Praise the Lord. He is the Lord of lords and the King of kings. While I was visiting England I had the privilege of attending a very special Sunday evening worship service on July 18 with our friend Sue Clyde. It was held in one of the village parishes (Church of England) in Sussex. She was a member of the worship and praise band that was in charge of evening worship. It was a glorious evening of worship. The church was full of people attending from various area churches. The speaker for the service was Canon Andrew White, rector of the St. George's Church in Baghdad (Church of England), known as the Vicar of Baghdad.
It was a very moving service as Canon White spoke and shared about the work of the Gospel in Baghdad. He shared that St. George's church is alive with the ministry and power of the Holy Spirit. Over 5000 people are involved there in ministry and mission in a given week. In the face of daily shootings and frequent bombings, the ministry of the church continues to flourish in its outreach and witness. He shared that out of 5000 people who belong to the church 95 were killed last year in bombings and shootings. He also said that this year they baptized 17 new believers, out of whom 15 have been gunned down. Despite the dangers and challenges, Canon White serves the Lord with joy and obedience. He is fearless, faithful, and above all fervent in faith and love.
Prior to becoming active in ministry, Canon White was a medical doctor who graduated from Cambridge. The Lord then called him into the ministry of the Gospel. He is married and has two sons, but his wife and sons live in the UK for security reasons, while he lives in Baghdad. On top of all the other challenges which he faces daily, Canon White was diagnosed recently with MS, though he never mentions his illness. He just shared about the faithfulness of Jesus. I share the story of Canon Andrew White in part because Jonah, the runaway prophet, was sent to Ninevah, which in modern times is known as Mosul , a famous city in Iraq.
From JONAH 3:10 we read, “When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, He had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction He had threatened.” We would expect that the repentance of the people of Ninevah would have pleased Jonah, yet just the opposite is true. In fact, "Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry"! Jonah, after all the events and hardships that he endured, reverted to his old attitude and way of thinking. Jonah 4:2, "He prayed to the LORD, ‘O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.’ "
Some people see God as a harsh tyrant, who cannot wait to send people to hell. Others see him as a benevolent and indulgent old father figure. Both are light years away from the way God truly presents Himself in the Bible. God is immensely serious about sin and about salvation– the cross of Jesus is the greatest proof of that! Jonah knew God’s nature, but he did not like the fact that God had mercy on the Ninevites. His old fears and prejudices flared up again.
Jonah's response is indicative of the fact that the best of men are men at best. All are still sinful and inconsistent. "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." The Bible doesn’t record the failure of men and women in order that we can point a finger of shame, but so that we can learn about human nature, our nature. We have to be constantly on guard! Never think that sin is totally tamed during our lives! We must never think that sin has been conquered in our lives. When we see others fall we should never say or even think that it will never happen to us. Sin, apparently dormant, can and will lash out and bring us down if we become complacent.
A major idea we can take from Jonah’s failure is that this does not mean that his previous sorrow and repentance inside the sea creature were not genuine, or that Jonah was hypocritical. It was real.
The Apostle Paul highlighted this inner warfare in Galatians 5:16, when he said, “…the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.” This, in fact, is the common experience of every born-again believer. The truly amazing fact is that God still chose to use Jonah in spite of his spiritual fragility. RT Kendall says, "We may see that God can use men that are still frail. It shows also how one may still have problems, maladies, infirmities, weaknesses – even after seeing God work."
We must not think that everyone whom God has greatly used is perfect or without problems. We should not try to escape God's call upon us by thinking that because of our problems and weakness God can’t use us. We all have our spiritual blind spots or "issues". What God looks for is not total perfection but a desire to be pure and to do His will. When God uses men and women for His purposes He does it in such a way that it is clear that it’s not due to our power and worthiness, but by His power and worthiness.
