Brown's Daily Word 7/29/16

    "It is Friday!  Sunday is Coming".  Praise the Lord for each day and every day. Alice is busy harvesting from the garden, freezing beans and gathering cucumbers and squash.  Often, during her summer vacation, she takes on a mission of painting a room or two in the parsonage.  She has begun painting the downstairs rooms with a winsome and inviting color.  Sunita,  Andy, Gabe, Addie, and Asha are coming to be with us for two weeks. We are so excited and praying for their safe arrival this Sunday.  We are thrilled to hang around some of the gorgeous and glorious outdoors of New York, the Empire State, and we are planning to pick lots of local  blue berries.  Some of our relatives from England on my wife's side are visiting  Beautiful Czech Republic.  They posted some pictures of luscious blue berries of Czech Republic.  My first cousin, (from India) with whom I grew up, and her husband are visiting their first granddaughter in England.  We are so blessed. Praise the Lord that we are surrounded with so many gifts and blessings and so many reasons to celebrate and give thanks. 

    I will be participating a service of death and Resurrection today in our church and getting ready for worship celebration this coming Sunday, the Lord's Day, at 11:00 AM.

    The 2016 presidential campaign is well underway.  Politicians are making promises and setting forth their plans and ideas.  A critical lynchpin for each one is this: “Trust me.”  Our experiences with some previous politicians, however, makes us skeptical.  All people, at one time or another, falter in trustworthiness.  God, however, wants us to trust Him implicitly and He is utterly trustworthy.  Psalm 91 is one of my most favorite Psalms.  In this selection we see a fascinating and powerful depiction of the Lord God, the Maker of Heaven and earth.  He is Lord and Redeemer.  He is the Most high God.  He is above all and superior to all.  He is the Eternal One, the creator  of heaven and earth (Gen. 14:19).  We should bow before our God, the Almighty, shaddai (v. 91:1).  He is powerful, awesome in His ability and of immeasurable strength He is our Lord.  (91:2, 9) As Yahweh, He is the covenant-keeping, redeeming, eternal God.  He never fails in His promises or presence.  He is our  is a shelter (v. 91:1).  This word commonly carries the idea of a hiding place.  God is our ultimate hiding place.  In Him we are safe and secure.

    The Old Testament frequently uses the word shadow to refer to protection from harm.  David prayed, “Hide me in the shadow of Your wings” (Ps. 17:8).  Beyond that, God is our refuge (vv. 91:2, 9).  Just as the high hills can be a refuge for goats, a place of safety and security (Ps. 104:18), so God is the greatest Refuge for His people.  He  is our fortress (v. 91:2).  In Him we find complete safety from all attacks.

    God protects His people providentially (vv. 91:9-13), surrounding us with His angels, and their presence guarantees our total safety.  However, troubles still come into our lives (v. 91:15).  The reality is that life commonly brings us pain, illness and anxiety.  Satan quoted this Scripture when tempting Christ to jump from the temple’s pinnacle (Matt. 4:6).  Jesus responded, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test” (v. 4:7).  God is our Refuge.  His providential care is constantly present, regardless of the physical danger, as long as we abide in Him.

    In climactic fashion, God speaks in verses 14-16 to assure us that He personally protects His people as we make Him our " Refuge and our Habitation' (v. 91:9), He rescues us. When we acknowledge His name and make Him the priority in our lives, He will protect us.  When we call upon Him, He will be with us in trouble.  These all confirm that believers have pain, illness and suffering in this life, yet, through it all, our Lord God in Jesus Christ, will satisfy us with His presence and protection and grant us His salvation.  That salvation is deliverance through the troubles of life and ultimate presence with Him forever.

    Because of who and what God is, and because of what God does, we can trust Him implicitly.  He is above and beyond all others, yet He loves us with an eternal love.  We are called to  commit our lives to Him, dwell in His shelter, and abide in His shadow.  We are called to make the Lord “my God, in whom I trust” (v. 91:2).

In Christ,

 Brown

https://youtu.be/O6Fw8DgvTQA

Brown's Daily Word 7/28/16

    Praise the Lord for the season of summer.  The beauty that Lord lavishes upon us and with which He surrounds us is both stunning and spectacular.  When our daughters were young we went camping every summer.  We frequented the county, state, and even national parks.  There were times we "camped" in churches, while we went to the beaches and lakes.  Praise the Lord for the  immeasurable and abundant beauty of our Lord we get to celebrate.  We "religiously" attended  such summer Christian Festivals as Creation and Kingdom Bound.  Yesterday some of us took our nephew, who is visiting from India, to the iconic Niagara Falls.  It was almost a perfect day.  All of our nephews and nieces went with us.  It was a great treat; the falls were spectacular.  We saw tourists and visitors from many parts of the world enjoying the beauty of the Lord in His creation.  Praise the Lord that He has given us eyes to behold His splendor and beauty, hearts to love Him, and minds to know Him and serve Him.

