Brown's Daily Word 9/7/16

Praise the Lord for this Wednesday.  It is apparent that we are going through another midsummer heat wave in our region.  It is going to be in the nineties over the next few days.  The students in our region are going back to school today.  Our grandchildren living in Boston are going back to school tomorrow.  Another season, another adventure, filled with all the promises of our Lord indeed.  We will be starting Fall Bible Study and fellowship hour beginning next Wednesday, the 14th of September. 

    I spent some time yesterday just hanging out with the senior saints and citizens at the our town Civic Center yesterday during the lunch hour.  It is always interesting and intriguing to hear their stories and testimonies. 

    I was talking with a young family in the evening.  The husband is one of my wife's former students, who is married and blessed with two children.  His wife shared with me that she is going to home school her oldest daughter.  As a family  they are going to visit her parents, who live in Colorado where her dad owns a dairy farm, milking 5000 cows. 

    Praise the Lord for the farms and ranches.  We praise the Lord for His abundance.  Alice and I picked to well over two bushels of garden fresh and (mostly) garden ripe tomatoes last evening.  Thank you Jesus.

 

    Our town is gearing up for our Annual "1890 Union Fair", which will be held this Saturday the 10th of September.  The fair was started by the Methodists of Marathon in 1890.  The theme for this years fair is "For Those who Serve - Past and Present".  The Exhibits will start at 9:00 AM, which include Baked Goods, a Flower Show, Garden Stock, Poultry and small animals, Handwork, crafts collections/ hobbies, and an American Quilt show.  The Parade will start at noon on Main Street.  Things to eat include Hamburgers, Hot dogs, BBQ Pork, Hot Sausage, French Fries, Pop corn, Elephant ears, Maple Cotton Candy, and Ice Cream. The Party is on.

    One of  my favorite Psalms is Psalm 91.  Known as the Messianic Psalm, it is both powerful and provocative.  The Lord of life and peace infuses us with His abiding presence and overwhelming peace as we allow the Lord to converse with us in and through His word as we  read this Psalm prayerfully and worshipfully.

    In the Believer's Bible Commentary, William MacDonald begins his comments on Psalm 91 by telling of a five-year-old boy who was dying of diphtheria in 1922. As his mother turned her back so she could not see him take his last breath, her brother-in-law knocked at the door.  He said, "I've come just to tell you that you don't have to worry about the child.  He is going to recover, and God is going to save his soul."  He then explained that the Lord gave him this assurance as he read Psalm 91.

    MacDonald, the author of the commentary, was that dying boy.  God spared his life.  Thirteen years later, God saved him, and for many decades God used him to preach and write the gospel.  MacDonald labeled his comments on Psalm 91 as "My Psalm."  He stated his willingness to share the psalm, but insisted that it was his psalm.  So it is with every believer who knows what it is to live in the protective custody of God.

     Psalm 91 is good news for everyone who trusts in God.  Psalm 90 is a warning about the reality of death, but Psalm 91 is a promise of protection for life.  Martin Luther called this psalm "the most distinguished jewel among all the psalms of consolation."  This psalm must not be used to turn true faith into religious superstition, but the message of this psalm is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.  The Lord will protect the one who trusts in him.  It is a life of confident trust, total security, and divine assurance.  This psalm does not guarantee immunity from trouble in life or tragedy and  death.  Instead, it celebrates the benefits of confident trust in God. 

    Trust in God will not keep us from experiencing the trials, tragedies, and tears of  life, but it will keep us in the grip of His grace as we walk through the valley of shadows of doubt, despair, and even death.  "Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty."  God is a shadow for those who trust in him.  A human shadow produces fear, but the divine shadow gives comfort.  It means God is near to provide relief.  Warren Wiersbe wrote: "The safest place in the world is a shadow, if it is the shadow of the Almighty."

    Lord Craven was a Christian nobleman who lived in London during a plague that ravaged the city in the 15th century.  Craven determined to flee the city for his country estate to escape the spreading plague, but as he prepared to leave, he overheard a servant innocently say to another, "I suppose by my Lord's quitting London to avoid the plague that his God lives in the country and not in town." Convicted, Craven canceled his journey, declaring, "My God lives everywhere and can preserve me in town as well as in the country.  I will stay where I am."  He remained in London to help the plague victims but never caught the disease himself, because God is a refuge and fortress to those who trust in him. God provides perpetual protection.

    It is written, "You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday."  In the face of terrors, arrows, pestilence, and destruction, the believer refuses to succumb to fear.  This is not personal courage; it is confident trust.  In Christ and because of Christ, we are  under His  round-the-clock protection, under His  eternal surveillance .

