Thursday, February 28, 2013

Daily Encouragement (02/28/13) "Suppressing The Truth"

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Thursday, February 28, 2013

Flower painting (photo by Doris High)
I was moseying over on Doris High's photo blog and saw this creative art project. It appears to be a yellow flower but the true surface may surprise you. Answer below.

ListenListen to this message on your audio player.

Note: This message is related to one we shared last week titled "The Demonizing Of Virtue" (Calling Good Evil).  We pray that we will "stimulate you to wholesome thinking" (2 Peter 3:1).

"Suppressing The Truth"

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse" (Romans 1:18-20).

Cough suppressantI periodically get a cough which I have a hard time restraining. This can be awkward in social situations and annoying to my family. I have found a medical product helpful during times like this and actually keep a supply on hand. It's a medicine that suppresses my urge to cough, otherwise known as a cough suppressant. Better sleep for me and Brooksyne!

There are a number of suppressant products available on the market such as appetite suppressants, sleep suppressants and fire suppressants. All have the characteristic of suppressing (restraining, blocking or repressing).

But today we write about an all too common suppressant permeating our world that believers must fully resist. We're speaking of the truth suppressant!

The first chapter of Romans is one of the grand passages of the Bible, which many have called Paul's Magnus Opus. 
Magnus Opus comes from the Latin meaning "great work", and refers to the largest, and perhaps the best, greatest, most popular, or most renowned achievement of a writer, artist, composer or craftsman. Great writers have spent volumes delving into the rich truths of the Book of Romans, most notably D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones who wrote a 14 volume commentary titled "Exposition of Romans".

Today's passage is hard to preach and equally challenging to summarize in a few paragraphs! So let's just consider a powerful phrase that has been a human condition from the time of the Fall but  seems to be increasing rapidly in our age: "Men who suppress the truth by their wickedness."

"Suppress" translates a Greek word "κατεχοντων" which literally means "to hold down or to quash". It is in the present tense which indicates that ungodly men and women are continually, actively, willfully (active voice), deliberately restraining, hindering and withholding the truth about God. Note also the active voice which indicates this is a volitional choice, a choice of their will! The word conveys the picture of putting all one's weight upon something in an effort to restrict it's free movement, in this case to restrict the free movement of truth which sets men free.


"The truth" Kenneth Wuest observes in this passage, "The truth here is not the gospel, for all men do not possess a knowledge of it. The truth here is found in the context, the fact of a supreme Being with divine attributes to whom worship and obedience are due." Paul asserts that those things involving God's existence, power and nature are clearly visible, but humankind ignores or suppresses the truth through the addition of beliefs, customs and traditions. Though truth remains, it is hidden behind a screen of falsehoods that few attempt to uncover.

This truth being seen by all men through their observation of the created universe, which demands a Creator to answer for its existence. The human race, while possessing this truth, holds it down (suppresses) in the sense of refusing to acknowledge its moral implications, and goes on in sin.

"In unrighteousness" The Precept Austin online commentary makes this observation, "For Paul, fear of eternal condemnation was the first motivation he offered for coming to Christ, the first pressure he applied to evil men. He was determined that they understand the reality of being under God's wrath before he offered them the way of escape from it. That approach makes both logical and theological sense. A person cannot appreciate the wonder of God's grace until he knows about the perfect demands of God's law, and he cannot appreciate the fullness of God's love for him until he knows something about the fierceness of God's anger against his sinful failure to perfectly obey that law. He cannot appreciate God's forgiveness until he knows about the eternal consequences of the sins that require a penalty and need forgiving."

Indeed many "suppress the truth in unrighteousness" but we want to be among those who faithfully and boldly proclaim the truth in righteousness.


Be encouraged today,


Stephen & Brooksyne Weber

Praying manDaily prayer: Father, You have made Your truth known to both the and unrighteous. Your Personhood is evident to all living creatures, though many turn away, ignore, or devise a false theology veiling or hiding the truth. They resist the truth of who You are by their sinful lifestyle and their destiny is doomed. Your invisible attributes, eternal power and divine nature has been visible since the time of creation, and we are grateful for Your revelation to all who seek the truth. Amen.



