Good morning,
Praise the Lord for this new day. It is filled with the splendor and beauty of spring. Praise the Lord. He gave us very blessed weekend that included preparing and serving meals to the needy Saturday noon at the First UMC, Endicott along with the Evening worship Service. It was a great blessing to be in the House of the Lord yesterday to worship and offer praises to Him for His mighty deeds.
The Epistle Reading for yesterday was taken from 1 Peter 2. In Peter’s inspired vision, the church is a spiritual house. This spiritual house built from living stones can be understood in two ways. First, it is a dwelling place for a household or family. With God as the Master of the house, we all belong to God’s family through His Son our Lord Jesus Christ. Second, this spiritual house can be a temple. A temple is a place of God’s presence where the people of God worship. We are that temple. We are that spiritual house. We are the living stones that God intends to build into a glorious structure that brings glory to His Son. We are also the priesthood that serves in God’s house .
A priesthood exists to serve God at the temple, offering sacrifices. In this case, the priesthood includes all Christians, and the sacrifices offered are spiritual ones. We make no offerings for sins, since that offering has been made once for all by our great high priest, Jesus Christ. The spiritual sacrifices that we offer to God are our lives. We can encapsulate what offering our lives to God as spiritual sacrifices means in one word, worship.
In "The Purpose Driven Life", Rick Warren says : "Worship is not part of your life; it is your life. Worship is not just church services…. Every activity can be transformed into an act of worship when you do it for the praise, glory
and pleasure of God." [pp. 66, 67]
God desires every part of us, not just a portion of our lives. He asks for all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength. God is not interested in halfhearted commitment, partial obedience, and the leftovers of our time and money. He desires our full devotion, not little just the crumbs or the dregs.
Quoting Isaiah 28:16, the Apostle Peter spoke of a new building being fashioned by God. The first stone, the cornerstone, is our Lord Jesus Christ. We are told that this stone has been chosen by God and is precious to Him. Moreover, we are also told that "whoever believes in him,” that is, the cornerstone chosen by God, "will not be put to shame." The idea here is that when testing of the judgement of God comes, those who put their full trust in Jesus Christ will be found worthy.
Peter continues in verses 7-8, "So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, and "A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense." Those who believe in Jesus Christ will share the honor that God has for His Son. For those who will not believe, they will see the crucified Christ that they rejected, who seemed to be abandoned by God and powerless on the cross has in fact been given by God the most prominent place in God’s household. The stone that the builders rejected has been accepted by the architect and used as the cornerstone for the entire edifice. In addition to this, Christ is a stone over which people stumble and He is a rock of offense.
Peter changed subjects in verse 9, shifting from speaking about Christ to speaking about Christ’s followers, saying, "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."
To the Christians of his day, and to us, Peter said, you are a "chosen race." Just as Jesus Christ is described as the chosen cornerstone, we are described as a chosen race of people. All who belong to God by faith in Jesus Christ are a special people, chosen by God to constitute a new people. God is making a people gathered around His Son into a New Israel.
You are a royal priesthood. A priest is someone who serves God, and a royal priesthood is a group of priests who belong to a king. In the Old Testament, the priesthood was restricted to only one of the twelve tribes of Israel. In the New Israel all the members of the church are priests to God who is our king.
You are called to be a holy people. Because we belong to God we are obliged to be holy. We are holy because we have been set apart for God’s service. To be holy is to be morally blameless, and since none of us sinners can be morally blameless, we must rely on God’s mercy.
You are also a people of God’s own possession. We are God’s special property and as such we are recipients of God’s special care. It is only through God’s gift of grace given to us through Jesus Christ that we are made worthy to belong to God. We can be assured that Christ will never fail us, never mess up, never forsake us, and never give up, give in, or give out. Christ is the foundation upon which our lives are built. If we stand, we stand in Christ! If in Christ, we shall never ultimately fall. Christ is the alignment factor in our lives. We should measure anything we do and say against our Standard - Christ - not by each other. He is determinative in regard to our priorities, our values, our votes, our goals, our thoughts, our actions, and our words.
