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WedWednesdayDecDecember8th2010 December 3: Against All Odds

Posted Wednesday, December 08 2010 @ 10 AM byPhil Nelson Tagged No tags 0 comments Add comment

2 Kings 7:2 (NIV)
²The officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man of God, "Look, even if the LORD should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?" "You will see it with your own eyes," answered Elisha, "but you will not eat any of it!"

God loves to show up at the time when everything looks completely hopeless. He loves it when his children are confident in His Word regardless of what the circumstances look like. Consider these following examples of hopeless situations;. Abraham and Isaac in Genesis 22, Feeding 20,000 with five loaves and two fish, . Feeding 7,000 with seven loaves and three fish, Being stoned and left for dead in Acts 14, Being dead and buried for four days in John 11.

God is always for the underdog. He does not work much with those who are self sufficient, he works among those who have no other place to go. As for this soldier in our text he was the support for the King of Aram. How much better could it get than to be known as the one who supports the King. He must have thought of himself as some sort of protector and deliverer and it went to his head.

Listen carefully to his boasting. "Even if God opened the windows of heaven, could this happen?" Basically he was calling Elisha, the representative of God a liar, or at least a dreamer with no substance.

I wonder if you are in the place of those who were living in Samaria. Do you feel like your life is under siege of the enemy? DO you find your resources completely dried up? Are you beginning to think about taking things into your own hands and giving up on trusting in God's promises? All of these things were happening in Samaria. There was no food, they were under siege by a pagan king and things had been this way for quite some time. There was no visible evidence that God or anyone else for that matter was going to come to their rescue.

Let's face it, those living in Samaria had no reason to even think that God would provide for them again, look at their lives? There was open cannibalism being practiced. Pagan idols were plenteous in the land and a powerful pagan King was laying siege to them and he was winning.

Into this situation Elisha enters and proclaims that tomorrow everything will be better than anyone could possibly dream. It would all happen in less than twenty four hours. By every possible indication what Elisha proclaimed was impossible. This is just the situation that God loves to work in.

Awakenings and revivals are born out of such situations. When God's people are desperate God finds a way to show up. I wonder how he might show himself to you today. BE of good cheer God is at work even right this very moment even though you cannot see him. We will see tomorrow just how he is at work in our midst.

Finding Hope under Siege,

Pastor Phil

WedWednesdayDecDecember8th2010 December 2: Unbelief in the Day of Good News

Posted Wednesday, December 08 2010 @ 10 AM byPhil Nelson Tagged No tags 0 comments Add comment

2 Kings 7:1-3 (NIV)
¹Elisha said, "Hear the word of the LORD. This is what the LORD says: About this time tomorrow, a seah of flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria."
²The officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man of God, "Look, even if the LORD should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?" "You will see it with your own eyes," answered Elisha, "but you will not eat any of it!"

So the situation looked real bad. The news media were all in agreement that things would never get better. Everyone allowed the media to convince them that they spoke the truth so no one believed that anything good could actually happen anymore.

Enter one man of God, named Elisha. Listen carefully to this media person sent from Heaven to give the correct news for all to hear. "Hear the word of the LORD. This is what the LORD says: About this time tomorrow, a seah of flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria."

Now Elisha was speaking something that was completely contrary to what the modern news media and intellectual elites were saying in his day. (Not much has changed in 3000 years huh?) His word was the economy was going to turn around so fast that it would make your head spin. What Elisha predicted was equal to some one being interviewed on our national media today and predicting that gasoline will sell for less than ten cents a gallon beginning at noon tomorrow.

Now consider what the news media pundits would say bout such predictions. I am sure the reports would go something like this, "Some crazy preacher that dresses poorly has gone off his rocker yet again. He is predicting that gas will be selling for ten cents a gallon by noon tomorrow. Katie, what do you think about this?

"I think he is crazy and should be locked up. His fanciful predictions do not help us in this situation. We do not need someone to come in to tell us that God desires to bless us, what we really need is someone to tell us how bad things are and how they will never be good again. What we need is the truth, not some crazy preacher telling us some fancy fairytale."

Ok let me get you back to reality before you go thinking I have lost my marbles too. To be sure we are in difficult times. The economy is not looking very good and our politicians do not look like they will be our deliverance, even after this election. Surprise surprise!.

So what can we glean from this text for our lives during this time of year when churches are calling on us to give more money and make more commitments to missions than ever before? Surely those who ask for such things are somewhat like that crazy half baked prophet, Elisha.

