Brown's Daily Word: 2/19/12

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Brown's Daily Word 2-23-12

Good morning,

Praise the Lord for this new day in His Kingdom. The Lord blessed us with a wonderful Wednesday evening gathering. The food that was prepared with so much love was sumptuous. The fellowship was sweet. The study of the Word of the Lord was provoking and powerful. We looked at John 4.

In John’s Gospel the Samaritan woman at the well is the first person to whom Jesus openly reveals himself as Messiah. This is also the longest private conservation Jesus had with anyone as recorded in the New Testament (John 4:7-26). This woman also became the first evangelist in the gospel of John. She went and told her people about Jesus and brought them to him, so they could see and hear for themselves. This is story of our Lord's holy encounter with a woman of Samaria whose name we do not know.

Jesus met a women at a well. You could meet her in the inner city or the suburbs. You can find her in the countryside; she might have moved there to get away. You could meet her at church, where brokenness, hurt, mistakes, and marriage problems are no strangers. Jesus met her at a well at noon. He did the unthinkable. He talked to her! In a society where women had virtually no right to divorce or legal recourse against a brutal or even unfaithful husband, she had been married five times. She couldn’t keep a man or, rather, for some reason a man wouldn’t keep her. She always managed to find another husband, each situation no better than the last. So this time she didn’t even bother with the formalities of a permanent commitment. She was living with a sixth man to whom she wasn’t married.
Why would a woman do such a thing? Why would a woman keep making the same mistake over and over again? Two times, maybe, but five? Why do women we know go back home after the visit to the ER or the domestic violence shelter? Why does she call the police, but refuse to press charges? Why does she go from one alcoholic to another? Furthermore, it is not just “dumb” women; it even happens to college educated women, doctors, and lawyers, and marriage counselors! She could have been the poster girl for Dr. Laura Schlessinger’s book "Ten Stupid Things Women Do to Mess Up Their Lives".

    Jesus met a women. How her life became such a mess we will never really know. Jesus talked to a woman that most people only talked about. Jesus spoke of God’s gifts and of living water, that didn’t run out, and that satisfied, really quenching the thirst of her spirit. She instinctively knew that the conversation had taken a spiritual turn. She knew that he wasn’t talking about wells and water and dry parched throats. Sometimes the problem at hand isn’t the root problem at all. The real problem is deeper. Some jump from job to job, or relationship to relationship, looking for something they never find. Some eat or drink, trying to satisfy a hunger or thirst that never gets filled. Sometimes the problem is a God-sized hole in the soul.
    Jesus met a woman who asked a religious question, “Where is the right place to worship?” In a sense, Jesus’ answer was: “it’s not where. It’s who!” “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
    That day in Samaria, Jesus met a this woman with a deep spiritual thirst. She listened. She believed. She was never the same again. Two surprises follow in the story. The disciples returned from an errand to the village and were surprised that Jesus was actually talking to THAT woman. Sometime later the villagers were surprised to find THAT woman inviting them to come meet the one who had changed her life, but many of the people of Samaria believed in Jesus because of the woman’s testimony.

In Jesus who changes lives,

Brown
http://youtu.be/uhOJW4Uwy3c

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, February 25, 2012

Speaker: Rev. William Turner,

Special Music by Laureen Naik, Emma Brunson. Information : call 607-748-6329

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Brown's Daily Word 2-22-12

Good morning,

Praise the Lord for this Ash Wednesday. We will come together for our mid-week gathering this evening with a meal at 6 PM. Bible Study begins at 6:30 PM. The Choir will meet for practice at 7:30 PM.

One of the readings for Ash Wednesday is taken from Joel 2. In Joel 2, the Lord issues a trumpet call to repent (2:1). Joel 2:13 provides a vivid description: “rend your hearts...return to the Lord” There we have it, the 2 elements of repentance—-sorrow and a change of direction. We repent when our hearts are broken by our sin, when we realize how our wrongdoing, our offenses, is what led Christ to the cross. When we see the enormity of our iniquity, we turn-—we begin to walk in a new direction, with new goals. We surrender to the Lordship of Christ. We were living for self; now we’re living for God, and for His glory. In sorrow, we turn from sin and self to Christ. If we reject salvation, we turn our backs on eternal life…but God is waiting to forgive. Like the father of the Prodigal Son He waits for us to return with open arms and a heart filled with compassion.
Whenever we fail, whenever we sin, we are called upon to repent as the Holy Spirit convicts us of our transgressions. True repentance is admitting that what God says is true, and because it is true, we change our minds about our sins and about the Savior. Unbelievers call evil good and good evil. Holiness, however, is seeing life through the eyes and mind of Christ. We are directed in Joel 1 to “wake up” (5), “mourn” (8) and “despair” (11) until we journey back to God. God calls us to "return to me with all your heart, rend me your heart."

    In reflecting upon our culture, one person said, “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased”
    In a time when superficiality, band-aids, and quick fixes are the way to go, our Lord invites, us to return to him with “all our heart”. He is the only one who has the power and authority to forgive and to restore. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
    My wife is a huge fan of the Narnia series, by C. S. Lewis. In Narnia, there is a great lion named Aslan whom Lewis portrays in the role of Jesus in Narnia. In "The Silver Chair", a girl by the name of Jill Pole burst into an opening in the forest. She was very thirsty, and she saw a running stream close by . Even though she was "dying of thirst", she did not rush into the stream and put her face in its refreshing current. Instead, she stood in fear, rooted to the spot, because there was a large lion sitting on the ground just this side of the stream. The lion spoke:
    “Are you not thirsty?” said the Lion.
    “I’m Dying of thirst” said Jill.
    “Then drink” said the lion.
    “May I—Could I—would you mind going away while I do?” said Jill.
    The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl. And as Jill gazed at its motionless bulk, she realized that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience. The delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic.
    “Will you promise not to—do anything to me, if I do come?” said Jill.
    “I make no promise,” said the Lion.
    Jill was so thirsty now, that she had come a step closer without noticing it.
    “Do you eat girls?” she said.
    “I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms,” said the Lion. It didn’t say this as if it were boasting, not as if it were sorry, nor as if it were hungry. It just said it.
    “I dare not come and drink,” said Jill.
    “Then you will die of thirst,” said the Lion.
    “Oh dear!” said Jill, coming another step nearer. “I suppose I must go and look for another stream then.”
    “There is no other stream,” said the Lion.

