The online
Bible teaching ministry of Stephen
& Brooksyne Weber
A daily, Bible-based perspective of hope, encouragement and exhortation. Home About Us Free email subscription ![]() Daily Encouragement on ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() <Previous Message Next Message> Monday, October 23, 2017
![]() Yesterday, following our church service, we drove over to the Old Windmill Farm for a pleasant afternoon visit with our Amish friends. Moses hitched up a team and took us on an old-fashioned hayride. "Magnificent Manumission" Message summary: Today we consider a magnificent manumission from a glorious emancipator! ![]() "So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36). Glorious freedom, wonderful freedom,
No more in chains of sin I repine! Jesus the glorious Emancipator, Now and forever He shall be mine. Mark is a man we visit weekly in the course of our chaplain work. He works as a Project Manager for JK Mechanical. Last weekend he went on a Men's Retreat with a group of men from his church and I inquired as to how it went. He shared a good report and told me the speaker had built his theme around "manumission". That is a word I don't recall ever hearing and Mark told me to look it up! Based on how the word sounds, and the context of it being used at a men's retreat, I thought it must have something to do with the mission men are called to. But that is not the case. ![]() "We are either slaves of sin or slaves of God. There is no third alternative. You can call it different things. But it boils down to this: we serve sin or we serve God. Sin reigns or God reigns." When Jesus uttered the words in our daily Scripture text He was speaking of a captivity common to all humanity, our captivity to sin. What a glorious truth! "So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." Are you free this day? If you aren't, Jesus is still at work in freeing people from their greatest bondage. Turn to Him today. If you are free from the bondage of sin, rejoice and be not enslaved again to the yoke of sin's bondage! We are so blessed in our land to still enjoy political and religious freedoms though these are fading. Some of our readers experience few of such freedoms. But today we want to share about a freedom that is available to all, infinitely greater than any political or religious freedoms we may or may not enjoy at the present time. One hundred or one thousand years into eternity, where we lived during our brief earthly sojourn will be of little regard, with the one exception of our decision to surrender our lives to Jesus Christ. We experience His freedom from sin and the future bonus of receiving our eternal heritance in heaven. In John 8 Jesus confronted the Pharisees and religious leaders of His day who had challenged His authority. The encounter specifically began when Jesus asserted, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life" (John 8:12). The Pharisees challenged Jesus and the validity of His testimony and of course that has been at the heart of resistance to God's redemption plan ever since. Jesus taught that those who "hold" to His teaching are truly His disciples (v. 31). He spoke to them, "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32). This especially insulted the proud Pharisees who responded, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?" (v. 34). ![]() If you are a citizen of a free country don't take it for granted. Give thanks to God for this wonderful privilege and consider those who sacrificed for your freedoms. Pray regularly for our brethren around the world who do not have these freedoms. Above all, give thanks to God that Jesus paid the supreme sacrifice so that we might be freed from the slavery of sin. That's something that we can all rejoice in no matter the political persuasion of our country. It is a magnificent manumission from our Glorious Emancipator! I'm no longer a slave to fear
I am a child of God Be encouraged today, Stephen & Brooksyne Weber ![]() Our glorious emancipator provides: 1) Freedom from the bondage of sin (Romans 6:18).
2) Freedom from guilt and shame (Colossians 1:21-23). 3) Freedom from fear of death (Hebrews 2:15). ![]() Some Scenes From Our Weekend ![]() Saturday morning a group of men from the Faith Community church in the Lehigh Valley joined us for breakfast. They were attending a men's conference near Harrisburg and crashed at our place Friday night. Though it was 7:00 in the morning they joined their voices in singing "Happy Birthday" to Brooksyne. ![]() It was nice to see my older brother Pat. Consider this thought-provoking message on the back of his T-shirt! ![]() Sunday morning King's Kids Choir sang at Calvary Church. Ester took this photo from the balcony. Brooksyne shares a video on her Facebook page. ![]() Sunday afternoon the children sang "Happy Birthday" to us while giving Stephen a vigorous head massage! Ester shares a video of them singing to us on her Facebook page. ![]() A highlight in each visit is sharing photos. We keep forgetting to take our tablet which would be a lot easier to see! ![]() The boys sure enjoy riding their ponies. ![]() Daisy the goat chewing my shoestrings! Thankfully, I still left with my shoe lace in the shoe but the aglets (plastic tips) she took away with her in her belly. ![]() Later yesterday afternoon our Zimbabwean friends came over to share some cake and ice cream as we celebrated Brooksyne's birthday. Brooksyne asked them to gather around her for breath support since it was such a BIG number to blow out! Neville, Nathan and Tho Ncube joined her. Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources "Glorious Freedom" Video Gaither Vocal Band "No Longer Slaves" Video Voices of Lee "Magnificent Manumission" article by John Piper Voice of the Martyrs: We remind you to pray regularly for those in persecuted lands, but it is easy to forget since most live in distant lands. We receive regular publications from Voice of the Martyrs that tell stories, feature individuals and give suggestions for how to pray for these dear persecuted brothers and sisters. They are a sound ministry and will add you to their mailing list if requested. (Website) ![]() 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.) ![]() ![]() ![]() 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. We do request that you keep the contact, copyright and subscription information intact. 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." © Copyright 2017 Stephen C. Weber - All Rights Reserved Daily Encouragement Net - 495 Kraybill Church Road - Mount Joy, PA 17552 USA |