Later in this chapter we read,
"They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen" (Romans 1:25). Among so many aspects of God's truth being suppressed consider the tireless efforts of secularists to suppress any notion at all of their being a Creator.

A Deluding Influence A powerful portion that is interesting to study in regard to today's message is 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12. Especially these verses, "For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness."

I wonder if we are living in the age when this deluding influence is being sent out in a distinct way?



Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources

"I Know Whom I Have Believed"  Video  A great hymn based on 2 Timothy 1:12.

I meant to share this note with yesterday's message on a passion to communicate:

Many preachers have read a classic, "Preaching and Preachers" by D.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones.

In July, 1959 Martyn Lloyd-Jones and his wife Bethan were on vacation in Wales. They attended a little chapel for a Sunday morning prayer meeting and Lloyd-Jones asked them, "Would you like me to give a word this morning?"

The people hesitated because it was his vacation and they didn't want to presume on his energy. But his wife said, "Let him, preaching is his life". It was a true statement. In the preface of, Preaching and Preachers, he said, "Preaching has been my life's work ... to me the work of preaching is the highest and the greatest and the most glorious calling to which anyone can ever be called."

See this post from Doris High's blog for an explanation of the mystery photo above.

Send a message to Stephen & Brooksyne.
Stephen and Brooksyne Weber 11/18/12




Stephen and Brooksyne Weber

(Click on photo to enlarge)
"We want to encourage you daily in your walk with Christ!"

Personal Ministry Update  (Revised 12/31/12)





Make A DonationAre our daily encouragement messages a blessing to you? Each weekday morning Brooksyne and I prepare these messages and distribute them at no cost to you and many others all over the world. We ask you to consider an offering to Daily Encouragement Net so that we can continue to prepare and provide this daily resource which is accessed by believers and seekers all over the world. Daily Encouragement Net relies solely on the generosity and financial support of its readers and podcast listeners. See here for more information on supporting this ministry. Gifts are tax deductible.

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2013 YTD financial offerings to Daily Encouragement Net as of 2/27/13: $3,548.00. 
We express thanks to all who support our ministry!



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Please feel free to pass these messages on!

Our other blogs:
"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!) (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. All of these songs are also available for download on the site.

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."

Four Spiritual Laws

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.
Other versions are also occasionally used.

© Copyright 2013 Stephen C. Weber - All Rights Reserved

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495 Kraybill Church Road - Mount Joy, PA 17552
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Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Daily Encouragement (02/27/13) "A Passion To Communicate"

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A daily, Bible-based message of hope, encouragement and exhortation.
The online Bible teaching ministry of Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
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Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Winter scene in Lancaster County (photo by Nick Nichols)
Much of the Midwest and New England have been plastered with severe winter weather this season. However thus far here in Lancaster County we have had a mild winter with very little snow. I appreciated finding this photo in our friend Nick Nichols collection. We enjoy a scene like this when going about our travels throughout the County.

ListenListen to this message on your audio player.

"A Passion To Communicate"

"Then Agrippa said to Paul, 'Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?'" Paul replied, "Short time or long—I pray God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains" (Acts 26:28,29). "Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord" (Romans 12:11).

Howard HendricksYesterday we shared a story about Howard Hendricks, a long-time, well-known teacher of teachers, who passed away last week. What I remembered most was not his teaching on methodology, which he is famous for, but his real life stories of ordinary people whom he met in the course of life who made an impact on his life. Today we will share the second story that powerfully illustrates our topic of having a passion to communicate. It's a second illustration of how ordinary people make a difference. These are his words:

Years ago I took part in a Sunday school convention at Moody Memorial Church in Chicago. During a lunch break, three of us who were teaching at the convention walked across the street to a little hamburger shop. The place was filled, but soon a table for four opened up.

We saw an elderly lady whom we knew was attending the convention because of the bag she was carrying, and we asked her to join us. We learned she was eighty-three and from a town in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. In a church with a Sunday school of only sixty-five people, she taught a class of thirteen junior-high boys. She had traveled by Greyhound bus all the way to Chicago the night before the convention.

"Why?" we asked. In her words, "To learn something that would make me a better teacher."

