✝ Daily Encouragement (7/27/23) "A Letter From Christ"

Published: Thu, 07/27/23

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 27, 2023

Pony Express Museum

This is the view of when the very first horse departed.

Click on photo to enlarge

"A Letter From Christ"

Travel Note: This morning we are in Kansas City after attending a family reunion in Nebraska. We gathered for three days with Stephen's cousins on his Mom's side as we have annually since 1975. Due to travel and expected busyness and weariness we are unable to post messages each day this week. We are accustomed to using two desk computers but only have a small laptop with us which Stephen especially finds hard to use.

Message summary: "You show that you are a letter from Christ." What do people see in that letter from Christ? Hopefully it will be the fruit of His spirit, supremely His love.

(Due to travel our podcast is not prepared for this message.)

"You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts" (2 Corinthians 3:2,3).

On our way to Kansas City from Nebraska yesterday we passed through Saint Joseph and visited the Pony Express Museum. How many of you remember what the Pony Express was?

St. Joseph was the eastern starting point for the "Pony Express". It was an express mail service from St. Joseph Missouri to San Francisco CA that started on April 3, 1860. It ceased operations with the completion of the transcontinental telegraph almost 18 months later on October 26, 1861. Until the Pony's last run it brought news of battles and lists of dead and wounded to the anxious westerners. Its last run was on November 20, 1861 having completed some 300 runs each way over 600,000 miles - and carried over 33,000 pieces of mail. It used a relay of ponies (actually horses) to get mail out and back which you can imagine was very inefficient. If you think postage is expensive today, consider how much people paid to use the Pony Express: five dollars per 1/2 oz. for mail, eventually reduced to one dollar.

A reference to the Pony Express is one of the many ways I tease Ester. When we've been away from home she's annoyed when I ask her if anyone called while we were out, hearkening back to the good old days when there was just one family phone line. (We, like most these days, each have our own phones). Then I ask her if she's checked the answering machine, which of course is now called "voice mail". She tells me no one uses voice mail anymore, they text. So then I say "Well then, did we get a telegraph message?" and finally ending with, "Did the Pony Express stop by?"

When we told Ester about going to the museum she told us she didn't know the Pony Express was a real thing. She thought I had made it up. I guess she hasn't watched the old westerns that often showed the Pony Express delivering mail.

Today let's go way back, long before the Pony Express, to a letter sent from Paul to the Corinthians. It was a hand delivered letter by Titus (most believe) and likely traveled quite slowly by our standards. This letter, along with the other New Testament letters, comprise a primary source of our understanding of Christian theology.

Paul had established the church in Corinth and spent 18 months as Pastor, "teaching them the Word of God" (Acts 18:11), before moving on and leaving the church under the care of others. We have more material written by Paul to the Corinthian believers than to any other single church.

He wrote to them: "You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts."

This is one letter we should all aspire to be. Bible teacher Richard Stearns writes, "As followers of Christ, we bear the responsibility of demonstrating to the world what Jesus might look like were He to walk the earth today. Those who will never enter the door of a church or read a Bible or hear a sermon can still know Jesus by watching us!"

Notice especially the phrase, "You show that you are a letter from Christ". What do people see in our "letter from Christ"? Hopefully it will be the fruit of His spirit, supremely His love.

You're the only Jesus, some will ever see
And you're the only words of life some will ever read,
So let them see in you
The One in whom is all they'll ever need,
'Cause you're the only Jesus some will ever see.

Be encouraged today, ( Hebrews 3:13)

Stephen & Brooksyne Weber

Daily prayer: Father, as we walk according to Your commands we become more and more like Jesus, as though we are a letter sent from Him written not with ink but by the guidance of Your Spirit with in us. We want to help those who walk in darkness to see the light of salvation through Christ Jesus; the One in whom is abundant life and life everlasting, the One who heals the broken heart, gives sight to the blind, and saves even the vilest offender who truly believes. May our lives reflect the very image of Christ in all we say and do, for it's in His name that we pray. Amen.

2023 Steincross Family reunion in Nebraska City, NE

Click on photo to enlarge

Note: We will share more photos of our trip when we return to Pennsylvania. Today we are going to visit Union Station in Kansas City and take a city trolley tour. Stephen grew up in this area but left 50 years ago so things have changed a lot!

Finally today: Pony Express Rider's were required to take this oath: "I,_________ , DO HEREBY SWEAR, BEFORE THE GREAT AND LIVING GOD, THAT DURING MY ENGAGEMENT, AND WHILE I AM AN EMPLOYEE OF RUSSELL, MAJORS AND WADDELL, I WILL, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES, USE PROFANE LANGUAGE, THAT I WILL DRINK NO INTOXICATING LIQUORS, THAT I WILL NOT QUARREL OR FIGHT WITH ANY OTHER EMPLOYEE OF THE FIRM, AND THAT IN EVERY RESPECT I WILL CONDUCT MYSELF HONESTLY, BE FAITHFUL TO MY DUTIES, AND SO DIRECT ALL MY ACTS AS TO WIN THE CONFIDENCE OF MY EMPLOYERS. SO HELP ME GOD."

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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.

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