Good morning,
Praise the Lord for this first day of July. It is going to be brilliant and beautiful. Our youngest daughter Jessica was born on this day in 1984. We praise the Lord for Jessica, who loves the Lord and loves life. Tom and Jessica will be coming home this weekend. Janice and her family will be coming home this weekend along with Meredith our fifth daughter from Washington, DC. I am planning for a mega chicken barbecue.
We will meet for worship Sunday at 9 AM at Wesley UMC and at 10:15 AM at Union Center UMC. I will be speaking on "Independence, Dependence, and Interdependence" for our weekly Tel vision out reach this evening at 7 PM on Time Warner channel 4.
As we prepare to celebrate the July 4 - Independence Day, let praise the Lord for America the beautiful and great. Somebody once wisely said that a great nation Is a grateful nation (Deuteronomy 6:12)
So many amazing stories have come out of the world war II. It is gratitude that prompted an old man to visit an old broken pier on the eastern seacoast of Florida. Every Friday night, until his death in 1973, he would return, walking slowly and slightly stooped with a large bucket of shrimp. The sea gulls would flock to this old man, and he would feed them from his bucket. Many years before, in October, 1942, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker was on a mission in a B-17 to deliver an important message to General Douglas MacArthur in New Guinea, but there was an unexpected detour which would hurl Captain Rickenbacker into the most harrowing adventure of his life. Somewhere over the South Pacific his airplane, the Flying Fortress became lost beyond the reach of radio. Fuel ran dangerously low, so the men ditched their plane in the ocean. For nearly a month Captain Eddie and his companions would fight the water, and the weather, and the scorching sun. They spent many sleepless nights recoiling as giant harks rammed their rafts. The largest raft was nine by five. The biggest shark they saw was ten feet long. Of all their enemies at sea, one proved most formidable, starvation. Eight days out, their rations were long gone or destroyed by the salt water. It would take a miracle to sustain them. And a miracle occurred.
In Captain Eddie’s own words, "Cherry," that was the B-17 pilot, Captain William Cherry, "read the service that afternoon, and we finished with a prayer for deliverance and a hymn of praise. There was some talk, but it tapered off in the oppressive heat. With my hat pulled down over my eyes to keep out some of the glare, I dozed off. . . Something landed on my head. I knew that it was a sea gull. I don’t know how I knew, I just knew. Everyone else knew too. No one said a word, but peering out from under my hat brim without moving my head, I could see the expression on their faces. They were staring at that gull. The gull meant food - if I could catch it."
The rest of the story is history. Captain Eddie caught the gull. Its flesh was eaten. Its intestines were used for bait to catch fish. The survivors were sustained and their hopes renewed because a lone sea gull, uncharacteristically hundreds of miles from land, offered itself as a sacrifice. You know that Captain Eddie made it. And now you also know that he never forgot, because every Friday evening, about sunset on a lonely stretch along the eastern Florida seacoast you could see an old man walking, white-haired, bushy-browed, slightly bent. His bucket filled with shrimp was to feed the gulls to remember that one which, on a day long past, gave itself without a struggle, like manna in the wilderness.
We must remember that the reason America has been the great nation that it has is because God has blessed us and thank Him for all of our blessings.
A Great Nation Is a Righteous Nation (Proverbs 14:34)
Righteousness has been defined by some as “right living.” It has also been defined a “right relationship with God.” Putting these two things together, we can say that if we have a right relationship with God, then the product for our lives is right living. Jesus is the answer. He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. We must present Jesus as the answer because it is only through His righteousness that we obtain the righteousness of God.
A Great Nation Is a Praying Nation (II Chronicles 7:14)
Things truly happen when God’s people pray. Let us remember where our blessings came from, turn our hearts to God, and pray for Him to intervene on our behalf.
In Christ,
Brown
http://youtu.be/yNbLtiG2dWU
Friday, July 1, 2011
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Brown's Daily Word 6-30-11
Good morning,
Praise the for summer days here in New York. It is monsoon time in Orissa, India. I love the long and unhurried days of summer. Alice and I walked for close to 4 miles last evening between 9 PM and 10:10 PM around neighborhood. It is going to be one of the brilliant days today.
