Brown's Daily Word 7/21/15

    I love the summer days here in central New York.  It has been sunny and very warm.  It is raining torrentially at the moment, drenching fields and valleys with friendly rain making all the vegetation joyful.  We had a couple join us for lunch yesterday.  We fixed some Indian curry. They loved it.  We talked about some possible ministries starting in the fall.  Alice and I walked in the evening, meeting some neighbors again, who are very friendly and gracious.  We stopped by the local Ice Cream store where we met some of Alice's former and current students and their parents. 
    Our new church is located in the "city center", as they say in Great Britain.  In the same block you will find the Ice cream shop which was pretty busy, along with the bank, a medical clinic, funeral home, library, restaurant, and barber shop  The beautiful and laconic river flows dividing the town in the middle.  The parsonage is located in the upper section and the church is located at the lower level.  The High School, behind the village green, is just across from the church.  The town center is generally busy with people of all ages.  Praise the Lord for the villages, towns, and cities all over the world.  Praise the Lord for the people who live there, work there, play there, and, best of all, worship the Savior there.  May His Name be praised and glorified where people of every tongue, language, and people group serve Him and worship unafraid and unashamed.
    Romans 1:16 states, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power for salvation for all who believe.”  All of us have numerous experiences in life where we have felt ashamed.  It is the very nature of human experience, the very nature of all human beings, the very nature of human personality to feel shame.  It starts very early in life and ends late in life.  Shame is part of the human condition and the very nature of human personality, from the time we are very young in life to when we die.
    Shame, it seems to me, grows out of an egotistical love, a sinful love, a selfish love that is too concerned about me looking badly.  In New Testament times, we find that there were a great number of people who did not want to admit that they were followers of Jesus Christ.  Today, we would call them “closet Christians.” These “closet Christians” were ashamed to let anyone know that they were Christian.
    The primary and most popular image of this behavior was Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a wealthy member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling senate of Israel. Nicodemus did not want his fellow senators to know that he was a follower of Christ.  Nicodemus was ashamed to let the other “big shots” in the senate know that he was a “born again” Christian, that he had deep religious feelings, that he was committed to Jesus Christ.  There were many “closet Christians” in those days who didn’t want other people to know that they were followers of Christ because it could cost them their life, their family, their job, their life itself.
    Knowing that there were many “closet Christians”  who were ashamed of being disciples, the Apostle Paul said very clearly, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God for salvation."  The Good News we proclaim and share is that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is not ashamed of you and me, no matter how bad we have been, no matter how rotten we have been, no matter what we have said or done.  It needs to be clearly said today that Jesus Christ is not ashamed of your life and mine, though this concept is hard for us to comprehend because we are so prone to shame, and so prone to being ashamed about our bodies, our brains, our behaviors, and our brothers and sisters.  We are so prone to shame that it is difficult for us to conceive of the possibility that God is not ashamed of us.  Because shame is so deep within us, it is almost impossible for us to conceive that God is not ashamed of us.
    We need to be very clear and without any doubt that our Lord and Savior is not ashamed of you and me.  He, the one who is Sinless and stainless, is  not ashamed of us in the midst of our sinfulness. Jesus loves sinful people.  He loves selfish people.  He loves failing people.  He  loves rebelling people.  He loves runaway people.  He  loves people who are ashamed of all the ugly things that they have done.  It is all about and because of His "grace," which is a free gift.  He freely gives us his love to sinful people.
    We boast in the good news that Christ loves us just the way we are.  We boast in the Gospel,  that all of our sins are fully and freely forgiven.  We boast in the cross that Jesus Christ has died for our  sins and that we are invited to walk the way of the cross.  We boast that Jesus is Risen from the dead, and He gives eternal life to all who believe in him and walk in His ways.  We boast in the church of Jesus Christ.  We boast in the great cloud of witnesses all around us.  Because we boast  in Christ and His Gospel, it is natural that we want to share with the world around us about Jesus Christ.
In Christ our Lord and Savior.
Pastor Brown   https://youtu.be/1vmY2ztb5xc

Brown's Daily Word 7/20/15

Praise the Lord for this new day filled with our Lord's promises and fraught with with His power and grace.  The Lord blessed us in His House yesterday in worship, witness, and fellowship.  I always get energized by the Lord and the Holy Spirit as we join the people of the Lord praising Jesus and declaring His might and majesty.  The Lord is faithful to keep His promise that He is with as we gather in His name around the corner and around the globe.  It was very hot, humid, and sweltering as the daytime temperature reached into the 90s.    

 

    The area surrounded with green hills, green pastures, and still waters makes it an amazing summer time.  The Lord blessed us with some friendly rains in the afternoon.  Our grandson Simeon was not feeling well this weekend, but he has recovered well, and he and his family have gone to the state of Maine for vacation, where they are attending a blue grass festival.  As I write this i can hear the morning doves singing and serenading around the house.  Their sound of music makes my heart glad and jubilant.  I am excited about this new day and brand new week that the Lord has given to each one of us that we might serve Him, worship Him, and honor Him.

