Brown's Daily Word 3/13/15

Praise the Lord for this Friday. We are just three weeks away from Good Friday. We are getting ready for the celebration of the Easter Event. "Up from the grave He arose". . . Alleluia". Alice and I walked on one of the local trails yesterday afternoon. It was sunny and bright. The frozen river nearby is melting fast and furiously. I saw many jubilant spring birds and water fowl congregating on the open spaces of the river. Somebody has sighted robins.
  Alice is making some pies to take to school this morning for her geometry classes in celebration of ultimate pi day (though it actually is tomorrow, not today) . . . show and tell of sorts. She is leaving behind a small one for me. I am joyful.
 During my undergraduate college days( during turbulent sixties of last century) one of the books I read was a book by Billy Graham entitled, "World Aflame". One of my friends in North Carolina sent me a copy of that book in 2006. In his book, Dr. Graham depicted the how the world was an uproar in flames. We can still see the world is in a very similar situation even in 2015.
  King David, the "man after God's own heart," was described in Scripture as a man of war, though it was by faith rather than by firepower that he subdued a bear and a lion. When he faced Goliath, he announced that, though he was underarmed and overpowered, God would deliver Goliath into his hand. Why? So that "all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands" (1 Samuel 17:47).
 King David did not trust in his own arm or armaments (though he used both). Rather, he resolved, "I will not trust in my bow; neither shall my sword save me. But thou hast saved us from our enemies" (Psalms 44:6-7). And again, "Now know I that the Lord saveth his anointed; he will hear from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand. Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God" (Psalms 20:6-7).
Always David leaned on the Lord for salvation when attacked by his enemies. In 1 Chronicles 11:14 we read of the raid of the "Philistines, and the Lord saved them by a great deliverance." The ancient Jewish people learned well the lesson that if they were to be saved from their enemies, they must be on God's side, and not merely have God on their side.
 When Hezekiah was besieged by Sennacherib of Assyria, we read that he fell to his knees before the Lord in prayer. And "the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria ... and guided them on every side" (2 Chronicles 32:22). Today the word "saved" has come full circle, and it is what everybody who thinks deeply knows that man needs most. Certainly no human or military power can save us today. The psalmist wrote, "There is no king saved by the multitude of an host" (Psalms 33:16).
 Jeremiah lamented, "Our eyes as yet failed for our vain help: in our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save us" (Lamentations 4:17). Nehemiah related how, when Israel disobeyed, they would inevitably be captured and abused. But when they sought the Lord, He sent them deliverers: "Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed them; and in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them saviors, who saved them out of the hands of their enemies" (Nehemiah 9:27).
The prophet Samuel pointed erring Israel to their saving God, remonstrating them for their disobedience and defiance of God's will and ways: "And Samuel called the people together unto the Lord to Mizpeh, and said ... the Lord God of Israel ... delivered you out of the hand ... of all kingdoms, and of all them that oppressed you; and ye have this day rejected your God, who himself saved you out of all your adversities and your tribulations" (1 Samuel 10:17-19).
One of the most amazing of human frailties is man's failure to respond to God's saving grace. There is a very moving passage in Jeremiah 14:8-9 which reads, "O the hope of Israel, the savior thereof in time of trouble, why shouldest thou be a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aise to tarry for a night? Why shouldest thou be as a man astonished, as a mighty man that cannot save? Yet thou, O Lord, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; leave us not."
This passage was applicable to ancient Israel, and it is applicable to us today--to our world, to our nation, to each of us as individuals. It is man and not God who is destroying the human race.
 The ancient prophet Hosea 13:9-10 recorded God's call: "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help. I will be thy king: where is any other that [can] save thee?"
Human philosophy is as bankrupt as man's technology is dangerous. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ the prince of peace precisely prophesied the current events of our time, including an approaching holocaust that would threaten to vaporize man from the earth. Included in Jesus' forecast was that "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." When throughout the earth there is "distress of nations, with perplexity," with "men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth ... when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh" (Luke 21:24-28).
There is redemption for nations in Christ whenever they turn as a people to God in repentance and faith. "Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).
 In an increasingly impersonal world, billions of people get lost in the shuffle and miss Christ. Yet, Christ came to seek and save that which was lost.. Today He is saving individuals. Each person must begin by realizing that he cannot save himself. In Judges 7:2 we read that none are to "vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me." It is clear that man can no more save himself than he can save his world. Yet God's plan for man is that he might be saved.
 "God our Savior," wrote Paul to Timothy, "will have all men to be saved" (1 Timothy 2:3-4). The season of Lent leading to glorious Easter is the Good News of salvation. We are the bearers of the Good News. We are the ambassadors of the Savior and King. We are stewards of the mystery of the Cross.
 Let us live with confidence and courage. Let us finish the race well.
  In Him Brown
https://youtu.be/FsgwfliQoqg

