Oak Hill Baptist Church

Understand the times and seize the moments

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Character and integrity”

Our Bible verse for today: “Pay careful attention, then, to how you live – not as unwise people but as wise – making the most of the time, because the days are evil.” Ephesians 5:15-16 (CSB)

Out thought for today: “Understand the times and seize the moment”

This Saturday the men and boys at Oak Hill Baptist Church will be meeting for our monthly men’s breakfast. We will have a pancake breakfast in the Fellowship Hall at the church at 8:30, followed by a short devotional, and then some discussion and planning of events. We invite you to join us!

As sat at my desk yesterday considering what to speak about in the devotional time, I was considering the books about men’s issues that I have on my bookshelf here in my home office. There are forty-seven of them. I have more on the bookshelves in my office at the church. That’s a lot of books about men’s issues. One of the reasons there are so many books for Christian men, is because our society desperately needs godly men of strong character and impeccable integrity to step up and be men. In the midst of a culture that is confused about Biblical manhood, and which has been aggressive about shaming and essentially emasculating men, we need men to be men.

One of the books that had the greatest impact on me early in my life as a Christian is “The Seven Promises of a Promise Keeper”. I was fortunate to come to faith in Christ just as the Promise Keepers movement was kicking into high gear. That movement, and the book, instilled in me a desire to be a godly man, and it impressed upon me the vital role Christian men must play in our society.

One of the passages of Scripture often featured in Promise Keepers events was Ephesians 5:15-16 (above), and one of the lessons drawn from it is that we as men of God must understand the times we live in, and we must rise up and seize the moment for Christ. Our families, our churches, our communities, and our nation need the men of God to do that – it’s vitally important and desperately needed.

But that’s true for all of God’s people, not just for the men. All of God’s people – men, women, boys, and girls need to be people of strong character and impeccable integrity who understand the desperate times we live in, and who have the boldness and courage to rise up and seize the moment for Christ.

Let that be true of all of us. Be kind, but also be bold, seizing the moments and situations you find yourself in and using them to shine for Jesus.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Do you keep your promises?

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Character and integrity”

Our Bible verse for today: “I will not violate my covenant or change what my lips have said.” Psalm 89:34 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Do you keep your promises?”

One of the marks of a godly man or woman of strong character and impeccable integrity is that they keep their promises. If they make a commitment, they fulfill it.

I’ve had the good fortune over the years to be associated with many godly men and women whose character and integrity were such that they could always be counted on to keep their promises and fulfill their commitments. Their examples have inspired me to want to be like that too.

I remember one man in a church I was the pastor of in California many years ago. Our church was located on the busiest corner in town and every Christmas we had a live nativity scene, complete with a full-sized manger, live actors, and real animals. However, the manger was so old that it was falling apart. So this man, who was a good carpenter, offered to build us a new one.

Unfortunately, just before the project was to begin, he became ill and was supposed to be on bedrest. But he just couldn’t let that stop him. He had committed to building us a new manger, Christmastime was fast approaching, and he was determined to fulfill that commitment. So, he got himself out of bed, came to the church, and although he couldn’t do very much of the actual work, he was there to supervise the rest of us and we did construct a very nice new manger.

Likewise, I have a current friend who is absolutely compulsive about keeping his promises. If he says he is going to be somewhere, he is there. If he promised to do something, he does it – regardless of circumstances. And on those rare occasions when something happens and he has to delay or cancel and therefore isn’t able to do what he promised – it kills him. He agonizes over it.

Men and women of character and integrity keep their promises and fulfill their commitments. Let’s all take a moment to thank the Lord for those like that who He has put into our lives, because they are a blessing.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Say what you mean and mean what you say

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Character and integrity”

Our Bible verse for today: “But let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes’, and your ‘no’ mean ‘no’. Anything more than this is from the evil one.” Matthew 5:37 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Say what you mean and mean what you say”

It’s often said these days that relativism and expediency are the curses of our age. I believe that’s true. Relativism is a philosophy that holds that truth and morality exist only in relation to culture and society, and therefore are not absolute. Expediency is conduct based upon what is convenient and practical, despite possibly being improper, immoral, or even illegal.

Unfortunately, the concepts of relativism and expediency have become widespread and accepted in our society today. Rather than simply telling the truth and living by it, it is more and more common for people to define truth for themselves, or to dance around the edges of truth, and often to mislead, distort, and misrepresent. It’s done to achieve a desired outcome, and the person usually finds ways to justify doing so.

Jesus spoke to this in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:37. There He essentially instructed us to “Say what you mean, mean what you say, let the chips fall where they may.” The Apostle James repeated this instruction in James 5:12.

