Brown's Daily Word 7-26-12

Good Evening. We witnessed some very stormy weather here in the Southern tier of New York this afternoon. Tornado watches and warnings were posted around the area for a few hours. It is reported that a tornado touched down in one of our neighboring towns, causing some damage. We saw and heard some of the powerful lightning and booming thunders. The ground shook and trembled. The Lord sent us some very needed rains in and through it all. Thank you Jesus.

I was reading from Mark 4 today. The disciples find themselves in the midst of a powerful storm. In fact, if their anxiety level was rated on a scale of one to ten, they were probably at a ten. They were afraid they would not live. Jesus saved them by an act of mighty power. Mark, chapter 4:

"That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, 'Let us go over to the other side.' Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, 'Teacher, don't you care if we drown?'
He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, 'Quiet! Be still!' Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, 'Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?' They were terrified and asked each other, 'Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!'"

The story first draws us the obvious point that storms come along sometimes. There was probably nothing unusual about the storm itself. Storms were known to come over the lake, Lake Galilee, or the Sea of Galilee. Several of the disciples were fishermen. They knew what fear was like, and even had some skill in dealing with it. It is also true that we all face storms in our lives. Experiencing them is universal. Nobody escapes them all. Storms come.

Note also that Jesus doesn't protect them - his followers - from the storm. There was no bubble of safety around the disciples at this moment keeping them dry and secure. Some people try to tell us that good Christians don't get caught in storms. They insist that as Christians, we won't get laid off, or if we do get laid off, we're going to find another job immediately. They insist that If we're Christians, we won't have serious illnesses, chronic illnesses, or emotional problems. They say that nothing will touch us. It's just not true. The disciples, in this story, were wet, exhausted, and afraid, fearing for their lives. Jesus, who commanded the storm, was in the boat with them, but they still got wet, and they still became very afraid.

In fact, the disciples were in the boat in the storm because of Jesus. Recall also that some of those disciples were not fishermen. This might have been the first time they were in a boat, and they were in this particular boat on this night in this place because Jesus said, verse 35, "Let us go over to the other side." It is possible that even the fishermen might not have gone out on a night quite like this, or, if they did go out, maybe they would have stayed closer to shore. Regardless, they were in the middle of this place, in the storm, specifically because Jesus said, "Let us go over to the other side." Sometimes we face storms because we follow Jesus.

The apostle Paul faced his own set of shipwrecks, and he faced his own storms. Paul clung on pieces of a ship because he followed Jesus. Alec and K C Bersch faced an earthquake, and they're staying in Haiti in all of that hardship that follows because they follow Jesus.

Our missionary friend Dave Coles preached in our church this month. He told us that there are Muslims in certain countries who are becoming Christians, and many of them lose their jobs, lose their families, and some even lose their lives, because of following Jesus. Jesus, who commands storms, commands us into some storms we would never have to face if we were just normal folk. Storms come.

Disciples asked Jesus, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" It was a great question since Jesus, who commands the storm, is in the boat with them, and he seems to be doing nothing about it, and their question to him is, "Don't you care? We're going to die here!" Their big question mirrors our own questions in our own storms. "God, don't you care?" Jesus then answered their need. He stood and gave a command, "Quiet! Be still!" At no point were the disciples more than three English words from the total solution to their problem. Jesus commanded the storm, and he totally controlled the outcome.

Psalm 89, verses 8 and 9. It goes like this.

"O LORD God Almighty, who is like you? You are mighty, O LORD, and your faithfulness surrounds you. You rule over the surging sea; when its waves mount up, you still them."

The one in the boat with the disciples, the one in the storm with them, was the Lord God Almighty. He experienced their dangers with them, not far away and untouched by their circumstances. Still the disciples were faithless, accusing Jesus, the Lord, of not caring. Yet, Jesus still delivered them. He extended to them the grace of God, and, despite my grumblings, doubts, and accusations he does the same for me. That's how much he cares. The good news is that Jesus, although he rebuked them, still delivered them. Jesus, who commands the storm, was there with them, and he is with us too.

