 A daily, Bible-based perspective of hope, encouragement and exhortation. <Previous Messages · Archives ·  Archive/print editionThursday, July 9, 2009  A rural sunrise  Listen to us share this message on your audio player"An Exhortation To Faithfulness" "You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right. You are full of all kinds of deceits and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?" (Acts 13:10). Today's encouragement will be a bit different than most others. There's a tendency to limit the word "encouragement" to the sense of heartwarming or positively inspirational. And it is our desire that the vast majority of these daily messages come across that way. However this ministry is fundamentally based on a simple command of Scripture. "Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness" (Hebrews 3:13). The word translated "encourage" also has the sense of warn, admonish, urge. The KJV translates it "exhort". The purpose of this is that the recipient of encouragement will not "be hardened by sin's deceitfulness." Our hearts are hurting due to sin's deceitfulness in our world and we have purposefully chosen a rather unusual verse to comment on today. Please read it over in its context (Acts 13:1-10). On his first missionary journey Paul and Barnabas were in the city of Paphos on the western tip of the island of Cyprus. Sergius Paulus, the proconsul (governmental official), summoned for Paul and Barnabas because he wanted to hear the Word of God. What a great joy it must have been to have a leading government official with an earnest desire to hear God's messengers expound on the Word of God. "But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith" (Acts 13:8). What a rascal! Just as the seed of truth was being planted in this man's heart Elymas sought to pluck it out. "Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas" (v.9). Timidity did not overtake him but he dealt with the opposing force with Spirit-filled boldness. He forthrightly spoke out to the sorcerer, "You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right. You are full of all kinds of deceits and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?" (Acts 13:10). Today Paul's words may sound so harsh and unkind to many. He didn't undergo sensitivity training that embraces many schools of thought. Instead He was trained by the Holy Spirit with the Scriptures as His text book. He didn't practice the mealy-mouthed sensitivity, non-judgmental, tolerance and diversity toward Elymas and people like him so common in our own day. But he was doing what preachers and all true men and women of God should do when confronting evil. For the sake of Sergius Paulus and the other hearers and for the integrity of the Gospel Paul spoke the truth. He called evil, evil in the boldest way. We are distressed as we see so many being hardened by sin's deceitfulness in our day and the impact of culture can readily be seen in the church. There are so many Elymas-like people bearing these characteristics: 1) Children of the devil. 2) Enemies of everything that is right. 3) Full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. 4) Perverting the right ways of the Lord. Consider these verses: The prophet Isaiah wrote, "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil" (5:20). Micah wrote of those "who hate good and love evil" (3:2) and the people during Malachi's time had wearied the Lord with the convoluted notion that, "Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and He delights in them" (2:17). May God help us to boldly stand firm and contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. We urge, exhort and warn you to be on your guard against the heart-hardening effect of sin's deceitfulness. This is our exhortation to faithfulness. Be encouraged (warned) today, Stephen & Brooksyne Weber Daily prayer: Father, we learn from Paul's experience that when Your hand is against the evil perpetrator, there are consequences. When you temporarily blinded the sorcerer so that he could not see the light of the sun he came to rely not on his own guidance but was at the mercy of those who would lead him by the hand, perhaps even Paul. You used this harsh experience to bring the government official to faith, for he was amazed at the teaching You brought about. The teaching went beyond just theory but was revealed illustratively. Help us not to fear our enemies, but to boldly speak the truth to them and then commit them to You for judgment. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Note: The prayer is based on "the rest of the story" as told in Acts 13:11,12). 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.) "Two Roads" Audio "He Leadeth Me" Video The Martins Audio instrumental Greg Howard 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 7/8/09: $6,020.00)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. or as an email subscription update through feedburner. Subscribe to Daily Encouragement Updates by EmailCancel: 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. (To change addresses cancel your old address and then join again using your new address.) Weekly Version: The weekly version is intended 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. 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  Endorsed chaplain "Living securely today anchored in God's solid foundation" www.dailyencouragement.net |
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 Add scweber@dailyencouragement.net to your email address book to ensure delivery Forward to a Friend | Manage Subscription | Subscribe | Unsubscribe |  |