Jesus is the only one who is the author of forgiveness and salvation. He is the Way of Salvation. It is written in Joel, that if we turn to God, He is waiting there to accept us. Joel began with a prophecy about the destruction of the land and concluded with a prophecy about its restoration. He began by urging repentance and ended with the promise of forgiveness that repentance brings. A wonderful promise is held out to us in vs. 28-32, the promise of the Holy Spirit, along with the assurance that all who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved.

In Christ,

Brown

http://youtu.be/sR8rlTIU8_Y

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, February 25, 2012

Speaker: Rev. William Turner,

Special Music by Laureen Naik, Emma Brunson. Information : call 607-748-6329

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Brown's Daily Word 2-21-12

Good morning,

Praise the Lord for this new day. Alice and I spent the weekend in beautiful Boston, visiting Janice, Jeremy, Micah, Simeon, and Ada. Micah and Simeon are growing up so quickly. Ada is now 13 months old. She is walking all over with confidence - totally toddling. We spent most of the time during the days with our grandchildren. On Sunday morning we attended worship service with them at their church, Christ the King Presbyterian Church, located in Cambridge between Harvard and the MIT. The congregation is primarily constituted of young families. I was one of the oldest persons present at the worship. Micah and Simeon love to attend worship and then go to children's church.

It was a great treat being with our grandchildren. Part of the time I was wrestling with Simeon, and part of the time we spent walking in park system of the city. Alice and I also read several books to Micah and Simeon, and Micah read some to her grandmom. Early morning yesterday we spent some time in the local park just across from the Condo where Jeremy and Janice live. I heard and saw a beautiful cardinal sing and making a melodious song to Jesus.

On the way home from Boston yesterday I called some of our friends, one of whom shared with me that he attended a worship service this past Sunday where there were 4 people in attendance. He conveyed to me that it was a very powerful worship event. They met the Risen Lord afresh and anew during the worship experience. While I was away Jack Black, Michael Wingard and Shannon Meilunas preached at Union Center and Wesley. The Lord visited His people with His blessings.

   Evvie Binder, who has entered the Church Triumphant, used quote to me a powerful passage from Ephesians 3. “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us. To Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
    Evvie and Her husband Al Binder has accepted Jesus Christ as they were watching Billy Graham telecasting from the Madison Garden in New York City over 55 years ago. I have often been reminded by these servants of Jesus that to be in Christ is to live a life full of surprises. The Lord delights to surprise us on time, in time for our needy time interventions.  This is exactly what the Apostle Paul promised in one of the greatest “He is Able” statements, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church BY Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Eph. 3:20-21).
    Consider the words: able and exceedingly abundant. God is able to do for us and answer our prayers according to His efficiency, sufficiency, richness, and power working in us. Here is a translation that is helpful: Now to the One who is able to do beyond all things, superabundantly beyond and over and above those things we are asking for ourselves and considering, in the measure of the power which is operative in us.
    Consider the circumstances in which we live and the problems we face. Do we have the Lord’s vision for each of these circumstances for ourselves, our families, our homes, our work, our neighborhoods, this church, or in the mission projects He has given us to do? Have we taken time to allow Him to impart His vision, the power to believe it, and the freedom to trust Him completely to achieve it? It is Christ’s way to go beyond the best that He has done in our lives previously. All that we have learned up to this time is not the end of growth. Whatever we have experienced in our personal relationship with Christ is only a fraction of what is in store for us; whatever we have accomplished is only a foretaste of what Christ has planned. Our Lord promises wonders He has never done before in our lives. There is no limit to his transforming power, no end to His redeeming grace, no exhaustion of His enabling courage when we throw caution to the wind and, as a result of a new-found intimacy with Him, dare to trust Him to do mighty things in our future.
    There is a poem written ay Annie Johnson Flint. I think the reason I find it so moving is that it was written in tough times in her life when she trusted the Lord with her physical pain and received strength to press on.
    HE GIVETH MORE GRACE WHEN THE BURDENS GROW GREATER.
    HE SENDETH MORE STRENGTH WHEN THE LABORS INCREASE.
    TO ADDED AFFLICTION HE ADDETH HIS MERCY,
    TO MULTIPLIED TRIALS HIS MULTIPLIED PEACE.

    WHEN WE HAVE EXHAUSTED OUR STORE OF ENDURANCE,
    WHEN OUR STRENGTH HAS FAILED ERE THE DAY IS HALF DONE,
    WHEN WE REACH THE END OF OUR HOARDED RESOURCES,
    OUR FATHER’S FULL GIVING HAS ONLY BEGUN.

     HIS LOVE HAS NO LIMIT, HIS GRACE HAS NO MEASURE,
    HIS POWER NO BOUNDARY KNOWN UNTO MEN;
    FOR OUT OF HIS INFINITE RICHES IN JESUS
    HE GIVETH AND GIVETH AND GIVETH AGAIN!

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday in our Church calendar. I am reminded of the children's ditty, "Ashes, ashes, we all fall down" which should be followed by, "Easter, Easter, we all rise up". Wow!