Peniel Pentecostal Holiness Church

3239 Rosebud Road Walnut Cove NC 27052
Pastor: Dr. Tim Nelson -  Church Office 336-591-3611
A Place To Encounter God Face To Face. Gen. 32:3

A Word From The Pastor Archives
January 2025
 

A WORD FROM THE PASTOR

"The earth is the LORD'S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein."  Psalm 24:1

King David starts out this royal hymn by drawing our attention away from ourselves and to the One who owns it all.  He does this by showing a contrast right at the beginning of the psalm, a contrast that should dramatically remind us of our place in the universe.

Starting with the title, the text literally reads, "Belonging to David, a psalm.  Belonging to Yahweh, the earth."  As great as King Daid was, he was still only a man.  Even though he was a prophet and wrote under the influence of the Holy Spirit, he was still just a man.  Anything he had and anything he accomplished was given to him by the grace of God (2 Samuel 12:7-8).

Fallen man oftentimes looks at the earth as if it belongs to him, or worse, as if the earth was just a lucky break in the evolutionary scheme of things.  But "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1).  The earth belongs to Him and to no one else.  He is the rightful owner.  There is only one name on the title deed to the universe, and it's not yours, and it's not mine.  It's Yahweh's.  That fact should serve as the foundation to everything else in our lives.

Adapted from:  https://www.foi.org/2015/09/08/the-earth-is-the-lords-psalm-241/

"Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,"  Jonah 1:1

In some ways we can think of Jonah's experience as a kind of baptism.  Jonah is a rebellious, runaway prophet who needs to repent, seek God again, and obey what he is called to do.

God called Jonah to preach a message of repentance to the people of Nineveh.  But Jonah didn't want to.  The people of Nineveh were enemies of Israel, and Jonah wanted them destroyed.  So he boarded a ship going the other way and tried to flee from God.

But God "sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up."  God created a storm and a different pathway for Jonah.

The sailors, who were terrified and cried out to their pagan gods for help, showed more respect for Jonah's God than Jonah did.  But at least Jonah admitted he had caused the problem, and he told the sailors to throw him overboard.  When they finally did that, "the raging sea grew calm."

Though Jonah was still trying to escape, God still wanted to call Nineveh to repent, so he sent "a huge fish" to swallow Jonah.  And after three days, the monster fish vomited Jonah "onto dry land."  The sea should have meant death for one of God's people (and many others) but God rescued Jonah to share his blessing and grace.

PRAYER:  Lord, guide us not to run from you, whatever you may call us to do.  Forgive us, we pray, and pull us back to follow your way for us.  Amen.

Adapted from:  https://todaydevotional.com/devotions/what-have-you-done