In Psalm 63 , we read about the passion and zeal of King David, “O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee. My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth after thee, in a barren and dry land where no water is.” You and I, who have been redeemed and rescued by the Lord are to seek Him earnestly and entirely. In other words, knowing Him and pleasing Him should be our consuming passion.
What we are normally satisfied with doing is simply adopting some of the minor external requirements of the Christian faith,to our already busy lives, and merely adding God to the many other loves, desires, and passions that drive us.
During my student days I had great blessing of knowing Bishop Leslie Newbigin, who was the Bishop in Madras. He was a great scholar, who was zealous for Jesus and for Kingdom. He was also a great churchman and a great servant-leader. He relays how he arrived in India as a Christian missionary, only to hear from his predecessor that his region of India had already been successfully evangelized for the Gospel. What Newbigin discovered, however, was that the locals had simply added Christ to the pantheon of other Hindu gods and goddesses they had worshipped for centuries. But, Jesus Christ will be Lord of all or Lord not at all. Given who Jesus is, what He has done for us, and what He will yet do for us, our only response is to make knowing the Lord, pleasing Him, and finding our satisfaction in Him, the consuming preoccupation of our life. We tend to seek to God and find satisfaction in God, plus position, possessions, power, pleasure, or (you can fill in the blank). The question for us this morning is whether we are like the Disciples who left their nets, their fields, and their counting houses to follow Christ when beckoned to do so, or whether we are like the rich young ruler who walked away sad at the Lord’s invitation to follow Him because it would have cost too much.
How do we come to possess such a passion for God? It begins with knowing who we really are and what we have done, and knowing who God really is and what He has done. This is the reason that in the Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican in Luke chapter 18 the self-righteous Pharisee can only congratulate himself in prayer and the tax collector can only humbly appeal for mercy. Paul Thigpen said it like this, “The secret of a passion for God: The greater the debt, the greater the devotion” (Discipleship Journal, Issue 66).
Jesus said about the sinful woman who came and washed His feet with her tears and dried them with her hair, “Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little” (Lk. 7:47).
We notice from Psalm 63 that believers make it a habit to praise the Lord for His the provision, protection, power, and providence (vv. 3-8). This praise involves recalling and retelling God’s mighty acts of redemption in the past: (verse 8) “Because thou hast been my helper; therefore under the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.” This praise involves realizing God’s mighty acts of redemption, provision, protection now: (verse 5) “As long as I live I will magnify thee…and lift up my hands in thy name.” And this habit of praise anticipates God’s mighty acts of rescue for the future: (verse 6) “My soul shall be satisfied…when my mouth praiseth thee with joyful lips.”
St. Paul reminds us in II Corinthians 5:15 that Christ died to save us so that we would live no longer for ourselves, but for Him who died for us and rose again. The first question and answer of the Westminster Catechism is, “What is the chief end of man?” That is, what are we here for? What were we created to do? What is our purpose for being? The answer is that we are “to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.”
The Bible is filled from start to finish with praises, with tales of God working mightily in people’s lives which resulted in praises, and with admonitions for everyone, everywhere to praise the Lord. David’s praise involved praise for blessings past, provisions now—even in the midst of trouble, and praise for provision yet to come. Past, present, future. The last verse of the last psalm, Psalm 150:6, synthesizes our joyous obligation: “Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.”
What are you thirsty for? In what or in whom are you trusting and finding your satisfaction? We can and do pursue all sorts of things, but they will ultimately fail us and leave us thirsting again. David’s thirst for God ought to sound familiar . In John chapter 4 Jesus encounters a Samaritan women in the town of Sychar, near Jacob’s well. She had come there for water. She was thirsty—in ways she was not even able to verbalize. She had had five husbands and was currently living with a man who was not her husband. Jesus said to her: “Anyone who drinks of the water from this well will thirst again. But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give will never thirst again. The water that I give will become a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
C. Samuel Storms, in an article entitled “Is Jesus Really Enough?” (Discipleship Journal, Issue 65) said, “I am persuaded that all of our problems are conceived and born in the sinful belief that something or someone other than Jesus Christ can quench the thirst of our souls.”
"My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh also longeth for thee,
In a barren and dry land where no water is."
