Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Doubts”
Our Bible verse for today: “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:31-33 (NIV)
Our thought for today: “Stay focused on the things that really matter.”
At Oak Hill Baptist Church the way we approach the Bible is that I select a book of the Bible to preach on, I begin in chapter one, verse one, and then each Sunday whatever the next major theme in the book is, that’s the subject of this week’s sermon.
Recently we’ve been studying the Gospel of Luke. In chapters 14, 15, and 16 we find Jesus teaching a series of lessons designed to help us get our priorities right. In those stories He illustrates for us the great truth that He first taught in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:31-33 above, and which He then re-taught numerous times throughout His ministry. The lesson is that earthly riches and status are all fleeting and very temporary. Instead it’s godly values that really matter and which have eternal value.
All of those sermons are available for you to listen to on our website at www.oakhillbaptist.net. We will continue the study this Sunday as Jesus teaches yet another lesson about the difference between worldly values and kingdom values, between what really matters and what doesn’t.
The distinction is important because it’s human nature for us to focus our time and attention primarily on physical things like money, possessions, power, fame, position, status, etc. And if we have not accumulated houses and cars, big bank accounts and high positions, then we can easily doubt ourselves and conclude that we haven’t been successful in life.
But God measures success differently. God looks at a person’s heart and wants to see faithfulness, love, joy, and contentment. He looks at your life and He desires to see kindness, compassion, mercy, and generosity. In return He blesses you with the Fruit of the Spirit as Paul described in Galatians 5:22-23 – love and joy, peace and patience, kindness and goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The more you live by godly values, the more of God’s blessings you will experience in your life. Those are blessings the world can’t give, and therefore they are blessings the world can’t take away.
If you haven’t experienced an abundance of success as measured by worldly standards, please don’t doubt yourself. Ultimately it’s not the standards of this world that really matter anyway. Instead, consider your life based upon the things that God says are important such as spiritual maturity, godly character traits, and Christ-likeness. That’s the measure that really matters, in this lifetime and for all eternity.
Join us this Sunday at Oak Hill Baptist Church as we continue following Jesus’ teaching on this subject. The worship service begins at 10:00.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 