The online
Bible teaching ministry of Stephen
& Brooksyne Weber
A daily, Bible-based perspective of hope, encouragement and exhortation. Home Archives About Us Free email subscription Listen to these messages Daily Encouragement on Facebook Twitter Wordpress LinkedIn <Previous Message Next Message> Tuesday, January 2, 2018
Sunset from our front porch on January 1, 2018. We've had bitterly cold temps with the low of -5° yesterday AM! "Firm And Secure" Message summary: In 2018 let us rest in our hope in Christ "as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure". Listen to our message on your audio player. "And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years" (Genesis 1:14). "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure" (Hebrews 6:19). There are many customs all over the world to mark the important turn of the calendar page from one year to the next. However it seems most of them involve fireworks. Throughout the evening on New Year's Eve we watched as they showed the massive celebrations in various cities all around the globe. It especially surprised me that even in the brutal dictatorship of North Korea they celebrated in the capital city of Pyongyang. There's a time for celebration (see Luke 15:22-24) and New Year's Eve we joined many in celebration thanking God for His hand in our lives. But the transition of one year to the next is also a good time for reflection upon the faithfulness of God to us personally and in the cosmic realm as we embark upon another year of seeking to fulfill God's purpose for our lives. We desire that this first message of 2018 brings rich assurance that can be applied immediately and also placed in reserve for the inevitable challenges ahead. We also want to encourage our readers by examining an aspect of God's incredible steadfastness and faithfulness so fitting to ponder today. From the very beginning of creation God ordained the year as a time unit. Along with days and seasons these are the three time units ordained at creation. All three are related to the creative work of God on the fourth day. Interestingly the first reference to the month as a unit of time happened at the time of the flood (Genesis 7:11). The annual unit represents the precise time it takes for the earth to revolve around the sun a single time. This, along with its rotation marking days and its movement on its axis, which marks seasons has been absolutely fixed since the fourth day of Creation. What an incredible statement to express God's faithfulness! Indeed the hymn writer summed it up, Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above, Join with all nature in manifold witness To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love. As the new year of 2018 begins each of us deal with vacillating circumstances. This should remind us of our fundamental need to place our trust in God who is the "Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning" (James 1:17). He who has fixed the "sun, moon and stars in their courses above" loves and cares deeply for us today. All may change, but Jesus never, glory to His Name! Rest in this promise: "But the lovingkindness of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him" (Psalm 103:17). In 2018 let us rest in this assurance of an unchangeable God and have "hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure". Hallelujah
You have overcome You have overcome Hallelujah Jesus, You have overcome the world Be encouraged today, Stephen & Brooksyne Weber Daily prayer: Yesterday, today, and forever You are the faithful, changeless One, Father. Your works in the past are testimony to Your majesty, power, and provision for our lives today. Your presence today steadies our walk as You lead us in the paths of righteousness while we forge ahead in 2018. Your future blessings are waiting to be unfolded in our lives as we faithfully yield to You our heart, our soul, and our mind. We look to You for everything we need for life and godliness in this present age as we await Your soon return. Come, Lord Jesus, come! Amen. In keeping with the two messages we ended with in 2017 let us consider three more truths concerning the hope we have in Christ: 1) Our hope in Christ is a fixed
hope. "Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not
appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we
will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone
who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure" (1
John 3:2,3).
2) Our hope in Christ is an overflowing hope. "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit" (Romans 15:13). 3) Our hope in Christ is a living hope. "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1:3). Our neighbors Notsen, Tho, Nathan and Neville Ncube joined us for our New Year's meal yesterday. A good southern meal of cornbread and beans, rather than the usual pork and sauerkraut most common here due to the German influence. If Brooksyne had just prepared cornbread the boys would be happy as it is a favorite food item when they eat with us! Ester took a photo of the moon New Year's Eve and made it the "0" in 2018. We thought it pretty clever.
Today's
Suggested Music and
Supplemental Resources
"Victor's Crown" Video This is one of our favorite songs that the choir sings at Calvary Church, a choir Brooksyne joined this past September. "Be Enthroned" Video Shane & Shane Another worship song we've come to appreciate in recent months. Finally today: Jack Brown, a reader from Michigan, sent us an interesting study he had done on God's promises that we feel will bless our readers as they face 2018.
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