Whether we are in the rich land of Canaan or the desert of Judah, there is only one help, and only one being that can satisfy your agonizing thirst for significance: The Lord who made heaven and earth.
AMEN.
In Christ,
Brown
http://youtu.be/UZv3jzOTE70
Praise the for summer days here in New York. It is monsoon time in Orissa, India. I love the long and unhurried days of summer. Alice and I walked for close to 4 miles last evening between 9 PM and 10:10 PM around neighborhood. It is going to be one of the brilliant days today.
In Psalm 63 , we read about the passion and zeal of King David, “O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee. My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth after thee, in a barren and dry land where no water is.” You and I, who have been redeemed and rescued by the Lord are to seek Him earnestly and entirely. In other words, knowing Him and pleasing Him should be our consuming passion.
What we are normally satisfied with doing is simply adopting some of the minor external requirements of the Christian faith,to our already busy lives, and merely adding God to the many other loves, desires, and passions that drive us.
During my student days I had great blessing of knowing Bishop Leslie Newbigin, who was the Bishop in Madras. He was a great scholar, who was zealous for Jesus and for Kingdom. He was also a great churchman and a great servant-leader. He relays how he arrived in India as a Christian missionary, only to hear from his predecessor that his region of India had already been successfully evangelized for the Gospel. What Newbigin discovered, however, was that the locals had simply added Christ to the pantheon of other Hindu gods and goddesses they had worshipped for centuries. But, Jesus Christ will be Lord of all or Lord not at all. Given who Jesus is, what He has done for us, and what He will yet do for us, our only response is to make knowing the Lord, pleasing Him, and finding our satisfaction in Him, the consuming preoccupation of our life. We tend to seek to God and find satisfaction in God, plus position, possessions, power, pleasure, or (you can fill in the blank). The question for us this morning is whether we are like the Disciples who left their nets, their fields, and their counting houses to follow Christ when beckoned to do so, or whether we are like the rich young ruler who walked away sad at the Lord’s invitation to follow Him because it would have cost too much.
How do we come to possess such a passion for God? It begins with knowing who we really are and what we have done, and knowing who God really is and what He has done. This is the reason that in the Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican in Luke chapter 18 the self-righteous Pharisee can only congratulate himself in prayer and the tax collector can only humbly appeal for mercy. Paul Thigpen said it like this, “The secret of a passion for God: The greater the debt, the greater the devotion” (Discipleship Journal, Issue 66).
Jesus said about the sinful woman who came and washed His feet with her tears and dried them with her hair, “Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little” (Lk. 7:47).
We notice from Psalm 63 that believers make it a habit to praise the Lord for His the provision, protection, power, and providence (vv. 3-8). This praise involves recalling and retelling God’s mighty acts of redemption in the past: (verse 8) “Because thou hast been my helper; therefore under the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.” This praise involves realizing God’s mighty acts of redemption, provision, protection now: (verse 5) “As long as I live I will magnify thee…and lift up my hands in thy name.” And this habit of praise anticipates God’s mighty acts of rescue for the future: (verse 6) “My soul shall be satisfied…when my mouth praiseth thee with joyful lips.”
St. Paul reminds us in II Corinthians 5:15 that Christ died to save us so that we would live no longer for ourselves, but for Him who died for us and rose again. The first question and answer of the Westminster Catechism is, “What is the chief end of man?” That is, what are we here for? What were we created to do? What is our purpose for being? The answer is that we are “to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.”
The Bible is filled from start to finish with praises, with tales of God working mightily in people’s lives which resulted in praises, and with admonitions for everyone, everywhere to praise the Lord. David’s praise involved praise for blessings past, provisions now—even in the midst of trouble, and praise for provision yet to come. Past, present, future. The last verse of the last psalm, Psalm 150:6, synthesizes our joyous obligation: “Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.”
What are you thirsty for? In what or in whom are you trusting and finding your satisfaction? We can and do pursue all sorts of things, but they will ultimately fail us and leave us thirsting again. David’s thirst for God ought to sound familiar . In John chapter 4 Jesus encounters a Samaritan women in the town of Sychar, near Jacob’s well. She had come there for water. She was thirsty—in ways she was not even able to verbalize. She had had five husbands and was currently living with a man who was not her husband. Jesus said to her: “Anyone who drinks of the water from this well will thirst again. But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give will never thirst again. The water that I give will become a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
C. Samuel Storms, in an article entitled “Is Jesus Really Enough?” (Discipleship Journal, Issue 65) said, “I am persuaded that all of our problems are conceived and born in the sinful belief that something or someone other than Jesus Christ can quench the thirst of our souls.”
