Brown's Daily Word 9-22-10

Good morning,
Praise the Lord for this new day. We will gather for our mid-week service of Fellowship and Bible study, beginning at 6 PM. It is always a thrill to be in the house of the Lord with His people. Every time the Lord visits we are blessed, we are renewed and we are refreshed.
In 2 Chronicles 33 we meet King Manassah. Manassah had the opportunity to have the greatest impact on the nation of Judah because he was the longest reigning king. He ruled for 55 years. His father had been a king who loved the Lord and did a lot in leading the nation back to serving God. Yet, as soon as Manassah had the opportunity, he undid everything his father had tried to do spiritually for the nation. Manassah spent most of his 55 years doing evil in the eyes of the Lord. He worshipped idols, he tried talking to dead people through witches and sorcerers, he sacrificed his sons as human offerings to idols, and he put to death innocent people who challenged what he was doing. The account of Manassah in 2 Kings tells us he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood. Tradition tells us he had the prophet Isaiah sawn in half.
Manassah was full of pride and arrogance. He felt that he did not have to answer to anyone. He did not apologize to anyone for anything he did. He did not care about God. One day, however, enough was enough and so God sent the King of Assyria to invade Jerusalem. Manassah was captured, and a hook was put through his nose, chains shackled his hands and feet, and he was led away as though he was some wild animal. This former king was thrown into an Assyrian prison. All the riches and power of which he had boasted now meant absolutely nothing. None of the many idols he had made could do anything to help him. His situation was hopeless, and he was helpless.
How many Manassahs are around us today, on the verge of having some circumstance in life to come and humble them? There are many who may be on top now, and the future may look bright, and they see no need of God in their lives... Yet, as God sent an Assyrian king to humble Manassah, God will deal with them as well because God hates pride. He will bring down all those who are proud of heart. God’s purpose in humbling us is to bring us to our senses that we might make a change.
It was in the dark of prison that Manassah remembered the God of Israel; it was a second chance to humble himself before God and honor Him. This murderous, lying, abuser of people, had the audacity to think that if he humbled himself, God just might here his prayer. I’m amazed at the people who cannot comprehend how great the heart of God is. Many actually believe they have done things so bad that God could not possible love or forgive them. As desperately wicked as King Manassah had been, when this evil man humbled himself before God, God had a plan for his life.
The Scriptures tell us in 2 Chronicles 33:12-14 "In his distress he sought the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. And when he prayed to him, the LORD was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea; so he brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God."
Our Lord God is gracious and merciful who sends rain upon the just and the unjust. He humbles those who are exalted and He cares for those those who are downtrodden and beaten by the enemy. He is the Lord of all.
Columnist L. M. BOYD described the amazing blessing of a man named Jack Wurm. In 1949, Mr. Wurm was broke and out of a job. One day he was walking along a San Francisco beach when he came across a bottle with a piece of paper in it. As he read the note, he discovered that it was the last will and testament of Daisy Singer Alexander, heir to the Singer sewing machine fortune. The note read, "To avoid confusion, I leave my entire estate to the lucky person who finds this bottle and to my attorney, Barry Cohen, share and share alike." According to Boyd, the courts accepted the theory that the heiress had written the note 12 years earlier, and had thrown the bottle into the Thames River in London, from where it had drifted across the oceans to the feet of a penniless and jobless Jack Wurm. His chance discovery netted him over 6 million dollars in cash and Singer stock.
How would you like to have been in Mr. Wurm’s footprints on that San Francisco beach? What a find! Yet 6 million dollars doesn’t even begin to compare with our spiritual inheritance we have in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Blessed be His Name.
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNbLtiG2dWU

Weekly: Saturday Evening Worship Service
To be held at: First United Methodist Church
53 McKinney Avenue
Endicott, New York

The Worship service is sponsored by: Union Center United Methodist Church
128 Maple Drive
Endicott, NY



An evening worship services will be held on Saturday September 25, 2010 at 6:30 PM. Rev. Brown Naik will preaching. "A Touch of Christ" will lead in praise and worship. Ministry for the youth and children will be provided. We will gather for coffee and fellowship at 6 PM. The public is invited to join us. For information call: (607)-748-6329 or (607)-427-9098.