A daily, Bible-based message of hope and encouragement.
 A daily, Bible-based message of hope, encouragement and exhortation. Click here to support our ministry.The online Bible teaching ministry of Stephen & Brooksyne Weber. <Previous Message · Archive edition Monday, June 3, 2013  We walked by this beautiful scene on our morning walk before church yesterday. Click on photo for a larger version.  Listen to this message on your audio player. "The Builder Of Everything" "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). "For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything" (Hebrews 3:4). "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 11:2). Yesterday our pastor, John Keefer, preached from Genesis 1:1 strongly asserting the truthfulness of the Creation narrative and pointing out how fundamental this verse is in understanding the entirety of the Bible; "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Construction affords us the opportunity to be reminded of the creation and handiwork of God. I enjoy light construction work and on several occasions throughout my life I have supplemented my income doing construction. Although I don't have specific building skills or training I suppose I am a handyman as a result of my hard-working father, Eugene, who modeled the work ethic for me. He had general common sense building skills and could fix about anything. There are certain sights, sounds and even smells I associate with my dad. For instance his old Craftsmen power tools had a distinctive motor smell I can still sense to this day.  Just up the road from our house our neighbor Jerry is having a new home built. We have watched the Amish construction crew diligently building the house, a visible observation of the simple, undeniable truth expressed in our second daily text, "every house is built by someone."However depending on when I drive by I may or may not see the builders at work. If I passed by only in the late evening I suppose I would see the evidence of the construction progress while never seeing the builders. However you would think me a certifiable nut if I thus asserted the house up the street is just appearing out of nowhere with no builders! Allow us to use another illustration with all due respect to so many recently devastated by tornadoes, especially in Oklahoma where Brooksyne is from. If I were to observe the house and conjecture that it was merely the result of a tornado which came through, I would rightly be scoffed at. We all recognize someone built the house. Every house, even the most simple design, doesn't just happen; it was built by someone.  Many of you have seen one of those sand art bottles filled with various colors of sand carefully arranged in a pattern to show a design, such as a desert scene or sunset. We'd think it ludicrous if someone told us the design was merely a result of randomly shaking the jar. No, we sensibly recognize that such a design takes intelligence and skill. A few shakes would destroy the design and no amount of further random shaking will ever restore it to its original design. Yet many people place their faith in a scheme that is far more nonsensical. That is; the material universe is merely a result of random chance and time. Billions of years ago it just simply appeared out of nowhere, asserts the non-believer. In this outlook the origin of what we see and experience is not the work of the Creator God. Now that takes real faith of a different kind! But let's use the sand jar illustration again. Just suppose that indeed some primitive likeness of something did show up as a result of random shaking. A few shakes would destroy it and no amount of further random shaking will ever restore that primitive image. I accept the matter of fact statement that concludes the verse, "God is the builder of everything." Many in the world mock at such a belief. "It's too simple"; or "it's not scientific", or "it's old-fashioned" they say. That's OK. I'll just remember that every house is built by someone and all the sand art bottles have an original designer. I choose to unashamedly place my faith in the God of the universe for He is indeed the builder of everything! Be encouraged today, Stephen & Brooksyne Weber  Daily prayer: Father, You are great and greatly to be praised. You are the Builder of everything we see and so much that we've not yet laid eyes upon, both on the earth and the heavens above. We are looking forward to the future city with eternal foundations where You are the architect and builder. Our everlasting home in heaven is not built with human hands, but by Your divine design. Keep us faithful till that glorious promotion day! Amen. Driving into our church parking lot Sunday morning this 1932 Chevrolet quickly caught our attention.  Raymond and Miriam Herr own the car and decided to come to church in style! (Interestingly, their daughter Kay is seen through the window.) Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources "All Creatures of Our God and King" Video Fernando Ortega (Excellent placement of contextual photos in this edition!) "Creation Hymn" Video Grove City College Touring Choir "God of Wonders" Video Chris Tomlin "Indescribable" Video Laura Story |
 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)  Are 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. Click here to donate online. 2013 YTD financial offerings to Daily Encouragement Net as of 6/2/13: $9,113.00 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 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. Daily Encouragement on Facebook and Twitter:  The daily message and prayer on Facebook. The daily message and prayer on Twitter.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."  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  Endorsed chaplain "Living securely today anchored in God's solid foundation" www.dailyencouragement.net |
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