Brown's Daily Word 6/9/17

   It was barely 4:00 AM, and the early birds could not but burst forth with morning praise songs to Jesus with sweet melodies of praise and joy.  I woke early along with the birds, who know their Heavenly Father cares for them; as a result of that conviction they live unworried and unhurried.  I love all seasons that the Lord of all seasons and the Lord in all seasons bestows His perfect gifts on us.  Praise the Lord for sweet and stunning summer season that is upon us.  Here in Central New York we are so blessed to be living in the epicenter of all beauty and blessing.  We live in the vicinity of the Finger Lakes, the Great Lakes, rivers, lakes, hills and mountains, farms, ranches, orchards and vineyards. Along with all of that we are in relatively close proximity to iconic world cities like Washington, New York, Boston, and Philadelphia.  We are also not so far from the foothills of such Canadian cities as Toronto and Quebec.  We also live within driving distance of some of the beautiful beaches of the Atlantic Ocean.  "Wish you were here".  I am praying that all will take time to enjoy the matchless beauty of Jesus that is glistening all around us, singing, "How Great Thou Art".  The sizzling summer with the blazing sun is blanketing the North East of America the beautiful, causing the temperatures to be soaring into the 90s by Sunday.  The farmers, the gardeners, the ranchers, and the keepers of the vineyards are jubilant and thrilled for the time another great season of farming... sowing seeds.

     This is just a gentle reminder: We are gathering  for a special festive occasion to honor grads, dads, and Moms on Saturday the 17th of June. The banquet will begin at 6:00 PM.  The menu does consists of Prime Rib, homemade rolls, salads, and decadent desserts.

     The big event for July is the gathering to celebrate the retirement of my wife,Alice M Naik.  As you all know, it will be held the Marathon Civic Center,  located at the end of Brink Street (16 Brink Street) along the banks of the Tioughnioga River, on Saturday, July 1, 2017.  There is ample parking at the village parking lot on Brink Street, along with parking across from the Civic Center.  The parking is free.  There a is beautiful playground for children, behind the Civic Center.  There are also Basketball courts, baseball fields, and soccer fields behind the Civic Center.  There is a boat launch across from the civic center.  There are even two hookups for campers, a couple of picnic tables, and hibachis.  We will gather at 4:00 PM for fellowship, greeting and meeting.  The Buffet dinner will be served at 5:00 PM.  The menu for the banquet will include: Bbq Chicken, Pig Roast, Beef and Mutton curries, lemon rice, vegetables, salad, rolls, Italian and Indian Cuisine, along with "sinful, yet sanctified desserts" (for they are made with holy hands).  I have many friends who are the sweet servants of Jesus who are in charge of this event.  I am grateful to Jesus for them.  Please be praying that this gathering will honor Jesus and bring blessings to everyone who will be joining us.

   Robert Bellah in his book "Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life", a sociological study of modern America, and probably the most important book written in the eighties, quotes one of the people in his case study as saying, “I don’t think there are answers in life.  I think there are only really good dialogues.”  When Bella asked what a good dialogue might be like, the person said it would be one where “there’s just no one right.”  Bellah continued, "How typical!  That person is like so many in our culture today. The problem we are faced with is that there is Someone who is right, and until we learn to submit our minds and hearts to him, until we learn to follow him and seek for his truth, we will miss the whole point of life. It is that crucial.  Dr. Richard Lenski, a great Bible teacher and writer, once said, 'The Gospel is not. . . an argument, a piece of reasoning that is gauged to convince [people]; it is only an announcement. And the astounding thing about this announcement is the fact that it meets our hearts square on, in a direct clash, that it aims to reverse them completely, to set them going in the very opposite direction.'”

     When we meet Christ in this “direct clash” He makes us winners.  It is written, " We are more than conquerors through Him loved us" (and still loves us).  We come to Him in obedience and yielding our total being to Him.  Our will is surrendered to him, and We surrender our puny minds to His fathomless wisdom, and eternal purposes.  We  come as those are waiting - waiting for great commands, great direction and great purposes for our lives.  We  not only believe in a God Almighty, but we can believe in a God who is our Father.  He is irresistible Joy.  He is eternal, inexhaustible Love.  He is rapturous Beauty.  And he comes to us and opens himself to fellowship with us — Hie creation and His New Creation.

In Him,

 Brown

https://youtu.be/yTYJm5Ae0Xo

Brown's Daily Word 6/7/17

    Praise the Lord for this new day.  I woke very early, as it was very bright very early. The early birds were singing and making melodious sonnets.  The sun rose  with blazing light and rays.  We can see the Eastern Sky bright and full of splendor.  The morning sun drives the darkness away brings in warmth and deep joy.  Spring flowers are still lingering, making the way for summer flowers; yesterday we breathed deeply of the scent of lilacs.  I have been gazing through the picture window of the house upon the blooming peonies next door.  They are prolific and profuse.  Praise be to Jesus, who is the author of life and fountain of all beauty.  We have had monsoon like rains for a couple of days now, but the weather forecast is predicting that a Summer heatwave is being launched.  It will be pervading the Northeastern US beginning this weekend.  The temperature will be in the 90s in the region starting Monday in Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington DC, and even in Central New York.

