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Monday, November 11, 2024
Photo taken by Nick Nichols
"Still Speaking"
Message summary: Let us remember our leaders, the spiritual veterans of faith, those who are alive and those now with the Lord, who speak the Word of God to us. Let us consider the outcome of their way of life and let us imitate their faith.
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"By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks" (Hebrews 11:4). "Remember your leaders, who spoke the Word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith" (Hebrews 13:7).
Today
we commemorate
Veteran's Day
here in the
United States,
a day in which
we properly
remember
military
veterans and
honor their
service for
our temporal
freedoms. Many
veterans read
these
messages,
including
several we
know
personally,
and we have
other readers
who are in
active
service. We
thank you for
your
sacrificial
service. My
dad, Eugene C.
Weber (left),
was a World
War 2 veteran
and trained as
a pilot.
Brooksyne’s
father,
Brooklyn
Sherrell
(right),
served in the
Army during
the Korean
War.Veterans have been around as long as wars have been fought going back to the very first recorded war in the Bible in Genesis 14.
But today we focus this encouragement message on spiritual veterans, those enlisted in service for the Lord who have been in the good fight of faith for many years.
Many of these spiritual veterans have valiantly fought the fight of faith and have received their eternal reward. They have joined with others in the great cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1). And yet there are those who remain on this side in their senior years of life. They have faithfully served God in their generation and, even as they endure the pain and complications of aging, they faithfully await the Master's call home. They continue to serve Him, offering their life's example, their wisdom and their prayers to succeeding generations (see Job 12:12), including those who are increasingly uninterested.
Our first verse has an intriguing statement about Cain, who had been dead for about four thousand years when Hebrews was written, "And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks". What a powerful concept that we can also apply to others who have gone on before us. Through their faith they still speak God's truth to us.
1) "Remember your leaders, who spoke the Word of God to you." Without a doubt the Apostle is referring to spiritual leaders. Certainly not political leaders! He's writing of those "who spoke the Word of God to you". Among all the qualities we may value in our spiritual leaders: administrative skills, compassionate care, vision casting and so forth, the writer of Hebrews singularly highlights the spiritual leader’s major duty as one, "who spoke the Word of God to you". This is consistent with Paul's challenge to Timothy, "Preach the Word" (2 Timothy 4:2).
What a blessing to honor those who have been faithful in preaching the Word of God which enables us to understand and assimilate Scriptural teaching into our lives. Each day we receive a brief spiritual challenge from Richard Dresselhaus who, in his eighties and long "retired", continues to speak the Word of God through his blog, "One For The Road".
Hopefully, for most the face and name of a pastor(s) comes readily to mind when you recall a spiritual leader who spoke the Word of God to you. My first pastor as a born-again Christian was John Howard in Independence Missouri along with his wife Genevieve. Early in their marriage they faced a loss that required significant overcoming. During their pastorate in Iowa their eleven year old son, while delivering newspapers, was killed by a drunk driver. When I last visited Genevieve in 2006 she wept as she told the details of her heartbreaking story some 50 years later. Both she and her husband understandably had a very difficult time but by God's grace they chose to overcome their tremendous loss and went on to touch many lives for Christ.
2) "Consider the outcome of their way of life." The Amplified Bible elaborates here that we are to, "Observe attentively and consider their manner of living". I am so thankful for those whose lives I have personally observed as I witnessed the transformation Christ makes over the course of one's life. In some cases we observe the outcome in the sense of those who now reside in heaven after a life of faithful service to the Lord. In other cases they are still living on this side and we can consider the present outcome of their way of life as they demonstrate a steady, mature and disciplined life. The leaders whom our text refers to were real people who were known personally by those whom they served. These days we often hear about the "virtual church" but we must seek to be a part of the real local church, if at all possible.
3) Finally we are called to "imitate their faith." The word for "imitate" is a Greek word from which we get "mimic". For those in spiritual leadership this is an awesome call and ongoing responsibility. In his pastoral epistles Paul addressed this. To Timothy: "Set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity" (1 Timothy 4:12). To Titus: "In all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified, sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us" (Titus 2:7,8).
Today, let us indeed remember our leaders, the spiritual veterans of faith, who speak the Word of God to us. Let us consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.
Be encouraged today, Hebrews 3:13
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Daily
prayer:
Father, we are
grateful for
the men and
women who are
willing to lay
down their
lives to
protect our
freedoms here
in the United
States. We are
indebted to
them for their
daily
sacrifice and
we pray for
their
safekeeping,
including
godly
chaplains who
serve as
spiritual
leaders among
them. We also
consider our
many spiritual
warriors who
have taken on
added
responsibility
and assumed
difficult
duties leading
us, as
believers, to
victory in
this war
against sin
and strife, as
we steadily
march in the
army of the
Lord. Bless
these who have
poured
themselves
into our lives
and set for us
an example to
follow; in
their
conversation,
their
lifestyle,
their faith,
their doctrine
and in their
purity. We
honor and
bless the
previous
generations
who passed
onto us the
Living Water
and Bread of
Life. We now
extend the
same message
to our present
generation,
for with our
mouths we make
known Your
faithfulness
to all
generations.
Amen.
Today's
Suggested
Music and
Supplemental
Resources
"Word
Of God Speak"
Listen
on YouTube
MercyMe
"All
the Praise"
Listen
on YouTube
Shadow
Mountain
Community
Church Brooksyne's
note: We
first heard
the worship
leader,
Michael
Sanchez, and
the choir sing
this inspiring
song while
visiting
Shadow
Mountain
Church just
outside of San
Diego. I look
forward to
singing it
with our choir
on Sunday. The
lyrics remind
us there is no
room for
boasting in
ourselves for
all the
praise, glory
and honor
belongs to
Jesus
forevermore!
Saturday morning Brooksyne had a choir rehearsal so I took her and then rode on the Lititz to Ephrata bike trail while she was at practice. A beautiful autumn day but just a bit chilly!
Click on photo to enlarge
This trail runs on an old railroad grade between Lititz and Ephrata ending in downtown where I visited with other old bikers at a cafe.
Click on photo to enlarge
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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 and a variety of other versions.
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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