Good morning,
Praise the Lord for the gift this new day in His Kingdom. I trust that you had a very blessed week and that you are getting geared up for this weekend of rest, refreshment in the Lord, and a great time or renewal. It is a great blessing to get reconnected with the Lord of Life who infuses us with His authentic life and power. He is IMMORTAL, He is INVISBLE, and He is WISE. Let His GRACE come upon us. Those who live in the area join us for our FRIDAY evening TV OUT RACH at 7 PM on Time Warner Cable channel 4. We will gather for our weekly SATURDAY EVENING WORSHIP at the historic First United Methodist Church, Endicott at 6 PM for Coffee Fellowship and at 6:30 PM for worship. Join us in praying that the Lord would pour out His anointing upon all of us. We are claiming blessings of miracles and healings. Rev. William Puckey will be preaching. Those who are able please join us an evening filled with the Fresh Fire and Fresh Wind of the Holy Spirit. Plan to prayerfully invite someone to join you for worship on Sunday, the Lord's Day, as we worship the Living Lord. Remember that we serve under a captain who has never lost a battle.
We are getting excited about a entering the season of Thanksgiving. Looking at the Book of Philippians we find joy in the midst of personal pain. This is truly a mystery, both personal and theological. Unfortunately, we live in a world where tragedies like this have become commonplace. I do not think that Philippians offers us a final answer to the mystery of suffering, but it does point the way to a genuinely Christian response. As we read these four chapters, Paul tells us in many different ways that, while we cannot control what happens to us, we do have total control and responsibility regarding our response. Tragedy strikes, children die, planes crash, good men go to jail, people gossip, marriages break up, and people lie about their behavior. This is an ongoing consequence of living in a fallen world.
The heart of the letter begins in Philippians 3:1 with Paul’s thanksgiving for the Philippians. This paragraph (which runs through verse 8) gives us a glimpse into Paul’s heart and shows why Paul loved this church so much. “I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.”
Paul begins by expressing his gratitude for all that the Philippian believers meant to him. He remembered his friends—and that memory led him to give thanks to God. His thanksgiving led naturally to joyful prayer on their behalf. Paul chose to focus on the positive. I wonder how many of us could say the same thing about our own prayers. Often we focus only on the negatives. We pray to “correct” something in other people or to ask God to change them more to our liking.
George Buttrick once advised praying for your enemies this way, “Lord, bless this person whom I foolishly regard as an enemy. Keep him in thy favor. Banish my resentment.”
Paul’s thanksgiving for the Philippians was centered in the gospel. In verse 5 he mentioned their “partnership in the gospel.” The Greek word for “partnership” is koinonia—sometimes translated “fellowship.” In our day “fellowship” means something like a social gathering where we drink tea and eat crumpets and share casual gossip. To most of us “fellowship” means warm friendship with other believers. While it is true that drinking tea and eating crumpets has its place, this does not begin to attain to the New Testament meaning of “fellowship.” The word originally had commercial overtones. If two men bought a boat and started a fishing business, they were said to be in koinonia — a formal business partnership. They shared a common vision and invested together to see the vision become a reality. True Christian fellowship means sharing the same vision of getting the gospel to the world and then investing personally to make it happen.
There are financial overtones in the word koinonia as well as a call to personal sacrifice. When Paul thanked God for the “fellowship” of the Philippians, he was thanking God that from the very first day of their conversion, they rolled up their sleeves and got involved in the advance of the gospel. True fellowship means putting the gospel first as the controlling motive of your life and then doing whatever it takes to spread the life-changing message to the ends of the earth.
“Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Many people consider this one of the greatest verses in the entire Bible. Theologians use it to defend the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. Perhaps it is better to say that I believe in the “perseverance of God” and the “preservation of the saints". We will be “reserved” to the end because God will always “persevere.” What our Lord God starts he always finishes.
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pA7ujUJCIdEbrow
Saturday Evening Worship Service
Location: First United Methodist Church
53 McKinley Avenue
Endicott
Sponsored by the Union Center United Methodist Church
128 Maple Drive
Endicott
6 PM: Gather for Coffee and Fellowship
6:30 PM: Worship
Special Music: The Worship Team from Hawleyton United Methodist Church Preacher: The Rev William Puckey
Friday, November 19, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Brown's Daily Word 11-18-10
Good morning,
Praise the Lord that He is our wonderful provider. God always provides for our needs. We tend to get caught up in the material or monetary aspects of God’s provisions. Missionary statesman Hudson Taylor had complete trust in God’s faithfulness. In his journal he wrote, "Our heavenly Father is a very experienced One. He knows very well that His children wake up with a good appetite every morning. . . He sustained 3 million Israelites in the wilderness for 40 years. We do not expect He will send 3 million missionaries to China, but if He did, He would have ample means to sustain them all. . . Depend on it, God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply."
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” I Peter 1:3-9
Blessed be His wonderful Name. May He provoke us to trust Him fully today we might live in utter confidence in His power and in His promise. He is able and He is available.
