Brown's Daily Word 11-6-13

Praise the Lord for this new day.  We will gather for our Wednesday evening fellowship and  study at 6 PM.  We will be looking at Hebrews chapter 9.  The concert  by Steven Curtis Chapman, Laura Storie, and Jason Gray, and the group was a blessing last night.  It was great blessing to see so many friends from around the area whom I had not seen lately.  It was kind of a family gathering.  One of the singers was young woman from Georgia.  She is the one who composed one of my favorite songs, "He Is Mighty to Save".  She sang with great enthusiasm and zeal.  She shared that her young husband has had a brain tumor, for which he  had surgery, and is recovering.  In the midst of trials and tragedy we can declare our Lord is mighty to save.  Another young artist, born in Minnesota, sang and praised the Lord.  He has a severe stuttering problem when he speaks, but when  he sang there was no stuttering.  He shared, "And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.  Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."  II Corinthians 12. 

    Indeed, our Lord and Savior is mighty to save to the uttermost.  He saves the least, the last, and the lost . . . the rich and the poor . . . the greedy and the covetous . . . the haughty and the poor in spirit.  There is a powerful statement made in the book of Hebrews, "He is able."  In fact, He is more than able.  Though we may find ourselves entangled by the clutches and powers of darkness and sin, even if we find ourselves in the depths of despair and in the dread of the tomb, our Lord is able.  All glory and honor belong to Him.  

    In Victor Hugo's fascinating novel The Toilers of the Sea there's an evil character named Claubert who wants to rob a shipload of passengers who are far out at sea. With this in mind, he intentionally runs the ship aground on a sandbar and then, pretending to be a hero, convinces all the people to disembark into life rafts while he stays behind to try to save the ship.  After everyone has left the ship, he goes into the stateroom, breaks into the safe and steals all the money, gold, and jewels which had been stored there for safe-keeping.  He puts everything into a large pack which fits over his shoulders and then jumps overboard, planning to swim to a nearby island where ships come by regularly, thinking that he'll eventually be rescued.  After he jumps into the ocean and hits the bottom, he pushes off towards the surface, only to be grabbed around the ankle by an icy tentacle.  It's the tentacle of an octopus and as he shakes free from one, another grabs him around the shoulder and then another around the waist and before he realizes it, he's being dragged to the bottom where he drowns.

 

    That's exactly what sin does to us.  It grabs us and binds us and drags us down and if it's not dealt with, it can destroy us.  Only Jesus can set us free from the powerful tentacles of sin!  He is mighty to save.

  In Jesus our Lord,

                Brown

http://youtu.be/-08YZF87OBQ

Brown's Daily Word 11-5-13

   Praise the Lord for this new day.  The Autumn days in New York are awesome and brilliant so many ways.  It is going to be another gorgeous day.  The Fall Foliage is still colorful.  There is a Forsythia bush in the church grounds which has beautiful flowers.  It was early morning last week  when,one big buck "frolicked" by the parsonage.  Another  deer came by the parsonage yesterday evening , dancing unhurried and unafraid.  Alice had planted some pie pumpkins in our little garden this summer.  We harvested not pie pumpkins but 2 different winter squash which are multicolored and exotic.  We also have picked some pears from one of our pear trees.  They are huge, delicious, crisp, and  juicy.  Praise the Lord.  Alice and I are  going to a concert by Steven Curtis Chapman this evening.  Praise the Lord for the Life and Liberty we have in Jesus Christ, the great life giver and the great liberator.

    Two professors of the Duke University wrote a book few years ago and titled, "Resident Aliens".   Christians are indeed are resident aliens.  Our Lord said that we are in the world but not of the world.  One of the hymn writers said, "Guide me, O Thou Great Jehovah, Pilgrim in the Barren Land".

    In his book, The Image — A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America, Daniel Boorstin points out that over the past century and a half people have moved from being travelers to becoming tourists. The Old English noun “travel” was originally the same word at “travail” — trouble, work, torment. For centuries, to travel was to submit to a certain kind of torture, to do something tough.

That began to change in the middle of the 19th century.  Some entrepreneur came up with the idea of marketing travel as an adventure.  Thus was born the tour. Legend has it that the very first tour took place in 1838.  A group of people from Wadebridge, England, traveled by special train to the nearby village of Bodmin. There they had the fun of watching the hanging to two killers.  Since the Bodmin gallows was in clear view of the uncovered station, the tourists had their adventure without even needing to leave their open railway carriages.

    To live on purpose we need to learn the difference between being a tourist in life — going only where it’s convenient and comfortable, and a traveler — one who determines his or her own way in life and will get there even if it means blazing a new trail.  One reason why so many people try to climb Mt. Everest is that they want to push themselves and do something that makes them feel alive.  But we can push ourselves in moral, spiritual, and relational areas also.  Consider Joshua, the Old Testament leader who challenged his people to choose their purpose in life and to stay with it.  He said to them, “If serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:15).  Joshua refused simply to exist.  He chose to live.

  In Christ,

   Brown

http://youtu.be/7s1suWhb5KA

Brown's Daily Word 11-4-13

    Praise the Lord for this First Monday of November.  The Lord blessed us with a wonderful day in His house yesterday.  Indeed, better is one day in His house than a thousand elsewhere.   We had a phone call yesterday at 6 AM.  It was our oldest granddaughter, Micah, who turned 8 years old yesterday.  Micah told my wife, "It seems like only yesterday that I was seven."  Ada, the youngest took the phone from her sister to tell me, "Grandpa, today is my birthday.  Ada is two.  Her birthday is January.  Our nephew Bernard is turning 18 today.  He was born a preemie. When he came to the USA , he did not speak a single word in English.  He is an honor student now.  Jessica and Tom are in Tanzania on vacation.  Laureen and some of her friends attended a Syracuse  Football game against Wake Forest at the Carrier Dome Saturday.  It was at the Carrier dome a few years ago that Laureen went forward accept Jesus into her heart at a Billy Graham Crusade.  Sunita and Andy were were spending some time this weekend making Churches aware of the need for Christian adoptions.  Janice and Jeremy were busy celebrating Micah's birthday.  It is all praise and thanksgiving. 