"My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh also longeth for thee,
In a barren and dry land where no water is."
Whether we are in the rich land of Canaan or the desert of Judah, there is only one help, and only one being that can satisfy your agonizing thirst for significance: The Lord who made heaven and earth.
AMEN.
In Christ,
Brown
http://youtu.be/UZv3jzOTE70
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Brown's Daily Word 6-29-11
In Phillip Yancey’s new book, "What Good Is God?", he tells of a group of American high school students went on a mission trip to Afghanistan. They had great success and saw many people come to Christ as a result of their ministry. Dr. J. Christy Wilson, (I had the privilege of being with him in a conference in Boston in 1993), their host who was born of missionary parents, took them to an unusual tourist site, the only cemetery in Afghanistan where ‘infidels’ could be buried. He walked to the first, ancient gravestone, pitted with age. ‘This man worked here thirty years and translated the Bible into the Afghan language,’ he said. ‘Not a single convert. And in this grave next to him lies the man who replaced him, along with his children who died here. He toiled for twenty-five years, and baptized the first Afghan Christian.’ As they strolled among the gravestones, he recounted the stories of early missionaries and their fates.
At the end of the row he stopped, turned, and looked the teenagers straight in the eye. ‘For thirty years, one man moved rocks. That’s all he did, move rocks. Then came his replacement, who did nothing but dig furrows. There came another who planted seeds, and another who watered. And now you kids — you kids — are bringing in the harvest.’
"The group leader said, ‘It was one of the great moments of my life. I watched their faces as it suddenly dawned on these exuberant American teenagers that the amazing spiritual awakening they had witnessed was but the last step in a long line of faithful service stretching back over many decades. I’ll never forget that scene.’”
Perhaps we feel like all we do is move rocks — but we do it for Jesus our Lord, and we do it faithfully. Some day someone will come along and build on what have done – and eventually there will be a harvest. The Bible says, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9
The Bible also says, “Therefore, my brothers (and sisters), be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 1:10-11
In Christ,
Brown
http://youtu.be/twuLr5rQmp0
At the end of the row he stopped, turned, and looked the teenagers straight in the eye. ‘For thirty years, one man moved rocks. That’s all he did, move rocks. Then came his replacement, who did nothing but dig furrows. There came another who planted seeds, and another who watered. And now you kids — you kids — are bringing in the harvest.’
"The group leader said, ‘It was one of the great moments of my life. I watched their faces as it suddenly dawned on these exuberant American teenagers that the amazing spiritual awakening they had witnessed was but the last step in a long line of faithful service stretching back over many decades. I’ll never forget that scene.’”
Perhaps we feel like all we do is move rocks — but we do it for Jesus our Lord, and we do it faithfully. Some day someone will come along and build on what have done – and eventually there will be a harvest. The Bible says, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9
The Bible also says, “Therefore, my brothers (and sisters), be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 1:10-11
In Christ,
Brown
http://youtu.be/twuLr5rQmp0
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Brown's Daily Word 6-28-11
Praise the Lord for this new day. I get a great thrill reading from Revelation 11: 15, "And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become [the kingdoms] of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever". (King James)
Praise the Lord for the way He rules and reigns in truth and beauty. Praise the Lord for the way He has called to be about His business. He has given us His authority. He has given us the promise of His presence even to the end of the ages.
In the words of John Stott (of London), "His authority on earth allows us to dare to go to all the nations. His authority in Heaven gives us our only hope of success. And, His presence with us leaves us no other choice."
One of the early Church founders, John Chrysostom, who stood in the gap for the Bavarian Goths of the Balkan States, trained and sent missionaries to each of them. He defined his world vision for Jesus in this way, "We have a whole Christ for our Salvation; a whole Bible for our staff; a whole Church for our fellowship; and a whole world for our parish."
