Praise the Lord for the first day
of Spring 2017. Praise the Lord for He is the Lord of all
seasons and He is the Lord in every season. It is all calm and tranquil
after the storm Stella. He makes all seasons beautiful and
glorious.
The
Lord of the Sabbath and the Lord of the Church blessed us with an anointed and
very celebrative time in His house yesterday. It was a sunny and
brilliant day. The people were in joyful and celebrative
mood. People shared during the worship about their joy in
ministry and doing Gospel together. They share about the joy
and laughter found in visiting others with the Good News of
grace and gladness. They were sharing how the Lord blesses them in their
daily lives and even in daily trials. "When Jesus Is in the House"
He turns our mourning to dancing. He makes paralytics walk again, and
they go home leaping and dancing and praising the Lord. Lepers are
cleansed and get baby skin again. Cripples walk again and take on the new
hobby of rock Climbing. The Blind see and take on the new hobby
of Bird Watching. "The Bad Girls of the Bible" get a new
lease on life. Those who are set free keep on dancing, telling others
about the Savior. They come of out the shadow lands to walk on solid
ground unafraid.
Alice
and I walked for over a mile in the late afternoon yesterday. The Sun was
high and warm. The sun was playing hide and seek through the clouds.
The spring birds are back to sing and talk over their natural
habitats. The snow is melting fast and furious. The snow has
no power in the presence of the blazing sun. Thank you,
Jesus.
Praise the Lord for this Holy Season of Lent. The Church around the
corner and around the globe is preparing for Triumphant Easter. Our
daughters that live in Washington, DC were involved in a weekend of prayer
retreat with retreat leaders who came from Florida. They said that it was
a wonderful weekend where the people's hearts were stirred as the Lord
of power and of love poured His immense blessing on so many this weekend.
Whenever we go to Washington we worship with them in their church. On any
given Sunday Washington comes alive as people gather in house churches, store
front church, mega churches and neighborhood churches and the cathdrals.. Many
people go to church in their Sunday best. Some attend in casual clothing.
In all Jesus is glorified and exalted. There are many
churches which are engaged reaching out to people of all
backgrounds and groups.
It
was a week ago Sunday that we were in Boston where we worshipped in the Church
Janice and Jeremy attend along with their family for worship. This
church consists of all young professionals with lots of young children.
One of their mission focus is reaching new Immigrants refugees. Boston is
one of the oldest Cities and it is full of churches. There are many
churches active in reaching out to their city with the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. I was talking to one young medical professional who was sharing
that she attends a church full of young adults, with loud music and
contemporary worship that draws young adults. She was sharing she is
blessed to be in that church that focused on growing in Christ
and reaching others for Christ. The Host family that we stayed is
focused in sharing the Gospel with others. The Husband, who is a
professor in one of the prestigious universities, takes his graduate students
once ever year overseas to a third world country on a study tour with the
purpose of sharing with them the love of Jesus. He shared with us
that Every Sunday he makes time playing basketball with Arabs in the City thus
building relationships with them to share about Jesus. My doctor, who
prays with me, shared that her husband who is a scholar and believer has
befriended a Moslem couple who are owners of a neighborhood pizza shop.
They intentionally buy pizza from them. The husband has started one on
one Bible study with the owner of the pizza shop. One of my Graduate
School classmates is the Bishop of the United Methodist Church in Boston,
which is Evangelical is its focus on making disciples for Jesus
Christ.
Praise
the Lord for all of you who are involved in the ministry of the Jesus at home
and in the church, teaching Sunday School, preaching, leading prayer
groups, leading mission groups, witnessing to neighbors and colleagues,
teaching at Release time. Praise the Lord for you all who participate in
the ongoing ministry of the Church by serving on committees and by being
hearers of the Word as well as doers of the word. Praise the
Lord for you all who invest your time, talents, and treasures in the
Kingdom enterprise of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord is doing a new
thing around the corner and around the globe. He is fermenting His
church. He is pouring new wine, the best wine, into the lives and
hearts of His people. We read and hear the Moslem refugees in Germany
coming to faith in Christ. The young and the old are drawn to Jesus
indeed. My daughter Sunita, who knows the pulse of the missions, shares
with me that the Lord is doing an amazing thing in unexpected places with
unexpected people.
People of Jesus around the world and the around the corner are getting ready fo
Spring and Summer. There are thousands of college Students who go on
short term missions during their Spring break. They return home changed
and challenged. The world becomes a better place because Christians
care and Christian give sacrificially and generously and with great
hilarity. The Lord loves a cheerful giver. Many adults go on short
tem missions all over the world. We have some friends who are
missions addicts. Every opportunity they get to go on a mission trip they
pack and go. They, along with several others, are going on a short term
mission. They leave on Easter Sunday Evening. The Church in Orissa
where I was nurtured is getting ready for summer camp meetings. Three to
four thousand people gather for days for those tent meetings. They
are similar to our old time Methodist Camp meetings where people
gathered in celebration and fellowship, when they "organized to
beat the devil". During the tent meetings in Orissa people come,
gather, worship, cook the meals under the trees, and sleep under the open
sky, under starry skies. They look like they are living in Booths as
in the days of Exodus.
"The Church as the bride of Christ will be a body of many members united in one head, Jesus Christ. In his Revelation, John saw “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb.” We must, if we would be in that multitude, sooner or later come to love this Church, the Church universal, as well as the whole body of the local church. “The Church will outlive the universe; in it the individual person will outlive the universe. Everything that is joined to the immortal Head will share His immortality.”C.S Lewis
We must embrace each other, not only in anticipation of our eternity together, but so that others may share that eternity with us:
"Usually it is those who know Him that bring Him to others. That is why the church, the whole body of Christians showing Him to one another, is so important. You might say that when two Christians are following Christ together there is not twice as much Christianity as when they are apart, but sixteen times as much."C.S.Lewis
Robert Louis Stevenson
once wrote in his diary, as if recording some extraordinary phenomenon, ‘I have
been to church today, and am not depressed.’It is great blessing to know Jesus
as our Saviour and Lord and serve Him as our King.
In Christ.
Brown
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