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The online Bible teaching ministry of Stephen & Brooksyne Weber

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Tuesday,
July 10, 2018

Lancaster County harvest scene 7/9/18 (Click to enlarge)
Harvest scene yesterday near our home.
(Click to enlarge)

"The Vital Necessity Of 'Opting In'"

Message summary: Some of you haven't opted-in. Perhaps you've been under the mistaken notion that you're automatically in. You may be relying on your religious heritage or good works. We urge you to receive and place your trust in Christ today!

ListenListen to our message on your audio player.

"Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12).

Have you gotten an email you never asked for? Of course you have! For many years the terms "opt-in" or "opt-out" have been used in email publishing.

"Opt-out" describes a method where you receive email, usually completely unsolicited, and the sender will keep sending it to you unless you "opt-out". This is the method preferred by junk emailers and in some cases by sincere people who want to build up their email list. They just add every address in their contact list to their email list assuming others will be interested in their materials, as well as "harvesting" addresses by collecting whatever email addresses they can find. (The term "opt-out" is also applied to privacy statements in which banks and other institutions will sell personal information about you they have gleaned unless you tell them otherwise.)

"Opt-in" on the other hand, describes a process where you choose whether you want to receive email and then initiate the subscription by "opting-in" or "subscribing". That is the way our daily encouragement email list works. We have a page that allows those interested to sign-up or "subscribe" to receive our daily messages and of course a key feature is the ability to unsubscribe as well.

"OK", you may be thinking, "what does all this have to do with spiritual things?" Actually there is a vitally important principle here. God's Kingdom is opt-in (although the word trivializes the seriousness of this decision). We must receive Christ.

But many live or are under the assumption that being a part of the Kingdom of God is opt-out. In their faulty theology everyone is a part of God's family by default and goes to heaven except perhaps only the most wicked or those who purposefully reject God, those who have willfully opted-out.

The daily verse is one of many that teach the truth of spiritual opt-in. The great apostle John is writing late in his life and reflecting on the ministry of Christ in the prologue to his gospel.  He writes of Christ as the "true light" that came into the world He had made. Yet He was not recognized and His very own did not receive Him. "Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12).

The word "all" indicates the marvelous extent of this opt-in offer. Regardless of one's religious, ethnic, economic, racial or any other background the offer stands. Our part is to receive, to believe in His name.
"Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name." To those who do so, "He gave the right to become children of God". We subscribe to His Lordship. Most certainly this itself is an act of grace. "I know not how God's wondrous grace to me He hath made known, nor why, unworthy, Christ in love redeemed me for His own."

But I do know my call is to receive Him, to believe in His name and today I again do so, reaffirming a decision I made nearly forty-seven years ago as a teenager in August 1971 in the Municipal Auditorium, a large arena in Kansas City, Missouri. Brooksyne about 49 years ago. Most of you reading this today have also received Christ and we welcome you to join us in reaffirming our opt-in.

However some of you haven't opted-in. Perhaps you've been under the mistaken notion that you're automatically in. You may be relying on your religious heritage or good works. We urge you to receive and place your trust in Christ today!


Be encouraged today,


Stephen & Brooksyne Weber

Praying manDaily prayer: Jesus! I do now receive You, more than all in You I find. You have granted me forgiveness, I am Yours, and You are mine.

(Adapted from hymn "Jesus What A friend Of Sinners")

Spiritually opting in: Have You Heard of the Four Spiritual Laws? 



Oregon Dairy albino deer 7/8/18 (Click to enlarge)
Oregon Dairy albino deer
(Click to enlarge)



Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources

"Give Me Jesus"  Video  Ernie Haase & Signature Sound

"We Turn Our Eyes"  Video  Travis Cottrell featuring Lily Cottrell

Finally today:
Gazebo on our deck 7/9/18
We enjoy eating outside on our deck. For many years we have used a patio umbrella over our table but we purchased a Gazebo with a fan that really keeps the table area cool and blows the flies away!

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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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