Brown's Daily Word 10/31/14

    Praise the Lord for this last Friday of October.  Those who live in the region, please join us for our weekly Television outreach this evening at 7 PM on Time Warner  Cable channel 4.   I also preached a brief sermon on John 2, the miracle Jesus our Lord performed at a wedding in Cana of Galilee.  This brief video posted on You Tube and also on the  Union Center United Methodist Church Facebook page.  We posted this as a trial. 

    Today is celebrated as Reformation Day in the church calendar.  The Lord used  Martin Luther to shed His Light on the church afresh and anew.  The Lord also used Martin Luther to recognize His grace  falling fresh on His church.  The Lord used Martin Luther to dispense His shining Light and His Fresh Grace on the church; the Lord Jesus used the servants at the wedding feast at Cana to be partners in dispensing His joy to His people.  Even in a fallen world, our Lord's  business is joy.  Our Lord Jesus is  also  in the wedding business.  Jesus our Lord is first and foremost is in the grace business.  In the wedding business the Lord provides the best wine.  Jesus brings life to dead places and dead lives.  Jesus brings joy to darkest and the most depressed places and lives.  He brings Joy to places and lives bombarded by tragedy, trials and tears.  He dispenses His joy in places and lives  saturated with deep sadness and sorrow. 

    In Isaiah 25, the prophet spoke about a great hardship coming upon the people of God due to their rebellion against him.  But then he said, God will rescue you. There will be a Messiah.  Isaiah  25:6 states, "On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well aged wine.  Of rich food full of marrow and of aged wine well refined."  This is the kind of wine that Jesus made at the feast... The very best.

    That's not all that the prophet Isaiah said.  He did not merely speak of one who would come and provide wine.  Verse seven of Isaiah 25: "And he will swallow up this mountain, the covering that is cast over all peoples."  He's not just coming to bring a rich feast with a lot of good wine; he is coming to move the covering—that's the death shroud—that is upon the people.  He is going to swallow up death for all people.  When John described Cana he was not talking about Jesus taking away death. Go back to John 4:46 and we read, "So Jesus came again to Cana in Galilee." 

    Jesus went back to Cana.  "He came again to Cana in Galilee where he had made the water wine.  And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill." Verse 50, "Jesus said to this official, 'Go, your son will live.'"  The official went back to his own town, where he met his servants as they were coming to get him, and the servants said, "Your son has been healed."  The official asked when this happened.  They gave the hour and it was exactly the hour that Jesus told him that his son would be healed.  He was given life again.

    This is not all that Isaiah spoke about.  He did not merely just say that this one who would come wouldl give much good wine and life.  The Book of Isaiah says he would give life to all people.  The official whose son was on the verge of death was not Jewish, but a Roman centurion, speaking to the way that the gospel was extended to all peoples.  Isaiah also said, "He will swallow up death forever and the Lord God will wipe away tears from their faces."

    The story of great feast and joy continues in the book of Revelation, where we read about  the great consummation as all the peoples who have trusted in Jesus come together, there will be a great feast before the Lamb, a great wedding feast of the Lamb.  I love to read about the Great wedding Feast of the Lamb.  The people of God are there, the new Jerusalem will come down from heaven adorned as a bride, and at that point God will wipe away "All tears from their eyes." 

    Tomorrow is All Saints Day.  We celebrate the Life that Jesus our Lord offers to us including those who have gone before us.  Praise the Lord for the way He is preparing the Wedding feast for all of us.  He is the Host.  We are honored guests. When we all pause and  ponder  on one so powerful there will be an eternal life with him so that when the things of this earth grow strangely dim, as hard as they have been, our hearts continue to rejoice because we recognize the one who has promised  to us as the one who is in the wedding business—whether in sickness or in health, plenty or in want, sin or shame—  affirming to us that "you are mine, both now and forever

In Christ,

  Brown

http://youtu.be/6LclvO3wHGg

Brown's Daily Word 10/30/14

 

    The Lord blessed us with an amazing Wednesday gathering.  The fellowship was sweet and and time of study was a great blessing.  To my friends around outside the America the beautiful, tomorrow the 31st of October is Halloween.  In the Church calender it is All Saints Eve and also Reformation day.  The name "Halloween" comes from the All Saints Day celebration of the early Christian Church, a day set aside for the solemn remembrance of the martyrs.  All Hallows Eve, the evening before All Saints Day, began the time of remembrance.  "All Hallows Eve" was eventually contracted to "Hallow-e'en," which became "Halloween."  I came to the States on the 5th of September 1974.  I attended my first ever Halloween party in Princeton, NJ  on the 31st of October, 1974.  I remember to this day that one of the men in the gathering shared how the the people with out Christ distorted the Lord's prayer, "Hallowed be Thy Name" into "Halloween". 

