Brown's Daily Word 9-18-13

    Praise the Lord for this new day.  I praise the Lord for you all.  It was great blessing to hear from so many of  you on my birthday, from all over the world.  It was a great thrill and joy to receive the loving and kind affirmations.  I praise the Lord that through Jesus we are linked with each other in the bond of His love.  The Lord gave me a very brilliant and beautiful day yesterday.  It was cloudless.  The night was brilliant with moonlight.  Our daughter reminded me that I was good boy all year so the Lord gave me a flawless day.  Only one other thing she wanted was that it could have been a little warmer.  She encouraged me to do a little better this year so that it would be a warmer day next year.  Our grandchildren called to wish me Happy Birthday.  Ada said "  Happy birthday Grandpa... She then lingered on the phone for long time.  It was precious and priceless. 

    We will gather for our Wednesday Evening Fellowship and study this evening, starting at 6 PM.  We are blessed to have so many who love to serve Jesus.  We have new chef who is preparing a special meal for this evening.  It beats going to a restaurant.  The Lord has blessed us with a full service Church.  Those of you live in the area join us at 6 PM.  We will be looking at Hebrews  chapter 3. 

  Many metaphors are used to describe the Christian life.  Abraham would call it a journey. Job would call it a struggle.  Paul often used athletic metaphors and spoke of running a race.  In 1 Corinthians 9:24, Paul said, "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?  Run in such a way as to get the prize."  The writer of the Book of Hebrews picked up on that metaphor and said, "And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us…" 

    It seems that there are some folks who always win.  Everything they touch "turns to gold".  Others struggle and struggle; for them, it's two steps forward, three steps back.  It seems that Hebrews 11 is the roll call of those who have won through their faith.  Rahab was a prostitute who lived in a wicked city.  Yet, when she saw the Israelites approaching, she knew whose God was really God, and she hid the Hebrew spies.  In Hebrews 11:32, the writer said, "I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets…"

    As we read through the lives of these men and women, you see they were all flawed individuals, yet they accomplished great things through faith.  They, "conquered kingdoms, administered justice, gained what was promised, (and) shut the mouths of lions," to name a few things.  As we continue reading through the heroic feats we might wonder, "Who wouldn't want to sign up to live the life of faith?"

    In the midst of this list of inspiring accomplishments—just as the heart swells, courage builds, and we're on our feet cheering - the tone changes.  We know the names in Hebrews 11 because we have learned their stories in Sunday School. Still, there are others who are unnamed in the text because their life of faith didn't end well from an earthly perspective.  We read, "Some faced jeers and flogging, chains and imprisonment.  They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword.  They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated…"  Yet, the writer says, the world was unworthy of them.  Their work, lives, and witness mattered as much as the people whose names we know.  

    We cannot know at the beginning whether our story will shine with earthly triumph or be overshadowed by seeming defeat, but we can run our race faithfully. It is not a superior faith that makes some triumphant and others apparently defeated.

 

    We know that ultimately the prize is Jesus.  We need to get rid of everything that holds us back, throw off every weight, and experience the connection to the body of all of those who have lived before us because we're surrounded by the cloud of witnesses.  We anticipate joy.  There is joy in the journey, but ultimate joy comes when we meet the object of our faith—Jesus Christ Himself.  He is the One who, for the joy set before Him, endured.  Faith in Him can keep us going in our race.

  In Christ,

    Brown

  http://youtu.be/j_UvXe-of-s

Brown's Daily Word 9-17-13

    Praise the Lord for this good day.  I was born this very day so many years ago.  I was born in the house that my grandfather built, in the remote and very rustic village of Orissa, India, situated almost 7000 feet above sea level.  The village is surrounded by majestic mountains and studded with rain forest where the elephants, tigers, wild buffaloes, deer, and all kinds of exotic animals roamed.  It is also surrounded by mango groves and a great variety of fruit trees.  I was the first born.  My mom never saw a doctor during her pregnancy, but I was bathed with  prayer love.  I was born loved and very blessed.  Still today I am so loved and so very blessed.  Thank you for your birthday greetings on Facebook from around the corner and around the globe. 