Brown's Daily Word 3/12/15

Praise the Lord for the sweet rest He pours upon us. Praise the Lord for the way He brings the dawn of the new day with so much beauty and grace. I woke up this morning and looked at the sky through the bedroom window. The moon was bright and the moonlight sparkled on the remaining snow on the ground. The Lord blessed us with a wonderful Wednesday gathering with so much laughter, sweet fellowship, and thought provoking study. The sun was shining all day long yesterday so that the snow was melting briskly. I drove along the countryside, where I saw countless Geese grazing in the open fields. I knew that spring is here.
  While growing up in Orissa , India we had torrential rains during the advent of the spring season, washing the trees and drenching the earth. At times there were the tremendous thunderstorms and lightning that accompanied the Spring rains. It was all glorious, all marvelous, all beautiful. Even as a young boy I said that our God is awesome. He makes his power come alive .
  We read in the Word of God, "Give unto the LORD, O you mighty ones, give unto the LORD glory and strength. Give unto the LORD the glory due to His name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness" (Psalm 29:1-2). David explained in the very Psalm "The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders; the LORD is over many waters. The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty. The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars, yes, the LORD splinters the cedars of Lebanon. He makes them also skip like a calf, Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox. The voice of the LORD divides the flames of fire. The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; the LORD shakes the Wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the LORD makes the deer give birth, and strips the forests bare; and in His temple everyone says, 'Glory!'" (Psalm 29:3-9).
Dr. George Matheson (1842-1906) wrote: "O joy that seekest me through pain, I cannot close my heart to Thee; I trace the rainbow through the rain, and feel the promise is not vain that morn shall tearless be."
Great and precious promises fill the Bible. One is found in Romans 8:28 "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose."
While we know "[God] maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matthew 5:45); we understand God can use thunderstorms to intervene in the lives of His people, as well as those yet to become His people. May the Lord apply to our hearts these thoughts from His heart.
In Christ. Brown
  https://youtu.be/c-Jkktpp9QI

Brown's Daily Word 3/11/15

Praise the Lord for this Wednesday. We will meet for our Wednesday Gathering at 6 PM for fellowship and study followed by choir practice at 7:30 PM. Spring is almost here. We can feel it in the air we can see it in the trees and the snow melt. We are three weeks away from celebrating Glorious Easter, the event of New Life, the event of Resurrection and eternal hope. I was looking at and pondering Psalm 22, the way it concludes. (Psalms 22:30-31) Posterity shall serve him; men shall tell of the Lord to the coming generation, and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, that he has wrought it.


Somewhere along the way I heard a preacher tell a story of a woman who had reached the end of her rope. Her husband was ill and lost his job. There were financial reverses that caused them to lose their home. There were five children to feed and clothe. She tried to find employment to help make ends meet, but the situation continued to deteriorate. She become so desperate that one day, having lost all hope, she took her five-year-old daughter into the bedroom. She carefully stuffed the windows with rags and newspapers. Then she turned on the gas heater without lighting it. She put her arm around her little daughter as they laid together across the bed. She could hear the gas escaping but she also heard another noise. She'd forgotten to turn off the radio. Someone was singing; it was an old hymn, "Oh what peace we often forfeit, Oh what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry, Everything to God in prayer."


The woman realized her tragic mistake. She got up, turned off the gas, opened the windows. She said, "I began to pray. I did not pray for help. I prayed a prayer of gratitude to God. I thanked him for my life. I thanked him for our five children; and I made a promise that I would never forget my faith again. So far, I have kept that promise."