Not so fast. What is our reality. Is it what we see with our eyes or is it what we believe about God without seeing? I hope you chose the second answer. So just how does this all help me live in this present situation? Trust me this story has much to say to all of us who will keep on reading. But since I have already taken up a lot of your time today you will have to come back tomorrow to see what message there might be in this text for you, or you could just keep on reading II Kings 7 and see if you can discover it on your own.

See you tomorrow,

Pastor Phil

WedWednesdayDecDecember8th2010 December 1: The Sequel to a Dark and Stormy Night

Posted Wednesday, December 08 2010 @ 10 AM byPhil Nelson Tagged No tags 0 comments Add comment

Philippians 4:4 (NIV)
⁴Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

It was a long and boring basketball game. The stands were half empty; the crowd was not even in the game for the most part. I had planned to spend the evening with my daughter Hannah and thought that going to a basketball game would be fun, was I ever wrong.

Hannah and I had great seats due to some free tickets that had been given to us so we settled down to enjoy a very boring game. The Salukis were ahead of their opponent by almost thirty points at one time so no one was even interested in the game.

At half time we stood in the Dippin Dots line for the entire half time only to get to the counter to discover that they had run out of all of the favorite kinds, so we made our way back to our seats for another uneventful half of slow moving basketball.

After the game we went to our favorite restaurant and enjoyed some good food and played some rather silly games on the table. I am sure we looked rather childish as we played different games and cheered for our successes as we sought to trash each other in a contest of quarter foo0tball. (Don't ask me to explain it, it is just something that Hannah I d when we are at restaurants.)

As we were on our way home, Hannah turned to me and said, "Dad, this was a great night!"

Rather confused, I replied, "How can you say that. We went to a boring game and stood in a long line only to be disappointed and found our joy in playing quarter football on a table at Steak and Shake?"

Her quick and honest response was, "Dad, we were together and that is what made it great."

Often life is just routine, nothing spectacular happening, just going through the motions of life. Some will say they need some chemical to excite them, to raise their pleasure level. Others may turn to all sorts of other things for pleasure, but for those who know the Risen Christ we can rejoice because God is with us even in the boring times and that changes everything.

So how about a little more rejoicing Church. Go ahead and throw your head back and laugh a little, it is ok. In fact we are commanded to rejoice. Paul has to remind us twice in one verse. I guess it is hard for us to hear that coming from God. Perhaps our concept of God needs a little reworking as well. Rejoice, what a nice concept, all because of God's presence.

Taking time out to Rejoice a little,

Pastor Phil

WedWednesdayDecDecember8th2010 November 24: It Was A Dark And Stormy Night!

Posted Wednesday, December 08 2010 @ 10 AM byPhil Nelson Tagged No tags 0 comments Add comment

Psalm 23:4 (NIV)
⁴Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

It was a dark and stormy night. The sky was covered with storm clouds and the wind was howling across the field. You could hear the crunch of the harvested corn stalks under your feet with every step. It was just a few days ago that coyotes had been heard howling in this very field. The wind made an eerie, almost ghostly sound as it descended on the forest. The trees became animated wild beasts as they groaned and creaked under the rush of the wind.

This was no place for a nine year-old little girl to be in the middle of the night. Fear would certainly be the most dominate force in a little girl's heart in such a situation, but there was none of it to be felt that night, when all self respecting little girls would be safely tucked in their beds, fast asleep.

So just how does a nine year-old little girl face such fearsome circumstances and find a great deal of joy in such foreboding situations?

I had promised Lydia, our nine year-old, that I would take her for a walk in the woods after I returned from the SIU game and my time with Hannah, our fifteen year-old daughter. Since there was no school tomorrow Lydia could stay up until I got home and we went on our walk in the woods.

Hannah and I returned home after 10 p.m. to find Lydia waiting with great anticipation for our late night trek through the woods. We set out about 10:30 and walked out across an open field for about half a mile.

As we began our trek out across the forest we heard an eerie sound coming from some animal. I looked back and saw a streak of black rushing toward us. Our flashlights caught the animal but all we could see was the sharp piercing eyes reflect the light of our flashlights.

Anyone else would have run for cover but not our Lydia, she was actually quite thrilled to see this black animal with piercing eyes running towards us. After all it was only our black cat, Chloe, coming out to walk with us through the woods.

As we continued our walk, the moon came out and shone upon our path so we decided to turn out our flashlights and walk in the quiet blackness in the midnight forest.

After walking for a few minutes, Lydia grabbed my hand and said, "Daddy, this is really fun being with you and I am not even scared."

