Good morning,
Praise the Lord for His realness and His nearness to those who trust in Him and love Him. Please join us on Friday evening for our weekly TV outreach at 7 PM on Time Warner Channel 4. We are preparing and serving a meal for the needy this coming Saturday at noon at the First United Methodist Church, Endicott. Praise the Lord for His Holy Church that is in ministry and mission all over the world casting out demons, setting the prisoners free, proclaiming the Good News to the poor, and bringing sight to the blind and salvation to those who are dead in sin. His truth is marching on. Our Lord reigns. "All hail the power of Jesus' Name."
One of my favorite passages is from 2 Corinthians 4. I learned this verse from my uncle when I was just young boy. (That is many years ago). My uncle was one who were instrumental in my Christian upbringing and walk. My uncle went to be with Jesus in 1986. We are reminded in 2 Corinthians 4: 7-18, that even though we may think we are at the end of our rope, we are never without hope. Paul faced all kinds of troubles, hardships, and adversity for the sake of the Lord Jesus and His Kingdom’s ministries.
Regardless of risks, humiliations, and trials we can see these as opportunities for Jesus to demonstrate His greater power, purpose, and plan in and through us for His greater glory.
Too many people, however, fall in to the trap of feeling as if they are victims of their circumstances. John Leo, "Expert victimologists estimate that 91.2% of people in North America and Europe now qualify as victims, at least in their own minds. This is because hurt feelings keep spreading, and 'society' keeps grinding us down. We are instructed how not to be troubled on every side without giving in to distress through the empowering of the Holy Spirit. It is written, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in the time of trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea. Though the waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. There is a river, the streams thereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High." (Psalm 46:1-4)
Let us Praise God and draw completely from the river of Living Water found in the love of God the Father, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ the Son, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
It is written, "For we which live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake that the life of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh." (2 Corinthians 4:11)
We need to release all our rights to comfort, pleasures, and prideful self-justice. Even though Paul knew that, humanly speaking, he did not deserve to be troubled for doing good, he followed the example of Jesus who, though He was rich became poor that we through His poverty might be rich. Paul wrote, "All who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer tribulation." Be willing to give up personal desires, realizing that trouble, persecution, and tribulation are a part of growing in Christ.
The Holy Spirit gives us an amazing ability to readjust to all kinds of troubling situations. It is written, "We are pressed but not crushed, perplexed by not in despair, persecuted but not abandoned, put down but not put out... that the life of Jesus might be made manifest in our body."
It is said that Helen of Troy, when captured, became distressed and dressed and acted like a mere servant girl. However, when she was reminded that she was a Queen it changed everything. She simply had to reconsider her identity and it affected her attitude, actions, and outlook. Too often we forget who we are in Christ and consequently live in defeat rather than in victory.
Paul wrote, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God that passes all comprehension will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, excellent admirable, and praise-worthy, let your minds dwell on these things. (Philippians 4:6-8) Ask the Lord to deliver you from all your troubles. David wrote, "I sought the Lord and He heard me and delivered me from all of my fears." (Psalm 34:1-4)
In His Victory,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYa7cXyKuFY
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Brown's Daily Word 8-18-10
Praise the Lord for this day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. It is beautiful and gorgeous here today. We will gather at 6 PM for our mid-week study and fellowship. Praise the Lord for the way He surrounds us with beauty and splendor. Our daughter Sunita, who travels to Africa often, has devolped a great love for the people of Africa. She talks about them with much love and affection. She talks about the Church in Africa that is vibrant .
April 6, 1994 marked the beginning of dark and infamous days for Rwanda, a small country in central Africa. For the next hundred days, up to 800,000 Tutsis were killed by Hutu militia — mostly using clubs and machetes. It was a genocide of monumental proportions, as the rest of the world looked on in silence. A young Christian named Benyoni lived in this world of hate. His name meant “Little Bird” and Benyoni was very musical. He had graduated with honors and become a school principal, but educated people were suspect and routinely executed in Rwanda. Sometimes just wearing a tie could get you killed. Benyoni was at school with eleven of his friends who were teachers when, one day, soldiers came and took Benyoni and the teachers out of the school. As they stood together Benyoni asked the soldiers if he could pray for them. He prayed for his friends and for their families, but he spent the most time praying for the soldiers who had come to kill them. Benyoni’s friends were encouraged and were expecting a miracle as a result of his prayer. The soldiers considered freeing them, but they had their orders and knew they would pay with their lives for failing in their mission. They continued their march outside the town, and when they stopped, Benyoni asked the soldiers if he could sing for them. He began to sing a hymn that I heard for the first time in 1775, while visting the family the Christian singer Cynthia Clawson.