    We had a pastors' luncheon last Thursday, at which we had pastors and servant leaders attending representing Baptists, Assemblies of God, United Methodists, Free Methodists, Baptists, Roman Catholics, and Charismatic.  It was a treat and a blessing. 

    One of the readings for yesterday was taken from Luke 19: 1-10 The following is a brief summary of the sermon that I preached.

    A pastor phoned the home of some recent visitors to the church.  A voice on the other end of the phone answered with a whispered "Hello."    

    The pastor asked, "Who is this?."

    The whispered voice said, "Jimmy."

    The pastor asked, "How old are you, Jimmy?"

    The voice said, "Four."

    The pastor then asked, "Jimmy, can I please speak to your mom?"

    Jimmy answered, "She's busy."

    "Then can I please speak to your dad?"

    "He's busy."

    "Are there any other adults in your home?"

    "The police."

    "Then let me speak to one of the police officers."

    "They're busy."

    "Jimmy, who else is there?"

    "Firemen."

    "Well, can you put one of the firemen on the phone?" 

    "They're busy."

    "Jimmy, what are they all busy doing?"

    "They're all busy looking for me!"

    Just like Jimmy, a lot of people are hiding.  They're hiding from parents and police; they're hiding from bosses and spouses;  maybe even most of the time, they're hiding from God.  In the Garden of Eden, everything was originally perfect, and Genesis tells us that Adam and Eve were naked and not ashamed.  There was full knowing, full disclosure and complete intimacy. There was absolutely no concept of "Hiding"!  But with the entrance of sin, that all changed.  After Adam and Eve disobeyed God, He came looking for them and called out to them: "Where are you?"  Adam whispered "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid, and so I hid."

    Luke tells us that as Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem He was passing through the city of Jericho.  As He did so, a very rich tax-collector who lived there named Zacchaeus wanted to see who Jesus was (Luke 19:1-2).  We have little information on Zacchaeus other than the fact that he was rich, but when he heard that Jesus, who had a reputation for being friendly with tax-collectors, prostitutes and the other ragged and unruly elements of society, was coming through town he wanted to see Him (Luke 19:3-4).  He was curious and wanted to see Jesus but he did not want Jesus to see him!  Then comes the surprise.  As Jesus walked down the street, He looked up in the tree and said, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down because I'm coming over for lunch!" (Luke 19:5).

    Zacchaeus hustled down out of that tree and received Christ gladly, though many of the people grumblde because Jesus has gone home with such a notorious sinner (Luke 19:6-7).  It wasn't news to Zacchaeus that he was widely viewed as a sinner.  He knew he was sinful, but I think he also knew, perhaps at some deep, intuitive level, that he had finally met the one person who could forgive his sinfulness and help him deal with all the brokenness that his sin had caused in his life and in the lives of others.

    What was true for Zacchaeus is equally true for us.  Our sin -- every aspect of it and every sin we've ever committed -- needs to be brought out of the tree of hiding and into the light of forgiveness.  The only One who can forgive our sin and heal us of our brokenness is Jesus.'God demonstrated His love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.'

    Some time ago,I heard the story of Debbie Johnson, a bright and beautiful mom to two young kids and a great wife to her husband, Dave, a pastor in Denver.  In late 1993, Dave and Debbie got a call to serve a church in Minnesota so they packed up their belongings and made the long trek in mid-winter to their new ministry and new home.  About six months after they arrived, Debbie was diagnosed with cancer and less than a year later she died, though she didn't have to die!  They caught the cancer in time and with the proper treatment she could have been cured, but two months before she was diagnosed, she discovered that she was pregnant with their third child and in order for the child to live, she had to refuse the chemotherapy and radiation treatments.  She struggled desperately over the next seven months and finally gave birth to that baby and then, not too long afterwards, she went to be with the Lord.  She died so that her child could live!

    That's exactly what Jesus did for us!  He died so that we might live!  Not only has He come to find us but He also came to forgive us!  There is not a person alive who doesn't need the saving, sacrificial, forgiving love of Jesus in their life.  The reason why is because our sin gets us all tangled up.  It binds us and holds us, and if it is not dealt with, it eventually drags us down to destruction.  Only Jesus can set us free from the powerful tentacles of sin!  That's what He did for Zacchaeus and that is exactly what He desires to do for each of us.

    Zacchaeud receives Jesus in to his house and served Him and His disciples a big diiner, showing extravagant Hospitality.  As Jesus encountered Zachaeus, something miraculous happened to Zachaeues, his life changed dramatically.  He was born again.  Then he proceeded to make an incredible claim, that he would give one-half of his possessions to me poor and, if he had defrauded anyone, he would ay back 4 times as much (Luke 19:8).  This was an incredibly generous act which went beyond the requirements of Old Testament law.  Jesus' response in Luke 19:9-10 helps us to understand as,  "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man too, is a son of Abraham.  For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."

    Zacchaeus had been lost but now he was found.  He had been in sin but now he has been saved.  Ultimately, in its fullest sense, salvation is freedom from the power of sin.  It appears that the major sin that Zacchaeus was trapped in was materialism.  Only one power in the universe can liberate us from the power of sin and that's Jesus of Nazareth.  He has come to find us, to forgive us, and to free us, just as He did with Zacchaeus.

  Come to Jesus and live,

      In Him,

   Brown

http://youtu.be/DSKnkqAOhpA