✝ Daily Encouragement (3/11/24) "No Hopeless Cause"
Published: Mon, 03/11/24
A daily, Bible-based perspective of hope, encouragement and exhortation. The online Bible teaching ministry of Stephen & Brooksyne Weber.
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Home Archives About Us Listen to these messages Monday, March 11, 2024
A young Joey Cullen hugging my
Mom.
We visited with Joey and his wife Lori
yesterday.
Mom's earnest prayers and continued interest were an encouragement to Joey and many others. Wherever Mom went she loved people and people loved
her.
"No Hopeless
Cause"
Message summary:
In Christ there is forgiveness! There's no hopeless cause
. He is able to save to the uttermost. A statement from a book I read many years ago by Max Lucado comes to mind. He uses it to conclude a powerful redemptive story of a wayward child. It's God's call to
all:
"Whatever you have
done,
whatever you have
become,
it doesn't matter.
Please come
home."
Listen
to our message on your audio player.
"But with You there is forgiveness" (Psalm 130:4). "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). Today's message is a bit longer as we share an experience we had this past weekend. It was Ester's birthday on Saturday so she was blessed by a joining the women in our ABF class for breakfast at Panera and later that evening we had dinner with the Lapp family at Crackerbarrel.
Sunday morning we left bright and early to attend church in Philadelphia. We
have two connections in the church. Phil and his wife Carol are longtime friends going back to Bible College in the mid seventies.
Phil planted
the Philadelphia Christian Center which he has served for over 40 years.
The other connection is Joey Cullen, whom we came to know while he was growing up in Massachusetts in the 90's. Joey, his sister and mom attended the church we pastored in Taunton. Fast forward a couple decades and He is now Phil's son-in law and associate pastor. Both relationships would bear a story but today we focus on Joey and his family who came into our church as a very troubled teenager in the mid-nineties. When introducing us yesterday he shared his testimony and it bears listening to (we have this video from the service cued to where he starts). Joey's story is similar to his mother's story. Both remind those of us in ministry to never give up on people.
Yvette, Joey's mom, came into the church we served with her two children
while in her mid-thirties and she has a powerful testimony of God's forgiveness and restoration. She freely shares her testimony with the hope that Daily Encouragement readers will rejoice with her in the transforming power of Jesus Christ.
Yvette was raised in an ungodly home where she experienced physical, sexual, and emotional abuse from her mother's boyfriend and stepfather. Due to this ongoing abuse Yvette ran away from home when she was fourteen and lived on the streets. She describes her life for the next 20 years as a series of addictions to alcohol, drugs, tobacco and sexual immorality. She had an abortion, as well as two children by two different men in abusive marriages. Many would call her life a "hopeless cause." But with God there are no hopeless causes! A friend invited Yvette to her church and for the first time in her life she heard the message of Christ's love and forgiveness. At that very time Yvette accepted Christ and thus began the major overhaul that is the process of spiritual transformation. After a couple years of staggered spiritual growth she came into our church with a tremendous amount of baggage that often contributed to her wavering Christian experience. Over the next few years Brooksyne and I, along with others in the congregation, spent a great deal of time praying with her and sharing specific Scriptures pertinent to the current trial she was facing. She spent a lot of time in our home – we wanted her to be in a Christian family setting.
Yvette experienced great loss in her life during this time and was homeless
for a period as well. She battled with the enemy who still greatly desired to have her. But her heart was tender and Jesus desired to have her far more than Satan because He wanted to take the ashes of her life and turn them into something beautiful, and He did just that.
Due to her lifestyle, prior to becoming a Christian, both of her children followed in her path and entered a disparaging lifestyle that was similar to hers. I recall as her pastor, along with our church, frequently praying for her children but seemingly to no avail. Since there were no visible signs of change I must admit my faith was often weak, but we continued to pray.
Here we are some 25 years later and Yvette has stayed faithful to the Lord,
and in the years since we moved down to Pennsylvania from New England, both of her children, Nicole and Joey, have accepted the Lord and are in active Christian service. In fact all three of them worked in Teen Challenge! Yvette and her husband Wayne are currently the directors of Adult & Teen Challenge in Connecticut.
In Christ there is forgiveness! There's no hopeless cause. He is able to save to the uttermost. A statement from a book I read many years ago by Max Lucado comes to mind. He uses it to conclude a powerful redemptive story of a wayward child. It's God's call to all: "Whatever you have
done,
whatever you have
become,
it doesn't matter.
Please come
home."
Be encouraged
today,
Hebrews
3:13
Stephen & Brooksyne
Weber
Daily
prayer:
Father, we pray for the prodigal son, daughter, husband, wife or other family member(s) who have strayed from their faith in God. May they hear and take to heart Max Lucado's words, "Whatever you have done, whatever you have become, it doesn't matter. Please come home." For some of those prodigals there is no longer the brick and mortar home they left, but they can still
come home to their heavenly Father, find His forgiveness, grace, and mercy to meet their sin problem and every other need they have. We pray that they will indeed come home to You, our Father. Amen.
A personal word from Yvette: I want to encourage those who are struggling to keep pressing forward, do not give up, and don't lean on your own understanding (Proverbs 3:5&6). God is faithful to those who earnestly seek Him and put Him first (Matthew 6:33). When you're praying for your loved ones don't give up when you don't see instant results or outward change, because God works in the heart where only He can see (Galatians 6:9).
Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental
Resources
Video from the service yesterday cued to where Joey introduces us and shares his testimony)
Following Joey's testimony Pastor Phil welcomed me to the platform for a
brief greeting. We hugged as Joey looks on. Phil is fully Italian. When we visited them in their start up his mom fixed an outstanding Italian meal that we remember to this day.
Phil and Carol
Menditto
We remember visiting the church when it first started in the early 80's
and met in a Howard Johnson's hotel. It is now one of the largest churches in Philadelphia and definitely a city church; very multi ethnic and multi racial. Phil is a straight shooting preacher who doesn't shy away from the truth and Joey told me that they regularly have people walk out due to being offended about something. A mark of Phil's character was demonstrated early on when a number from his own family members expressed concern that too many blacks were coming into the
church. Phil, a young man at the time, told them he wasn't going to tell God who to lead into the church and thus lost attendees from his own family. Based on observation I would estimate 60-70% of the church was black. Phil's hard preaching style was peppered with reminders of how he loved the congregation and I could sense the love and esteem they have for
him.
Philadelphia Christian Center is very mission and outreach focused. They
have a fleet of Mercy Trucks that go into the city and beyond to provide food, clothing and other items to those in need. This photo was taken in the Kensington section of the city, a rather infamous open drug market.
If you've never heard of Kensington here is a video
from last Saturday. I see on the
schedule the Mercy Truck will be there tomorrow.
We asked Joey if they see many coming into the church from this outreach and he told us that's not their goal but rather to witness and have local churches in the area
follow-up.
In 2006 I had the privilege of officiating Wayne and Yvette's
wedding.
Wayne and Yvette determined early on, as they pursued their relationship, they would wait until their wedding ceremony to enjoy their first kiss. They kept their word and at this point of the ceremony Stephen's excitement at being the one to give them permission to enjoy their first kiss was captured on camera. There were a lot of Teen Challenge students present so it was a very emotionally charged congregation who witnessed their vows and verbally celebrated this very special moment. I (Brooksyne) tease that Stephen couldn't open his mouth this wide in Lancaster County without some fly making its way in.
Yvette's daughter Nicole (pictured with
her husband Eric) graduated from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and they have two children. She too has a remarkable testimony of salvation, deliverance and healing.
Visiting with Joey at a church conference about 15 years
agoHere's the wedding photo for Joey and Lori in June 2010. Wayne & Yvette (Joey's mom) are in the left in the photo. Lori's parents, Pastor Phil and Carol Menditto are on the right side. It was a real joy to attend a wedding for a young couple setting out in life with a determination to mutually serve the Lord. We had dinner with them yesterday following the service and what a joy to see them doing well and serving God together along with their 2 children! Lorna led our youth group during a time in Joey's life when he was rebellious but she determined to show the love of Christ to this troubled young man. The hug at his wedding reception shows his lasting appreciation! Another memory but no
photo:
When we moved from New England to Lancaster County in February 2001 we
rented an old farmhouse north of Mount Joy for the first year before we bought our current home. The farmhouse overlooked a covered bridge over Little Chiques (Chickies) Creek. Up the creek a bit from the bridge was a densely wooded area with a
very
spooky looking old truck parked in it,
probably right where it broke down. As I recall it had evidence of being a party spot with beer cans and bottles strewn about.
Yvette and Joey, who was an older teenager by this time, came to visit us from our former church in New England. Joey was going through a very rebellious teen season at this point. He was a city kid unfamiliar with the country and I was and still can be a bit of a rascal so I decided to issue a challenge to him. It was very dark and I challenged street tough Joey to go into those dark woods on Risser Mill Road where the truck was parked and prove he had found it by taking a photo from inside of the cab. He took up the challenge and was gone for quite a while. When he finally came back he told us he found the truck and took a photo, but we only had a film camera in 2001 so we had to wait till we had the film developed to see the proof. Sure enough he was telling the truth! I sure wish I could find that photo now! He told me yesterday it was so very scary but he was determined to do it. His mom was scared for him too! I told him that's what "real men" do instead of participating in the nonsense of the world.
"In Heaven's Eyes"
Watch on
YouTube
Kathy
Unger
A fervent prayer rose up to heaven, A fragile soul was losing ground, Sorting through the earthly babble, Heaven heard the sound. This was a life of no distinction, No successes only trials. Yet gazing down on this unlovely one, There was love in heaven's eyes. In heaven's eyes there are no losers, In heaven's eyes no hopeless cause. Only people like you With feelings like me, Amazed by the grace We can find in heaven's eyes. The orphan child, the wayward father, The homeless traveler in the rain. When life goes by and no one bothers, Heaven feels the pain. Looking down God sees each heartache, Knows each sorrow, hears each cry. And looking up we'll see compassion's fire, Ablaze in heaven's eyes. "Just When You Thought"
Watch on YouTube Joseph Habedank
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Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
717-823-0592
Daily Encouragement Net
https://www.dailyencouragement.net
Mail service provider is aweber.com
495 Kraybill Church Rd
Mount Joy PA 17552
USA
Unsubscribe | Change Subscriber Options