Brown's Daily Word 4-16-08

Good Morning,
Praise the Lord for this glorious day, a gift from the Lord. It is going to be one of the ten best days. May Jesus be praised all over the world. The Pope is visiting our Nation's Capital. Today is his 81st birthday. Sunita saw the Pope Mobile very close. It is a very glorious day in Washington today. President Bush and 9000 others are meeting the Pope for his birthday. May the Lord bless the Pope. May Jesus our Lord bless His church, worldwide. May the Holy Spirit move in the church universal bringing about a great revival and renewal. May the Lord set the captives free. May the poor hear the Good News. May the blind receive their sight. May the lame walk again. May the Redeemed of the Lord shout His praise. Praise the Lord for His Love that heals and restores.

A number of years ago a Johns Hopkins University professor asked his graduate students to locate 200 boys, ages 12-16, and then to research their family backgrounds. The assignment was then to predict their future. The students were sent to the slum area of the city to find the boys. The conclusion reached by the graduate students was that 90 percent of those researched would spend time in jail. The final chapter of this study would not be completed until 25 years later. When the 200 original students were sought after, some 25 years later, John Hopkins sent the researchers into the slum area again. Some of the group still remained in the slums; others had moved away, a few had died. In all they were able to locate 180 of the original 200. What they found amazed them. Only four had ever been to jail (remember the prediction had been 90 percent of 200)! What caused this figure to be so low when all indications pointed to a larger number? When the researchers began to ask this question they found that they were getting the same answer, “Well, there was this teacher….” Pressed further, the researchers found that the teacher in all cases was one and the same. The boys had all been influenced by the same teacher. The graduate students traced down the teacher, now living in a retirement home, and inquired about her remarkable influence over a group of boys who were headed for a life of crime. She really could not think of any reason why she would have this kind of influence. She did mention that “I truly loved my students.” The teacher who had made such a difference in the lives of these inner city boys had made that difference because of her genuine love for them. She could not remember any profound lecture that she had given. She could not remember any great and outstanding curriculum of learning that she had developed or used. Love was the instrument that she used to change the lives of these young men just as love was the instrument which Jesus used to change the lives of the disciples and it is still love which is the primary tool in the hands of the Church to revolutionize the world for Jesus Christ. It was the love and uniqueness of Jesus' message that caused a certain Scribe to say to Jesus in Matthew 8:19, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.” (NKJV)It was the uniqueness of the Words of Jesus which caused Peter to say in John 6:68, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” (NKJV) In John 13:35 Jesus said, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (NKJV) The early Church exemplified these words of Jesus. The early Church had love for one another.the key words in – Acts 2:42-47; breaking of bread, prayers, were together, had all things in common, they cared as anyone as they had need, gladness, simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor. There is one thread running through them all – love. The early Church had love for one another and offered something which was and is radically unique. Genuine love is an altogether rare commodity in this world but it should not be so in the Church of Jesus Christ. We, more than any others, ought to reflect the radical love of Jesus toward one another in ways that are obvious to others. The early Church was attractive because it had something sweet which was of rare commodity. That commodity – love – is still a rare commodity. Indeed, we are living in times much akin to the days of the early Church. As we look around our society is increasingly pluralistic. In fact, we see many of the same threads of thought in the New Age religion of our day that existed in the mystery cults of the Romans Empire. We too see a type of Emperor Worship as well, don’t we? In Rome the Emperor was worshiped as a god or more specifically a representative of the gods. Is this any different from the modern secular worldview which rejects the notion of the family and Church as the primary structures of society – instead replacing Church and family with secularism, evolution, science, and the State?I am reminded of the words of Romans 1:20-25 where the Apostle Paul writes, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man – and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator… Amen.” (NKJV) In the ancient world, God – according to His divine providence – broke into history at just the appointed moment. He broke in with a kind of love that the world had never seen and has yet to fully comprehend. While the world tells us that we are on our own; the Church showed the world around them that we are in this together. While the world tells us that there is no power greater than that of the State; the Church showed the world around them that God reigns supreme.While the world’s false religions failed to satisfy the hearts and minds of the great multitudes of people; the God of creation offered the presence of the Holy Spirit within the very hearts and men and women who would seek Him. What made the early Church so attractive? Why were they able, with God’s help, to turn the world upside down as it says in Acts 17:6? Because they were filled with the love of Christ! It is the love of Christ in us that is needed in people’s lives.
In Him,
Brown
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