Daily Encouragement (9/2/20) "A Consideration Of Quitting"
Published: Wed, 09/02/20
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A daily, Bible-based perspective of hope, encouragement and exhortation. The online Bible teaching ministry of Stephen & Brooksyne Weber.
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"A Consideration Of Quitting"
Message summary: Today let us resolve to be quitters of that which leads to sin and to be doers in that which leads to godliness.
 Listen to this message on your audio player."Get some sense and quit your sinning" (1 Corinthians 15:34). "You have patiently suffered for Me without quitting" (Revelation 3:2).
Yesterday we visited a group of employees at a company that makes retail displays. Janet was wearing a t-shirt that caught our attention stating on the front, "I'M A QUITTER". Inquiring as to what the saying meant she told me she has a friend that went through Teen Challenge of Philadelphia, a Christian drug and alcohol rehab program, and upon graduation received this shirt.
What a blessing to work with so many people in various companies who have overcome various addictions and experienced the blessing of "quitting". Tomorrow I will see a man, only a few years younger than I, who was an alcoholic for most of his life since the age of 14. But in the last several years he's quit and is happy to report that he's "staying clean" every time I see him.
But "I'M A QUITTER" can be both a statement of victory or a statement of defeat depending on context!
A statement of victory: Paul appealed to the Corinthians, "Get some sense and quit your sinning". Some versions render "Become sober-minded" in place of "Get some sense". Commentator Adam Clarke issues the challenge: "Awake to righteousness. Shake off your slumber; awake fully, as ye ought to do. Be in earnest; do not trifle with God, your souls, and
eternity." That's a good word for all of us today as we are surrounded by sin and the temptation to sin. The Bible and history books reveal that it's not new for our generation since the writer of Hebrews also addresses the sin problem for his generation. In Hebrews 12:1 we are commanded to "Lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely". Let's be a quitter in that which leads to sin!
A statement of defeat: In Revelation Christ commended the church in Sardis, "You have patiently suffered for Me without quitting". God's Word says my "labor in the Lord is not in vain" (1 Corinthians 15:58) and at the proper time I will reap a harvest, if I don't give up! (Galatians 6:9). So “Do not throw away your
confidence, for it will be richly rewarded” (Hebrews 10:35). Stay faithful, don't give up! Let's not be a quitter in that which leads to godliness!
Today let us resolve to be quitters of that which leads to sin and to be doers in that which leads to godliness.
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
 Daily prayer: Father, as believers we learn through Scripture, though daily trial and error, and through the examples of earnest believers that which leads to godliness. We especially learn this through Jesus who was clothed in flesh, walked among us, and sinned not. Help us to do that which is
necessary, fortifying ourselves through prayer and self-control, to separate ourselves from sin and draw near to You, for under Your wings we are protected from the enemy's snare. We can do all things through Christ who gives us strength. Amen.Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources "The Blessing" Video BBSO (Romanian youth) It's so heartening to view the earnestness of these young people! (Note: The song is in Romanian but since I've heard the lyrics so many times it is still a blessing). Could this be the remnant similar to the young people when Daniel was young about 610BC?
"He Will Hold You Fast" Video Shane and Shane I am so longing to sing this song congregationally but it is not yet on our church's song list. Hopefully it will be soon since it's a great source of assurance in these very troubling times. Some of you have perhaps been following the persecution of Grace Community Church (John MacArthur) and other churches in California who are daring to hold church services. The most recent development is the government suspending a lease on a parking arrangement the Grace Community Church has had for 45 years, a petty, senseless retribution by government officials. The church has been paying what
seems to me to be a huge fee (some $8,000 per month) for parking in otherwise unusable spaces that pull up to a storm drainage system and thus cannot be developed. I was looking over the church's website and saw they sang "He Will Hold You Fast" in their service this last Lord's Day. That must have been very powerful! John MacArthur shares a very interesting perspective here: Video Especially insightful is his comment
on "a virus of deception".
Brooksyne's Note: Interestingly, Stephen was downstairs working on our message and included the story about MacArthur's church when a notification came up on my phone about John MacArthur. He shared about his experience of witnessing to a Muslim on a Southwest Airlines trip headed to El Paso where he was in the "dreaded middle seat". It's fairly brief, sometimes funny due to the Muslim's blunt honesty, and it also reveals the way one might witness to an unbelieving Muslim. Video The Babylon Bee has an interesting take on all this: "Gavin Newsom Says California Will Stay On Lockdown Until Scientists Discover Cure For Death" (This is satire but far too true!) On a lighter note Ester has posted her first video posted to YouTube of steam engine 425 taken in Jim Thorpe last week. It will be enjoyable for all train lovers, including the train whistle!  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." © Copyright 2020 Stephen C. & Brooksyne Weber - All Rights Reserved
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