Brown's Daily Word 1-5-18

It is snowing again.  It is a (very cold) winter wonderland.  The snow lovers love this weather.  We are in the center of snowmobiling and skiing and other winter recreational sports.  Our daughter in Boston shared that she and her family skated on the historic Walden Pond last night under the moonlight.

 

The glorious Good News of Christmas is that Jesus, the mighty warrior who has never lost a battle invaded this world of sin and rebellion and landed on the beaches of Bethlehem to rule with truth and grace.  It is recorded that as soon as the Lord inaugurated His ministry He encountered the devil and the demons.  In the words of Martin Luther: “And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us, We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us: The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure, One little word shall fell him.”

 

The demons knew Jesus could destroy them with a word.  They understood that just as Jesus has authority over natural forces, Jesus has authority over spiritual powers.  There is nothing beyond His power and authority.  Because of that power, Jesus can transform our present life situation from pain into freedom, tragedy into victory, sorrow into Joy.

 

As the British New Testament  scholar Tom Wright said, "That's what we need to know as we ourselves sign on to follow Him.  He isn't just somebody with good ideas. He isn't just somebody who will tell us how to establish a better relationship with God.  He is somebody with authority over everything the physical world…and the non-physical world…can throw at us.  This is a Jesus we can trust with every aspect of our lives."

 

The demons knew Jesus had the power to remove them from our lives.  In the narrative of the man possessed and tormented by the demons,as it is recorded in Mark 5 ,the demons understood the power of Jesus, so they begged Him not destroy them.  They asked Him to allow them to flee into a nearby herd of pigs, recognizing their fate was completely under His authority.  As James Boice said, "We don't know much about demons beyond what the Bible describes, but apparently they are spirit beings who don't like to be in a disembodied state.  Because they were about to lose the human body which they've been occupying, they begged to be allowed to go into the pigs.”

 

Jesus granted them permission, but much to their surprise, as soon as the demons fled into the pigs, the herd rushed down the bank and fell into the sea to their death.  It was a vivid demonstration of what Jesus had just done in freeing this man from the demonic shackles that had been holding him.  As you can imagine, the herders who were responsible for the pigs were shocked.  The account in Mark 5 continues, saying that people came to see what had happened to the pigs, but they were more shocked when they saw what had happened to the madman of the tombs.  No longer shrieking in agony, he was now clothed and sitting calmly with Jesus.  The One who has authority over storms of every kind had calmed the storm in this man's life, and they saw him transformed.  The demoniac had become a disciple.

 

This was the greatest miracle you could ever see.  There are miracles of physical and emotional healing.  There are miracles that demonstrate God's power over the natural world. However, the most compelling miracle is the one in which Christ removed a sinful heart from a human life and replaces it with a new heart in which He sits on the throne.  The most amazing miracle ever done is the one in which He forgives our sin and rebellion and adopts us into His forever family.  There is nothing beyond His power and authority.  Because of that power, Jesus can transform our pain into freedom, our bondages in to freedom, our infirmities in to wellness.

 

No matter how amazing such a transformation is, it's not enough to convince everyone.  In Mark 5 the people came to see the results of a miracle, but for most of them that didn't lead to faith.  They were fearful about what had taken place, and they resented the loss of their pigs.  Sure, this man had been saved, but at what cost!

 

One of the most important things we can learn about Jesus is that there is nothing more important than saving a person from death into life.  Though the townspeople thought the cost was too high  Jesus did not.  He was willing to pay any price for our salvation, which He did on the cross outside Jerusalem.  He paid the price of suffering and death so we might receive His love and grace in our own lives.

 

Legion had been the name of the demoniac, but after Jesus cast out the demons that name no longer fit.  The power of Christ freed him.  As the locals were begging Jesus to leave them, this new believer asked to go with Jesus as one of His disciples.  However, Jesus had a different purpose in mind for him. The Lord told him to go back to his hometown and tell his friends and family about what had happened to him. " Go tell it on the mountain"

 https://youtu.be/jGarfDEVWDs

  Brown

Brown's Daily Word 1-3-18

Praise the Lord for this amazing new year filled with His promises, and paved with His grace and mercy.  In the world of concerns and crises, confusion and calamities, Jesus is the Christ in every crisis. It is a great blessing to know Him as the One who reigns and rules, and He has the last word in the affairs of the human race and the world.  We can take refuge in Him in all seasons and circumstances.  In Him we discover ourselves.   In the words of the Danish Philosopher Soren Kierkegaard, “Now, with God's help, I shall become myself.”  In Him alone we discover our divine and destined identity.  Because of Him and in and through Him we are surrounded with boundless and countless blessings interrupted by many battles. In Him we see the light.  In His service we find freedom and everlasting Joy.  He reminds us to "Be still and know that He is God”.  He is the ground of our being. In Him we live, move, and have our being It is cold here yet sunny and brilliant.  I took a walk yesterday in the evening.  Praise the Lord that daylight is lengthening day by day.  "Spring is not far away."   

Our daughter is flying to Manila, Philippines this week on assignment.  It is much warmer there.  I was looking at Psalm 86 and I was struck with verse11: “Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.”  Translators are divided on how to translate this phrase.  The NASB says, "Unite my heart to fear your name."  The CEB gives a more general sense, "Make my heart focused only on honoring your name.”  The ERV paraphrases, saying, “Help me make worshiping your name the most important thing in my life."  Eugene Peterson (MSG) gives us this colorful rendering: “Put me together, one heart and mind;
then, undivided, I’ll worship in joyful fear.”  I like that.   

“Unite my heart to fear your name.”  This speaks of my need.  "Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.”  This addresses my desire.  I need the Lord to unite my heart somehow so that I might worship Him with nothing held back. That is the situation many of us face right now. Our hearts are fragmented because we are pulled in so many directions at once.  