I thought at the time, most people who had a class of thirteen junior-high boys in a Sunday school of only sixty-five would be breaking their arms to pat themselves on the back: "Who, me? Go to a Sunday school convention? I could teach it myself!"

But not this woman. Eighty-four boys who sat under her teaching are now young men in full-time vocational ministry. Twenty-two are graduates of the seminary where I teach.

If you were to ask me the secret to this woman's impact, I'd give you a totally different answer today from what I would have said thirty years ago. Back then I'd have credited her methodology.

Now I believe it was because of her passion to communicate. My heart's concern for you is that God will give you a passion like this and never let it die. And I hope you never get over the thrill that someone will actually listen to you and learn from you.

Hendricks really gets to the heart of effective ministry when he attributes the teacher's success to her, "passion to communicate".


By passion in this context we mean zeal and spiritual fervor, sharing with a deep conviction from the heart.

Paul before AgrippaThe first daily Scripture portion is an account of Paul's passion to communicate during a personal witnessing opportunity with King Agrippa. Paul had faithfully shared his testimony and sought to challenge Agrippa to believe and become a Christian. His message would also have been heard by Bernice, Agrippa's wife, the high ranking officers and the leading men of the city who were also present. Agrippa's response reminds us of many who respond to the Gospel, "Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?"

Agrippa properly recognized that Paul was seeking to persuade him to be a Christian. That's significant. It wasn't a sneaky, back door approach that Paul used. Agrippa knew just what Paul was doing.

That is our mission as we seek to impact others for Christ and His Kingdom. His Kingdom is never to be advanced by physical force or tricky means, but rather by persuasion, as we demonstrate His love and care to a fallen world and present, as Paul did, the Gospel message. Paul's missionary heart and passion to communicate is so evident in the verse that follows: "Short time or long--I pray God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains."

Agrippa is never again mentioned in Scripture following this account. But what type of seed did Paul plant? How did this seed impact Agrippa in the days, months and years that followed? Who else had an opportunity to persuade him? Did he eventually become a Christian? What about others who were listening to Paul that day? 

Did Paul leave the palace hall discouraged at the king's response? Robert Louis Stevenson recommends that we "don't judge each day by the harvest we reap but by the seeds we plant." We'll have to wait till heaven to know how many seeds germinated that day or maybe even years later.  And that's really the way it is with so much of our attempted impact for Christ.


So let us persevere by faith with a passion in our hearts to persuade people to follow our Lord!


Be encouraged today,


Stephen & Brooksyne Weber

Praying manDaily prayer:  Father, help us as we share our testimony and Your message with the world around us. We find so many who are like Agrippa; uninterested, unpersuaded, and often times hardened. Help us to persevere and not give up or grow discouraged. We pray that you would soften the hearts of those we seek to reach for the Gospel. Just like You did for Lydia, the seller of purple, who responded to Paul's message along with all her household, we pray for open hearts to receive our message of hope and salvation.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.



This brings to mind people in my life whose passion to communicate God's truth greatly impacted me.

Photo of Charles HarrisOne of my favorite professors in Bible College was Dr. Charles Harris who stressed the need for sound Biblical exposition along with preaching with zeal and passion. He was a real contender for the faith and remains so to this day. I came across the syllabus for a course he is teaching this summer and read this note from him, "Be assured that I have already been praying for you that your studies will be a meaningful experience for you."

Nearly 40 years later I still recall one of his sermons from 1 Corinthians 2:1-5. This passage sums up Paul's approach when he established the church in Corinth and his passion for ministry.



Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources

"One Pure And Holy Passion"  Video  Candi Pearson
Give Me One Pure And Holy Passion
And Give Me One Magnificent Obsession
Give Me One Glorious Ambition For My Life
To Know And Follow Hard After You


"Almost Persuaded"
 Video  Josh Turner  This
is a hymn written in 1871 by Philip P. Bliss which was inspired by a sermon he heard. During the sermon the evangelist quoted Acts 26:28 and declared, "He who is almost persuaded is almost saved, and to be almost saved is to be entirely lost!"