God understood Jonah, remembering Jonah was but dust and caught up in a spiritual downward spiral of his own making. John Calvin commented ‘– the faithful often in a distressed state of mind approach God with a desire to pray, and…their prayers are not wholly rejected, though they are not altogether approved and accepted.’ Though Jonah was perplexed and troubled, he brought his thoughts to God. God forgave the sin in his prayer and saw the struggling heart of His child. God does care; He has mercy. He desires sinful people to turn back to Him.
One of Michelangelo’s paintings in the Sistine Chapel in Rome is called, ‘The Prophets and Apostles’. In this work Michelangelo sought to capture all the faces of the OT prophets and the NT apostles. Art critics have suggested that out of all the faces the artist painted none had a more radiant face than Jonah. Michelangelo was convinced that Jonah did ultimately repent and become a communicator of grace to his own nation through his book and through his preaching as a prophet of God.
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vO_bKR2Wzhk
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Brown's Daily Word 7/28/10
Good morning,
Praise the Lord. It is going to be a brilliant day, indeed it is a gift from the Lord. We will gather for mid-week food, fellowship, Bible study, and the children's ministry this evening starting at 6 PM.
Praise the Lord that He is the Lord of the second chance. We all have at times longed for an opportunity to undo some of the mistakes we have made in our lives. We have all made mistakes in our finances, our careers, our parenting, our marriages… which leads us to wish we could have one more chance, an opportunity to begin again. Louisa Tarkington wrote about it for us in a poem entitled, “The Land of Begin Again”
“I wish that I there were some wonderful place called the land of Begin Again, where all our mistakes and all our heartaches and all our poor selfish grief…. Could be dropped like a shabby old coat at the door and never be put on again. I wish that there were some wonderful place called The Land Of Begin Again.”
Jonah’s experiences remind us that there is such a place, and we serve God who will use those who repent and turn to Him.
First, Jonah discovered that God Gives Second Chances ( 3:1) “Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time….” Although our failures can leave us feeling that God could never use us again, that God could never bless us again, and that we are useless in God's work and God’s plan, this feeling comes not from God, but from the enemy of our souls. Jonah found out about this as God gave him a second chance to do His will.
Secondly, Jonah Found Out God Still Had A Plan For His Life (3:2),“saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you."
We serve an awesome God! He has plans for each of us and our multitudes of failures can never be enough to change those plans. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not harm, to give you a future with hope.”
Jonah had failed when he was first called to go to Nineveh, but his failure was only temporary. It has been said that failure is not fatal and does not have to be final. There is a huge difference between “failing” at something and being a failure. Jonah was not the only person in the Bible who “failed” God at some point. Abraham was another. When God promised him that his wife, Sarah, would give him a son Abraham decided to "help" God. Abraham had a child by his wife’s servant. In other words, he “failed” to believe God but God did not give up on him. God made Abraham the “father of many nations”.
Jacob also failed the Lord. Jacob lied to his father, and stole his brother’s birthright and blessing. He “failed” to live as God intended him to live, and consented only after God had wrestled him into obedience, yet God gave him the name “Israel”, representing God’s people.
When the word of the Lord came to Jonah “the second time” it came with the same commission he had received the first time. It was God plan for Jonah to go to Nineveh (1:2) it is still God’s plan for Jonah to go to Ninevah. God’s plan for Jonah had not changed, but Jonah changed. The first time the word of the Lord came to Jonah telling him to go to Nineveh, Jonah had run away, but, having learned his lesson the hard way about the consequences of disobedience, Jonah obeyed.
The truth is that the Lord has things He wants you to do though many of these things never get accomplished. The people God has set apart to accomplish His often refuse to surrender to Him.
Jonah Found Out How Much God Can Do With One Person. (3:3-5) “So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent. And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" Jonah entered the city and began to proclaim the message, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" In the English Bible it is only eight words, and in the Hebrew the message of Jonah contained only five words. This seems hardly impressive, yet those simple words had tremendous results.
Jesus said in Matthew 12:34 that Jonah was a SIGN to the people of Nineveh.
