Praise the Lord for this Friday.
Our prayer conference begins today (see the information at the bottom). Those of
you live in the area please join us. It will be a time of great blessing,and
rejoicing. Sunita and Andy, along with our friend Kelly Johnson from Memphis,TN,
came yesterday afternoon. We rejoice in the Lord for His gifts and
blessings.
Jesus our Lord told a parable as it
is recorded in Luke 18. He said, “In a certain town there was a judge who
neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who
kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ For
some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear
God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see
that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her
coming!’”
And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the son of man comes will he find faith on the earth?”
The story begins with a widow who had an adversary who was trying to take advantage of her. It’s likely that someone was trying to cheat her out of money or land her husband left her. This was prevalent in Bible times, because women had few legal rights. In the wonderful Old Testament story of Ruth, she and Naomi returned to Bethlehem as widows. They had no legal right to claim the land had belonged to their husbands. Fortunately Boaz married Ruth and he became her kinsman/redeemer.
In Jesus’ parable this widow not only had the hurdle of being a female, but she faced a terrible judge. He didn’t have any fear of God, nor did he care what other people thought about him. Our widow had no money to bribe this wicked judge, so her only recourse was to come before him repeatedly crying, “Grant me justice against my adversary! Grant me justice against my adversary!” He dismissed her claim, but she kept coming back, constantly begging him for justice. In the parable, the widow did not sit at home wringing her hands about her problem. Instead of worrying, she got up and approached the only person who could help her–the judge.
And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the son of man comes will he find faith on the earth?”
The story begins with a widow who had an adversary who was trying to take advantage of her. It’s likely that someone was trying to cheat her out of money or land her husband left her. This was prevalent in Bible times, because women had few legal rights. In the wonderful Old Testament story of Ruth, she and Naomi returned to Bethlehem as widows. They had no legal right to claim the land had belonged to their husbands. Fortunately Boaz married Ruth and he became her kinsman/redeemer.
In Jesus’ parable this widow not only had the hurdle of being a female, but she faced a terrible judge. He didn’t have any fear of God, nor did he care what other people thought about him. Our widow had no money to bribe this wicked judge, so her only recourse was to come before him repeatedly crying, “Grant me justice against my adversary! Grant me justice against my adversary!” He dismissed her claim, but she kept coming back, constantly begging him for justice. In the parable, the widow did not sit at home wringing her hands about her problem. Instead of worrying, she got up and approached the only person who could help her–the judge.
William Ward wrote this about
worry, “Worry is faith in the negative, trust in the unpleasant, assurance of
disaster, and belief in defeat... Worry is a magnet that attracts negative
circumstances... Worry is wasting today’s time to clutter up tomorrow’s
opportunities with yesterday’s troubles.”
It is written in Philippians 4:6-7.
“Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape
your worry into prayers. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness,
everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down.” (The
Message)
In Christ,
Brown
Annual Praise and Prayer Conference
Friday- Sunday October 12-14,
2012
- Opening worship: Friday 7 PM at Union Center United Methodist Church, 128 Maple Drive, Endicott
- Saturday 10 am - 1 PM We will gather in the sanctuary of the Union Center United Methodist Church for a concert of prayer.
- Prayer teams will be available to pray. We will anointing with oil and will pray for emotional, physical, and spiritual healing. We will be praying for deliverance and restoration.
- 6 PM First United Methodist Church, 53 McKinley Ave., Endicott. We will gather for a NEW YORK PIZZA Party
- 6:30 PM praise and worship. There will be time for prayer. There will be anointing with oil. We will be praying for miracles of healing, deliverance, salvation, restoration. We will also be serving Communion at the Altar.
- Sunday, October 14, 2012, Morning worship will be at 9:30 AM at Wesley United Methodist Church, 1000 Day Hollow Road
- 8:30 and 11:00 Worship services will be held at the Union Center United Methodist Church; 9:50 - Sunday School Hour
- 12:30 PM Prayer Banquet with international foods
Leaders for the prayer conference
are:
Kelly Johnson from Memphis, TN,
Andy and Sunita Groth, Rob
Krech, Meredith Watson, and Amanda (all from Washington,
DC).
The leaders and members of the
Binghamton House of prayer will be joining for this conference Event. Laureen
Naik will be leading in worship music. Come expecting a miracle.
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