Brown's Daily Word 9/13/16

    Once again we praise the Lord for His wonder working power and amazing grace.  He blessed us with a beautiful weekend.  "Our Town" celebrated the "1890 Union Fair" this past Saturday. It was a Sizzling Hot late summer Saturday.  There were parades, marches, Exhibits, foods, and plentiful social gatherings.  Alice had presented her handmade quilts and other needlework for display along with some of baked goods and canned goods.  A plate of cinnamon rolls baked by Alice, was auctioned for $75.00 and a loaf of bread by her,  was auctioned for $27.00.  The whole day was filled with blessings and His grace.  The Lord blessed us with a wonderful day of worship on 9/11.  It was a service of commemoration and celebration.

    Today we celebrate the birthday of our oldest daughter, Janice.  She was born 40 years ago today in Corpus Christi (Body Of Chris)", Texas.  She has been a great blessing to us all of these years.  She is blessed with a "Beautiful Mind"  and a "Brave Heart'.  She is courageous, and often lives her life on the edge.  She loves the Lord and serves with Him with great passion as she ministers to the least , the last and the lost.  The Lord has blessed her heart and mind to live in simplicity and beauty, thus impacting the Kingdom of Jesus our Lord.  She often provokes me to the essence and the realness of life and living in Jesus.  Janice is no longer a curly haired toddler, but a beautiful mama with three great children of her own, who are as adventurous as she.   

    In every Church I have served, we always made room and time for celebration . In Christ alone we have every thing that we need for life and for righteousness.  We have 10 thousand reasons to celebrate.  We celebrate the Lord's supper where we celebrate His victory and power.  We celebrate in every gathering in the name of Jesus.  As we gather for communion, we celebrate over a simple and a very common meal.  We recognize that Jesus is the Host at every meal and we are His honored guests.  I love the verse, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and share a meal with him."  That's what it says in Revelation 3:20. 

    Food has been a picture of worship and fellowship with God since Leviticus, when people brought animals that were sacrificed. When the animal was sacrificed, part of the celebration was eating the food together in God's presence.  When Jesus wanted to communicate to his disciples his deepest personal presence, he said, "I want you to share a meal with me tonight.  Go and prepare the Passover.  I deeply desire"—that's the word he uses—"I deeply desire to eat a meal with you."  It was over that meal that he washed their feet and showed them his presence in a very personal way.  One day, he will call us to a great marriage supper, a great feast, a great banquet.  "Blessed is everyone who is invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb."  Even in Revelation the last picture of God dwelling with his people is at the dinner table. That's where we are invited to be - at the king's table. 

    I know that the Risen Lord,  is calling us to be grateful for our invitation to sit at the king's table.  Think about God and his grace to us.  He not only withheld from us the punishment that's deserved—that's mercy, but then he bestowed and lavished upon us all kinds of spiritual blessings - that's grace.  Amazing!

In Christ,

Brown

https://youtu.be/DXDGE_lRI0E

Brown's Daily Word 9/10/16

It is Saturday now, but Sunday is coming.  We will gather for Sunday School at 9:30 AM and gather for worship at 10:30 AM followed by Coffee Hour.  Sunday is a day of victory - a little Easter.  It is a day of celebration of the Majesty and power of the Lord, the King of all Nations.  One of my new-found friends wrote me a note to remind me that 9/11/2016 is the fifteenth anniversary of 9/11/2001, when the Psyche and Ethos of America the beautiful was shaken and overwhelmed.  I remember most vividly and lucidly, like a bell, the moment and the place where I was on that morning of 9/11.  I had just spent some time in prayer over the phone with a dear servant of Jesus.  Alice was away at school.  All our girls were scattered around the Land.  When I saw the initial images of the first plane I had no comprehension of the devastating damage and death it had caused.  It is written in Proverbs 18:10, "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe." 

