Praise the Lord for this Friday. It is going to be sunny and bright . Praise the Lord for He brings deep Joy in to our lives. He spoke about the Joy of the Disciples in Mathew 5:1-12. Chuck Swindoll, in his book Simple Faith, made the following observation. After noting that Jesus used nine, back-to-back announcements of blessing, he remarked, “Having endured a lifetime of verbal assaults by the scribes and Pharisees, the multitude on the mount must have thought they had died and gone to heaven.” Jesus is the real Joy giver. He came that our joy might be full. Jesus declared that those who know Him trust in Him, and those who serve Him are blessed.
G. Campbell Morgan wrote that blessed is a word "full of sunshine, thrilling with music, brimming over with just what man is seeking…."
The same word is used in 1 Tim. 1:11:
"According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust."
I’m so glad we serve a joyful God.
The same word is also in Titus 2:13:
"Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. Jesus spoke of the beatitudes from the sermon on the mount."
The beatitudes are a self-portrait of Christ – that which we would see if God were living in the body of a man. And God’s purpose, according to Romans 8:29, is for every Christian to be conformed to the image of Christ. • The beatitudes describe qualities that EVERY CHRISTIAN should exhibit. • Every Christian should exhibit ALL of them.
The beatitudes describe the evidence of a yielded life.
They are not to be produced BY the Christian, but IN the Christian. They tell us what men will see in a life that is surrendered to the Lord.
The beatitudes do not represent individual qualities, but a complete picture of a man mastered by Jesus…a complete package of qualities.
The Bible speaks of the FRUIT of the Spirit, not the fruits. The evidence that a man is truly walking in the Spirit is that he exhibits the fruit of the Spirit on a consistent (not perfect) basis.
The blessed people in the world are those who yield themselves to experience the grace of God every day. Why? Because theirs is the kingdom of heaven, they are comforted, they inherit the earth, they are filled, they obtain mercy, they see God – and others see God in them, for they are called "the children of God." They also lead the most fulfilling lives – because Jesus makes them into a complete person.
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Qp11X6LKYY
Friday, March 5, 2010
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Brown's Daily Word 3-4-10
Good morning,
Praise the Lord for this glorious day. The Lord blessed us with a wonderful Wednesday Evening gathering. We studied the verses in Mathew 5: 13ff, and then we discussed the influence and impact we can have in the world as followers and servants of Jesus, our Lord.
Jesus said to his followers, “You are the salt of the earth.” But we miss something in the modern English translation; the KJV translates this verse “Ye are the salt of the earth.” Jesus spoke to his handful of basically uneducated disciples and referred to them as the salt of the earth. What great dignity Jesus bestowed on his followers. What a great compliment! Because salt was a necessity of life in ancient times, great value was attached to it. Salt was so important that it was sometimes used for money. The Roman soldiers of Jesus’ day were at times paid with it. In fact, our word “salary” comes from the Latin word salarium which referred to the payments to the soldiers with salt. We still use the phrase saying that someone either is, or is not, “worth their salt.” We don’t think much about salt because we can get as much of it in pure form as we want. It is just that little bottle with holes in the top on the table, but when you are completely dependent on salt to preserve your food, and when it is so valuable that it is used in the place of money, you get a completely different perspective on salt.
Because we live in a part of the world where we have an abundance of food we don’t understand the monotony of the diet of those who lived in Jesus’ day, and even for most of those who live in third world countries even today. In a great portion of the world rice is the common food, three times a day. In Job 6:6 the Bible says, “Can flavorless food be eaten without salt?” For this one reason alone salt is indispensable.
Christians, like salt, are of infinite value. Furthermore, Christians, like salt, act as a preservative. Salt was important for survival, because it was the only way people of the day had to preserve meat. Obviously, they were not as privileged as we are with refrigeration, so salt became very important in their ability to preserve their food. Salt was rubbed into the meat before it was stored. Salt was used to arrest or at least to hinder the process of decay, so too Christians are given the task of arresting the decay of our world.
