Stay Plugged In
Today’s Passages – Colossians 1 – 4; Proverbs 13
(Second Milers also read – Psalm 61 – 65; Memorize – Micah 5:2)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 92:1
Read last year’s post – “The Importance of Discipleship”
“For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;” – (Colossians 1:9)
“That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;” – (Colossians 1:10)
“If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;” – (Colossians 1:23)
“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.” – (Colossians 2:6-7)
“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;” – (John 8:31)
If you have already read the blog post from last year, you know that I wrote a similar thought last year from this passage. I guess I have sort of a one-track mind. It’s not that there are not a lot of other wonderful truths in this letter, it’s just that I think that what I am sharing this morning is really the need for the hour. Frankly, there are some verses that I would like to write about from Colossians that are just beyond my full understanding; I could not possibly do them justice.
We need to stay plugged in to the Word of God. Last year, I wrote on the subject of discipleship, which is very important. However, I fear that many Christians who perhaps have grown beyond the early days of faith need to be encouraged to keep moving forward in their walk with the Lord. The new believer has an advantage to a certain degree over the Chritian that has been saved for a while. The “babe” in Christ often has an appetite for the things of God that is much stronger than the more mature believer. The new Christian does not have to force himself to spend time in the Word, he wants to do it, so it comes easier for him. However, those of us who have been saved for a few years sometimes get a little bored with the routine. Many of the truths that we read about have become familiar to us. If we are not careful we will become apathetic toward our relationship with God, and will spend less time with Him.
Let me encourage those of you that have been saved for a while to renew your commitment to your relationship with the Lord. Get back into the Bible. If you have gotten away from spending daily time in the Word, then simply re-schedule your day to include time spent with God in His Word. Make sure you are looking for and receiving fresh truths from the Word, and share what God gives you with others. If you have gotten slack in your church attendance, get back where you belong. Stay plugged in to the places where God is speaking, so that you can continue to be strengthened spiritually.
Posted in Thoughts from Colossians by Phil Erickson with 1 comment.
Striving Together
Today’s Passages – Philippians 1 – 4; Proverbs 12
(Second Milers also read – Psalm 56 – 60; Memorize – Micah 5:2)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 92:1
Read last year’s post from this passage – “The Mind of Christ”
“Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;” – (Philippians 1:27)
If a church is going to be able to fulfil the Lord’s Great Commission it will have to have unity. Paul wrote to this church in Philippi encouraging than to have one spirit and one mind as they are fulfilling their one purpose. Of course they had to be unified in the right thing. Paul explains in chapter two that the mind that they were to have was the mind of Christ:
“Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:” – (Philippians 2:3-7)
As a church, the Bible says that we are to strive together for the faith of the gospel. The word “strive” has the idea of laboring together and in harmony with those around us. We labor for one purpose. We have both a common cause and a common enemy. Because the need is so great, we set aside our petty preferences and differences for the greater good. There will be many minor issues that we may not agree about, but because our faith and our love for our Saviour is strong we fight on together, winning people to Christ and training the disciples of the Lord.
Soulwinning is the glue that seems to hold our people together. Soulwinners don’t get sidetracked into squabbling about the small stuff. They keep “the main thing the main thing”. As a church, we must keep the winning of souls at the forefront of everything we do. If the church keeps a soulwinning fervor, their will be little for us to fight about amongst ourselves. However, when we stop fighting the devil on the outside of the church, we will find ourselves fighting each other inside of the church.
Let’s stay on the battlefield striving together against the devil for the souls of men.
Posted in Thoughts from Philippians by Phil Erickson with no comments yet.
Pray for Me by Pastor Ted Stahl
Today’s Passages – Ephesians 4 – 6; Proverbs 11
(Second Milers also read – Psalms 51 – 55; Memorize – Micah 5:2)
Read this morning’s Scripture song – Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 89:1
“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,” – (Ephesians 6:18-19)
Good morning. Are you ready to take on the world today? It’s a battle we face every day. Our war starts with the flesh. Our flesh is either too tired, or it’s too cold and wants to stay warm under the covers. Eventually your body does drag itself out of bed, takes a shower, gets dressed, and has breakfast. Now it’s ready to face the world, right? Wrong!
