Brown's Daily Word

Here we are, on the verge of participating in the Franklin Graham Festival to be held here in the Event Center of Binghamton University. They are forecasting that it will be 90 F tomorrow. We are trusting and anticipating that the Holy Spirit will come upon the event with fire and wind and will ignite that place and draw thousands to Jesus. We are excited and thrilled.
Billy Graham once said, “The evangelistic harvest is always urgent. The destiny of men and of nations is always being decided. Every generation is strategic. We are not responsible for the past generation, and we cannot bear the full responsibility for the next one; but we do have our generation. God will hold us responsible as to how well we fulfill our responsibilities to this age.” Jesus said it this way, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Matthew 9:37) We have the wrong perspective when we are thinking that the harvest is not plentiful, when we are thinking that no one is interested in spiritual things.There are always people who are searching for God, and our God is always drawing people to Him. There are more and more people inhabiting this earth. Paul declared in Romans 1:16, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of every one who believes.” Hebrews 4:12 reminds us, “…the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Isaiah 55:11 says, “so is my word that goes out from my mouth: it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which it sent it.” Having found Christ, all of us have found the greatest person. In Christ we have found the solution to all our problems and the supply of all of our needs. In him we have found something to live for and die for. The early Christians were ignited by the fire and passion for Jesus to share His good news with others. They had found Jesus and there was no way they were going to keep it to themselves.Not even when punished and promised further punishment would they be silenced. They said things like, “We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:20) What a wonderful example they have left us. “They never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.” (Acts 5:42) Jeremiah said, “his word is in my heart like a fire…I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.” (Jer. 20:9). Having the right kind of passion begins with appreciating what God has done for us, and then wanting to tell others what God can do for them. Ultimately, what we want to do is to point them to Jesus. Jesus is the Savior and the source of salvation. Acts 4:12 says, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” The story of Jesus is truly a compelling story. It is a story of love and sacrifice. It is the story of a man with a mission and unequalled character and courage.I am convinced that if we simply tell people the story of Jesus, he will capture their hearts. So, what is the good news that we must be faithful in sharing? It is the news of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. (1 Corinthians 15:1-5) Implied in this gospel is that fact that God loves every single one of us and that he values us enough for his son to make the extreme sacrifice of himself for us. The good news is that God is not going to count people’s sins against them if they are in Christ, for being in Christ means that we are new creations. The old has gone and the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17-18). Jesus said that we are the salt of the earth, and part of what he meant by that is that we, being salty, can make others thirsty. We make them thirsty by telling our story illustrating what God can do in a person’s life. Our God is so faithful, and he calls us to be faithful. One aspect of our faithfulness is being faithful in sharing the good news about Jesus. There is a crisis of confidence in our country. Faith gives us the courage to face the present with confidence and the future with expectancy. I often draw inspiration from little William Carey, who became known as the Father of modern missions. His motto was "Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God." For forty-seven years he pioneered the modern missionary movement in India, translating the New Testament into 44 languages and providing a model for indigenous leadership training around the world. Several years ago (1985) a celebration took place at a municipal pool in New Orleans. The party around the pool was held to celebrate the first summer in memory without a drowning at the New Orleans City pool. In honor of the occasion, 200 people gathered, including 100 certified lifeguards. As the party was breaking up and the four lifeguards on duty began to clear the pool, they found a fully dressed body in the deep end. They tried to revive Jerome Moody, 31, but it was too late. He had drowned, surrounded by lifeguards celebrating their successful season. What a tragedy! It is even more tragic when people surrounded by Christians still die and go to hell not knowing Jesus. The early Church was committed to reaching the lost for Christ. We need to raise the bar in our commitment toward reaching others as well.

Please continue to pray for Sunita, who is still in Africa. She is flying back home from Africa on Saturday.
Laureen is driving home today. She is going to join me in attending the luncheon welcoming Franklin Graham tomorrow.
Jessica and Tom are coming up on Friday evening. Jess, Tom, and Laureen are coming up to attend some Festival activities and to attend their cousin's wedding.
I will be interviewed by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association live on radio this noon.
Praise the Lord for all His blessings! It is wonderful to be alive, to know the Savior, and to be part of His eternal Kingdom.

May Jesus Christ be praised!
Brown