Christianity has, in fact, had a profound positive effect on the world. The most dramatic impact of Christianity on the world is that it has attached new value to human life. Prior to Christianity, infanticide and abandonment of children was a common practice. Hospitals, as we now know them, began through the influence of Christianity. The Red Cross was started by an evangelical Christian. Almost every one of the first 123 colleges and universities in the United States has Christian origins, founded by Christians for Christian purposes. The same could be said of orphanages, adoption agencies, humane treatment of the insane, (the list goes on and on) of dramatic impact of Christianity in our world. [D. James Kennedy. “What If Jesus Had Never Been Born?” (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Pub., 1994) pp. 3- 4]
Christian’s continue to have a positive benefit on our world. As a "moral antiseptic", Christians keep the corruption of society at bay by opposing moral decay by their lives and their words.
So, to recap, Christians, like salt, are of infinite value. Christians, like salt act as a preservative. Also, Christians, like salt, are meant to promote thirst. In arid climates and in athletic competition, salt is used to promote thirst. Christians are to make Christ attractive and desirable. In Titus 2:9, the Apostle Paul told Christian servants that they must act in such a way “that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.” “Adorn” is the Greek word from which we get the word cosmetics, and is used to describe the arrangement of jewels in a manner to set off their full beauty. The idea is that Christian servants (any Christian for that matter) have the power, through their exemplary behavior, to make the Christian life and faith beautiful to those who are outside.
Whenever we, as Christians, are introduced into a setting, whether is social or work related, unbelievers should see evidence of the difference that Jesus Christ makes in our lives. They should be able to look at us and say, “I don’t know what they have but I want it.”
Christians, like salt can lose their usefulness. (v. 13b) Jesus says that if the salt loses its flavor, (v. 13b) “… It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.”
Christians, like salt, must have contact in order to have influence. We, as Christians, are to be a preserving force in the world wherever God has placed us. Note, however, that salt never did any good just sitting on a shelf in one place while the meat was somewhere else. To be effective, the salt had to be rubbed into the meat. In a similar way, Christians are to allow God use them wherever he has placed them. Whenever the church becomes a salt warehouse, a place merely to store up Christians, it has missed out on the lesson that salt must make contact to have an affect.
Let us notice what Jesus said and did not say about salt. He did not say, “You all can be the salt of the earth.” Neither did he say, “You all should be the salt of the earth.” Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth”, and in the Greek it is literally “You and you alone are the salt of the earth.”
To be salt, we do not have to be spectacular
To be salt, we do not have to be sensational
To be salt, we do not have to be successful (by the world’s standard’s)
To be salt, we just have to affect our little corner of the world.
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDQ1bfG2SWo
Praise the Lord for this glorious day. The Lord blessed us with a wonderful Wednesday Evening gathering. We studied the verses in Mathew 5: 13ff, and then we discussed the influence and impact we can have in the world as followers and servants of Jesus, our Lord.
Jesus said to his followers, “You are the salt of the earth.” But we miss something in the modern English translation; the KJV translates this verse “Ye are the salt of the earth.” Jesus spoke to his handful of basically uneducated disciples and referred to them as the salt of the earth. What great dignity Jesus bestowed on his followers. What a great compliment! Because salt was a necessity of life in ancient times, great value was attached to it. Salt was so important that it was sometimes used for money. The Roman soldiers of Jesus’ day were at times paid with it. In fact, our word “salary” comes from the Latin word salarium which referred to the payments to the soldiers with salt. We still use the phrase saying that someone either is, or is not, “worth their salt.” We don’t think much about salt because we can get as much of it in pure form as we want. It is just that little bottle with holes in the top on the table, but when you are completely dependent on salt to preserve your food, and when it is so valuable that it is used in the place of money, you get a completely different perspective on salt.
Because we live in a part of the world where we have an abundance of food we don’t understand the monotony of the diet of those who lived in Jesus’ day, and even for most of those who live in third world countries even today. In a great portion of the world rice is the common food, three times a day. In Job 6:6 the Bible says, “Can flavorless food be eaten without salt?” For this one reason alone salt is indispensable.
Christians, like salt, are of infinite value. Furthermore, Christians, like salt, act as a preservative. Salt was important for survival, because it was the only way people of the day had to preserve meat. Obviously, they were not as privileged as we are with refrigeration, so salt became very important in their ability to preserve their food. Salt was rubbed into the meat before it was stored. Salt was used to arrest or at least to hinder the process of decay, so too Christians are given the task of arresting the decay of our world.
