Good Morning,
This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. This is a final reminder of the Continentals worship concert, tonight at 7 PM at the First Presbyterian Church on Grant Avenue in Endicott. Laureen is a part of the leadership team for this group. She would love to see each of you at the concert and have a chance to speak with you afterward.
Today is celebrated as Columbus Day in the USA. Praise the Lord for the life and witness of Christopher Columbus. The current "politically correct" and morally confused culture and media ignore the contributions that Christopher Columbus has made. I have found the following excerpt from the diary of Christopher Columbus:
"It was the Lord who put into my mind (I could feel his hand upon me) the fact that it would be possible to sail from here to the Indies. All who heard of my project rejected it with laughter, ridiculing me. There is no question that the inspiration was from the Holy Spirit, because He comforted me with rays of marvelous inspiration from the Holy Scriptures . . .
"I am a most unworthy sinner, but I have cried out to the Lord for grace and mercy, and they have covered me completely. I have found the sweetest consolation since I made it my whole purpose to enjoy His marvelous presence. For the execution of the journey to the Indies, I did not make use of intelligence, mathematics or maps. It is simply the fulfillment of what Isaiah had prophesied . . .
"No one should fear to undertake any task in the name of our Saviour, if it is just and if the intention is purely for His holy service. The working out of all things has been assigned to each person by our Lord, but it all happens according to His sovereign will, even though He gives advice. He lacks nothing that it is in the power of men to give Him. Oh, what a gracious Lord, who desires that people should perform for Him those things for which He holds Himself responsible! Day and night, moment by moment, everyone should express their most devoted gratitude to Him."
The Epistle reading for yesterday was taken from Hebrews 4: 12ff, the classic text on the power of the Word of God, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”
This section begins with “for” or “therefore”, tying what follows with what the author has previously told us about the consequences of Israel’s disobedience. The author wants to get it through our thick heads that Israel’s awful tragedy can strike us as well.
The Bible, the word of God, is unlike any other book you have in your home or in the library. The Library of Congress lays claims to being the largest library in the world, with more than 130 million items on approximately 530 miles of bookshelves. The collections include more than 29 million books and other printed materials, 2.7 million recordings, 12 million photographs, 4.8 million maps, and 58 million manuscripts. Yet among all these volumes the only ones that can lay claims to being alive and powerful are copies of the Bible. This places the Bible in a unique category all to itself.
The word of God is no dead letter, but as the word of the living God it cannot itself fail to be living. As the living word it continues through each age with compelling relevance. “For the word of God is living and powerful.” The word translated “powerful” (energes) is the word from which we get energy and energetic. The word literally means “at work.” Charles Swindoll comments, “News articles may inform us. Novels may inspire us. Poetry may enrapture us. But only the living, active Word of God can transform us.”
It is living and active, and so when we read its words they reach out and touch the needs of our lives in an almost tangible way. Isaiah 55:11 describes Scripture as being a living agent or messenger that God sends to touch our lives. God says in this passage, "...My word will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." So, unlike any other book, the Bible is living and powerful.
The Bible is also a Penetrating Word (v 12c) It is “… sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow…”
Like a sharp sword which can lay open the human body with one slashing blow, so the sword of the Scripture can open our inner life and expose it to ourselves and to others. What the author is saying is that God’s Word can reach into the innermost recesses of our being! No heart is too tough and no soul is too dark. “When God wills it, his word can pierce anyone." A certain Mr. Thorpe in the 18th century Bristol found this out. Thorpe was a part of a band of men who called themselves, the ‘Hell Fire Club.’ Their reason for existence was to mock and ridicule the work of the famed evangelist, George Whitefield. On one occasion, the ‘Hell Fire Club’ gathered at a pub in order to engage in such mockery. "Mr. Thorpe offered his brilliant imitation of Whitefield, whom he and his friends called, ‘Mr Squintum’ because of Whitefield eyes. He delivered his sermon with brilliant accuracy, perfectly imitating his tone and facial expressions as he quoted Scripture and Whitefield’s exposition. Suddenly amidst the laughter he had to sit down for he was pierced through and was converted on the spot.