    Alice and I walked together for over a mile yesterday afternoon.  There were brief interludes of sun, but the moment we got back home the rain resumed.  Today it is sunny and brilliant.  Our grandchildren from Boston had a great time camping with their parents last weekend. They love the outdoors.  The wilder it is the more they enjoy it.  Camping, canoeing, and exploring around the lake invigorate and restore them.  Praise the Lord for Janice's nurturing, "naturing" ways, always reminding the children of the great gifts that the Lord has given for us to use, enjoy, and protect.

    Our daughter Sunita is flying to Bangkok this week to attend a World Vision conference where she will be presenting several papers.  We praise the Lord for Sunita.  From her early days she has had a tender heart for Jesus our Lord and for His Kingdom.  She continues to serve Him and love His people with much passion and devotion.

    John Ross of Surrey, England, tells this story: “Karl Barth, the famous theologian, was on a streetcar one day in Basel, Switzerland, where he lectured.  A tourist to the city climbed on and sat down next to Barth.  The two men started chatting with each other.  ‘Are you new to the city?’ Barth inquired.  ‘Yes,’ said the tourist.  ‘Is there anything you would particularly like to see in this city?’ asked Barth.  ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘I’d love to meet the famous theologian Karl Barth.  Do you know him?’  Barth replied, ‘Well as a matter of fact, I do.  I give him a shave every morning.’  The tourist got off the streetcar quite delighted.  He went back to his hotel saying to himself, ‘I met Karl Barth’s barber today.’  Very similarly, each Christian is a temple of the Holy Spirit, a person in whom Christ actually dwells, but how often we sit next to other believers, eat with them, sing with them, yet fail to see we’ve been in the presence of Christ himself.”

    We need to recognize the presence of the Holy Spirit in each other.  He is in us and will never let us go.  The Bible says that the Holy Spirit seals us for the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:30; Ephesians 1:11-13; 2 Corinthians 1:21-22).  He is not going to let us go. He will not throw us away when we make a mistake.  He has the power to keep us in the family of God until Christ returns for us.  The Bible says he is “...able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy” (Jude 1:24).

In Christ,

Brown

 https://youtu.be/SgQ6vWEhH5E

Brown's Daily Word 6/6/17

     Jesus is praised and is exalted.  He reigns and rules and overrules.  He is mighty and merciful.  He makes the woeful heart to sing.  Indeed, as He declares,  "weeping may tarry for the night but joy comes in the morning".  Praise the Lord for the way He grants us rest in the night and ushers us into another day filled with his blessings and paved with His grace.  We have had some much beneficial and even torrential rains all around us.  The hills and dales, the fields and the farms, the mountains and the midlands are looking luscious green.  Peonies are blossoming in fragrant abundance.

     Some of my friends back in Orissa India have posted some of the pictures of summer fruit trees, such as mangoes and jack fruit.  Ah, indeed, it is summer time in Orissa, India.  Schools and colleges are closed for summer.  Praise the Lord for sweet summer with which the Lord gifts His people all over the world.

     Our church is hosting a special banquet on Saturday, the 17th of June, 2017.  It will be held at the Church fellowship Hall.  Dinner will be served at 6:00 PM.  This banquet is presented in honor of dads and grads, along with moms.  The Menu will conclude Prime Rib, homemade rolls, vegetables, and all sorts of decadent desserts. Denny and Lynda are in charge of this banquet.  We praise the Lord that we get to celebrate His grace and goodness in season and out of season.

     Some time ago I listened to a tape of Elizabeth Elliot, the author of several books, including "Through Gates of Splendor".  I had the privilege of meeting her in person in Boston several years ago.  Elizabeth Elliott has entered the Eternal City, the New Jerusalem, and indeed has gone "Through Gates of Splendor".  Elizabeth Elliott went through much tribulation and many trials during her life span on earth.  She described her first year on the mission field in Ecuador, where she faced three major blows to her faith.  First, the informant who was helping her with the native language was murdered.  Then all of her language materials, everything that went into the writing of a language that had never been written down before, were stolen.  Further, the station on which her husband,  Jim Elliot, had been working went down the river in a flood.  Many years later, as one who has had many more tragedies, including the murder by Auca tribesmen of her husband Jim, the death of her second husband and many other trials, she still had a lifetime of waiting upon God.  In that taped message, she declared: “When I was 12 years old, I told the Lord that I wanted Him to work out His will in my life at any cost.  When He set about doing that, I was amazed.

I didn’t think it was going to be that way.  We never do.  The will of God is never exactly what you expect it to be.  It may seem to be much worse; but in the end, it’s going to be a lot better and a lot bigger.  What is your desire?”

     When we pause and ponder back to the Upper Room on Pentecost Sunday we read that  the wind was blowing, rushing with an irresistible force.  Perhaps Nicodemus was among those who heard and saw this undeniable evidence of the wind.  New thought, new energy, new vitality, new creativity, new emotion came to life by this in-filling of the Holy Spirit.  God was bringing His people to life, individually and corporately.  He was birthing His church.