I truly believe that most Christians are godly men and women of good character and strong integrity. And I believe most Christians tell the full truth the overwhelming majority of the time. But at times we all (I include myself in this) are tempted to either lie outright, or to distort and misrepresent things. This can be especially true if we’re dealing with a difficult situation that we feel strongly about and for which we’re trying to make our case appear stronger than it really is. In such situations it can be tempting to lie, shade or stretch the truth a bit, or distort and mispresent things.

We have to guard against giving in to the temptation to be untruthful or willfully misleading. A godly man or women of character and integrity tries to be scrupulously truthful and honest at all times.

Let’s strive to be fully truthful in all things. Let’s just say what we mean and mean what we say.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Don’t abuse it

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Character and integrity”

Our Bible verse for today: “Lying lips are detestable to the Lord, but faithful people are his delight.” Proverbs 12:22 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Don’t abuse it”

This morning we will return to our discussion from yesterday regarding the theory of the righteous lie. Are there some situations when telling a lie is not only okay, but is actually the good and righteous thing to do? Or, is lying always wrong? Is the ninth commandment conditional, are there carve-outs and exceptions for it?

It’s a moral and ethical question that has been the subject of debate among Bible scholars much smarter than me for thousands of years. So, I’m not going to claim to have the definitive answer, but I will share my opinion with you.

When I look to Scripture, I see that there are some rare instances where a Biblical figure told an obvious lie, but it was clearly the right thing to do. That leads me to conclude that it is possible that you or I could find ourselves in a similar situation, and perhaps telling a lie would be the correct response for us too. However, I also see in Scripture that such situations were very rare and very extreme. They were life and death situations. The righteous lie wasn’t told as a matter of simple convenience for the individual, or for the sake of a non-critical issue or agenda.

I think that right there is the key to the righteous lie issue – is it a life-or-death situation? If you are an Egyptian midwife saving the lives of Hebrew babies; or if you are a prostitute named Rahab and you’re saving Jewish spies; or if you’re a German Christian protecting Jews from the Nazis; okay, go ahead and tell the lie. But if the situation doesn’t rise to that level of seriousness and urgency, then lying about it is almost certainly a sin, and claiming your lie to be a “righteous” lie would be an abuse of the righteous lie principle.

By way of example, back during the beginning of the COVID 19 pandemic, when nobody was really sure what we were dealing with or what the best measures were for protecting ourselves and others, many establishments such as stores, businesses, hospitals, and government offices had mask mandates. If you wanted to come into their facility, they required you to wear a face mask – unless you had a legitimate health issue (with a doctor’s order) that prevented you from wearing a mask.

A tactic was quickly developed by those opposed to masks to claim they had such a health issue, when in fact they did not. They were lying, but they believed they were justified in telling the lie. Even Christians did this, believing it to be a righteous lie. In my opinion, that was an abuse of the righteous lie principle. It was not a life-and-death issue for that person. If you didn’t want to wear a mask, fine – state your position, don’t wear the mask, and deal as best you can with the consequences of your choice. But don’t lie about it.

Is there such a thing as a “righteous” lie? I think so. There are examples of it in the Bible. But in the Bible, it was rare and for extreme situations. The overwhelming weight of Scripture compels us to tell the truth, and to do so, whether telling the truth is convenient or not. We’ll think more about this tomorrow.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Is it a righteous lie or just a lie?

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Character and integrity”

Our Bible verse for today: “The midwives said to Pharaoh, ‘The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife can get to them.” Exodus 1:19 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Is it a righteous lie or just a lie?”

Lying is a sin. The ninth commandment is perfectly clear about that. But is there such a thing as a righteous lie? In other words, are there times when lying is not just okay but even required and approved by God? Perhaps.

The theory of the righteous lie is based primarily on two passages, both from the Old Testament. In Exodus 1:19 the Egyptian midwives had been ordered by the Pharoah to kill all the Hebrew male babies at birth. But the midwives knew it would be wrong to do that and so they let the babies live. Then, when questioned by Pharoah as to why they didn’t obey his command they lied to him about it, and the Scripture then tells us that God rewarded them for saving the Hebrew babies.

The other example is found in Joshua 2:4-7 when the prostitute Rahab conspired to save the Jewish spies and then lied to the authorities about their whereabouts. There are a few other passages in both the Old and New Testaments which are sometimes pointed to as justifications for this idea of a righteous lie, but these two will suffice for our discussion this morning.