"Freely, Freely"  Video  Maranatha Singers with a country flair

This video is someone reading a letter
written by Pastor Saeed Abedini from inside Iran's Evin Prison. Let us pray for this man and many, many like him who are being persecuted for righteousness' sake.

I just read an article by Al Mohler dealing with The Christian Leader in the Digital Age and I consider the ability of Pastor Saeed to get his message out in such a moving way.

Send a message to Stephen & Brooksyne.
Stephen and Brooksyne Weber 11/18/12




Stephen and Brooksyne Weber

(Click on photo to enlarge)
"We want to encourage you daily in your walk with Christ!"

Personal Ministry Update  (Revised 12/31/12)





Make A DonationAre our daily encouragement messages a blessing to you? Each weekday morning Brooksyne and I prepare these messages and distribute them at no cost to you and many others all over the world. We ask you to consider an offering to Daily Encouragement Net so that we can continue to prepare and provide this daily resource which is accessed by believers and seekers all over the world. Daily Encouragement Net relies solely on the generosity and financial support of its readers and podcast listeners. See here for more information on supporting this ministry. Gifts are tax deductible.

Donate onlineClick here to donate online.

2013 YTD financial offerings to Daily Encouragement Net as of 2/26/13: $3,267.00. 
We express thanks to all who support our ministry!



SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION

Free email subscriptionWere 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 to our email list. These messages are never sent by us unsolicited. It was sent to you because you either signed up to receive it OR it was forwarded it to you. You can also subscribe to the Wordpress rss feed or as an email subscription through Wordpress email subscription. (See the email subscription on the right side after opening this page.)

Cancel: We respect and value your time and privacy. If you no longer desire to receive these messages you can remove your address from the list by merely using 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 or who may desire less frequent mailings. It is Friday's message with a link to previous messages. To receive the free weekly version, send a blank email to this address.


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Reader Survey:  Please take a few minutes to assist us in improving our ministry effectiveness by filling out this online reader survey. To take the survey click here.

Please feel free to pass these messages on!

Our other blogs:
"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!) (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. All of these songs are also available for download on the site.

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."

Four Spiritual Laws

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.
Other versions are also occasionally used.

© Copyright 2013 Stephen C. Weber - All Rights Reserved

Daily Encouragement Net
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
495 Kraybill Church Road - Mount Joy, PA 17552
Contact us

Chaplaincy logo
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!

 

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Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Daily Encouragement (02/26/13) "The Result Of Our Ministry"

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A daily, Bible-based message of hope, encouragement and exhortation.
The online Bible teaching ministry of Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
.
Home · About Us · Archives · Podcast · Free email · Daily Encouragement on Facebook  ·  Daily Encouragement on Twitter   ·  RSS feed
 Click here to support our ministry.

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Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Chinese worship service
Several days ago we received an email from a reader in China. He shared of the work of the Holy Spirit in a particular city where many are turning to Christ and sent me a series of photos. What a joy to see our Chinese brothers and sisters worshiping the Lord! I just heard an up to date report on Christian radio yesterday about the spread of the Gospel in China. Although his particular city has not faced persecution we felt sharing facial photos on this site might jeopardize them but this photo is a reminder that all over the world, the Spirit is moving! (Photo posted with our reader's permission.)

ListenListen to this message on your audio player.

"The Result Of Our Ministry"

"You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts" (2 Corinthians 3:2,3).

Our lives are a compilation of the scores of people who have impacted us, both good and bad. I am so thankful for the many who have had a positive impact on my life. Some are famous and have names recognizable to many. But most are the everyday folks I have associated with in church and elsewhere along the path of life.

Howard HendricksLast week a reader informed me that Howard Hendricks had passed away. For sixty years he taught at Dallas Theological Seminary and is best known for teaching preachers and teachers about teaching. I don't recall ever hearing him live but years ago we provided training for our Sunday School teachers using his video series.

I suppose what I remember most was not his teaching on methodology, which he is famous for, but his real life stories of ordinary people whom he met in the course of life who made an impact on him and others. Let me share one story in his own words that is essentially his testimony:

With the kind of start I had in life, I'm sure I could have soon died and gone to hell and nobody would have particularly cared. I was born into a broken home, my parents having separated before I was born. The only time I ever saw them together was eighteen years later when I was called to testify in a divorce court. As a boy I lived in a neighborhood in north Philadelphia in which they said an evangelical church could never be planted.

