Brown's Daily Word 9-26-13

   Praise the Lord for this new day..We are less than three months from Christmas.  I have started listening some Christmas music already.  It is a great thrill to think about Christmas... the music, the message of it , the mystery of it, too.   Praise the Lord the way He ushers in the wonderful Autumn season with so much beauty and so much bounty.  In our area harvest has begun.  Grapes, pears, and apples are already being harvested.  We have peaches and apples in our trees here.  Our grandchildren who live in the city of Boston are coming home this weekend.  I want them to pick peaches and pears with their own hands. There is something magical and mystical when we have the sensory perception first hand. We will make them pick tomatoes, eggplants, pumpkins, and squash from our little garden that the Lord blessed with a big harvest.

   The Lord blessed us beautiful Wednesday Bible Study gathering.  The sharing and discussion was thought provoking and challenging and life-giving.  We were looking at Hebrews 4.  We all need friends in high places from time to time.  We need someone who can cut through the red tape and help us when we can't help ourselves.  In Hebrews 4:14-16 that Jesus is exactly the friend we need.  Jesus is the friend we need because he is the Right Person with the Right Past in the Right Place.  “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess” (Hebrews 4:14).

    I  prefer the King James rendering of this verse: “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” Consider that lovely phrase “touched with the feeling of our infirmities.”  Jesus is “touched” by the weakness of our feeble flesh.  Whatever touches us, touches him.  To say “I feel your pain” has become cliche today but in Jesus’ case it is true.  He is moved by our sorrow, aware of our tears, and touched by our failure.  He knows what we are going through.

    That’s what the verse means when it says that Jesus is touched with the feeling of our infirmities.  He knows our pain, he sees our weakness, he understands what we are going through.  Because he was a “man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,” he truly knows what we are going through.  How good it is to know that he was tempted just as we are.  The verses  means that Jesus faced every kind of temptation we can face.  Jesus has defeated  the devil.  Where we failed, he succeeded.  Where we gave in, he stood strong.  Where we collapsed under pressure, Jesus obeyed his Father.  He was tempted, yet he never sinned by giving in.  I find great comfort in these words of C. S. Lewis in his book Mere Christianity:

    "A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie.  Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is.  After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in.  You find out the strength of the wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down.  A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later.  That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness.  They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in.…Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means."

    This has enormous implications for our spiritual life.  Because Christ was tempted and never gave in, we may be sure that he is never surprised by anything we say or do.  We gave in too early so we never felt the full force of temptation.  But Jesus let the waves of temptation rush over him and stood like the Rock.  When we pray we don't have to worry that we will somehow shock him.  He has heard it all and seen it all before.  We can go ahead and be totally honest about our failures. He knows about it even before we tell him.

    John Newton expressed this truth in these words from an old hymn: “Thou art coming to a King, large petitions with thee bring; for His grace and power are such, none can ever ask too much.”

     We have a friend in high places.  We have connections in heaven.  We have a friend at the throne of grace who delights to answer our prayers . He’s the Right Person with the Right Past in the Right Place.

  In Christ,

   Brown

http://youtu.be/Xs0LxtqIor0

An Evening Praise and worship ...

    September 28, 2013

    First United Methodist Church, 53 Mckinley Ave., Emdicot

    5.30 PM  Praise and Worship and a time of Testimony.

    Preacher:  Pastor Marshall Sorber.

    Followed by a special banquet.  All are welcome. For Information call 607-748-6329