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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.)
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 2013 Stephen C. Weber - All Rights Reserved
Daily Encouragement Net - 495 Kraybill Church Road - Mount Joy, PA 17552 USA
<Previous Message Next Message>
Friday, August 16, 2013
"Not In Vain"
Listen to this message on your audio player
"Your labor in the Lord is not in vain" (1 Corinthians 15:58).
This
week our community paper featured a story about Lee Laverty, a woman
from our community here in Mount Joy, who "has found her niche to help
others." She voluntarily bakes fresh muffins for the Ronald McDonald
House in Hershey and also provides muffins for the hospitality cart
which makes its daily rounds at Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital.
We ourselves have been blessed by such thoughtful expressions when we stayed at Ronald McDonald House numerous times as Ester underwent five different heart operations as a baby and young child. Her recoveries were anywhere from one to three months so Ronald McDonald House became our home away from home. Churches and civic groups often brought in a meal for parents to enjoy. It provided a break from daily hospital food and helped with the expenses as well.
We are pleased to see in print the acknowledgment of Lee's effort but we also consider how many never receive words of commendation. They may feel, "What's the use?" It's energizing when we receive words of affirmation for our labor of service but we know it doesn't always work that way. Sometimes we are left to wonder as our expressions of ministry and care for others so often have an unfinished and even unappreciated element.
For
many years beginning in the early eighties Brooksyne participated in a
ministry known as "Operation Sunrise". She became a "penpal" to a
young Chinese student who had signed up to communicate with someone
outside of mainland China in an attempt to learn the English language and culture.
Her name is Yhang Sue. Due to religious restrictions imposed by her government and sensitivities Brooksyne had to be very careful as to what she shared, but in time was able to share her faith in Christ. This correspondence continued over 15 years. Yhang Sue eventually married and immigrated to Canada so we lost contact.
One Christmas when we lived in New England we had gone back to the Midwest to visit our families. Our mail service was temporarily discontinued, but upon our return there was a letter lying on a chair on our porch from Yhang Sue. She must have either been down from Canada hoping to meet us or she had someone drop it off (it did not come through the mail). However the envelope had gotten wet and the return address was illegible. We thus were unable to follow-up and we have not heard from her since. We were concerned that she might interpret Brooksyne's failure to respond as disinterest.
This
is an example of an incomplete story that took place in our lives. I'm sure all readers
have them if you ponder a bit. A tract you passed out, a challenge to
a fellow worker or neighbor to follow Christ, or some other means of extending yourself. One of these
days we hope to hear from Yhang Sue again and get the rest of the story.
Of course our foremost prayer is that we will hear that she has
accepted Christ!
Today many of you are involved in some type of ministry. Some of you are really seeing results. That's great! But some of you seem to be butting your head up against a stump (as a college history professor would often express). Nothing seems to be happening and you're hitting serious opposition. You may be discouraged.
Today's Scripture portion is a timeless truth for servants of God. "Your labor in the Lord is not in vain." Above all let us stay faithful to our call and leave the results to God, knowing indeed that our "labor in the Lord is not in vain."
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Daily prayer: Father, like
a farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently
waiting for the autumn and spring rains we too wait for the yield of
good fruit that will be produced by our
labor in Christ. As we extend ourselves to others we not only seek to
be a blessing to them but we also honor Your name. Sometimes the
results of our labors can be lost in the long wait. When that happens
we're brought back to the Scriptural reality that nothing we do for
Christ is in vain. It all counts and is credited to our account in the
economy of God's kingdom. We look not for the applause of others, but
for the affirmation of the Holy Spirit whom we seek to please in all we
do. We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Today we would like to share some specific callouts of encouragement to those we know who labor in hard places and may not be seeing a lot of results, which can lead to that debilitating spiritual affliction known as discouragement:
We consider:
Recent feedback: We appreciate the feedback we received the last couple of days, especially regarding the harder teaching we gave on Wednesday titled, "Dealing With What Is Falsely Called 'Knowledge'". We are blessed that many are staying true to God's Word and the faith once for all delivered to the saints.
