Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: ‘Obeying God when obeying isn’t easy”
Our Bible verse for today: “Imitate me, as I also imitate Christ.” 1 Corinthians 11:1 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “We learn how to obey God through the good examples of others.”
I am deeply grateful to the Lord for some of the fine Christian men and women He has brought into my life over the years. I have learned so much from them! Oren Teel was my pastor. He was the man who baptized me, discipled me, and then patiently raised me up in the ministry. It was Oren who led the church to license me to preach, and it was Oren who presided over my Ordination Council. To this day when I’m faced with a difficult problem in church life I find myself wondering “How would Oren have handled this?”
There have been many others over the years. Phyllis Forte and Mary Rose Kemmer modeled for me how a Christian can age with grace and dignity. They also exemplified how to deal with serious medical problems and deteriorating health, and yet still be faithful to the church family while being a great blessing to all those around you.
This is what Paul was talking about in 1 Corinthians 11:1. He wasn’t bragging. He was simply acknowledging the fact that over the years the Lord had brought him through a lot. Therefore he had learned how to faithfully follow Him – especially in difficult circumstances and in tough times. As a result, he was in a good position to teach those hard-learned lessons to others.
This is why in both the Old and New Testaments, God places such a heavy emphasis on the importance of His people living within a community of faith. We are to be fully engaged in the life of the church because we need to be around other Christians. When we skip the regular gatherings of our church family, we’re missing out on some of the most important lessons the Lord wants to teach us. There are people there that we need to be around – people we can learn from, people whose examples will inspire us and move us forward in our own growth. But that doesn’t happen if we’re sitting at home on Sunday morning reading the newspaper rather than sitting in Sunday School.
As the weekend approaches and the time for the Sunday gathering of the church family draws near, I encourage you to make plans to be there. There are people there that you need to be around. There are things the Lord intends to show you through the examples of others. We learn a lot from the examples of others – especially about how to live well and how to obey God in the tough times of life.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 