    As we take a brief journey down memory lane, back to the scene of the inferno, we can recall that not everyone who could have run away from the towers did so. That is, everyone ran away except for the first responders – policemen, paramedics, and firemen and  chaplains.  The firemen did what firemen do – they bravely ran into the towers to save whatever lives they could.  None of them considered for even a moment that in a matter of minutes they would lose their own lives as the Twin Towers would come crashing down upon them and those who were already at work.  We can rightly find great inspiration in the sacrifices of those first responders and in the lives of those who followed in the search and cleanup efforts.  “In whom do we Christians really place our hope when faced with great tragedy?  In the face of unprecedented tragedy and massive grief we raise the question, "To whom do we flee when everything comes crashing down around us?"  “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs INTO it and is safe” (Proverbs 18:10 ESV).   When it comes to the troubles of life in this world, the memory of 9/11 reminds us that we are not “above it all.”

    The terrorism we see on the news is too close for comfort –  It reminds us that we can find no comfort in our own names and titles, no matter how influential we might be, no matter how many people might look to us for advice and security. Most of our names will not be written bronze but, even if they are, 3 generations from now our own descendents will know almost nothing of us.  They will have no clue about things we did, what we built, and the things we treasured.  Those things  will mean nothing to them, for the most part.  It is written  that God’s name is a strong tower.  God’s name is everything He has revealed Himself to be: His titles, His attributes, and His promises.  When our enemies pursue us, when all hell breaks loose and Satan unleashes every weapon he has against us, we have God’s omnipotence, His holiness, His love, and grace, and His faithfulness.  So we sing, “One little word can fell him”.  That is, the Evil One cannot stand up to the name of God, our Savior, Jesus Christ. 

    That God is a gracious saving God, and desires the salvation of all mankind is the highest characteristic of God which He has revealed most clearly.  In the cross and the empty tomb of Jesus is revealed the immeasurable wealth of God.  We run to God for safety – to God our eternal God, creator of heaven and earth.  The Bible declares “the Lord is a strong tower.”  This means, the wealth and weapons laid up in this tower are more than enough to protect us.  So when all hell breaks loose we flee to God our Savior and find safety.  As God’s name stands for everything He is and the inexhaustible wealth of resources we have for our eternal and spiritual security, so the Twin Towers were symbolic also.  Once the tallest man-made structures on earth, the towers stood for the freedom and the opportunities which have allowed our nation to prosper beyond that of any other nation in history.  As Christ’s crucifixion, death, and burial did not put an end to Him or man’s longing for eternal life, the events of 9-11 did not extinguish the flame of freedom but made it burn all the brighter in our hearts. Terrorism did not put an end to the Christian Faith as so many of our fellow citizens have turned to God in the weeks and now years after.  Firemen and police and other workers at Ground Zero found great hope and comfort in a cross which was found in the rubble; a cross which is made of intersecting beams of iron from the towers.  The cross reminds us that our security is found in Christ Jesus.  A husband in the flight over Pennsylvania prayed to God with his wife after he told her he was not   going to be coming home. We declare and proclaim, "The name of the Lord is  a strong tower."  it is a strong one, it is a high one.  It is a rock of refuge, higher than men, or angels, or heaven itself; and such as those who are in it are out of the reach of all danger and every enemy.  As the hymn writer penned:

    "Like a river glorious is God’s perfect peace,

    Over all victorious, in its bright increase;

    Perfect, yet it floweth fuller every day,

    Perfect,  yet it groweth deeper all the way.

·        
"Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest
Finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest."

·          In Jesus .

·          Brown

·         https://youtu.be/fn-cdzBju0A

Brown's Daily Word 9/8/16

    Praise the Lord for another day of grace and blessings.  It is going to very hot and humid here in Central New York, the Empire State.  I was visiting with one of the professors from Binghamton yesterday.  He was sharing with me that summer ends not on September 21, when Autumn makes its official debut, but rather Summer comes to an abrupt ending when the school buses begin their first  rounds to pick up the students for the first day of school.  The buses in full gear come out of the bus garages roaring like the Harley Davidson motorbikes, making way onto the Highways and byways, collecting excited and anxious students.  Indeed, Summer comes to an abrupt ending when the first day of school arrives.  It is fascinating look at FACEBOOK as parents post pictures of their sons and daughters with their new school garb on the first day of school.  I was reminiscing about when our girls were in school, how Alice made all new clothes for our girls for the first day of school and equipped them with all the required and necessary School gear.  Sweet memories, how they linger.

