Brown's Daily Word 2-19-09

Good Morning,
Praise the Lord, for He is the Head of the Church. I have been part of the Church, the Body of Christ, since my boyhood days. I have been blessed beyond belief, through the Church of Jesus Christ. Jesus has promised that He will build the church upon the Rock, and the gates of hell can not prevail against it. Jesus, the Christ, the Rock of Ages, wants us to build His Church! The Foundation was laid once and for all - He is always at work building His Church in ways and with people in every possible circumstance! Christian authors Bill and Amy Stearns, in their book entitled "20/20 Vision: Amazing Stories of What God Is Doing Around the World," describe how the Gospel of Jesus, the Christ, came to Mongolia. "In the 1870’s Swedish missionaries arrived in what was then called Outer Mongolia. After four decades of several missionary teams’ blood, sweat, and tears, not a single indigenous church had been established. Then, in 1921, Mongolia earned the dubious distinction of being the only country in the world to voluntarily invite the Soviets to bring communism to their country. In the ensuing purge, every vestige of Christianity - as well as any other religion - was erased; and, more than one million Lamaisric Buddhist priests were slaughtered. Religion was dead in Mongolia." "In 1980, a young Mongolian named "Yi" - Mongolians traditionally have only one name - went to study at a university in Moscow." He was given an English-language Holy Bible by a fellow student from Tanzania. "You can study English with it," the Tanzanian student explained. Yi studied that Holy Bible for seven years, returning to Mongolia and rising to a top English interpreter position with the Mongolian government. In 1987, Yi was assigned to an American big-game hunt tourist group, which had come to Mongolia to hunt bear. Douglas Coe, Evangelical leader of "The Family" and political mentor for many politicians, including the 67th Secretary of State of the United States of America, Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton, was one of the tourists. During the hunting trip, Yi found the opportunity to secretly ask him, "Do you know God?" Douglas nodded. Three hours later, Yi was able to whisper, "What is His name?" "Jesus Christ" In bits and pieces of stolen conversations throughout the rest of the big-game hunt, Douglas was able to introduce Yi to Jesus. "Don’t worry," he told Yi. "I know it’s illegal to be a Christian; and, it will be hard for you. But friends will come." Then the tourist group left Mongolia. Three years later, Yi was assigned to another foreign tour group, this time a group of Native American cowboys of Navajo, Winnebago, Cocapaw, and other Native American descent, who came to Mongolia to perform in the national nadim, a competition in horsemanship! By God's grace and foresight, the tourist group was composed of Christian Native American cowboys! Yi translated their testimonies on national television and interpreted their explanation of the Gospel to press groups and officials. Several Mongolians responded to the tourist group’s challenge to receive Jesus Christ, and Yi spent hours and hours absorbing everything the cowboys knew about the Word of Almighty God! Then, they too left Mongolia. Yi began discipling those Mongolians who had come to Christ through the cowboys’ ministry. Some time later, another tour group came, a few members of which just happened to be pastors! The ministers, after days of intense discipling, realized the depth of Yi’s Bible knowledge and the unusual bursts of his spiritual insights. For this reason they all gathered together in a hotel room in the capital city of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, on a cold day in November 1990 and ordained Yi as an elder of the first Mongolian church in the history of the world! Jesus Christ builds His Church 24/7, night and day, all around the globe, using people of every color, gender, nationality and language. The work of building the Church never ceases! The Church triumphant is not about building buildings. Rather, it is about building lives! The Church has one foundation! The late great Anglican clergyman and hymn-writer, Rev. Samuel John Stone (1839 - 1900) said it well in his hymn, "The Church’s One Foundation," which he wrote in 1866. "
Church’s one foundation
Is Jesus Christ her Lord,
She is the new creation
By water and the Word;
From Heav’n He came and sought her
To be His Holy Bride;
With His own blood He bought her,
And for her life He died.
Elect from every nation,
Yet one o’er all the earth,
Her charter of Salvation,
One Lord, one faith, one birth;
One holy Name she blesses,
Partakes one holy food,
And to one hope she presses,
With every grace endued.
’Mid toil and tribulation,
And tumult of her war,
She waits the consummation
Of peace forever more;
Till with the vision glorious,
Her longing eyes are blest,
And the great Church victorious
Shall be the Church at rest.
Yet she on earth hath union
With God, the Three in One,
And mystic sweet communion
With those whose rest is won;
O happy ones and holy!
Lord give us grace that we
Like them, the meek and lowly,
On high may dwell with Thee."In Christ,
Brown