Brown's Daily Word 10-11-13

    Praise the Lord for this Friday ... Sunday is coming.  Without Christ the world is in constant chaos and confusion.  Without Christ the leaders of the world are confused and self-seeking.  Without Christ  the world is in constant turmoil.   Without Christ every culture is in disarray and on a downward spiral. 

    As Morrie Schwartz was dying of Lou Gehrig's disease, he shared his reflections on life with a young friend, Mitch Albom.  They were published in the best selling book, 'Tuesdays With Morrie".  One day he said, "If the culture doesn't work, don't buy into it."  Later he reflected, "People are only mean when they are threatened and that's what our culture does.  That's what our economy does. ... When you are threatened, you start looking out for yourself.  You start making money your God. ... Which is why I don't buy into it." (From "Tuesdays with Morrie", Doubleday, 1997, pg. 154)  In fact, lots of people who take an honest look at the way in which they and everyone around them are living eventually realize that , "This really isn't working.  We really need a better way."

    We do, in fact, have a better way.  We have the Good News.  There is a better and an excellent way in and through Jesus.  As we read in Luke, our Lord went to the synagogue in Capernaum as it was His custom.  Wesley would have called it a "holy habit".  Jesus stood in the synagogue, where He taught with Authority and authencity.  His presence  brings power.  The people who heard him were challenged to their core.  Those who believed in Him were changed and transformed.  Their eyes were opened.  They received life abundant and eternal.
    Jesus taught a new way of life that is appropriate to the new possibility that God offers us.  Jesus had been preaching, "The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news." (Mark 1:15)  The kingdom of God is both a new understanding of reality and a new possibility.  It is a new understanding of reality based upon the belief that God is really the most real and the most important of all realities.  It is a new possibility that is open to all who will allow their lives to be shaped by that belief.   Jesus is the realness of real.  He is the real Thing.  He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  He brings and offers that life to all who come Him by faith receive by His grace.  He is alive and well. 

    The present culture, though bought into my so many, does not work.  Every culture without Christ is a chaos.  Every Culture without Christ collapses and decays.  Jesus transforms every culture.  He reigns.  He is our Eternal Contemporary.  We do not have to buy what He has accomplished at the cross.  It is given, free for the asking.  Once we have received the Gift He offers we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to live out our lives of purpose and victory.  No matter how bleak and despondent the culture might seem, our Lord sheds Grace, His light, and His love upon us.  What a way to live and a what way to serve.  Let us come to Jesus and live.

   In Christ,

   Brown

http://youtu.be/puG_jl22z2Y

Brown's Daily Word 10-10-13

  The Lord blessed us yesterday with a wonderful Wednesday evening gathering for fellowship and Bible study.  The fellowship was sweet and the sharing was beautiful.  We are studying the Book of Hebrews.  One of the major themes of the book of Hebrews is "Faith".  I often think of the "Faith of Abraham".

    “By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.” (Hebrews 11:9).  There is within all of us a natural desire to settle down. The older I get, the less I like to move.  There is a certain rootlessness, restlessness, and emptiness about our lives.  Augustine said, "O Lord Thou hast made us for Thyself and our hearts are restless until they find rest in Thee".  It is written that Abraham lived in tents.  I know many people who like to camp on vacation, but I don’t know anyone who voluntarily lives in a tent as a permanent residence.  Tents speak of impermanence, of the possibility of moving on at any moment, or of the fact that you live on land you do not personally own.

    Such was the case for Abraham.  He didn’t own anything in the Promised Land. God had promised to give him the land; yet he lived like a stranger in a foreign country.  If you don’t own the land, you can’t build a permanent dwelling there.God had promised  the land . . . but in the meantime he had to scratch out an existence while living in tents.  Hundreds of years would pass before the promise was completely fulfilled.  Abraham never saw it happen.  Neither did Isaac or Jacob.     Still, Abraham was a man of great faith who obeyed the Lord and walked with Him. 

