Making a Differencewith Pastor Phil Erickson

Nov 10th Jesus Still Weeps

Today’s Passages – John 10 – 11; Proverbs 10

(Second Milers also read – Psalms 46 – 50; Memorize – Psalm 100:4)

Read last year’s post from this passage – “The Door”

Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 121

Click here to read “How To Steward Your Trials With Grace” by Paul Chappell.

“Jesus wept.” – (John 11:35 )

Though this verse is short in length, it is long in truth because it reveals the heart of compassion that God has for His children. If you think carefully about this passage, you will conclude that Jesus was not weeping for Lazarus. He knew that He was about to raise Lazarus from the dead; He knew that Lazarus would soon be reunited with his sisters, Mary and Martha. In fact, Jesus delayed his arrival to Bethany long enough because had He gotten there earlier, we would have been reading about a healing rather than a resurrection. Jesus wanted to prove His power over death, and by so doing foreshadow his own resurrection. So why was Jesus weepin? I believe He was weeping because the people that He cared about were weeping. He identified with their grief. He actually felt the pain that they were feeling. It is comforting to know that even when Jesus allows difficult days to come into our lives, He goes through them with us; and He weeps with us.

As I was reading this passage, I got to thinking about another passage that tells us about our Saviour’s tears:

“But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.” – (Matthew 9:36)

In this passage Jesus looks out over the multitudes and He was “moved with compassion”, which means He wept for them. I believe at that moment Jesus not only saw the multitudes of that location and that time, but He also saw all of the people in every place throughout eternity that were without a Shepherd. He saw all of the people that were in need of a Saviour; and He saw all of the people who would ultimately die without Him. By the way, this verse has caused me to reject the Calvinistic idea that Christ created people to go to Hell, and does not give them a choice regarding salvation. Why would God weep over people that have no free will and were created to go to Hell. It just doesn’t make sense. No, “God is not willing that any should perish”. He wants people to be saved. Unfortunately, most will reject Him; and this will still cause God to weep.

Let me give you one more time where Jesus wept:

“And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” – (Luke 22:44)

In this passage, Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane and He is about to have the sins of the world placed squarely upon His shoulders. His Father will turn His face away from Him, and pour out His wrath upon His only Son. Our sin causes God to grieve. We grieve Jesus, and we grieve the Spirit within us, when we sin. Many people are kept inside the will of God because they fear His wrath or judgment; but I have to tell you, His tears are what bother me the most. I don’t want to grieve God anymore. I have caused Him enough tears already.

Nov 9th Put Down Your Stones

Today’s Passages – John 8 – 9; Proverbs 9

(Second Milers also read – Psalms 41 – 45; Memorize – Psalm 100:4)

Read this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 119:105

Click here to read last year’s post on this passage – “Believe It – He’s the Great I Am”

“So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. … She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” – (John 8:7, 11)

Preachers have a difficult job. They are commanded by God to preach the Word; and as we all know well, preaching involves a great deal of reproving and rebuking. The problem is that the preacher who may be reproving and rebuking others through the Word of God is also a guilty sinner himself. Recently, I was told about a person who had fallen into sin. My first reaction was that I wanted to sharply rebuke this person; but then God began to remind me of how often I have failed; maybe not in the same area, but guilty nonetheless.

I have decided that I am going to put down my stones. Oh, I will still preach the Book; but I will try to stop preaching it with a self-righteous tone of superiority. I am guilty myself. The older I get, and the more I grow in the Lord, the more I realize how far away from God I really am. My flesh is still alive and well, and though I try to crucify it often, it still resurrects itself and wreaks havoc with my spiritual walk. You see, If I received my just reward there would be a pile of rocks on top on me.  Let’s try to be as compassionate as we can with people who are weak in their flesh just as we are. Let’s try to edify and strengthen each other; and encourage each other to walk in the Spirit so that we will not fulfil the lusts of the flesh. Let’s stop condemning each other. There is going to come a day when I will need some compassion from the people around me; but I fear that I will only reap proportionately to what I have sowed. Let’s put down our stones.

Nov 8th Where Am I Going To Go?

Today’s Passages – John 6 – 7; Proverbs 8

(Second Milers also read – Psalms 36 – 40; Memorize Psalm 100:4)

Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 92:1 – 4

Read last year’s post on this passage – “Don’t Quit!”

“Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.” – (John 6:68)

I remember recently having a discussion with a close friend of mine about whether he ever thought about quitting on God. His answer kind of reminded me of Peter’s answer in John 6:68 above. He said, “where am I going to go?”.  What he was actually saying was that there is only one hope for salvation, and that is in the Person of Jesus Christ. Who else could we possibly turn to? There is no-one else.