Without this cornerstone our lives are out of alignment, out of balance, and of no positive eternal value. If as Christians, we treasure other things more than Him, we are then bound for misery, depression, and a sub-par Christian existence. We will be buried with guilt from not treasuring Him. We will have a difficult time listening to or being led by the Spirit, because of the other things clouding our life. Joy and peace will be stifled as well, because we look for it in the wrong places.
In Christ,
Brown
http://youtu.be/SUf5v0VySw0
Saturday evening worship service.
Location: First United Methodist Church
53 McKinley Avenu
Endicott
Sponsored by the Union Center United Methodist Church, 128, Maple Drive, Endicott
Saturday, May 28, 2011
6 PM Coffee Fellowship( First UMC Enicott, )
6:30 PM Worship Service Worship Music: Ruth Gent and worship Team.
Speaker: Rev Earle Cowden
Monday, May 23, 2011
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Brown's Daily Word 5/19/11
Good morning,
Praise the Lord for this day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. He blessed us with a beautiful Wednesday Evening gathering. It was a joyful time sharing the meal, laughter, and a time of testimonies and prayer.
I am looking this morning at Colossians 4. The New Testament tells us that the Risen Lord has now given a new kind of authority to His people in the world. Jesus has passed on his authority to us, to continue his ministry, by giving us the Holy Spirit. Paul also gave some advice about how we might go about that:
4:3-4 - Pray for us, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.
4:5 – be wise in the way you act towards outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.
4:6 – let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
As most of you know, I love spicy and salty foods. Food without salt or seasoning is boring. Our words, on the other hand, should never be dull, but full of flavor. Paul entreated readers to pray for those of us in preaching, that we will never be boring … I sometimes wonder whether one of Satan’s best tactics against Christians is to direct our minds to thinking that the only way to be holy is to be boring.
In 1998 the National Church Life Survey organization undertook a national community survey called ‘why people don’t go to church’. Of the many significant reasons that people give for not going to church, the dominant one was boredom. 42% of infrequent or non-attenders said church services are boring and unfulfilling.
We have no excuse to be boring. There is nothing boring about living in Christ. It’s gutsy. It’s subverting hierarchy, defeating Satan, healing wounds, and conquering death. It’s winning the battle, as Paul wrote in Colossians 2:15: “having disarmed the powers and authorities, Jesus made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them, by the cross.”
The way of the cross certainly is not glamorous, but it is the way to life, and if anyone ever was qualified to talk about it, it was Paul. Even as he wrote this letter from prison, with his own hand, he signed off from prison by saying, “Remember my chains.” We do well to remember the chains of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Every time we remember Jesus’ sacrifice, we might remember the millions worldwide who have suffered for the gospel – even those named in this letter: Aristarchus, Mark, Justus, Epaphras, Onesimus, Luke, Demas, Archippus …. and all those who are lost in history, but who are remembered in heaven. We may especially remember all the women, children, and slaves, whom the Scriptures don’t name, but who have been salt to the earth, and who have shared in the sufferings of Jesus.
This morning I remember one of my former students, whose name is Mathew. He was trained as a teacher, and had become one of the young leaders in Orissa. I shared the pulpit with him in July 2008, the last time I was in India. He was one of the first martyrs who was burned to death during persecution broke against Christians in Orissa, India in August 2008. Over 100 Christians were killed and over 70,000 were made homeless during the summer of 2008.
Continue to pray for those who boldly preach the name of Jesus, who season the world with the Gospel.
In Christ,
Brown
http://youtu.be/3qEjRLlL9iE
Saturday evening worship service.
Location: First United Methodist Church
53 McKinley Avenu
Endicott
Sponsored by the Union Center United Methodist Church, 128, Maple Drive, Endicott
Saturday, May 21, 2011
6 PM Coffee Fellowship( First UMC Enicott, )
6:30 PM Worship Service Worship Music:
Speaker: Rev Marshall Sorber
Praise the Lord for this day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. He blessed us with a beautiful Wednesday Evening gathering. It was a joyful time sharing the meal, laughter, and a time of testimonies and prayer.
