Making a Differencewith Pastor Phil Erickson

Aug 19th Men At Best

Today’s Passage –  Jeremiah 18 – 22 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – click here  to view the text from the Blue Letter Bible website)

(Second Milers also read – Acts 13 – 15; Psalms 91 – 95; Proverbs 19)

Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Isaiah 51:11

Read the “0819 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

Read a previous post from today’s reading – “The Potter’s House”

“Give heed to me, O LORD, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me. Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them, and to turn away thy wrath from them. Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and pour out their blood by the force of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of their children, and be widows; and let their men be put to death; let their young men be slain by the sword in battle. Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them: for they have digged a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet. Yet, LORD, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me: forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee; deal thus with them in the time of thine anger.” (Jeremiah 18:19-23)

Have you ever heard the expression: “They may have been the best of men, but they were men at best?” Basically, it states that even good men are merely human and even though they are good most of the time, they also have their faults. In our reading this morning, in chapter eighteen, we see the humanity of Jeremiah coming through. He prays for God to destroy the people in Judah who had forsaken God and had turned against him. He even asks for their children to be punished. This is not the heart of someone who truly loves the people that he is ministering to.

Jeremiah was human, and he had an extremely difficult ministry. He had the job of preaching to the people of Judah at a time when God’s patience for their behavior had already run out. The people did not like or listen to what Jeremiah had to say and they often punished him for speaking the truth to them. But I don’t think that Jeremiah was always speaking the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15), sometimes he was angry at the people he was trying to reach, and in his flesh, he wanted God to judge them. I am reminded of Jonah who despised the Ninevites that he was sent to preach to.

Also, notice in chapter twenty that Jeremiah attempted to quit preaching:

“O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me. For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily. Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.” (Jeremiah 20:7-9)

God did not let Jeremiah give up, however. “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance” (Romans 11:29). God wouldn’t let him sit on the sidelines, His word was burning in Jeremiah’s heart and had to get out. But, Jeremiah was discouraged and at one point wanted to quit. He was human.

This is not a “let’s pile up on Jeremiah” devotion. I am merely pointing out that the best of men in the Bible got discouraged, angry, disgruntled, bitter, and even at times sinned against God. I am not rejoicing in their failures, but I am encouraged because I often feel as they do. I get discouraged, bitter, and angry. I sin against God often, I get mad at God’s people sometimes, and I want to quit about every other week. I am human and so are you.

What are we to do? We need to keep getting back up, dusting ourselves off, confess our failures to God, ask for His help, and keep doing what He has called us to do. We may someday see the great results of our work, or like Jeremiah, we may not. Judah was in worse shape after his ministry than before. But, we can have the satisfaction of knowing that we did what God had called us to do and we will hear God say, “well done.”

Aug 18th The Dearth

Today’s Passage – Jeremiah 14 – 17 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – click here to view the text from the Blue Letter Bible website)

(Second Milers also read – Acts 10 – 12; Psalms 86 – 90; Proverbs 18)

Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Isaiah 40:31

Read the “0818 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

“The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the dearth.” (Jeremiah 14:1)

“Dearth” – now that’s a word that has almost gone completely out of use. When is the last time that you heard somebody talking about a “dearth.” What does it mean? In a physical sense, it refers to a drought, similar to the one pictured above from the Dust Bowl of the 1930’s that decimated much of the Great Plains. The same Hebrew word for “dearth” (בַּצֹּרֶת – baṣṣōreṯ) is translated “drought” in Jeremiah 17:8. That is certainly the case here in Jeremiah 14:

“And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits, and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads. Because the ground is chapt, for there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads. Yea, the hind also calved in the field, and forsook it, because there was no grass. And the wild asses did stand in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes did fail, because there was no grass.” (Jeremiah 14:3-6)

Symbolically, it can refer to a time of great economic depression where jobs and resources are very scarce. Spiritually, it speaks of a time when God’s people forsake the Lord, resulting in God’s judgment, which in the case of the nation of Judah during the time of Jeremiah meant that they would be oppressed and eventually conquered by the Babylonians. God’s judgment in this case included all three, however, physical consequences and economic consequences were included in addition to the invading army.

God had warned His people many times in the past and had even sent smaller judgments to try to get their attention and get them to repent and turn back to Him. However, they had ignored all of God’s warnings, and now it was too late. God even tells Jeremiah to stop praying for the people’s “good.” In other words, God is telling Jeremiah that “good” will not get the people to return to Him. If they were going to repent, it would require God’s judgment:

“Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for their good. When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.” (Jeremiah 14:11-12)

Notice also that God uses “pestilence,” or disease to get His people’s attention.

