Making a Differencewith Pastor Phil Erickson

Jul 15th, 2017 Come And Dine – The Saturday Morning Post

Today’s Reading – Proverbs 1 – 3 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)

(Second Milers also read – Mark 1 – 2; Psalms 71 – 75; Proverbs 15)

Read the “0715 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” (Proverbs 1:7)

“Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.” (Proverbs 23-33)

“The lips of the righteous feed many: but fools die for want of wisdom.” (Proverbs 10:21)

Good morning. One of the lamest excuses ever devised for leaving a church is saying I’m not being fed. But your Host is saying come and dine. When you go to somebody’s house for dinner, you should expect to be fed. The Host puts the plate He has prepared in front of you. You are being fed, but if you don’t eat, that’s not the Host’s fault: you are not eating. God has prepared the perfect meal for you, but He will not force you to eat it. You are the one who must come and dine.

1) Look at your plate, see the beauty, and smell the aroma.

“A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.” (Proverbs 25:11)

God has given you something to enjoy, something you need. You may not notice or need it just yet, but you will. Or it could stand out and be easily seen as golden apples on a silver background.

2) Pray…

You should always say grace, and thank God for what you are about to receive

“Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.” (Psalm 119:18)

Pray that God opens your eyes. Pray that you will understand the preacher as he delivers the Word that God has given him.

3) Taste.

If food is going to do a body good, you need to eat it. But what if I don’t like it?

“Thy word is very pure: therefore thy servant loveth it.” (Psalm 119:140)

Let’s talk onions here for a minute. When I was a child, I did not like onions. I would go to my room, or outside, running, coughing, and hacking as I went. Come to think about it I had the same reaction when my wife cooked onions. Then I heard about a small Mexican restaurant on Rt. 35 in Neptune, NJ. I was told they had good chili. I went there to have a bowl. Guess what? They brought it out, and there on top of the chili, in the middle of the bowl was a pile of 1/4″ cubed raw onion. I did not have time to reorder: I was on my lunch break. I mixed them into the chili rather than try to eat around them. And guess what now? It was good!

Listen carefully to the message that God has given the preacher to give to you. You may not like it, but as you wander down the road of life, and you need it, the Holy Spirit will bring it to mind.

4) Come and dine: eat.

“Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.” (Jeremiah 16:15)

Food will not do you any good unless you take it in. You can sit there in the pew thinking you are not being fed, or you could eat…

“The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.” (Psalm 19:7-10)

Peace.