I am looking this morning at Colossians 4. The New Testament tells us that the Risen Lord has now given a new kind of authority to His people in the world. Jesus has passed on his authority to us, to continue his ministry, by giving us the Holy Spirit. Paul also gave some advice about how we might go about that:
4:3-4 - Pray for us, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.
4:5 – be wise in the way you act towards outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.
4:6 – let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
As most of you know, I love spicy and salty foods. Food without salt or seasoning is boring. Our words, on the other hand, should never be dull, but full of flavor. Paul entreated readers to pray for those of us in preaching, that we will never be boring … I sometimes wonder whether one of Satan’s best tactics against Christians is to direct our minds to thinking that the only way to be holy is to be boring.
In 1998 the National Church Life Survey organization undertook a national community survey called ‘why people don’t go to church’. Of the many significant reasons that people give for not going to church, the dominant one was boredom. 42% of infrequent or non-attenders said church services are boring and unfulfilling.
We have no excuse to be boring. There is nothing boring about living in Christ. It’s gutsy. It’s subverting hierarchy, defeating Satan, healing wounds, and conquering death. It’s winning the battle, as Paul wrote in Colossians 2:15: “having disarmed the powers and authorities, Jesus made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them, by the cross.”
The way of the cross certainly is not glamorous, but it is the way to life, and if anyone ever was qualified to talk about it, it was Paul. Even as he wrote this letter from prison, with his own hand, he signed off from prison by saying, “Remember my chains.” We do well to remember the chains of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Every time we remember Jesus’ sacrifice, we might remember the millions worldwide who have suffered for the gospel – even those named in this letter: Aristarchus, Mark, Justus, Epaphras, Onesimus, Luke, Demas, Archippus …. and all those who are lost in history, but who are remembered in heaven. We may especially remember all the women, children, and slaves, whom the Scriptures don’t name, but who have been salt to the earth, and who have shared in the sufferings of Jesus.
This morning I remember one of my former students, whose name is Mathew. He was trained as a teacher, and had become one of the young leaders in Orissa. I shared the pulpit with him in July 2008, the last time I was in India. He was one of the first martyrs who was burned to death during persecution broke against Christians in Orissa, India in August 2008. Over 100 Christians were killed and over 70,000 were made homeless during the summer of 2008.
Continue to pray for those who boldly preach the name of Jesus, who season the world with the Gospel.
In Christ,
Brown
http://youtu.be/3qEjRLlL9iE
Saturday evening worship service.
Location: First United Methodist Church
53 McKinley Avenu
Endicott
Sponsored by the Union Center United Methodist Church, 128, Maple Drive, Endicott
Saturday, May 21, 2011
6 PM Coffee Fellowship( First UMC Enicott, )
6:30 PM Worship Service Worship Music:
Speaker: Rev Marshall Sorber
Brown's Daily Word 5/18/11
This is the day the Lord has made we; will rejoice and be glad in it. We will come together for our mid-week gathering for fellowship and celebration today at 6 PM. The Spring season is at it's peak here in New York. The flowering trees and bushes are aflame with multicolor flowers. We have two crabapple trees in front of the parsonage which are in full bloom. There are several lilacs trees and bushes around the church and parsonage grounds which are in full and luxuriant bloom. They look more colorful and more beautiful his year than ever before. Praise the Lord, for He is the author of the Eternal Spring.
I am looking at Philippians 1, "If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far" (Philippians 1:22-23).
Some people want to die because they hate this life. Paul was ready and willing to die because he looked forward to life with Christ in heaven. For him death would be like a ship pulling up anchor and sailing out of the harbor toward a new destination. It would be like an army breaking camp, striking the tents, and moving to a new location. Paul understood that for the Christian death is nothing more than a change of address.
In the meantime he was willing to remain if he could make a difference in the lives of other people. It was Henry James who declared that “the best use for your life is to invest it in something that will outlast it.” Too many people invest their time and energy in things that won’t last two weeks or two years, much less outlast their earthly life.
