Making a Differencewith Pastor Phil Erickson

Feb 16th The Lord Bless Thee and Keep Thee

Melissa Dilley went home to Heaven early this morning. She was a wonderful person, a good friend, and a faithful servant of the Lord. She will be greatly missed. Please pray for Ted and Camille.

Today’s Passage – Numbers 5 – 6

(Second Milers also read – Acts 1 – 3; Proverbs 16; Psalms 76 – 80)

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

“The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.”  (Numbers 6:24-26)

In chapters 5 of the Book of Numbers, God is instructing the children of Israel about what they should do if a man suspects that his wife has been unfaithful to him. The Bible talks about “the spirit of jealousy” that comes upon a man if there is something going on behind his back. I believe the same holds true for the wife. I know that today we don’t often think of jealousy as being a good thing; but interestingly, the Bible records that God is very jealous over his children. I do not think it is wrong either for their to be a healthy dose of jealousy within the marriage either. A man should love his wife to the extent that he cannot bear the thought of her being with anyone else. The same applies to the wife. Jealousy is, I believe, a God-given emotion. Now it must be controlled, just as all of our other emotions; and we cannot let it cause us to sin, but I believe it to be a good thing nonetheless.

Chapter 6 primarily deals with the rules concerning the vow of the Nazarite. When a person took this special vow of consecration in Old Testament days, he would not cut his hair or his beard, and he was not permitted to touch any alcohol, or come near anything (or anybody) that was dead. This vow was a vow of “separation unto the Lord”. The person that took this vow was declaring that his or her life was wholly dedicated to God. Usually, a person would be under this oath of separation for a period of time, not for his entire life. By the way, don’t confuse a Nazarite with a Nazarene, which is a person that comes from the city of Nazareth. Jesus was a Nazarene.

I was captivated this morning by the prayer of blessing found at the end of chapter 6. It seemed almost strange for this beautiful prayer to be place in this particular place. I mean, we have been reading a lot here lately about a bunch of commandments, sacrifices, rules, etc. Here, God tells Aaron that he wants him to pronounce this prayer  of blessing over the people. I think God just wanted to remind the people that he loved them and that He was for them. I think we can learn a couple of lessons from this as well. First, we need to be reminded that God loves us and wants nothing but the best for us. We often will think about God as this angry, cold dictator that is ready to pounce upon us when we do wrong. That is not God. He loves us and He wants to give us the richest blessings, and a life full of abundance.

The second lesson that we should learn from this is that when we are trying to teach our children, we need to remember to let them know often that we love them. Yes, we need to give them all of the rules, commandments, and instructions; and yes we ought to discipline them when they do wrong; but we also need to make sure that they know that we (and especially God) are in their corner, and that we want nothing but the richest blessings for their lives. This would be a good lesson for preachers and other mentors to learn as well. In our zeal to instruct, we sometimes come across as being uncaring and unloving. You have heard the old saying: “People do not care about what you know, until they know that you really care.” Well, we ought to really care, and we ought also to express that love and care often to the people that we are trying to help.

Feb 8th House Leprosy?

Today’s Passages – Leviticus 14 – 15

(Second Milers also read – John 7 – 8; Proverbs 8; Psalms 36 – 40)

Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 25

“When ye be come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a possession, and I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of your possession;” – (Leviticus 14:34)

As we continue reading in chapter 14 of the Book of Leviticus, we come across this curious passage that deals with leprosy within a house. This leprosy spoken of here would not be what is commonly called leprosy today (Hansen’s Disease); but rather this leprosy that appears on the walls of a house seems to be a type of mold or mildew. I remember when I was in Bible College down in Longview, Texas. There was a man there that was on the staff of the college that had purchased a beautiful home, but shortly after moving in they discovered that there was a mold problem in the house. Now I’m told that some types of mold can be very dangerous, and can cause many physical problems for people that come in contact with it. Anyway, this dear brother and his family had to eventually move out of the house for several months until the mold was completely removed from it. From what I understand this was no easy undertaking either. I believe if I remember correctly, that most of the drywall had to be removed and replaced after the framework was cleansed.

We have had a little trouble with mold in our house here in Galloway as well. We had to completely “gut” two of our bathrooms during our time here. One thing that I have learned about mold is that, like leprosy, it starts out very small; and often can be growing within the walls, as well as without. In fact, it probably grows better inside the walls where there is no light and perhaps a little moisture. In the right conditions, and if left untreated, it will quickly spread. It must be removed early and completely.

Even though this leprosy is not the same physical disease that was spoken of involving humans, it is still a picture of sin. We must be careful that we are vigilant about keeping sin out of our homes. We must watch for it, and remove it as quickly as possible; and then strive to keep the area as clean as we possibly can. If sin is allowed to multiply and grow, it will eventually destroy our homes from within. When it gets that bad, it will require much more than a little cleaning. We will have to “gut” areas, or possibly the whole home. It will take major reconstruction to fix the problem. Don’t let sin gain this kind of a foothold in your home. Nip it in the bud as early as you can.