    Despite the fact that Abraham demonstrated a great sense of Obedience, when he took his son Isaac for sacrifice, he did not in his lifetime receive all that Lord had promised him.  God’s timetable is not the same as ours.  He’s not in a big hurry as  we are.  God works across the generations to accomplish his purposes; Abraham’s life is the ultimate key to the life of faith.  “For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.” (Hebrews 11:10).  As I have mediated on this verse, it hit me that there is a certain amount of disappointment built into the life of faith.  We may think that if we follow God’s call, everything will work out and we will be happy all the time.   One of Robert Frost’s most famous poems captures this truth in powerful images:

        Nature’s first green is gold,
        Her hardest hue to hold.
        Her early leaf’s a flower;
        But only so an hour.
        Then leaf subsides to leaf.
        So Eden sank to grief,
        So dawn goes down to day.
        Nothing gold can stay.

    “Nothing gold can stay.”  How true this is.  We live, we die, we buy a house, we sell a house, and someone moves in where we once lived.  We take a job, we leave a job, someone else takes the job we used to have..

    One part of the life of faith is the fact that we never reach full satisfaction in this life.  “Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?” said Robert Browning.  Abraham looked for a city with foundations—that is, for a “city,” not a lonely spot in the desert.  He wanted to live in a place filled with other people. He also looked for a city with “foundations,” a place with security and permanence that could not be found in a tent.  That meant he was looking for a city designed and built by God., because all earthly cities eventually crumble to dust.

    I have been blessed to have visited several times the ruins of the ancient city of Jericho.  When most people think of Jericho, they think of the city whose walls came tumbling down in the days of Joshua, but that is only one Jericho. Archaeologists have discovered layers of Jericho, one after another, the city having been built, destroyed, and rebuilt across the centuries.  The same is true of Jerusalem.  When you visit Old Jerusalem, you aren’t exactly “walking where Jesus walked.”  You are actually walking thirty to seventy-five feet above where Jesus walked.  According to one source, Jerusalem has been destroyed and rebuilt at least forty-seven times in the last 3,500 years.

    This is the way of all earthly cities.  Nothing built by man lasts forever.   Augustine said, " Anything that is built by man will be destroyed by man... any thing built by the Lord no one can destroy."  No wonder Abraham was looking for a city built and designed by God.   Revelation 21 describes that city as “the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God” (v. 2).  In his vision John saw a city of breathtaking beauty, shining with the glory of God, “its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal” (v. 11).  Christians have always looked to the New Jerusalem as the final abode for the people of God, the place where we will spend eternity together in the presence of the Lord.  Heaven is a city.  It’s a real place filled with real people.  That’s the city Abraham was looking for when he left Ur of the Chaldees.  The Lord has promised to His own the Eternal City. This promise is sure and certain.  Because of this sure and certain promise in and through Jesus, we live with confidence and serve Him with zeal and joy here and now.

  In Christ,

   Brown

http://youtu.be/TJ_C_tHbHh8

Brown's Daily Word 10-9-13

    Praise the Lord for the gift this new day.  We will gather for our Wednesday  fellowship and Bible study this evening at 6:00 PM, followed by Choir practice at 7:30 PM.  We read and hear about the political paralysis  in high places. The Church of Jesus Christ is in the world but not of the world.  We are called to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth. 

    We are getting ready for our Prayer conference next weekend.  We are expecting miracles to happen.  Jesus, our Lord, is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  His promises, His Presence, and His power propel us to press on with confidence and zeal, for we serve under a captain who has never lost a battle. 

    I talked with our granddaughters yesterday.  They are a spending a week in Cape Cod on vacation.  Sunita and Andy, along with a few of their friends who are the prayer warriors from Washington, DC, are coming here to participate in the prayer conference.  Those who live in the area please do come and join us.  We all look forward to being blessed, changed, and challenged to live victorious lives in His kingdom for His glory. 

