Good morning on this early Saturday morning, June 30th. In a few days it will be Independence Day, the 4th of July. It is typically a day for parades, picnics, fire works, and reunions, but it is so much more - it is the day we officially celebrate our freedom as Americans. During my years as pastor of the Edgewood Baptist Church, I have sometimes had the opportunity to invite Christians who have been imprisoned and even tortured for their faith to give their testimony in our church. Most have been from communist countries where the expression of their faith was strictly forbidden and the consequences for daring to share Christ, preach the word, or even assemble for worship meant certain persecution and loss of freedom. As I would listen to their stories detailing the price they paid for their Christian faith, I always felt grateful that I lived and ministered in a country where we have freedom to speak freely about our faith and openly serve the Lord without fear of recrimination. As we assemble for worship this weekend, thank God we will not fear having government thugs spy on us, intrude into the church service, beat people up or drag them away to prison. Nor will we fear having members of our families being led away in chains to some uncertain fate because of our Christianity. Many Christians are today enduring unspeakable tragedies because they dare to speak the name of Christ. Some will never see the light of day again as they spend the rest of their lives in a dark damp prison cell and numbers will be martyred. This year as we celebrate the 4th of July, let us all give a prayer of thanks for the freedom we share and determine to avail ourselves of that freedom by sharing Christ with others. How tragic it would be to not take advantage of the opportunities which freedom affords us or take our freedom as Americans for granted. Independence Day should also be a reminder to us of our responsibility to strive to preserve our freedom regardless of the cost. Edmund Burke was right when he said that the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil was for good men to do nothing! Tomorrow's sermon is another in our series of messages on prophecy. I hope to see you there. Mel Brown

Good morning on this Saturday, June 23rd. Last Wednesday the summer solstice occurred. The summer solstice is the longest day of the year and the winter solstice is the shortest. When the earth's tilt on its axis is most inclined to the sun in each hemisphere, a solstice occurs.

In practical terms that means it doesn't get dark during summer solstice until about 9:00 p.m. compared to winter solstice when it gets dark about 4:30 p.m. Personally, I love the long days with the many hours of extra daylight each day. When I was a kid it meant much more time to ride my bike, do sports, or play outdoors before I had to come in. Light means so much in doing almost anything: reading, measuring, working, observing, especially seeing clearly, and recognition. About the only time I really appreciated the darkness was when I was working the mid-night shift and trying to sleep during the day - believe me I couldn't get my bedroom dark enough when I was trying to sleep after a hard night's work in the steel mill.

In Genesis 1:3-4 God created the light, and then proclaimed that the light was good. The New Testament proclaims "God is light an in Him is no darkness" (1 John 1:5), but compares, "Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil" (John 3:19). Jesus said He is the light of the world (John 9:5) and taught that those who follow Him will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life (John 8:12). He later taught that He came to light the world that men might not have to live in darkness (John 12:46). Finally, God reminds us that in the Heavenly City, New Jerusalem, there will be no darkness nor need for candles or the sun, because God is the light (Revelation 22:5). All this makes it abundantly clear that even God prefers the light.

We as Christians are to be the light to enlighten others about Jesus Christ and the gospel. Each time we help someone "see the light" we bring them out of spiritual darkness into a light-filled life of purpose, joy and peace. What kind of light are we to those around us? How long has it been since you have invited someone to church, given a tract, or talked to them about Jesus Christ? Thank God someone cared enough about us to enlighten us about Jesus Christ. We need to do the same and provide the "son" light to others.

Tomorrow's sermon is another prophecy message. I hope you can make it.
Mel Brown

Good morning on this Saturday, June 16th. Tomorrow is Father's Day and we will be recognizing our many fathers who attend Edgewood as well as honoring a select group of our oldest fathers in our Sunday services. In today's blog I would like to share some facts with you about the important role fathers play in the spiritual development of their children. In an article in Religion Today entitled, "Fathers: Key to Their Children's Faith," the author points out that many fathers in today's culture believe that it is primarily the mother's role to provide spiritual leadership for the family. In fact many studies have found that the physical and/or emotional absence of the father in a home is a contributing factor to many societal problems. The conclusion about the father's role in children's spiritual development and practices is, "It is the religious practices of the father of the family that, above, all, determines the future attendance at or absence from church of the children." The breakdown is as follows:

(1) If both father and mother attend regularly, 33 percent of their children will end up as regular churchgoers, and 41 percent will end up attending irregularly. Only a quarter of their children will end up not practicing at all.
(2) If the father is irregular and mother regular, only 3 percent of the children will subsequently become regulars themselves, while a further 59 percent will become irregulars. Thirty-eight percent will be lost.
(3) If the father is non-practicing and mother regular, only 2 percent of children will become regular worshippers, and 37 percent will attend irregularly. Over 60 percent of their children will be lost completely to the church!