 In Christ our solid Rock.

 Brown

https://youtu.be/dy9nwe9_xzw

Brown's Daily Word 9/6/16

 

    Praise the Lord for the stunning, sizzling, simmering summer that makes its way into an awesome and brilliant Autumn season.  Jesus is beautiful and all glorious in all seasons.  He blessed us with some fantastic days that we spent with Jessica, Tom, and Lindy in Philadelphia.  We also spent a few days with Sunita, Andy, Gabe, Addie, and Asha in Washington, DC, along with our daughter Laureen.  We celebrated Asha's September 1 birthday on the 3rd of September.  Her birthday is celebrated along with her parents' 9th wedding anniversary.  It was all blessing.  Lindy, Jessica and Tom's daughter turned 1 on the 8th of July and Asha turned 1 on the first of September.  They both have a few teeth and both have started walking. 

    Janice, our oldest daughter, took Micah (10 years)  and Simeon (9 years) into the White Mountains of New Hampshire for Mountain Hiking for the Labor day weekend.  They spent two days backpacking and hiking up in the White Mountains, during which time they logged 12 miles. They took on their adventure with great determination and joy.  Praise the Lord for the wonders of His love.  Whenever we are in Washington we trek to Union Station and to the Capitol Building,  and at times to the Mall, from Andy and Sunita's house.  One day we all drove down to Great Falls, Virginia.  The Falls are gigantic and gorgeous.  A thing of beauty is a joy forever. 

    The Lord blessed us with a wonderful summer.  The schools in New York State will be opening today for staff and tomorrow for students.  Alice will be back to School today.  The Students will be back at school for another year tomorrow.  Praise the Lord for new seasons, new beginnings.

    John Powell wrote a powerful book called "Why Am I Afraid to Tell You Who I Am?".  In it, he writes about how we are afraid to tell people who we are because if they see "the real me," it might not be good enough.  We would be exposed as defective, broken, dirty, disgusting, or inadequate.  So it's better and safer to put on fig leaves and hide.

    In the wonderful and powerful narrative of the Creation story recorded in the Book Of Genesis,Adam and Eve  realized they were naked, so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves."  Our children Jessie and Tom have a pig tree by their house.  We picked some ripe fog s few days ago while we were thetre . The fif leaves are big. Fig leaves represent anything we do to cover our nakedness and shame. I have fig leaves. You have fig leaves. We have fig leaves called status, awards, degrees, intellectualism, clothing, style, and morality. Blaming others is a huge fig leaf. That's exactly what Adam and Eve did : they passed the buck. Even religion can become nothing more than a big fig leaf. Fig leaves are anything we use to hide behind to prove we're not defective, broken, or sinful. They come in different shapes and sizes, but they all have this one thing in common: they're a self-made, self-covering project to cover our shame and nakedness.

    It is written in  Genesis 3:8, "Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day."  The words "sound of the LORD" and "walking" are often used symbolically to refer to  the Biblical revelation and the Gospel Truth.  Our God is present.  God comes looking for the lost man and the lost woman.  What is their response?  They keep running. "They hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden."

    Once again, the Bible says we are lost because we ran away and hid.  If it was up to us to seek and find God, we'd all be hopelessly and eternally lost.  The Bible even puts it this way, "There is no one righteous, not even one … no one who seeks God.  All have turned away" (Romans 3:10-12).  The philosopher Soren Kierkegaard once wrote, "You cannot have the truth in such a way that you catch it, but only in such a way that it catches you."  Our relationship with God is the same.  That is, God catches us.  It is  Grace, Sheer Grace, Prevenient Grace, Seeking Grace. .

    God chases down fugitives.  He is the Hound of Heaven. That's what we see in Genesis, and that's what we see when Jesus pursues a crooked runt named Zaccheus.  "While we were yet in our sin Christ died for us."  WOW!

    Our Lord God, the mighty and merciful, pursues fugitives.  After all, God calls all of us to account for our lives.  There is judgment in the question, "You've lived 16, 26, 46, or 66 years of your life—and where are you?  What have you done with your life?"  Is it time for a wake-up call?  This question exposes our hiding, our running, and our fig leaves.  God didn't ask the question for his benefit.  He already knew exactly where Adam was.  Adam needed the question to wake him up and shake him.  Perhaps God is asking the question because we all need a wake up call.  This simple question is also the question of someone who loves us.  The Bible is a story of lost and found.  God is the seeker and we are the lost fugitives. Throughout the Old Testament, God keeps saying to his people, "Return to me. Come back to me.  What happened to the intimacy we once had?  You moved away."