One of my mentors during my days in Bangalore, India, Theodore Williams, said, "We face a humanity that is too precious to neglect. We know a remedy for the ills of the world too wonderful to withhold. We have a Christ who is too glorious to hide. We have an adventure that is too thrilling to miss."
Many of you are praying for Sunita's and Andy's trip to the Balkans. I am forwarding one of her recent letters that she sent to us.
Hi Friends,
This is a note to say what you already know: Jesus is AMAZING!!!
Andy and I have been in Albania for about 56 hours and have already been richly blessed in numerous ways. We overnighted in Istanbul Thursday night and with a little Sominex were able to sleep 12 hours straight--I can't remember the last time that happened! :) Our short time in Albania has been a great combination of getting over jetlag, getting oriented to the city and the World Vision team here, and having Jesus wow us with this beautiful part of His body, the move of His Spirit in this land, and the incredible connections we've already made.
Even before coming to Albania, through a short skype chat, I felt a quick connection with my main point of contact for World Vision Albania, Erisa. She is 23 or 24 and wise & godly beyond her years. Growing up in a Muslim family, she had a dream around the age of 8 or 9 where Jesus appeared to her in a dream; actually she had an image of his feet and of him calling her to him and decided to become a Christian right then, even though it was a number of years before she would be able to attend church. In addition to just connecting with Erisa's free, fun loving spirit and devotion to Jesus, we have similar passions for the Church, for economic development and of all things, for INDIA! Ever since she can remember she's had a heart for India, and had actually taken a job in Calcutta after college before feeling like the Lord was calling her back (from 5 years in NYC) to Albania. She hasn't been to India yet but is confident the Lord has something for her there. Amazingly, her sister, Gerta, who also works for World Vision, also has a heart for India and is married to an American, Tim, who grew up as an MK in Nepal. We made the connection over dinner that he is the nephew of my colleague (Wynn Flaten), which was a very fun discovery. All of them live in the same house with their parents and sister, though in 3 separate units, and have an amazing story of Jesus' work and redemption in their family. One by one they'v been coming to Jesus and their dad, the last one standing :), is getting very close. We had an Indian dinner with Erisa, Gerta, Tim and Isaiah, their brilliant 2 year old, Saturday evening and spent hours together talking and just enjoying each other. I think all of us feel this won't be the last time we see them. They have a dream of starting a Christian school in Albania together and I just have no doubt that Jesus is going to birth this dream and do mighty things through the three of them.
On Friday, I had a lovely conversation and time of prayer with a World Vision staff member (an ADP manager for WV friends) who had delayed her vacation by a day in order to meet with me. I was SO blessed by her heart and the ways that she and her team bathe their work in prayer and tirelessly love and serve the children and families in their communities. They love the kids in their communities, know them by name (2000+ kids) and daily go above and beyond any "work requirements" to bear witness to God's transforming power.
We decided to stay at a missionary run guesthouse because it was a half to a third of the cost of the other hotel options, but also sensing we might make some neat connections here. While we are quite "cozy" in our little room with twin beds, no internet and a lot of ants, we are so thankful for the people we've met here so far. As we sat in the cafe checking email Saturday morning, we overheard a group next to us talking for hours about Jesus, revival and the work of the Holy Spirit. As we eventually introduced ourselves, we met an amazing group of Texans (with a German and Californian thrown in) whom the Lord had told to come to Albania several years ago and who have been coming since and just letting the Lord lead them. A number of them are connected with the Global Awakening network, which is the group that Andy & I attended several conferences with over the past year (Bill Johnson, Graham Cooke, Heidi Baker...). They are a wild, crazy bunch who just love Jesus and are up for going wherever He brings them and doing whatever He says. I remember hearing in the nineties about the ways the explosive growth of the church in Albania after the fall of communism. That growth seems to continue,and although Christians are a minority here the church is vibrant and its witness powerful (in spite of the normal messiness of Jesus' faltering bride). We joined the Texans for a service tonight (Sunday) at a church near our guesthouse. We had also attended a service in Albanian this morning. As we worshipped with the tiny congregation tonight all I could do was smile and recognize that this is one of my deepest, if not the deepest, joys--it's fire in my bones and air in my lungs to fellowship with believers across culture, border, race and language. It's a passion that Jesus has put in me and I feel so full and alive in these experiences.