I could hear the coyotes howl in the distance and see the eerie shapes the trees were making as the wind blew and I felt the beat of my heart grow faster, but I wasn't going to let on, not if my daughter wasn't scared.

It was then I saw my opportunity and I took it. "Lydia, can you tell me why you are not scared?"

Her instant reply was, "Well Dad, it is because I am with you. Why should I be scared, when I am with you?"

Ok, now I got it. She was not scared because she was with her dad. So why should I be scared if I am walking with my Father.

No matter what you will face, you have no reason for fear for the God who made you and called you by His name is right there with you. Yes David got it right, "I will fear no evil for you are with me . . ."

I think I will go for another walk in the woods at midnight tonight. More to come after I get back from the late night walk.

Fearing No Evil,

Pastor Phil

WedWednesdayDecDecember8th2010 November 22: I Love it When the Church is the Church!

Posted Wednesday, December 08 2010 @ 9 AM byPhil Nelson Tagged No tags 0 comments Add comment

Psalm 133:1-3 (NIV)
¹How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!
²It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron's beard, down upon the collar of his robes.
³It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the LORD bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.

Ok so today will not be a devotion, I have to brag on God for a moment and I hope he will allow me. I was involved in a real live church service where God was very much a part yesterday.

I woke up at four o'clock in the morning very worried about how everything would work out. There were so many things to make work I was already tired just thinking about it. There was the Sunday morning Bible study to finish, the Morning message to put the final touches on, concerns about how we were going to be able to pull off worship when I found out just a few days previously that we had no one to lead, so it was going to fall in my lap to do what I am not qualified to do.

On top of all this we had our Thanksgiving dinner immediately following the morning service. Then to put the icing on the cake we had several visitors that each had special needs that required close attention. The text I had chosen for this morning was I Thessalonians 5:16-18. Little did I know how timely this text would serve for my own life. I will leave it to you to read this passage or you can listen to my podcast.

When I arrived at the worship center I discovered several of the women and men of our church had already had everything already set up for the dinner and we already had more than enough food even if we had several visitors that came without any. One problem taken care of.

Just before worship we had a homeless man, named Lonnie, that entered our worship center and looked to be very disturbed. I thought to myself, "What a time for someone like this to show up. I wonder how the church will respond?" But to be honest I was not surprised to see five of our men go over and seek to minister to this stranger in our midst. No one looked down on this man, they went out of their way to serve him and invite him to join in the worship celebration.

I thought to myself, "Way to go God and way to go men of Lakeland." I then saw another of our members befriend a visiting student from another country and go out of their way to make them welcome. This international student even stayed for the meal afterwards.

During our time of thanksgiving testimonies I heard countless statements like the following, "I thank God for the way that so and so ministered to me this past year" or "I thank God for the way God is at work in our midst." There truly was a celebration of God's activity in our midst. This all took place after I led in worship with my wife leading us on the piano. (Yes no one even walked out during my leading the singing, another miracle)

During lunch afterwards I continued to hear testimonies of how one member has been sharing Christ with someone in their family,another member asking for prayer because they had several co workers who needed Christ, another member praised God for helping her to see a ministry she needed to be involved in, others shared humorous stories of walking with God or just some good clean humor.

As the afternoon drew to a close I continued to see every member working together for the glory of God and they all were happy. I even saw some of our youth in the kitchen helping to wash the dishes and help with the clean up, mind you they did this with great joy. I know this because there was not a parent even around and I watched them work together with joy around the sink.

As I got ready to leave I saw one of our members take the homeless visitor to a local hotel and give them a room to sleep in for the night and make sure they had plenty of our left over food for the evening. Once again done with great joy. On my way out of the building I had several members say what a joy it was to serve the Lord in this day. And I thought to myself, "What a true joy it is to serve alongside of those who care not for their own personal glory but that the glory of God is seen in our midst as we serve alongside each other for the sake of the gospel.. I truly am blessed to serve a church where so many have this as their leading concern.

For all of you who question if the Church can ever really be the church, yesterday was a very clear example of one group of believers that made it happen. Now I know in a personal way that Psalms 133 really is true. What a blessing God gives when His people live for the sake of God's glory. When this happens the presence of the Lord is present and those who serve in this way get to see and experience His presence. Thanks Lakeland for letting one pastor have this vision. May God be glorified.

A Grateful pastor of Lakeland Baptist,

Pastor Phil

Daily Devotions

by Devotions for your daily Bible readings written by Pastor Phil Nelson. If you would like a copy of an older devotional, please contact the church office.

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