 A daily, Bible-based perspective of hope, encouragement and exhortation. <Previous Message · Archives ·  Archive/print editionFriday, May 15, 2009  Horse and Colt (Photo by Brenda Harry)  Listen to us share this message on your audio player."Formed At God's Command" "By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible" (Hebrews 11:3). What was your wakeup call this morning? I remember when we lived in Northern Pennsylvania the Christian radio station played an upbeat child-like song, "It's Time to Get Up, It's Time to Get Up, It's Time to Get Up in the Morning." It got a little old, but it did the job. Well, what would be an appropriate tune to awaken you if your surroundings were not just planet earth, but Outer Space? How about "God of wonders beyond our galaxy, You are holy, holy. The universe declares Your majesty, You are holy, holy. Lord of heaven and earth." That was the wake up tune for the astronauts aboard the space shuttle this morning! Here on planet earth, specifically in the southern region of Pennsylvania we've been getting wonderful rains in our area and it rained again last night making it extremely green outside. Today it is supposed to clear off and I expect I will have some heavy duty mowing later this afternoon. What a joy to look outside and see all the little creatures going about their business including a squirrel cleaning up after the birds this morning. I express praise to the God of creation! "By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible" (Hebrews 11:3).  So many have either rejected or never learned the Biblical teaching concerning our origins nor about God who created all things. Last night I heard Ken Ham, founder of Answers in Genesis, speak at a banquet here in Lancaster County. He made this powerful point concerning Biblical history, specifically the often maligned early chapters of Genesis. If the history of the Bible is not true (as many contend) then what assurance do we have that the Gospel of Christ, based on that history is itself true. That is a powerful question! He asserts that too many in the church have succumbed to compromise in this regard and points out that compromise unrefuted in one generation brings even greater compromise in each succeeding generation. That is easily observable!I have a firm, unwavering belief in the Genesis creation account in spite of the relentless assault of modernism. I am aware that many mock my view and would call me a simpleton. (A typical template of the secular mindset is to characterize those holding a Biblical viewpoint as being uninformed, simple-minded, uneducated and hateful.) But I believe the Genesis account forms an inviolable foundation for God's redemption plan. I am also aware that there are those who make a profession of faith in Christ, yet concede to the shifting whims of the world on this issue, asserting the creation account is really not that important to their faith. Many Christians may not be aware of the excellent resources available defending the Biblical record.* Sadly, still others seem more interested in being admired and esteemed by the world than contending for Biblical truth. Most of us want to avoid a confrontational conversation and find ourselves remaining quiet even when we don't agree with one's position. Today, I encourage you, wherever you live, to observe the beautiful creation of God. "By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible" (Hebrews 11:3). Take some extra time to observe the often overlooked blessings of God's creation today and give praise to our God who blesses and rules the universe. Be encouraged today, Stephen & Brooksyne Weber Daily Prayer: The skies and the earth belong to You, Lord, and have sustained humankind since the time of creation. When You made the world You set everything in its proper place and in its proper timing. Lord, You have made many things; with Your wisdom You made them all. What is man that You are even mindful of Him yet You've made us the apple of Your eye. With our whole being we praise You, Almighty God.  Last night's banquet was held at the Shady Maple and all banquet room space was needed to host the large crowd. We had seats directly in front of the speaker. My brother Pat drove down from the Lehigh Valley to join me. 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. "All Creatures Of Our God And King" Video "God Of Wonders" Video Beautiful photos! Here's the audio from the NASA playlist. Commander Domionic Gorie: "Good morning Al and that timing was perfect. Right before the music came on the sun hit the space station. It was just beautiful. A very, very appropriate song. Thank you for waking us up with that. The glory is apparent this morning." "Even The Wind Bows Down" Audio "Higher Than Your Ways" Isaiah 55:8,9 Audio from the Integrity Scripture memory series. Here are links to two ministries that provide abundant resources in defending the Genesis account of creation: "Answers in Genesis" "Institute for Creation Research" Here's an interesting blog post concerning observations by a fellow minister who was at the grand opening of the Creation Museum. "Survival Of The Fakest" A thoughtful scientific article. Today's photo of the horse and colt was taken by Brenda Harry, a friend of ours from one of the companies we serve as chaplains. Like many, Brenda enjoys casual photography and living near Paradise she has lots of photo opportunities. (Paradise is a small town here in Lancaster County!) 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 5/14/09: $3,525.00)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 |
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-1438833-29778931.3ca482100b92072753461f79e13fb4f8@pr4.netatlantic.com |  |
