Making a Differencewith Pastor Phil Erickson

Jul 25th Emptiness

Today’s Passage – Ecclesiastes 1 – 6

Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. (Ecclesiastes 1:2)

Just a quick thought from the Word this morning. It is sad when you consider the life of some folks: they pursue everything that this life has to offer; but never find fulfillment; never find true happiness. Solomon discovered that all the wealth, wisdom, and pleasure that this world can give you will still leave you empty if you do not have a relationship with God. Fulfilling God’s will for your life is the only way that you can live your life with meaning and purpose. It is the only way that you can finish the game with something that you can keep. Everything else is vanity, emptiness.

Is your life empty of purpose, meaning? Then go to God and find out how you can have a purpose; something that will truly satisfy your desire to have your life mean something.

Jul 23rd Feeling A Little Lazy?

Today’s Passage – Proverbs 23 – 26

I am sitting outside of our local Starbucks writing this devotion because of the internet trouble we are having at the church. I apologize for not writing yesterday; I tried on two separate occasions, but the internet went out on me both times. We might have to switch to Comcast.

Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man. (Proverbs 24:33 – 34)

As I have read through the Book of Proverbs, I have noticed that there are certain themes that reappear again and again. One of these is the subject of laziness (the Bible uses the terms slothful; and will also call a lazy person a sluggard). The above passage speaks of a man who, because of his laziness, has neglected his field to the point where it was overgrown with with weeds. I feel that way in my life sometimes. I notice that there are times when I lose focus, and allow things to fall into neglect. It happens in all areas of my life as well. Sometimes, I may neglect the spiritual priorities, and at other times I may become lazy in one of my responsibilities as a father or husband. I get lazy. Laziness seems to be a bigger problem for me in the summertime.

God expects us to be fruitful. God expects us to be busy and productive. Here are some things that will help me stay on track to fulfill the things that God expects from my life:

1  Have a schedule – determine what time you need to get up, and how much time is needed to do what you have to do. Go to bed early, and get up early. Avoid the time wasters like the internet and television.

2  Set Goals – what do you want to accomplish this year; this summer; this week; tomorrow? Attempt to get a lot of things done. You may not get to them all; but you will accomplish a lot more than if you don’t set goals. “he who aims at nothing hits it every time”. Set spiritual goals; goals for tasks around the house; etc.

3  Be accountable to someone. This is the problem that many preachers have. They have no earthly boss standing over them with expectations. If I am not careful, I will let this lack of accountability cause me to get lazy; get up later; leave earlier, etc.

4  Stay motivated. I listen to preaching and leadership lessons from Godly pastors around the country to stay challenged. What motivates you?

We will have to give an account of our live to God someday. What did we do with our time? Were we productive? Did we fulfill God’s will for our lives? Or did we sleep in? Don’t be lazy. Get up and do what God has called you to do.

Jul 21st Oh Be Careful Little Mouth What You Say!

Today’s Passage – Proverbs 15 – 18

A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and aword spoken in due season, how good is it! (Proverbs 15:23)

Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones. (Proverbs 16:24)

Excellent speech becometh not a fool: much less do lying lips a prince. (Proverbs 17:7)

He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends. (Proverbs 17:9)

Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding. (Proverbs 17:28)

Isn’t it amazing how much the Bible has to say regarding our tongues. The verses listed above are just a few of the references from today’s passage that deal with the words that we say. God is very concerned about the things that we allow to escape our lips. A good passage to read that also teaches along this line is found in James 3. In it, God gives a scathing rebuke to the tongue that is used to destroy.  As God’s people we must strive to allow the Holy Spirit of God to control our words. As God’s ambassadors we have no right saying the things that we want to say, but rather we must speak the things that will glorify God and edify others. One of the reasons that I sometimes prefer to write (text, e-mail) to people rather than talk to them is because I can carefully choose the words that I use. I find myself re-writing, looking for just the right thing to say. Often when conversing with someone face to face I find myself being quick to speak, when God wants me to be slow to speak.

I think that I could be much more affective as a minister of God if I would employ the following principles in my life regarding my speech:

1 I should pray before I speak. David prayed,

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

2  I should pause before I speak. The Bible says a lot about refraining from speaking. Will what I am going to say edify the listener? Will it glorify God? Will it tear down somebody else? These are all thing to consider.

3  I should pastor (minister, edify, teach) with my speech.

It would certainly be a quieter world, if we would all put these principles into practice; but it would also be a lot more peaceful.