Take a look at the passage in Ephesians 6 about putting on the whole armour of God. If I had a favorite punctuation mark it would the colon found at the end of verse 17. This little colon is going add explanation to putting on God’s armour. What was missing from the scenario above? Prayer. Ephesians 6:18 says, “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints…”
We should always start the day with prayer. Would you go to work naked? Could you drive to the store without a car? How do you think you can face the world without prayer? You can’t, and neither can I. You need your prayer, all the saints need your prayer, and I need your prayer. Start your battle with the world today (and every day) in prayer.
Then pray for me. Pray for me what Paul requested: “And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.” (Ephesians 6:19-20)
This is how we all ought to speak. Will you join me? Please pray for me this morning while you are putting on the whole armor of God.
Peace. (Ephesians 6:23)
Posted in Devotions by Phil Erickson with no comments yet.
Like The Beasts That Perish – The Saturday Morning Post by Pastor Ted Stahl
Today’s Passages – Ephesians 1 – 3; Proverbs 10
(Second Milers also read – Psalms 46 – 50; Memorize – Isaiah 9:6)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 92:1 – 4
Good morning! There was a lot of great stuff in today’s Bible reading, but the passage that caught my eye was Psalm 49:16 thru 20: “Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased; For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him. Though while he lived he blessed his soul: and men will praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself. He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light. Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish.”
Before we changed over to the 2 station, really cheap cable TV plan, one of our favorite stations was Animal Planet. I was watching a show on lions. They showed a lion take down a wilder-beast (or some other animal like that). If you look into the eyes of the wilder-beast they showed total shock. It knew that it’s life was about to end, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Psalm 49:20 tells us a man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish. What a horrible thought: to know your life is going to end right now, and not knowing where you will spend eternity. In the few second between life and death, you may see your life pass before you. You may be able to see all the times you rejected God’s offer of His free gift of salvation. What terror to finally know that Heaven and Hell are real, and your final destination will someday be the lake of fire.
As we read today in Proverbs 10, and verse 2: “Treasures of wickedness profit nothing: but righteousness delivereth from death.”
Righteousness is what delivers from death. It is not our righteousness. Our righteousness, as the prophet Isaiah says, is as filthy rags. If you look up filthy rags in your Strong’s Concordance, it gives the impression that our righteousness, the good we do, are like menstrual rags. That’s how our good works appear to God. He tells us in His Word that there are none righteous, no not one, and that we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. Ezekiel chapter 18, verses 4 and 20, warn us the soul that sinneth, it shall die. Do you believe God? 1John 1:8-10 tell us: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”
If you call a Perfect, Holy, and Righteous God (who cannot lie) a liar, then you’ve just boar false witness: you broke commandment number nine. You lied about God: you’ve fallen short: you’ve sinned. Now what are you going to do? If you read Ephesians 1 thru 3 today, you read verses 8 and 9 of chapter 2: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
Sin requires a blood sacrifice (Hebrews 9:22). Our blood is tainted by sin: it’s no good. God, knowing this, humbled himself, left heaven, put on flesh, lived a sinless life, and then shed His perfect blood to be the perfect sacrifice for sins. God did that for us, because He loved us. 2Corinthians 5:21 says, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
You see, Romans 6:23 declares: “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
You don’t have to be like the beasts that perish. You don’t have to leave this world in a state of shock. You can come to Jesus for His forgiveness and know for sure that when you close your eyes on earth, for the last time, they will open in Heaven. Romans 10:13 tells us that: “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Peace. (Luke 2:10-14)
Posted in Guest Posts, Thoughts from Psalms by Phil Erickson with no comments yet.
Don’t Shoot The Messenger
Today’s Passages – Galatians 4 – 6; Proverbs 9
(Second Milers also read – Psalms 41 – 45; Memorize – Isaiah 9:6)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 89:1
Read last year’s post from this passage – “We’re Almost There”
“Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?” – (Galatians 4:16)
As I read verse 15, I thought of the phrase, “Don’t Shoot The Messenger”. I looked back in the blog archives and discovered that I have used that phrase as the title to two other posts derived from two different passages. It seems that men of God throughout the Bible have had trouble being negatively received by the people they are ministering to.