Out of my bondage, sorrow and night,
Jesus, I come; Jesus I come.
Into Thy freedom, gladness and light,
Jesus, I come to Thee.
All the young men began to sing with him. You may remember the last verse of that great hymn:
Out of the fear and dread of the tomb,
Jesus, I come; Jesus, I come.
Into the joy and light of Thy home,
Jesus, I come to Thee.
Out of the depths of ruin untold,
Into the peace of Thy sheltering fold,
Ever Thy glorious face to behold,
Jesus, I come to Thee.
When the last note had been sung, the soldiers raised their rifles and shot all of them to death.
You may be wondering how the story got out since all of them were killed. Those soldiers went out to get as drunk as they could get that night — all except one. He sought out an old Quaker missionary he had met. He asked her, “What kind of God do you serve who could give his followers such courage and joy in the face of death?” She led him to Christ, and soon he was telling anyone who would listen about Jesus and starting Bible studies. It was not long until he was shot as well.
I have been reading from Hebrews 11, the account of the Hall of Fame of the faithful. The Bible speaks of those, “who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength... Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated — the world was not worthy of them” (Hebrews 11:33-34, 36-38).
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_4g8_e16dc
Saturday Evening Worship Services.
Every Saturday at 6:30 PM
Beginning Saturday, September 18, 2010
Location: First United Methodist Church,
53 McKinley Avenue
Endicott, New York.
Sponsored by the Union Center United Methodist Church.
Pastor: Rev. Brown Naik
The first of our Saturday evening worship services will be held on Saturday September 18, 2010 at 6:30 PM, with Rev. Earle Cowden will preaching. The Worship and Praise Band from Davis College will be leading in worship. Ministry for the youth and the children will be provided. The public is invited to join us. For information call: 607-748-6329. 607-427-9098
April 6, 1994 marked the beginning of dark and infamous days for Rwanda, a small country in central Africa. For the next hundred days, up to 800,000 Tutsis were killed by Hutu militia — mostly using clubs and machetes. It was a genocide of monumental proportions, as the rest of the world looked on in silence. A young Christian named Benyoni lived in this world of hate. His name meant “Little Bird” and Benyoni was very musical. He had graduated with honors and become a school principal, but educated people were suspect and routinely executed in Rwanda. Sometimes just wearing a tie could get you killed. Benyoni was at school with eleven of his friends who were teachers when, one day, soldiers came and took Benyoni and the teachers out of the school. As they stood together Benyoni asked the soldiers if he could pray for them. He prayed for his friends and for their families, but he spent the most time praying for the soldiers who had come to kill them. Benyoni’s friends were encouraged and were expecting a miracle as a result of his prayer. The soldiers considered freeing them, but they had their orders and knew they would pay with their lives for failing in their mission. They continued their march outside the town, and when they stopped, Benyoni asked the soldiers if he could sing for them. He began to sing a hymn that I heard for the first time in 1775, while visting the family the Christian singer Cynthia Clawson.
Out of my bondage, sorrow and night,
Jesus, I come; Jesus I come.
Into Thy freedom, gladness and light,
Jesus, I come to Thee.
All the young men began to sing with him. You may remember the last verse of that great hymn:
Out of the fear and dread of the tomb,
Jesus, I come; Jesus, I come.
Into the joy and light of Thy home,
Jesus, I come to Thee.
Out of the depths of ruin untold,
Into the peace of Thy sheltering fold,
Ever Thy glorious face to behold,
Jesus, I come to Thee.
When the last note had been sung, the soldiers raised their rifles and shot all of them to death.