    Sometimes we hear that humanity’s chief problem is that we have too much.  This is one of the tenets of Buddhism.  It is true that we consume too much.  We amass too much.  We hoard too much.  The problem of humanity is not that we want too much, but that we are satisfied with too little.  C.S. Lewis described our situation in his book The Weight of Glory.  “It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.  We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea."

    In Philippians 3, the apostle Paul opened up about his own desires.  Past accomplishments are all well and good.  Indeed, they have their place.  Paul certainly bore the mark of God’s covenant with Abraham.  He was born, not merely baptized, into God’s chosen people.  He was from the tribe that gave Israel its first king and formerly bore his name, Saul.  Paul did not denigrate his pedigree or accomplishments in themselves, and we  should not downplay ours either.  Praise God for lives well spent!  After having met Jesus on the road to Damascus, Paul was hooked.  Nothing he had accomplished in the past, nothing he might sacrifice, could compare to knowing Jesus, living in Him, enjoying His righteousness, walking in His power, fellowshipping with Him in times of suffering, becoming like Him, and eventually joining Him (vv. 7-11).  Compared against that, everything else paled.

    We can understand.  No matter how good our lives are right now, we  sense there might be something better out there waiting for us.  In other words, we know that we have not yet arrived.  As much as he already knew of Christ, Paul knew there was more to be attained (vv. 12-14)—not just heaven but a full and final union with God through Christ.  Paul wasn’t about to rest on his laurels.  There was an eternal crown to be won (2 Timothy 4:8), one that he could lay at Jesus’ feet (Revelation 4:10).

In Christ Jesus our Lord.

Brown

https://youtu.be/tkr9p09k01I

Brown's Daily Word 7/27/16

    Praise the Lord for the Lord of wonders and miracles for whom nothing is impossible.  We have been having a summer with intense heat and humidity.  The farms, the gardens, the orchards, the pastures, meadows, the rivers, and the rivulets have been affected by the dry summer.  The Lord of rain and wind, the Lord of the thunder and storm, showered the region with torrential rains on Monday.   The earth has been drenched again by the generosity of our God. Suddenly the landscape has been transformed in to emerald shades and colors.  The summer crops, including corn, are dancing and singing with joy.  There are some big time bee keepers are in the region.  The bees are busy humming and serenading.  Jesus brings blessings and order in to His Handiwork. 

    One of my nephews who is in full time ministry in India is currently in the States engaged in prayer ministry as a part of the Global Prayer movement.  He has been staying with us for a couple of days.  We are reminiscing about the Lord's wonderworking grace on our lives.  We Praise the Lord for He is on the move in the world and He has the last word.   Thank you for praying for our grandson Simeon,  who has injured his arm and is recovering now.  Simeon loves Jesus and he does trust Him.  Alice and I spent some time in our garden last evening picking some fresh produce including beans, cucumbers, squash, and radishes.  We praise the Lord for His abundance.  I hear from time to time from friends and dear ones from around the world.  I cherish your responses and comments.  Praise the Lord that we are linked with each other through Jesus our Lord.

    I came across a story some time ago which, though not theologically sound, makes an important point.  It is about a man who went to the office every day in his expensive car, and made important decisions and signed big contracts. Often, the important man would enjoy business lunches with his clients, and would try to distract the attention of his influential guests away from the unsavory spectacle of the beggars on the streets of his city.  One evening, after a hard day making money, he packed his briefcase to go home, where supper would be waiting for him.  As he was locking his desk for the night, he caught sight of a stale sandwich lying abandoned at the back of the drawer.  Without much thought he crammed it in his coat pocket.  No need for it to go mouldy and mess up his desk.  On the way out to the car park he saw a street beggar on the steps, huddled in an old blanket. ’Here, my friend’ he said to the beggar.

    ’Here is something for your supper.’  Then he gave him the stale sandwich.  That night, the man dreamed that he was away on a business trip.  After the day’s meeting, he was taken with his fellow directors to the town’s most luxurious restaurant.  Everyone gave their orders, and settled down to their meals, looking forward to an enjoyable evening.  The orders arrived, including medallions of venison, Lamb cutlets with rosemary and garlic, and Caviar.  The dishes being brought to the table brought gasps of delight from all the company.  Then the man’s own order appeared.  A waitress set in front of him one small plate, on which was served a stale sandwich.

