Brown's Daily Word 3-22-13

Praise the Lord for this Friday. One week from today we will celebrate Good Friday followed by a Glorious Easter Sunday. I had a note on Face Book from a young girl whose name is Stella. She is from G.Udayagiri, Phulbani , Orissa. Her grandpa was my 6th grade teacher and also was my Sunday School teacher. Stella wrote to me sharing with me that she will be getting baptized on Easter Sunday. She, along with many in that area, will be baptized in a river in an outdoor service. The river is named the "River Jordan". Praise the Lord for new believers who will be baptized on Easter Sunday around the corner and around the globe. Jesus declared, "Upon this Rock, I will build My Church and the Gates of Hell can not prevail against It".

Those of you who live in the area join us this evening at 7 PM on Time Warner Cable channel 4. I will be sharing about Palm Sunday based on Luke 19. One of our ministry teams will be preparing a special Easter Banquet at the First United Methodist Church, Endicott, tomorrow, the 23rd of March. There will be special Easter Egg Hunt for the children at 5 PM followed by a worship service at 5:30 PM. Vicky Lee will be giving her testimony. The worship service will be followed by the Easter banquet. The menu will consist of Ham , potatoes, Indian curry and rice, and homemade desserts... colorful and sumptuous.

We will gather for worship on Sunday at 8:30 and 11:00 AM at the Union Center UMC and at 9:30AM at the Wesley UMC. It is Palm Sunday, when we remember Jesus, our Lord, on the way to Jerusalem. He paused at Bethany, and through His symbolic actions, He was going to ride into Jerusalem as the long-awaited Messiah. In fulfillment of prophecy He sent for a donkey, which he rode down the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem while the disciples shouted praises and laid their coats in the path. Zechariah 9:9 says, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon a donkey, and upon a colt the foal of a donkey." So excited were Jesus' followers that shouted hosannas, and cut down branches and flung them to make a royal path for their king.

While praise was customary within the temple court, this concert of praise was raised outside the temple; outside the church, so to speak. Jesus and his disciples were coming down the side of the Mount of Olives, coming into town by one of the busiest roads, in a secular setting. Praise of God was unexpected in that time and place - in a sense it is like "coloring outside the lines" of praise. I realize my poverty of praise of the Lord when I go outside the boundaries of being a pastor. It is like times when I go to the grocery store, or have the car repaired, and in conversation with someone they openly and joyfully praise God for what He has done for them. It is then that I realize that most of us, myself included, do not praise God as we should, either within or outside the walls of the church, and His blessings surely extend beyond the walls.

The praise for Jesus that day was also unanimous praise. Verse 37 says the "whole multitude" lifted their voices in praise. It is interesting to note that this unanimous praise from the multitude set them apart from the ordinary crowd. The Pharisees among them (verse 39), and some others, would not join in. It was joyful praise! Verse 37 says they rejoiced and praised God, saying, "Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest." It was not sad music. The basis for our praise is not grounded in the circumstances of the moment but in the saving grace we have experienced in Christ.

We must still praise God, not for, but in the midst of, our troubles. After all, these people, if pulled away from the shouting multitude and questioned, would have surely said that on the surface there was little reason to praise God and throw their only jacket on the ground for this donkey to walk on! There was still the Roman occupation, the poverty and taxes and pharisees and tragedies that fall upon us all. Still, they praised for what they had seen and heard.

In Christ,

Brown

http://youtu.be/ZajkWr3QbTY

Brown's Daily Word 3-20-13

Praise the Lord for the first day of Spring here in the Northern Hemisphere. It is just like summer in India. The mango trees are already past the blossom stage, and there are green mangoes now. It snowed almost 6" in parts of the Southern tier of New York so Alice's school, closed not even once for the snow day through the heart of the winter season, closed for the first time for a snow day on the last day of winter. We will gather for our mid-week fellowship and study this evening at 6 PM for a special meal and for Bible study at 6:30 PM. We will be looking at Luke 19.

In Joshua 6 we find that Jericho was the first city Israel came to after they crossed the River Jordan and entered the Promised Land. Jesus, our "true Joshua", had to pass through Jericho because it represented Satan’s stronghold of unbelief and disobedience and doubt.

