Daily Encouragement (Archive Edition)

The online Bible teaching ministry of Stephen & Brooksyne Weber

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Tuesday, October 6, 2020

Taughannock Falls, Finger Lakes, New York

The tallest free-falling waterfall east of the Rocky Mountains, Taughannock rises 215 feet, making it 33 feet taller than Niagara Falls, though appearances may be deceiving. The gorge walls themselves tower 400 feet. Due to a drought in that area the flow was much less than usual.

"The Abundance Of Grace"

Message summary: As we consider our restored relationship with God having accepted Christ's provision we can be assured of and rejoice in His abundant safety factor of grace. It's not just adequate, it's abundant! Grace is greater than all our sin!

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"For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:17).

Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,
Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt!
Yonder on Calvary’s Mount outpoured,
There where the blood of the Lamb was spilled.

A term we have been hearing a lot these last several days is "out of an abundance of caution" which describes being very or even overly cautious. It is by no means a new term and an article written over 5 years ago asserted even then that it was an overused phrase.*

But today let us consider a phrase in our daily text that is underused, "the abundance of grace".

In yesterday's message I referred to Tom, a reader we met last weekend in the Finger Lakes region of New York. As mentioned in yesterday's message he showed me the elevator he had designed and built and explained before we went down one story that it was designed to hold 700 pounds but had a safety factor of ten times that much. I looked at Tom, who is a trim man, and in my mind I calculated my own weight and was relieved that we were well within the designed weight load let alone the safety factor! Whew!

The safety factor AKA the factor of safety describes an engineering concept by which an engineered system's capacity is increased over the expected requirement to ensure safety in the face of error or uncertainty. A ten ton bridge will not collapse if a vehicle over ten tons crosses it as in civil engineering a safety factor is always built in. This is similar to fault tolerance, another engineering term describing the property that enables a system to continue operating properly in the event of the failure of one or more faults within some of its components.

Now what spiritual application do you suppose I am going to pursue in this message? Let's consider that phrase, "the abundance of grace".

This refers to God's super abundant provision of grace and emphasizes the matchless, infinite generosity of His provision. He did not just give us a smidgen of His grace, but grace overflowing. Paul speaks of this incomprehensible provision in his letter to the Ephesians declaring, "that in the ages to come He (God the Father) might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:7).

As we consider our restored relationship with God as those who have accepted Christ's provision we can be assured of and rejoice in the abundant safety factor of grace. It's not just adequate, it's abundant! God's grace is always greater than all our sin!

Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin!

Be encouraged today,

Stephen & Brooksyne Weber

Daily prayer: Father, Your grace is more than enough to provide for all that we have need of. Like the Shunammite widow's jar of flour that was not used up and her jug of oil that did not run dry, Your grace overflows in abundant supply. It is from Your fullness that we have all received, grace upon grace. Grace that is sufficient to pardon and cleanse our every sin, because Your grace is greater than all our sin. Hallelujah! Amen.

See John 1:16

Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources

"Grace That Is Greater Than All Our Sin" Video Sovereign Grace Music

"Your Grace Is Enough" Video Matt Maher

"Grace On Top Of Grace" Video Fellowship Creative

"My Worth Is Not in What I Own" Video Fernando Ortega, Keith & Kristyn Getty

* “Out of an abundance of caution” – An overused phrase

This last weekend we were in the Finger Lakes region of New York State and the Grand Canyon area of Pennsylvania and will share our photos from our trip this week.

Visiting with Tom on his dock on Cayuga Lake. We shared a similar photo yesterday where Brooksyne was taking a photo of their cat and spotted us visiting in the background.

After visiting with Tom and Priscilla at their cottage on the lake we went over to Taughannock Falls. When we walked into the park we saw this small waterfall.

It was a beautiful walk back along the long gorge to see the falls. The fall colors were just starting to show in that area.

To prove we were there!

Ford truck in New York with an antique crane carrying Geranium Planter

We passed this interesting garage with all kinds of old trucks and tractors.

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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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