A daily, Bible-based perspective of hope, encouragement and exhortation.
Home About Us Archives Free email subscription
Listen
to these
messages
Text only
for
printing
See here
for more info.
<Previous Message Next Message>
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Listen to this message on your
audio player.
"Joyful And Triumphant"
"For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds" (Titus 2:11-14).
This last Sunday afternoon we held a service at Longwood Manor, a local Personal Care home. We are part of a rotating team that provides services each Sunday afternoon for
these residents, who for the most part are no longer able to get
out and attend their own church. However they sure love their church
service and we are blessed to see not only the residents, but a number of family
members as well.
They come out in various degrees of impairment common to the aged; walkers, wheelchairs, oxygen. Some are frail in their memory, but they sure do sing out the familiar songs of Christ's birth, many of them songs they have sung since they were youngsters.
We normally associate the Christmas story with the young; Mary, Joseph, and the baby, Jesus. But there are two older people in the Christmas story; one implicit and the other explicit. We assume Simeon is old since he had waited for the "consolation of Israel" and after seeing Christ he was ready to die. (Luke 2:25-35). The other was Anna, an old prophetess whose specific age of 84 is revealed, something not all women would appreciate! (Luke 2:36-38).
The "consolation of Israel" that Simeon looked forward to was the first advent or the first coming of the Lord, a longstanding Old Testament promise that the devout had anticipated for many generations. Many, of course, died without seeing the fulfillment of this prophesy but a select group including Simeon and Anna, were among those alive when Jesus came the first time. Not only were they alive but they, along with a description of their devotion, is included in the birth narrative of our Savior. I'm heartened by this fact; people of every age are vital to God's kingdom.
Now for 2000 years we have been among those who look back to the first advent and joyfully anticipate the second. Each generation has wondered if they might be among those who are alive at the second coming of the Lord. We look back with certainty of faith in the fulfillment of God's promise in sending the Messiah to this earth. We now look forward with anticipatory faith at the Promise of His second coming. Today's text alludes to both comings: "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men", "looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus."
As I looked out on our Longwood Manor congregation this last Sunday afternoon I saw their joy and heard the triumphant expressions of the residents. I considered that one day we will gather looking back on both comings. Our abode will not be in a nursing home or any place where we are impaired by the physical human nature. Our setting will be in heaven, a place where we will never grow old. We will have our glorified bodies "and so we shall always be with the Lord" (1 Thessalonians 4:17).
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Daily prayer:
Father, I rejoice in the blessing that we
are not still waiting for the consolation of Israel, but were born
after Christ came into the world to save us. Though there are many
promises in Scripture yet to be fulfilled the most important has been
answered in the birth, death and resurrection of Your Son, Jesus
Christ. We are now among those who look "for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ." We look back and give thanks for Christ's birth. We look forward and cry out, "Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus, come!"
The original Latin text consisted of four stanzas. The first calls us to visualize anew the infant Jesus in Bethlehem's stable. The second stanza is usually omitted in most hymnals, but it reminds us that the Christ child is very God Himself:
We welcome our daily encouragement readers to read our 2012 Weber family Christmas letter (pdf)
We shared a delicious Christmas dinner yesterday including Brooksyne's homemade pies, something she enjoys putting together since she simply opens a quart of her homemade fruit fillings. As she says during canning season, "It's a mess now, but the payoff comes during the winter months." Ester selected Apple Pie and I selected Strawberry Rhubarb Pie (as pictured). We have some leftover should you want to stop by. We are getting a nice snowfall as we prepare to publish our message today!
Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources
<Previous Message Next Message>
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Listen to this message on your
audio player."Joyful And Triumphant"
"For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds" (Titus 2:11-14).
They come out in various degrees of impairment common to the aged; walkers, wheelchairs, oxygen. Some are frail in their memory, but they sure do sing out the familiar songs of Christ's birth, many of them songs they have sung since they were youngsters.
