Brown's Daily Word 2-1-13

Praise the Lord for this first day of February, the shortest month of the year. We are getting closer to Spring. We will enter the season of Lent later this month. Praise the Lord for the seasons that the Lord appoints for our lives on Earth. Praise the Lord for the seasons in the Church calendar.
I love to reflect on the reluctant prophet, Jonah. We all are reluctant and hesitant in following Christ whole-heartedly. Jonah, as he attempted to be a "Runaway prophet", found himself in the belly of the great fish. He was in a dire situation. To paraphrase Samuel Johnson, “Nothing clears the mind like the certain knowledge that you will be shot in the morning." Jonah was in the darkest, bleakest, situation of his life, and that kind of hopeless future has a way of clearing the mind of trivial details.

Faced with such a desperate future, we would not worry about washing the car - someone else can do it. Faced with your last day of life on earth you would have got bigger things to worry about. So it was for Jonah, but first he had to come to his senses. Jonah 2:1 says, “From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God." While he was inside the fish, he composed a beautiful prayer that takes the form of a psalm. He cried out to God for help. “In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry” (v. 2). Jonah did no boasting here. He knew that God alone could save him, and that if God does not, he would never get out of the great fish alive.

He confessed that God put him where into that great fish. “You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas" (v. 3). Notice that Jonah did not blame the sailors for throwing him into the deep nor did he blame the storm or the great fish. Jonah clearly saw that behind the ship, the storm, the casting of lots, the raging sea, and the great fish, stood the Lord of the Universe. Jonah bowed before God and said, “I’m here because you put me here." It is a great advance spiritually to stop blaming others for your problems. Jonah made great spiritual strides when he acknowledged that he must answer to the Lord alone.

Though Jonah faced certain death in the belly of the great fish, he came to the heart of his own sin and disobedience. He remembered that the Lord was his only hope. “When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord” (v. 7). Finally Jonah began acting like a true believer. After all Jonah's running away, disobedience, prodigality, and self-centered living, God had Jonah’s undivided attention. God will do whatever it takes to bring us to the place where we remember Him, whatever it takes to get us to turn our hearts towards HOME.

From the depths of the sea and the stinky belly of the fish, Jonah vowed to serve the Lord. “But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good" (v. 9). We can observe the spiritual progress Jonah was making in this psalm. First, he acknowledged that God put him where he was. Second, he accepted God’s discipline. Third, he thought he was going to die. Fourth, he finally remembered the Lord. Then and only then did he vow to serve the Lord. He came to the great conclusion in verse 10: “Salvation is of the Lord."

This is the hardest lesson for any of us to learn. Salvation starts with God and it ends with God. Some of us struggle a lifetime to learn this and, once learned, most of us have learn it over and over again. Some people never learn it at all. There is no salvation, no deliverance, and no getting better until we realize that if God doesn’t save us, we will never be saved. That’s the advantage of being in the belly of a great fish. It clears the mind so you can think about what really matters most. In the terrifying darkness inside the fish, Jonah realized the folly of fighting against God. Salvation starts with God and it ends with God. It is all about GRACE.

The grace of God is not just amazing. It’s outrageous! It welcomes the worst sinners into the courts of heaven. It makes a way for even super-religious people to be forgiven of all their sins. To the rebel who today languishes in the far country, feeling alone and forgotten, God’s grace reaches out and says, “Jesus has paid the price. He has paved the way. When we are ready, we can come away from far away country.. a great welcome waits at Home. This is the GOOD NEWS.

In Christ,

Brown

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Brown's Daily Word 1-30-13

Praise the Lord for this last Wednesday of January. It will be very mild and rainy here in the beautiful Southern Tier of New York. We will gather for our Mid-week gathering this evening at 6 PM with a special meal followed by our study and sharing, "40 Days of Love" by Rick Warren, followed by choir practice at 7:30 PM .