   Daniel,  purposed in his heart to be of one heart and mind for his God.  “But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king’s choice food or with the wine which he drank” (Daniel 1:8).  The King James Version says he “purposed in his heart.”  You can only “purpose in your heart” when you have an undivided heart.

As a result of their commitment, Daniel and friends ate water and cereal for ten days.  They ended up looking healthier and stronger than those who ate at the king’s table.  As a result, they were recognized and rewarded by the king himself (Daniel 1:17-21).

 

We all face sickness, family crisis, medical issues, financial troubles, marital problems, struggles with our children, disappointments, setbacks, career issues, and periods of doubt and anger and spiritual struggle.  We live in a very fallen world.  We need Jesus every hour and every moment.  

 

I found the following prayer on the web:

"Lord Jesus, 

Unite my heart to fear your name.

I am so scattered, Lord.
Pulled in so many directions.
So easily distracted.

How quickly I forget who you are.
How quickly I forget your goodness to me.

Unite my heart, Lord.
Put it back together again.

Refocus my thoughts.
Clarify my purpose.

Grant that I should want you more than anything else.
Thank you for your many gifts, freely given.
Forgive me for loving your gifts more than I love you.

In confessing this I ask for forgiveness in Jesus’ name.

Here is my heart, Lord.
Come in and rearrange things.
Make me new from the inside out.

Thank you for loving me even when I seem to lose my way.

I love you, Lord. Do your work in me.
Unite my heart to fear your name.

Amen."  

We find the following words in one of the beloved hymns of the church:

“Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.”  

If the first two lines describe our need, then the last two lines describe our prayer.  May God take our scattered hearts and unite them, seal them by his grace, that we might serve him with joy on earth as one day we will serve him in heaven.

https://youtu.be/bfveawSAHJA

Brown

Brown

Brown's Daily Word 1-2-18

Praise the Lord for this brand New year.  The Lord blessed us with bountiful and beautiful Christmas celebrations, worship, and gatherings.  Our children and grandchildren from Washington, Philadelphia, and South Carolina spent a week with us.  We had a blast spending time with our grandchildren.  Three of our grandchildren, together with their parents from Boston, spent some time in the majestic Mountains of New Hampshire in a mini-vacation.  They were home for Christmas celebrations.  Thank you all for Christmas Greetings and loving regards and kindness.  We have been blessed.

 

It has been cold weather-wise, but Jesus always reigns.  On New Year’s Eve I woke up around 11:30 just to watch the ball drop in Times Square as over one million people welcomed the New Year 2018.  Praise the Lord this New Year is paved with His amazing grace, ineffable love, and unfading glory. 

 

Happy New Year!  I trust that you had a wonderful Christmas season and a grand New Year’s Day. I hope that you are excited   about the promises and possibilities in the new year. 

 

In the movie City Slickers, Billy Crystal plays a radio advertising salesman going through a mid-life crisis.  He and his friends deal with the boredom of life by participating in a cattle drive from New Mexico to Colorado—an experience that turns out to be a kind of epiphany for all of them.  At the end of the movie as they prepare to return to New York and the familiar routine, Billy Crystal explains to one of those friends the concept of a “do-over.”  Do you remember, he says, when you used to play ball as a kid?  Sometimes when you fouled things up, you would get a “do-over” - a second chance to swing at the ball. That’s what is happening to you now.  You’re getting a “do-over” in life. 

 

Something like that happens every January 1.  We all collectively get a “do-over"—another chance to do it right.  It’s a brand-new year! 

 

Philippians 4:13. It reads like this in the familiar King James Version: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”  J.B. Phillips said it: “I am ready for anything through the strength of the one who lives within me.”  Finally, in the unique translation of the Twentieth Century New Testament we read: “Nothing is beyond my power in the strength of him who makes me strong!”

 

Philippians 4:13 is a verse of unlimited possibility.  The Bible says that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. “All things.” 

 

iT IS WRITTEN—"I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.” Verse 12—"Sometimes I find myself with plenty of food and sometimes I have nothing to eat. Sometimes I have a roof over my head and sometimes I don’t.” “I know what it is to have money in the bank and I know what it is to be flat broke. And I’ve learned to be content no matter what my situation might be.” (the Pritchard Loose Paraphrase.)  Then verse 13—"I have learned through the power of Jesus Christ that I can face whatever comes my way.”  If it’s good, I can enjoy it.  If it’s not so good, I can deal with it.  Why?  Because I have access to the everlasting strength of Jesus Christ.

 

 “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”  The words “gives strength” means “to pour strength into.”  It’s like pouring milk into a pitcher or water into a glass or coffee into a cup. It’s the picture of something empty that is filled by an outside source.  It’s the picture of a believer facing the problems of life—hopeless and helpless—and in that situation, Jesus Christ pours his strength into the believer’s life.  He strengthens us—he pours his strength into us.

 

This is what makes Philippians 4:13 totally different from the dream it, do it approach to the Gospel” and other purely secular approaches to life.  They may be useful and may in fact help to a limited degree, but they don’t change the heart.

 

 The only thing that makes the difference is Jesus Christ within. We have the power of the indwelling Christ and that makes all the difference in the world.  Jesus Christ – his broken body and shed blood – are all-sufficient and the saints across the ages testify that Jesus Christ is enough.

 

You can do “all things” if this year you rely on Jesus Christ, and not on your own strength, not on your own power, not on your own wisdom, and not on your own ability to figure things out. Jesus Christ living within makes all the difference in the world.  Jesus Christ is enough for the problems of life.  His broken body is enough.  His shed blood is sufficient.  His power meets the problems of life over and over again.

 

https://youtu.be/djrY_eFDOwE

Brown