Christianity has, in fact, had a profound positive effect on the world. The most dramatic impact of Christianity on the world is that it has attached new value to human life. Prior to Christianity, infanticide and abandonment of children was a common practice. Hospitals, as we now know them, began through the influence of Christianity. The Red Cross was started by an evangelical Christian. Almost every one of the first 123 colleges and universities in the United States has Christian origins, founded by Christians for Christian purposes. The same could be said of orphanages, adoption agencies, humane treatment of the insane, (the list goes on and on) of dramatic impact of Christianity in our world. [D. James Kennedy. “What If Jesus Had Never Been Born?” (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Pub., 1994) pp. 3- 4]
Christian’s continue to have a positive benefit on our world. As a "moral antiseptic", Christians keep the corruption of society at bay by opposing moral decay by their lives and their words.
So, to recap, Christians, like salt, are of infinite value. Christians, like salt act as a preservative. Also, Christians, like salt, are meant to promote thirst. In arid climates and in athletic competition, salt is used to promote thirst. Christians are to make Christ attractive and desirable. In Titus 2:9, the Apostle Paul told Christian servants that they must act in such a way “that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.” “Adorn” is the Greek word from which we get the word cosmetics, and is used to describe the arrangement of jewels in a manner to set off their full beauty. The idea is that Christian servants (any Christian for that matter) have the power, through their exemplary behavior, to make the Christian life and faith beautiful to those who are outside.
Whenever we, as Christians, are introduced into a setting, whether is social or work related, unbelievers should see evidence of the difference that Jesus Christ makes in our lives. They should be able to look at us and say, “I don’t know what they have but I want it.”
Christians, like salt can lose their usefulness. (v. 13b) Jesus says that if the salt loses its flavor, (v. 13b) “… It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.”
Christians, like salt, must have contact in order to have influence. We, as Christians, are to be a preserving force in the world wherever God has placed us. Note, however, that salt never did any good just sitting on a shelf in one place while the meat was somewhere else. To be effective, the salt had to be rubbed into the meat. In a similar way, Christians are to allow God use them wherever he has placed them. Whenever the church becomes a salt warehouse, a place merely to store up Christians, it has missed out on the lesson that salt must make contact to have an affect.
Let us notice what Jesus said and did not say about salt. He did not say, “You all can be the salt of the earth.” Neither did he say, “You all should be the salt of the earth.” Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth”, and in the Greek it is literally “You and you alone are the salt of the earth.”
To be salt, we do not have to be spectacular
To be salt, we do not have to be sensational
To be salt, we do not have to be successful (by the world’s standard’s)
To be salt, we just have to affect our little corner of the world.
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDQ1bfG2SWo
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Brown's Daily Word 3-3-10
Good morning,
Jesus came, He saw, and He conquered death. He came to turn the world upside down and right side up. The early disciples were accused of turning the world upside down and right side up. The Kingdom principle of our Lord reverses the principles of the this world.
We see things that are unseen. (2 Corinthians 4:18)
We conquer by yielding. (Romans 6:16-18)
We find rest under a yoke. (Matthew 11:28-30)
We reign by serving. (Mark 10:42-44)
We are made great by becoming small. (Luke 9:48)
We are exalted by being humble. (Matthew 23:12)
We become wise by being fools for Christ’s sake. (1 Corinthians 1:20, 21)
We are made free by becoming His bond servants. (Romans 6:10)
We wax strong by becoming weak. (2 Corinthians 12:10)
We triumph by defeat. (2 Corinthians 12:7-9)
We find victory by glorying in our infirmities. (2 Corinthians 12:5)
But, perhaps most difficult of all for us, we live by dying. (John 12:24,25; 2 Corinthians 4:10,11)
On the way to the cross our Lord said (in John 12:23-25), "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life." Jesus was basically telling His disciples that to live they needed to die to themselves. That’s not a comfortable teaching, because most of us are not in a big hurry to die.
When the Apollo project was beginning, there arose an argument between the engineers and scientist over how to make the best use of the space on board the rocket. The scientists wanted as much space as possible for lab work, the engineers wanted it for back up systems in case something failed. They were at a stalemate until they asked the astronauts. What would you have decided for - lab space, or back up units? The astronauts, of course, opted for survival.