During my recent trip to Australia I heard about the Gospel work in Papua, New Guinea , which is not far from Australia. My son-in law, Jeremy, spent one summer in Papua New Guinea on a short term Mission. In "More Jesus, Less Religion," author Steve Arterburn writes: “Some time ago, I read about the work of a Wycliffe Bible translator in a remote village in Papua New Guinea. When the opening chapters of Genesis were first translated into the native language, the attitude toward women in the tribe changed overnight. They had not realized or understood that the woman had been specially formed out of the side of the man. Without even hearing this concept developed, these people immediately grasped the ideas of equality between the sexes and began adjusting their behavior. The people heard. They believed. They obeyed. They changed. Just like that. That change doesn’t mean everyone in the tribe immediately came to faith in Christ, however. While they immediately recognized the respect God has for both men and women, the members of this tribe had their own hard-to-abandon gods and superstitions. One of their practices was to spit on the wounds of the sick. Their medicine men were known as the spitters, and they did not want someone like Jesus to take away their status in the village. However, the attitude changed as more of the Bible was translated into the tribe’s dialect. When translators read the passage where Jesus cured a blind man in a most unusual way, the medicine men pricked up their ears. The Master spit on the ground, made a paste of mud, put it on the man’s eyelids, told him to wash it off — and the man was healed. When these tribesmen heard this story in their own language, they saw that Jesus was not against them, but for them. They found one of their own, a Savior who was also a spitter! And they came to the Lord because of this connection.” These simple people heard the story and responded."
It is written in John 9 that the Lord Jesus, who is the Light of the world, healed a blind man. When the disciples asked Jesus whether the man’s blindness was caused by his sin or the sin of his parent’s, Jesus replied: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life” (John 9:3). We usually think of those words in relation to what Jesus is going to do by healing the blind man, but I think Jesus had something greater in mind. The work of God in this man’s life would point to something larger that God was (is) going to do in the world. In this man’s healing there is the promise of the final healing that God will bring to the whole earth. It is the mustard seed planted in the ground. It is the yeast hidden in the dough. It is the treasure hidden in a field. It is what the whole world is moving toward. It is the secret of what God will bring about on the Last Day when he transforms the world and we who are in it.

Within the fallenness and suffering of the world there is the promise that something new is about to happen. The healing of the blind man, the raising of Lazarus, and the forgiveness of the repentant adulterer are all signs of this promise. Above all, the resurrection of Jesus is the sign that the end of the story has not yet been told. There is more to come. In the restoration of all things, blindness, rejection, death and sin will be no more. We will hear a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” And he who is seated on the throne will say, “I am making everything new!’” (Revelation 21:3-5).
What happens when blindness meets the Light of the World, when sinners meet the Savior, when hunger meets the Bread of life, when thirst meets the Living Water, when lost sheep meet the Good Shepherd, when the rejected meet incarnate Love, and when the dead meet Christ, who is the Resurrection and the Life? The blind receive their sight, the sinful receive forgiveness, the hungry are filled and satisfied, the lame walk, the sick are cured, people are made whole, the disconsolate find hope, prisoners are set free, those who once mourned are filled with joy, the dead are raised and eternal life is inherited. This is the promise of the risen, eternal Christ. Jesus said, “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world’” (Matthew 25:34).
In this present world things do not always work out the way they are supposed to, or the way we want them to. There is hunger, thirst and sickness. The question is whether we will trust God until then, as we go through difficulties and disappointments? Will we live in hope? Will we only see the present circumstances and allow ourselves to sink into bitterness and despair? As surely as sunrise conquers the dark, and Spring triumphs over winter, God’s new day will heal all the wrongs of the world. Weakness will be turned to strength. Rejection will be forgotten in God’s embrace. Joy comes in the morning. Love will conquer hate, good will triumph over evil and Jesus will reign. Jesus said, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

In Christ,

Brownhttp://youtu.be/DSKnkqAOhpA

“And as He spoke, He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.” ― C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle

Brown's Daily Word 1-29-13

Praise the Lord for this new day. We have had a bitter cold spell here in New York, but the heat wave is on its way here. We have been studying Rick Warren's series "40 Days of Love" in our Wednesday Evening Gathering. The presentation and study are both thought provoking and challenging. I am challenged to focus on people. Rick Warren talks about in his presentation that on his death bed a person is unlikely to ask to see his diplomas, degrees, trophies, and gadgets. Rather, he wants see the people in his life who are dear to him. John Wesley was surrounded by his friends and the partners in the Gospel, who sang hymns and read the Scriptures. I am challenged to focus on people and their lives.

Paul wrote the letter to The Romans, which is full of deep Theological treatises and concepts. In last chapter of Romans Paul focused on people. In Romans 16 it is written: 1 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Cenchreae, 2 that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints, and help her in whatever she may need from you, for she has been a patron of many and of myself as well. 3 Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, 4 who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks but to all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well. 5 Greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in Asia. 6 Greet Mary, who has worked hard for you. 7 Greet Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners. They are well known to the apostles, and they were in Christ before me. 8 Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord. 9 Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and my beloved Stachys. 10 Greet Apelles, who is approved in Christ. Greet those who belong to the family of Aristobulus.......

