 A daily, Bible-based perspective of hope, encouragement and exhortation. <Previous Message · Archives ·  Archive/print editionThursday, February 19, 2009  Horses on Old Order Mennonite Farm  Listen to us share this message on your audio player."Planting And Watering" "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow" (1 Corinthians 3:6,7). Eight years ago this very day we packed up a truck for our move from Taunton, Massachusetts to Lancaster County, specifically Mount Joy, PA. I had resigned after nearly eight years of pastoring a church in Taunton and was moving my family to Pennsylvania to assume a job as a chaplain. Packing up is something we're not too good at, as we tend to be long-termers. However for most of you the time for relocation has come at least a time or two in life and you can identify. We were blessed to have served a solid church and many came over to help us pack and load. As Brooksyne and I reminisce this morning about that eventful day we consider how many of these dear saints are still a part of our life but in a different relationship than when I was their pastor. Thankfully, many of them read our daily messages making it pretty easy to stay in touch. "Friends", written by Michael W. Smith (sung at our farewell) has a great line about another type of packing. "Packing up the dreams God planted in the fertile soil of you." In our daily text Paul is describing the establishment of the church in Corinth. As the founding Pastor he had planted the gospel seed in this fertile church. Apollos (as well as others) had followed him in ministry and had watered the seed planted in faith. But it was God who made the seed of faith grow. The principle is the same in individual lives. In some lives we sow seeds, in others we feed, water and nourish the germinating seed. But God is the One who makes the seed grow, like a flourishing "tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither" (Psalm 1:3). For well over 35 years Brooksyne and I've planted the gospel seed in people's lives, starting in our high school years. We've done a lot of planting and watering and seen some reaping, although it never seems as much reaping as we'd like. The reaping part so often comes later. We'll see and hear some of it on this side but so much will be revealed at the final accounting. And by faith we just need to stay obedient to God until that time. The apostle Paul expresses a powerful truth in the daily Scripture. Consider just the phrase, "only God, who makes things grow." That sure puts us in our place but it also relieves us of the personal feelings of inadequacy or failure when one doesn't respond to the gospel message! God asks us to plant but we are unable to force germination or growth. Today I encourage all of you, in whatever form of ministry you are in, to remember that it's God who makes things grow. Be faithful in your part and rest assured that God will always be faithful in His! Keep planting and watering. It may be years before you hear from that germinating seed, but we have both a commission and a promise. Stay faithful. Be encouraged today, Stephen & Brooksyne Daily Prayer: Father, help us to remain faithful in planting Your seed of salvation to those who have not yet bowed their knee, to those who have not yet confessed with their tongue that Jesus Christ is Lord. Whenever we open our mouths, may words be given to us so that we will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel to those who have not yet heard. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. (See Philippians 2:5-11, Eph. 16:19,20) Over ten years ago now we received a very interesting phone call from a young lady. She identified herself and then asked, "Remember me? I used to live with you". I said "What!" Due to her married name I didn't initially recognize the name or the voice. It turned out she was a former foster child who lived with us during the late 70's when she was a first and second grader. She had come from an extremely disadvantaged situation. While living with us Brooksyne prayed the prayer of salvation with her as a child and we shared Bible stories and took her to church. She joyfully reported that she was now married and had children. She is faithfully serving the Lord and attends church in a neighboring community. We talked for a few minutes and what uplifting joy to hear from her. We have since visited with her and her family and in fact she regularly reads these messages. "Not In Vain" A testimony from Brooksyne about a seed she planted 30 years prior to hearing about its germination. Text Audio "A Little Foolishness" After a rather long hiatus I have a new posting to my humor/satire blog; the story of Mildred Swanson, who joyfully discovers her "spiritual gift" is sending forwarded emails! Read more here. (Note: This material is satire!) Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources Press On" Video We really enjoy this song by Selah. "Friends" Video The song we referred to in the message. |
 "We want to encourage you daily in your walk with Christ!" Personal Ministry Update Revised 01/20/09  Each weekday morning Brooksyne and I prepare these messages and distribute them at no cost to you and many others all over the world. Would you please consider a financial offering to support us in this daily encouragement ministry? Donations are tax deductible and will be receipted directly by my chaplaincy endorsing ministry. Thanks! See here for details. (2009 YTD financial offerings through 2/17/09: $1,815.00) SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION  Were you forwarded this edition of Daily Encouragement Net? If you desire you can receive your own free! To receive these "Daily Encouragement" devotionals each Monday-Friday through email see this page to subscribe. This newsletter is never sent unsolicited. It was sent to you because you signed up to receive it OR a friend forwarded it to you. You can also subscribe to the rss feed.Cancel: We respect and value your time and privacy. If these messages no longer meets your needs (providing encouragement) you can remove your address by merely use the link automatically inserted by the mailing list software at the very bottom of each email message. Weekly Version: The weekly version is designed for those who may not check their email regularly. It is merely the Friday message with a link to previous messages. To receive the free weekly version, send a blank email to this address. (To change addresses cancel your old address and then join again using your new address.) Please feel free to pass these messages on! "A Daily Prayer" - A blog simply posting the daily prayer. We keep this up each day since it's merely the prayer from the Daily Encouragement Net message! "Clear Minded" - Longer, periodic articles on specific issues impacting the faithful believer and church. (Actually this is my intent but I haven't done much with it!) "A Little Foolishness" - A humor/satire blog (a great outlet for non-serious writing but at times with a subtle message!) "Hymns of Hope" - Brooksyne along with two friends made a CD using classic hymns. Brooksyne tells the background story of the 11 hymns. We are distributing this CD without charge in our ministry. All of these songs are also available for download on the site. If any reader in this series would like a CD merely write us and request one.  Daily Encouragement Net is an affiliate of Christianbook.com. Any orders placed to Christian Book Distributers using this link or any specific product link to a recommended resource in a daily encouragement message will help our Daily Encouragement ministry through a small commission on the sale. Thank you for using these links when purchasing online through CBD!Personal Mission Statement "I am created by God to bring Him glory. Through God's Son Jesus Christ I have been redeemed and I make it my life's goal to please the Lord. My mission in life is to honor God through my faith and obedience and to prepare myself and all whom I may influence for eternity."  How to become a child of God Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. and the King James Version. © Copyright 2009 Stephen C. Weber - All Rights Reserved Daily Encouragement Net Stephen & Brooksyne Weber 495 Kraybill Church Road - Mount Joy, PA 17552 Contact us |
Daily Encouragement is issued Monday-Friday. To make sure you continue to receive these e-mails in your Inbox (so they're not sent to a junk folder), please add scweber@dailyencouragement.net to your address book or safe sender list. You are receiving these recurring messages as a subscriber to Daily Encouragement Net because you signed up on our website or otherwise requested it unless someone forwarded the message to you. If you desire to unsubscribe use the link below. However, please do not use this link unless your address is the subscribed address below as you will otherwise unsubscribe the person who forwarded it to you!
| You are currently subscribed to dailyencouragement as: stephencweber.dailyencouragement@blogger.com To unsubscribe click here or send a blank email to leave-1303357-29778931.3ca482100b92072753461f79e13fb4f8@pr4.netatlantic.com |  |