Yet, Jesus tells us our very usefulness - our fruitfulness for Him - is tied to our willingness to surrender our lives, and even to die for Him. One Commentator noted that there are 6 instances where Jesus mentioned BEARING FRUIT as a Christian, and 5 of the six are tied to the cross or dying. That which appears to be death to us is often that which gives life.
In his book, "Written in Blood," Robert Coleman told the story of a little boy whose sister needed a blood transfusion. The doctor explained that she had the same disease the boy had recovered from 2 years earlier. Her only chance for recovery was a transfusion from someone who had previously conquered the disease. Since the two children had the same rare blood type, the boy was the ideal donor.
"Would you give your blood to Mary?" the doctor asked.
Johnny hesitated. His lower lip started to tremble. Then he smiled and said, "Sure, for my sister."
Soon the two children were wheeled into the hospital room, Mary, pale and thin; Johnny, robust and healthy. Neither spoke, but when their eyes met, Johnny grinned. As the nurse inserted the needle into his arm, Johnny’s smile faded. He watched the blood flow through the tube.
With the ordeal almost over, his voice, slightly shaky, broke the silence, "Doctor, when do I die?"
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE1X4QL5hs0
Jesus came, He saw, and He conquered death. He came to turn the world upside down and right side up. The early disciples were accused of turning the world upside down and right side up. The Kingdom principle of our Lord reverses the principles of the this world.
We see things that are unseen. (2 Corinthians 4:18)
We conquer by yielding. (Romans 6:16-18)
We find rest under a yoke. (Matthew 11:28-30)
We reign by serving. (Mark 10:42-44)
We are made great by becoming small. (Luke 9:48)
We are exalted by being humble. (Matthew 23:12)
We become wise by being fools for Christ’s sake. (1 Corinthians 1:20, 21)
We are made free by becoming His bond servants. (Romans 6:10)
We wax strong by becoming weak. (2 Corinthians 12:10)
We triumph by defeat. (2 Corinthians 12:7-9)
We find victory by glorying in our infirmities. (2 Corinthians 12:5)
But, perhaps most difficult of all for us, we live by dying. (John 12:24,25; 2 Corinthians 4:10,11)
On the way to the cross our Lord said (in John 12:23-25), "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life." Jesus was basically telling His disciples that to live they needed to die to themselves. That’s not a comfortable teaching, because most of us are not in a big hurry to die.
When the Apollo project was beginning, there arose an argument between the engineers and scientist over how to make the best use of the space on board the rocket. The scientists wanted as much space as possible for lab work, the engineers wanted it for back up systems in case something failed. They were at a stalemate until they asked the astronauts. What would you have decided for - lab space, or back up units? The astronauts, of course, opted for survival.
Yet, Jesus tells us our very usefulness - our fruitfulness for Him - is tied to our willingness to surrender our lives, and even to die for Him. One Commentator noted that there are 6 instances where Jesus mentioned BEARING FRUIT as a Christian, and 5 of the six are tied to the cross or dying. That which appears to be death to us is often that which gives life.
In his book, "Written in Blood," Robert Coleman told the story of a little boy whose sister needed a blood transfusion. The doctor explained that she had the same disease the boy had recovered from 2 years earlier. Her only chance for recovery was a transfusion from someone who had previously conquered the disease. Since the two children had the same rare blood type, the boy was the ideal donor.
"Would you give your blood to Mary?" the doctor asked.
Johnny hesitated. His lower lip started to tremble. Then he smiled and said, "Sure, for my sister."
Soon the two children were wheeled into the hospital room, Mary, pale and thin; Johnny, robust and healthy. Neither spoke, but when their eyes met, Johnny grinned. As the nurse inserted the needle into his arm, Johnny’s smile faded. He watched the blood flow through the tube.
With the ordeal almost over, his voice, slightly shaky, broke the silence, "Doctor, when do I die?"
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE1X4QL5hs0
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Brown's Daily Word 3-2-10
Good morning,
Praise the Lord for the season of Lent. As followers of Christ, we are called to participate in the life of deep devotion, joyful sacrifice and faithful obedience. Last Sunday one friend shared that he disconnected his Dish Network, so that he can spend time reading the Bible and in serving the Lord.