In this morning’s passage, Paul is trying to straighten out the problem of legalism in the churches of Galatia. They apparently were trying to mix New Testament Christianity with the Old Testament Law. By doing so, they were adding to salvation by grace through faith, making it a salvation of works. Paul explained to them that if they were going to try to keep the Law, they had better do it perfectly, which, of course, is an impossibility. We are not saved by keeping the Law, and we are certainly not kept by keeping the Law. Salvation comes through faith in Christ, and our Christian life is to be a walk of faith.
The point I am trying to make here in this post, however, is that the Christians in Galatia were very fond of Paul until he started preaching something that went contrary with what they were doing. They, of course, were wrong. They had been influenced by some people who were corrupting their thinking. Paul was merely trying to get them back on the right path; but the people didn’t want to hear it. Instead of searching the Scriptures as the Bereans did, and listening to the truth, the people were stubbornly holding on to their false doctrine; and Paul became the bad guy.
I have had this type of thing happen to me in the ministry. I have had people who at one time loved me, later turn on me and become an enemy. Usually it was because there was something in their lives that was inconsistent with the teaching of the Bible and the will of God. Instead of fixing the problem, they decided to get mad at the messenger. I understand that doctors sometimes experience this same scenario. They are just reporting the truth revealed through their examination. They didn’t cause the problem, but somehow they end up with the blame.
Let’s stop blaming the messengers that God sends into our lives. If the messenger is telling us the truth, then we must face it. We really ought to thank those who are being honest enough with us to help us by telling us what we really don’t want to hear. But how can we get help if we don’t know the truth. Don’t shoot the messenger.
Read the other two “Dont’ Shoot The Messenger” posts from 2 Chronicles 16 and 1 Kings 18
Posted in Thoughts From Galatians by Phil Erickson with no comments yet.
The Schoolmaster
Today’s Passages – Galatians 1 – 3; Proverbs 8
(Second Milers also read – Psalms 36 – 40)
“Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” – (Galatians 3:24)
If people cannot be saved by keeping the Law, then why was the Law given? I believe the Law was given for two reasons:
First, I believe the Law was given to man to show him what God says is right and wrong. I do not believe the Law covers every possible human scenario, but it established what God says that man should and should not do in his relationship with God, and in his dealings with other men. The Law also helped to govern a just society. Society needs to have rules if it is to function properly and peacefully. The Law helped the people of Israel to function as a nation, and to get along well with each other.
Secondly, the Law was given to prove to man that He needed God. Remember, the sinful nature of man preceded the Law. My preacher used to say that rules do not create rebellion, they merely expose rebellion. Therefore when God put down His laws in writing, man either submitted to it or rebelled against it; but no man was able to perfectly obey the Law. Every man fell short. So what was man to do? He was guilty before God, and “the wages of sin [was] death”? Since man could not be saved through his own righteousness in keeping the Law perfectly, He was forced to turn to Christ. Jesus is the only man that obeyed every tenet of the Law completely; and then died to pay the debt for those of us who couldn’t.
Go ahead and try to get to Heaven by keeping the Law if you must; but you will soon find that it is an impossibility. Sin, which is the transgression of the Law, is part of who we are. The Law cannot save us, it only condemns us. Only Jesus can save us.
Posted in Thoughts From Galatians by Phil Erickson with no comments yet.
Do You Pass The Test?
Today’s Passages – 2 Corinthians 11 – 13; Proverbs 7
(Second Milers also read – Psalms 31 – 35)
“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? “ (2 Corinthians 13:5)
The Apostle Paul loved the people of Corinth. He had travelled to Corinth on his second missionary journey and had stayed with them for eighteen months, preaching the Word of God. As a result, many were saved and a new church was established. However, after Paul’s departure, the Church at Corinth began to have a lot of problems. As we have read through these two letters to the Corinthian Church we have learned what some of these problems were. This church was a very carnal church. They had problems with morality and idolatry, which Paul rebukes sharply in these letters; but we also discover that this church had a problem receiving preachers and teachers who were false prophets, so much so, that many of the people of Corinth were turning against Paul. Now, this puts a preacher in a difficult position. No spiritual man likes to defend himself because in doing so he feels like he is lifting himself up in a prideful way. Paul very carefully reminds this church of his credentials, and he also reminds them of what he has already done for them.
