Dear Brothers and Sisters, Prayer will be held at the Brown Barn.

The road to blessing can be a hard road. It often begins with direct strikings of the judgment of God and the fear that results. These are often the things the Lord uses to secure our salvation and our sanctification. Our focus in scripture for this week is Isaiah 19:1-24, which illustrates how God strikes the people of a nation in order to heal them. Verses 1-15 God explain how He will bring religious, social, political and economic collapse. But, in verses 16-24 he shows how He will heal some in Egypt, saving them from the “city of destruction.” God stretches out His hand in judgment, in order to soften. In Isaiah 19, we learn that God strikes Egypt in order to bring her to repentance. God uses Egypt to tell the story of salvation. He uses the greatest oppressor of God’s people to serve as an illustration of His love toward sinners. He can soften even the hardest idolaters and sorcerers of Egypt, teach them a new “language,” send them a “Savior,” and a “Mighty One, and He will deliver them,” and draw them into His “altar” to worship Him and be healed. Their lives will change and “They will make a vow to the Lord and perform it.” And, there will be “blessing in the midst of the land.” The question is, Is He striking us? Is He coming out against us? Is He chastening us? Is He humbling us? If so, it may be that He is desiring our healing. You can hear my father, Bill Brown, read this chapter out loud by clicking here. Meghan and Jake Dohm have been recording him and posting it on the internet.

Remember the Father Daughter Retreat begins at the church on Friday evening at 7:00pm. Our scripture Memory passage is, 1 Peter 3:3-6 “1 Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives, 2 when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear.3 Do not let your adornment be merely outward–arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel– 4 rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. 5 For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, 6 as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror.”

Scott Brown