In Christ, http://youtu.be/KyWOIKCtjiw

Brown,

Psalm 4:8

Brown's Daily Word 7-25-12

Praise the Lord for another bright and beautiful day in His Kingdom. It is one of the ten best days here in New York. I spoke with Sunita as she was on her way to her work in Washington, DC. She said it is a gorgeous day in Washington today. It will be reaching 100 degrees tomorrow. We are blessed beyond belief to be living in beautiful Broome County in New York. The parsonage is surrounded with many beautiful trees. The Lord has air conditioned this region with so much generosity and love. We can be indoors and or outdoors. Alice and I walked after 9 PM last night. It was a clear and crisp night. The moon and stars were beaming with beauty and proclaiming with manifold witness the majesty and splendor of God and of our Lord.

We live in a world where many people allow themselves to be limited by their fears of hurt, disappointment, or criticism. I was recently visiting with a woman, whose 25 year old daughter committed suicide four moths ago. She struggled with various concerns and chaotic issues of living and doing life. She left behind two young children. The mother of this young mom is devastated. She is broken and dealing with an array of all kinds thoughts and feelings. I spent a considerable time to listen to her and pray with her. She is dealing with intense pain and fear.

I have been reading from Psalm 34. Many times we have to obey before we can feel delivered from our fears. David praised God and then experienced release from His fears. In Psalm 34 we are invited to extol the Lord at all times and, with our praise of His attributes, we are lifted up above our fears. The Psalmist wrote, "I will extol the Lord at all times, his praise will always be on my lips." Praise helps us gain a new perspective. Praise of God’s Lordship over all aspects of life help us see that He is sovereign and His omnipotence is greater than any problem. When we are focused on Jesus as the one who overcomes the world, we are given increased sense of His empowerment, enabling, and courage. Jesus said, "BE of good cheer, for I have overcome the world." Praise God for His resurrection power that gives you the power, love and self-discipline to cast all of your anxieties upon the Lord and He will sustain you. He will never let you down.
The Psalmist wrote, "I sought the Lord and He heard me and delivered me from all of my fears." (Psalm 34:4) Whenever we feel afraid we can trust Him to provide whatever we need. He makes us adequate with His adequacy. He provides us with courage when we are feeling timid. He gives us the confidence to speak with articulate wisdom when we are unsure of what to say. He helps us face our obstacles with the assurance that we can do everything God asks us to do with the help of Christ who gives us the strength and power. (Phil. 4:13 - Living)

Let us not try to deliver ourselves with our own power, intelligence, or personality. The arm of flesh will always fail. Paul wrote, "I did not come to you with superiority of speech, but in demonstration of the Spirit and power so your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God."
Whenever John Wesley felt afraid he would just pause to pray and praise God for the fact that He was still on the throne of heaven ruling all things well. Wesley wrote, "I have never known more than fifteen minutes of anxiety or fear. Whenever, I feel fearful emotions overtaking me I just close my eyes and thank God that he is still on the throne reigning over everything and I take comfort in His control over all the affairs of my life.

In Christ,

Brown

http://youtu.be/NuBC4ocgm0c

Brown's Daily Word 7-24-12

It is summer time in New York. It is brilliant and beautiful all around. I drove someone home last Sunday after morning worship. He lives in an apartment complex on a higher elevation. We stood outside his apartment and looked around the beautiful vista as far as the eyes can see. He said we live in one of the most beautiful parts of the world. Alice and I walk almost every day after 9 PM. The stars decorate the sky with so much beauty and splendor.

King David spent much of his life outdoors. He got a glimpse God's glory and splendor all around him. In Psalm 19, King David told us that creation declares God's glory and creativity. He spoke specifically about the heavens and the skies. We see the sun marching across the sky in verses 5-6 being used as an image of majesty. However, these are but symbols indicating the broader sweep of God's creation. Everything in creation declares God's glory and presence.