The American team went around praying for people at the end of the service. Andy and I both had prayer and prophecy over us and both had significant and yet very consistent things spoken over us. I'll have to save that for another email, but I will quickly say it continues to be confirmed how much your prayers are powerful and effective, and how much we will need them in India.
We will be heading out tomorrow to visit some of our programs around the country and will probably be back in Tirana on Thursday. I'm not sure what our internet connection will be but hopefully better than in our current room :) Know we are very well and loving our time so far. I think it's accurate to say we're both falling more in love with Jesus and just want more of Him, more of His heart and are stretching out our arms wide open for whatever He has for us. We're so, so thankful.
Our love to each of you!
Sunita & Andy
http://youtu.be/vO_bKR2Wzhk
Praise the Lord for the way He rules and reigns in truth and beauty. Praise the Lord for the way He has called to be about His business. He has given us His authority. He has given us the promise of His presence even to the end of the ages.
In the words of John Stott (of London), "His authority on earth allows us to dare to go to all the nations. His authority in Heaven gives us our only hope of success. And, His presence with us leaves us no other choice."
One of the early Church founders, John Chrysostom, who stood in the gap for the Bavarian Goths of the Balkan States, trained and sent missionaries to each of them. He defined his world vision for Jesus in this way, "We have a whole Christ for our Salvation; a whole Bible for our staff; a whole Church for our fellowship; and a whole world for our parish."
One of my mentors during my days in Bangalore, India, Theodore Williams, said, "We face a humanity that is too precious to neglect. We know a remedy for the ills of the world too wonderful to withhold. We have a Christ who is too glorious to hide. We have an adventure that is too thrilling to miss."
Many of you are praying for Sunita's and Andy's trip to the Balkans. I am forwarding one of her recent letters that she sent to us.
Hi Friends,
This is a note to say what you already know: Jesus is AMAZING!!!
Andy and I have been in Albania for about 56 hours and have already been richly blessed in numerous ways. We overnighted in Istanbul Thursday night and with a little Sominex were able to sleep 12 hours straight--I can't remember the last time that happened! :) Our short time in Albania has been a great combination of getting over jetlag, getting oriented to the city and the World Vision team here, and having Jesus wow us with this beautiful part of His body, the move of His Spirit in this land, and the incredible connections we've already made.
Even before coming to Albania, through a short skype chat, I felt a quick connection with my main point of contact for World Vision Albania, Erisa. She is 23 or 24 and wise & godly beyond her years. Growing up in a Muslim family, she had a dream around the age of 8 or 9 where Jesus appeared to her in a dream; actually she had an image of his feet and of him calling her to him and decided to become a Christian right then, even though it was a number of years before she would be able to attend church. In addition to just connecting with Erisa's free, fun loving spirit and devotion to Jesus, we have similar passions for the Church, for economic development and of all things, for INDIA! Ever since she can remember she's had a heart for India, and had actually taken a job in Calcutta after college before feeling like the Lord was calling her back (from 5 years in NYC) to Albania. She hasn't been to India yet but is confident the Lord has something for her there. Amazingly, her sister, Gerta, who also works for World Vision, also has a heart for India and is married to an American, Tim, who grew up as an MK in Nepal. We made the connection over dinner that he is the nephew of my colleague (Wynn Flaten), which was a very fun discovery. All of them live in the same house with their parents and sister, though in 3 separate units, and have an amazing story of Jesus' work and redemption in their family. One by one they'v been coming to Jesus and their dad, the last one standing :), is getting very close. We had an Indian dinner with Erisa, Gerta, Tim and Isaiah, their brilliant 2 year old, Saturday evening and spent hours together talking and just enjoying each other. I think all of us feel this won't be the last time we see them. They have a dream of starting a Christian school in Albania together and I just have no doubt that Jesus is going to birth this dream and do mighty things through the three of them.
On Friday, I had a lovely conversation and time of prayer with a World Vision staff member (an ADP manager for WV friends) who had delayed her vacation by a day in order to meet with me. I was SO blessed by her heart and the ways that she and her team bathe their work in prayer and tirelessly love and serve the children and families in their communities. They love the kids in their communities, know them by name (2000+ kids) and daily go above and beyond any "work requirements" to bear witness to God's transforming power.
