Praise the Lord for the wonderful season of Autumn. I drove around yesterday afternoon, gazing at the beautiful brilliant fall colors. It is amazing how the Lord of the earth decorates His Earth for us to see the beauty and splendor all around. He orchestrates the transition of all seasons. He displays the colors in the Autumn leaves. He generates the wind-whispers and the beauty in our changing days. I was reminded of His bountiful and manifold blessings. Indeed, He bestows grace upon grace all the days of our lives and beyond this world. As I drove I saw few deer grazing unhurriedly and unafraid. The air was cool and refreshing. As the night covered the earth the Lord displayed the beautiful Fall Moon dispelling the darkness. I said, along with the poet, "A thing of beauty is a joy forever".

Last evening Sunita flew to Rumania via Germany. She will be visiting some her colleagues in Rumania and the ministry of the Gospel in which they are involved. She will also be visiting some of her friends from her college days in Boston .

I have been looking at Philippians chapter 1. It is written, “conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ”. We are to live as a citizen of heaven while we are called and propelled to live as sojourners and pilgrims here on earth. This is vastly important for Christians now, at the beginning of the 21st century, because the surrounding culture has become increasingly hostile to Biblical truth. This is a call for nothing less than aggressive Christianity. We need this because the world is full of Christians in retreat. We have retreated when we ought to advance. Too many believers have been intimidated and have left the battlefield to the enemy.

Christ's word to the church is always "Go Forward!" As far as I know, the Lord never told his people to retreat—not ever. Jesus said, “Go and preach the gospel” (Mark 16:15). He called us to “Go and make disciples” (Mathew 28:19). In one of his books, Methodist evangelist E. Stanley Jones commented that the first Christians did not wring their hands in despair and say, “Look what the world has come to.” Instead, with great delight they declared, “Look what has come to the world.” It’s never been easy to be a Christian. It wasn’t then and it isn’t now. Blessed are they who are so excited about Jesus that they simply can’t keep quiet about it.

In Christ,

Brown

http://youtu.be/byIpfEVxhs4

A Special Saturday Evening of Praise and Worship

Saturday September 29, 2012

Location: First United Methodist Church,
53 McKinley Avenue, Endicott, NY

Sponsored by Union Center United Methodist Church.

5:30 PM Community Dinner

6:30 PM Praise and Worship

Special Music by: Praise and worship band

Soloist: Emma Brunson

Preacher: Pastor Marshall Sorber

A Morning Prayer by John Baillie

Here am I, O God,
of little power and of mean estate,
yet lifting up heart and voice to Thee
before whom all created things are as dust and a vapour.
Thou art hidden behind the curtain of sense,
incomprehensible in Thy greatness,
mysterious in Thine almighty power;
yet here I speak with Thee familiarly
as child to parent, as friend to friend.
If I could not thus speak to Thee,
then were I indeed without hope in the world.
For it is little that I have power to do or to ordain.
Not of my own will am I here,
not of my own will shall I soon pass hence.
Of all that shall come to me this day,
very little will be such as I have chosen for myself.
It is Thou, O hidden One, who dost appoint my lot
and determine the bounds of my habitation.
It is Thou who hast put power in my hand to do one work
and hast withheld the skill to do another.
It is Thou who dost keep in Thy grasp the threads of this day's life
and who alone knowest what lies before me to do or to suffer.
But because Thou art my Father, I am not afraid.
Because it is Thine own Spirit that stirs
within my spirit's inmost room,
I know that all is well.
What I desire for myself I cannot attain,
but what Thou desirest in me Thou canst attain for me.
The good that I would I do not,
but the good that Thou willest in me,
that Thou canst give me power to do.

Dear Father, take this day's life into Thine own keeping.
Control all my thoughts and feelings.
Direct all my energies.
Instruct my mind.
Sustain my will.
Take my hands and make them skillful to serve Thee.
Take my feet and make them swift to do Thy bidding.
Take my eyes and keep them fixed upon Thine everlasting beauty.
Take my mouth and make it eloquent in testimony to Thy love.
Make this day a day of obedience,
a day of spiritual joy and peace.
Make this day's work a little part
of the work of the Kingdom of my Lord Christ,
in whose name these my prayers are said,
Amen.