Jeremiah stated that God was a stranger (v. 8) in His own land. Complicating matters was the fact that there were “prophets” among the people who were telling them that everything was good, there would be no judgment from God. These were false prophets, the kind that tell people what they want to hear instead of what God said. They are like the ones that Paul warns us against in 2 Timothy 4:3:

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;” (2 Timothy 4:3)

Though the story we have here is about Jerusalem and Judah way back to almost 600 BC, I think we can make the leap and see how this could apply to America today. As a nation, we have almost altogether forsaken the Lord, and we are completely ignoring God’s warnings. It may in fact be too late for us as a nation, but it is never too late for you (or I) to confess our sins to the Lord and turn back to Him in repentance, faith, and obedience to His word. Though there may be dearth all around you, you can still have the tremendous blessing of the Lord on your life.

Aug 16th The Saturday Morning Post – Going Down

Today’s Passage – Jeremiah 7 – 9 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – click here to view the text from the Blue Letter Bible website)

(Second Milers also read – Acts 4 – 6; Psalms 76 – 80; Proverbs 16)

Read the “0816 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

“Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.” (Jeremiah 8:5)

Good morning. Here are some statistics for you to read while having your breakfast. These are approximate, and for the United States, in 2022…

There were 630,000 deaths from Sexually Transmitted Diseases (5,000 in 2012).

There were 22,820 deaths from Homicides (16,238 in 2012).

There were 49,300 deaths from Suicides (30,000 in 2012).

There were 1,048,710 deaths of Aborted Babies (1,210,000 in 2012).

There were 13,000 people killed in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, which represents over one-third of all driving fatalities (10,322 in 2012).

There were 107,000 deaths from drug overdoses (41,502 in 2012).

And there were 1,200,000 deaths by Natural Causes (1,480,000 in 2012).

Well, praise the LORD there was a decrease in abortions. And there is a decrease in death by natural causes, but that is only because STD deaths, Homicides, and Suicides have increased. America is on a downward spiral. It is going down, getting further away from God and closer to Hell. Why? For the same reason Jerusalem did: because of their perpetual backsliding: they hold fast to deceit, and refuse to return to God and His ways. But…

“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31-32)

But we hold fast to deceit, and refuse to return to God. There are 630,000 deaths from Sexually Transmitted Diseases. Did you know that the virus that causes AIDS is so small that it can easily slip through the pores of your “protection?” It also is possible for the AIDS virus to live outside the body for several weeks. Although no AIDS cases have been linked to outside body contact, it would be better to be safe than sorry. The Bible says…

“For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God…” (1Thesselonians 4:3-5)

There are 22,830 deaths from Homicides. And we can see by what the Bible says about the first Homicide, the murder of Able by his brother Cain. Cain wanted to worship God with the works of his hands, Able worshiped God with a blood sacrifice…

“And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.” (Genesis 4:3-8)

Cain refused to return to the ways of God, and in his anger, murdered his brother. Maybe if we as parents, here in the USA, discipline our children the way we should, and train them up in the way they should go, they would understand that there is a penalty to pay for their rebellious actions.

There are 49,300 deaths from Suicides. All over America, millions were saddened by the death of Robin Williams in 2014. Maybe if someone had told him about Jesus he would not have been in such despair as to take his own life. Jesus said…

“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (John 1633)

“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27)

There are 1,048,710 deaths of Aborted Babies in the U.S. per year. One is too many. Babies are not just a blob of flesh turning into a baby inside of you. They are living human beings,

“Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5)

“And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda; And entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth. And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.” (Luke 1:39-44)

And then there are 1.2 million deaths by Natural Causes in 2022. This is the only one that should exist: all the others are brought on because of the the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. Death by natural causes is because we are all sinners; and the wages of sin is death…

“Wherefore, as by one man [ADAM] sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned…” (Romans 5:12)

If you do not fall victim to any of the crimes mentioned above, you will die of natural causes: sin. There is only one cure for sin: the Lord Jesus Christ. What you do with Him will determine where you will spend eternity.

“And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” (1John 5:8-13)

“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13)

America does not have to go down, but it chooses to do so by holding fast to deceit, and refusing to return to God and His ways. But there is always hope. As Yogi Bearer said, “It ain’t over till it’s over.”

God says…

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” (2Chronicles 7:14)

Peace.