We decided to stay at a missionary run guesthouse because it was a half to a third of the cost of the other hotel options, but also sensing we might make some neat connections here. While we are quite "cozy" in our little room with twin beds, no internet and a lot of ants, we are so thankful for the people we've met here so far. As we sat in the cafe checking email Saturday morning, we overheard a group next to us talking for hours about Jesus, revival and the work of the Holy Spirit. As we eventually introduced ourselves, we met an amazing group of Texans (with a German and Californian thrown in) whom the Lord had told to come to Albania several years ago and who have been coming since and just letting the Lord lead them. A number of them are connected with the Global Awakening network, which is the group that Andy & I attended several conferences with over the past year (Bill Johnson, Graham Cooke, Heidi Baker...). They are a wild, crazy bunch who just love Jesus and are up for going wherever He brings them and doing whatever He says. I remember hearing in the nineties about the ways the explosive growth of the church in Albania after the fall of communism. That growth seems to continue,and although Christians are a minority here the church is vibrant and its witness powerful (in spite of the normal messiness of Jesus' faltering bride). We joined the Texans for a service tonight (Sunday) at a church near our guesthouse. We had also attended a service in Albanian this morning. As we worshipped with the tiny congregation tonight all I could do was smile and recognize that this is one of my deepest, if not the deepest, joys--it's fire in my bones and air in my lungs to fellowship with believers across culture, border, race and language. It's a passion that Jesus has put in me and I feel so full and alive in these experiences.
The American team went around praying for people at the end of the service. Andy and I both had prayer and prophecy over us and both had significant and yet very consistent things spoken over us. I'll have to save that for another email, but I will quickly say it continues to be confirmed how much your prayers are powerful and effective, and how much we will need them in India.
We will be heading out tomorrow to visit some of our programs around the country and will probably be back in Tirana on Thursday. I'm not sure what our internet connection will be but hopefully better than in our current room :) Know we are very well and loving our time so far. I think it's accurate to say we're both falling more in love with Jesus and just want more of Him, more of His heart and are stretching out our arms wide open for whatever He has for us. We're so, so thankful.
Our love to each of you!
Sunita & Andy
http://youtu.be/vO_bKR2Wzhk
Monday, June 27, 2011
Brown's Daily Word 6-27-11
Good Morning.
The Lord blessed us with a beautiful weekend. It was great thrill and a blessing to be in the House of the Lord yesterday joining His people around the globe worshipping Him and praising Holy Name. I just got an e-mail from Sunita. She and Andy are in Albania, with Sunita's work. Albania is the birthplace of Mother Theresa. Sunita shared that Albania is a stunning country. The people are beautiful. She is meeting people who are on fire for Jesus. Sunita and Andy will be in the Balkan States for three weeks before heading to India Sunita shared that she is meeting there in Albania people who are involved in Intercessory prayer.
God is sovereign, but he has chosen to make the prayers of the people part of the exercise of his will. Author Eugene Peterson says, “While conflicts raged between good and evil, prayers went up from devout bands of first century Christians all over the Roman empire. Massive engines of persecution and scorn were ranged against them. They had neither weapons nor votes. They had little money and no prestige.” [Reversed Thunder] But they did have prayer. And that prayer helped shape the course of history.
Scholar Craig Keenan referred to Daniel, “whose prayer becomes the battleground for angelic powers greater than the earthly rulers affected by them while the leaders of empires rise and fall as little more than pawns in the hands of a sovereign God.” [Dan 10:13, 10:20-12:3]
We often fail to see the effects of our seemingly insignificant lives. For instance, who would have thought that the future of Israel lay in the desperate prayers of Samuel’s mother Hannah, who thought herself a failure because she couldn’t give her husband a son? I don’t know exactly how it works, no one does, but somehow the wheels of God’s grand design are greased by the prayers of the saints.
Throughout the world there are bands of committed Christians who come together on Fridays, the Islamic holy day of prayer, to pray for the gospel to penetrate the Islamic world. Reports abound of Muslims being converted through dreams and visions even in “closed” Islamic countries.
There is a story of Polish slave laborers working in munitions factories for Germany toward the end of WWII being bombed by allied planes. Some were killed, more were wounded. Yet, they prayed for the planes to return, again and again, as often as necessary, until the Nazis were defeated. God will end history on one great final day, but He is Lord of history even now.
