Brown's Daily Word 4-1-11

Good morning, Praise the Lord for this first day April. It is going to be a beautiful and blessed weekend. Those of you who live in the area please join us this evening at 7 PM for our weekly TV outreach on Time Warner Cable channel 4. We will gather for our Saturday Evening Fellowship and worship tomorrow at 6 PM at the First United Methodist Church, Endicott. We will meet for worship at 8:30 and 11:00 AM, and at 9:50 for Sunday School at the Union Center UMC. We also meet for worship at 9:30 AM at the Wesley UMC. As we read and reflect on Isaiah 53, we determine that it must be an eye witness report of the Crucifixion of our Lord, though the prophecy was given by the Lord to Isaiah 700 years before the birth of Christ. In these verses, we visualize the rejection of the suffering servant. He was rejected, the Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. One of the most powerful prayers in the midst of suffering was uncovered from the horrors of Ravensbruck concentration camp. Ravensbruck was a concentration camp for women built in 1939, where over 90,000 women and children perished, murdered by the Nazis. Corrie Ten Boom, who wrote "The Hiding Place", was among those imprisoned there. The prayer, found in the clothing of a dead child, says: "O Lord, remember not only the men and women of good will, but also those of ill will. But do not remember all of the suffering they have inflicted upon us: Instead remember the fruits we have borne because of this suffering, our fellowship, our loyalty to one another, our humility, our courage, our generosity, the greatness of heart that has grown from this trouble. When our persecutors come to be judged by you, let all of these fruits that we have borne be their forgiveness. " Jesus suffered for us that we might not suffer the anguish of eternal damnation. He willingly suffered and died on a brutal cross for my sin that I might not have to experience hell. Glory, what a Savior! He has carried our grief. He accepted our pain and heartaches. He was SILENT before his accusers. As He was accused, ridiculed, and mocked, He was silent before His enemies. Nothing would change their minds. He was THE Lamb of God who came to take away our sin." By His stripes we are healed." Can sickness, even sickness unto death, be such a blessing for a Christian? On the surface it would seem not. How can a Christian do God’s will if he is lying in bed, flat on his back? How can pain, discomfort, medical treatment and surgery as well as the compounding effects of medication be in any way a blessed state? Tony Campolo tells a story about being in a church in Oregon where he was asked to pray for a man who had cancer. Campolo prayed boldly for the man’s healing. That next week he got a telephone call from the man’s wife. She said, “You prayed for my husband. He had cancer.” Campolo thought when he heard her use the past tense verb that his cancer had been eradicated! But before he could think much about it she said, “He died.” Campolo felt terrible. But she continued, “Don't feel bad. When he came into that church that Sunday he was filled with anger. He knew he was going to be dead in a short period of time, and he hated God. He was 58 years old, and he wanted to see his children and grandchildren grow up. He was angry that this all-powerful God didn't take away his sickness and heal him. He would lie in bed and curse God. The more his anger grew towards God, the more miserable he was to everybody around him. It was an awful thing to be in his presence. But the lady told Campolo, “After you prayed for him, a peace had come over him and a joy had come into him. Tony, the last three days have been the best days of our lives. We've sung. We've laughed. We've read Scripture. We prayed. Oh, they've been wonderful days. And I called to thank you for laying your hands on him and praying for healing.” And then she said something incredibly profound. She said, “He wasn't cured, but he was healed.” (Tony Campolo, “Year of Jubilee”, Preaching Today) Jesus died so we might be healed of our sins. We may not be cured, for we still sin, but we are now healed from the presence, power, and eventually, the punishment of sin. God does all things well. You have probably never heard of the island of Molokai. Well, it’s located in the state of Hawaii. And it has quite a history. You have to go way back to the late 1800’s to understand its significance. You see, back then, there was no cure for the highly contagious and deadly disease called leprosy. A disease that would attack the extremities of the body, the ears, the toes, the nose, the fingers. A horrible dreadful disease which today is curable, But it wasn't back then. - So, in order to keep the disease at bay. In order to keep it from spreading and creating an epidemic, the government would send lepers to a colony on the island of Molokai where they would be secluded and isolated from those who were not infected with the disease. - Well, in 1873, there was a young, brave Catholic priest named Father Damien who volunteered to spend his life serving the people secluded on the island of Molokai. When he arrived, he was startled to see people who were not only suffering physically, but socially, and emotionally, and spiritually. In the leper colony he saw extreme drunkenness, immorality, abuse, and an overall sense of hopelessness. What he saw were people who desperately needed to know the answer to a question we all ask... where is God? They needed God’s presence in their life. - And so, in 1873, Father Damien lived among the 700 lepers. Knowing the dangers, realizing the inevitable results of so much personal contact with a highly contagious disease. He built hospitals, clinics, and churches and built some 600 coffins. And the whole while he was giving them the answer to that question... where is God? - And whenever a church service was held. He would stand up in front of the lepers, and he would warmly and lovingly address them as "my dear brethren." But then one morning in 1885, at the age of 45, in a calm clear voice, instead of "my dear brethren," he began with, "My fellow lepers, I am one of you now." - You see it was out of love that a humble priest became one of the them. Out of love he gave those lepers a gift that would change their life for all of eternity. He shared with them the answer to the ever-present question... "Where is God?" And the only way he could give them the answer is by becoming one of them. http://visitmolokai.com/kala.html Jesus came to die for sinners like you and me. He became sin for us that we might have the opportunity to live in Him. He took our place that we might have a place with Him. In Christ, Brown http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNxo3ILkCn8 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 2, 2011 6 PM Coffee Fellowship 6:30 PM Worship Service Worship Music: Aric Phinney and the worship team Speaker: David Hettinger