Brown's Daily Word 10-19-11

Praise the Lord for this new day. It was a great treat to have Sunita and Andy along with their dear friends Rob, Jenn, and Meredith from Washington, and Melanie from Baltimore, joining us for the prayer conference. We had a house full and soul full experience. Sunita is flying to Israel this evening for a conference. Many of her colleagues from all over the world will be coming to Bethlehem for a week of retreat and conference. Our friend Jerry has gone to Haiti on a mission trip. We praise the Lord that the world is our parish.
We will gather for mid-week fellowship and study this evening at 6 PM. Praise the Lord for the way He is our winsome Shepherd who feeds us, guides us, leads and restores us. We are involved in the feeding ministry, which has been a blessing. The ministry teams that are involved in this ministry are excited about serving. They share the stories of abundance and grace. They tell the stories of small miracles that our Lord performs every time they meet with the people.
The miraculous story of feeding the Five Thousand men alone is recorded in all four Gospels. We remember the story of Moses feeding the people in the wilderness, and we understand that Jesus is identifying himself with the lawgiver Moses. We also remember the story of the prophet Elisha feeding a hundred men with only twenty loaves of barley bread. The Bible says that Elisha’s servant did not believe it was possible, but Elisha said, “Give it to the people to eat. For this is what the Lord says: ‘They will eat and have some left over.’ Then he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord” (2 Kings 4:43-44). So it was that Jesus was also identifying with the law and the prophets of the Old Testament, but he far surpasses them. Recall that the manna that Moses fed the people in the wilderness with was not to be stored or saved. If they attempted to keep it, it would rot. But Jesus told them to save the leftovers. He provided an abundance, giving not merely as much as they could eat, but far more. Jesus was telling us that the God we serve is a God of abundance.
During our prayer conference weekend we experienced the super abundance of our Lord afresh and anew. There is not just enough to meet our needs, there is more than enough. While we worry about how enormous our need is, God is telling us to sit and wait on his abundance. As the Psalmist said, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Psalm 23:5-6). Now that’s abundance.
During our time with our friend Kelly Johnson from Memphis, Tennessee I was reminded vividly that without Jesus we have nothing to give people. We have nothing to say, nothing to give, nothing to offer. What we do have is something to offer to Jesus. We take the little bit that we have, that we had been saving for ourselves, and give it to him — all of it. He takes our pitiful little offering and turns it into something that can not only satisfy the needs of other people, but an abundance beyond that. A little in my hands becomes a lot in Jesus’ hands.
Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35). Jesus can make bread because he is the Bread of Life. At the last supper, the Bible says, “While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, ‘Take it; this is my body.’” (Mark 14:22). It is in this setting that Jesus not only broke the bread, but transformed it. The real miracle is that Jesus not only meets our felt needs, the needs of the body, but he meets our real needs, the need of our soul. He gives us living bread. He gives himself. It's too bad that we are hungry for so much other than God.
Recently Texas governor Rick Perry asked people to pray for rain. He said, “I urge Texans of all faiths and traditions to offer prayers on that day for the healing of our land, the rebuilding of our communities and the restoration of our normal way of life.” But there has been an outcry against any call to prayer. Arizona Governor Jan Brewer is also being targeted for her Day of Prayer proclamations. A news agency reports, “The Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, which has made elimination of the Day of Prayer a central cause of its existence, filed a lawsuit last month to prevent Brewer from declaring May 5 this year’s ‘Day of Prayer’ in Arizona.”
How little we understand our real needs. How little we want to understand our total dependence on God. He is our Creator. He is the source of all things. He is the One on whom we are dependent for all things in this life. We cannot find life anywhere else. However, this is the very thing that people today do not want to acknowledge. In our nation many do not even want to acknowledge that we are dependent on him for rain or food. (We can do all this ourselves — thank you very much.) We do not even want to acknowledge that he exists,making it illegal to pray.
This all leaves us with a need to acknowledge our dependence on God. It leaves us with a need to realize what our real need is: to know God and accept his gift of the Bread of Life. It means that we must stop looking in all the wrong places for the things that (we think) we need. We are to stop looking in all the wrong places for what we think will ultimately fulfill us. It means that we find rest, true rest, in the God who can meet all of our true needs. We turn from fear and turn to faith. Jesus said, “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:25-34).
In Christ,
Brown

http://youtu.be/6RGcb7alSk0
Saturday , October 22.2011
Praise and worship service:
First United Methodist Church , Endicott
Sponsored by Union Center UMC
6PM Gathering- Coffeee- Fellowship
6.30PM Worship
Music: Jane Hettinger
Speaker: Dave Hettinger
UPCOMING EVENTS:

OCT. 22 Serving at 12.noon. A Fish Dinner with home made pies at Wesley United Methodist Church, 1000 Day Hollow Road. Endicott.

Chef: Lawrence McMillan . Donation: $7.00 All the proceeds will be used for the feeding ministry in Endicott.

All are invited. Come, Share and REJOICEFor info: call 607-748-1358, 607-748-6329



OCT. 29, 6:30 PM at First United Methodist Church, Endicott, Special evening of musical praise and worship. Various Christian musicians will be participating in this special evening as they offer their gifts and talents to the Lord. A love offering will be received that will benefit needy families in
the community. Some of the musicians are Aric Phinney, Grant DeGaramo, Vin Rosenbarker, Dianne Glann, Laureen Naik, Yancey Moore, Praise Band from Hawleyton UMC and others.