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Peniel Pentecostal Holiness Church
3239 Rosebud Road
Walnut Cove NC 27052
Pastor: Dr. Tim Nelson - Church Office 336-591-36112
A Place To Encounter God Face To Face. Gen. 32:3 A Word From The Pastor Archives 2023
September 2023
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September 3, 2023 |
Let us hear the conclusion of the
whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for
this is the whole duty of man.
Ecclesiastes 12:13
When one considers everything that the
wisdom writer has written in Ecclesiastes, you get down
to the essence of living. That’s actually what “the
whole duty of man” means – it’s the essence of life.
It’s taking away everything that’s extraneous and
boiling it down to what’s at the core. The Teacher
identifies two things.
The first is to “Fear God.” This is
revealed throughout this book. To fear God isn’t to
cower. Fearing God means that we know who He is and
where we stand in relation to Him. It means taking Him
seriously, acknowledging Him in our lives as the highest
good. It means revering Him, honoring Him, and
worshiping Him.
The second duty of man is to “Keep His
commandments.” This is what life is about. The most
important thing for anyone to do is to worship God and
obey His commandments. According to Charles Bridges it
is “his whole happiness and business – the total sum of
all that concerns him – all that God requires of him –
all that the Savior enjoins – all that the Holy Spirit
teaches and works in him.” We were made to worship and
obey God.
Just as Jesus summarizes the
commandments of God in two very clear commands - love
God and love others, Solomon summarizes the whole duty
of man in two concise statements - fear God and keep
God’s commandments. It’s as simple as 1 + 1.
Adapted from: https://www.dashhouse.com/2011515the-end-of-the-matter-ecclesiastes-129-14-html/#:~:text=The end
of the matter; all has been heard.,to the essence of
living.
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September 10, 2023 |
Having therefore these
promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse
ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh
and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear
of God. 2
Corinthians 7:1
God has blessed us with so
many wonderful promises. He has secured them
through the sending of his Son "to conquer
death and bring life and immortality to
life." He will "transform our lowly bodies
to be like his glorious body." He will take
us home to be with him eternally, but until
that day, He will live inside us and reveal
Himself to us. He will make us more than
conquerors and will not allow anything to
separate us from his love.
So what should our
response be? Yes, sure we should offer Him
praise. But, we must not limit our praise to
words. God wants our lives to be pure,
staying away from what is evil, worldly,
vile, putrid, and corrupt. He wants us to do
this, not so we can claim some moral
superiority, but so that we can show Him our
adoration and reverence - godly fear. In our
desire to offer God praise, let's not forget
that one of the greatest ways to praise Him
is to seek Him in purity and holiness!
Adapted from:
https://www.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/todaysverse.cgi?day=20011122&ver=niv
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September 17, 2023 |
Now therefore fear the Lord and
serve him in sincerity and in truth and put away the
gods which your fathers served on the other side of
the flood and in Egypt, and serve ye the Lord.
Joshua 24:14The
first part of Joshua's command in verse 14 is, "Now
therefore fear the Lord." Joshua is 110 years
old and before he takes his last breath, he gathers
the people of Israel together to call the nation
back to an appropriate fear of the Lord. They
seem to have lost their fear, their deep reverence
and true devotion of Yahweh, the only true God.
Joshua was concerned because many had abandoned God
to serve other false gods. Many in Israel had
forgotten the great and good things God had done.
It is when we remember what God
has done, the good and great that we should be moved
toward a deep reverence of and devotion to the Lord.
Nothing so influences fear, or a reverential
affection for God, as a sense of His goodness.
John Gill wrote: "this engages men sensible of it to
fear the Lord, that is, to worship Him both
internally and externally in the exercise of every
grace, and in the performance of every duty."
Therefore, Joshua said, "fear the Lord and serve
Him."
Adapted from:
https//christianschmidttword.press.com/2010/09/28/joshua-2414-15-what-will-you-leave-behind/
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September 24, 2023 |
According to the Apostle Paul, we
change in two ways. We change because God is acting
in us. That’s the first part. But then we change by
working out what God has already worked.
Notice what he says:
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“Work out…” this means “keep
working it out.” This is something that we’re
supposed to be doing every single day. It’s our
ongoing responsibility. And what are we to keep
working out - it “our salvation” In other words,
we’re to work out the implications of what God
has done in our lives. We remind ourselves of
what Jesus has done for us. He took our place.
He died as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. He
removed our guilt and covered our shame. He was
buried and rose again on the third day and gave
us new life. He gave us a new heart that wants
to obey Him. He gave us the Holy Spirit to
empower and transform us. All of this is God’s
work, but we get the privilege of working this
out in our life. Work out the implications of
what God has done in every area of your life.
And how do we work this out…, we work it out
“…with fear and trembling” This means we do not
do this casually. It means we are not to be
content with how far we have already come. May
we take this seriously. It’s something we need
to take very seriously.
So how do we grow? We grow when
God works in us. And we grow when we work out what
God is working in us.
Adapted by: https://www.dashhouse.com/grow-philippians-212-13/
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