"Rough And Tumble"
65th Annual Threshermen's Reunion
Lancaster County, PA
Brooksyne and I share many of the same interests but we also support one another in those we don't. I try to patiently wait as she visits her favorite stores like Bath and Body Works or Yankee Candle and she walks with me through events that I enjoy. The week we went to the "Rough and Tumble" Threshermen's Reunion expo here in Lancaster County which has a huge demonstration of old steam machinery.
Coal-fired fire truck
All during the event you can not only see the stationary machinery but they are driving it around with lots of steam and smoke and whistles!
A section had old construction equipment like this steam-powered excavator.
A small gauge steam engine train.
Most of the machinery was running.
A Bluegrass band provided music
Rural Lancaster County view
We saw this view in eastern Lancaster County as we left the "Rough and Tumble" steam machinery event. (Click on photo to enlarge)
The "Rough And Tumble" event runs through Saturday in eastern Lancaster County.
Here's the website.
Today's
Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources
"It's Not in Vain" Video The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir
"Kindness Boomerang" Here's a cute video illustrating that what goes around comes around... eventually.
"Farther Along" Video Dailey and Vincent
Yesterday I helped our friend Howard Blichfeldt set up his photo display at the Mount Gretna Outdoor Art Show. Mount Gretna lies in a mountainous area at the very southern tip of Lebanon County. See here for map. (Google) Howard became our friend about six years ago through daily encouragement and he permits us to occasionally use his photos on our website. He is an outstanding photographer focusing on nature. See here for his site. On many of his photographs he includes a Scripture verse. If you are in our area and may have interest in the Mount Gretna Outdoor Art Show info is here. Make sure and look up Howard! His photo booth is right along Rt. 117.
"Not In Vain"
Listen to this message on your audio player"Your labor in the Lord is not in vain" (1 Corinthians 15:58).
This
week our community paper featured a story about Lee Laverty, a woman
from our community here in Mount Joy, who "has found her niche to help
others." She voluntarily bakes fresh muffins for the Ronald McDonald
House in Hershey and also provides muffins for the hospitality cart
which makes its daily rounds at Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital.We ourselves have been blessed by such thoughtful expressions when we stayed at Ronald McDonald House numerous times as Ester underwent five different heart operations as a baby and young child. Her recoveries were anywhere from one to three months so Ronald McDonald House became our home away from home. Churches and civic groups often brought in a meal for parents to enjoy. It provided a break from daily hospital food and helped with the expenses as well.
We are pleased to see in print the acknowledgment of Lee's effort but we also consider how many never receive words of commendation. They may feel, "What's the use?" It's energizing when we receive words of affirmation for our labor of service but we know it doesn't always work that way. Sometimes we are left to wonder as our expressions of ministry and care for others so often have an unfinished and even unappreciated element.
For
many years beginning in the early eighties Brooksyne participated in a
ministry known as "Operation Sunrise". She became a "penpal" to a
young Chinese student who had signed up to communicate with someone
outside of mainland China in an attempt to learn the English language and culture.Her name is Yhang Sue. Due to religious restrictions imposed by her government and sensitivities Brooksyne had to be very careful as to what she shared, but in time was able to share her faith in Christ. This correspondence continued over 15 years. Yhang Sue eventually married and immigrated to Canada so we lost contact.
One Christmas when we lived in New England we had gone back to the Midwest to visit our families. Our mail service was temporarily discontinued, but upon our return there was a letter lying on a chair on our porch from Yhang Sue. She must have either been down from Canada hoping to meet us or she had someone drop it off (it did not come through the mail). However the envelope had gotten wet and the return address was illegible. We thus were unable to follow-up and we have not heard from her since. We were concerned that she might interpret Brooksyne's failure to respond as disinterest.
This
is an example of an incomplete story that took place in our lives. I'm sure all readers
have them if you ponder a bit. A tract you passed out, a challenge to
a fellow worker or neighbor to follow Christ, or some other means of extending yourself. One of these
days we hope to hear from Yhang Sue again and get the rest of the story.