I am provoked to serve the Lord with deep devotion whenever I think about the five young men who gave their lives reaching the Auca Indians in 1956. At the time it seemed to be a tragedy with no redeeming purpose. What has happened as a result? Within a few years over 1000 new missionaries went to the field as a result of their martyrdom. Soon the Indian Bible schools in Ecuador were filled to overflowing with native believers desiring to learn God’s Word. Rachel Saint and Elizabeth Elliot (widows of Nate Saint and Jim Elliot) moved into an Auca village to begin the process of Bible translation. Nine years later two of the Aucas who helped kill the five missionaries had come to Christ and baptized Kathy and Steve Saint—daughter and son of Nate Saint. A flourishing church was established among the Aucas and other neighboring tribes. In 1995 Steve Saint moved back among the Aucas to live with them—at their request.
The story goes on and on. This is no doubt part of the “fruit” Paul speaks about . Truly the “blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” Those men had no idea of the thousands of lives they would touch by their death on a sandy beach in a remote jungle. They only knew that God had called them to the Aucas, and they must obey.
When all is said and done, there are only two philosophies of life. You can say with the Apostle Paul “To me to live is Christ and to die is gain” or you can say with the world “To me to live is self and to die is loss.”
In Christ,
Brown
http://youtu.be/0VdUiKagWjU
Saturday evening worship service.
Location: First United Methodist Church
53 McKinley Avenue
Endicott
Sponsored by the Union Center United Methodist Church, 128, Maple Drive, Endicott
Saturday, May 14, 2011
12 Noon Women's Banquet
Location: Union Center UMC , 128 Maple Drive Endicott,
Speaker: Linda Ayer
6 PM Coffee Fellowship( First UMC Enicott, )
6:30 PM Worship Service Worship Music:
Speaker: Rev Marshall Sorber
I am looking at Philippians 1, "If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far" (Philippians 1:22-23).
Some people want to die because they hate this life. Paul was ready and willing to die because he looked forward to life with Christ in heaven. For him death would be like a ship pulling up anchor and sailing out of the harbor toward a new destination. It would be like an army breaking camp, striking the tents, and moving to a new location. Paul understood that for the Christian death is nothing more than a change of address.
In the meantime he was willing to remain if he could make a difference in the lives of other people. It was Henry James who declared that “the best use for your life is to invest it in something that will outlast it.” Too many people invest their time and energy in things that won’t last two weeks or two years, much less outlast their earthly life.
I am provoked to serve the Lord with deep devotion whenever I think about the five young men who gave their lives reaching the Auca Indians in 1956. At the time it seemed to be a tragedy with no redeeming purpose. What has happened as a result? Within a few years over 1000 new missionaries went to the field as a result of their martyrdom. Soon the Indian Bible schools in Ecuador were filled to overflowing with native believers desiring to learn God’s Word. Rachel Saint and Elizabeth Elliot (widows of Nate Saint and Jim Elliot) moved into an Auca village to begin the process of Bible translation. Nine years later two of the Aucas who helped kill the five missionaries had come to Christ and baptized Kathy and Steve Saint—daughter and son of Nate Saint. A flourishing church was established among the Aucas and other neighboring tribes. In 1995 Steve Saint moved back among the Aucas to live with them—at their request.
The story goes on and on. This is no doubt part of the “fruit” Paul speaks about . Truly the “blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” Those men had no idea of the thousands of lives they would touch by their death on a sandy beach in a remote jungle. They only knew that God had called them to the Aucas, and they must obey.
When all is said and done, there are only two philosophies of life. You can say with the Apostle Paul “To me to live is Christ and to die is gain” or you can say with the world “To me to live is self and to die is loss.”
In Christ,
Brown
http://youtu.be/0VdUiKagWjU
Saturday evening worship service.
Location: First United Methodist Church
53 McKinley Avenue
Endicott
Sponsored by the Union Center United Methodist Church, 128, Maple Drive, Endicott
Saturday, May 14, 2011
12 Noon Women's Banquet
Location: Union Center UMC , 128 Maple Drive Endicott,
Speaker: Linda Ayer
6 PM Coffee Fellowship( First UMC Enicott, )
6:30 PM Worship Service Worship Music:
Speaker: Rev Marshall Sorber
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