Brown's Daily Word 1-17-14

Praise the Lord Friday.  Sunday is coming.  It has been a blessed week.  Praise the Lord for His faithfulness.  He is mighty to save to the uttermost.  What a mighty God we serve.  Our youngest granddaughter celebrated her 3rd birthday yesterday.  She called us twice yesterday to say that it was her birthday yesterday. She told us about some special things her mommy and daddy did for her on her birthday.

    One of our friends is traveling next week, by herself, on a short term mission trip.  Though she is going on by herself, we know that the Lord has already gone before her and prepared the way for her. 

    We are planning for our preaching mission trip in April.  Thank you for praying.  Praise the Lord for the Mission of our Lord Jesus Christ around the corner and around the globe.  It is no secret what God can do.  What He has done for others He will do for you.  

    I have been reading some writings by Dr. Harry S. Wright, Sr. the pastor emeritus for the Cornerstone Baptist Church in Brooklyn, NY.    He writes, "There was a wonderful woman in Shiloh Church, where I grew up.  My dad came to Shiloh Church in 1927, and he pastored that church for 25 years.  The woman's name was Miss Ella Kelly.  She's been upstairs a long time.  Miss Ella Kelly sat over in the amen corner, and when Daddy was preaching, her antiphonal refrain was "He will do it."  Miss Ella Kelly never said, "Amen."  I never heard her say, "Amen."  She never said, "Preach."  She didn't say, "Praise him."  She simply said, "He will do it."  And she turned the volume up on will.  He will do it.  When Daddy died, I succeeded him at that same church.  And when I was trying to preach, Miss Ella Kelly had that same antiphonal refrain.  "He will do it. He will. He will do it."

    I tried to zoom in the camera and dissect that antiphonal refrain.  He will do it.  I picked that apart.  He will do it. In a philosophical term, we call that "extrapolation." Miss Ella Kelly was extrapolating.  She was drawing a futuristic conclusion based on a past experience.

     He will do it.  He who, Miss Ella?  The Master.  Will do what, Miss Ella?  Make a way.  How do you know that?  I know what he's already done.  He'll open doors for you.  He'll put food in the refrigerator.  He'll put wheels in the garage.  He'll put clothes in your closet.  He'll put a smile on your face.  He'll put a star in your sky. He will do it.

    Jesus, Savior, pilot me over life's tempestuous sea.  Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.  Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe.  Sin had left a crimson stain; he washed it white as snow.  What can make me holy?  Nothing but the blood of Jesus.  What can wash me white as snow?  Nothing but the blood of Jesus."

    What a way to live by knowing, loving, and serving Jesus!

In Him,

Brown

http://youtu.be/SNCFk0KsM40

Brown's Daily Word 1-16-14

    The Lord blessed us with a wonderful Wednesday Evening gathering of  fellowship and study.  Our youngest granddaughter, Ada, turns three today.  We praise the Lord for Ada.  She is  winsome and witty.  Praise the Lord for our children and grandchildren.  Jesus has a tender heart... a special heart for children both born and unborn.  I was visiting a young mom yesterday.  She and her husband are blessed with new born baby boy. The baby weighed only 1 ponds 3 ounces when he was born.  So many are praying for this special boy.  Today he weighs3 pounds and 5 ounces.  This young mom is thrilled and excited and deeply grateful to Jesus. 

    I get excited reading about Caleb in the book of Joshua.  Caleb said in Joshua 14:10: "And now behold, the Lord has let me live, just as he spoke, these 45 years, from the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses, when Israel walked in the wilderness, and now behold, I am 85 years old today."  Eighty-five years old!  Most people who are still alive at 85 are sitting back and settling in, but not Caleb!  At 85, after a lifetime in which Caleb had "followed the Lord ... wholeheartedly" (Joshua 14:14), he set his eyes on the land of Hebron and said, "I want that mountain!"

    We are never too old to set new goals, to set out for new horizons, to begin new quests for God.  I have read about some great men who have accomplished  something great in later stages of their lives.  WOW!  

        Michelangelo completed his greatest work of art at age 87.

        Immanuel Kant wrote his best philosophical works at 74.

        Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes set down some of his most brilliant legal opinions at age 90.

        At 89, pianist Arthur Rubenstein, though he could not see the keyboard, played brilliantly from memory at Carnegie Hall.

        Albert Schweitzer still headed his hospital in Africa at the age of 89.