  Indeed our disappoints are our Lord's appointments. Blessed be His Name."To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:" Colo 1:27
In Christ, Brown .
http://youtu.be/ENtL_li4GbE

Brown's Daily Word 3/10/15

Praise the Lord for this new day. Spring is on the horizon, knocking at the door of the stubborn winter. It is getting warmer in the Northeast of the USA though it is like summer in the western states. Spring is arriving like a lamb so far, destroying the powers of old man winter. I hear the birds sing. The days are getting longer. Alice and I walked on one of the local trails a couple of days ago. It was reinvigorating and refreshing. It was great to see so many people walking, running, and biking in the great outdoors. The sky, cloudless in the daytime, became brilliantly starry in the late evening.


This past weekend we talked one of our granddaughters. We talked and talked. After some time she said, "Grandpa, can I go now?" "Yes darling you can go now." I looked at the clock on the phone. We were on the phone with her over 1 hour 10 minutes. It was Ada, who is only 4 years old. How sweet it is!


  I had a lunch with a couple of friends yesterday. One of my sisters fixed some delicious authentic Indian food. Alice and I, and this dear couple, have been married 40 years this coming August. It was a great time reminiscing on the faithfulness, mercy, and grace of our Lord Jesus, indeed.


  Last Sunday I preached from 1 Corinthians 1:18 as part of my Lenten preaching on how we are saved by the Cross. I Corinthians 1:18 says that, "The message of the Cross is Foolishness to those who are perishing". As far as I'm concerned, some of the best music, art, painting, and literature is that which exalts Jesus. The art, music, and paintings that center in the person of Jesus Christ transcend time and ages. One of the painters I admire is by Holman Hunt, . It is titled The Shadow of Death. The painting depicts the inside of the carpenter's shop in Nazareth. Stripped to the waist, Jesus stands by a wooden trestle on which He has put down His saw. He lifts His eyes toward heaven, and the look on His face is one of pain, ecstasy or both. He stretches, raising both arms above His head. As He does so, the evening sunlight streaming through the open door casts a dark shadow in the form of a cross on the wall behind Him, where His tool rack looks like a horizontal bar on which His hands have been crucified. The tools remind us of the fateful hammer and nails.


In the left background, a woman kneels among the wood chips, her hands resting on the chest in which the rich gifts of the Magi are kept. We cannot see her face because she has averted it, but we know it is Mary. She looks startled at her son's cross-like shadow on the wall. Holman Hunt was the leader of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, a 19th-century art movement that had a reputation for sentimentality and surrealism. Yet, there were some serious and sincere artists in the movement, and Hunt was one of them. He determined to "battle with the frivolous art of the day," to do battle with the superficial treatment of trite themes.


 So he spent 1870-1873 in the Holy Land and painted The Shadow of Death in Jerusalem from the roof of his house. The concept for Mr. Hunt's painting is pure fiction though in concept it is theologically true. From Jesus' birth and youth, the cross cast its shadow ahead of Him. The cross is inextricably tied to the Person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here an artist is so sensitive to the theme of Christ that he spent three years surveying the landscape of Jerusalem to paint the picture of the Christ succinctly, seriously, sincerely.


When Paul left Athens, the intellectual, educational, and philosophical center of the Greco-Roman world, he came to Corinth. Paul probably came to Corinth alone, walking along the streets. As he navigated the streets, it came to his mind there was religion everywhere in Corinth. There were religious institutions, philosophies, itinerant teachers, and preachers of every kind. He was one small man on foot, walking toward Corinth. When he got there, he moved in with a poor man, who was a tent maker as was he. What difference would one more preacher make coming to a city such as Corinth? No one heralded the coming of Paul. There was no mayor to hand him a key to the city. No one had any sympathy with him being there, not the Jews or the Greeks, not the pagans or the synagogue.


