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Wednesday, November 30, 2016
"A Welcome Knock"
Message Summary: Some of you can sense His knocking presence but have not responded. We earnestly urge you do respond today by hearing His voice and opening the door.
Listen to this
message on your
audio player.
"Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with Me" (Revelation 3:20).
Have you noticed the increase of intrusions in your life, often due to modern technology? In so many ways someone is trying to get in your face, usually trying to sell something. It sure does escalate more at this time of year. We've learned to tune many of these intrusions out but the intrusions just get louder, more persistent, and sometimes outlandish.
Such as the tele-marketer who now uses a recorded voice to pitch a product or service. For the last few days I've been getting calls from several different states from some outfit notifying me they had sent a packet in the mail informing me that my vehicle warranty is running out. It's clearly a scam and I have been responding to the recorded voice "Stop lying to me" to no avail.
Intrusions come in many forms. I suppose you can think of a lot more. Spam email is a particular annoyance, although in recent years, filters do a pretty good job of keeping unwanted junk out of our inboxes. You've probably seen some of them like the email that begins, "We don't want to waste your time or ours…" (they did) or "We were informed that you might be interested in our product." (I'm not and who informed them that I was, probably another lie.)
But Jesus is a persistent non-intruder. He has been described as the perfect gentleman. The daily text describes His work among the human race in the lives of millions and millions of people this day.
The Apostle John received this remarkable revelation from the ascended Lord, "I stand at the door and knock." The Greek tenses can be rendered, "I am persistently standing at the door and am persistently knocking." I like an older, expanded translation (Wuest) which states, "I have taken my stand at the door and am politely knocking."
And Jesus is doing just that in a spiritual sense. I recall an early effort at personal evangelism when I quoted this verse and a man earnestly felt his chest and said, "I don't feel it".
A nurse on the pediatric ward had an interesting calming approach with children. Before listening to the little ones' chests, she would plug the stethoscope into their ears and let them listen to their own hearts. Their eyes would light up with awe, though she never got a response equal to a little four-year old's comment. Gently she tucked the stethoscope into his ears and placed the disk over his heart.
"Listen", she quietly instructed.........."What do you suppose that is?" He drew his eyebrows together in a puzzled line and looked up as if lost in the mystery of the strange tap - tap - tapping deep in his chest. Then his face broke out in a wondrous grin with big eyes as he curiously asked, "Is that Jesus knocking?" Apparently the little boy had heard a lesson on today's text or even more likely had sung the little children's song based on the verse.
Some of you can sense His knocking presence but have not responded. We earnestly urge you do respond today by hearing His voice and opening the door. Following this message is a brief prayer that expresses faith in Christ and has been repeated by millions in opening their lives to the Lord. Most of you have heard His voice and have opened the door of your heart and surrendered your life to Him. You are experiencing the wonderful fellowship with the One who promised, "I will come in and eat with him, and he with Me." And that is life's greatest blessing!
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Daily
prayer:
Here's a common prayer that expresses faith in God's plan of salvation
through Jesus Christ. If you have not done so already, I urge you to
pray this prayer from your heart today.
Prayer of Faith: "Lord Jesus, I confess that I am a sinner. I believe that You came to this earth and died on the cross as a substitute for me and my sin. I place my faith in You and what You have done for me. I receive You into my life and choose this day to follow You and serve You all the days of my life. Thank You for hearing my prayer. I will look to the Bible and find out what Your purpose is for my life. Amen."
A knocking memory: A number of years ago Brooksyne lead a choir comprised of members from several churches in a Christmas Musical titled "Hope Has Hands". I was genuinely blessed to see the cooperative labors of multi-generations sing their praises to God (there were singers from ages 14 to 84 – with people represented from each decade of life).
The choir sang a beautiful number titled "Come", which is a stirring invitation to come to Christ. They were completing the song by singing the compelling words, "Come" three times, each time getting softer, when suddenly there came a loud, rhythmic knocking from the back of the church. It was one of those experiences where everyone hears it, but out of respect for the setting, people try to stay focused and ignore the obvious which is what the choir and congregation did momentarily. But the knocking persisted and filled the entire sanctuary.