By the end of 2 Corinthians, Paul makes the statement which seems to explain the root of all of the problems that existed in Corinth. He tells them to examine themselves to see whether they were really saved. I believe many of the people in Corinth were in fact genuine in their faith, but there must also have been many that were perhaps sown in by the devil to cause trouble. By admonishing them this way, he is causing them to carefully look into their lives to see whether or not the Holy Ghost of God is really in them. The bottom line is that the only thing that clearly explains the trouble with the Corinthian Church is that there were many unconverted people within the church, as well as many carnal believers.
How about you? Would you pass the examination? Are you really saved? I will list here a simple three question quiz that you can give yourself in order to verify that you are in fact a child of God:
1 Do you have a testimony? Can you point back to a specific time and place where you remember acknowledging your sin to God and accepting the payment of God’s Son on the cross for it? Is there a time in your life when you asked the Lord to save you? Nobody was born saved. You may have been born to a good home with a godly influence, but there has to be a time in your life when you personally receive the Lord Jesus as your Savior.
2 Has there been a transformation? You may remember a couple of days ago I shared some thought on the subject “What’s New” from 2 Corinthians 5:17. Are you a new creature since you have been saved? Has anything in your life changed? I trusted Christ as my Savior twenty years ago, and my life has never been the same since; and it is still changing, transforming into the image of Christ. Don’t misunderstand, I still have my struggles and flaws, but Christ is chipping away at them as I grow in Him.
3 Can you pass the Bible tests? Here are some of them:
Do you have a better understanding of the Bible? (1 Corinthians 2:14) Now none of us understands everything about the Bible. I am learning new things every day from passages that I have read dozens of times before. God gives me the truths that I need in my life today; but He is teaching me.
Do you have a love for the brethren? The Bible says that people will be able to see that we are disciples by the love we have for each other. (1 John 3:14)
Do you have a desire to obey God’s commandments? (1 John 2:3 – 5) None of us will be perfect, and I suppose we all have particular areas where we really struggle; but how do you feel when you sin. If you can sin without feeling any conviction at all from within, something is seriously wrong. If you are God’s child, the indwelling Holy Spirit of God should be constantly reminding you when you do wrong.
I am not trying to get anybody to doubt there salvation, but I am concerned that there may be many people within our churches that profess to know God, but have not truly been born again. How did you do on the test? Did you pass? Do you have full assurance of your salvation? If not, go to the “Are You Saved?” page on this site, and find out how you can be gloriously saved.
Posted in Thoughts from 2 Corinthians by Phil Erickson with no comments yet.
Casting Down Imaginations
Today’s Passages – 2 Corinthians 6 – 10; Proverbs 6
(Second Milers also read – Psalm 26 – 30)
“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;” – (2 Corinthians 10:3-5 )
I have always been fascinated by verse 5 of 2 Corinthians 10, but I must confess that I don’t think that I fully understand all that this verse is teaching us. Yet, I find myself using this verse often as I minister to people. The word “imaginations” can mean thoughts, ideas, or philosophies. There are many philosophies and ideas coming from the world today that are contrary to the teaching of the Scripture. There are also many thoughts that enter into our mind, or are even conjured up in our minds that are simply not true. We must be careful to dismiss, or cast down any thought or idea that is contrary to Scripture, and we must also try not to let thoughts develop in our minds that may not be true. I have had thoughts in my mind about people that weren’t true. For example, I have many times imagined that a person was mad at me, but later discovered that my perception was wrong. Our minds can often deceive us. I sometimes wonder if it isn’t the evil one putting some of these false notions into our heads.