 Paul came to oppose everything the city of Corinth stood for in secular life and religion. Paul was unimpressive, unwell, and considered to be a poor speaker. He did not use clever logic. Yet today, the unanimous verdict of history is that the coming of one short, lonely, poor preacher of the Gospel, was the most significant thing that happened in the history of Corinth... Gospel of Christ came and transformed the culture, transformed the people. Paul tells us something about his secret. His secret was his determination was "to know nothing except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." " For the story and message of the cross is sheer absurdity and folly to those who are perishing and on their way to perdition, but to us who are being saved it is the [manifestation of] the power of God un to salvation."1 Cor 1:18


 In Christ, Brown
http://youtu.be/reXqZpYhbOU

Brown's Daily Word 3/6/15

Praise the Lord that it is Friday . . . and Sunday is coming.   Those of you who live in the area join us tonight at 7 PM for our weekly TV outreach on Time Warner Cable channel 4.  I am sharing from John 11, how Jesus went to a funeral in Bethany  and performed a mighty miracle at the graveside.  Praise the Lord for the way He performs signs and wonders still.  Somebody asked me, "do you still believe in miracles, signs and wonders?"  I replied, "Man, not only do I believe in the miracles, signs, and wonders of Jesus even today, I have seen them with my own eyes."  Jesus still performs signs and wonders and miracles around the corner and around the globe.  He is in charge.  He has the authority.  He reminds me not to freak out.   

 

    We will gather for food and fellowship at Wesley tomorrow at 5:30 PM.  We will meet for worship at Union Center at 10:15 on Sunday and for Sunday School at 9:00 AM.  We will gather for worship at Wesley at 9:00 AM.  The youth will meet  with their leaders for a very special time on Sunday at 5:00 PM.  It will be a time of great celebration and fellowship  and a time of  worship of Jesus. 

 

    It has been a long winter . . .  Praise the Lord Christmas has come (unlike Narnia, where it was always winter and never Christmas).  The winter is making way for a  spectacular  spring.  The Lord will visit the land and the valleys will blossom again . . .  the trees have started to dance and the birds do know their times and seasons.  They are praising the Lord with sweet songs of spring, as they are indeed the harbingers of spring. 

 

    As yet one more sign of the season, we will be setting our clocks forward one hour tomorrow night.  The daylight will stretch one more hour into the evening.  How glorious is that?

 

    I  am looking at a verse from 1 John "This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith."  All of life is lived on faith, and every person has faith in something.  We open a can of food and eat it because we have faith that it is not harmful to us.  We get on a plane and sit back with assurance because we have faith that the person who is flying the plane knows what he is doing.  We go to a doctor whose name we cannot pronounce, who gives us a prescription we cannot read to take to a pharmacist we do not know.  He gives us medicine that we do not understand.  Yet we take it, all on faith.  In general, faith means to trust someone else and that faith is at the heart of life.

    John, in his epistle, was talking about a particular kind of faith, which he described in  1 John 5:5.  He who overcomes the world is "he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God."  Christian faith is to put our faith in Christ.  A faith in Jesus which causes us to believe in Him, talk to Him, walk with Him, and abide in Him -- that is the faith which is the key to overcoming the world.

    I believe  that  faith makes the presence of God, the power of God, and the promises of God available to us.  I read some time ago about  David Livingstone, the great missionary to Africa, who was called back to London to receive an honor.  He was presented the award before a great gathering of well-wishers.  Someone asked him how he had been able to make it through when natives rose up against him and when the power of darkness seemed about ready to overwhelm him.  He opened his well-worn New Testament and said, "let me share with you the verse that helped me make it through: 'Lo I am with you always, even to the end of the age.'"  Because of our faith, we know that God is with us every step of the way, and the promise of His presence provides victory.

    The power of God is ample, and it is available. Through faith, we plug into that power and it begins to move through us, providing victory, because "greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world" (1 John 4:4).

    I believe faith reminds us of the plan of God.  In Revelation, John described it when he said, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever" (Revelation 11:15).  God has initiated a plan in this world that is permanent and eternal.  The things of the world will someday fade away, and every knee shall bow before Christ.  Faith reminds us of that great truth, that the final victory belongs to God, and therefore faith encourages us to keep  on running the race set before  us looking un to Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith.

In Christ,

 Brown

http://youtu.be/n7lvyd1JdQU