Mr. Thorpe had been a thoroughly nasty man, engaged in a nasty action, yet the Word of God pierced his heart and changed him in an instant. Mr. Thorpe went on to be a prominent Christian leader in the city of Bristol” [C. H. Spurgeon. The Metropolitan Pulpit. Vol. 34. (Pasadena, TX: Pilgrim Pub, 1974) p. 115]
The Word of God Is Not Only A Penetrating Word but it is also a discerning Word (vv. 12d -13) “…and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”
God Sees Everything - There Is No Escape. We want God to see us when we are hurting and when we are going through difficult times, so that He may come to our aid. However, when it comes to our sin and wrongdoing we would rather that God looked the other way. But verse twelve concludes by saying that the Word of God “… is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” The word “discerner” (kritikos) is the word from which we get critic. As the word of God penetrates into the innermost recesses of man’s being it does so as his critic or judge.
Only the Word of God is capable of exposing the thoughts and attitudes of a single human heart. There really is no use in hiding. Why is it that when we fear that something is not quite right physically we tend to put off going to the doctor because we fear we will hear bad news. The same is true spiritually. Before God “all things are naked” or literally “laid bare.” The last part of verse thirteen says, all things are “… open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” This plainly tells us that there is a coming day of reckoning upon which we will each give an account for our lives. The day of excuses will be over; the book of Romans tells us there is coming a time “when every mouth will be stopped” (Romans 3:19), there will be no more excuses. The Apostle Paul warns in 2 Corinthians 5:10, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that each may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”
Many years ago Samuel Chadwick wrote, “I have guided my life by the Bible for more than sixty years, and I tell you there is no book like it. It is a miracle of literature, a perennial spring of wisdom, a wonder of surprises, a revelation of mystery, an infallible guide of conduct, and an unspeakable source of comfort. Pay no attention to people who discredit it, for I tell you that they speak without knowledge. It is the Word of God itself. Study it according to its own direction. Live by its principles. Believe its message. Follow its precepts. No man is uneducated who knows the Bible, and no one is wise who is ignorant of its teachings.” [Samuel Chadwick from 1001 Great Stories and Quotes. R. Kent Hughes. (Wheaton: Tyndale House, 1998) p. 77]
In Christ,
Brown
Monday, October 12, 2009
Brown's Daily Word 10-09-09
Good morning,
This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Thank you for praying for Laureen and her team, "The Continentals". They will be in Pennsylvania this weekend for four concerts, including one in the Allentown area tomorrow night. Sunita and Andy are planning to drive up from Washington to see Laureen. Jessica and Tom, from Philadelphia, will be joining Laureen, along with Sunita and Andy. Once again, it is a gentle reminder, that the Continentals will be in concert in Endicott on Monday October 12 at 7p.m. They will be at the First Presbyterian Church, on the corner of Grant Avenue and Monroe Street in Endicott. Those of you who live in the area , please join us. It will be great thrill and blessing. Please pray for our Television outreach this evening at 7 PM on Time Warner Cable Channel 4.
Praise the Lord for the Word of God. The Readings from the Epistles for the next few Sundays have been taken from the Book of Hebrews. The Book of Hebrews begins with these words, "In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets." The Bible contains 12 minor prophets, of which Jonah is the fifth. The minor prophets, listed in order are: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah. Jonah was the only rebellious prophet in the group, and he was probably the most succinct preacher to ever live. With a scant eight word prophecy (in English - five words in the original Hebrew), Jonah sparked what is arguably the most fruitful revival in all of history as the entire metropolitan area of ancient Nineveh repented. Jonah’s entire sermon to these people was "FORTY MORE DAYS AND NINEVEH WILL BE DESTROYED". – JONAH 3:4.
If you stop anyone in a Walmart parking lot and ask if they’ve ever heard of the story of Jonah and the Whale, they are likely to say, "Yes". The irony is, the book of Jonah is not about a whale. If it were not for 2 Kings 14:25, we would have no background on Jonah at all. Only is one Old Testament verse outside of his own book mentions him. JONAH WAS FROM GATH HEPHER. Gath Hepher means “the winepress of the well,” so apparently there was a winepress near a well in Jonah’s hometown, which is located just five miles southwest of Jesus’ home town of Nazareth.
Jonah is one of less than a handful of prophets to come out of Northern Israel. Almost all of Israel’s prophets, except Jonah and a few others, come from southern Israel. 2 Kings 14:15 tells us that...JONAH LIVED DURING THE REIGN OF JEROBOAM II of Northern Israel. It was a time of prosperity for the Northern Israelites. The empire of Assyria (which is modern day Iran) to their northeast was in a mild decline so the Israelites felt relatively safe, for a change. The Assyrians, whose capital was Nineveh, were legendary for their cruelty. Jonah and his people hated them.