Paul, in Romans 1:20, made this point: "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities — his eternal power, his divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made..." "the heavens are telling the glory of God" not, "the heavens are God" David's Psalm maintains a firm distinction between creation and the creator. This is one of the distinctives of Christianity. Creation is not God. If you look around today, you see a lot of people who want to embrace spirituality, yet they make the mistake of assuming that creation contains the divine (including the idea that man is divine). We see circles of people trying to revive paganism, running around in togas and animal skins while chanting in groves. They concoct rituals to help them connect with nature. Some may dismiss them as kooks, but many are sincere persons who have sensed something of divinity in nature and something within them yearns for connection. This is where pure nature spirituality falls short. Creation is sufficient to reveal the glory and majesty and splendor of God, but it is not sufficient to reveal His character and personality.

The first part of Psalm 19 talks about God revealing himself through creation, theologians call that "general revelation". The second part of the Psalm talks about God revealing himself in a special way, through Scripture. Verses 7-11 focus on this special form of revelation. God reveals himself through his Scriptures; through creation, God reveals glory. Through the Scriptures, God reveals his will, through law, statutes, precepts, commands, and ordinances. Notice the claims made for the Scripture — it is perfect, trustworthy, radiant, more precious than gold. Scripture reveals details about God's character and his expectations of his creatures.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 states, "All Scripture is God-breathed, and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every Good work." Psalm 19 shows that God's revelation in creation is enough to show that He exists and He is glorious. It also shows that God's revelation in Scripture is trustworthy and is our guide for life. Francis Schaeffer, one of the great thinkers of the 20th century, explained the relationship of revelation in creation and revelation in Scripture this way:

"Finite man in the external universe, being finite, has no sufficient reference point if he begins absolutely and autonomously from himself and thus needs certain knowledge. God gives us this in the Scriptures. With this in mind the scientist can understand, in their ultimate relationships, the truths that he is looking at."

Because we are finite creatures, we cannot grasp the foundational truths of the universe without God's direct help.

Ultimately, it is God's Word that gives us certain knowledge about his character and desires. In Isaiah 55:11 God spoke to his people, "... my word that goes forth from my mouth, it will not return to me empty, but I accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." God will accomplish his ends through his word. Hebrews 4:12 reveals, "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow, it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."

In Christ,

Brown

http://youtu.be/V2PMMBIPXEY

Brown's Daily Word 7-23-12

Blessings, honor, and praise to Jesus our Lord who is upon His Throne. He rules with truth and grace. Alice and I drove up to Boston for a few days last week. We brought Micah, Simeon, and Ada back with us for the weekend. It was Ada's first overnight away from her mommy and daddy (2 nights, actually). Daytime was easy, as Ada adored being out of doors. She has a way of bringing you your shoes, so that you know she wants you to take her outside. . . Adorable!

Sunita drove up from Washington on Friday, Jessie and Tom came up from Philadelphia Friday night, and Laureen came home on Friday, too. Janice and Jeremy joined us late Saturday night. Our friends Warren and Linda came down from Vermont for the weekend. It was great weend culminating in worship and praise in His house yesterday. Warren preached and Laureen led the music in worship. The Lord blessed us. It was a great treat to have all the family (except Andy) back home for the weekend. Andy could not get home because of prior commitments. It was a great treat to have Micah, Simeon, and little Ada to ourselves for a few days. Their adoring Aunties spoiled them. We praise the Lord for His blessings which money cannot buy.

` We were all stunned last week by the senseless violence and tragedy in Colorado. So many young people were killed and so many more were injured. We do not understand and cannot comprehend the depths of evil and sin all around us. I was sharing with my daughter Sunita about my feelings of grief and anger. She reminded me that in the midst of violence and horror, terror and godlessness, Jesus is the Lord. He is the king of all nations and all people.

