✝ Daily Encouragement (3/15/24) "God’s Word Is Not Chained"
Published: Fri, 03/15/24
A daily, Bible-based perspective of hope, encouragement and exhortation. The online Bible teaching ministry of Stephen & Brooksyne Weber.
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Friday, March 15, 2024
Ester took this photo on the way to the "Grandparents Day" program
we attended at an Amish school on Wednesday afternoon. These grandparents are walking with their grandson to the meeting at the school barely visible down over the hill. He's probably too young to attend school but is excited about seeing his older brothers and sisters.
"God’s Word
Is Not Chained"
Message summary: Remember today, even in the darkness, God's Word (the Gospel) is not chained and is bearing fruit all over the world!
Listen to our message on your audio player.
"Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David.
This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained" (2 Timothy 2:8,9).
Wednesday afternoon when we returned from the Amish school program we wrote
about yesterday we stopped by an Amish run Re-Uzit shop in Bird in Hand (another unusually named Lancaster County town).
Brooksyne especially enjoys these types of shops and now Ester is also
getting the bug since she has three rooms of her own after our add-on. I moseyed in with her trying to be a pretty good husband but was ready to leave long before she was!
I did find a small item that interested me, a small welded piece of chain, although I really don't know what purpose it has. So at just $2.00 I bought it since I like what chains represent in Scripture and in Christian
music such as "Chainbreaker" by Zach Williams.If you've got pain, He's a pain taker
If you feel lost, He's a way maker If you need freedom or saving, He's a prison-shaking Savior If you got chains, He's a chain breaker
Today I want to consider a verse I don't recall ever giving much
attention to. All my sermons since 1993 are in digital form and searchable, also every Daily Encouragement message since the beginning in October 1996.
It's in 2 Timothy, Paul's last letter chronologically. It's a
word to Timothy and to each of us expressing Paul's priorities:
"Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained" (2 Timothy
2:8,9).
Although 2 Timothy is not among the grouping called "Prison Epistles" (Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon) Paul was in some type of confinement as he wrote this letter as well,
"
I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal". This is clear throughout the book as he appeals for others to come to him.
Our focus today is the last phrase,
"
But God’s word is not chained".
"But"
- Thank the Lord for this great transitional term of
contrast!
"God's word"
is used 11 times in Acts (click here for these verses) as a synonym for the gospel, which is clearly its meaning in this passage (in context).
"Is not chained". "Not" is the Greek particle "οὐ" indicating absolutely not. Not chained is certainly a contrast to Paul being chained.
John Bunyan (1628-1688) who wrote Pilgrim’s Progress, was imprisoned
in Bedford, England for preaching the gospel. Yet for several centuries that book was second in sales only to the Bible. Bunyan’s cell window faced a high stone wall that surrounded the prison, making it impossible to see into or out of his cell. On many days, however, he would preach loudly enough for his voice to be heard on the outside of the wall, where hundreds of listeners, believers and unbelievers, eagerly awaited his proclamation of God’s Word, which was literally not
imprisoned by stone walls or iron bars!
Paul wrote to the Colossians that
"In the same way, the gospel is
bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace" (Colossians 1:6).
Remember today, even in the darkness, God's Word (the Gospel) is not
chained and is bearing fruit all over the world!
Be encouraged
today,
Hebrews
3:13
Stephen & Brooksyne
Weber
Daily
prayer:
Merciful Father, no evil person or force on earth can prevent the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ from spreading to the four corners of the world. You use the most unlikely messengers in the most unlikely settings to reach those who have not heard and those who have heard but walked away from the truths espoused in Scripture. Remembering that Your salvation message cannot be
chained brings great comfort to our hearts. Persecution cannot hinder the operation of the work of God on people's hearts or their consciences. We pray for those who regularly visit the prisons to carry forth the gospel and for those who are incarcerated but now walk in the light of Jesus Christ. Empower and embolden them to share the gospel message with those who are imprisoned with them. You are a God of the impossible and You do great things to and through those yielded to Your will. We
thank You for Your unchained power and unlimited goodness to each of us through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. For further study on today's text Charles Spurgeon has a sermon:
In what sense is it true that “the word of God is not bound”?
That the word is not bound is, at this time, true in many senses.
(Full sermon -
Not Bound
Yet)
Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental
Resources
"Chainbreaker"
Watch on YouTube
Zach Williams
Long my imprisoned spirit lay
Fast bound in sin and nature's night; Thine eye diffused a quick'ning ray, I woke, the dungeon flamed with light; My chains fell off, my heart was free; I rose, went forth and followed Thee. "Break Every Chain"
Watch on YouTube Jesus Culture
"Living Hope"
Watch on YouTube Phil Wickham
Hallelujah, praise the One who set me free
Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me You have broken every chain There's salvation in Your name Jesus Christ, my living hope
It's interesting how many songs have a theme including chain. See this list.
 Chaplain Dave Hertle holding the heavy chain cross that
has links welded together. We visited with him
at a trucker chapel many years ago near Omaha, Nebraska.
We had a beautiful, very warm day yesterday
and I (Stephen) took a bike ride through rural Lancaster County between Mount Joy and Manheim.
This farm setting was off Weaver Road near Rt
772.
Kaufmans Distillery Covered
Bridge
This was built in 1874 and named after a nearby
distillery.
Shencks Mill Covered Bridge was built in
1855
Both of these bridges cross Chiques Creek and are still heavily
used.
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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."
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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