Because Jonah surrendered to go and because Jonah surrendered to speak God used even the terrible experience of his time in the belly of the fish for His glory. God will do the same thing with our grief and pain. He takes the bad things in our lives and uses them to His advantage. That is what Paul meant when he said in Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Because of Jonah’s obedience God’s power moved a whole city to repentance.
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d61LamkXfwk
Praise the Lord. It is going to be a brilliant day, indeed it is a gift from the Lord. We will gather for mid-week food, fellowship, Bible study, and the children's ministry this evening starting at 6 PM.
Praise the Lord that He is the Lord of the second chance. We all have at times longed for an opportunity to undo some of the mistakes we have made in our lives. We have all made mistakes in our finances, our careers, our parenting, our marriages… which leads us to wish we could have one more chance, an opportunity to begin again. Louisa Tarkington wrote about it for us in a poem entitled, “The Land of Begin Again”
“I wish that I there were some wonderful place called the land of Begin Again, where all our mistakes and all our heartaches and all our poor selfish grief…. Could be dropped like a shabby old coat at the door and never be put on again. I wish that there were some wonderful place called The Land Of Begin Again.”
Jonah’s experiences remind us that there is such a place, and we serve God who will use those who repent and turn to Him.
First, Jonah discovered that God Gives Second Chances ( 3:1) “Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time….” Although our failures can leave us feeling that God could never use us again, that God could never bless us again, and that we are useless in God's work and God’s plan, this feeling comes not from God, but from the enemy of our souls. Jonah found out about this as God gave him a second chance to do His will.
Secondly, Jonah Found Out God Still Had A Plan For His Life (3:2),“saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you."
We serve an awesome God! He has plans for each of us and our multitudes of failures can never be enough to change those plans. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not harm, to give you a future with hope.”
Jonah had failed when he was first called to go to Nineveh, but his failure was only temporary. It has been said that failure is not fatal and does not have to be final. There is a huge difference between “failing” at something and being a failure. Jonah was not the only person in the Bible who “failed” God at some point. Abraham was another. When God promised him that his wife, Sarah, would give him a son Abraham decided to "help" God. Abraham had a child by his wife’s servant. In other words, he “failed” to believe God but God did not give up on him. God made Abraham the “father of many nations”.
Jacob also failed the Lord. Jacob lied to his father, and stole his brother’s birthright and blessing. He “failed” to live as God intended him to live, and consented only after God had wrestled him into obedience, yet God gave him the name “Israel”, representing God’s people.
When the word of the Lord came to Jonah “the second time” it came with the same commission he had received the first time. It was God plan for Jonah to go to Nineveh (1:2) it is still God’s plan for Jonah to go to Ninevah. God’s plan for Jonah had not changed, but Jonah changed. The first time the word of the Lord came to Jonah telling him to go to Nineveh, Jonah had run away, but, having learned his lesson the hard way about the consequences of disobedience, Jonah obeyed.
The truth is that the Lord has things He wants you to do though many of these things never get accomplished. The people God has set apart to accomplish His often refuse to surrender to Him.
Jonah Found Out How Much God Can Do With One Person. (3:3-5) “So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent. And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" Jonah entered the city and began to proclaim the message, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" In the English Bible it is only eight words, and in the Hebrew the message of Jonah contained only five words. This seems hardly impressive, yet those simple words had tremendous results.
Jesus said in Matthew 12:34 that Jonah was a SIGN to the people of Nineveh.
Because Jonah surrendered to go and because Jonah surrendered to speak God used even the terrible experience of his time in the belly of the fish for His glory. God will do the same thing with our grief and pain. He takes the bad things in our lives and uses them to His advantage. That is what Paul meant when he said in Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Because of Jonah’s obedience God’s power moved a whole city to repentance.
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d61LamkXfwk
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Brown's Daily Word 7-27-10
Good morning,
Praise the Lord for summer days. Praise the Lord, for we are reminded in the Word of God that grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of our Lord endures for ever. Alice was in Boston for a few days, and she came home yesterday. She brought Micah along. Micah is all grown up, practically a young lady now. She is a bundle of blessing.