    A few Years ago Alice and I were attending a conference in Birmingham Alabama.  One of the speakers was  Dr. Alistair Begg.   Dr. Begg is a pastor serving in Cleveland, Ohio.  He was born in Scotland and trained in London.  Near the end of one of his lectures he told the story from 2 Chronicles 20 of how King Jehoshaphat prayed.  The Ammonites and the Moabites were moving with a vast army toward Jerusalem.  Because there were so many of them and they were so well armed, the men of Israel could never defeat them.  As the invaders came closer and closer, the situation looked increasingly hopeless.  When the king called for a nationwide fast, men from every town and village gathered in Jerusalem to seek the Lord.  Then the king stood up and cried out to the Lord for deliverance.  At the end of his prayer, Jehoshaphat concluded with this simple confession: “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you” (verse 12). God’s answer came through a prophet who told the people to “stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.”  The next day Jehoshaphat put the male singers at the head of the army and sent them out to do battle.  They literally stood still and watched as the Lord sent confusion into the enemy ranks.  The Moabites and Ammonites started killing each other by mistake.  There was a great slaughter followed by the plundering of the supplies left behind by the enemy soldiers.  The story ends with the army gathering for a praise celebration, giving thanks to God for the victory he provided (vv. 27-28).

    After telling that story Alistair Begg commented that when Jehoshaphat prayed, “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you," he was really saying, “Lord, we’re just a bunch of pathetic losers.  And if you don’t help us, we’re sunk.”  “We’re just a bunch of pathetic losers and if God doesn’t help us, we’re sunk.” That’s a good name for Christians.  The Lord's church does consist  “Pathetic Losers.”  You would never run out of prospects.  

    Apart from God’s grace, it's true that we all are just a bunch of pathetic losers. Without out the Lord, we don’t have a chance, we don’t have a thing to offer, and we don’t even know what to do next.  I am a pathetic loser.  Apart from the grace of God, I own up to the truth that in me, that is in my flesh, there is nothing good at all. Whatever talent I possess, and whatever good I have accomplished, the power to do it has come from the Lord, and He alone gets the credit.

    Perhaps you’ve heard the old Shaker hymn, "Simple Gifts", that goes this way:
        ’Tis a gift to be simple, ’tis a gift to be free,
        ’Tis a gift to come down where we ought to be.
    It’s a good thing for all of us to “come down where we ought to be.”  Jesus told us how to live when he declared, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it” (Mark 8:35).  In the Kingdom of God, all the values of the world are reversed.  The way up is down.  We are all “pathetic losers, saved, restored, redeemed, and healed by His grace alone.  Yes, this is true, but we don’t know the half of it.  Apart from God’s grace, all of us are pathetic losers.  There are no exceptions.  Yet, when pathetic losers band together to seek the Lord, the Red Sea parts, the walls come tumbling down, the enemy is routed, and the church rolls on for the glory of God.
  Blessed be His Name.
    Brown
http://youtu.be/i2Iz4cS1PF8

Brown's Daily Word 10-8-13

    Praise the Lord for this new day in His Kingdom which is eternal and unshakable.  Praise the Lord that He has called us and has sent us into the world to be His witnesses.  Whenever I read about the lives and witness of brave, committed, and courageous Christians around the corner and around the world I get very encouraged and provoked by the Lord to honor and serve Him with zeal and devotion.  Our daughter Sunita returned from Israel recently.  She met Christians from Israel and the West Bank.  She was telling me the wonderful stories of their faithful witness for Jesus our Lord under difficult circumstances. 

     “What a privilege to live for our Lord and to die for Him as well.”

    That’s what Mehdi Dibaj wrote to his son from his Iranian jail.  Raised in a Muslim family, Mehdi Dibaj became a Christian in the 1950s, later becoming a pastor.  In 1983 he was arrested and charged with apostasy for leaving Islam and becoming a Christian.  Imprisoned without a trial, he was held in solitary confinement for two years and systematically tortured.  He ended up serving almost ten years in prison.  When he finally came to trial in December 1993, he declared, “I am not only satisfied to be in prison for the honor of His Holy Name, but am ready to give my life for the sake of Jesus my Lord.”  Soon thereafter he was sentenced to execution.  The sentence would have been carried out except for the intervention of Haik Hovsepian, the leader of evangelical Christians in Iran.  Risking his own life, Bishop Hovsepian launched an international campaign for the sentence against Mehdi Dibaj to be overturned.  In January 1994 Dibaj was released from prison a few days before his execution date.  Soon after that Bishop Hovsepian disappeared.  Twelve days later his corpse was identified by his son.  The body had been stabbed 26 times. 

    For the next few months Mehdi Dibaj traveled across Iran, encouraging fellow believers and preaching the gospel of Jesus.  On June 24, 1994 he was abducted. On July 5, 1994 his body was found in a park in West Tehran.