Our Lord Jesus said "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field." (Matthew 13:44). Burying our valuables in the ground sounds strange to us, but it was a very common practice in the first century. Today we usually put our money in a savings and loan company or a bank. We keep our valuables in a safe deposit box. However, back in those days, there were no banks for the common people. Only wealthy folks had access to banks, which in those days were not very safe places to keep your money anyway. We have all heard of wealthy people who don't trust the banks, so they stuff all their money in their mattress or they hide it all around the house? That is the same concept that the people of the first century followed, except they buried it.
In Matthew 25, Jesus told a story about a master who gave some talents (a measure of money) to his servants. The first servant was given five talents, and the second was given two talents. They invested those amounts and multiplied their master’s money. But the third servant, who was given one talent, was worried. He didn't want anything to happen to that money. He wanted to keep it safe, so he buried it in the ground.
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it." (Matthew 13:45). This parable describes a man who spent his life looking for beautiful pearls and then sold them to retailers for a profit. When he found the most beautiful pearl he ever saw, he sold everything that he possessed in order to obtain it for himself.
Both of these parables teach us about the incomparable value of the Lord’s kingdom. The pearl is especially appropriate for describing the kingdom because it is the only gem that cannot be improved by man.
We gave all had our hearts and minds set on something that we "just had to have", something that we were willing to make any sacrifice to get? For some of us it may have been a special bicycle, giving up candy bars and going to the movies to have enough money to get that bicycle. Or maybe, as we got older, it was a car or something for the house. For some it is a Wii, or an X-box 360, or some other fad.
Both parables involve men who bought things of great value, but they had to make sacrifices, selling everything that they had to obtain those treasures. That is the cost of commitment. Jesus wants us to understand that there is a cost involved in following Him. Most of us have grown up in a generation that does not understand true sacrifice. To many the Great Depression is just a boring story about how terrible things were in times long past. Most Americans are too accustomed to having things easy. Sometimes that attitude carries over into the church. Though we want to enjoy all the blessings of the kingdom, we don’t want to do anything, give anything, or sacrifice anything.
Just as the two men in the parables had to sacrifice in order to gain their treasures, we must also make sacrifices to gain our treasure. In Luke 14, Jesus said we need to count the cost of following Him. Failing to do so is like starting to build without checking your funds first, or going to war without counting your men. There is a cost involved in being a Christian, and we need to determine from the start whether we are willing to pay the price.
I like this quote from John Calvin, “The natural meaning of the words is, that the Gospel does not receive from us the respect which it deserves, unless we prefer it to all the riches, pleasures, honors, and advantages of the world, and to such an extent, that we are satisfied with the spiritual blessings which it promises, and throw aside every thing that would keep us from enjoying them.” Obtaining the kingdom requires sacrifice.
In Hebrews 11, we read about some great men of the Bible who searched for that pearl of great price. They were looking for something of far greater value than were most people of their times. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob lived as strangers in a country far from their homeland, living in tents because they were looking for a kingdom. They were looking for "the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God." (Hebrews 11:10). The men in that chapter were willing to sacrifice to achieve their goal. Like the ancient pearl divers, they were willing to risk even their very lives. "They were stoned, they were sawn in two....were slain with the sword." (Hebrews 11:37).
The writer of Hebrews holds them up as an example. Are we willing to live a life of faith? Are we willing to be a part of the Lord’s kingdom today? It involves sacrifice, but for those of us who are Christians it is a sacrifice made with joy.
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGbuz8QuhmE
Praise the Lord for the season of Lent. As followers of Christ, we are called to participate in the life of deep devotion, joyful sacrifice and faithful obedience. Last Sunday one friend shared that he disconnected his Dish Network, so that he can spend time reading the Bible and in serving the Lord.
Our Lord Jesus said "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field." (Matthew 13:44). Burying our valuables in the ground sounds strange to us, but it was a very common practice in the first century. Today we usually put our money in a savings and loan company or a bank. We keep our valuables in a safe deposit box. However, back in those days, there were no banks for the common people. Only wealthy folks had access to banks, which in those days were not very safe places to keep your money anyway. We have all heard of wealthy people who don't trust the banks, so they stuff all their money in their mattress or they hide it all around the house? That is the same concept that the people of the first century followed, except they buried it.