        At 82, Winston Churchill wrote his four-volume work, A History of the English-Speaking People.

        At 81, Ben Franklin effected the compromise that led to the adoption of the United States Constitution.

    Caleb said in Joshua 14:11  "I am still as strong today as I was in the day Moses sent me.  As my strength was then, so my strength is now, for war and for going out and coming in."

    Reaching our goals is not easy.  It wasn't for Caleb and it won't be for us.  For Caleb to claim his mountain, he had to run the giants out of the land.  As we strive to reach our goals, as we attempt to claim our mountain, there will also be giants that we will have to overcome.

    Caleb said, "You yourself heard then that the Amalekites were there, and their cities were large and fortified, but the Lord helping me, I will drive them out just as he said" (Joshua 14:12).  "The Lord is helping me ..." is the key phrase; the factor determining whether or not we reach our goals is not our personal strength or weakness.  The answer lies ultimately in the use of God's power.  In the Bible, those who reached their goals seemed to do so in spite of their own weaknesses.

    Moses, a tongue-tied shepherd, stood up to Pharoah and won!  Gideon, supported by an army of 300 armed only with trumpets and empty jars, fought the Midianites and won!  David, untrained and unprotected, challenged Goliath and won!  The early disciples set out to conquer the Roman world with nothing but the Gospel and they won!  Caleb, 85 years old, confronted the giants in Hebron and won!  The  power of God flowed into their lives as they moved out for Him.  The Lord helped them reach their goals.

    Even when we do our very best, our lives are marked with defect and failure, but then our Lord God, who created our universe out of chaos in the beginning, takes our lives in His hands and with His own wonderful touch makes them as beautiful as they can be made.

 In Christ,

  Brown

http://youtu.be/rZYPfYe77PA

Dear Friends and Family,

    Praise the Lord for 2014.  It is going to be an exciting year for ministry and the mission of Jesus Christ, our Lord.  May Jesus our Lord bless us as we find the ways and means to celebrate His grace and love.  We are planning for an evening of great celebration on Saturday, February 8.  It will be held at 5 PM at the Fellowship Hall, Union Center United Methodist Church, 128 Maple Drive.

   Our own chef Danny Snyder will be preparing a very special banquet.  This will be prepared and served with much love.  Our own Aric Phinney, a gifted and talented musician, will be ministering to us in music.  There will be a time of testimonies and praises.  Please join us.  

Come, Share , Rejoice

   See you then and there.

         Brown

Brown's Daily Word 1-15-14

    This is the day the Lord has made.  We will rejoice and be glad in it.  We will gather for our Wednesday Evening fellowship and study at 6 PM followed by choir practice at 7:30 PM.  We will be looking at John 2.  In Chapter 2 of John we see  the extravagance of life Jesus embodied and embraced.  "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly" Jesus said. 

    A wedding surely symbolizes a high moment of joy and delight.  It is an occasion filled with solemn promises and with an abundance of human joy.  Jesus only heightened the joy at the Cana wedding feast by his gracious act, and the fine wine overflowed.

    At Cana Jesus modeled extravagant hospitality.  Too often I think church gatherings are characterized by minimal attitudes rather than maximal attitudes. Frederick Nietzsche, the atheist philosopher, instructed us well when he said, of Christians, "I would believe in their salvation if they looked a little more like people who have been saved."  It is time for us to celebrate extravagantly and extend real heart-felt hospitality.  We, as Christians, have reasons to celebrate.  We serve the Lord, who is generous.  His gifts are simple and ever extraordinary.  His gifts are abundant.  Wherever Jesus is present, there is celebration. 

    One pastor comments, "I will dance at my funeral".  We are saved sinners called to celebrate extravagantly.  We, the redeemed of the Lord, are called serve extravagantly.  The sinners whom Christ has set free are also called give extravagantly.  We are imperfect people, called to seek the Lord extravagantly.   Jesus turns our mourning in to dancing.  We can say, "My cup runneth over".

    The late, great Scottish preacher Ian Pitt-Watson told a story of a king who was displeased that there was not much joy in his kingdom.  People were no longer smiling.  They were so busy doing the work of survival that there was not much joy.  For this reason the king called for a great banquet, to be given at the largest place in the capital city, and invited many.  As they came into the banquet room that was sumptuously prepared, he had his servants tie each guest's left arm behind their back and put their right arms in a long cast.  Naturally the people thought that was strange, but they came in and went to the places where their place cards were, and they sat down.