But God has a fantastic sense of humor whenever anyone decides what can't be done. He led a small group of Christians to band together, buy a little house there, and start a church. One man in the church was named Walt. He had only a sixth-grade education.

One day Walt told the Sunday school Superintendent he wanted to start a Sunday School class. "That's great, Walt," he was told, "but we don't have an opening for you." Walt insisted, however, so the superintendent said, "Good. Go out and get a class. Anybody you find is yours."

Then Walt came into my community. The first time we met I was playing marbles out on the concrete. "Son," he said, "how would you like to go to Sunday school?" I wasn't interested. Anything with school in it had to be bad news.

So he said, "How about a game of marbles?" That was different. So we shot marbles and had a great time, though he whipped me in every single game. (Now you know: I lost my marbles early in life.) By then I would have followed him anywhere. Walt picked up a total of thirteen boys in that community for his Sunday school class, of whom nine were from broken homes. Eleven of the thirteen are now in full-time vocational Christian work.

Actually, I can't tell you much of what Walt said to us, I can tell you everything about him…because he loved me for Christ's sake. He loved me more than my parents did. He used to take us hiking, and I'll never forget those times. I'm sure we made his bad heart worse, but he'd run all over those woods with us because he cared.

He was not the most scintillating person in the world, but he was for real. I knew it, and so did everyone else in that class. So you see, my interest in teaching is much more than professional. It's also intensely personal—and, in fact, a passion—because the only reason I have a ministry today is that God brought along my path a committed teacher.

When I read this story it stirs emotions within me that leads me down memory lane to the people who cared enough to reach out to me. Can you think of some people like Walt in your life? Or are you reaching out, like Walt, to those who might be awarded the "Most unlikely to succeed", the throw-aways of society?

Paul had established the church in Corinth and spent 18 months as Pastor, "teaching them the word of God" (Acts 18:11), before moving on and leaving the church under the care of others. We have more material written by Paul to the Corinthian believers than to any other single church. But there's a single phrase in the text I would like to highlight today. It will bring great encouragement for any who face the inevitable discouragement of ministry for Christ. Paul, who wrote the letter along with Timothy, speaks of these dear Corinthian believers as "the result of our ministry."

What is the result of your ministry? There's no record that Paul ever headed up any type of building project or that he preached to large multitudes of people. He didn't have a best-selling book published (during his own lifetime) or otherwise have any experiences normally associated with "success" in the modern sense. Most of his recorded ministry is to small groups or one on one. Yet at the end of his life Paul had a host of people all throughout Palestine, Asia Minor and southern Europe whose lives he had impacted for Christ. These were the results of his ministry. 

Today you may have a tendency to look at a specific situation in your life which can lead to discouragement. Someone's rejected you, someone else is criticizing you; another, like Demas, has gone back into the world's ways. But I hope you have the perspective, like the apostle Paul, to rejoice at the results in your ministry of those who are continuing steadfast in faithful, fruitful service for Christ!



Be encouraged today,


Stephen & Brooksyne Weber

Praying manDaily prayer: Father, we are so thankful for the brothers and sisters we've met on life's highway who've poured into us their time, zeal, wisdom, and love. And when we were unresponsive to their loving attention, they didn't walk away but continued to pray and invest in our lives. We are so much better for it and are further motivated to reach out to the unlovely and those deemed for failure by the world. Help us to see people through Your eyes, Father, and recognize their inestimable worth. In the precious name of Jesus we pray. Amen.



Tomorrow we will share another story Howard Hendricks told that illustrates the wonderful dedication of ordinary people serving Christ.



Note from Brooksyne: I can certainly appreciate the impact of the Sunday School teacher who made an impact on Howard Hendricks. Though I attended Bible College to further train for vocational ministry, I know that the enthusiastic and diligent teaching of my Sunday School teachers in my Elementary and High School years was the beginning of the calling God placed upon my life.