Zacchaeus means just or pure. He was called a son of Abraham. Abraham, we are told, was the father of faith, and through him faith promises were obtained.
Zacchaeus, however, was not living by faith. In fact, according to Luke 19, we are told he had a reputation of being a sinner. Not only that, he was a Chief Tax Collector, and as such he impoverished the people, mistreated them, and stole from them, as was the custom of the day. He worked for the Romans, who represent a type of the world. So our “son of faith” was not living by faith, but instead he was living and controlled by his senses and as such was a prisoner of Satan.

Jesus, then, went to Jericho to demonstrate His complete victory over sin and Satan to prove that no-one is unreachable by Him . Jesus entered the city where He straightway did battle with Satan. Thousands of people lived in that city and countless of them were firmly in the grip of the evil one, but one of those who was firmly in the grip of the devil, Jesus publicly plucked out of the devil’s grasp. For in the heart of Zacchaeus God worked faith. That tax collector who had but one obsession in life was moved by the Spirit of Jesus Christ to desire to see the Lord. Instead of that plucky character elbowing his way to the front of the crowd and so being caught up by whatever mood the crowd might have, Zacchaeus chose a quiet spot above the people from which to observe the Lord more closely; he climbed a sycamore tree.

When Jesus passed under the particular tree in which the curious tax collector was perched, He made a point of looking up and speaking to the man in the tree, for Jesus knew where Zacchaeus was, knew what his name was, and that he had a house. This, in itself, was already a show of heavenly strength in the stronghold of Satan, but a greater show of heavenly strength was still to come. Jesus said, "Zacchaeus make haste and come down; for I must stay at your house today." Jesus declared the necessity of spending time with Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector. This especially was an affront to Satan. Satan could not keep Jesus outside Jericho, and Satan could not bind Jesus in Jericho. Satan had to watch helplessly as Jesus sovereignly prepared for Himself a place to stay, and settled down in the home of His choice. In doing this Jesus demonstrated at the entrance of the Promised Land that Satan is not greater than He. Therefore Jesus walked into the house of that hardened sinner, Zacchaeus, and Satan could do nothing about it. Moreover, He took that hardened sinner, Zacchaeus, and rescued him from Satan’s clutches, restoring him to His side. The evidence that Jesus in fact snatched this sinner from Satan’s grasp is clear: Jesus worked faith in him and gave him a new heart so that he was willing to give half of his wealth to the poor, and pay back fourfold whatever he had defrauded.

Luke 19:8-10 Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold." And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."

Zacchaeus had some walls that had to come down in his life, much as we ourselves do today, but rather than scale these walls ourselves, God has placed the victory before us in and through Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2:14, "For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation."
In Christ,

Brown

http://youtu.be/-4kTei0XrCs

Brown's Daily Word 3-19-13

Praise the Lord for this last day of winter. March's "lion" is roaring this year, and it seems that Spring will come in tomorrow, roaring like a lion. It snowed last evening and overnight, making everything clean, clear, and crisp. Last evening I looked out of the living room window and saw five deer frolicking around the parsonage grounds, unafraid of winter. They knew that Spring is around the corner. They were dancing with jubilant feet, welcoming spring. This herd of five deer roam around the parsonage freely. We see them on a regular basis. As I saw them yesterday evening, gleeful and joyful, I was filled with joy and my heart was filled with a sense of victory.

I am reflecting on Isaiah 53, the " Suffering servant " who is the triumphant Savior. Our Lord's Mission Statement was “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save those who were lost.” That is exactly what he did. He sought ought the lonely, the hurting, the destitute, the forgotten ones, the guilty, the hopeless, and the rejects of society. Then His love transformed them. Everywhere He went, Jesus changed lives, though His methods were unorthodox.

People kept trying to force Jesus into a mold, and make Him conform to the status quo; He was unwilling. Jesus had obvious power. He could heal the sick, the deaf, the blind, the crippled, and the diseased. It seemed that His power was limitless. He performed miracles – He calmed a storm, turned water into wine, cast out demons – even raised the dead, but then He would confuse everyone after these awesome displays of power by saying things like, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” He claimed to be the Messiah, but about the time one would have expected Him to put on a crown and take the throne, He would pick up a towel and bowl and wash his disciple’s feet.