I am reading from Jonah this morning. Chapter 2 Verse 1 tells us about a time when Jonah prayed. We might prefer going to a nice, quiet place to pray; Jonah also had a very secluded spot. God commanded Jonah’s undivided attention inside of the great fish, and the prophet prayed. When God allows a trial into our lives, He also gives us time to contemplate. Jonah had 3 days. We may feel swallowed up by circumstance, but we have the assurance that what God brings to us is always for our good and His glory.
Jonah, in his prayer, admitted that he was as good as dead, but God reached out and rescued him! Jonah understood that his deliverance had been directed by the Hand of God, Who rules His creation.
Though things couldn't have seemed much worse for Jonah, he exercised hope in verse 4: “…yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.” Faith dares to approach God, knowing and confessing that we are sinful people, undeserving of mercy. We may spiritually sink as deep as Jonah did, yet God will not abandon us. Jonah was thrown out of a ship, but not out of the sight and grace of God. We have Christ’s added promise: “I will never cast you out”… you “will never perish” (John 6:37, 10:28). In Psalm 94 David affirmed, “The Lord will not abandon His people.”
Jonah spoke of “worthless idols” in verse 8, which may be translated, “vain, empty vanities”. People throw away any hope of salvation by creating substitutes for God. We may not think of ourselves as idolaters, yet idolatry is any worthless endeavor we take on apart from trust in God. We may find ourselves bowing to the idols of ambition, greed, comfort, and pleasure. Then Johan mentioned “the grace that could be theirs”, admitting that the Gentiles were capable of being reached by God's salvation. Then Jonah re-enlisted in God’s service, renewing his commitment to his prophetic office in verse 9 with a song of thanks.
The prophet admitted in verse 9, “Salvation comes from the Lord.” The word “comes” could also be translated as “belongs to”. This is the theme of the entire Bible. Salvation is a gift, and God isn't obligated to limit His salvation to those whom we deem worthy of it. Jonah’s attitude in chapter one was, “I’m not going to be a part of God saving the Ninevites.” Despite Jonah's bad attitude, God miraculously saved Jonah from drowning, and so Jonah was brought to understand that God is sovereign in salvation. It’s as if God were saying to Jonah: “Salvation is Mine to give--I give it to whomever I choose. I gave it to you. If I choose to save the Ninevites, that’s none of your business.”
“Salvation is possible only because God makes it possible” (Boice). God chooses to reach out to people who cannot or do not reach back. He accepts and entitles the undeserving. “God loves us not because of who we are and what we have done, but because of who He is” (Phillip Yancy).
In verse 10, the fish obediently spewed out this indigestible prophet. Many scholars believe that Jonah was brought back to Joppa. Just as in Monopoly they believe that Jonah was commanded to “Return to GO”. If this was the case, I think that Jonah’s arrival back at Joppa was likely during “rush hour”. In other words, he would have returned in full view of everyone so that, by the time he arrived in Ninevah, news of his miraculous deliverance would have preceded him, adding credibility and considerable weight to his message.
The most terrifying aspect of Jonah’s plight occurred when he realized that God almost gave him what he wanted-- that is, to be free from Him. Jonah wanted to run from God. The implications of that separation brought Jonah to repentance. He had rejected God, and it looked as though God was about to reject him! Jonah had been unwilling to say, “Thy will be done.” In the waters of the Mediterranean he realized the awful significance of hearing God say to him, “All right then—your will be done.” If we try to run from God He may grant our wish for awhile, but we will not want it. The belly of a fish was not a pleasant place to live, but it was a good place to learn .
Jonah returned to God, not as someone expecting special privileges, but as a rebel in need of forgiveness. In the depths of the sea he discarded his pride. The highest moment of our life is the moment when we kneel in the dust and turn to God, confessing our sins. May we seek the same mercy that rescued and forgave the prophet Jonah.
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asrwlIxLeko
Praise the Lord for summer days. Praise the Lord, for we are reminded in the Word of God that grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of our Lord endures for ever. Alice was in Boston for a few days, and she came home yesterday. She brought Micah along. Micah is all grown up, practically a young lady now. She is a bundle of blessing.