If you understand that Assyria is modern day Iran, you can see how contemporary this story is. It’s about a Jew who fears Iranians because of their potential to attack and destroy the Jewish homeland. It is also the story of a God who loves Iranians. The book of Jonah is about God, and more specifically it is about His twin characteristics of greatness and grace.
The book begins with God telling Jonah to go, and ends with God telling Jonah that He cares for people. The book of Jonah is about two major aspects of God’s character, that make Him awe-inspiring and beckon to us to journey to Him and get to know Him. These characteristics are His greatness and His grace. THE BOOK OF JONAH IS ABOUT RESPONDING TO GOD’S GREATNESS AND GRACE.
God’s greatness is acclaimed throughout Jonah chapter 1. It begins with God directing Jonah to “Go to the GREAT city of Nineveh.” (Jonah 1:1) Chapter 1 ends with Jonah being swallowed by a GREAT fish. God could command Jonah because He IS great. He watches over the entire world and when one place needs the help of another, God is great enough to make it happen. God can command a fish to swallow Jonah because God made the fish and has the ability to grow the fish large enough to handle Jonah. God is great enough to speak the fish’s language, great enough to get it near Jonah, great enough to get it to swallow something it would never normally eat – So chapter one begins with God’s greatness and ends with God’s greatness. In the middle of the chapter, God generates a GREAT wind, which causes GREAT waves, and a GREAT fear comes upon the sailors. Yet, under all this greatness is God’s grace. You will not find the word "grace", but you will find God's grace in action. We see grace most clearly in chapters 3 and 4 as God has grace on Jonah that gives him a second chance. Then, He has grace on the Ninevites, as He forgives them when they repent. Again in chapter four, He has grace on Jonah, a strong-willed prophet who loves that God has been gracious to him, but hates that He’s been gracious to the Ninevites.
Though it is unspoken, God’s grace begins the book of Jonah. It’s because God is gracious that He called Jonah to warn the Ninevites. He wanted to give them a chance to respond to His grace. In chapter four, when the Ninevites were spared, Jonah said, “SEE! This is why I didn’t want to preach to them. I knew you were a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.”
All of life is about responding to a great and gracious God. We can respond to His grace by
Being obedient to Him,
- by worshipping Him,
- by changing patterns that are hurting us or others,
- by getting to know His people,
- and by trusting Him with our troubles.
In Jesus,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y01rx_XzQ34
This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Thank you for praying for Laureen and her team, "The Continentals". They will be in Pennsylvania this weekend for four concerts, including one in the Allentown area tomorrow night. Sunita and Andy are planning to drive up from Washington to see Laureen. Jessica and Tom, from Philadelphia, will be joining Laureen, along with Sunita and Andy. Once again, it is a gentle reminder, that the Continentals will be in concert in Endicott on Monday October 12 at 7p.m. They will be at the First Presbyterian Church, on the corner of Grant Avenue and Monroe Street in Endicott. Those of you who live in the area , please join us. It will be great thrill and blessing. Please pray for our Television outreach this evening at 7 PM on Time Warner Cable Channel 4.
Praise the Lord for the Word of God. The Readings from the Epistles for the next few Sundays have been taken from the Book of Hebrews. The Book of Hebrews begins with these words, "In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets." The Bible contains 12 minor prophets, of which Jonah is the fifth. The minor prophets, listed in order are: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah. Jonah was the only rebellious prophet in the group, and he was probably the most succinct preacher to ever live. With a scant eight word prophecy (in English - five words in the original Hebrew), Jonah sparked what is arguably the most fruitful revival in all of history as the entire metropolitan area of ancient Nineveh repented. Jonah’s entire sermon to these people was "FORTY MORE DAYS AND NINEVEH WILL BE DESTROYED". – JONAH 3:4.
If you stop anyone in a Walmart parking lot and ask if they’ve ever heard of the story of Jonah and the Whale, they are likely to say, "Yes". The irony is, the book of Jonah is not about a whale. If it were not for 2 Kings 14:25, we would have no background on Jonah at all. Only is one Old Testament verse outside of his own book mentions him. JONAH WAS FROM GATH HEPHER. Gath Hepher means “the winepress of the well,” so apparently there was a winepress near a well in Jonah’s hometown, which is located just five miles southwest of Jesus’ home town of Nazareth.
