Daily Encouragement Net
The online Bible teaching ministry of Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
A daily, Bible-based perspective of hope, encouragement and exhortation.

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Friday, August 13, 2021

Flower arrangement
This vase is filled with purple and white calla lilies, sweet potato vine and hydrangea blooms. I like to trim the sweet potato vines frequently and plop them in water since they sprout within a week and provide new plantings in various settings.

"A Grace-filled Valediction"

Message summary:  Today may you be fully and continually cognizant of the amazing, wonderful, transforming, infinite, marvelous, matchless, all-sufficient, unmerited and undeserved favor of God!

Listen to this message on your audio player.

“The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you” (Romans 16:20).

Today we ask you what verbal expressions do you use when departing from another person? Or I could ask what is your typical valediction (the action of saying farewell)? Of course we often say “goodbye” but we have many other forms of ending our communication such as “See ya later” (or sometimes "see you later alligator"),
“Take care” or the vacuous “Have a good one”. We may make it more inspirational with a parting phrase such as “God bless you” or simply “Blessings”. Many who know me personally are aware that I will often put forth a challenge in my farewell such as, “Stay faithful”.

How did Paul end his letters? He wrote thirteen books in the New Testament specifically identifying himself as the writer (sometimes with others). Many also consider him to be the author of the book of Hebrews though the author is not internally identified. Each of these books has a common closing expression at or near the end where Paul expresses a desire that his readers experience God's abundant grace. Check this out!

Forty-eight years ago in August 1973 we both began our Bible School education and we are so thankful for the teachers that helped to instill our love and respect for God’s Word. They stressed the plenary, inerrant inspiration of the Scriptures. The word “plenary” means “full; complete; entire; absolute; unqualified.” Our college education had a very heavy emphasis upon the Bible itself and I frankly grieve at the direction many former Bible Schools have gone with a lesser emphasis on the Holy Scriptures. In fact, our Bible College closed about ten years ago which grieves our hearts when we reflect upon the wonderful life-changing influence it made in our lives.

The daily text is in Romans, the first of Paul's letters in the New Testament. He concluded with the brief "Grace to you" valediction used in various forms at the conclusion of each of his epistles. “The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you”.

Let us never grow weary of a consideration of God's grace! We pass Paul's valediction on to each reader and urge you to keep passing it along to others. Indeed, grace be with you. And that grace is altogether sufficient for every one of us and for every situation we face today or that which we will deal with tomorrow!

So today we use Paul's valediction and express it using a common definition of grace as we include various adjectives used in hymns and songs through the years.

Today may you be fully and continually cognizant of the amazing, wonderful, transforming, infinite, marvelous, matchless, all-sufficient, unmerited and undeserved favor of God!


Be encouraged today, (Hebrews 3:13)


Stephen & Brooksyne Weber

Praying man Daily prayer: Father, it is by grace that we are saved, not of works lest we boast of the power we have to save ourselves. Instead we boast only in the privilege of knowing Jesus in the power of His resurrection. You exercise lovingkindness, judgment and righteousness in the earth and Your grace knows no bounds. We are grateful recipients of Your boundless grace and merciful kindness. May it spur us on to exercise mercy and grace to those around us. In the gracious name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

I still recall a lesson from an enthusiastic professor sharing that in the Greek language (which the New Testament was originally written in) there are two distinct words for the English word “you”. Singular (su) and plural (humon).* As I recall this lesson came during a study of the Pastoral Epistles (I & II Timothy and Titus).

The professor was emphasizing that although these letters were initially written very personally to these two individuals the use of the second person plural pronoun in the valediction indicated that the Apostle Paul (inspired by the Holy Spirit) used the plural pronoun to indicate that he actually had a wider readership in mind than merely Timothy or Titus. Indeed we are included in Paul's plural "you" as we read his valediction this morning nearly 2000 years after it were written!



Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources

"Grace Alone"  Video   Maranatha! Praise Band

Grace alone which God supplies,
Strength unknown He will provide;
Christ in us, our Cornerstone,
We will go forth in grace alone.

"Wonderful Grace of Jesus"  Video  Ernie Haase & Signature Sound

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

"The Gospel Song"  Video   Sovereign Grace Music

"All I Have Is Christ"  Video   Sovereign Grace Music

"His Mercy Is More"  Video  The Acappella Company



Today we share some photos of flowers around our place taken this morning. We've had very, very hot weather (105 degree heat index) but have been getting rain.

Cutting flowers
I caught Brooksyne gathering a bouquet of zinnias this morning. She thought they would grow to be about 3' but most are 4' or higher causing them to fall over during these daily storms we are experiencing amidst all the heat and humidity.

Tall flowers
This is a photo Brooksyne asked me to take since she has been excited about this plant all summer. She explains: These are two Tithonia plants (Mexican Sunflower Torch) which are just starting to blossom since I planted these in late June. I picked up a package of seeds for $1.00 since they were cheap and I was curious as to what this plant looked like. Turns out to be my favorite plant over the summer having reached nearly 10' thought the package indicated it will reach 5' in height. The best thing is that it thrives in drier soil so I don't need daily waterings with this vivacious plant. We'll have to photograph again in a month and see if it gets even taller!

Morning Glories
These morning glories grow year after year on our fence. It's like they've decided to become an annual member of the Weber flower brigade. Truth be told they are quite invasive and like to entwine themselves among some of my other summer beauties. But that's OK since they're a member of our ornamental family by now and I don't have to plant or water them!

Mailbox flowers
On the other side of this Black Eyed Susan vine is our mailbox. We keep the front side cleared for our mailman, of course. As you can see our morning glory continues to show up here amidst the Black Eyed Susans but this year I wanted the new vine to be more prominent so, as you can see in the photo, I got my way this year!

Garden shed flowers
Another flower setting in our back yard. Hydrangeas are among my favorite flowers and Stephen really likes the colorful coleus as seen in the middle.



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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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