    We are getting ready for Sunday worship and celebration.  Sunday, 9/11 is "Back to Church" Sunday.  Wherever  you might be, plan to gather  in worship and witness this coming Sunday.  We will meet for Sunday school at 9:30 AM and gather for worship at10:30 AM.  Please make a note on the time change.  We used to meet at 10:00 for Sunday school and at 11:00 for worship.  Starting on 9/11 we will meet for Sunday school at 9:30 AM and for worship at 10:30 AM.  There will be a Coffee fellowship hour following the morning worship service.  Please plan to invite family and friends for this special day.  See you in church.

    A few years ago I was at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California attending a conference.  One of the speakers for the conference was Bruce  Wilkinson, who is the author of many books including a book called "The Prayer of Jabez: Breaking Through to the Blessed Life".  The book focuses on a little known character of the Bible whose brief story is found in 1 Chronicles 4.  Wilkinson,, says:

"Asking the Lord to bless you is not self-centered.  Why not make it a lifelong commitment to ask God every day to bless you, and while he's at it to bless you a lot?  God's bounty is limited only by us, not by his resources, power, or willingness to give. ."

    I have a copy of this book in my library.  What I love about this prayer is that it is right and good to ask God to bless you.  God wants to bless you.  God is by nature generous and good and kind.  Jabez said, "Bless me."  He also said, "Enlarge my territory" and "Let your hand be with me."  Jesus our Lord and friend says that we  can ask God to bless us with His choicest blessings .  Our Father God  cares.  There's no request too small or too trivial or even too selfish.  You can bring our needs to God.

    Our Lord's  teaching doesn't stop there.  It's linked to the following sentence. "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" (Matthew 6:33).

    The Catholic author, John Powell, had this fascinating statement.  He said, "It's very hard to love others when you have a toothache."  When you have a toothache you aren't thinking about anybody else.  You're totally absorbed with that side of your face that's causing you agony.  I have found myself wrestling with the "Tooth Aches" of divers diseases in my life several times.  Something happens when we are preoccupied with what we need and want.  We tend to stop thinking about other people, focusing on our own wants and needs.  We don't think about God. We don't think about others.  We just think about what it is that we want and need.

    When we feel anxiety it means we have some wants or some needs that have not been articulated and expressed to God.  Don't be anxious about anything, but in every situation where we feel anxiety rise, take our anxiety and turn it into a petition, make a request for our wants and needs.  It is written, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)  Through our prayer and thanksgiving the Lord somehow deals with our anxiety.  He gives us grace and power over anxiety.  Somehow He  who is the Prince of peace breathes His peace into our troubled hearts.  It becomes like a river flowing from the heart of Jesus in to our bruised and broken hearts.

    We are invited to come to the Throne of Grace with supplications and petitions. We are invited to come to the Throne of God in confidence and boldness based on the finished work at he cross and ask for blessings— not so God can serve us—but so that we  can have our wants and needs taken care of  and can get on with serving others, seeking first God's kingdom, God's justice, and God's dream for the world as it should be.

    Bruce Wilkinson acknowledges this in his book when he talks about the phrase "enlarge my territory."  He uses that to say, "God, enlarge my influence for you in this world."  That's a beautiful prayer to say, "God, one of the blessings I want most from you is that I can have an influence for you.  In my family, in my job, in my neighborhood, in my social settings I can be an influence for you.  Let that increase, Lord.  I can help other people get closer to you.  I can help other people learn more about you.  I can help other people come into a relationship with you and live more the way you want them to live."

In Christ the Winsome Shepherd.

Brown

https://youtu.be/B1nyzGR3tUE