Daily Encouragement (5/17/21) "Christ Be Magnified In Me"
Published: Mon, 05/17/21
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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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Monday, May 17, 2021
 A well-tended garden near Quarryville, PA. Click on photo for larger view "Christ Be Magnified In Me"
Message summary: Above all let us seek that Christ Be Magnified!
Listen to this message on your audio player.Message summary: "O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together" (Psalm 34:3). "This became known to all who lived in Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks; and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified" (Acts 19:17). A foundational goal in life and ongoing prayer for the believer is that Christ be magnified in our lives. Yesterday we sang "Christ Be Magnified" in our worship service that repeats this very theme from the first stanza to the last and throughout the chorus:
Were creation suddenly articulate
With a thousand tongues to lift one cry Then from north to south and east to west We'd hear 'Christ be magnified!' Were the whole earth echoing His eminence His name would burst from sea and sky From rivers to the mountain tops We'd hear 'Christ be magnified!' Today so much is being magnified; athletes, celebrities, entertainers, politicians, even preachers and Christian musicians and the list goes on and on. We must examine our hearts to see what is being magnified in our own lives or who we are magnifying. Above all let us live in such a way that our attitudes and actions cry out, Christ Be Magnified!
 When we use the word "magnify" we may tend to think of enlarging something as a magnifying glass does. Dentists and surgeons use special
magnifying glasses to enlarge the view of what they are working on. They are artificially making something that is small they're viewing appear larger; in the case of my dentist it's my teeth. That is not the sense of how we magnify the Lord! We are not making God bigger when we magnify Him! Psalm 34:3 is a timeless call that we must still heed, some 3,000 years after it was originally written, "O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name
together". This is one of the first Scripture choruses I recall singing in the seventies when I became a Christian. We sang it in the little church my family attended in Independence MO. Nearly every Sunday my faithful pastor, Brother Howard, opened the service with this rousing chorus where people sang it by memory and intensified the rhythm with their hand-clapping. It helped to focus our hearts on the reason we gathered together in the first place. The lyrics were simple, easily
memorized, and "contemporary" at the time:"O magnify the Lord with me,
blessed Lamb of Calvary,
for His grace so rich and free,
magnify the Lord with me...."
"Christ Be Magnified" was introduced in recent years and delves deeper into theological wording:
When every creature finds its inmost melody
And every human heart its native cry O then in one enraptured hymn of praise We'll sing 'Christ be magnified! O be lifted high, Jesus "Magnify" in Scripture has the sense of "praise", "extol", "laud". This is expressed in our second passage from Acts 19, "and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified". Luke chooses a word that is used only once in the New Testament, emegalyneto based on a word
megaluno which comes from the Greek word "megas" - meaning "great" which means "to make or declare great".
Of course we don't make God great, but we proclaim that He is great! Most commonly in the NT megaluno means to magnify or praise, to cause something or someone in this case to be held in great esteem. The same word is used in Mary's song in Luke 1 often called the MAGNIFICAT where she says "My soul doth magnify the Lord".
Today, this week, the remainder of our life on this earth and into eternity let us declare:
Oh! Christ be magnified
Let His praise arise Christ be magnified in me Oh! Christ be magnified From the altar of my life Christ be magnified in me "From one man He made all the people of the world. Now they live all over the earth. He decided exactly when they should live. And He decided exactly where they should live" Acts 17:26 (NIRV). So may this be true wherever we live and whatever we are going through; from the rising of the sun till the going down of the same, the Name of the Lord is to be praised!
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber  Daily prayer: Father, like John
the Baptist we also declare, Jesus must increase, I must decrease, for when I decrease Christ is magnified in and through me. I magnify Him above everything else as Creator of the universe and as Creator of my life. Like the Psalmist, I will praise Your name with a song and I will magnify You, Father, with thanksgiving, for You are worthy of all praise, glory and honor. Amen.Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources
"Christ Be Magnified" Video Essential Worship
"Christ Be Magnified" Video Travis Cottrell, Worship Together
I
won't bow to idols, I'll stand strong and worship You
And if it puts me in the fire, I'll rejoice 'cause You're there too I won't be formed by feelings, I hold fast to what is true If the cross brings transformation then I'll be crucified with You 'Cause death is just the doorway into resurrection life And if I join You in Your suffering then I'll join You when You rise And when You return in glory with all the angels and the saints My heart will still be singing and my song will be the same "Worship set at Calvary Church yesterday ending with 'Christ be Magnified'" Video 
A bike planter at the Hillside Acres Nursery. This nursery, located on a rural road east of Quarryville, PA, has become one of Brooksyne's favorite nurseries.
 A car planter at the Hillside Acres Nursery. Perhaps this is the newest flower delivery vehicle!
Finally today:
Is this an Amish hybrid buggy?
Actually, he uses gas to run lawn equipment and generators and perhaps for fear of a gas shortage was filling up.  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 2021 Stephen C. & Brooksyne Weber - All Rights Reserved
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