Brown's Daily Word 2-27-12

Thanks be to Jesus for this new day to live in Him, to serve Him, and to enjoy His blessings.  The Lord blessed us with a beautiful weekend of fellowship, worship and witness.  Somebody from the Saturday evening worship invited some of her friends to come join us Saturday Evening worship at the First United Methodist Church.  We were blessed to have 19 visitors for the evening worship.  The Lord blessed us yesterday, the First Sunday in Lent, in His house. 

    The Old Testament reading for yesterday was taken from Genesis 9:8 ff.  The Lord of Grace and mercy promised never again to flood the entire earth.  This is one of the major covenants the Lord has made with His people.  It is an unconditional covenant.  That is, there are no conditions to be met by us.  God did not say, “If you obey me, I promise never to flood the earth again,” or “If you offer a sacrifice, I promise never to flood the earth again.”  To the contrary, God asked nothing of the human race - no obedience, no sacrifice, no faith, no prayer, nothing at all.  This isn’t a two-way street where we do something and then God does something in response.  This is a promise made by God in spite of the fact that the world had just been destroyed because of sin, and in full knowledge that the world was soon to plunge back into the pit of sin. This is a covenant of pure grace, made in spite of human sin, not because of any supposed human goodness or human faith or human obedience.  In spite of our continuing sin, God promises never again to destroy the entire human race with a flood.

    God's grace to us is pure grace. . . free grace. . . grace greater than our sin.  It is a covenant guaranteed with the sign of the rainbow.  Rainbows are beautiful.  They   display their colors across the full spectrum of light, covering all possible shades and hues.  Here is a sign perfectly fitted for the entire human race, at all times, in every location, and it is a sign easily understood by all ages.  When we see a rainbow, we are to remember, “God promised never again to send a flood upon the entire earth.”  As we reflect, on the rainbow promise, notice what the text does not say.  Nowhere does God say, “I will never send a storm again.”  Nowhere does God promise that life will be free of storms, trials, troubles and difficulties.  Most rainbows appear only after the storm has come and gone.  If there were no storms, there would be very few rainbows.

    The message to us is obvious. God never promises a life free from pain and suffering.  Rainbows come after the rain, not before.  Weeping endures for a night; joy comes in the morning.  The rainbow is beautiful anyway, but the promise is more glorious because of the flood that preceded it.  Three times God says, “Never again!”  He really meant it.  Never again will there be a worldwide flood.  It is no coincidence that when John saw the vision of heaven in Revelation 4, he saw a rainbow encircling the throne of God (v. 3).  That symbolizes the completeness of God’s mercy.  The blood of Jesus has transformed the throne of God from a throne of judgment into a throne of mercy.

  In Christ,

  Brown

Friday March 2.2012

     Our Television Outreach:

      Time Warner Cable Ch 4

       Time 7.0PM

 

Saturday Evening Worship Service:

           Location:  First United Methodist Church

                               53 McKinley Avenue

                               Endicott, NY

        Sponsored by:  Union Center United Methodist Church

        Time: 6:00 PM gathering for Coffee Fellowship

            6:30 PM Worship Service

        Date:  Saturday, March 3, 2012 

        Speaker:  Rev.  Brown  Naik        Special Music by Laureen Naik,.  Information : call 607-748-6329