A daily, Bible-based perspective of hope,
encouragement and exhortation.
Wednesday,
November 7, 2018
Daily
prayer:
Father, the philosophies, trends,
and mind-set of the world stands in
great contrast to the gospel of
Jesus Christ. Your Word tells us
that those who do not stand with You
are against You. We can't walk on
both sides of the fence so we are
faced with a choice we must make;
the same kind of choice Joshua gave
to the Israelites 3,400 years ago.
We must choose whether to follow
after the gods of this world and
forsake You or we must forsake the
world and devote ourselves to You.
Father, I choose to follow after
You; You who reconciled me to
Yourself through Jesus. You have
proven Yourself trustworthy for Your
promises are true. You provide the
power and presence of Your Holy
Spirit to lead and direct my every
path. I choose You today,
exclusively and eternally!
Amen.
"Your
Most Important Decision Day"
Message
summary: We have our most
important decision today. Do we decide
to respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ
resulting in a change of heart and
change of direction to walk in His ways
rather than the ways of the world? Or do
we pursue the ever-changing philosophies
and trends of our day?
Joshua
challenged the Israelites to make a decision: "Choose
for yourselves this day whom you
will serve" (Joshua 24:15). The
people had to decide whether to serve
and obey the Lord God who had proven
His trustworthiness or the gods of
their time derived from the
imaginations and philosophies of man.
It is a decision we each make, one
that will guide the eternal direction
of our lives, but there's also a sense
we make this decision daily. Just like
the ancient Israelites we must decide
whether to serve and obey the one true
God who daily proves His
trustworthiness or the gods of our
time derived from the imaginations,
philosophies, and even the politics of
our day.
Listen
to our message
on your audio player.
"Choose
for yourselves this day whom you
will serve" (Joshua 24:15).
As
most of you are aware we had a
mid-term election yesterday here in
America. The three of us in our family
voted and made a decision for the
candidates that we believed best
represented our values. We are
thankful for the privilege to vote and
the peaceful and efficient manner in
which our polling place was operated.
In spite of all the vitriol on the
national level there was a
representative from each major party
providing information as we walked in
and "amazingly" they were talking with
one another and getting along!
We
are sure glad another season of
intense campaigning is over, at least
for now. For the last several weeks we
have been bombarded with campaign
appeals, some tasteful and
informative, others disgustingly
deceptive. I received a text message
over and over the last several weeks
that stated "Hey Elizabeth! This is
Shane with Keystone Progress. Can we
count on your vote for ______ ?" (a
socialist candidate). In spite of
repeated pleas to be removed from
whatever list I had been put on they
just kept sending it to me. I am not
Elizabeth, don't know Shane nor what
"Keystone Progress" is all about
(although I have a pretty good idea).
I find such a campaign method quite
irritating.
There's
been a lot of talk about this election
being the most important in our
lifetime, which is something you hear
in about every national election.
But
an email I received yesterday prompted
today's message. It stated "It's
Decision Day For American Voters."
The title of today's message, "Your
Most Important Decision Day" may
seem a day late but it's not. In a
sense it's always decision day for the
most important decision we will make
in life.
Joshua
challenged the Israelites to make a decision: "Choose
for yourselves this day whom you
will serve" (Joshua 24:15). The
people had to decide whether to serve
and obey the Lord God who had proven
His trustworthiness or the gods of
their time derived from the
imaginations and philosophies of man.
It is a decision we each make, one
that will guide the eternal direction
of our lives, but there's also a sense
we make this decision daily. Just like
the ancient Israelites we must decide
whether to serve and obey the one true
God who daily proves His
trustworthiness or the gods of our
time derived from the imaginations,
philosophies, and even the politics of
our day.I consider Joshua's
challenge practically every day and
his bold proclamation of faith that he
expressed when he proclaimed, "As
for me and my house, we will serve
the Lord".
We have our most important
decision today. Do we decide to
respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ
resulting in a change of heart and
change of direction to walk in His
ways rather than the ways of the
world? Or do we pursue the
ever-changing philosophies and trends
of our day? We really can't do both,
since trying to do so will bring about
compromise, frustration, hypocrisy,
lack of effectiveness and the real
possibility of falling away from the
truth once for all entrusted to the
saints.
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Daily
prayer:
Father, the philosophies, trends,
and mind-set of the world stands in
great contrast to the gospel of
Jesus Christ. Your Word tells us
that those who do not stand with You
are against You. We can't walk on
both sides of the fence so we are
faced with a choice we must make;
the same kind of choice Joshua gave
to the Israelites 3,400 years ago.
We must choose whether to follow
after the gods of this world and
forsake You or we must forsake the
world and devote ourselves to You.
Father, I choose to follow after
You; You who reconciled me to
Yourself through Jesus. You have
proven Yourself trustworthy for Your
promises are true. You provide the
power and presence of Your Holy
Spirit to lead and direct my every
path. I choose You today,
exclusively and eternally!
Amen.
As
I traveled with my sister, Elaine,
over the mountains I found this view
a bit different than most of the
terrain near Rifle, Colorado. It
looks a lot like an artist's
painting rather than a photograph.
(Click
to enlarge)
Our
view from our front porch this
morning.
(Click to
enlarge)
Today's
Suggested
Music and Supplemental Resources
"I
Choose Christ" Video
Karen Peck & New River
"Say
Amen" Video
Brian Free & Assurance
"Medley
of songs about Heaven"
Video
Calvary
Church Choir This is the medley
of songs used by our church's
choir two Sundays ago.
Mistakenly, Stephen did not
create the link correctly
yesterday so that it would start
right at the medley. Old-timers
especially will enjoy these
hymns as I did while singing
these hand clapping time honored
songs about heaven. Among my
dad's favorite hymns were "When
We All Get to Heaven" and "I'll
Fly Away" so Ester especially
enjoyed this medley, as did I.
If you view the video and see
the entire choir on the platform
you'll see the altos seated on
the left, the tenor/bass in the
middle, and the sopranos on the
right where I sing. Look
especially for the very
enthusiastic male singer in the
yellow shirt!
Finally
today:
It
was nice to be welcomed by my family
after visiting with my extended
family in Colorado last week. Silly
as it might sound to non-dog owners
I really miss the dogs when I'm
away. They pounced on me the moment
I took to the recliner last night to
watch the election results and
Stephen caught it on camera.
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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