Daily Encouragement Net
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 Friday, August 30, 2013  Amish children sitting on fence rail on a warm, sunny afternoon. Photo by Ester Weber (Click on photo to enlarge) "My Mission In Life"  Listen to this message on your audio player."So we make it our goal to please Him" (2 Corinthians 5:9).  Early yesterday morning we visited some Amish friends and then drove their children to school and saw a pleasant sight. As we drove up to the one room schoolhouse a group of children, boys and girls, were playing baseball. That brought back memories for both of us from an increasingly long time ago. I remember playing baseball out behind our elementary school during recess or after school. Brooksyne remembers playing softball (a bigger ball and the pitcher threw underhanded rather than the overhanded baseball.) Generally speaking, my competitive athletic days are over but I can still have the competitive spirit in certain settings. Last weekend I participated in a quoit tournament. I explained earlier this week that quoits are similar to horseshoes but are round hard rubber disks. The goal is to either get the quoit around the peg (three points) or stay on the slate board (closest gets one point). It's harder than it looks since a ringer is very hard to achieve and the rubber quoits easily bounce off the slate boards.We set a lot of goals whether or not we verbalize them. The term "goal" is used a lot in sports but we also speak of financial goals, career goals, and so forth. Today we want to consider the ultimate goal we are to have as Christians.  Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias on his broadcast "A Slice of Infinity" has challenged believers to follow the model of many corporations and local churches and develop a personal mission statement. I formulated my own, but the difficulty for me in this matter was staying succinct. There are so many Scripture verses I wanted to incorporate into the statement that I tend to lose the brevity and focus that characterizes a mission statement. Here's the one I have used for many years: "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 prepare myself and all whom I may influence for eternity." The daily verse is a goal that the Apostle Paul had for both himself and his readers which was initially the Corinthians; notice the first person plural pronoun "we". I believe as part of the Holy Scriptures this includes us. It is one of the first verses of Scripture I memorized as a young man. "So we make it our goal to please Him." That's a great single phrase mission statement! Other versions translate the phrase, "Therefore we also have as our ambition to be pleasing to Him" (NASV). "We make it our aim to please Him" (ESV). The word translated "goal" means "to devote one's self zealously to a cause". It suggests eager, continuing efforts for something that is good. I believe the Amplified Bible expresses this sense well: "We are constantly ambitious and strive earnestly to be pleasing to Him." A lifelong pursuit in life for the redeemed is finding out what pleases the Lord. By God's grace it remains a simple expression of my outlook on life. The quest to find out what pleases the Lord is ongoing. Although God's written revelation in the Bible regarding what pleases Him is unchangeable, new challenges in different contexts are always set before us. Doing the right thing requires discernment and building a solid foundation so that you know that which He prohibits, and that which He finds pleasing. It is for our own good and for His glory. Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:10, "find out what pleases the Lord." Be encouraged today, Stephen & Brooksyne Weber  Daily prayer: Father, I make it my goal to please You. So many goals I make reap rewards that last only a season, but when I set goals for righteous living the rewards last not only for this life, but for all of eternity. In setting my goals help me to be willing to lay aside that which hinders and the sin that so easily entangles so that I will reap a harvest of righteousness and peace. I want my primary goal to be that which pleases You, and the only way I can learn about that is to read and heed the Scriptures. My overall goal is to persevere to the very end of this life so that when I enter the other side I hear these words of commendation, "Well done, good and faithful servant." Amen.  Click here to record a brief message on your computer's audio device which can then be sent to us.Note: We are testing this as a means of providing another way for our readers to share feedback. You must have a computer microphone for this to work (many have computers with the mic built in). Hopefully some of our readers will try it and let us know whether or not it was challenging to use. Photos from an Amish farm Yesterday while we went about our chaplain work Ester stayed with our Amish friends and took some photos including our lead photo of the children sitting on a fence post.  I sure hope a strong fence was separating Ester from this Holstein bull when she snapped this photo! She told us she was thinking of Brooksyne's Uncle Carroll Sherrell from Arkansas who was recently attacked by a bull that broke through a fence. It resulted in his having surgery and will undergo a long recovery from the brutal attack. He's farmed over 50 years and this is the first such attack that we're aware of.  Storage shed and new trampoline in the background.  Yesterday afternoon when we went back to the farm to pick up Ester Jesse was harvesting corn silage. He smiled and gestured for us to look up at the top of the silo.  Ah, the joys and potential dangers of growing up on a working farm! Last year we shared a message about "The Cooperative Harvest" along with a series of photos explaining how the Amish harvest corn for silage. See here.  Last night we gathered with families in the small group from our church that has met for over seven years. We enjoyed a cookout on the farm and David rang the dinner bell. Some Ma and Pa Kettle fans will remember Ma calling her's and Pa's dozen or so children to dinner everyday by yelling very loudly,"Come and Get It". She tried to be prim and proper a few times using a gentle voice but not one child would show up. Can you remember how you were called to dinner as a child? Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources "This Is My Desire" Video "My Passion" Video Travis Cottrell "Wonderful, Merciful Savior" Video Klaus Kuehn and Kari Jobe Click here to record a brief message on your computer's audio device which can then be sent to us.Note: We are testing this as a means of providing another way for our readers to share feedback. You must have a computer microphone for this to work (many have computers with the mic built in). Hopefully some of our readers will try it and let us know whether or not it was challenging to use.  Send a message to Stephen & Brooksyne. |
 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 8/29/13: $13,653.00 SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION  If a friend forwarded this to you, you can subscribe here.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 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: These messages are only sent from us to people who request it; please accept our apologies if it reached you in error. You can unsubscribe from this list at any time. 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  Endorsed chaplain "Living securely today anchored in God's solid foundation" www.dailyencouragement.net |
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