Jul 20th Pride

Today’s Passage – Proverbs 11 – 14

The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate. (Proverbs 8:13)

When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom. (Proverbs 11:2)

Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom. (Proverbs 13:10)

In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride: but the lips of the wise shall preserve them. (Proverbs 14:3)

Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. (Proverbs 16:18)

A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit. (Proverbs 29:23)

He that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife: but he that putteth his trust in the LORD shall be made fat. (Proverbs 28:25)

There are six more verses in Proverbs using the word proud. It is used a total of 47 times in the Bible. The word pride is used a total of 46 times in the Bible. The word haughty is used 10 times.  That makes a total of 103 verses in the Bible (at least) that deal with one of man’s biggest problems -pride. As I was reading this morning, the Holy Spirit of God drew my attention to three of the verses.  I thought at first that they caught my attention because of the frequency of their use, but after reflecting a little bit, I realized that God was trying to show me that pride is not just an issue for everyone else, but for me as well. How does pride affect me? Let me be a little transparent and publicly reveal some of the things that the Spirit of God brought to my attention:

1  I want to be successful. Now don’t misunderstand, success in the ministry is a good thing. It is wonderful when people are reached with the gospel, and trained to serve God. It is great when lots of people come to hear the Word of God being preached. But it’s my motivation that is the concern. In my heart I want to think that it is all for God’s glory; but I know that sometimes I want to steal a little bit of that glory for me. Now, I am going to keep trying to be successful, but I am also going to ask God to throughly examine my heart and my motives; and when I sense the root of pride growing within, I will try to bring it to Him for removal.

2  I want to be right all of the time. I have noticed that some of the folks around me have this problem as well. I like to win arguments. I even get angry easily, when someone is in disagreement with me.

3  I don’t like to be criticized. This goes along with the point 2. I find myself desiring to defend myself, justify myself and I really don’t need to.

4  I find that I am concerned more with the opinion and approval of men, more that the approval of God.

These are just a few of my sins. I feel better: confession is very therapeutic. I probably could have gone on and made the list larger; but I think you get the idea. Now, how about you? How is pride affecting your life? Maybe you ought to come up with your own list. Ask God to point out some ways that pride is affecting your relationship with Him and with others. You might have too much pride to even consider the thought.

Jul 19th The Richest Man On Earth

Today’s Passage – Proverbs 7 – 10

The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it. (Proverbs 10:22)

What determines the true wealth of a man?  Is it the amount of money he has in his bank account?  Is it the number of acres he owns or the size of his house?  Perhaps it might be the number of toys and possessions that he has been able to accumulate in his lifetime?  Can richness be measured by the world’s standards?  This world puts a great deal of emphasis on material gain and financial success, and to some degree they are right, because one of the ways that God blesses His children is by providing them with their needs, and even some of their desires. But the truth is, the world is replete with people who have “this world’s goods”, but are not rich. Why?  Because they lack the blessing of the Lord. Let me list for you some of the reasons why I feel that I am the richest man on earth:

1  My Father is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe.  He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and all of the silver and gold belongs to Him. Because I am His child, everything that He has is mine as well.  Everything that I need is provided for me. I am completely content, because there is nothing that I will ever need that will not be provided for me.

2  My Family is truly a blessing from God. He has given me the most beautiful wife in all of the world along with four wonderful children (and now a son-in-law, and a daughter-in-law).  They are for me; they support me; they encourage me; they assist me; they love me as I am even with all of my faults.

3  My Friends are also extremely valuable to me.  I have a few friends that I believe would take a bullet for me. They are loyal and true, even when things aren’t going so well.

4  My Future looks even brighter. My needs for the rest of my life are guaranteed, and I have a mansion waiting for me in Heaven when I have finished His purpose for me on earth.

How about you? Have you been measuring your wealth the same way the world does? Maybe you are actually richer than you thought? If you are experiencing the blessing of the Lord, you are a rich man indeed.

Jul 18th Are You Smarter Than God?

Today’s Passage – Proverbs 3 – 6

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. (Proverbs 3:5 – 7)

I just wanted to give you a quick though this morning from our daily devotional reading.  I am looking forward to preaching this morning from Psalm 126 on “Reaping While Weeping”.  I hope to see many of you here at the church.

Solomon demonstrated that he was a very wise man throughout most of his life.  We know that later in life he drifted away from that wisdom and violated some of the very principles that he penned earlier in life.  I have often quoted Proverbs 3:5 & 6; but this morning, I thought particularly about the phrase in in verse 7, “be not wise in thine own eyes.” We often demonstrate by the life that we live, that we think that we are smarter than God. How often do we do what makes sense to us humanly, often at a violation of Biblical principle. We think that somehow God possibly did not have all of the facts, or perhaps he did not fully understand our situation. So we ignore clear principle and do our own thing.

As God’s people, we need to resist the strong temptation to do what seems right to us and follow the principles of the Word of God.  I think the biggest hinderance to doing this is a daily time spent in those principles.  We are Bible negligent, which has caused us to be Bible ignorant, which has led further to Bible disobedient.  Daily reminders from God will encourage us to trust Him.  Faith does come by hearing.  We need to be constantly exposed to the Word of God through our daily reading and through are attendance to the preaching services of our local church.

Why not determine today that you will make the principles of the Word of God a bigger part of your life: learn them; think about them; and then obey them.

Jul 17th GUEST POST BY MELISSA DILLEY

Today’s Passage – Psalms 147 – Proverbs 2

“But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.” (Proverbs 1:33)

I want to share something with you that has revolutionized my relationship with my Heavenly Father. My God is an awesome, powerful, all-knowing, mighty and righteous God.  He spoke the world into existence and holds creation in the palm of His hand.  He raised others and even Himself from the dead and healed scores of people from all manner of diseases.  He caused the earth to swallow legions of people, and the waters to destroy others.  He is magnificent, all-seeing, and unfathomable.