I watched the Prayer Vigil that was held at Aurora, Colorado last night. It was a powerful and very moving service. All the pastors who participated in the service exalted the Name of Jesus our Lord, the Prince of peace and the Lord of great comfort. In the time of prosperity as a nation we tend to forget the Lord. We intentionally igonore Him and publicly proclaim that He has no place in our public arena. We publicly, and blatantly, disregard Him. In the time of tragedy and massive grief the nation comes before the Lord seeking His comfort and His grace.

The pastors who were involved in prayer vigil led the people in prayer seeking the Lord's peace and comfort for the families and friends of those who died in the tragedy. One of the Biblical passages used during the service was taken from II Corinthians 4:7.

2 Corinthians 4:7-18

New International Version (NIV)

⁷ But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. ⁸ We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
President Obama, during his address, shared from Revelation 21:

A New Heaven and a New Earth

21 ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴ ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’^[b] or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

The prayer vigil concluded with singing of the hymn, "Amazing Grace".

In the midst of tragedy the Lord comes to us in the deep places of pain and sorrow. The Lord brings out the best in people. It was reported the three young men in the theater gave their lives for their girl friends. They died protecting their girl friends. One of the young men who escaped unharmed was asked how he was going to live his life. He said, "Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior; He will lead me on. I will live for Him".

The Bible declares, "Weeping may tarry for the night but joy comes in the morning."

One of the most moving scenes in John Milton’s classic Paradise Lost, a fictionalized account of the fall of man, comes near the end when Adam is granted a peek into the future. Adam is heartsick when he sees the horrors his descendants—us, all of humanity—would experience in the millennia to come. He saw the fear, the heartlessness, the selfishness, the deaths haunting the future. He had to face the truth of the consequences of his rebellion against God . He saw that all his descendants would be born with a sinful nature determined to rebel against God also. The Bible confirms the truth that Adam’s sin brought death into the world, such as Romans 5:12—“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” In Milton’s epic poem Adam was also shown the promise of the Deliverer—Jesus Christ—whose shed blood on the Cross would pay for man’s guilt.
Yet, as we look around us we need always to realize that man’s rebellion started the problems in this world. Death and suffering are not God’s fault, but man’s. From a very secular perspective, death has always been part of this world and is even the agent of progress as the weak die to make room for the strong. But God tells us the truth in the Bible. He reminds us that Death is not what we were created for. Death is an intruder, the enemy. Thanks to God for His grace in sending His Son Jesus Christ, “The last enemy that will be destroyed is death” (1 Corinthians 15:26).

Christians know that the human heart is capable of great evil. Human history includes a catalog of human horrors. The twentieth century, described by historian Eric Hobsbawm as the century of “megadeath,” included a list of names such as Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, Pol Pot, and Charles Manson. Yet, even those murderers usually did their killing from a distance. Those who carry out murders themselves are even more haunting to us somehow. The young man arrested in this case, 24-year-old James Holmes, looks disarmingly normal.

The Fall of Adam released human moral evil into the cosmos, and every single human being is a sinner, tempted by a full range of sinfulness. When someone does something as seemingly unthinkable as this, we often question how anyone could do such a thing. The prophet Jeremiah spoke to this question when he lamented, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick, who can understand it?” [Jeremiah 17:9]

Human beings are capable of unspeakable moral evil. We are shocked by such atrocities, but as we have some distance from the last great unspeakable act we tend to forget about it. We cannot afford to be shocked when humans commit grotesque moral evil. It tells us the truth about unbridled human sin. Praise the Lord for the great Good News of redemption in and through Jesus Christ our Lord. He offers new life free and full. We can be born again. He gives us a new heart. He gives us a new purpose. He offers us a new destiny. We serve a Lord who is the God of great comfort. He comforts those who mourn. He heals the broken hearted. He welcomes the prodigals home and throws a great banquet. We rejoice with those who rejoice. We are called to mourn with those who mourn. We pray for the church of Jesus Christ to proclaim and live the Good News of grace and comfort. We pray that the Lord would draw us as a nation back to Him.

In Christ,

Brown

http://youtu.be/bqEyCB_KnHA