    Yesterday I went to visit some one who had had an open heart surgery out of state( Pennsylvania). ( He is just two years older than me.)  As I drove, gazing at the majestic mountains, stunning alleys, and driving past corn fields, I was reminded some of the mountains back in the village in Orissa , India.  On my way I stopped at a big dairy farm where I was able to purchase some Maple syrup and unpasteurized local honey.  I had the opportunity to talk to the farmer, who is a committed Christian.  We shared  about the rich blessings of Jesus.  I praise the Lord for His rich blessings of grace and mercy in my life.  I usually read from Psalm 103 for my birthday.

"Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s." (Psalm 103:1-5)

    Psalm 103  is a prayer by David, in which he talks to his own soul and reminds himself to “bless the Lord” and “forget not all his benefits.”  He gave himself a sturdy reminder of the ways in which the Lord is so good to us.

    In his sermon on Psalm 103, Clovis Chappell said that on the west coast of England there is the grave of a man who was much loved by all who knew him. When he died, these words were inscribed on his headstone.  “Here lies a man who was satisfied with Jesus.”  Chappell then added this benediction: “If that can be said of us, we have sufficient reasons to make all of time and eternity one great thanksgiving day.”

   In Christ our  Eternal Contemporary.

     Brown

http://youtu.be/RpRCClg8pEY

Brown's Daily Word 9-16-13

   Praise the Lord for this new day and the new week.  I just saw two amazing turkeys grazing by the parsonage.  they looked carefree and unhurried.  Indeed it was a great sight of beauty. Sunita  flew to Jerusalem with her work.  She shared with me that it is a gift to travel to Israel.   Janice and her family spent the weekend on a wilderness camping.. rustic and rugged. It was great blessing to be in the house of the Lord yesterday in worship, in witness, and in fellowship.  One of the readings for yesterday was taken from Luke 15.  The Pharisees and the scribes were upset that Jesus was hanging out with sinners, v. 1-2. Jesus spoke the three parables that comprise this chapter to confront the hardness of their religious hearts against lost sinners. In the first parable, the Lost Sheep, we learn that the shepherd went after 1 out of 100. In the parable of The Lost Coin, we learn that the woman sought 1 out of 10. In the parable of The Lost Son, we see the father looking for 1 out of 2.  We must not, however miss the fact that the father went to both his sons, thus teaching us the truth that every life matters to the Lord!  Our lives do matter to Him and just as the shepherd sought the sheep, just as the woman sought the coin, just as the father sought his sons, the gracious Lord of glory is seeking us always.

    In "The Wizard of Oz", Dorothy spent the first half of the story trying to find a way to get away from home.  While in Oz, a very strange country, she spent most of her time trying to find a way back home to Kansas.  Finally, she learned the truth that she had always had the ability to go home anytime she wanted to.  All she had to do was click the heals of her ruby slippers together three times and say, “There’s no place like home.”  When she did this, she went home!  Going home is not always as easy as that.

    In this parable, Jesus told the story of a young man who couldn’t wait to get away from home. He made a very selfish demand of his father, took his inheritance and headed to a far country to live it up, free from the restraints of his father and his father's rules.  What he found in the far country was not what he expected.  Though he found good times and new friends, his money ran out, and when it did, the good times and good friends ran out too.  He then found  himself living with a pig farmer in the far country, working day by day feeding the pigs. He was broke and lonely, his new friends had abandoned him, and no one cared about him!  When he finally reached bottom, he came to his senses, remembering how good things had been at home after all.  He remembered that there is no place like home!  He returned home with a plan to be a servant in his father’s house, but when he arrived he found more there than he ever bargained for.  He truly did discover that there really is no place like home!

   So the celebration began! The father invited the servants, the neighbors and the friends of the family to a great celebration!  Yet, when the father and rest of the family and many friends gathered together to celebrate, the elder brother stayed out in the field, angry that although he had always been there the Father did not give him so much as a goat, (much less a fatted calf). He may have lived in the father’s house and worked in his fields, but he did not love the father like he should have.  He may have been home, but he was in the far country in his heart!   It is intriguing that the end of this parable is left open.  Did the elder brother ever come into the feast?  Did he ever reconcile with his younger brother? We do not know because those things are in the future. Jesus left the parable open-ended so that the Pharisees and the scribes could write the final paragraph.     

    You and I get  get to write the final paragraph to our story. How it ends will be determined by what we do with the call of the Lord in our lives.  Regardless of where we are today, there’s no place like home! If we  are in the far country, we  need to come home. The door is open, the table is spread and the Father is waiting for all who will come!

 

 In Jesus the Host.

   Brown

http://youtu.be/NBzcOGydUaA