But He is also my Heavenly Daddy.  Sometimes when I hurt, all I can manage to pray is “Dear Heavenly Father,“ and then I cry for a time.  Jesus told the disciples that they must become like children (completely trusting), and to suffer the children to come (don’t hinder that complete trust).  The Bible tells us that if our earthly daddies can take care of us, how much better can our Heavenly Daddy take care of us.  Let me challenge you, when you have the “fear of evil”, go to God.  Ask Him to put you on His lap, pet you, kiss your forehead, rock you, and tell you everything is going to be ok.  I believe that is the key to ‘the peace that passes all understanding’.

Jul 16th Are You Happy?

Today’s Passage Psalm 139 – 146

Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD. (Psalm 144:15)

Yesterday, I was researching some ideas for a new gospel tract for the church.  I came across one that really caught my attention.  On the front cover it had a picture of a smily face with the question, “Are You Happy?”  I thought that this tract would be a great attention getter for others as well; but I wondered, is it biblical?  I’m not talking about the contents of the tract, which is doctrinally sound.  I am talking about the concept of happiness.  What does the Bible really say about happiness?  I had always been taught that God’s people can be joyful, but joy is deeper that happiness.  In other words, you can be joyful even when you’re not happy.  I suppose that may be true at times, but I did a little more research and discovered that the Bible very clearly teaches that God’s children should be a happy people.  Don’t misunderstand, I am not saying that there will be times in our lives when we are sad; and to some degree I think feeling sad is good for us and part of our complete emotional makeup.  But, for the most part, we who are saved ought to be the happiest people on the planet.  Why?  Because we have an awful lot to be happy about.

Consider what the Word of God says about happiness:

Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty: (Job 5:17)

Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways. For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee. (Psalm 128:1&2)

Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God: (Psalm 146:5)

Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. (Psalm 3:13)

He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth: but he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he. (Proverbs 14:21)

Happy is the man that feareth alway: but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief. (Proverbs 28:14)

I could list some more verses, but I think you get the idea.  Why then are so many Christians miserable, discontented people? Why are we always so negative?  It’s no wonder, we are failing terribly at reaching the world with the gospel.  Why should the lost world want what we claim to have with our doctrine, but fail to demonstrate in a happy, contented life.  I don’t think happiness is all that elusive.  I think it can be found in a right relationship with God.  By that I mean that you are saved and yielded to the Spirit of God, surrendered to His will.  If you are saved and still doing things your way, you are not going to be happy, because you will have an inner turmoil going on inside of you as God the Holy Spirit works to bring you into submission.

By the way, I am ordering the tract.  I just hope that the people giving it out will have a smile on their face when they do so.

Jul 15th Bearing Precious Seed

Today’s Passage – Psalm 125 – 138

They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.  He that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him (Psalm 126:5&6)

I was torn between two thoughts this morning for my devotion.  I was contemplating writing something about Psalm 133 regarding the subject of unity. The psalmist is right: it is truly a wonderful thing when God’s people are getting along and serving together.  In our church, I have seen times of unity; and I have also seen times when God’s people were bickering over the silliest of things. During the times of harmony, however, I can recall that the people were united in a common purpose: that is they were of one mind, and in one accord in the purpose of  winning people to Christ and fulfilling the Great Commission.

Perhaps the reason why our church has seen so much friction in the past few months is due to the fact that we are not out together sowing the seeds of the gospel.  God has convinced me that the missing element in our ministry is aggressive evangelism.  Unity comes when people are bound together for a cause.  Our cause is the salvation of souls: men and women, boys and girls, rich and poor, black and white; everybody.  I am burdened about unity. I love unity; but we must be unified in the purpose of sowing seed.

Notice three thoughts about Psalm 126:5 & 6

1  There must be weeping – Merely going soul winning without a burden for the lost condition of the people we are trying to reach is a tedious chore; and often it will yield no fruit.  We must have a genuine compassion for the folks that we are trying to reach.  We know that Jesus was moved with compassion; and so should we.

2  There must be the seeding – Burden alone is not enough.  We must go out into the fields; the highways and hedges; the streets and the lanes of the city, and give people the gospel.  We must go, and we must sow the seed of the Word of God.

3  There will be reaping – God said that it is doubtless. If we will go faithfully with a heart of compassion for those we are going to, God will give us souls for His glory.  Maybe that is why Jesus asks us to pray for laborers.  He doesn’t ask us to pray for souls to be saved because he knows that they will be saved if we will simply get the laborers to reach them.

As a result, there will also be rejoicing. There is no greater joy than seeing people trust Christ as their Savior.  Soul winners are happy people.  Maybe that is why they get along together.  Tonight is soul winning night at our church.  Why not come out and be a part of the Great Commission?  Bring your New Testament with you if you have one.  We will supply you with a partner, plenty of gospel tracts, and a field to sow the seed in.  I am praying for 20 soul winners to be out on the street tonight.  Why not be a part of it?