Brown's Daily Word 4-11-11

Good morning, Thank Jesus for it is Monday. I trust that you had a blessed and a very beautiful weekend. We drove to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, to the wedding of our niece Jovita. Jovita and her Grove City college friend Torr got married on the Cape, in a marriage ceremony held at Brewster Alliance Bible Church. Jessica was the matron of honor. Laureen, the bridesmaid, brought the music for the wedding. The reception was held in one of the Yacht clubs. The Lord blessed the wedding ceremony and the reception. Torr and Jovita after their honeymoon in Virgin Islands will be living in Cape Cod. Janice and Jeremy were the official photographers for the wedding. We rented a house in Cape Cod for the weekend, so that all of our family were together except Micah and Simeon. Jeremy, Janice, Ada, Laureen, Andrew, Sunita, Tom, Jessica, Alice and I were able to share the weekend together. Little Ada is a huge blessing and she is a charm. Micah and Simeon were cared for by their other Grandma for the weekend. We all traveled back to our respective homes safely yesterday. The Gospel Reading for yesterday was taken from John 11. This is the seventh and the last miracle by our Lord Jesus that is recorded in the Gospel according to John. Lazarus, whom Jesus loved, became sick and died. Jesus, though informed about Lazarus' sickness, delayed in coming to visit him. By the time Jesus our Lord came to Bethany, Lazarus was dead and buried. He had been in the tomb for 4 days. Ecclesiastes 3:2 reminds us that there is a Time to be born and a Time to die. As we continue with the story, we find the shortest verse in the entire Bible. Surrounded by family and friends, Jesus was deeply moved and asked where the body of Lazarus was. When he viewed Lazarus, he could have said something extremely profound. Instead, John 11:35 tells us what Jesus did -- “he wept.” Jesus of Nazareth, the world’s most complete, most perfect man, was attending the funeral of a friend and openly weeping, without embarrassment, without apology. In fact, those watching him said, “See how much he loved him!” Jesus said to Mary and Martha in verses 25-26: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies. Do you believe this?” Jesus didn’t merely say that there is a resurrection. He claimed to be the resurrection. The fact that He would rise from the dead was the guarantee that others would too. We often think that we are in the land of the living, and that when we die we go the land of the dead. The opposite is really true – this is the land of the dying, when our life here is over, we are transferred into the land of the living – either to a place of eternal joy or to a place of eternal torment. There are really only two possible destinations. There is only one requirement for entrance into resurrection life. It is not a matter of trying to be good, the only requirement is that we personally believe that Jesus exchanged his life for ours by absorbing our sins on a cross and that He rose again so that those who put their trust Christ shall also be raised up. James 4:14 says, “What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” Life is unpredictable. We don’t even know what will happen tonight, much less next week or next year. The truth is that no one can predict the future. Life is brief. Our lives are like a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. The Greek word here is the word atmos, from which we get the word “atmosphere,” which is that invisible layer of water vapor that encircles our planet. Our lives are like a mist in the grand scheme of things. Life is too unpredictable and too brief to live it without God at the center. We count our lives in years but God tells us in Psalm 90:12 to number our days. In a sense, this instructs us to make each and every day count. The truth of the matter is that all of us are just one heartbeat away from eternity. In 1 Samuel 20:3, David said, “Yet as surely as the Lord lives and as you live, there is only a step between me and death.” Praise the Lord, for He is the Resurrection and Life. In Christ, Brown http://youtu.be/CYTQ6gpcuYA 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, April 16, 2011 6 PM Coffee Fellowship 6:30 PM Worship Service Worship Music:Laureen Naik Speaker: Rev Earle Cowden