficult, and dark places of life. Life is often lived in these places.
It was a dark place. Jonah reminds us that God is to be thanked and praised, not just in the light, but in the dark as well. God is good all the time, and therefore God is worthy to be praised all the time as well. Thank Him in the darkness, as well as the daylight. Thank Him for the battles, as well as for the blessings.
It was a difficult place, but it was a Divine Place. Jonah 1:17 says, “Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah…” Jonah himself said, “Thou hadst cast me into the deep". The reality is that Jonah could be thankful in the deep place, because the deep place was a part of the divine plan of God for his life. As hard as the experience of the fish was for Jonah, the reality is that God was using that fish to work in the life of His wayward prophet.
Some may wonder, “How can I be thankful in the dark times?” It is hard to be thankful standing by the casket of a loved one. It is hard to be thankful facing the horrors of cancer. It is hard to be thankful when you lose your job. Still, Jonah reminds us that we can be thankful in the dark times, knowing that our God is ultimately in control.
The great Scottish preacher, Alexander Whyte, was known for his uplifting prayers from the pulpit. Each and every Sunday, Whyte would lift his prayer of thanksgiving to God. One particular Sunday, the weather was so gloomy that one church member thought, “Certainly the preacher won’t think of anything for which to thank the Lord on a day like this.” When Whyte came to the pulpit, and began his prayer, he said, “We thank Thee, O God, that it is not always like this.”
No matter where we are in life, in the hard times, or joyful times, let us trust that it is a divine place, and that in it, there is something for which we can be thankful!
It was a Place of Deliverance. Jonah learned something liberating while he was contemplating his situation in the dark, stinky stomach of the fish. He learned that giving thanks in everything would set him free. See verse 10. It is after thanksgiving that Jonah is set free from the whale.
Paul and Silas learned this truth in the Philippian jail (Acts 16:25,26). Praise and thanksgiving has a way of setting us free. Praising has a way of setting us free from what binds us. I shared from Psalm 103, last Sunday noting that the opposite of praise is forgetfulness. Praising the Lord delivers us from that which binds us.
May we cultivate an attitude of gratitude! It is amazing what praising will do!
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcyUMT7uhzE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNbLtiG2dWU
Praise the Lord for this season of Thanksgiving. One of my dear friends calls it ""The season of gratitude". We are so grateful to the Lord for all His manifold blessings. We thank the Lord for you. Laureen landed safely here in Binghamton last night after a ten-hour flight (including stops in San Antonio and Washington, DC). It is a great thrill to have her home. Sunita called yesterday and shared with me that she has been invited by the White House for a reception at the White House for the Prime Minister of India, who is on a state Visit to Washington.
In two days we will celebrate the Thanksgiving here in the United States. However, Thanksgiving has become less and less about gratitude and more and more about gluttony. Thanksgiving has become a day where prayer and praise have been replaced by the uniquely American trinity of food, family, and football. (The family part is good, because the Lord has given us to live in families.) In spite of what the holiday has become, there is great value in remembering why the holiday began. Thanksgiving is supposed to be a day in which we stop and give thanks to our God.
I have been reading from Jonah 2:1-9. Admittedly, the book of Jonah is not the first book you think of when you think of thankfulness. Yet, in Jonah 2, that is exactly what we find. In verse nine we find that the rebellious prophet is no longer running from God, and is now reaching up to God with gratitude. Jonah says, “But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.”
Jonah's was by no means the traditional thanksgiving. As we prepare to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday, I want us to look at Jonah’s statement in verse 9, and see what we can learn about true thanksgiving.
First, we must consider the Situation in which Jonah found himself and was Thankful. Normally, we equate thankfulness with times of blessing and prosperity but at the moment Jonah uttered his thanksgiving to God, he was imprisoned somewhere inside a giant fish. This setting reminds us of the words of the Apostle Paul in I Thessalonians 5:18, when he wrote, “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
Let consider a couple of things about Jonah's day of thanks.
He was in a Deep Place. Jonah was literally inside the fish. It was deep, dark, and difficult. While none of us can fully relate to the inside of a fish, we can all relate to the deep, difficult, and dark places of life. Life is often lived in these places.
It was a dark place. Jonah reminds us that God is to be thanked and praised, not just in the light, but in the dark as well. God is good all the time, and therefore God is worthy to be praised all the time as well. Thank Him in the darkness, as well as the daylight. Thank Him for the battles, as well as for the blessings.