In Him,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k1WhFtVp0o
Saturday Evening Worship Service
Location: First United Methodist Church
53 McKinley Avenue
Endicott
Sponsored by the Union Center United Methodist Church
128 Maple Drive
Endicott
6 PM: Gather for Coffee and Fellowship
6:30 PM: Worship
Special Music: The Worship Team from Hawleyton United Methodist Church Preacher: The Rev William Puckey
Praise the Lord that He is our wonderful provider. God always provides for our needs. We tend to get caught up in the material or monetary aspects of God’s provisions. Missionary statesman Hudson Taylor had complete trust in God’s faithfulness. In his journal he wrote, "Our heavenly Father is a very experienced One. He knows very well that His children wake up with a good appetite every morning. . . He sustained 3 million Israelites in the wilderness for 40 years. We do not expect He will send 3 million missionaries to China, but if He did, He would have ample means to sustain them all. . . Depend on it, God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply."
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” I Peter 1:3-9
Blessed be His wonderful Name. May He provoke us to trust Him fully today we might live in utter confidence in His power and in His promise. He is able and He is available.
In Him,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k1WhFtVp0o
Saturday Evening Worship Service
Location: First United Methodist Church
53 McKinley Avenue
Endicott
Sponsored by the Union Center United Methodist Church
128 Maple Drive
Endicott
6 PM: Gather for Coffee and Fellowship
6:30 PM: Worship
Special Music: The Worship Team from Hawleyton United Methodist Church Preacher: The Rev William Puckey
Monday, November 15, 2010
Brown's Daily Word 11-15-10
Good morning,
The Lord blessed us with a wonderful weekend with a blessed gathering on Saturday evening at the First United Methodist Church, Endicott. Some of our dear friends from years past attended the worship. A young couple whom I joined in marriage on January 1, 1984 attended the worship with her parents, who live in Ithaca at present. The mother of the bride retired recently from active ordained ministry in the United Methodist Church. The young bride and her husband have relocated to Vestal now. She is a very successful owner of local franchise here in Vestal, an RN by training but a very good business woman by birth. She and her husband have been blessed by three grown children.
It is gratifying in ministry to see young people together living raising families. It is gratifying to see families who are together through thick and thin, knowing that we serve a captain who has never lost a battle. The Race is worth running.
On Saturday one woman gave her testimony how the Lord delivered from drug addiction; now Jesus is her Lord she is having the best of her days, serving Christ and loving the Lord. Our Daughter led the worship with much joy and fervor. I did not get to preach at all but the priesthood all believers was demonstrated during the worship. People gave their testimonies how the Lord has been faithful to them. It is a great wonder to love the Lord and serve Him.Wow!
A Moslem Couple have been coming to the worship. This man is almost very close to the Kingdom. He said he is one of 14 children. One of his sisters is dying with AIDS. He had a daughter, 7 years of age, who died tragically, but he was too much into drugs to know about her death. He composed a amazing piano piece after her death, which he played on the Grand piano of the church. It was moving and powerful. Jesus reigns. He is upon the Throne.
Today we focus on a lesson from Isaiah, Ch 65, ( Part of the reading from Yesterday) who gave us a beautiful vision of the future. It is a message full-to-overflowing with joy, and hope, and peace. Our future, says the prophet is not something to be dreaded or feared; rather, it is something to get excited about. The prophet sees a beautiful future which is not our doing, but God’s doing. God, says the prophet, is going to act in a wonderful and surprising way. God is going to create a new heavens and a new earth and a new Jerusalem. God is going to take great joy in this new creation, and the people too are going to be full of joy and celebrate God’s new creation.
The prophet then describes something of what such a new creation is going to look like: there will be no more weeping and crying, no more tragic deaths of infants, no more premature deaths of adults, people shall enjoy building homes and living in them. There will be no more homeless people. People will eat the fruit from vineyards that they planted, enjoying the work of their hands—no more hungry people. God will bless people of all ages, and prayers shall be answered even before people pray them. This is a picture of a society where perfect equality, freedom, justice and peace prevail. Even the whole created order of nature shall be changed as enemies shall become friends, so that even wolves and lambs, lions and oxen, even serpents shall live in perfect harmony and peace.
Martin Luther, commenting on this passage, said, "Through his Gospel God can make the supreme tyrants of the world subject to a simple man and preacher, even though these tyrants were lions and wolves. God can turn enemies into friends. They shall feed together ... The kingdom of peace follows. They shall not hurt. The sum of everything: There must be a reign of peace among themselves. There will be peace without sword or force or tyranny, because there will be love, they will have the same inheritance, and everything will be the common possession of friends.
Indeed, this is a beautiful vision of a future bursting with perfect peace. This vision of the future is what the New Testament writers describe too, as they point to the saving work of Jesus Christ on the cross and God’s mighty act of raising him from the dead three days later. The resurrection of Christ, which we joyfully celebrate today, is God’s sign to us that such a future of perfect peace is possible. One day, we too shall share in a resurrection like Christ’s and live with him in perfect peace.