    Though each saw all the sumptuous food in front of them, they couldn't move their left arms.  As they reached out their right arms, they were knocking over wine glasses and beverages glasses, while trying for this magnificent food.  They could get it either with a fork in their hands or in their fingers, but they couldn't get it in their mouths, until one enterprising chap looked at the person across the table and said, "My name's so-and-so, what's yours?"  Then he said, "Could I feed you?"  The person replied, "Well, certainly.  May I feed you?"  What had been a large gathering of isolated individuals very quickly became a great, joyous occasion of people helping people, getting to know each other and sharing.

  In Christ,

   Brown
http://youtu.be/hL1mUmibSZc

Brown's Daily Word 1-14-14

    Praise the Lord for this  new day.   It has been balmy and beautiful the last couple days.  It is going to be balmy again today.  Thank you, Jesus.   

    On Saturday, we had a service of death and resurrection for a young boy who was 4 years old, who died in an accident.  The service was attended by so many friends and loved of the young family that there was no room in the church.  There was a dinner following the service.  In the midst of massive grief we have a wonderful Savior who is acquainted with our grief.  He is a Man of sorrows.  We do not understand and comprehend about  the death of children.  We continue to pray for the comfort and strength for those who mourn.

    One of the readings for Sunday was John 2:1-11 which speaks to how our Lord transformed common water into spectacular wine.  Transformation is at the heart of Gospel.  It is the heart of Jesus to bring about transformation, new birth, into our lives.  Transformed people transform the culture.      

    I love the way the Lord came to the wedding as a guest, and then took over.  He became the Host.  The Lord performed the miracle, but nobody knew what happened.  Only the servants had a clue as to what happened . There are times, and they are often, that only the least, the lost, and the last know.  They become  partners and participants in miracles.
    I love the story of Jean Valjean.  Victor Hugo introduced us to this character in the classic Les Misérables.  Valjean enters the pages as a vagabond, a newly released prisoner in midlife, wearing threadbare trousers and a tattered jacket. Nineteen years in a French prison left him rough and fearless.  He has walked for four days in the Alpine chill of nineteenth-century southeastern France, only to find that no inn will take him, no tavern will feed him.  Finally he knocks on the door of a bishop's house.

    Monseigneur Myriel is seventy-five years old.  Like Valjean, he has lost much. The revolution took all the valuables from his family except some silverware, a soup ladle, and two candlesticks.  Valjean tells his story and expects the religious man to turn him away, but the bishop is kind, and he asks the visitor to sit near a fire.  "You did not need to tell me who you were," he explains.  "This is not my house—it is the house of Jesus Christ."  After some time the bishop takes Valjean to the table, where they dine on soup and bread, figs, and cheese with wine, using the bishop's fine silverware.

    He than shows Valjean to a bedroom where, despite the comfort, Valjean can't sleep.  Then, in spite of the kindness of the bishop, he can't resist the temptation, so he stuffs the silverware into his knapsack.  Meanwhile, as the priest sleeps, Valjean escapes into the night. Before he can get far the police catch him and march him back to the bishop's house.  Valjean knows that his capture means prison for the rest of his life.  Then something wonderful happens.  Before the officer can explain the crime, the bishop steps forward to say, "Oh!  Here you are! I'm so glad to see you.  I can't believe you forgot the candlesticks!  They are made of pure silver as well…Please take them with the forks and spoons I gave you."

    Valjean is stunned.  The bishop dismisses the policemen and then turns and says, "Jean Valjean, my brother, you no longer belong to evil, but to good.  I have bought your soul from you.  I take it back from evil thoughts and deeds and the Spirit of Hell, and I give it to God."  At this point, Valjean has a choice: believe the priest or believe his past.  Valjean believes the priest.  Eventually he becomes the mayor of a small town where he builds a factory and gives jobs to the poor.  He takes pity on a dying mother and raises her daughter.  Grace changed him.  Amazing grace...  How sweet the sound. 

Tom Lane asks, “If Jesus could transform common water into wedding wine, spit and dirt
into new sight, troubled sea into pathway, well water into living water…could Christ
transform the waters of my life, shallow, murky, polluted, stagnant, sour, into a shower of
blessing?”

Could it be?

Amen.

  In Christ,

    Brown

 

http://youtu.be/gwJ3aALR3Z4