The first characteristic of Paul’s heart as described in this chapter is that it overflowed with personal love. If the long list of names and greetings in these verses teaches us anything, it is that Paul had a genuine love for people. In this chapter, the word “greet” appears twenty-two times, and eighteen of them are by Paul. Our text features thirty-three names. Paul was a “people person” par excellence.
The parade of names in this closing chapter of Romans repeatedly affirms Paul’s affection for his Christian brothers and sisters in Rome. Warmhearted Paul’s loving example challenges us. If our hearts beat with something of the pulse of the apostle Paul, we will be “people persons” who are affectionate to each other.
Some time ago, an eighty-seven-year-old widow in Grand Rapids appealed to the state to place her in a nursing home. “I don’t blame people for not taking the time to see me. I’m not very interesting,” she said. “Everybody I knew is dead or moved away. I’d like to talk to somebody who’s alive. I’d like some company.” The newspaper article reporting on her situation went on to note that except for a shopping trip once or twice a month this widow rarely left her apartment. Her typical day began at 6:30 a.m. with a breakfast of toast and coffee. Then she would water her “garden in the kitchen,” which consisted of five small potted plants. After tidying up the place, she would spend the rest of the day looking out the window. Her day ended at 8:30 p.m. After a light supper she went to bed.
Perhaps we may regard this story as sad, but listen to what eminently astute observer Charles Reich writes in his book "The Greening of America": "America is one vast terrifying anti-community. The great organizations to which most people give their working day, and the apartments and suburbs to which they return at night, are equally places of loneliness and alienation. . . . Protocol, competition, hostility and fear have replaced the warmth of the circle of affection which might sustain man against a hostile universe."
The names of people around us must be important to us. We should remember them because we care. The richest people in town are always those who love the most. They are the “people persons”—the affectionate—those who remember names and pray for them receive the most.
`Though Paul was the supreme intellect of the Early Church, and though Paul had a heart that burned for the glory of God, as few have in the history of the world, he would not have been used as he was if he had not had a heart for people. The truly revolutionary heart is not just a visionary heart with great dreams, but a heart which loves people, a heart which remembers names, a heart with a good word for its brothers and sisters.

May we have such a heart so that future generations may sing:

"For all the saints who from their labors rest,
Who Thee by faith before the world confessed,
Thy name, O Jesus, be forever blest,
Alleluia! Alleluia!

In Christ,

Brown

http://youtu.be/1OaBgaMcOvM

Brown's Daily Word 1-28-13

Praise the Lord for this new day. I trust you all had a blessed weekend of rest, renewal, worship and witness and fellowship. The Lord blessed us with a very full weekend. The Saturday evening of worship, witness, food, and fellowship at the First United Methodist Church was a blast. The Lord of the Church visited us and blessed us with His very presence and grace. It was a great blessing to be in worship with His people in His House yesterday. I preached from Ephesians 3.

The Lord of the Church, wants us more than just merely saved. Paul’s prayer was that Christ would dwell in our hearts. Dwell literally means, “to settle down and feel at home.” Jesus wants to be more than just a guest in our lives; He is the owner, or ruler. Christ wants our home to become His home.
Robert Munger wrote a fascinating booklet entitled “My Heart Christ’s Home,” in which he pictured the Christian life as a house. Jesus comes into the house and goes from room to room. He goes into the library of the mind and begins to clean up the trash found there. He replaces it with His Word. He enters the dining room of the appetite and finds many sinful desires listed on a worldly menu. He replaces things like materialism, pride, envy and lust with humility, love and purity. When he finally comes to the closet, the owner of the house hesitates to open the door to all his dark and secret sins. He can’t bear to have Jesus look inside. But Jesus does come inside,­ only after He’s invited,­ and cleans it up. Jesus then settles down and feels at home.
In Ephesians 3, Paul contemplated and pondered on the thrill of experiencing God’s power, plumbing the depths of God’s love, trying to grasp all that He has for us, and striving to be filled with the fullness of the Lord Himself. Paul burst forth into a glorious doxology of praise towards the end of the chapter. In this beautiful benediction, Paul used every word possible to convey the vastness of God’s power that is available to us today.
In verse 20 we read that God is able... He is able. There is nothing that God cannot do. He is able to do. God is not idle or asleep, but active in our lives.
He is able to do immeasurably more. His expectations are higher than our requests. He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask. He listens to our prayers. He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. God reads our thoughts. He is able to do this according to His power that is at work within us. God does all this through the power that is already in us.
The phrase translated “immeasurably more” is the same word for the abundant grace of God in Romans 5:20: “…But where sin increased, grace increased all the more.” It literally means, “Superabundantly, with more added to that.” Verse 21 shows us that the glory of God is displayed in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Paul saw the church as the means by which much glory can be given to God. In other words, as we utilize the power given to us, God receives the glory.

May He Praised.

Brown

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