Now I quote from an article called The Church in Iran:

More Iranians have become Christians after the 1979 both inside Iran and among the Diaspora than at any other time in Iran’s history since the Muslim invasions of the 7th century.

Much of this growth has been experienced by the Assemblies of God and the Presbyterian Churches. There has also been a major upsurge of house churches who meet underground. The estimated number of Protestant Christians who meet in buildings is several thousand; nobody knows the exact number of underground Christians, but there are at least ten different networks. Most of these home churches grow by the Gospel spreading through extended families. There is also evidence that there are numerous secret believers throughout the country.

    One man dies, another man dies, the gospel spreads, the church grows. 
This is nothing new.  Jesus spoke about this in John 12:24 when he said, “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed.  But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”  One seed is planted, then it dies.  From its death, a vast harvest grows.

    We all love the harvest.  It’s the dying that gives us pause.  It helps to remember that when Jesus spoke those words, he was talking about his own death. As Isaiah 53:11 (KJV) says, he shall see the travail of his soul and be satisfied.  Out of his death came forth many “seeds,” millions and millions of them, sprouting up into eternal life so that twenty centuries later the worldwide Christian community numbers over two billion.  One man dies.  Seeds arise.  The Word spreads.  Thus the pattern is set for all the followers of Jesus.

    In that same passage our Lord spelled it out very clearly: “The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life” (John 12:25).  How much do we love our own lives?  Pastor Dibaj answered clearly when he said, “What a privilege to live for our Lord and to die for Him as well.”

In Christ,

   Brown

http://youtu.be/1OaBgaMcOvM

Brown's Daily Word 10-7-13

     Praise the Lord for the summer-like days He has given us here in New York.  The Fall foliage is fantastic and is out of this world.  I saw few deer feasting on the apples not far from the parsonage.  On the way to the church I saw a flock of turkeys crossing the road unhurried and unafraid.  The Lord blessed the ministry of the Christian Illusionist this past Saturday.  We had people of all ages attending the presentation.  It was full of holy humor.  The oldest person attending was 94 years and the youngest person in attendance was an infant only a few weeks old.  The Lord blessed yesterday in His house as we celebrated the World Wide Communion.  Praise the Lord for the church that extends to all the corners of the earth.  Jesus is the King of all Nations and He is the Lord of all.

    Some of the readings for yesterday were taken from the Books of Lamentation and Habbakkuk.  In the world and its peoples today we see present such national situations as anarchy and confusion.  In the midst of self-centeredness and self- preservation of the people in high places, our Lord is sovereign.  In the face of political upheaval and arrogance, Jesus is King.  The passage in Lamentation declares the faithfulness of our Lord.  His mercies never fail.  The passage in Habakkuk declares, " The righteous shall live by faith".   

    The world is full of people who have an Entitlement mindset.  Christians are called to have a mind of gratitude and grace.  We live by faith knowing that all that we are and have is by His grace alone.  How blessed we already are.  If only we had eyes to see what God has done for us.  His compassions never fail.
“They are new every morning” (Lamentations 3:23a).  God’s mercies are brand-new every morning.  “Great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:23b).  This is the text that led Thomas Obadiah Chisholm to write the poem, "Great Is Thy Faithfulness",  that became a beloved hymn sung on every continent   This week I read an article, "Surprised by Death", by James Van Tholen, printed in the May 24, 1999 issue of Christianity Today.  It seems that Pastor Van Tholen had been diagnosed with cancer, received treatment, and returned to his pulpit to talk about his experience.  The doctors told him that they could not cure him and in fact he probably did not have long to live.  What do you say to your congregation in a moment like that?  He remarked that for the first time in his life, he felt as if he had begun to understand God’s grace.  He wasn’t afraid of dying per se, but suddenly he realized that at the age of 33, he wasn’t going to live to be 40 or 50 or 60 or 70.  He might live a few more weeks or months, but without a miracle of God, he wouldn’t live much longer than that.  That’s when it hit him that for years he had subconsciously expected to live to some ripe old age, and that meant he had plenty of time to improve himself, to get rid of bad habits, to repair broken relationships, to grow in grace.  Now, for the first time he realized he didn’t have enough time to do it.  He would have to go out into eternity less than he wanted to be—with some habits unchanged, some relationships unrepaired, some spiritual growth not accomplished.  That’s when he realized that he would have to depend completely on the grace of God, not just theoretically but practically and totally.  If God’s grace wasn’t enough, then he was in trouble because there wasn’t enough time for massive self-improvement.  Romans 5:6-8 became precious to him because it speaks of Christ dying for us while we were “yet” sinners.