    Without Christ any culture becomes chaotic and demonic.   People without Christ are hoodwinked and drawn to the demonic influence of witches, witchcraft, ghosts, and ghoulish spirits.  People without Christ focus on on death, occultism, divination, and the thought of spirits returning to haunt the living.  Into that dark, superstitious, pagan world, God mercifully shined the light of the gospel.  Jesus shines in to the world of darkness, in to the world of evil spirits.  I came to know Jesus at an early age.  I believed that Jesus Christ has power over demonic spirits, over ghosts and goblins.   For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 2 Tim 1:7   

      In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, C. S. Lewis introduces us to four children who find their way into a wondrous land through the back of a wardrobe closet in an uncle's house.  The children, two boys and two girls, entered a magical land called Narnia, with its rolling hills, towering mountains, and rich, deep forests populated by the most remarkable beasts—all of whom can speak.  However, they found the land covered with snow, cursed by perpetual winter.

    We're also introduced to a wicked queen, a usurper to the throne.  She is also a witch who is empowered with extraordinary gifts.  She is the one who holds Narnia under her spell for this curse of perpetual winter.  Lastly we're introduced to a lion. He's a mysterious, wondrous beast who comes from beyond Narnia and from beyond time.  He's spoken of in hushed, reverent terms.  In fact, when one of the girls asked a beaver, "Is this lion safe?" the beaver responded, "Safe?  Oh my, no. But he's good."

    This lion, throughout the Chronicles of Narnia, is Christ.  This lion lays down his life for Narnia, dies on a stone table, and then rises from the dead more glorious and majestic than ever.  In his majestic risen state he proceeds to reverse the effects of the curse upon Narnia.  Wherever he goes or leads his troops, the effects of the curse are reversed.  You need not see him physically to know he is near.  You know he is near because the trees begin to thaw and the crocuses bud and bloom, and the flowers begin to break through the surface of the snow.

    Toward the end of the story, Aslan, this lion, leads a troop of liberators into the castle of the wicked queen and finds the courtyard strewn with stone statues. These statues were creatures that had been turned to stone by the curse of the wicked witch.  One wonders, as Aslan strides into this castle, how he is going to free those who have been turned to stone.  We find out immediately because the great beast strides to the first of these statues, lowers his regal head near it, and breathes upon it.  As the breath of the lion touches the stone, the stone ripples into flesh.  As his breath fills the lungs of those who were once stone, they awaken and begin to sing and dance and shout the glories of the one who freed them: Aslan, the great and mighty one.  Indeed He is in the world.. alive and well.  Satan is alsoo in the world today but he is fatally wonded and not very well.  Once Jesus  alive and He is well.  Because of Him all is well.

In Christ,

 Brown

http://youtu.be/S_OTz-lpDjw

Brown's Daily Word 10/28/14

    The Lord blessed us with a beautiful Sunday, a day set apart for worship and celebration.  Our church observed "Pastor Appreciation Sunday".  It was all good and very gracious.  Soon after the morning worship we had a special outreach ministry with the children.  The church parking lots and the church grounds were transformed into carnival scenes and settings.  The Lord gave us a glorious day yesterday.  Praise the Lord for the way He surrounds us with so much love and grace.  Praise the Lord for the way He embraces us with so much beauty and so many blessings.  He is worthy of all our praise. 

    In the midst of great blessings and bounty we are aware of massive grief and suffering in the world where we live.  We are also aware of the presence of sin and evil,  around the corner, and around the globe, including the violence and the atrocities committed against innocent people by the Moslem terrorists, the outbreak of the disease '  Ebola".  The world is in a panic mode.  People are asking, "Is anyone in charge of life?"  Yes, someone is in charge and that someone is Jesus.  I'm so impressed with the many men and women of the Bible.  When life looked and felt as though it was impossible they wrestled with God about it.  They shook their heads.  They cried.  They complained.  They accused God, but they never ignored him.  They wrestled with him.

    In the Old Testament there's the account in the book of Ruth, the daughter-in-law of the woman Naomi.  Her husband and her sons had died.  Her livelihood was cut off.  She was in a foreign country.  She said to her neighbors when she finally made her way home, "Don't call me Naomi, call me Mara, or bitter because the Lord has made my life very bitter.  I went away full but the Lord has brought me back empty.  The Lord has afflicted me.  The Almighty has brought misfortune upon me."  Do you hear her words?  Strong words and accusations against God.

    Elsewhere in the book she makes it abundantly clear that she believes in God's sovereign control of all life and in the goodness of God.  Her wrestling with God and her conviction of the goodness and power of God were not incompatible.  Job wrestled with God.  The psalmist, David, wrestled with God.  Jacob, the patriarch, also wrestled with God.