The verse tells us that we are to “bring into captivity every thought”, which means we are to capture or control what we think about. You might think that your thought life is beyond your control, but to a large degree it isn’t. We can certainly have better control over what enters into our thoughts. Consider what the Scriptures command us in Philippians 4:8:
“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” – (Philippians 4:8)
What do you think about? God wants us to control what we think about. We need to stop feeding our minds with all of the “high things” that come from the lost world, and instead replace them with good things. The Bible is a good thing. The songs of God are also good to meditate on. Edifying communication from a godly friend will produce good thoughts. When you find your mind wandering into forbidden areas, try quoting Scripture. Don’t let your imagination run wild.
There is a lot more in these verses that we could talk about, but perhaps you can use what has been said as a seed thought to help you develop a better understanding of how to submit your thoughts to the lordship of Christ.
Let us know if you have any helpful thoughts or suggestions regarding this topic.
Posted in Thoughts from 2 Corinthians by Phil Erickson with 1 comment.
Ambassadors for Christ
Today’s Passages – 2 Corinthians 1 – 5; Proverbs 5
(Second Milers also read – Psalm 21 – 25)
“Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.” – (2 Corinthians 5:20)
By definition, an ambassador is an “accredited diplomat sent by a country as its official representative to a foreign country”. The thought for this morning is simple. We represent Heaven to this world. We are God’s official ambassadors. We do not represent our own interests and desires, we are committed to communicating the wishes and desires of the Lord. Our message to the world is the gospel: the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ for the sins of all men.
Being an ambassador for the Lord is an awesome responsibility and privilege. This commission is not just for the select few among Christians, but for all of the saved. We who have trusted Christ as our Saviour must recognize that we are no longer our own, for we have been “bought with a price”. God could have taken us immediately to Heaven, but instead He left us here on this earth – our mission field – so that we can get the message of salvation to other men and women. How serious are we taking our responsibility as ambassadors. Remember, people are watching our every move, and they are listening to every word that comes out of our mouths. Do our words and actions bring glory to the Kingdom of God? These are sobering thoughts, but they must be considered. As you go about your daily affairs today, recognize that you are on official business for the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.
Someday soon, God will pull all of us ambassadors out of this earth, and take us home to the place of our real citizenship – Heaven; but until that time, we need to be about the Father’s business.
Posted in Thoughts from 2 Corinthians by Phil Erickson with no comments yet.
A Family Addicted to the Ministry
Today’s Passages – 1 Corinthians 15 – 16; Proverbs 4
(Second Milers also read – Psalms 16 – 20; Memorize – Isaiah 9:6)
“I beseech you, brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints,)” – (1 Corinthians 16:15)
Addiction is not usually thought of as a good thing, but I think that addiction to the ministry would certainly be an exception to the rule. We do not know much about this fellow Stephanan, save that he was on of the earlier converts in Achaia, which was where the city of Corinth was located. We also know from chapter one that Paul personally baptized “the household of Stephanas”. Other than that we only know that Stephanas was addicted to ministering to the saints, along with his house. That means that the whole family co-labored together in the ministry of the gospel.
The word “addicted” here is a word that means appoint or ordain, which means to set apart. This family was “set apart” for the ministry. Now there is no indication from the Scriptures that this family was serving “full-time”. In other words, this was not a missionary family that went to Bible school and was then sent out to serve the Lord in some foreign place. It seems from the context that this family was one of the first families to get saved in Corinth, and was one of the founding families of the church there. They were laboring together in their home church. Yet, they were addicted to the ministry there. I can see Mrs. Stephanas teaching a Sunday School class. I can see Mr. Stephanas working behind the scenes getting their meeting place ready to go. He’s tired because he worked all day at his secular job, but he’s so addicted to the ministry, he just has to spend some time after work down at the church. He’s got young Stephanas Jr. with him. He also teaches, and serves as a deacon. He’s hooked on the ministry. He goes soul winning and visits the sick. He just can’t break away from serving the people of God there at his local church.
I wish we had some more families, like the household of Stephanas that served God together in the ministry here at Jersey Shore. I thank God for every individual that comes to our church, but there is something very powerful and very wondeful about a family that serves God together.
Posted in Thoughts from 1 Corinthians by Phil Erickson with no comments yet.