I want to challenge to think for a moment about your home. Ask God if there is anything in your home that needs to be removed and cleansed. If there is, do it now, before it grows into a huge problem that may not be easily fixed.

Jan 28th Rejoice! – The Saturday Morning Post by Pastor Ted Stahl

Luke 10: 17 – 20: “And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.”

Good morning! Wake up and rejoice that your name is written in Heaven! Some times we forget where our final destination is. We forget verses like 2 Corinthians 5:6-8: “Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.”

And what about what Jesus said to one of the dieing thieves on the cross next to him? Luke 23:39-43 tells us: “And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.”

Remember what Jesus promised us: eternal life. When we close our eyes here in death, they open up in Heaven. We have eternal/everlasting life. We need to rejoice in the fact that when we received Jesus as our own personal Saviour, we received the Assurance that our names were written down in Heaven. We have eternal life.

Rejoice!

Why? Because of what God’s Word says…

In John 10:27-30: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one.”

And in John 6:37-40: “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Rejoice!

Others should see it in your face, your rejoicing. Many times I’ve had people come up to me and ask why do you smile all the time? I just tell them because I have Jesus in my heart. It’s been hard these past few weeks to smile. This week’s blog is for me. I needed to be reminded, just like everyone else, to rejoice.

SO REJOICE!

Peace. (Psalm 138)

Jan 10th Fatal Feelings

Today’s Passages – Genesis 27 – 28

(Second Milers also read – Matthew 19 – 20; Proverbs 10; Psalm 46 – 50)

Scripture Memorization for January – Isaiah 53

Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 34:6

Read “Growth Points 003 – What Christians Need in January” by Dr. Paul Chappell

“And make me savoury meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die.” (Genesis 27:4)

This chapter of Genesis has always been a source of irritation to me. It is one of those passages where nothing is as it should be, and every character in the story is behaving badly. I will not rehearse the story as you can surely read it for yourself, but let’s examine the bad behavior of each character, and learn something from all of this.

First, let’s consider Rebekah. She is conspiring with her younger son against her husband. Right or wrong, her husband asked the older son, Esau to go get him some dinner so that he could bless him. Rebekah did not want to see her favorite son, Jacob, lose the blessing, so she lies to her husband and works up an evil plan to deceive him. Wives, your husband may not always be right; but it is always right for you to submit to him unless of course he is telling you to do something against the clear command of God; and besides that, it is never right for you to lie or connive in order to get your way.

Now lets’s talk about Jacob. He was also clearly wrong. Although he did not want to do it initially, he was certainly complicit in the deception. He did what he knew to be wrong. He can not claim innocence because he was obeying his mother’s will. His mother was clearly doing wrong, and Jacob knew it; and he should have refused her.

In this story. the one that seems to be the most innocent is Esau. However, we have already seen what makes Esau tick. You will remember that back in chapter 25, he sold his birthright for a bowl of chili (red pottage). Here, he claims that he was tricked out of his birthright, but he wasn’t. He gave it up willingly. Now he is trying to get back some of the blessing that comes with the birthright he already gave up.

Now we come to Isaac. At first glance it may appear that Isaac is completely a victim in this saga, but let’s carefully consider some things. First, notice how many times it states in this chapter that Isaac loves savoury meat. Now don’t misunderstand, I like savoury meat also. My wife learned last year how to cook a bottom round roast with a high temperature recipe that really makes the meat tender and juicy. I love it. But when the Scripture emphasizes this point, it is telling us that Isaac’s appetite was the driving force of this whole story. I love my son, and I want to bless him; but my blessing him will not be dependent on whether or not he makes me dinner. Isaac in his birth is certainly a picture of Christ, but in his old age he seems to be a picture of the flesh.

Notice also in this story that Isaac is deceived because of his feelings. He felt the fake skin on Jacob’s hands and came to a faulty conclusion. How many times in our lives to we get messed up because we make decisions based on our feeling rather than on the clear will of God. If I only did right when I felt like it, I would rarely do it. We don’t come to church because we don’t “feel” good, or we don’t “feel” like it. Kid’s don’t go to school for the same reasons. We must do the will of God out of obedience to His word, not because of our feelings. It’s great when our feelings are in agreement with the Word, but when they don’t, we should follow God, not our feelings. Notice also that Isaac was dim of eyes. Now, I am not picking on his poor eyesight, but it is a picture of spiritual blindness. Isaac knew the will of God regarding his two sons. Jacob was God’s choice. Isaac didn’t particularly like the choice God made. Isaac preferred Esau because Esau fed Isaac’s flesh with savoury meat.

There is certainly a lot to “chew” on in this chapter isn’t there? Sorry I couldn’t resist.