Additionally, if the father is a regular attender and the mother is irregular or non-practicing, between 38 percent (with irregular attending mothers) and 44 percent (with non-practicing mothers) of their children will become regular churchgoers.

The article concludes with this observation: In short, if a father does not go to church ... only one child in 50 will become a regular worshipper. If a father does go regularly, regardless of the practice of the mother, between two-thirds and three-quarters of their children will become churchgoers (regular and irregular). One of the reasons suggested for this distinction is that children tend to take their cues about domestic life from Mom while their conceptions of the world outside come from Dad. If Dad takes faith in God seriously then the message to their children is that God should be taken seriously.

If ever there is an incentive for fathers to step forward and assume the role God intended for them to play spiritually in their family, this is it. Dads, are you willing to be God's man in your family?

Tomorrow's sermon is another in the series of messages on prophecy. I hope you'll be there to hear it.
Mel Brown

Good morning on this Saturday, June 9th. Last month when we celebrated Memorial Day, I wrote about the importance of honoring our war dead and remembering to pray for their families.

This week a news report revealed that we are experiencing a record number of suicides among our troops. During 2012 the suicides are occurring at a rate of one per day among our active-duty military personnel exceeding the death rate of those dying in battle. Many reasons are cited for the high suicide rate including the extreme stress levels under which troops live, multiple deployments, too few qualified mental health counselors, the stigma some military personnel feel about seeking professional help, family pressures and severe financial strains.

This suicide rate does not take into consideration those cases of suicide occurring after troops are discharged and return home. Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, cited a survey conducted by his organization which revealed that 37% of its 160,000 members knew someone who had committed suicide. He also pointed to the high unemployment rate among returning soldiers. Many companies are now considering instituting a policy of giving special attention in their hiring practices to returning military.

This report reminds us that we should not only faithfully pray for our troops and their families, but for our returning soldiers and their families as well. We should all ask ourselves, "how can I make a difference in a service man or woman's life?" Remember Jesus taught when we give even a cup of water in His name we are giving it to Him (Matthew 25:35-42). That makes our acts of caring a triple blessing with triple reward - the recipient is blessed, the giver is blessed, and Christ is blessed.

Tomorrow's sermon is the second in the series, Prophecy Update 2012. I hope you can make it.
Mel Brown

Good morning on this Saturday, June 2nd. Tomorrow I begin the prophecy update messages for this year. As we prepare to receive these messages, it is important to remind ourselves of some important basic information.
(1) The Bible often uses durative language to teach prophetic truth. Concepts, descriptors and words must be general enough to be received by people of every generation. How would you explain an atomic bomb to someone living in Noah's day, Paul's day, or even 100 years ago?. The description in Ezekiel 38:20 of  a catastrophic earthquake shaking the land, killing the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the beasts of the field, and all the creeping things, as well as mountains thrown down, pathways collapsing, and every wall falling to the ground well describes a colossal atomic event with its tremendous explosive power and radiation poisoning. Most prophetic scholars teach Ezekiel 38:20 is a perfect description of the results of an atomic bomb, but people of yesterday could not understand such a concept because there was no such thing as an atomic bomb; hence the description offered by the Biblical author. Some prophecies can only be understood as events unfold because as Daniel explains, they were sealed by God until the future (Daniel 12:9).
(2) Biblical prophets were held to a high standard in their prophecies - 100% accuracy. Prophecies given throughout the Scripture regarding persons, places and events have been exactly fulfilled, providing us great confidence regarding the fulfillment of yet unfulfilled prophecies. Of the hundreds of prophecies given in Scripture, at least 75% have now been fulfilled with that standard of accuracy.
(3) Ethnology studies have traced the settlement and migration of peoples from the earliest times and throughout history. Ancient names are given for those nations in the Bible, but we know who they are in today's world. Persia is an ancient name for modern day Iran. When you plug that identity into Ezekiel 38 and 39 it make perfect sense. In fact Iran is sometimes referred to today as Persia.
(4) Certain current events may or may not have considerable prophetic significance. Time will tell if so. Many taught that Hitler was the Antichrist during World War II because of the holocaust and his near successful quest for world domination. This turned out to be false, but one person will be the Antichrist and it behooves us to watch and be intelligent observers of world events for possible prophetic significance.
(5) We must stick to prophetic facts and not stray to fanciful extrapolations. I personally heard a prophecy expert" say that our money would be worthless in 18 months. That was many years ago and I notice he is still asking for people to send those dollars he predicted would be worthless to his ministry today.
(6) It is a foolish game for people to set dates for the coming our our Lord. Nobody knows exactly when Christ will return because His coming is immanent. We may discern the prophetic seasons but not exact dates.
With these truths in mind let us press onward to better understand the "signs of the times."
Mel Brown