✝ Daily Encouragement (7/14/22) "Friends On Earth And Friends Above"
Published: Thu, 07/14/22
A daily, Bible-based perspective of hope, encouragement and exhortation. The online Bible teaching ministry of Stephen & Brooksyne Weber.
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Thursday, July 14, 2022
Bright yellow Calla lilies
Richland, PA
"Friends On Earth And Friends Above"
Message summary: Today we "encourage you with these words" as directed in the Scriptures. One glorious day "friends on earth and friends above" will all be together transitioning to their eternal reward with fellowship forever.
“For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words” (1 Thessalonians
4:16-18).
![]() There’s a hymn many of us have sung with an interesting line. "Friends on earth and friends above". Do you recognize what hymn this line comes from? (We’ll tell you below!). Most of us easily identify with the words "Friends on earth". We start making friends early in life and what a blessing to keep them for the long haul such as David, a friend from first grade or Wayne, a friend from college. We've developed and maintained friends from all along life's way; in churches we have served or attended, from our work and elsewhere. Some friends are like family such as the Lapps we often mention. This morning we will take Lizzie, whose 11th birthday is on Friday, to the restaurant of her choice and she chose "the restaurant that has 'barrel' in it!" Brooksyne quickly realized she was talking about Cracker Barrel. We see some friends regularly, others less frequently. Social media has given us the ability to stay connected easier and in some cases connect again with long lost friends. But we still prefer old-fashioned face to face fellowship with our friends like we had yesterday around our outdoor table.
What a blessing friends are. A great line from the classic film "It’s a Wonderful Life" states, "No man is a failure who has friends". But as we age we have more and more "friends above". The hymnwriter here is surely referring to those who have gone on to be with the Lord. Throughout life this lists grows till there’s a point our "friends above" exceed our "friends on earth". Our seniors at the nursing home tell us they have more friends and family in heaven than here on earth. We like the story about the elderly lady in the nursing home that was still living long on this side and was worried that her "friends above" would think she didn’t make it! Ed and Jim are two friends now in their late 80’s and early nineties. They didn’t know each other most of their lives but in the last several years have become good friends. Of course we continue to develop new friendships along the way and expect that many of these will also become long-term. Our daily text speaks of a future event all believers look forward to. It’s a time when "friends on earth and friends above" will gather together in heaven. It’s a familiar passage dealing with what is commonly called the rapture. Today though we want to consider especially this thought, “We who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air". This describes a great gathering of family and friends who are redeemed; a time when "friends on earth and friends above" will converge together with Jesus in their midst. It will be the ultimate gathering and will include several notable, distinct features, unlike any gathering ever held here on earth:
Be encouraged today, (Hebrews 3:13)
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
![]() The line "Friends on earth and friends above" comes from the third stanza of the hymn, "For The Beauty Of The Earth". For the joy of human love,
Brother, sister, parent, child; Friends on earth and friends above, For all gentle thoughts and mild; Lord of all, to Thee we raise This, our hymn of grateful praise. This was the title of our message yesterday and we will share the same song but a different artist! Video Children's Scripture Memory Hymns
"Won't It Be Wonderful There" Video Brian Free & Assurance
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