I am reading from Jonah this morning. Chapter 2 Verse 1 tells us about a time when Jonah prayed. We might prefer going to a nice, quiet place to pray; Jonah also had a very secluded spot. God commanded Jonah’s undivided attention inside of the great fish, and the prophet prayed. When God allows a trial into our lives, He also gives us time to contemplate. Jonah had 3 days. We may feel swallowed up by circumstance, but we have the assurance that what God brings to us is always for our good and His glory.
Jonah, in his prayer, admitted that he was as good as dead, but God reached out and rescued him! Jonah understood that his deliverance had been directed by the Hand of God, Who rules His creation.
Though things couldn't have seemed much worse for Jonah, he exercised hope in verse 4: “…yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.” Faith dares to approach God, knowing and confessing that we are sinful people, undeserving of mercy. We may spiritually sink as deep as Jonah did, yet God will not abandon us. Jonah was thrown out of a ship, but not out of the sight and grace of God. We have Christ’s added promise: “I will never cast you out”… you “will never perish” (John 6:37, 10:28). In Psalm 94 David affirmed, “The Lord will not abandon His people.”
Jonah spoke of “worthless idols” in verse 8, which may be translated, “vain, empty vanities”. People throw away any hope of salvation by creating substitutes for God. We may not think of ourselves as idolaters, yet idolatry is any worthless endeavor we take on apart from trust in God. We may find ourselves bowing to the idols of ambition, greed, comfort, and pleasure. Then Johan mentioned “the grace that could be theirs”, admitting that the Gentiles were capable of being reached by God's salvation. Then Jonah re-enlisted in God’s service, renewing his commitment to his prophetic office in verse 9 with a song of thanks.
The prophet admitted in verse 9, “Salvation comes from the Lord.” The word “comes” could also be translated as “belongs to”. This is the theme of the entire Bible. Salvation is a gift, and God isn't obligated to limit His salvation to those whom we deem worthy of it. Jonah’s attitude in chapter one was, “I’m not going to be a part of God saving the Ninevites.” Despite Jonah's bad attitude, God miraculously saved Jonah from drowning, and so Jonah was brought to understand that God is sovereign in salvation. It’s as if God were saying to Jonah: “Salvation is Mine to give--I give it to whomever I choose. I gave it to you. If I choose to save the Ninevites, that’s none of your business.”
“Salvation is possible only because God makes it possible” (Boice). God chooses to reach out to people who cannot or do not reach back. He accepts and entitles the undeserving. “God loves us not because of who we are and what we have done, but because of who He is” (Phillip Yancy).
In verse 10, the fish obediently spewed out this indigestible prophet. Many scholars believe that Jonah was brought back to Joppa. Just as in Monopoly they believe that Jonah was commanded to “Return to GO”. If this was the case, I think that Jonah’s arrival back at Joppa was likely during “rush hour”. In other words, he would have returned in full view of everyone so that, by the time he arrived in Ninevah, news of his miraculous deliverance would have preceded him, adding credibility and considerable weight to his message.
The most terrifying aspect of Jonah’s plight occurred when he realized that God almost gave him what he wanted-- that is, to be free from Him. Jonah wanted to run from God. The implications of that separation brought Jonah to repentance. He had rejected God, and it looked as though God was about to reject him! Jonah had been unwilling to say, “Thy will be done.” In the waters of the Mediterranean he realized the awful significance of hearing God say to him, “All right then—your will be done.” If we try to run from God He may grant our wish for awhile, but we will not want it. The belly of a fish was not a pleasant place to live, but it was a good place to learn .
Jonah returned to God, not as someone expecting special privileges, but as a rebel in need of forgiveness. In the depths of the sea he discarded his pride. The highest moment of our life is the moment when we kneel in the dust and turn to God, confessing our sins. May we seek the same mercy that rescued and forgave the prophet Jonah.
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asrwlIxLeko
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