Brown's Daily Word & India update 1-30-09

Good Morning,
Praise the Lord! It is Friday and Sunday is coming. It has been a very cold and wintry January. It has been brutally cold. We did not see any lasting January thaw. Our friends in Oklahoma have been dealing with severe ice storms, causing power failures. It is the beginning of the Spring season in Orissa, India. This coming Sunday is Super Bowl Sunday here in the USA. I follow the Steelers. The Schools in Pittsburgh have two hours delay this coming Monday so that the teachers and students can party late.
We are getting ready for worship and celebration this Sunday. I will be preaching from Mark 1:21 ff. on casting out demonic spirits - "When Demons Go to Church". Those of you who live in this area, please join us tonight for our Television outreach on Cable Channel 4 at 7 PM.
The Lectionary readings for the Epiphany season were taken from Jonah, the reluctant prophet. The Lord God, who is mighty and merciful, used a two by four to woo Jonah back to Himself. Jonah found himself between a rock and hard place. He began to pray as he had never prayed before. The Lord gave Jonah a second chance. Failure is never final. Failure is not a person. Failure is an event. Jonah was resuscitated and restored, a foretaste of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus. Jonah made a U-Turn. That is real repentance. Then, he went on his short-term foreign mission. The Lord gave him His favor so that there was great revival. The people heard the message and they all repented. Even the cattle and the pets repented. There was radical revival. There was great Awakening.
The nations of the world need that kind of revival today. We are facing a global Crisis. I call it the Global Tsunami. It is a wonderful time to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ our Lord and make disciples for Him. It is an exciting time to be alive and belong to the church of Jesus Christ.
The people of Nineveh heard the Message, they believed, and they repented. The Lord healed their land. Something began to happen in Jonah. Rather than becoming joyful and grateful, anger and resentment stirred within him. He made no bones about it. He had never wanted the Ninevites to repent. That is why he ran away to begin with. He knew that God would have compassion on them and relent in sending the calamity Jonah thought they deserved. Jonah felt an unholy anger.
Jonah was so angry, in fact, that he preferred to die rather than watch this revival of repentance among the Ninevites. Most scholars agree that at the core of Jonah's feelings was a racial prejudice in his heart. God questioned him, "Have you any right to be angry?"
We can thank God that the Bible is honest enough to deal with these very real issues. Our childish nature within the human family is all too familiar and makes for a story that has often been repeated in history. For example, the Jews grew to hate the Samaritans, their closest Scriptural and geographical neighbors. In the early church, the Greek speaking Jews resented the Hebrew speaking Jews. Later, the Jewish followers of Jesus resented the Gentile followers of Jesus. Still later, the Gentile followers of Jesus rejected the Jewish followers of Jesus!
In our sinful nature we somehow find ways to resent, reject, and even hate our church family because God wants to be gracious to them as well. There are people who claim the name of God who resent that fact that God wants to save people of another race, nation or culture.
It can hit close to home when we least expect it. Have you ever become angry because God was gracious to someone that you did not like? Have you ever bristled that God would show grace toward a particular group that is different from you? Jesus made it clear that God has every right to give grace to the workers invited to His vineyard in any way He would please (Matthew 20:1-16).
The fundamental question is this: Do we have a right to be angry at God because of the blessing He gives to others? Do we have a right to be angry because of the grace and salvation that is offered to others?
Help us Jesus!
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6StS1K_KKWo