It was a difficult place, but it was a Divine Place. Jonah 1:17 says, “Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah…” Jonah himself said, “Thou hadst cast me into the deep". The reality is that Jonah could be thankful in the deep place, because the deep place was a part of the divine plan of God for his life. As hard as the experience of the fish was for Jonah, the reality is that God was using that fish to work in the life of His wayward prophet.
Some may wonder, “How can I be thankful in the dark times?” It is hard to be thankful standing by the casket of a loved one. It is hard to be thankful facing the horrors of cancer. It is hard to be thankful when you lose your job. Still, Jonah reminds us that we can be thankful in the dark times, knowing that our God is ultimately in control.
The great Scottish preacher, Alexander Whyte, was known for his uplifting prayers from the pulpit. Each and every Sunday, Whyte would lift his prayer of thanksgiving to God. One particular Sunday, the weather was so gloomy that one church member thought, “Certainly the preacher won’t think of anything for which to thank the Lord on a day like this.” When Whyte came to the pulpit, and began his prayer, he said, “We thank Thee, O God, that it is not always like this.”
No matter where we are in life, in the hard times, or joyful times, let us trust that it is a divine place, and that in it, there is something for which we can be thankful!
It was a Place of Deliverance. Jonah learned something liberating while he was contemplating his situation in the dark, stinky stomach of the fish. He learned that giving thanks in everything would set him free. See verse 10. It is after thanksgiving that Jonah is set free from the whale.
Paul and Silas learned this truth in the Philippian jail (Acts 16:25,26). Praise and thanksgiving has a way of setting us free. Praising has a way of setting us free from what binds us. I shared from Psalm 103, last Sunday noting that the opposite of praise is forgetfulness. Praising the Lord delivers us from that which binds us.
May we cultivate an attitude of gratitude! It is amazing what praising will do!
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcyUMT7uhzE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNbLtiG2dWU
Monday, November 23, 2009
Brown's Daily Word 11-23-09
Good morning,
Praise the Lord for this new day. The Lord blessed us with a weekend of abundance. We met for an evening of food and fellowship at Wesley UMC on Saturday evening. Every time we come before the Lord with His people He shows up there to bless us in such a way that we can feast at His table. It was a great evening of praise and thanksgiving. The Lord continued to bless us yesterday during our 8:30, 9:30, and 11:00 worship services and the Sunday School hour. On Saturday our people, with much love, packed Thanksgiving Food Baskets and delivered them to various families. Thanks to Debbie H and Robin B, who orchestrated this ministry. Yesterday, 49 Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes were collected to be sent overseas with Samaritan's Purse. Deborah E, Deanna M, Kory M, and Nicole A orchestrated this ministry.
Shannon M and her team have picked 49 children from the church family to receive Christmas gifts from the Church. Various members and friends of the church have been invited to take the name of a child from the list and pray for the child during this season. They are also being asked to buy a gift for the child for Christmas. We are praying that these gifts, given with love, may touch each recipient with the love and joy of Jesus, our Savior, who came to give.
We had a very pleasant telephone call from Laureen on Saturday night at 10 PM, saying that she had landed safely in Los Angeles. The team had two concerts yesterday. Laureen will be arriving in Binghamton tonight at 11:30 PM, in a long journey that will take her via San Antonio and Washington, DC. Thank you for praying for her and caring for her.
Yesterday was the last Sunday in the Christian liturgical calendar. This last Sunday of the Christian year has come to be known as the feast of "Christ the King." This designation only goes back to 1925 when Pope Pius XI established it . His reasons for it had to do with a rapidly changing world and the need to remind the earth’s human rulers of who was really in charge. Believe it or not, this is an time of ending. Just ask a farmer, if you're lucky enough to know one. The time for harvesting has come and gone, for the most part. The season of growth is over. Winter is on its way. The holiday we call "Thanksgiving" originated in this ending time. It started out as a celebration of the harvest, being thankful for the fruit of the land, which has now been gathered in. A new season is coming, with colder weather and shorter days. Therefore, end the old and begin the new with a grateful heart - that’s what Thanksgiving is all about.
The reading for yesterday was taken from Revelation 1:4 ff.
"‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come." (Revelation 1:8)
You probably knew that "Alpha" is the first letter in the Greek alphabet and that "Omega" is the last. The Lord God is our beginning point. God is at the start of all things, and it is He who launches us forth on this journey of faith. God is also our ending. The Lord stands at the finish with arms outstretched, drawing us forward. This is one reason these moments of beginning and ending are so special. When we are able to push aside the tears and other things that cloud our vision, we see God being part of such times.
When the Lord says "I am the alpha and the Omega," He is not saying that the Almighty is found only in those ending and beginning times. No, our Risen Lord is with us at every step along the way. From Alpha to Omega, from A to Z, God walks the path of our "ordinary time" with us. We have our past and our future in Christ. However, God is very present in our present. With our Alpha and Omega walking the path with us, we live eternity now. Every ordinary moment is overflowing with the One who said, "Look, I am coming." (Again, this is in the present tense -"‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come." (Revelation 1:8)
The late, great, Swiss-born, German-educated American Protestant theologian and historian of the Christian Church, Rev. Philip Schaff (1819 - 1893), once said, "Jesus of Nazareth, without money and arms, conquered more millions than Alexander, Caesar, Mahomet, and Napoleon; without science and learning. He shed more light on things human and Divine than all philosophers and scholars combined; without the eloquence of schools. He spoke Words of Life as never were spoken before or since; and, produced effects which lie beyond the reach of orator or poet; without writing a single line. He has set more pens in motion, and furnished themes for more sermons, orations, discussions, learned volumes, works of art, and sweet songs of praise, than the whole army of great men of ancient and modern times. Born in a manger; and, crucified as a malefactor, He now controls the destinies of the civilized world; and, rules a spiritual empire which embraces [more than] one-third of the inhabitants of the globe. There never was in this world a life so unpretending, modest, and lowly in its outward form and condition, and yet producing such extraordinary effects upon all ages, nations, and classes of men [and women]. The annals of history produce no other example of such complete and astonishing success in spite of the absence of those material, social, literary, and artistic powers and influences which are indispensable to success for a mere man [or, woman]."
Not only is Jesus, the Christ, the only-begotten Son of the living Almighty God. He is our Way - we walk in Him. He is our Truth - we embrace Him. He is our Life - we live in Him. He is our Lord - we choose Him to rule over us. He is our Master - we serve Him. He is our Teacher - instructing us in the Way of Salvation. He is our Prophet - pointing out the future. He is our Priest - having atoned for us. He is our Advocate - ever living to make intercession for us. He is our Savior - saving to the uttermost. He is our Root - we grow in Him. He is our Bread - we feed upon Him. He is our Shepherd - leading us into green pastures. He is our True Vine - we abide in Him. He is the Water of Life - we slake our thirst from Him. He is the fairest among ten thousand - we admire Him above all others. He is the brightness of the Father’s glory and the express image of His Person - we strive to reflect His likeness. He is the upholder of all things - we rest upon Him. He is our Wisdom - we are guided by Him. He is our Righteousness - we cast all our imperfections upon Him. He is our Sanctification - we draw all our power for Holy life from Him. He is our Redemption - redeeming us from all iniquity. He is our Friend - relieving us in our difficulties! Jesus, the Christ, is our "all in all" - Yes He is!
In Him,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itUNSwS4q9E
Praise the Lord for this new day. The Lord blessed us with a weekend of abundance. We met for an evening of food and fellowship at Wesley UMC on Saturday evening. Every time we come before the Lord with His people He shows up there to bless us in such a way that we can feast at His table. It was a great evening of praise and thanksgiving. The Lord continued to bless us yesterday during our 8:30, 9:30, and 11:00 worship services and the Sunday School hour. On Saturday our people, with much love, packed Thanksgiving Food Baskets and delivered them to various families. Thanks to Debbie H and Robin B, who orchestrated this ministry. Yesterday, 49 Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes were collected to be sent overseas with Samaritan's Purse. Deborah E, Deanna M, Kory M, and Nicole A orchestrated this ministry.
Shannon M and her team have picked 49 children from the church family to receive Christmas gifts from the Church. Various members and friends of the church have been invited to take the name of a child from the list and pray for the child during this season. They are also being asked to buy a gift for the child for Christmas. We are praying that these gifts, given with love, may touch each recipient with the love and joy of Jesus, our Savior, who came to give.