    In and through the eyes of faith we discover that God's power is amply demonstrated in creation.  Jesus' power has been seen in the miracles he has performed but, most of all, his power is demonstrated in the resurrection from the dead.  He is so powerful that he defeated death itself.  The Bible declares that His goodness and mercy never end and they never fail.  They are  amply demonstrated in the good things that we enjoy day after day.  They are demonstrated  in the newness of each morning.

    There's a great story about Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the Russian writer who spent years in a Siberian prison.  At one point he had become completely discouraged and decided to give up and die.  His plan was to stop working in the field, to lean on his shovel, and wait for the guards to come and beat him to death. However, when he stopped, another prisoner reached over with his shovel and quickly drew a cross at his feet, then erased it before a guard could see it. Solzhenitsyn later said that his entire being was energized by that little reminder of the hope and courage we have in Christ.  He found the strength to continue because a fellow believer cared enough to remind him of our hope. [Quips Quotes & Other Notes by Raymond McHenry, Hendrickson Publishers, p.78]

    By offering a simple word of encouragement, we can change someone's life.  There is an additional benefit, and that is that we will find that by encouraging others we ourselves are encouraged, and we will experience the joy of Jesus in our lives.

    There are many things about our lives that we can't control. World events take place and there's nothing we can do about it.  The economy goes up and down with or without our participation.  The future isn't ours to control; it's God's to control, and he is in control.  He wants us to know it.  His promises will come true. In the meantime, he wants us to be about his business, doing his work. Strengthening those who are weak, supporting those who fall, speaking encouragement to those who are troubled.  This is his work.  This is OUR work, our ministry.  Our reward, he has promised, is his gift of everlasting joy.

 In Christ,

 Brown

http://youtu.be/knuHDPbE5es

Brown's Daily Word 10/29/14

    Praise the Lord for this last Wednesday of October, 2014.  We will be gathering for our Mid-week fellowship and study this evening at 6 PM followed by choir practice at 7:30 PM.  I have posted a short video, "Come to Jesus and Live".  It is posted on YouTube and also on the Union Center United Methodist Church's facebook page.  We are praying that facebook will be another outreach to take the words of the Lord around the corner and around the globe.  We are praying about it, and planning to post at least two video messages per week.  Please pray that the Lord would use it to bring blessings to many.

    The Lord is blessing Sunita, Andy, and Gabe in Cypress.  Jessie and Tom have spent some time visiting them there.  Sunita reminds me that Barnbas was from Cypress.  The Lord used Barnabas as the "Son of encouragement" everywhere he was sent.  The great revolution set in motion through Christ was taking hold and spreading, but it needed people to serve it, to give their lives to it.  When the church in Jerusalem heard about this, they sent Barnabas to Antioch to check on things.  As soon as he arrived, he saw that God was behind it all and in it all.  He threw himself in with them, got behind them, urging them to stay the course for the rest of their lives.  He was a good man that way, enthusiastic and confident in the Holy Spirit's ways.  The community grew large and strong in the Master …. [Barnabas was] there a whole year, meeting with the church and teaching a lot of people. It was in Antioch that the disciples were for the first time called Christians (Acts 11:22-26, The Message).

    This passage of Scripture has always challenged me.  On the surface it's simple. There was a need to encourage a new group of believers, so they sent Barnabas.  He said yes to the need, yes to the challenge, and threw himself into it for a season of his life.  He taught and mentored, led and invested himself, serving in any way possible.  We're told he spent a year of his life doing this.

    Often we are reluctant to invest our time in the Kingdom Enterprise.  Often we invest our time and talent and even our treasures in trivial pursuit.  Barnabas gave a year of his life.  He came to know first-hand what serving through giving could do.  It changed his life, and it changed the lives of others, so when the opportunity came to do more, the choice was obvious.  He knew serving gave force to his life. He knew that being a servant would enable him to make the biggest difference he could possibly make.  He knew that the church was the hope of the world and that service to it was everything.  He took his skills and leadership abilities, and poured them into a local community of faith so that the kingdom could expand.

    Barnabas' service and ministry called for a name change.  The impact of his service was so significant that the people in Antioch called that group of believers "Christians," which means "little Christs."  The term Christians  had never been used before that moment but, because of Barnabas' investment, people's lives were being transformed into the very likeness of Christ.  For this reason people called them Christians—little Christs - and that term has stuck around for 2,000 years.  It all came to be because Barnabas chose to be a servant, just like Jesus.

    Barnabas was a great man.  People still talk about him today.  Notice what we're talking about here.  It was not about the money he made in real estate or business, but the money he gave away.  We're not talking about the people he climbed over or through to get to the top, but the people whom he helped.  We're not talking about the companies he built, but the communities of people he served.  We're not talking about his success, but his significance.  That's what Jesus wants people to talk about when they think of us.