    ’What kind of service is this?’, the man demanded, enraged.  ’This isn’t what I ordered!  I thought this was the best restaurant in town!’  ’Oh Sir,’ the waitress told him, ’you’ve been misinformed.  This isn’t a restaurant at all.  This is heaven.  We are only able to serve you what you have sent on ahead while you were alive. I’m very sorry, sir, but when we looked under your name, the best we could find to serve you was this little sandwich.’  Jesus said, “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

    St. Paul wrote that ,’Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously’ (2 Corinthians 9: 6).  It seems that this is both a physical law and is a spiritual law.  It applies to a farmer in his field, it applies to our attitude towards the poor, it applies to our attitude to those in our community who do not yet know and love Jesus, and the context of Paul’s letter shows us that it applies to our attitude to our fellow believers.  Paul was encouraging the Greek Church in Corinth to be overwhelmingly generous in a gift of money they were putting together to send 1000 miles to their fellow believers in the capital city of the Christian faith - Jerusalem!

    God loves a cheerful giver.’  Cheerful generosity is at the heart of God’s giving to us, and God loves us to have cheerful generous hearts.  God wants us to be so touched by the needs that He places before us that we will give generously - with the hilarity.  Our Lord God is so generous.  It is written,  “[God] has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy” (Acts 14:17).  Our Lord is overwhelmingly generous to us.  How wonderful He  is!

In Christ,

 Brown

https://youtu.be/0rl45JnnRSw

Brown's Daily Word 7/25/16

   It has been a super sizzling summer weekend.  The temperature on the outdoor sign of our local High School read 102 F (though it was actually about 94-95). It is like in G. Udayagiri, Orissa India during the early days of summer.  Alice and I drove down to the Philadelphia area to be with Lindy, our granddaughter and her  dear mommy and daddy   Jess and Tom.  Lindy is 1 year now.  She is adorable and such a winsome child.  She eats well, plays joyfully, and sleeps well.  She goes to bed on time and sleeps all night.  She is learning to walk now - walking with one "helper" hand.  The Lord blessed us with bountiful moments with Jess and her family.  We drove home through one of the exotic scenic routes, traveling along the Delaware River and Canal.

    The Lord blessed us with a joyful and sweet time in His house yesterday.  There was a church-wide Fish Fry and dinner following the worship.  The Barnes family opened their home and the back yard for the event.  The Lord always prepares a banqueting table .  We rejoice and celebrate.  He is the Host at every table.  We are His honored guests.  Alice and I went to our summer garden in the evening.  We picked some produce there.  I picked fresh cucumbers and ate them fresh, there in the garden itself.  It does not  get any fresher than this.

    I preached yesterday from John 6:1-14, the miracle of our Lord, feeding the Five Thousand men (men alone were 5000) with a meager  lunch bag of a young lad containing five small loaves of bread and two fish.  This situation elucidated the compassion , the magnanimity and crazy generosity of our Lord.  He takes our insignificant gifts and multiplies them with extravagant grace and power.  We are a blessed people living in a blessed nation.  The Lord surrounds us  in every season with His abundance.

    I read the story of Larry Page and Sergey Brin.  In 1998, Larry Page and Sergey Brin picked the number one followed by 100 zeroes while they were still graduate students at Stanford University. That number in mathematical terms is called a googol, and that became the name of their new enterprise.  Today, Google operates the largest search engine in the world with internet users performing hundreds of millions searches a day. 

    Jim Reese, chief operations engineer of Google, says this about Brin and Page: "It takes a lot of confidence and courage to go ahead and do that [i.e., to be that big]. It's rare to find people who think on such a grand scale and are able to create a great product at the same time." (FreshMinistry.org, 11-5-02) 

    Google's founders were dreamers, and that's what it takes to accomplish great things. It takes a great dream to do great things, and that's true not only in business but also in the ministry to which God has called us, to be a part of!  It is in our DNA that  anyone who can lift up the name of Jesus..has a ministry!  Ephesians 3:20 NKJ - Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly (just so you know..that's more than a googol) above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,

Ephesians 3:20-21 (the Message) "God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us."  Glory to God in the church!  Glory down all the generations!

    Most people only ask for, what they think they can do and accomplish for themselves, if it came right down to it!  That way, they think that they will never be let down or disappointed.  It is written that we can  do anything in the power of the   Holy Spirit, the power of God, working within us!  The young lad whose name we do not know placed the meager lunch in the  most powerful Hands of Jesus.  Jesus took charge of the dire situation.  He moved in and demonstrated His divine power.  The young boy thus became a partner with Jesus.  He became a partner in ministry. 

    When we set out to do things in life, they should be based on Gods ability, not ours.  We will never experience the miraculous in our lives, if we only hold ourselves to our own standards of what we are capable of, no matter how much effort we give!  What we should always be doing is looking to Jesus and keeping our focus on Him! He beckons to follow Him in this adventure and become partners  in His divine which under the same management  for all these centuries.  He never fails.  His love never ends

.In Christ.

  Brown

https://youtu.be/QgIg-CG3qSg