You may be wondering how the story got out since all of them were killed. Those soldiers went out to get as drunk as they could get that night — all except one. He sought out an old Quaker missionary he had met. He asked her, “What kind of God do you serve who could give his followers such courage and joy in the face of death?” She led him to Christ, and soon he was telling anyone who would listen about Jesus and starting Bible studies. It was not long until he was shot as well.
I have been reading from Hebrews 11, the account of the Hall of Fame of the faithful. The Bible speaks of those, “who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength... Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated — the world was not worthy of them” (Hebrews 11:33-34, 36-38).
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_4g8_e16dc
Saturday Evening Worship Services.
Every Saturday at 6:30 PM
Beginning Saturday, September 18, 2010
Location: First United Methodist Church,
53 McKinley Avenue
Endicott, New York.
Sponsored by the Union Center United Methodist Church.
Pastor: Rev. Brown Naik
The first of our Saturday evening worship services will be held on Saturday September 18, 2010 at 6:30 PM, with Rev. Earle Cowden will preaching. The Worship and Praise Band from Davis College will be leading in worship. Ministry for the youth and the children will be provided. The public is invited to join us. For information call: 607-748-6329. 607-427-9098
Monday, August 16, 2010
Brown's Daily Word 8-16-10
Praise the Lord for this new day. The Lord blessed us with a bountiful and beautiful weekend. It was great to be in the house of the Lord yesterday. Jack Black gave his testimony, sharing about his walk with Jesus. He told us that through it all he has learned to trust Him. Praise the Lord for his faithfulness. He is in upon the throne.
The children shared the songs that they had learned during the VBS week. It was a treat and a a thrill. I shared briefly from the life of Moses The book of Deuteronomy ends with Moses' unparalleled epitaph (Deut. 34:10-12), “But since then there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the signs and wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, before Pharaoh, before all his servants, and in all his land, and by all that mighty power and all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.” To Israel Moses was the greatest prophet. He was the great lawgiver. He was Israel’s greatest historian (authoring everything from Genesis to Deuteronomy). He was considered Israel’s greatest saint, being revealed by God’s word as the humblest of the entire human race (Numbers 12:3). He was also Israel’s greatest deliverer, delivering Israel from 400 years of slavery in Egypt. Because Moses ranks so highly among the Old Testament figures, to show that he lived by faith and not adherence to the Law was a powerful argument to convince the Jews that God’s way had always been the way of faith.
Hebrews ( 11: 23-24): ”By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s command.” The faith of Moses began with the faith of his parents. That the parents of Moses saw that he was a “beautiful child” - implies not merely a handsome or beautiful child - literally they saw that he was no ordinary child. All normal parents feel that their child is beautiful, even when the truth may be that it is really “a face that only a mother could love"! He was not only handsome but was gifted and unusually promising. John Calvin remarked, “…but there was some sort of mark of excellence to come, engraved on the boy which gave promise of something out of the ordinary for him.”
To stem the population explosion among the Hebrew slaves in Egypt the Pharaoh had given an edict that all male babies were to be drowned in the Nile. To protect their newborn child, Amram and Jochebed (Ex 6:20) first hid him for three months, and then put him in a water-proofed basket and placed him in the reeds along the Nile near the place where the Pharaoh’s daughter bathed. The great risk that Amram and Jochebed took in secretly keeping their son in spite of the command of Pharaoh was evidence of their faith. The parents of Moses were willing to risk their lives to follow God’s will. Their decision was clear: save the child, whatever the consequences. It was no light thing to defy the royal decree, but faith drove out fear. From a human perspective, his parents had no way of knowing even that his life would be spared, nor that he would be given back to them for awhile. Yet they willingly let him go, entrusting him to God.
Jochebed put the baby Moses in a woven basket and placed the basket in a certain place among the reeds...a place where she knew the princess came to bathe. Then she sent Moses’s pre-teen sister, Miriam, to watch. Perhaps they may have rehearsed the whole carefully thought out plan over and over again, watching every day and timing the princess’ arrival, helping Miriam memorize her lines so she sounded convincing. The plan went flawlessly, and the daughter of the Pharaoh "found" the baby Moses, adopted him as her own son, and (without realizing it) even hired his own mother, Jochebed, to nurse and raise him. Scripture infers that she and Amram took care of him well past the age of weaning. They probably had him into the mid-childhood years -- certainly long enough to firmly establish his Hebrew roots and teach him of the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. This is evident in that, when Moses became old enough -- when he reached the age of accountability -- he decided to follow his parent’s example and place his faith in the one true God.