Of course our foremost prayer is that we will hear that she has
accepted Christ!Today many of you are involved in some type of ministry. Some of you are really seeing results. That's great! But some of you seem to be butting your head up against a stump (as a college history professor would often express). Nothing seems to be happening and you're hitting serious opposition. You may be discouraged.
Today's Scripture portion is a timeless truth for servants of God. "Your labor in the Lord is not in vain." Above all let us stay faithful to our call and leave the results to God, knowing indeed that our "labor in the Lord is not in vain."
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Daily prayer: Father, like
a farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently
waiting for the autumn and spring rains we too wait for the yield of
good fruit that will be produced by our
labor in Christ. As we extend ourselves to others we not only seek to
be a blessing to them but we also honor Your name. Sometimes the
results of our labors can be lost in the long wait. When that happens
we're brought back to the Scriptural reality that nothing we do for
Christ is in vain. It all counts and is credited to our account in the
economy of God's kingdom. We look not for the applause of others, but
for the affirmation of the Holy Spirit whom we seek to please in all we
do. We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.Today we would like to share some specific callouts of encouragement to those we know who labor in hard places and may not be seeing a lot of results, which can lead to that debilitating spiritual affliction known as discouragement:
We consider:
- Mike and his wife Kathy in North Carolina and Rick in Massachusetts who works in prison ministry.
- Wayne and Yvette who are planting a church in a spiritually dark city in Massachusetts.
- Bob and Linda, North Carolinian friends who have weekly ministry in a nursing home.
- Joel and Adrienne, missionaries to Africa who worked with us up in our church in New England. Joel has been battling cancer.
- Jason and Rebekah who serve on a Navajo Mission in New Mexico. Becky grew up in our church in northern PA. Jason recently broke his collarbone.
- Jim and Dorothy, friends in New Jersey, who
lost a son last year to cancer now share together in a grief care
ministry even as they themselves continue to grieve.
Recent feedback: We appreciate the feedback we received the last couple of days, especially regarding the harder teaching we gave on Wednesday titled, "Dealing With What Is Falsely Called 'Knowledge'". We are blessed that many are staying true to God's Word and the faith once for all delivered to the saints.
"Rough And Tumble"
65th Annual Threshermen's Reunion
Lancaster County, PA
Brooksyne and I share many of the same interests but we also support one another in those we don't. I try to patiently wait as she visits her favorite stores like Bath and Body Works or Yankee Candle and she walks with me through events that I enjoy. The week we went to the "Rough and Tumble" Threshermen's Reunion expo here in Lancaster County which has a huge demonstration of old steam machinery.
Coal-fired fire truck
All during the event you can not only see the stationary machinery but they are driving it around with lots of steam and smoke and whistles!
A section had old construction equipment like this steam-powered excavator.
A small gauge steam engine train.
Most of the machinery was running.
A Bluegrass band provided music
Rural Lancaster County view
We saw this view in eastern Lancaster County as we left the "Rough and Tumble" steam machinery event. (Click on photo to enlarge)
The "Rough And Tumble" event runs through Saturday in eastern Lancaster County.
Here's the website.
"It's Not in Vain" Video The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir
"Kindness Boomerang" Here's a cute video illustrating that what goes around comes around... eventually.
"Farther Along" Video Dailey and Vincent
Yesterday I helped our friend Howard Blichfeldt set up his photo display at the Mount Gretna Outdoor Art Show. Mount Gretna lies in a mountainous area at the very southern tip of Lebanon County. See here for map. (Google) Howard became our friend about six years ago through daily encouragement and he permits us to occasionally use his photos on our website. He is an outstanding photographer focusing on nature. See here for his site. On many of his photographs he includes a Scripture verse. If you are in our area and may have interest in the Mount Gretna Outdoor Art Show info is here. Make sure and look up Howard! His photo booth is right along Rt. 117.
Send a message to Stephen & Brooksyne
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.)
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 2013 Stephen C. Weber - All Rights Reserved
Daily Encouragement Net - 495 Kraybill Church Road - Mount Joy, PA 17552 USA