 

    I am reminded that we are pilgrims on this earth, marching to Zion onward , forward, and upward.  Moses led the homeless nation of Israel out of Egypt, where the people had been enslaved for several generations.  God demonstrated His power through the 10 plagues, the splitting of the Red Sea, and the provision of food from heaven and water from a rock.  He also provided a supernatural GPS system and led them via a cloud during the day and pillar of fire at night.  Despite all of this the people still didn't have much faith.  They constantly whined and complained.  It should have been about a month-long hike to the Promised Land, but God caused them to wander in the wilderness for nearly 40 years.  Moses and his generation died before entering the land God had promised.  Joshua replaced Moses as the leader of God's people and brought them into the Promised Land.

    By the time we come to Joshua 24, Joshua was an old man, about 110.  At this part of the story, Joshua had been a general through many wars.  He had seen the walls of Jericho come thundering down in miraculous fashion.  He had fought the battles, and he bore the scars—and the wisdom and faith that grows and deepens with the struggle.

    Joshua seemed to know he didn't have much time left in this world.  He gathered the people of Israel together for what was apparently a farewell address.  He stood and  the assembly turned toward him expectantly.  He no longer was the pow¬erful figure he once was, but still his voice carried power (see Josh. 24:14-15).  Joshua got right to the point and issued a challenge: It's time for the people to make a choice.  The people can follow the Lord God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, or they can choose a different god.  It's time to select a god to follow, to accept a worldview and allow it to remake them.

"It's up to you," Joshua said, "but I can tell you this much: As for me and my house, our decision is made. We know whom we will serve; you must make your own choice."  Although Joshua was a commander, a general used to giving orders, he knew a choice must be made.  No one can be ordered into the kingdom of God.  It's a path individuals must choose.  Upon closer inspection, we find many  are sacrificing a great deal on the altars of power, pleasure or finance—it's really all the same: People are choosing their gods and bringing their offerings. At the end of the day, the real offering is one's self.

    Philosopher Peter Kreeft puts it this way: "The opposite of theism is not atheism; it's idolatry."  In other words, everyone is going to worship a god.  We were created to be worshipers.  The question for us is: Who or what will be the object of our worship?
In Christ,

Pastor Brownhttps://youtu.be/CoxopsRSfdU

Brown's Daily Word 6/17/15

    Praise the Lord for this fantastic Friday.  Once again it is sunny and brilliant.  We are getting ready for the weekend.  Tom and Jessie are busy caring for their newborn "little princess'.  Sunita and Andy are eagerly and prayerfully waiting for the birth of their little one in a  few weeks.  Janice and Jeremy will be busy with their energetic trio in Boston as they spend the summer days in Boston.  Laureen is having one of her friends visiting this weekend in Washington, DC.  We are getting ready for worship in our new church this coming Sunday at 11:00 AM.  It is all celebratory and worshipful.  One of the young couples that I married a few summers ago were blessed with a new son, weighing 11 pounds 4 ounces.  We praise the Lord.  This young couple loves the Lord and loves life.  They are using some my equipment that I gave them to keep bees and raise honey.  The gift keeps on giving.  Praise the Lord for summer time and for the great outdoors, when we can get together for parties, celebrations, and all forms of get-togethers. 

 

    Our Lord Jesus loved parties; He loved  beaches and boats.  He spent much of His ministry time by the Sea of Galilee.  Jesus talked about a man who gave mega-party, which we read about in Luke 14.  The man, whose name we do not know,  invited numerous people to the party, to the banquet, to the great ballroom, and the people had numerous excuses why they couldn’t come.  The first person said that he would love to come, but "I just bought a new field"  Today he might have been saying,"I just got a new job; that new job of mine is just so time-consuming; my job is so consuming, I just don’t have time for you."  The second person said, "I would love to come to your party, but I just bought five new oxen."  We hear the same sentiment today when our friends and acquaintances say, "I just bought a new camper; I just bought a new boat; I am so busy; I am a teenager - I have track and soccer and swimming and baseball; I have all of these really wonderful things which are really important to me and I just don’t have time for you."  Then the third would-be disciple said, "We would love to come to your party, but we just go married"  We hear this resounding theme every day.  Jesus persistently reminds us that for those of us who love the good things of life, these "things" can get in the way of keeping our eyes on Jesus and the love of His Kingdom and His righteousness.

    During my graduate School days I studied  some of the writngs by a British New Testament Scholar named Dr. George Caird.  He is my favorite author on the book of Luke, and he gave me this wonderful quotation: “The most difficult choices in life are not primarily between good and evil, but the most difficult choices in life are between what is good and what is best.”  Home, children, family, and jobs are all good; they are absolutely wonderful; but they are not the best.  The best is Jesus.  The best is the love of God.  The best is the kingdom of God.  The best is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  The best is doing the work of the Kingdom,in the world.  The best is taking care of all of God’s family on the globe.  All the other things of life are good, but they are not the best.  Let us keep our eyes on the best.

In Christ the Priceless One.

 Pastor Brown.

https://youtu.be/oxpPIa-BskY