    All throughout the Old Testament, God provided a way for us to come back, to cover our nakedness and shame, to lure us out of hiding.  As we read through the Old Testament, we see how serious our sin is.  It is deadly to our relationship with God.  It creates a debt that we could never pay.

    All throughout the Bible, God is giving us clues, mapping out a path for us to return to him. God keeps saying: A new day is coming.  There is a new way for you to come to me, a new way to heal your brokenness, a new way to cover your shame, a new way to live, a new way to love others, a new way for the entire earth.  Then Jesus comes and he says, "That new day has come.  I am the new way that was promised."

    During Labor day week,  the invitation of Jesus comes, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28-30).  Just come, Jesus said.  Let us come to Jesus and live.

In Him,

 Brown

https://youtu.be/IoezWBPGRAc

Brown's Daily Word 8/30/16

  Once again praise the Lord for wonder working power and for the wonders of His love.  I have been dealing with some fall allergies lately but, praise the Lord, I am feeling better.  The Lord blessed us with some fantastic weather during this past weekend.  It has been sunny and very warm.  He blessed us in His House on the Lord's day.  We had an outdoor Baptismal Service last Sunday following the morning worship.  It was held at a lovely Camp belong to one of our Church Families.  The water in the pool was crystal clear and clean.  The Baptismal service was  awesome.  The Lord anointed the service and blessed the gathering with His very presence.  The man, who is 45 years old gave his testimony, how he has given his life to the Lord and the Lord has transformed his life into one of loving and serving the Lord.  We had a great time of celebration  following the service of Baptism. The food was sumptuous and the fellowship was sweet.

    On Sunday afternoon we talked with Ada, our youngest granddaughter from Boston, who is 5.  She shared that she was going to Walden Pond with her mommy for swimming and that her older brother and sister were going to Fenway to watch a Red Sox game.  All of our daughters graduated from the Maine-Endwell School system.  We feel a sense of belonging to the Maine-Endwell family.  The Maine-Endwell Little League team became both National and World Champions 2016 by defeating some very worthy teams.

   It was two years ago during the month of August my mother in law and My mom went to be with Jesus our Lord.  My mother in law died on the August 28 and my mom died on August 31.  They both were 86 years old.  Despite "Many dangers, toils, and snares" of this world they lived well, loving the Lord and serving Him.  His grace indeed led them home to the Eternal City.  We praise the Lord for the wonderful legacy they left behind.  Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints "Psalm 116:15

  One of the readings for this past was taken from Hebrews 13, "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and for ever." (Hebrews 13, 7-8) 

    John Newton wrote, "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me!"  He wrote also "How sweet the name of Jesus sounds, in a believer's ear. It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, and drives away his fear.  It makes the wounded spirit whole, calms the troubled breast. 'Tis manna to the hungry soul, and to the weary, rest."  It is wonderful to know that our Lord Jesus who is the Alpha and Omega is the same as in eternity past; He changes not.  The context of this great statement of faith is the conclusion of the book of Hebrews.  He who was yesterday did not fail to help Moses, Joshua, David, the prophets, the apostle Paul and the saints down through history.  He was faithful to every one of them, and He has promised to be faithful to us today, and will continue to be a steadfast help to his people forever.  I search for an absolute in an age of change; He changes not, and I therefore have security. 

    "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.  In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men" (John 1:1-4).  "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday . . ."  His eternal existence is declared in these words, "in the beginning was the Word."  He is no vacillating whim of the age.  "The Word was with God," a distinct personality of the true and perfect deity because "the Word was God."  His personal relationship with the Father is unchangeable.  He "was in the beginning with God," and because of His resurrection and ascension, He still is in the presence of the Father in a perfect relationship.  Moreover, His understanding of man never needs to change.  No one knows me like the one who made me.  "All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made."  "In Him is life. . ." 

    The following is a portion of the reflections I wrote on August 30, 2014: "Several hundred years ago the French philosopher Pascal put forth his famous wager regarding the Christian faith.  It’s an imaginary conversation between a Christian and a non-believer. . . "Suppose that atheism is right and Christianity is wrong.  In the end, I have lost nothing by believing in Christ since my faith gives me hope and comfort in this life and the atheist has gained nothing because he believes that death ends all.  But suppose that Christianity is right and atheism is wrong.  Who wins and who loses?  The Christian wins everything because he goes to heaven. The atheist loses everything because he goes to hell."

    If we are wrong, we lose nothing at all.  If we are right, we go to heaven.  But those who reject Christ run a terrible risk because if Hell is real, that’s where they are going.  "We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." T. S. Elliot

In Christ,

 Brown

https://youtu.be/FHMjhz8aHTw