Brown's Daily Word 2-28-13

Praise the Lord for this last day of February. The Lord blessed us with a wonderful Wednesday Evening fellowship, study, and prayer last evening. Our daughter Laureen went to watch the Syracuse University Basket Ball team playing against Georgetown at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse last week. Laureen, while attending the Billy Graham Crusade that was held at the Carrier Dome many years ago, had gone as little girl to accept Christ as her Lord and Savior. She was back at the Stadium after many years to watch the basketball game. The 35,000 seats all sold out for the game. She said it was a great thrill to watch to game with so many fans. It is truly a great thrill for those who love Jesus to worship Jesus together as a family of God. We shout to the Lord. It is also a great thrill to gather as group every Wednesday and share and shout to the Lord.

During the Lenten Season we are reflecting on the Wondrous Cross on which the Prince of Glory died. I praise the Lord for so many scholars, servants, and missionaries that have come out of Great Britain. Praise the Lord for missionaries like William Carey and David Livingston. Praise the Lord for preachers like Charles Spurgeon and John Wesley. Praise the Lord for hymn writers such as Charles Wesley, William Cowper, Isaac Watts, and John Newton. William Cowper often struggled with bouts of severe depression. At one point he became extremely distraught, fearing that he was under the wrath of God. Here is his own testimony:

“I flung myself into a chair by the window and there saw the Bible on the table by the chair. I opened it up and my eyes fell on Romans 3:25, which says of Christ, ‘Whom God has made a propitiation through faith in his blood.’ Then and there, I realized what Christ’s blood had accomplished and I realized the effects of his atonement for me. I realized God was willing to justify me, and then and there, I trusted Jesus Christ and a great burden was lifted from my soul."

Looking back on that day, William Cowper wrote the hymn:
"There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins.
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stain."
He shed his blood and what was a place of judgment is now a mercy seat for anyone and everyone who will come to God through Jesus Christ.
I talked to a man in Boston yesterday. He flew to India on a short-term Medical Mission today. He will be visiting and working with some Hospitals managed and operated by Christian Agencies. Some of the best Hospitals in the world are managed and operated by Church.
Whenever I drive on Interstate 81 South I read a billboard near Harrisburg, advertising "Holy Spirit Hospital". The billboard continues to say that Holy Spirit Hospital is famous for Cardiac Care in the area.
There is another Hospital managed and operated by the Roman Catholic Church in one of our Nation's cities. There is also a billboard near the highway there that “Christ is #1 in Open Heart Surgeries.” I don’t know about the hospital, but I can vouch for its namesake. Jesus Christ is indeed #1 in open heart surgery. He has never lost a case yet. When we come to him by faith, he gives us a brand new heart. http://youtu.be/xMcG0JclK-A
In Christ,
Brown