I'm so grateful for my Sunday School teachers' faithful ministry as they lovingly taught the truths of God's Word. What a genuine and indescribable feeling comes from knowing that we have a part in another's spiritual birth and growth. We all can make an eternal difference for the kingdom of God!

Here's a more lengthy perspective we wrote many years ago on ministry results along with a testimony by Brooksyne. Not In Vain




Pepper Jam!


For our canning friends, today we share a series of photos of Brooksyne's recent canning project making Pepper Jelly using her new Victorio Steam Canner!


Peppers for pepper jam
I've made Pepper Jelly in the past from scratch. Slicing 4 pounds of jalapenos, about 80 small peppers, is nasty work! The house is consumed with hot pepper vapors which burns the eyes and irritates the throat, in addition to the runny nose, and you can't tend to the problem because you've had your hands in the peppers. So....this time I took the easy way out and used Mrs. Wages Pepper Jam kit. All the jalapenos and heavy duty spices are dehydrated in the kit. All I had to cut up were colorful bell peppers. What an easy difference it made!

Straining mix for pepper jam
After processing the peppers about 5 cups of juice is collected from the cheesecloth. (I froze the pulp for another use)

Boiling mix for pepper jam
The pepper juice, pectin, and other seasonings are brought to a boil.

Steam canner bottom for pepper jam
This is the water bath method using the steam canner (only 2 quarts of water in the bottom of the canner).

Steam canner bottom for pepper jam
Pepper Jelly jars nestled on the canner rack ready to be steamed for ten minutes.

Steam canner for pepper jam
The lid properly fitted so that temp properly rises for steaming. The handle at the top has a handy built in thermometer.

Pepper jam jars
The colorful results of Pepper Jelly sealed up in jars.

Pepper jam biscuit!
Tasty and sweet (but also spicy) results of home canned Pepper Jelly which happens to be one of Stephen's favorite spreads that I make.
(I really like the Victorio Steam Canner since it is much easier to handle than the Water Bath Canner that requires a couple gallons of water for processing. The down side is that the rack is made to hold pints and quarts. The 8 oz. jelly jars are a bit more challenging to steady on the steam canner rack.)

Jalapeno Quiche

(A delicious recipe using pepper jam. It is very easy to prepare and is a crowd pleaser
even for those who don't usually like spicy foods. I never have leftovers.)

1 ½ C. Hot Pepper Jam
2# shredded sharp cheddar cheese
10-12 eggs, beaten
Chili powder, salt & pepper

In 9X13 dish spread jelly over bottom (heat in microwave if jelly does not spread easily.)
Sprinkle shredded cheese evenly over top of jelly.
Beat eggs, season with chili powder, salt and pepper (to taste). Extra jelly can also be stirred into eggs.
Pour evenly on top of cheese. Bake at 350 degrees 30 to 40 minutes until browned on top. Let it sit for five or more minutes for easy cutting. Freezes very nicely and reheats in microwave.


Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources

"Jesus Use Me"  Video  Rebel's Quartet (never heard of this group before!) This is really an old recording! We sang this song in Bible College around the altar but we haven't heard it much since. The chorus goes:
Jesus use me
and O Lord don't refuse me
Surely there's a work for me to do
And even though it's humble
Lord help my will to crumble
Though the cost be great
I'll work for you

"Use Me, Jesus Use Me"  Video  A children's choir! Adorable!

"Use Me"  Video  Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir

"The Seven Laws Of The Teacher"  Video  Howard Hendricks

"The Ultimate Final (Part one)"  Video  One of Howard Hendrick's final messages  Part two  Part three

Biography of Howard Hendricks



I enjoy an aspect of our type of chaplaincy in seeing products of all types being made. Last week two men showed me a tiny machine part they were making and the intricate detail which required a magnifying eye piece just to work on. My brother Pat sent me this astounding video regarding developments in replicating technology. What's especially amazing is the moving parts!


Send a message to Stephen & Brooksyne.
Stephen and Brooksyne Weber 11/18/12




Stephen and Brooksyne Weber

(Click on photo to enlarge)
"We want to encourage you daily in your walk with Christ!"

Personal Ministry Update  (Revised 12/31/12)





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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."

Four Spiritual Laws

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.
Other versions are also occasionally used.

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