Jonah is one of less than a handful of prophets to come out of Northern Israel. Almost all of Israel’s prophets, except Jonah and a few others, come from southern Israel. 2 Kings 14:15 tells us that...JONAH LIVED DURING THE REIGN OF JEROBOAM II of Northern Israel. It was a time of prosperity for the Northern Israelites. The empire of Assyria (which is modern day Iran) to their northeast was in a mild decline so the Israelites felt relatively safe, for a change. The Assyrians, whose capital was Nineveh, were legendary for their cruelty. Jonah and his people hated them.
If you understand that Assyria is modern day Iran, you can see how contemporary this story is. It’s about a Jew who fears Iranians because of their potential to attack and destroy the Jewish homeland. It is also the story of a God who loves Iranians. The book of Jonah is about God, and more specifically it is about His twin characteristics of greatness and grace.
The book begins with God telling Jonah to go, and ends with God telling Jonah that He cares for people. The book of Jonah is about two major aspects of God’s character, that make Him awe-inspiring and beckon to us to journey to Him and get to know Him. These characteristics are His greatness and His grace. THE BOOK OF JONAH IS ABOUT RESPONDING TO GOD’S GREATNESS AND GRACE.
God’s greatness is acclaimed throughout Jonah chapter 1. It begins with God directing Jonah to “Go to the GREAT city of Nineveh.” (Jonah 1:1) Chapter 1 ends with Jonah being swallowed by a GREAT fish. God could command Jonah because He IS great. He watches over the entire world and when one place needs the help of another, God is great enough to make it happen. God can command a fish to swallow Jonah because God made the fish and has the ability to grow the fish large enough to handle Jonah. God is great enough to speak the fish’s language, great enough to get it near Jonah, great enough to get it to swallow something it would never normally eat – So chapter one begins with God’s greatness and ends with God’s greatness. In the middle of the chapter, God generates a GREAT wind, which causes GREAT waves, and a GREAT fear comes upon the sailors. Yet, under all this greatness is God’s grace. You will not find the word "grace", but you will find God's grace in action. We see grace most clearly in chapters 3 and 4 as God has grace on Jonah that gives him a second chance. Then, He has grace on the Ninevites, as He forgives them when they repent. Again in chapter four, He has grace on Jonah, a strong-willed prophet who loves that God has been gracious to him, but hates that He’s been gracious to the Ninevites.
Though it is unspoken, God’s grace begins the book of Jonah. It’s because God is gracious that He called Jonah to warn the Ninevites. He wanted to give them a chance to respond to His grace. In chapter four, when the Ninevites were spared, Jonah said, “SEE! This is why I didn’t want to preach to them. I knew you were a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.”
All of life is about responding to a great and gracious God. We can respond to His grace by
Being obedient to Him,
- by worshipping Him,
- by changing patterns that are hurting us or others,
- by getting to know His people,
- and by trusting Him with our troubles.
In Jesus,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y01rx_XzQ34
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Brown's Daily Word 10-08-09
Good Morning.
It is going to be one of the brilliant days. Autumn colors are in full burst. Praise the Lord for the way He displays wonderful colors and the way He demonstrates His glory and power. In this vast domain and in the universe our Lord God is mindful of us. He demonstrates and displays His pathos and passion towards us. In his book entitled, "Thoughts in Solitude," the late great French-born American Roman Catholic Trappist monk, poet, author, social activist, and student of comparative religion, wrote these words, which have come to be known as "The Merton Prayer:"
"My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following Your Will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please You does in fact please You. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this You will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore, I will trust You always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for You are ever with me, and You will never leave me to face my perils alone."
This is a beautiful prayer. Sometimes knowing God’s Will for our lives can be somewhat of a mystery. Yet, the Lord our God honors our desire to please Him. He honors our intentions to please Him. I love the spiritual song, "Lord I want to be a Christian in my heart. Lord I want to be like Jesus in my heart... in my heart... in my heart. Lord I want to be like Jesus in my heart." The Lord of hosts is our Lord God. He demonstrates His prevenient grace towards us. He desires to be near to us on a personal level. His will for us is personal. Jeremiah 29:11 (KJV), tells us, "’For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,’ saith the Lord, ’thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.’" He has a Will for specifically designed for each of our lives!
Our Lord God, who can uphold and sustain the Universe, at the same time can hear our prayer about our job situation! Though the earth’s Sun keeps all the planets in our solar system in orbit that same Sun will warm our faces as if it has no other purpose! Likewise, we have a God Who has created all of the Universe and holds it together, Who will lead us and guide us personally as if He had nothing else to do! Almighty God wants to be intimately involved in every detail of our lives if we are willing to let Him!