Until then, we are blessed with small glimpses of that future whenever Christ’s love and peace shine in us and through us. In Jesus, our Prince of Peace, we look forward to that future time, that day of our resurrection, when all violence, hatred, sin, death, and evil shall end. Then, as the prophet so beautiful describes it: “They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the LORD.” Amen! Hallelujah, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76RrdwElnTU
Saturday Evening Worship Service
Location: First United Methodist Church
53 McKinley Avenue
Endicott
Sponsored by the Union Center United Methodist Church
128 Maple Drive
Endicott
6 PM: Gather for Coffee and Fellowship
6:30 PM: Worship
Special Music: The Worship Team from Hawleyton United Methodist Church Preacher: The Rev William Puckey
The Lord blessed us with a wonderful weekend with a blessed gathering on Saturday evening at the First United Methodist Church, Endicott. Some of our dear friends from years past attended the worship. A young couple whom I joined in marriage on January 1, 1984 attended the worship with her parents, who live in Ithaca at present. The mother of the bride retired recently from active ordained ministry in the United Methodist Church. The young bride and her husband have relocated to Vestal now. She is a very successful owner of local franchise here in Vestal, an RN by training but a very good business woman by birth. She and her husband have been blessed by three grown children.
It is gratifying in ministry to see young people together living raising families. It is gratifying to see families who are together through thick and thin, knowing that we serve a captain who has never lost a battle. The Race is worth running.
On Saturday one woman gave her testimony how the Lord delivered from drug addiction; now Jesus is her Lord she is having the best of her days, serving Christ and loving the Lord. Our Daughter led the worship with much joy and fervor. I did not get to preach at all but the priesthood all believers was demonstrated during the worship. People gave their testimonies how the Lord has been faithful to them. It is a great wonder to love the Lord and serve Him.Wow!
A Moslem Couple have been coming to the worship. This man is almost very close to the Kingdom. He said he is one of 14 children. One of his sisters is dying with AIDS. He had a daughter, 7 years of age, who died tragically, but he was too much into drugs to know about her death. He composed a amazing piano piece after her death, which he played on the Grand piano of the church. It was moving and powerful. Jesus reigns. He is upon the Throne.
Today we focus on a lesson from Isaiah, Ch 65, ( Part of the reading from Yesterday) who gave us a beautiful vision of the future. It is a message full-to-overflowing with joy, and hope, and peace. Our future, says the prophet is not something to be dreaded or feared; rather, it is something to get excited about. The prophet sees a beautiful future which is not our doing, but God’s doing. God, says the prophet, is going to act in a wonderful and surprising way. God is going to create a new heavens and a new earth and a new Jerusalem. God is going to take great joy in this new creation, and the people too are going to be full of joy and celebrate God’s new creation.
The prophet then describes something of what such a new creation is going to look like: there will be no more weeping and crying, no more tragic deaths of infants, no more premature deaths of adults, people shall enjoy building homes and living in them. There will be no more homeless people. People will eat the fruit from vineyards that they planted, enjoying the work of their hands—no more hungry people. God will bless people of all ages, and prayers shall be answered even before people pray them. This is a picture of a society where perfect equality, freedom, justice and peace prevail. Even the whole created order of nature shall be changed as enemies shall become friends, so that even wolves and lambs, lions and oxen, even serpents shall live in perfect harmony and peace.
Martin Luther, commenting on this passage, said, "Through his Gospel God can make the supreme tyrants of the world subject to a simple man and preacher, even though these tyrants were lions and wolves. God can turn enemies into friends. They shall feed together ... The kingdom of peace follows. They shall not hurt. The sum of everything: There must be a reign of peace among themselves. There will be peace without sword or force or tyranny, because there will be love, they will have the same inheritance, and everything will be the common possession of friends.
Indeed, this is a beautiful vision of a future bursting with perfect peace. This vision of the future is what the New Testament writers describe too, as they point to the saving work of Jesus Christ on the cross and God’s mighty act of raising him from the dead three days later. The resurrection of Christ, which we joyfully celebrate today, is God’s sign to us that such a future of perfect peace is possible. One day, we too shall share in a resurrection like Christ’s and live with him in perfect peace.
Until then, we are blessed with small glimpses of that future whenever Christ’s love and peace shine in us and through us. In Jesus, our Prince of Peace, we look forward to that future time, that day of our resurrection, when all violence, hatred, sin, death, and evil shall end. Then, as the prophet so beautiful describes it: “They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the LORD.” Amen! Hallelujah, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76RrdwElnTU
Saturday Evening Worship Service
Location: First United Methodist Church
53 McKinley Avenue
Endicott
Sponsored by the Union Center United Methodist Church
128 Maple Drive
Endicott
6 PM: Gather for Coffee and Fellowship
6:30 PM: Worship
Special Music: The Worship Team from Hawleyton United Methodist Church Preacher: The Rev William Puckey
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