I have been saved now for nearly twenty-two years; and in that time I have experienced many mountaintops. It is easy to praise God and exalt His name when I am on the mountaintop. However, I have also been in the valley, many times due to some bad decisions that I have made. In the valley it is not always so easy to praise the Lord. In fact it is not always easy to even see the Lord. There have been times that I have actually contemplated throwing in the towel, and turning my back on the Lord and His church. By the grace of God, He has kept me in, but I think what has always helped me was the fact that God would remind me that I really have no alternative. Who would I go to? What would I do? If I thought the valley I was in at the time was bad, I wondered how much worse life would be without the Lord. My faith in God, and the promises of His Word, would always keep me from quitting.

Praise the Lord for His grace! Let me encourage you: don’t run from the Lord – run to Him. He has the Words of eternal life!

Nov 7th Living Water

Today’s Passages – John 4 – 5; Proverbs 7

“Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” – (John 4:13-14)

Several years ago I was preaching and teaching through the Gospel of John, and as I was preparing for the message from chapter four I came across a commentary written by a man named Arthur Pink. I was fascinated by what Pink wrote about this passage regarding how water is a type of salvation. Here is an excerpt from his book:

1. Water is a gift from God. It is something which man, despite all his boasted wisdom, is quite unable to create. For water we are absolutely dependent upon God. It is equally so with His salvation, of which water is here a figure. 2. Water is something which is indispensable to man. It is not a luxury, but a vital necessity. It is that without which man cannot live. It is equally so with God’s salvation—apart from it men are eternally lost. 3. Water is that which meets a universal need; it is not merely a local requirement, but a general one. All are in need of water. It is so with God’s salvation. It is not merely some particular class of people, who are more wicked than their fellows, for all who are outside of Christ are lost. 4. Water is that which first descends from the heavens. It is not a product of the earth, but comes down from above. So is it with salvation: it is “of the Lord.” 5. Water is a blessed boon: it cools the fevered brow, slakes the thirst, refreshes and satisfies. And so does the salvation which is to be found in Christ. 6. Water is something of which we never tire. Other things satiate us, but not so with water. It is equally true of God’s salvation to the heart of every one who has really received it. 7. Water is strangely and unevenly distributed by God. In some places there is an abundance; in others very little; in others none at all. It is so with God’s salvation. In some nations there are many who have been visited by the Dayspring from on high; in others there are few who have passed from death unto life; while in others there seem to be none at all. (Pink, Arthur – The Gospel of John, chapter 12)

I do not know if all of these thoughts were original to Mr. Pink, but I was fascinated by his observation. Let me be quick to point out, however, that we would certainly not agree with everything that Mr. Pink believed and taught, especially his hyper-calvinistic leanings; but I have been blessed countless times by some of the thoughts that he received from the Lord. We need to be good Bereans, and search the Scriptures ourselves in order to see whether the things that men are teaching us are true. But I am glad that I can glean some wisdom from men who have pondered these truths before me.

PS – I would like to ask you to consider another observation from chapters 3 and 4 of John’s Gospel. Notice the contrast between Nicodemus and this un-named woman:

1  Nicodemus is a ruler of the Jews. She is a despised, Samaritan woman.

2  Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night, perhaps because he feared being seen by his peers. Jesus comes to this Samaritan woman in the middle of the day.

3  Jesus is very pointed to the Pharisee, but He is very patient with the woman.

4  There is no indication that this proud Pharisee trusts Christ after this first encounter, though he did get saved later. The humble woman, however, saw her need and opened her heart to the Savior.

I love studying the Bible, don’t you? There are so many thoughts that we can pull from these passages. Perhaps you saw some things from the passage today that you would like to share with us. Leave a comment here so that others might be blessed with what God has given you.

Nov 6th Just Do It

Listen to the audio from this morning’s message on this passage.

Today’s Passages – John 1 – 3; Proverbs 6

(Second Milers also read – Psalms 26 – 30; Memorize Psalm 100:4)

Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 89:1

Read “The best Advice I Ever Received” by Dr, Paul Chappell

This is just a short thought from the passage this morning. I plan on preaching this thought this morning at the church. I will post the audio and notes from the message this afternoon.

“His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.” – (John 2:5)

Several years ago Nike developed an advertising campaign surrounding the phrase “Just Do It”. I don’t know if the phrase was original with them or not, but they made it very popular. The world is stilled filled with t-shirts and bumper stickers with the slogan on them.

As I was reading this morning’s passage and came to John 2:5, I thought about the phrase “Just Do It”. I got to thinking that this phrase kind of sums up the secret to the successful Christian life. We are to find out what God says and do it. Now before you fuss with me, I understand that salvation is a gift we receive, and not and not an action we do; but we do need to listen to what God says about salvation and then apply it personally to our lives. And then after we are saved, we are to find the will of God for our lives through the word of God, and obey it. God says that if we “just do it” we will have success and fulfillment in the Christian life.