Brown's Daily Word 3/15/11

Good morning,
Praise the Lord for this new day. It is going to bright and mild. I can see many spring flowers are about to bloom by the parsonage. I am planning to take a walk for 4 miles. Praise the Lord for all of the great men and women of the faith who have loved the Lord with great devotion and served Him with great joy. Praise the Lord for those who have gone before us that followed Christ in the way of the cross. One of the men whom the Lord used to bring about a great change and revival in the life of the church was Martin Luther.
Many years ago the monks in the monastery where Martin Luther lived would go to the confessional day-after-day to confess their sins to the Father confessor. While the other monks would confess their sins by rote, Martin Luther was plagued with his own sin. When Luther's turn would come around he would go into the confessional, not for a half an hour or for an hour, but for two, three, or even four hours at a time. He would sit and confess every sin he had entertained during the last twenty-four hours. Finally, one of the Father confessors said, "Brother Martin, stop this preoccupation with peccadilloes. If you are going to confess something make it a real sin." He went on, "What is this, do you not like your work in the monastery?" Finally, the Father confessor got the impression that whatever Martin Luther was, he was sincere. Martin would tell that he would leave the confessional at the end of his confession and feel clean before God because of his confession. That would last until he had taken a few steps toward his daily activities and remember some sin he had left unconfessed, once again he would feel filthy before a holy and righteous God.
We may think that Martin Luther was obsessing, but what you need to know is that before Martin ever began studying theology, he was a student of Law. He took his sharp mind that was well read in human law and he applied it to the Law of God. Martin would study the Law of God, the demands of perfection, and examine himself in light of the character of God, the holiness of God, and God's righteousness. With all of that in clear view, Martin hated what he saw in himself. He began to even hate the righteousness of God because his guilt was made manifest before his eyes in all its ugliness.
One night he was preparing for a lecture, reading the book of Romans and he read, "For the righteousness of God is revealed by faith, and the just will live by faith." Suddenly, his eyes were opened. God revealed to him that He alone provides righteousness graciously and freely all who will put their trust in Jesus. Martin said he finally discovered,
"Anyone who puts their trust in Christ receives the covering and the cloak of the righteousness of Christ. It broke into my mind, and I realized for the first time that my justification, my station before God is established not on the basis of my own naked righteousness which will always fall short of the demand of God, but it rests solely and completely on the righteousness of Jesus Christ which I must hold onto by trusting faith. When I understood that for the first time in my life I understood the Gospel. I looked and beheld the doors of Paradise swung open and I walked through. "
Martin Luther had been introduced to the magnificent grace of God that accomplished for him what he could never accomplish for himself. Isn't God's grace amazing?
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7QuZ4wo1X4

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

Saturday, March 19, 2011
6 PM Coffee Fellowship

6:30 PM Worship Service
Worship Music: Laureen Naik
Speaker: Rev. Brown Naik