We had a very pleasant telephone call from Laureen on Saturday night at 10 PM, saying that she had landed safely in Los Angeles. The team had two concerts yesterday. Laureen will be arriving in Binghamton tonight at 11:30 PM, in a long journey that will take her via San Antonio and Washington, DC. Thank you for praying for her and caring for her.
Yesterday was the last Sunday in the Christian liturgical calendar. This last Sunday of the Christian year has come to be known as the feast of "Christ the King." This designation only goes back to 1925 when Pope Pius XI established it . His reasons for it had to do with a rapidly changing world and the need to remind the earth’s human rulers of who was really in charge. Believe it or not, this is an time of ending. Just ask a farmer, if you're lucky enough to know one. The time for harvesting has come and gone, for the most part. The season of growth is over. Winter is on its way. The holiday we call "Thanksgiving" originated in this ending time. It started out as a celebration of the harvest, being thankful for the fruit of the land, which has now been gathered in. A new season is coming, with colder weather and shorter days. Therefore, end the old and begin the new with a grateful heart - that’s what Thanksgiving is all about.
The reading for yesterday was taken from Revelation 1:4 ff.
"‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come." (Revelation 1:8)
You probably knew that "Alpha" is the first letter in the Greek alphabet and that "Omega" is the last. The Lord God is our beginning point. God is at the start of all things, and it is He who launches us forth on this journey of faith. God is also our ending. The Lord stands at the finish with arms outstretched, drawing us forward. This is one reason these moments of beginning and ending are so special. When we are able to push aside the tears and other things that cloud our vision, we see God being part of such times.
When the Lord says "I am the alpha and the Omega," He is not saying that the Almighty is found only in those ending and beginning times. No, our Risen Lord is with us at every step along the way. From Alpha to Omega, from A to Z, God walks the path of our "ordinary time" with us. We have our past and our future in Christ. However, God is very present in our present. With our Alpha and Omega walking the path with us, we live eternity now. Every ordinary moment is overflowing with the One who said, "Look, I am coming." (Again, this is in the present tense -"‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come." (Revelation 1:8)
The late, great, Swiss-born, German-educated American Protestant theologian and historian of the Christian Church, Rev. Philip Schaff (1819 - 1893), once said, "Jesus of Nazareth, without money and arms, conquered more millions than Alexander, Caesar, Mahomet, and Napoleon; without science and learning. He shed more light on things human and Divine than all philosophers and scholars combined; without the eloquence of schools. He spoke Words of Life as never were spoken before or since; and, produced effects which lie beyond the reach of orator or poet; without writing a single line. He has set more pens in motion, and furnished themes for more sermons, orations, discussions, learned volumes, works of art, and sweet songs of praise, than the whole army of great men of ancient and modern times. Born in a manger; and, crucified as a malefactor, He now controls the destinies of the civilized world; and, rules a spiritual empire which embraces [more than] one-third of the inhabitants of the globe. There never was in this world a life so unpretending, modest, and lowly in its outward form and condition, and yet producing such extraordinary effects upon all ages, nations, and classes of men [and women]. The annals of history produce no other example of such complete and astonishing success in spite of the absence of those material, social, literary, and artistic powers and influences which are indispensable to success for a mere man [or, woman]."
Not only is Jesus, the Christ, the only-begotten Son of the living Almighty God. He is our Way - we walk in Him. He is our Truth - we embrace Him. He is our Life - we live in Him. He is our Lord - we choose Him to rule over us. He is our Master - we serve Him. He is our Teacher - instructing us in the Way of Salvation. He is our Prophet - pointing out the future. He is our Priest - having atoned for us. He is our Advocate - ever living to make intercession for us. He is our Savior - saving to the uttermost. He is our Root - we grow in Him. He is our Bread - we feed upon Him. He is our Shepherd - leading us into green pastures. He is our True Vine - we abide in Him. He is the Water of Life - we slake our thirst from Him. He is the fairest among ten thousand - we admire Him above all others. He is the brightness of the Father’s glory and the express image of His Person - we strive to reflect His likeness. He is the upholder of all things - we rest upon Him. He is our Wisdom - we are guided by Him. He is our Righteousness - we cast all our imperfections upon Him. He is our Sanctification - we draw all our power for Holy life from Him. He is our Redemption - redeeming us from all iniquity. He is our Friend - relieving us in our difficulties! Jesus, the Christ, is our "all in all" - Yes He is!
In Him,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itUNSwS4q9E
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