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 2025
September 2025
 

"These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so."  Acts 17:11

The Bible provides an accurate account of God's character, actions, and purposes.  Together, the Old and New Testaments teach us that man's problem is sin and the only remedy is faith in the Son of God:  Jesus Christ.  Through His Word, God has entrusted to us the knowledge of who He is, what He is doing, and how the future will unfold for mankind.  The scriptures were intended to lead us into a growing relationship with our heavenly Father and to empower us for fruitful service as Christ's ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20).

What place does this amazing book---the Bible---have in determining the course of your life?  Take time today and every day to listen to the Lord, to partake of His wisdom, and to determine what He is saying to you personally from the Book of all books.

Adapted from:  https://www.intouch.org/read/daily-devotions/the-book-of-books-2

" You are My friends if you do what I command you."  John 15:14

Friendships are important to everyone, but they're especially imortant to Jesus, the creator of friendship.  In 15:14 Jesus is speaking to His eleven disciples.  In short order He will use these men to change the world.  Jesus is seeking intimate friendship with his disciples, so He gives His closest friends the condition for friendship, obedience, the use of word "friend" is just another experiential term such as "abiding" or "fellowship."

Jesus is a friend to us by His grace.  He has removed the enmity that separated us from God through His death on the cross for our sins.  Those who place their faith in Jesus' work experience His friendship.  But this does not mean that Jesus considers you a friend to Him.  We are a friend to Jesus by living a life characterized by obedience.  Although no one is perfect, as we grow in our obedience to Christ we experience different degrees of friendship.  All believers are God's friends in one sense, but abiding believers are Jesus' friends on a deeper level because they seek to obey Him consistently.  (cf. Ps.25:14).10

Adapted from:  https://media1.razorplanet.com/share/511079-7965/siteDocs/John 15.12-17.pdf

"Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize?  Run in such a way that you ay obtain it."  1 Corinthians 9:24

The analogy of comparing "athletic completion" to "Christian living" is a theme often repeated in scripture.  In Isaiah, he writes that "those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength...they will RUN and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." (Isaiah 40:31)  Paul uses this comparison about his own ministry by checking with the leaders of the Chruch to make sure that he "was running or had run the race" of faith correctly. (Galatians 2:2)  He urges the Galatians to keep running the good race and not to allow others to "cut in on" their race or to keep them from obeying the truth. (Galatians 5:7)  And near the end of his earthly life and ministry, he tells the young pastor, Timothy, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the RACE, I have kept the faith." (2 Timothy 4:7)

In the text above, Paul says, "In a race all runners run, but only one gets the prize... [so] run in such a way to get the prize."  Who is the "one?"  The "one," is the one who has come through the "door" may enter. (Luke 13:24; John 10:9)  The narrow door is Jesus and only those who believe in His sacrificial, life-giving death and resurrection, will inherit the gift of eternal life.  Are you running to win?


Adapted from:  https://holycrosslutheran.net/focus-finish-1-corinthians-924-27/