     Not only was wind part of the picture, but tongues of fire were also part of the picture.  It is written, “They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them” (Acts 2:2).  The fire of the Holy Spirit purges, burns away the chaff, all that debilitates and prevents you and me from becoming what God created you and me to become.  Not only is the chaff burned away but the Holy Spirit refines us, burning off the dross bringing out the pure metal.  The Bible talks about the “refiner’s fire” that purges us and enables us to live with the warmth of God’s Spirit emanating from our lives.  This fire of the Holy Spirit helps us to love others, being a people who are more giving, more consistent in our Christian lives, more forgiving of others.

     Just as in incarnation God came in human form, and in the crucifixion God died for the sins of the world, and in the resurrection God triumphed over sin and death, even so in Pentecost God empowers you, me, and His church universal to live to His glory and to do His work until He comes again.

     “Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me.  Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me." Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me, empowering me and us to be and do all you dream of us being and doing!”

In Jesus the suffering servant.

  Brown

https://youtu.be/e8HgAVenbUU

Brown's Daily Word 6/5/17

     The Lord blessed us in His House yesterday.  I love to preach about Pentecost.  We declare about the mighty powers of our Lord.  We declare how He keeps His promises.  He is alive and well.  He is the Alpha and Omega.  It is written that in the fullness of time the Lord sent His Holy Spirit in full splendor and power.  It was both visible and audible.  When the Holy Spirit demonstrated his divine presence through the signs of wind, fire, and speaking in different languages, Luke informs us about the two different reactions.  "Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, ‘What does this mean?’  Some, however, made fun of them and said, ‘They have had too much wine.’"  There are seekers and there are scoffers.

     As the diving drama unfolded, the Lord equipped and propelled Peter with clearness and clarity.   Peter stood up with the eleven to say,  "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say.  These men are not drunk, as you suppose.  It's only nine in the morning!"  The were not drunk with wine, as the crowd accused, but they were filled with the wine of the Holy Spirit.  "No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.  Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.  Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.’"

     The apostle Peter made it abundantly clear that Joel's prophecy was being fulfilled as recorded in Joel 2:28-32.  In this fulfillment, old barriers were eliminated and erased.  The Holy Spirit is no respecter of persons.  He is poured out upon all flesh, all people who turn to Christ in full surrender and obedience.  Joel mentioned young men who see visions and old men who dream dreams.  Gone is the age barrier.  Gone is also the gender barrier.  Prophecy, visions, dreams and the gift of the Spirit are given to daughters as well as sons, to women as well as men.

     The Holy Spirit includes and calls all God’s people, the rich and the ragged, the scholars and the unschooled, in his dynamic mission of "declaring the wonders of God" in whatever strategic position he places them.

     The explicit signs of God’s grace are also evident today all over the world.  One of our granddaughters, who is 21 months old, sings the song, "Jesus Loves Me".  She smiles.  She dances and claps her hands.  She is in my heart as she declares about Jesus our Lord.

     During our stay in Boston we met so many wonderful people.  One of them was an elderly man.  He is an engineer who has two PhDs, one of which was from MIT in Boston.  He declares the amazing of grace of Jesus in his life.  He declares about the mighty deeds of Jesus indeed.  He has debilitating diseases, but that does not deter him from declaring the wonders of Jesus.  

     On our way home from Boston we listened to the the testimony of Joni Earikson Tada, whom I had met in person in 1982.  At 16, as a result of a diving accident in the Chesapeake Bay, she suffered massive injuries which caused her to instantly become a quadraplegic.  She is wheel chair bound.  She is married for 30 years.  A couple of years ago she was diagnosed with cancer and went through chemo and radiation.  In the midst of all she was declaring the mighty deeds of God.   

     Peter concluded his quotation from Joel’s prophecy with a challenge and an invitation.  "And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."  Here the Holy Spirit introduces an expressive signature of God’s salvation.  The invitation is open-ended.  It is for everyone, regardless of gender, class, or race.  Here the divine lifeline is thrown out to all drowning victims, to all sinners who are part of the human family.  It is thrown out to you and to me.

     The Good News of Pentecost is that the Holy Spirit continues the ministry of Jesus.  It’s a ministry of salvation, a ministry of hope, a ministry of renewal and refreshment.  Jesus is in heaven, but his ministry empowered by the Spirit continued through Peter, John, Thomas, Paul, and continues even to this very day.  Jesus’ ministry continues through young men who dream dreams and sons and daughters who see visions.  It continues through organists and music teams, through Church School teachers, and through Christian couples sharing their faith at barbecue outings with their neighbors.  Jesus’ ministry continues through all of God’s people who are truly possessed with the Holy Spirit and all of his gifts, at the school desk and at the machine shop, and even at assembly lines and in shopping malls.

     Pentecost means that the world is set ablaze.  A new era has been ushered in.  It’s an era of grace and salvation, of mission and evangelism.  Today is still the day of grace.  "And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved!"

In Christ,

 Brown

https://youtu.be/gbg1M_UkiDA