Jan 7th Are You Blessed? – The Saturday Morning Post by Pastor Ted Stahl

Good Morning. Did you ever notice how much the life of a person is usually like a ride on a roller coaster? There are many hills and valleys. As your coaster climbs the hill there is peace along with an anticipation of what will happen next. All you can see is the blue sky is in front of you. Your hear the soft clakety-clack of the chains and gears pulling you to the top: the peak. Then suddenly all that peace disappears. Plunging downward at break-neck speeds, the ground gets closer and closer. Your heart is pounding harder and harder. But, almost as quickly as you came down, you start going up again. This time though you are not concentrating on the peace: you hardly notice the blue skies, and soft clacking. You are trying to recover from the shock of that dip in your life. Just as you catch your breath, you are shot down again. A surprise awaits you in the valley. As you speed upward from the valley, your life is thrown into a loop. Your world is completely flipped upside down. As you straighten out there are many more hills and valleys to go through until your ride finally comes to an end.

King David wrote, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. (Psalm 32:1-2).

Life can be like a roller coaster ride. Riding it’s ups and downs alone can be frightening sometimes. But if you are saved, you have the only true and living God riding it with you. You are blessed.

Peace. (Ps. 32:1)

Dec 31st My Favorite Passage – The Saturday Morning Post by Pastor Ted Stahl

It’s December 26^th, late in the evening. I’m sitting in the emergency room at Shore Memorial Hospital. One of the tubes coming out of Melissa’s kidney had gotten blocked. Infections, holes, 4 units of blood, and a trip to Philadelphia Hospital, brings us back to Shore Memorial, and now it’s Saturday. Sitting there on Monday, I had no idea what this week had in-store for me and my family. Numerous Bible verse flowed through my head this week. The one that I thought about the most is, possibly, my favorite passage from God’s Word. The passage is in Ezekiel chapter 16…

“And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite. And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the lothing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born. And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live. I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments: thy breasts are fashioned, and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare. Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine.” – Ezekiel 16:3-8.

This passage paints a beautiful picture of where we started, and where the Lord has brought us. Other Christians are on this same journey, but we are all at different points. If you want to make a New Year’s resolution, one that is worth keeping, then treat others as God treated you in these verses. Let 2012 be the year that we lift up a brother or sister. Make them yours. Let’s help them grow in the Lord.

Peace. (1John 3:16)

Dec 25th Merry Christmas!

Today’s Passages – 1 John 3 – 3 John 1; Proverbs 25

Second Milers also read – Psalms 120 – 125; Memorize – Luke 1:35

The Christmas Story from Lke 2: 1 – 16

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.

(And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)

And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

Dec 24th Surviving The New Year – The Saturday Morning Post by Pastor Ted Stahl

Good morning! Only one more shopping day till Christmas (two, if you go to Wawa to get a gift card Christmas morning!). And then, shortly after Christmas, the credit card bills start rolling in. Are you worried? The Bible says, in Proverbs 24:1 thru 4: “Be not thou envious against evil men, neither desire to be with them. For their heart studieth destruction, and their lips talk of mischief. Through wisdom is an house builded; and by understanding it is established: And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.”

Not that the credit card companies are run by evil men. They are a business. The credit card companies are out to make money too. They have bills to pay and creditors to pay off. They need an income just like you and me.

“…Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” (Rev. 22:20). But He may not come back until you pay your bills. So let me give you a few tips on Surviving the New Year.

First of all, and most important for your survival is to put God first. That means you should tithe, that’s 10%. It was the best of the flock, the first fruits from the harvest, and it is holy unto the Lord…

“And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD’S: it is holy unto the LORD.” (Lev. 27:30).

That simply means that if you were paid $100 this week, and Uncle Sam took $25 to keep big government going, your tithe that goes into the general fund of the local church should be $10. That’s 10% of you first fruits, not $7.50. This is what God wants to use to keep His ministries going. He doesn’t need your money to do this, but how is He going to bless you if you don’t give. Malachi 3:8 thru 12 explains it plainly by asking, “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.”

The second step for survival is in the first part of Romans 13:8, “Owe no man any thing…”: start paying off your credit cards. You know how it’s done. Start with the smallest balance, and pay as much as you can. Make sure you pay the minimum on your other cards too. When the smallest is paid off, role that payment onto the next smallest, and destroy the one that had the minimal balance if you want to get out of debt, and owe no man anything. Eventually you will have all your cards paid off. Deuteronomy 15:6 states, “For the LORD thy God blesseth thee, as he promised thee: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee.”

Praise the Lord, he has gotten our mortgage balance of the church property to a point where the amount going to the principal is more then the interest. Sooo…

1) Put God first.

2) Owe no man any thing.

And thirdly is also in Deuteronomy 15:6: “…and thou shalt lend unto many nations…”: you can give an offering. This is more of an outcome of the first two. We have someone in our church who is having some financial problems right now. See Brother Gerald if you can help. Also our missions conference is February 25^th thru the 29^th. Did you know that if 2 people gave $5 to missions every week it would be $40 per month: enough to support one of our missionaries. If everyone in the church would give their $5, a church that has 100 giving members could support 50 missionaries at $40 per month. One hundred church members only giving $2.50 each could support 25 missionaries. A person giving $10 per week supports 1 missionary at $40 per month.

Can you imagine what God could do if we tithed the way we should, spent money the way we should, and gave to others the way we should? It would be staggering.

I hope these little tips will help you in 2012.

Peace (Malachi 3:12)