Brooksyne told me later, "After it persisted I began to wonder if it was God knocking as my thoughts were drawn to the time when the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall in the royal palace. As the mysterious knocking persisted my knees were just about to start knocking together just like the king who saw the handwriting on the wall in Daniel."
Well, finally the mystery was solved when a perceptive observer discovered that it was a child who had a toy hammer and was knocking on the Plexiglas that separated the nursery window from the sanctuary. It sure served as an interesting beginning to my devotional calling to mind our daily text, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock..."
Probably our last set of Autumn photos for this year!
This and our lead photo was taken at the Eastland Alpaca Farm here in the Mount Joy area several weeks ago.
Newfound Gap at the peak of the ridge at over 5000 feet on the state line between Tennessee and North Carolina. It was getting dark and quite cold when we reached this spot last week!
The foliage just kept beckoning me (Brooksyne) and I took many photos including this up-close in Centennial Park in Nashville.
I caught Brooksyne admiring this stand out maple tree in Centennial Park in Nashville. The foliage in Nashville was a couple weeks later than here in Pennsylvania since most of our area trees have lost their leaves.
We saw this neat fountain outside a restaurant in Pigeon Forge for those (like me) who like water and fire!
"Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne" Video A favorite song of ours during this season has a refrain that states, "O come to my heart Lord Jesus, there is room in my heart for Thee."
"Behold, Behold" Video Cedarmont Kids This is the children's song referred to in the message
Bittersweet Answered Prayer: This past weekend the daughter of a college football coach died as a result of an accident. She had been in critical condition for several days prior to her death and of course her family had prayed for a miracle. Upon her death they donated her organs and the mother's perspective is quite touching: “The miraculous healing we have been praying for is not FOR Elsie, but FROM Elsie.”
Brooksyne and I are both blood donors and organ donors (upon our deaths), as many of you are, so this is an interesting way to find comfort during such devastating loss.
Send a message to Stephen & Brooksyne
"A Welcome Knock"
Message Summary: Some of you can sense His knocking presence but have not responded. We earnestly urge you do respond today by hearing His voice and opening the door.
Listen to this
message on your
audio player."Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with Me" (Revelation 3:20).
Have you noticed the increase of intrusions in your life, often due to modern technology? In so many ways someone is trying to get in your face, usually trying to sell something. It sure does escalate more at this time of year. We've learned to tune many of these intrusions out but the intrusions just get louder, more persistent, and sometimes outlandish.
Such as the tele-marketer who now uses a recorded voice to pitch a product or service. For the last few days I've been getting calls from several different states from some outfit notifying me they had sent a packet in the mail informing me that my vehicle warranty is running out. It's clearly a scam and I have been responding to the recorded voice "Stop lying to me" to no avail.
Intrusions come in many forms. I suppose you can think of a lot more. Spam email is a particular annoyance, although in recent years, filters do a pretty good job of keeping unwanted junk out of our inboxes. You've probably seen some of them like the email that begins, "We don't want to waste your time or ours…" (they did) or "We were informed that you might be interested in our product." (I'm not and who informed them that I was, probably another lie.)
But Jesus is a persistent non-intruder. He has been described as the perfect gentleman. The daily text describes His work among the human race in the lives of millions and millions of people this day.
The Apostle John received this remarkable revelation from the ascended Lord, "I stand at the door and knock." The Greek tenses can be rendered, "I am persistently standing at the door and am persistently knocking." I like an older, expanded translation (Wuest) which states, "I have taken my stand at the door and am politely knocking."
And Jesus is doing just that in a spiritual sense. I recall an early effort at personal evangelism when I quoted this verse and a man earnestly felt his chest and said, "I don't feel it".
A nurse on the pediatric ward had an interesting calming approach with children. Before listening to the little ones' chests, she would plug the stethoscope into their ears and let them listen to their own hearts. Their eyes would light up with awe, though she never got a response equal to a little four-year old's comment. Gently she tucked the stethoscope into his ears and placed the disk over his heart.