Jesus, the wounded Warrior may have seemed to those who watched him to be vulnerable and weak. From a divine standpoint, however, He was making every demon in hell tremble on a daily basis. One of Satan’s favorite side effects from sin’s entrance into God’s perfect world is sickness and disease. Jesus showed with every healing that He had power over every form of sickness and disease. When Jesus came to town, the blind could see, the deaf could hear, the leper was cleansed, and the crippled would leap for joy. The Warrior would walk right into the enemies’ camp and set captives free: free from sin, free from the past, free to start a new life. “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more!”. He commanded legions of demons to leave and they had no choice but to obey. They were powerless against Him. Even death, that last great enemy, was unable to stop him. When He, the dead came to life again! Everything Satan tried was useless as Jesus, the Warrior, was a one-man army against the forces of hell.

All of this was just the prelude to the final battle. He came, He saw, and He conquered. Blessed be His Name. We serve under a Captain who has never lost a battle. The Wounded Warrior will come again to the earth, not as the suffering Savior, but as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

In Christ,

Brown

http://youtu.be/ek04m5TGb48

Brown's Daily Word 3-18-13

The Lord blessed us with a very joyful and celebrative weekend. One of our teams prepared and served a very special meal Saturday noon at the First United Methodist Church. On Saturday evening Chef Lou and his team prepare an Easter banquet which was served at the Union Center Unite Methodist Church. Both of these events were full of joy and celebration.

The Psalm for Sunday was taken from Psalm 126. This Psalm, known as a song of ascent, is filled with a sense of dreams come true with laughter, joy, and gladness. It speaks of the fact that THOSE WHO SOW IN TEARS WILL REAP WITH SHOUTS OF JOY. Joy is the outcome of the Christian life. We don’t generate it - the Lord does. None of us have joy intrinsically within ourselves. Many people seek to attain joy through entertainment, which offers a temporary, artificial joy.
The joy of Psalm 126 is past, present, and future. “We were filled with laughter” and “songs of joy”, vs 2; “we are filled with joy”, vs 3; and we “will return with songs of joy” vs 6.

This joy was and is lavished on Israel, giving the nation a reputation for blessedness. “Then it was said among the nations, ‘the Lord has done great things for them’”. When the Jews returned to Israel from Babylon, they were allowed to renew the pattern of their former way of life, which included rebuilding the temple.

We are the given comforting assurance in verse 5: “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.” To “sow in tears” is a reference to death. It was a common way of referring to burial; even Jesus used this imagery when He described death as a seed buried in the ground which will sprout into new life (John 12:24). The grave is not the final word. We can rejoice even in the face of death because we have hope for restoration, and the promise of eternal life. Sorrow is our sowing, and rejoicing will be our reaping. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:4). The release from Babylon was like being raised from death to life.

Verse 6 assures us that though we weep we will rejoice. In Gethsemane, Jesus sowed tears for a world lost in sin. In another garden, He destroyed the power of sin by conquering death. Homecoming and harvest are God’s promises to His people. God weeps with us, so that we may someday rejoice with Him. Because of Jesus, death is not the end of life. “Because I live, you shall live also”, Jesus said. “I am the resurrection and the life; they who believe in Me shall never die.” God took the worst deed of history—the Cross—and turned it into the greatest victory. There will be an end to mourning. God will wipe the tears from our eyes. “We will come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.”

The image here is that of the harvest when sheaves, bundles of grain, usually wheat or barley, were cut and gathered together. The joy in harvest was a highlight of the year, and a time of great blessing.

Joy is essential to our lives; it is the experience of knowing that we are loved, and we are redeemed, and that nothing in this world can take that blessing away. We often discover joy in the midst of sorrow. During the most painful times we become aware of our Christian reality larger than ourselves, that enables us to hope. Henri Nouwen wrote, “My grief was the place where I found my joy.” We may undergo hardship, but God will have the last word. This means we can rejoice even when our wishes are not realized.

Joy is not an escape from sorrow. We foolishly think we can achieve joy by eliminating the things in life that hurt us. We are experts in constructing futile strategies for achieving joy. When we come to the end of our resources we realize that joy is a gift from God, not an attribute which we can attain on our own work or merit. True joy enables us to face reality, because we do so with the assurance that God is working in our lives, even in the things that cause us pain, to bring about His perfect will.

In Christ,

Brown

http://youtu.be/iPeVIuRjUi4