 A daily, Bible-based perspective of hope, encouragement and exhortation. <Previous Message · Archives ·  Archive/print editionWednesday, May 13, 2009  An early morning view from our home  Listen to us share this message on your audio player."Boldness" "Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus' body" (Mark 15:43). The other night I was driving through Mount Joy, the small town we live in, when I saw a group of young people dressed in black, perhaps part of the Goth culture. A young girl was wearing a shirt with these words prominently displayed on it, "EYE HATE GOD". I suppose the spelling was supposed to be cute but if you read it aloud you will hear her blasphemous message - nothing cute about that! An amazing thing has happened in my lifetime. Today in many places it is increasingly politically correct and acceptable to mock God as well as traditional and Biblical standards of morality. At the same time one standing up for God and Biblical standards of morality may very well be seen as intolerant, bigoted, hateful, and ignorant! We need those who will stand up boldly for Christ regardless of what the world will say, think or do to us. Joseph of Arimathea provided a good example for us. This Joseph was a member of the ruling Jewish Sanhedrin who had an interesting part during the time of Christ's crucifixion and burial. Along with Nicodemus he approached Pilate concerning the body of Jesus. We primarily know of Nicodemus due to his famous discussion with the Lord at night recorded in John 3. But prior to this, Joseph of Arimathea is never mentioned nor is his name referred to again in Scripture. This is an instance where we glean complimentary information from each of the four gospels in seeing a composite picture of a situation. Regarding Joseph, Matthew tells us he had become a disciple, but John adds the significant detail that he was a "secret disciple for fear of the Jews". Luke tells us he had not consented to the action of the Council in regard to the decision to have Christ sent to Pilate. But Mark provides the detail I want to ponder for a moment in today's encouragement. He was a "prominent member of the Council." His prominence likely made his decision to be a disciple all the more difficult and contributed to his "fear of the Jews." Prominence in any worldly institution can do this. Business leaders, politicians, entertainers, socialites and so forth all experience an additional "cost" in following Christ, the likely loss of prominence among their secular peers when they follow the Lord. Of course as mentioned above this is increasingly the case. But Joseph "was himself waiting for the kingdom of God." A foundational outlook for the believer is expressed in our Lord's model prayer for His disciples, "Thy Kingdom come". Real disciples are always looking for that Kingdom that is to come and yet remains unseen. But it's the final detail that grips my heart today as I again seek to take a steadfast stand for my Lord. Joseph "went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus' body." I consider the wonderful work of the Holy Spirit in this transformation. This was, of course before Christ was resurrected. This secret, fearful disciple saw something during Christ's final days on earth and perhaps during His death that transformed his fear into boldness. Today I encourage each reader to express their faith in the resurrected, ascended and coming Christ with boldness as you patiently await His coming Kingdom! Be encouraged today, Stephen & Brooksyne Weber Daily Prayer: Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your Kingdom come, Your will be done in earth as it is in heaven. You have shown us Your will through the Scriptures as revealed to our hearts through the Holy Spirit. You have called us to be bold, to be strong, and to be of good courage as we face daily obstacles and spiritual conflicts. May the truth of Scripture be our guide and may the Holy Spirit empower us to be a faithful and bold witness for the gospel, we pray. Amen.  We have had several beautiful days after a rather rainy early part of May. Matt is a friend of Ester's who really enjoys helping Brooksyne weed as she prepares her vegetable and flower gardens for spring planting. It is amazing how many wheelbarrow loads of vegetative growth we have removed!  Roxie was also enjoying the lovely evening, freely running about in our front lawn.Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources Click on the link to open and play. In some cases you may also need to click again to start the song. "Take My Life And Let It Be" Audio "To The King" Audio "Taking A Stand For Christ" Online message about Joseph of Arimathea by Pastor Steven Cole (pdf) This Pastor has a faithful ministry of placing his messages up on the web and does a great job as a careful expositor of God's Word. Send a message to Stephen & Brooksyne. |
 "We want to encourage you daily in your walk with Christ!" Personal Ministry Update Revised 05/08/09  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 5/12/09: $3,495.00)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 either 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 meet 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! "A Little Foolishness" - Humor/satire blog (a great outlet for non-serious writing but at times with a subtle message!) Last updated with the story of Mildred Swanson, who joyfully discovers her "spiritual gift" is sending forwarded emails! (Note: This material is satire!) "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!) "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 |
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