I read some time ago that over six million Americans will take a life-changing step this year.... they will have children. HOW they raise these youngsters will have a greater impact on our society than anything else they do in life. In the next 12 months, six million new Americans will become a part of our culture and, depending on how they are raised, will either become a part of the solution or a part of the problem.
The words of Proverbs 22:6 offer hope, "Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it."
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UBS1AEs_dg
The children shared the songs that they had learned during the VBS week. It was a treat and a a thrill. I shared briefly from the life of Moses The book of Deuteronomy ends with Moses' unparalleled epitaph (Deut. 34:10-12), “But since then there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the signs and wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, before Pharaoh, before all his servants, and in all his land, and by all that mighty power and all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.” To Israel Moses was the greatest prophet. He was the great lawgiver. He was Israel’s greatest historian (authoring everything from Genesis to Deuteronomy). He was considered Israel’s greatest saint, being revealed by God’s word as the humblest of the entire human race (Numbers 12:3). He was also Israel’s greatest deliverer, delivering Israel from 400 years of slavery in Egypt. Because Moses ranks so highly among the Old Testament figures, to show that he lived by faith and not adherence to the Law was a powerful argument to convince the Jews that God’s way had always been the way of faith.
Hebrews ( 11: 23-24): ”By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s command.” The faith of Moses began with the faith of his parents. That the parents of Moses saw that he was a “beautiful child” - implies not merely a handsome or beautiful child - literally they saw that he was no ordinary child. All normal parents feel that their child is beautiful, even when the truth may be that it is really “a face that only a mother could love"! He was not only handsome but was gifted and unusually promising. John Calvin remarked, “…but there was some sort of mark of excellence to come, engraved on the boy which gave promise of something out of the ordinary for him.”
To stem the population explosion among the Hebrew slaves in Egypt the Pharaoh had given an edict that all male babies were to be drowned in the Nile. To protect their newborn child, Amram and Jochebed (Ex 6:20) first hid him for three months, and then put him in a water-proofed basket and placed him in the reeds along the Nile near the place where the Pharaoh’s daughter bathed. The great risk that Amram and Jochebed took in secretly keeping their son in spite of the command of Pharaoh was evidence of their faith. The parents of Moses were willing to risk their lives to follow God’s will. Their decision was clear: save the child, whatever the consequences. It was no light thing to defy the royal decree, but faith drove out fear. From a human perspective, his parents had no way of knowing even that his life would be spared, nor that he would be given back to them for awhile. Yet they willingly let him go, entrusting him to God.
Jochebed put the baby Moses in a woven basket and placed the basket in a certain place among the reeds...a place where she knew the princess came to bathe. Then she sent Moses’s pre-teen sister, Miriam, to watch. Perhaps they may have rehearsed the whole carefully thought out plan over and over again, watching every day and timing the princess’ arrival, helping Miriam memorize her lines so she sounded convincing. The plan went flawlessly, and the daughter of the Pharaoh "found" the baby Moses, adopted him as her own son, and (without realizing it) even hired his own mother, Jochebed, to nurse and raise him. Scripture infers that she and Amram took care of him well past the age of weaning. They probably had him into the mid-childhood years -- certainly long enough to firmly establish his Hebrew roots and teach him of the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. This is evident in that, when Moses became old enough -- when he reached the age of accountability -- he decided to follow his parent’s example and place his faith in the one true God.
I read some time ago that over six million Americans will take a life-changing step this year.... they will have children. HOW they raise these youngsters will have a greater impact on our society than anything else they do in life. In the next 12 months, six million new Americans will become a part of our culture and, depending on how they are raised, will either become a part of the solution or a part of the problem.
The words of Proverbs 22:6 offer hope, "Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it."
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UBS1AEs_dg
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