    Our salvation hangs on that little word “yet.”  It is not just that we were sinners once upon a time but that in some profound way, even though we are saved, we are still sinners desperately in need of God's grace.

   In Christ,

http://youtu.be/zNjdpdiK24I

   Bio"  Rev Nigel Mumford..The Key note Spekar and the leader at The Prayer Confernce.. Octobe18.20.2013:  First United Methodist church, Endicott and Union Center United Methodist Church. 

Nigel Mumford was born and educated in England. He served for six and a half years in Her Majesty's Royal Marine Commandos; his last two years as a Marine were spent as a drill instructor at the Commando Training School. In 1980, he came to America and set up a picture framing business in Connecticut.  His conviction to pray for healing came in 1989 when his sister, Julie Sheldon, a ballet dancer with the Royal Ballet in London, was healed by God through the late Canon Jim Glennon. Julie had a very dramatic healing from Dystonia, a severe neurological condition that curled her up into a fetal position and left her very close to death. Being a witness to her healing has had a profound effect on Nigel's life. In 1995, he sold his business and has since dedicated his life to the ministry of healing.

From 1996 to 2004, Nigel was the director of the Oratory of the Little Way, a healing retreat center in Connecticut.  In 2004 at the invitation of the Bishops of Albany Episcopal Diocese, Nigel became the director of the Healing Ministry at Christ the King Spiritual Life Center in Greenwich, NY (East of Saratoga Springs, NY).  In December of 2005, Nigel was ordained by Bishop Daniel Herzog.

In October 2009, Nigel was hospitalized with H1N1, pneumonia and secondary pneumonia, and was near death. He was in ICU on a ventilator and in a chemically induced coma for 19 days.   His pulmonologist told him: “You were as close to death without dying that I have ever seen."  Nigel and his family give thanks and praise to all the intercessors who lifted him up in prayer for his miraculous healing.

After nine and half years of building the healing ministry at Christ the King Spiritual Life Center, Nigel and his wife, Lynn, feel led by the Lord to move "among the people," to become an outreach for the church, and to help establish healing ministries in individual churches. In 2013 Nigel became founder of By His Wounds, Inc. (Christian Healing)

Nigel's compassion for combat veterans evolved from his experience of being in combat for a year with the Royal Marines. His belief that the healing grace of our Lord Jesus Christ can help those men and woman who suffer in silence with combat related trauma (PTSD).

Outside the ministry, Nigel enjoys sailing, boating, gardening, writing, public speaking, e-biking, playing the violin, bagpipes, and the  clarinet.

The joy of the Lord...

Speaking Engagements & Conferences

The Reverend Nigel Mumford has led numerous healing conferences in many venues throughout the United States, Canada, England, Northern Ireland, and Sweden. He has taught Healing Ministry at many  Seminaries, ( PA , WI, CT,  & UK)

If you are considering hosting a Healing Conference and would like Rev. Mumford as a speaker, or would like Rev. Mumford to come and teach at your church, (or venue) please see the Bookings section of this website.

Affiliations

    Nigel is Vice President of the North American Board of Directors of the International Order of St. Luke the Physician (OSL) He speaks at many    OSL events throughout North America, and has twice been the keynote speaker for the Order's North American National conference. He regularly contributes articles to the OSL's quarterly Sharing Magazine.

    Nigel is on the National Advisory Board of Dr. Francis and Judith MacNutt's, Christian Healing Ministries in Jacksonville, Florida.  He is a Member of the Association of Christian Healing Centers in the United Kingdom.

    Nigel is a Chaplain of the Royal Marine Association for North America, a Paul Harris Fellow with Rotary International and received the Wittnauer Humanitarian Award in New York City, 1995