In Matthew 25, Jesus told a story about a master who gave some talents (a measure of money) to his servants. The first servant was given five talents, and the second was given two talents. They invested those amounts and multiplied their master’s money. But the third servant, who was given one talent, was worried. He didn't want anything to happen to that money. He wanted to keep it safe, so he buried it in the ground.
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it." (Matthew 13:45). This parable describes a man who spent his life looking for beautiful pearls and then sold them to retailers for a profit. When he found the most beautiful pearl he ever saw, he sold everything that he possessed in order to obtain it for himself.
Both of these parables teach us about the incomparable value of the Lord’s kingdom. The pearl is especially appropriate for describing the kingdom because it is the only gem that cannot be improved by man.
We gave all had our hearts and minds set on something that we "just had to have", something that we were willing to make any sacrifice to get? For some of us it may have been a special bicycle, giving up candy bars and going to the movies to have enough money to get that bicycle. Or maybe, as we got older, it was a car or something for the house. For some it is a Wii, or an X-box 360, or some other fad.
Both parables involve men who bought things of great value, but they had to make sacrifices, selling everything that they had to obtain those treasures. That is the cost of commitment. Jesus wants us to understand that there is a cost involved in following Him. Most of us have grown up in a generation that does not understand true sacrifice. To many the Great Depression is just a boring story about how terrible things were in times long past. Most Americans are too accustomed to having things easy. Sometimes that attitude carries over into the church. Though we want to enjoy all the blessings of the kingdom, we don’t want to do anything, give anything, or sacrifice anything.
Just as the two men in the parables had to sacrifice in order to gain their treasures, we must also make sacrifices to gain our treasure. In Luke 14, Jesus said we need to count the cost of following Him. Failing to do so is like starting to build without checking your funds first, or going to war without counting your men. There is a cost involved in being a Christian, and we need to determine from the start whether we are willing to pay the price.
I like this quote from John Calvin, “The natural meaning of the words is, that the Gospel does not receive from us the respect which it deserves, unless we prefer it to all the riches, pleasures, honors, and advantages of the world, and to such an extent, that we are satisfied with the spiritual blessings which it promises, and throw aside every thing that would keep us from enjoying them.” Obtaining the kingdom requires sacrifice.
In Hebrews 11, we read about some great men of the Bible who searched for that pearl of great price. They were looking for something of far greater value than were most people of their times. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob lived as strangers in a country far from their homeland, living in tents because they were looking for a kingdom. They were looking for "the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God." (Hebrews 11:10). The men in that chapter were willing to sacrifice to achieve their goal. Like the ancient pearl divers, they were willing to risk even their very lives. "They were stoned, they were sawn in two....were slain with the sword." (Hebrews 11:37).
The writer of Hebrews holds them up as an example. Are we willing to live a life of faith? Are we willing to be a part of the Lord’s kingdom today? It involves sacrifice, but for those of us who are Christians it is a sacrifice made with joy.
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGbuz8QuhmE
Monday, March 1, 2010
Brown's Daily Word 31-10
Good morning,
Praise the Lord for His faithfulness. Yesterday was designated as Testimony Sunday in our Church. Several people gave their testimonies, how the Lord has changed their lives, how He has been at work in their lives, and how the Lord is real and faithful. I was speaking with two people this week, one who is a high school principal, and one who is a Christian counselor. Both are committed Christians and faithful servants of Jesus Christ. Both are walking through valleys of darkness, illness, and trials, yet they are praising Jesus for the way that He is with them through it all. In the midst of all of their trials and tribulations they are praising Christ, who makes them triumphant.
