Making a Differencewith Pastor Phil Erickson

Jan 30th, 2011 God Gives You What You Need

Today’s Passage – Exodus 30 – 32; Proverbs 30

(Second Milers also read Luke 14 – 15; memorize Psalm 119:11)

“See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, … And I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan: and in the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded thee;” – (Exodus 31:2-3, 6)

Jan 27th, 2011 Entering Canaan

Today’s Reading – Exodus 22 – 24; Proverbs 27

(Second Milers also read Luke 8 & 9 ; memorize Psalms 119:9)

“I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee.” – (Exodus 23:27)

In Exodus 23, we see the nation of Israel travelling in the wilderness on their way out of Egypt and into Canaan, the land of promise. The verse cited above is one of those promises that were associated with the land. A careful reading of the chapter will reveal that God promised his people prosperity, which included abundant provision, and divine protection if they were to obey Him. God promised that the inhabitants of the land would be driven out, and all of the enemies of Israel would flee from them. Again, these promises were contigent upon the nation’s obedience in wholly following the Lord.

In this passage we see a picture of the Christian life today. God has also delivered us out of Egypt when He saved us. He wants to bring us into the spiritual land of Canaan, which is the Spirit-filled, Christ-centered life. Canaan of the Old Testament is not a picture of Heaven. You will remember the people still had battles to fight there,and there will be no more battles to fight once we get to Heaven; but Canaan is a picture of spiritual victory. Entering Canaan today for the believer is also contigent upon our submission to the will of God. Too many believers today are content to wander in the wilderness of their own reasoning and understanding. They are doing their thing instead of God’s thing. What’s worse is that there are also many genuine believers who live with their backs turned from Canaan and their focus still on Egypt (the world).

It is my desire to live in Canaan. I want to have the victories that God promises those who are surrendered to Him. I am tired of wandering in the spiritual barreness of the wilderness. How about you? God has an abundant life prepared for you which also includes provision, protection, power, and a wonderful purpose; but you cannot do it your way. You must surrender your will to the perfect will of God. Let the Holy Spirit of God control you and guide you, and you will experience the wonderful blessing and abundant life that God desires for you.

Jan 25th, 2011 Whatever Happened To Sunday?

Today’s Passage – Exodus 16 – 18; Proverbs 25

(Second Milers also read Luke 4 & 5; memorize Psalm 119:9)

“See, for that the LORD hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day.” – (Exodus 16:29-30)

I am 46 years old, and I remember that when I was a boy everything shut down on Sunday. The supermarkets were closed; the department stores were closed; the home improvement stores were closed: it seemed like everything was closed. I remember when the first supermarket in our area opened up on Sunday. It was big news. Soon, all of the other supermarkets started opening. At first, Sunday was the worst sales day of the week for the retailers. I remember the managers telling me that it was a waste of time to even open, because they didn’t do enough business to justify it. Now, it is the best sales day of the week. How did we get away from Sunday being a day when just about everyone  had the day off and stayed home after church. I bet those businessmen that started it all thought that it would be a way for them to get a little ahead of their competitors. I wonder if they did? I wonder if they would look back on their decision and consider it a good thing? Come to think of it, the particular company that started it in our area is bankrupt today. What a shame.

In our passage today, God says in chapter 16 that He will supply the Israelites enough manna on the sixth day so that they would not have to gather it on the seventh. Now, before you fuss at me: I am well aware that the Sabbath for the nation Israel was Saturday, not Sunday. However, for Christians, the day that we set apart for worship and rest has traditionally been Sunday, the day of the resurrection. I think America was a much better place when she observed a day of rest on Sunday. Just about everybody went to church on Sunday, and very few people were forced to work.

The devil and the world have made it very difficult for Christians to be faithful to the Lord in setting aside Sunday as the Lord’s day. It has always been my conviction to keep Sunday as the day that our family worships the Lord. We have always made it a practice to attend both the morning and the evening services at our church. It is the Lord’s day, not just the Lord’s morning; and we are supposed to gather together “so much the more as we see the day approaching.” God has always been faithful. He has always met all of my family’s needs. We haven’t lost a thing by keeping Sunday as a day set apart from the rest of the week for the purpose of rest and worship.

Christian, if I can offer you one piece of advice from this passage it would be this: set aside Sunday as the Lord’s day. Do everything in your power to get the day off from work. It may take a while to arrange your affairs so that this can be done, but work toward it. Go to church and then spend time together as a family. Eat a meal together on Sunday afternoon. Take a nap, or maybe have some fellowship with some extended family and friends.  Make Sunday a special day; a day that you look forward to all the week long. Don’t worry about how you will be able to meet all of your obligations because you have eliminated a day of earning income. Remember God is able to give you enough in six days to cover the seventh. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God” and He will take care of everything else.

I hope to see you this Sunday at church!

Jan 24th, 2011 How Quickly We Forget

Today’s Reading – Exodus 13 – 15; Proverbs 24

(Second Milers also read Luke 2 & 3; Memorize Psalm 119:9)

Jan 20th, 2011 The Call of God

Today’s Passage – Exodus 1 – 3; Proverbs 20 (Second Milers also read – Mark 11 & 12; memorize Colossians 3:16)

“And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.” (Exodus 3:4)

Forgive me for reminiscing a little this morning, but when I read this passage of Scripture dealing with the call of God to Moses, I can’t help but remember the times that I heard clearly the voice of God as He was directing my life. The times that I will share with you happened after I had already trusted Christ as my Saviour, and after I was also already serving Him and growing in Him the best I knew how through my local church. Notice in the passage that Moses also had to get close to God in order for him to hear God’s call.

The first time in my life that I felt God call me was when I was attending a evening service back at Ocean County Baptist Church nearly 20 years ago. I was probably 25 years old at the time and had only been a Christian at that  point for a short while. Anyway, we had a guest missionary speaker that night. I must confess that I do not remember the preacher’s name, or  the place where he was a missionary. I don’t even remember his message title or text. What I do remember, however, was his invitation. It went something like this: “If God were to call you to do something, and He were to make it clear to you that it was His will, would you surrender?” To me, that was a no brainer. The man was not asking me to surrender to some specific place or ministry at that moment; he was merely posing the possibility of a call, and asking what my response would be. I went forward, and frankly I thought the entire congregation would have walked the aisle with me; but when I got up after praying, I was shocked to see that there was only two of us up at the front. At that time in my life, I had no idea what God might do with me; but I told Him that night that I was willing to go “if” He were to call me. I often think back on that moment as the beginning point of God directing me to where I am today.

The second time, I heard God’s call clearly was when He called me to go to Bible College. I had already been to college once, and I was perfectly content with just serving with my pastor at my home church while I learned what I needed to know there. I remember my pastor and I agreeing that I should take some correspondance classes so that I would not have to uproot my family and go off to school. God, however, had other plans. While I was attending a conference down in Longview, Texas, God revealed clearly to me that He wanted me to be trained at Texas Baptist College. I do not regret that move for one minute. God taught me much there; but the main thing that He taught me was how to trust Him.

The third time I heard the voice of God in my life was when God called me to be the pastor of Jersey Shore Baptist Church. I never candidated at any other church. I really didn’t even candidate here. God, through a very miraculous set of circumstances, placed me here. That was almost ten years ago now and one thing is for sure, knowing that I was genuinely “called of God” has been the thing that has kept me going for this past decade. There have been many blessings along the way; and there has also been some difficult days; but I know that I am exactly where God wants me. The certainty of God’s call is what helps keep me going.