God is just. Natural disasters are not just random events, and our ability to predict them is not at all the same as the ability control them. It is God who controls the events of nature, and the notion that he does not use them as judgments is contrary to reason and to Scripture. Natural disasters are normal, but they are not random. They are acts of a just and sovereign God who gives us more warnings than anyone could possibly have a right to expect. Every act of God that we see is sent by our merciful and loving God as a reminder of who is in charge, and of whose justice will prevail.
One of my favorite OldTestament scholars, Walter Kaiser, said a few years ago, “North American society is headed for destruction and judgment. And we had better believe it’s coming, because there is no sign that repentance is near. It is coming, or else God is a liar and his word is not true. The prophet’s message must be preached again today.” [The Old Testament in Contemporary Preaching]
When we hear the words of main-line Protestant spokesmen saying "Peace, peace," when there is no peace, [Jeremiah 6:14] let us look again at the acts of God in the world around us and remember that God is still just. He has not changed.
In Christ,
Brown
http://youtu.be/QoYdQa6Cprc
The Lord blessed us with a beautiful weekend. It was great thrill and a blessing to be in the House of the Lord yesterday joining His people around the globe worshipping Him and praising Holy Name. I just got an e-mail from Sunita. She and Andy are in Albania, with Sunita's work. Albania is the birthplace of Mother Theresa. Sunita shared that Albania is a stunning country. The people are beautiful. She is meeting people who are on fire for Jesus. Sunita and Andy will be in the Balkan States for three weeks before heading to India Sunita shared that she is meeting there in Albania people who are involved in Intercessory prayer.
God is sovereign, but he has chosen to make the prayers of the people part of the exercise of his will. Author Eugene Peterson says, “While conflicts raged between good and evil, prayers went up from devout bands of first century Christians all over the Roman empire. Massive engines of persecution and scorn were ranged against them. They had neither weapons nor votes. They had little money and no prestige.” [Reversed Thunder] But they did have prayer. And that prayer helped shape the course of history.
Scholar Craig Keenan referred to Daniel, “whose prayer becomes the battleground for angelic powers greater than the earthly rulers affected by them while the leaders of empires rise and fall as little more than pawns in the hands of a sovereign God.” [Dan 10:13, 10:20-12:3]
We often fail to see the effects of our seemingly insignificant lives. For instance, who would have thought that the future of Israel lay in the desperate prayers of Samuel’s mother Hannah, who thought herself a failure because she couldn’t give her husband a son? I don’t know exactly how it works, no one does, but somehow the wheels of God’s grand design are greased by the prayers of the saints.
Throughout the world there are bands of committed Christians who come together on Fridays, the Islamic holy day of prayer, to pray for the gospel to penetrate the Islamic world. Reports abound of Muslims being converted through dreams and visions even in “closed” Islamic countries.
There is a story of Polish slave laborers working in munitions factories for Germany toward the end of WWII being bombed by allied planes. Some were killed, more were wounded. Yet, they prayed for the planes to return, again and again, as often as necessary, until the Nazis were defeated. God will end history on one great final day, but He is Lord of history even now.
God is just. Natural disasters are not just random events, and our ability to predict them is not at all the same as the ability control them. It is God who controls the events of nature, and the notion that he does not use them as judgments is contrary to reason and to Scripture. Natural disasters are normal, but they are not random. They are acts of a just and sovereign God who gives us more warnings than anyone could possibly have a right to expect. Every act of God that we see is sent by our merciful and loving God as a reminder of who is in charge, and of whose justice will prevail.
One of my favorite OldTestament scholars, Walter Kaiser, said a few years ago, “North American society is headed for destruction and judgment. And we had better believe it’s coming, because there is no sign that repentance is near. It is coming, or else God is a liar and his word is not true. The prophet’s message must be preached again today.” [The Old Testament in Contemporary Preaching]
When we hear the words of main-line Protestant spokesmen saying "Peace, peace," when there is no peace, [Jeremiah 6:14] let us look again at the acts of God in the world around us and remember that God is still just. He has not changed.
In Christ,
Brown
http://youtu.be/QoYdQa6Cprc
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