It is written in Revelation 12:11, "They overcame him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony". Praise the Lord that He gives us grace and anointing so that we can praise Him at all times. Anybody can praise God post-Jordan, post-lions' den, post-fiery furnace, post-prison. That is, after the fact it is not a great achievement to praise, but there is something special about a midway praise, or a midnight praise in a prison cell (Acts 16). For example, in Joshua 3 we read about how Joshua erected a pillar of stones in the midst of the Jordan where the priest’s feet stood firm on dry ground, when the crossing had not yet been completed. Joshua may have thought, This is my "going through it praise". I'm going through the worst trial of my life, but I’m going to praise him anyway. I’m going through hard times in my finances, but I’m going to praise him anyway. I’m going through the valley of the shadow of death, but I’m going to praise him anyway.This is our testimony that God has been faithful and that we believe that He will be faithful in our current circumstance. It is trust that others, at other times, are going to come this way and in the middle of their fiery trial they're going to see this pillar of praise and it’s going to remind them of the faithfulness of God. It will tell them that someone else has passed this way before them and didn't drown. Someone else stood the test of fire, yet they didn't burn up. Someone else stood bravely before the lions, yet the lions did not eat them and prison could not keep them. At Midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto the Lord and the prisoners heard them. (It didn't say they joined with them, or even that they enjoyed their singing, just that they heard it). Suddenly there was an earthquake that shook the foundations of the prison and every door flew open and every prisoner's bonds were loosed. I love it that, in the flight from Egypt, and again in the crossing of the Jordan River with Joshua, all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, Perhaps the greatest part of the miracle is not just that they made it through, but that there was no evidence, no residue, left over from their trial. It is just like the account of the three Hebrew children, when they came out of the furnace, that their clothes were not burned, their hair was not singed, and there was not even the smell of smoke on them. The evidence of their faith all started when the priests obeyed the Lord and stepped into the water. There’s somebody waiting for us to step in, so that we can be the key to someone else’s miracle.
In Christ, Brownhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8HgAVenbUU
Praise the Lord for His faithfulness. Yesterday was designated as Testimony Sunday in our Church. Several people gave their testimonies, how the Lord has changed their lives, how He has been at work in their lives, and how the Lord is real and faithful. I was speaking with two people this week, one who is a high school principal, and one who is a Christian counselor. Both are committed Christians and faithful servants of Jesus Christ. Both are walking through valleys of darkness, illness, and trials, yet they are praising Jesus for the way that He is with them through it all. In the midst of all of their trials and tribulations they are praising Christ, who makes them triumphant.
It is written in Revelation 12:11, "They overcame him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony". Praise the Lord that He gives us grace and anointing so that we can praise Him at all times. Anybody can praise God post-Jordan, post-lions' den, post-fiery furnace, post-prison. That is, after the fact it is not a great achievement to praise, but there is something special about a midway praise, or a midnight praise in a prison cell (Acts 16). For example, in Joshua 3 we read about how Joshua erected a pillar of stones in the midst of the Jordan where the priest’s feet stood firm on dry ground, when the crossing had not yet been completed. Joshua may have thought, This is my "going through it praise". I'm going through the worst trial of my life, but I’m going to praise him anyway. I’m going through hard times in my finances, but I’m going to praise him anyway. I’m going through the valley of the shadow of death, but I’m going to praise him anyway.This is our testimony that God has been faithful and that we believe that He will be faithful in our current circumstance. It is trust that others, at other times, are going to come this way and in the middle of their fiery trial they're going to see this pillar of praise and it’s going to remind them of the faithfulness of God. It will tell them that someone else has passed this way before them and didn't drown. Someone else stood the test of fire, yet they didn't burn up. Someone else stood bravely before the lions, yet the lions did not eat them and prison could not keep them. At Midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto the Lord and the prisoners heard them. (It didn't say they joined with them, or even that they enjoyed their singing, just that they heard it). Suddenly there was an earthquake that shook the foundations of the prison and every door flew open and every prisoner's bonds were loosed. I love it that, in the flight from Egypt, and again in the crossing of the Jordan River with Joshua, all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, Perhaps the greatest part of the miracle is not just that they made it through, but that there was no evidence, no residue, left over from their trial. It is just like the account of the three Hebrew children, when they came out of the furnace, that their clothes were not burned, their hair was not singed, and there was not even the smell of smoke on them. The evidence of their faith all started when the priests obeyed the Lord and stepped into the water. There’s somebody waiting for us to step in, so that we can be the key to someone else’s miracle.
In Christ, Brownhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8HgAVenbUU
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