"Listen", she quietly instructed.........."What do you suppose that is?" He drew his eyebrows together in a puzzled line and looked up as if lost in the mystery of the strange tap - tap - tapping deep in his chest. Then his face broke out in a wondrous grin with big eyes as he curiously asked, "Is that Jesus knocking?" Apparently the little boy had heard a lesson on today's text or even more likely had sung the little children's song based on the verse.
Some of you can sense His knocking presence but have not responded. We earnestly urge you do respond today by hearing His voice and opening the door. Following this message is a brief prayer that expresses faith in Christ and has been repeated by millions in opening their lives to the Lord. Most of you have heard His voice and have opened the door of your heart and surrendered your life to Him. You are experiencing the wonderful fellowship with the One who promised, "I will come in and eat with him, and he with Me." And that is life's greatest blessing!
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Daily
prayer:
Here's a common prayer that expresses faith in God's plan of salvation
through Jesus Christ. If you have not done so already, I urge you to
pray this prayer from your heart today.Prayer of Faith: "Lord Jesus, I confess that I am a sinner. I believe that You came to this earth and died on the cross as a substitute for me and my sin. I place my faith in You and what You have done for me. I receive You into my life and choose this day to follow You and serve You all the days of my life. Thank You for hearing my prayer. I will look to the Bible and find out what Your purpose is for my life. Amen."
A knocking memory: A number of years ago Brooksyne lead a choir comprised of members from several churches in a Christmas Musical titled "Hope Has Hands". I was genuinely blessed to see the cooperative labors of multi-generations sing their praises to God (there were singers from ages 14 to 84 – with people represented from each decade of life).
The choir sang a beautiful number titled "Come", which is a stirring invitation to come to Christ. They were completing the song by singing the compelling words, "Come" three times, each time getting softer, when suddenly there came a loud, rhythmic knocking from the back of the church. It was one of those experiences where everyone hears it, but out of respect for the setting, people try to stay focused and ignore the obvious which is what the choir and congregation did momentarily. But the knocking persisted and filled the entire sanctuary.
Brooksyne told me later, "After it persisted I began to wonder if it was God knocking as my thoughts were drawn to the time when the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall in the royal palace. As the mysterious knocking persisted my knees were just about to start knocking together just like the king who saw the handwriting on the wall in Daniel."
Well, finally the mystery was solved when a perceptive observer discovered that it was a child who had a toy hammer and was knocking on the Plexiglas that separated the nursery window from the sanctuary. It sure served as an interesting beginning to my devotional calling to mind our daily text, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock..."
Probably our last set of Autumn photos for this year!
This and our lead photo was taken at the Eastland Alpaca Farm here in the Mount Joy area several weeks ago.
Newfound Gap at the peak of the ridge at over 5000 feet on the state line between Tennessee and North Carolina. It was getting dark and quite cold when we reached this spot last week!
The foliage just kept beckoning me (Brooksyne) and I took many photos including this up-close in Centennial Park in Nashville.
I caught Brooksyne admiring this stand out maple tree in Centennial Park in Nashville. The foliage in Nashville was a couple weeks later than here in Pennsylvania since most of our area trees have lost their leaves.
We saw this neat fountain outside a restaurant in Pigeon Forge for those (like me) who like water and fire!
Today's
Suggested
Music and Supplemental Resources
"Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne" Video A favorite song of ours during this season has a refrain that states, "O come to my heart Lord Jesus, there is room in my heart for Thee."
"Behold, Behold" Video Cedarmont Kids This is the children's song referred to in the message
Bittersweet Answered Prayer: This past weekend the daughter of a college football coach died as a result of an accident. She had been in critical condition for several days prior to her death and of course her family had prayed for a miracle. Upon her death they donated her organs and the mother's perspective is quite touching: “The miraculous healing we have been praying for is not FOR Elsie, but FROM Elsie.”
Brooksyne and I are both blood donors and organ donors (upon our deaths), as many of you are, so this is an interesting way to find comfort during such devastating loss.
Send a message to Stephen & Brooksyne
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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 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."
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