Brown's Daily Word 6/17/15

Praise the Lord for the another Wednesday.  We will have one more Wednesday here at our present location.  We will meet for our Wednesday Gathering this evening at 6:00 PM.  The Lord blesses us with abundant foods in these meetings.  Best of all He blesses us with sweet fellowship.  We have been meeting on Wednesdays since 1990.   The Lord has blessed us, His Sprit has provoked us,  and He has filled our cups to the brim.  Recently we had some friendly and invigorating rains.   I drove by some of the countryside yesterday, where everything is all green.  All the corn fields look vigorous and jubilant, praising the Lord and dancing before Him.

 

    One of the headlines I read recently said, "Missionary Pioneer Elisabeth Elliot Passes Through Gates of Splendor ".  I praise the Lord for the courageous, valiant,  and fearless witness of Jim and Elizabeth Elliott.  Jim Elliott  passed through the Gates of Splendor in 1955 as a very young and a very passionate missionary along with four other winsome missionaries.  I have been moved and blessed by the witness and the writtings of Eliabeth Elliott.  I met her in person a few years ago in Boston.

    A recent survey revealed the nineteen most popular stars on Twitter.  The list consisted of the people from the entertainment world who are often confused and lost.  I do not envy them nor do I begrudge them their moment in the spotlight.  But it did make me stop and think, "Who are the stars from God’s point of view?"  In my view, Elizabeth Elliot is a star.
 Jesus himself said, “You are the light of the world . . . Let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in Heaven" (Matthew 5:14, 16).  Paul said the same thing in Philippians 2:15, “You shine like stars in the world.”  The word “star” was also used in the first century for a navigational beacon that would shine in the dark to lead the ships safely into the harbor.  Christians are bright stars in a dark world.  We are put here to shine the light and so guide others safely home to God.
    Paul told the Philippians that they were “stars in the world.”  Many centuries ago Tertullian declared that “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” Wherever the church has gone, the cost of a new field has always been paid in blood.  I read about an inscription that  read something like this, “We plant this seed in the hope that it will someday bear a harvest of souls for the Kingdom.”

    The world has its stars and God has His.  Many Christians are martyred in the world today.  It is open season on faithful and joyful, defenseless Christians.When I think of Jim and Elizabeth Elliott, my mind runs to Hebrews 11:35-38 and its list of believers who suffered for their faith.  “Others were tortured and refused to be released . . . Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison.  They were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated.”  And then this wonderful phrase, “The world was not worthy of them.” 

In Christ,
Pastor Brown
https://youtu.be/zHnmy0A9qTY