Luke 12:6-7 (KJV) records Jesus, the Christ, saying, "Are not two sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? (v. 7) But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows." Almighty God is concerned about the details of our individual lives! The Apostle Paul tells the Romans and us, in Romans 8:14 (KJV), "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."
I read a story about the late, great, well-known Austrian-born American violinist and composer, Fritz Kreisler (1875 - 1962). He placed an advertisement that said he would play a concert in New York City on a priceless Stradivarius violin worth over half a million dollars. The concert hall was packed - Fritz Kreisler came out - and, he awed and wowed the audience with his violin virtuoso performance. The high notes seemed as if angels were singing and brought tears to the eyes of strong men! When he finished, the crowd stood to their feet in loud, spontaneous applause! To their horror, Fritz Kreisler took that violin, smashed it on the stage, stomped it into splinters, and then walked off! The people were stunned into silence!
Shortly after, the concertmaster came out and said to the crowd, "Fritz Kreisler has asked me to convey to you that he just performed this concert on a fifty dollar fiddle he bought at a pawn shop this afternoon. He wanted to show you that it is not the instrument; it is any instrument in the hand of the master." Our God’s grace is a deficiency equalizer - He takes ordinary lives and demonstrates His extraordinary powers in and through them. It is wonderful blessing to know what our Lord can do with our lives when we place them in His very capable hands!
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwPeud_V7cg
It is going to be one of the brilliant days. Autumn colors are in full burst. Praise the Lord for the way He displays wonderful colors and the way He demonstrates His glory and power. In this vast domain and in the universe our Lord God is mindful of us. He demonstrates and displays His pathos and passion towards us. In his book entitled, "Thoughts in Solitude," the late great French-born American Roman Catholic Trappist monk, poet, author, social activist, and student of comparative religion, wrote these words, which have come to be known as "The Merton Prayer:"
"My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following Your Will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please You does in fact please You. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this You will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore, I will trust You always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for You are ever with me, and You will never leave me to face my perils alone."
This is a beautiful prayer. Sometimes knowing God’s Will for our lives can be somewhat of a mystery. Yet, the Lord our God honors our desire to please Him. He honors our intentions to please Him. I love the spiritual song, "Lord I want to be a Christian in my heart. Lord I want to be like Jesus in my heart... in my heart... in my heart. Lord I want to be like Jesus in my heart." The Lord of hosts is our Lord God. He demonstrates His prevenient grace towards us. He desires to be near to us on a personal level. His will for us is personal. Jeremiah 29:11 (KJV), tells us, "’For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,’ saith the Lord, ’thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.’" He has a Will for specifically designed for each of our lives!
Our Lord God, who can uphold and sustain the Universe, at the same time can hear our prayer about our job situation! Though the earth’s Sun keeps all the planets in our solar system in orbit that same Sun will warm our faces as if it has no other purpose! Likewise, we have a God Who has created all of the Universe and holds it together, Who will lead us and guide us personally as if He had nothing else to do! Almighty God wants to be intimately involved in every detail of our lives if we are willing to let Him!
Luke 12:6-7 (KJV) records Jesus, the Christ, saying, "Are not two sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? (v. 7) But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows." Almighty God is concerned about the details of our individual lives! The Apostle Paul tells the Romans and us, in Romans 8:14 (KJV), "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."
I read a story about the late, great, well-known Austrian-born American violinist and composer, Fritz Kreisler (1875 - 1962). He placed an advertisement that said he would play a concert in New York City on a priceless Stradivarius violin worth over half a million dollars. The concert hall was packed - Fritz Kreisler came out - and, he awed and wowed the audience with his violin virtuoso performance. The high notes seemed as if angels were singing and brought tears to the eyes of strong men! When he finished, the crowd stood to their feet in loud, spontaneous applause! To their horror, Fritz Kreisler took that violin, smashed it on the stage, stomped it into splinters, and then walked off! The people were stunned into silence!
Shortly after, the concertmaster came out and said to the crowd, "Fritz Kreisler has asked me to convey to you that he just performed this concert on a fifty dollar fiddle he bought at a pawn shop this afternoon. He wanted to show you that it is not the instrument; it is any instrument in the hand of the master." Our God’s grace is a deficiency equalizer - He takes ordinary lives and demonstrates His extraordinary powers in and through them. It is wonderful blessing to know what our Lord can do with our lives when we place them in His very capable hands!
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwPeud_V7cg
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