We normally associate the Christmas story with the young; Mary, Joseph, and the baby, Jesus. But there are two older people in the Christmas story; one implicit and the other explicit. We assume Simeon is old since he had waited for the "consolation of Israel" and after seeing Christ he was ready to die. (Luke 2:25-35). The other was Anna, an old prophetess whose specific age of 84 is revealed, something not all women would appreciate! (Luke 2:36-38).
The "consolation of Israel" that Simeon looked forward to was the first advent or the first coming of the Lord, a longstanding Old Testament promise that the devout had anticipated for many generations. Many, of course, died without seeing the fulfillment of this prophesy but a select group including Simeon and Anna, were among those alive when Jesus came the first time. Not only were they alive but they, along with a description of their devotion, is included in the birth narrative of our Savior. I'm heartened by this fact; people of every age are vital to God's kingdom.
Now for 2000 years we have been among those who look back to the first advent and joyfully anticipate the second. Each generation has wondered if they might be among those who are alive at the second coming of the Lord. We look back with certainty of faith in the fulfillment of God's promise in sending the Messiah to this earth. We now look forward with anticipatory faith at the Promise of His second coming. Today's text alludes to both comings: "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men", "looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus."
As I looked out on our Longwood Manor congregation this last Sunday afternoon I saw their joy and heard the triumphant expressions of the residents. I considered that one day we will gather looking back on both comings. Our abode will not be in a nursing home or any place where we are impaired by the physical human nature. Our setting will be in heaven, a place where we will never grow old. We will have our glorified bodies "and so we shall always be with the Lord" (1 Thessalonians 4:17).
O Come All Ye Faithful Joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem.
Come and behold Him,
Born the King of Angels;
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem.
Come and behold Him,
Born the King of Angels;
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Daily prayer:
Father, I rejoice in the blessing that we
are not still waiting for the consolation of Israel, but were born
after Christ came into the world to save us. Though there are many
promises in Scripture yet to be fulfilled the most important has been
answered in the birth, death and resurrection of Your Son, Jesus
Christ. We are now among those who look "for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ." We look back and give thanks for Christ's birth. We look forward and cry out, "Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus, come!"The original Latin text consisted of four stanzas. The first calls us to visualize anew the infant Jesus in Bethlehem's stable. The second stanza is usually omitted in most hymnals, but it reminds us that the Christ child is very God Himself:
God of God and Light of Light begotten,
Lo, He abhors not the Virgin's womb;
Very God, begotten, not created-
O come, let us adore Him.
Lo, He abhors not the Virgin's womb;
Very God, begotten, not created-
O come, let us adore Him.
We shared a delicious Christmas dinner yesterday including Brooksyne's homemade pies, something she enjoys putting together since she simply opens a quart of her homemade fruit fillings. As she says during canning season, "It's a mess now, but the payoff comes during the winter months." Ester selected Apple Pie and I selected Strawberry Rhubarb Pie (as pictured). We have some leftover should you want to stop by. We are getting a nice snowfall as we prepare to publish our message today!
Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources
To receive the "Daily
Encouragement" each Monday-Friday through email see this
page
to subscribe to our email list. You can also subscribe to the Wordpress rss feed
or through a Wordpress email subscription. (See the email subscription on the right side after opening this page.)
Ministry Update (Revised 10/12)
Are
our daily encouragement messages a blessing to you? We ask you to
consider making a donation 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.Permissions: Please feel free to pass on, reproduce and distribute any material on Daily Encouragement Net, in part or in whole, in any format, provided that you do not alter the wording in any way or charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. It is our desire to spread this material, not protect or restrict it. I do request that you keep the contact, copyright and subscription information intact.
Text only version for printing: To make a text only version for printing (without photos or any of the supplemental materials)
1) Open the basic text editor that comes with all computers (known as wordpad, textpad, etc.) You can also use a program like Word and select paste text only.
2) Select and copy the text from the portion of the message you want to print.
3) Paste into the text pad. (The photos won't show up but you will have a brief text description of the photo which you can delete or just ignore.)
4) Format if you desire (change font, increase or decrease size, etc.)
5) Print!
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.
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."
© Copyright 2012 Stephen C. Weber - All Rights Reserved
Daily Encouragement Net - 495 Kraybill Church Road - Mount Joy, PA 17552 USA