Good morning on this last Saturday of March. Tomorrow is Palm Sunday which marks the beginning of arguably the most important week on the Christian's calendar. Palm Sunday is the gateway which precedes the commemoration of the so called "Passion" of Christ which means the final events in Jesus' earthly life which were characterized by suffering. Matthew 17:12 says, "But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him and did to him whatsoever they wished. Likewise the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands." The Greek word translated "suffer" in this passage also means agony. The Passion of Christ begins with His observance of Passover and Last Supper and continues through His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, betrayal, arrest, trial, and crucifixion. The movie, "Passion of Christ" vividly depicted the anguish and agony suffered by Christ during these events. Holy Week extends from Palm Sunday through the events of His Passion and culminates with His resurrection on Easter. Holy week is an opportunity to once again fully remember and appreciate what Jesus Christ our Savior did to make our redemption possible. Please take advantage through prayer, praise, the study of Scripture, and worship to fully remember and appreciate all He did for us during this year's Holy Week. Romans 4:25 and 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 remind us that both His crucifixion and resurrection were necessary for our salvation.
Tomorrow's sermon is the final message in the series on Proverbs and is entitled, Solomon's Ultimate Secret of Success. I hope you'll be there.
Mel Brown

Good morning on this Saturday, March 20th. This morning I awakened to a snow-covered scene from my bedroom window. I confess I'm tired of winter and ready for the change of seasons. Earlier this week when temps reached the mid sixties, I saw several convertibles running around with the tops down and their owners soaking up some of the afternoon sunshine. It made me eager for the arrival of spring. Those warm days turned out to be teasers because we are not yet finished with winter. The change of seasons is referred to in Scripture as a guide to the arrival of certain future events prophesied in the Bible. As most of you know I monitor current events closely to search for evidences and indications of seasonal changes regarding the fulfillment of certain prophecies. President Obama has announced that he is ready to take up immigration reform and senators Graham and Schumer have revealed as part of the process that they are working on a bipartisan effort to introduce a tamper-proof identity card which will contain each individuals DNA. They are proposing that every citizen be required to have such a card and only those who have them will be employed. We will be carefully watching how this "National Security Card" issue unfolds in light of the Biblical prophecies about the Antichrist's future control and monitoring of citizens. The security card could be the precursor.
Tomorrow's sermon is Entitled, A Sure Formula For Defeat. I hope to see you there.
Mel Brown

Good morning on this Saturday, March 13th. An interesting thing happened on my way to writing this blog today. I was in the process of booting up my computer shortly after 7:00 a.m. this morning when I heard a loud boom and the power in my house went off. Shortly thereafter the trucks from MidAmerican Energy came rolling up to fix the problem. They soon determined that it was a serious problem which would require much of the day to repair. I had to revise my schedule to use a different computer at a different location to do my work and the whole process reminded me of an important lesson. We may make all of our plans but they can be forced to change in a moment's notice. I was also reminded how much we take for granted such as the availability of electricity to run our appliances, computers, furnaces, and lights. Our power outage brought about a conversation with my wife about her mother (she's 95 years old) growing up on a farm in Colorado. She read by kerosene lamp, plowed the fields with a horse- drawn single plow, heated the house with a wood stove, walked or rode a horse to get to where she was going, and studied in a one-room country school. My how far we have come in such a short time. I'm grateful for the many things which make our lives so much easier and better today, aren't you? We all have so much for which to be thankful and it is so easy to take so much for granted, isn't it? To God be the glory, great things, He has done! I'd rather live today than any time since the creation of man, wouldn't you?
Tomorrow's sermon is The Most Destructive Force In Relationships.
I'll hope to see you there.
Mel Brown

Good morning on this first Saturday of March. In today's blog I would like to deal with a potpourri of the news as the late newscaster, Paul Harvey, used to say.
My wife, Barb, continues to recover from both her hand surgery and her broken foot. She is now one week away from no longer being required to wear her special protective boot and four weeks away from having the cast removed from her hand.
Our guest speaker throughout the day tomorrow will be Dan Brown, founder and director of LIFT ministries. Dan will speak in both morning services, teach in the Edge Student Ministries during Sunday school, then speak at 6:00 p.m. to the Gathering in the church multipurpose center.
During the remaining weeks of March, I will be preaching the three final sermons from the series on Proverbs. The schedule of messages will be:
March 14th - The Most Destructive Force In Relationships
March 21st - A Sure Formula For Defeat
March 28th - Solomon's Ultimate Secret Of Success
Our Easter services at 10:00 a.m. at the i wireless Center are shaping up nicely with tremendous enthusiasm and anticipation from people both in and out of the church. It will be an Easter to remember and I would like to thank all who are working so hard to make it a great success. God only knows the impact it will have on our Quad Cities community!
I'll look forward to seeing you tomorrow.
Mel Brown