Proponents of the righteous lie theory argue that sometimes lies are necessary and are therefore approved by God (sort of a carve-out or special dispensation from the ninth commandment). They could be right. If you were a Christian in Germany in the late 1930s and you were hiding Jews in your basement, and the Nazis were at your door demanding to know if you were hiding Jews, morally you would be compelled to say “no”. Giving the Jews up to the Nazis would be a death sentence for them and it would be the wrong thing to do. Therefore, not only is it okay to lie about it, you are morally compelled to tell that lie.

Opponents of the righteous lie theory argue that even though your lie may have produced a good outcome, that still doesn’t make the lie itself a good thing or something approved by God. That’s the position taken by the conservative Christian website “Answers in Genesis” (owners of The Ark and the Creation Museum). They contend that if we read the righteous lie passages carefully, we will find that even though the intent and the actions of the midwives and of Rahab were good, and even though the outcome was positive, the passage still doesn’t say that the lie itself was approved by God. For Him to have done so would have made the ninth commandment conditional.

So, the question before us here today, as we consider our theme of being men and women with godly character and integrity is, “Is it ever okay to lie?” “Is there such a thing as a “righteous” lie that is condoned and approved by God?”

It’s not an easy question to answer but I will offer you some thoughts about it tomorrow.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Stay out of the ditch

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Character and integrity”

Our Bible verse for today: “How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping your word.” Psalm 119:9 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Stay out of the ditch”

Guardrails are protective in nature. They prevent someone or something from getting off track and possibly falling off the edge. Dangerous sections of road typically have guardrails on the shoulders to keep cars from drifting off the edge and tumbling down an embankment.

But guardrails aren’t limited to physical metal structures on roads and highways. Guardrails can also be moral, ethical, legal, and religious. Rules, regulations, laws, and guidelines are all examples of mental guardrails which guide our conduct and keep us from straying from established and approved norms.

The Bible provides us with God’s guardrails for staying on track in life. In the Bible God gives us with what we call “a Biblical worldview” which helps us to know what’s true and what isn’t, and what conduct is acceptable and which isn’t. A Biblical worldview (also known as a Christian worldview) is based on God’s unchanging Word. The Bible is true for all people in all places at all times, and therefore it does not change. It is not influenced by or modified based on cultural trends or changing societal norms. This is what Solomon was referring to in Proverbs 119:9 (above).

Therefore, as God’s people, we take everything we are seeing, hearing, and being told from politicians, writers, educators, celebrities, and other cultural influencers, and we lay it alongside the Bible to determine how what they’re saying compares to what God has said. And then we evaluate the truthfulness or the rightness of anything based upon how it compares to the unchanging Word of God. The Bible is our standard for living, and it is our standard for evaluating everything and everyone. These are the guardrails within which we live our lives.

Men and women who have developed godly character and integrity have done so by learning to stay within the guardrails of thought and deed as given to us by God in the Bible. Biblical commands, instructions, and principles are our guardrails for living the Christian life. Stay within them and you will be fine. Stray from them and you will be in danger of falling off the edge and tumbling into one of life’s many ditches.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

We fell down the rabbit hole

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Character and integrity”

Our Bible verse for today: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” Isaiah 5:20 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “We fell down the rabbit hole”

When we use the phrase “We fell down the rabbit hole”, we’re usually referring to the experience of Alice in Lewis Carroll’s classic story of “Alice in Wonderland”. Alice literally fell down the hole of the White Rabbit and it took her into the alternate universe of Wonderland. In Wonderland everything was upside down and backwards, the opposite of what you would expect it to be. Nothing was normal or made sense.

Welcome to America in 2022. We fell down the rabbit hole. What used to be good is now bad, and what used to be bad is now good. Boys will be girls and girls will be boys. Nobody knows what’s real news, fake news, or a Russian bot. Politicians and government officials lie as easily as they breathe, and the truth about anything can’t be located even by Google-earth.

So, it shouldn’t surprise us that there’s confusion regarding the essence of character and integrity. There are many in our society (including some Christians) who accept falsehoods, endorse lies, excuse sin, and all the while loudly proclaim that their side’s character and integrity is above reproach. This is true of people on both sides of the political spectrum and on all sides in the culture wars.

Not only is that untrue (in that such conduct is not an example of true character and integrity), but it also serves to further confuse the issue in people’s minds. When weak character is proclaimed to be strong; when an obvious lack of integrity is declared to be an example of integrity, and when lies and distortions are coming at us from all sides, people’s heads spin and nobody knows what’s real or true. This is life in a society down the rabbit hole. Nothing is as it seems and everything is the opposite of what it should be.

But as Christians we know the truth as proclaimed by God in the Bible. We know what honesty, integrity, and strong reliable character looks like because God has given us clear written instructions about this in the Bible. And therefore, as Christians, we have the call of God upon our lives to be men and women of godly character and impeccable integrity.

Our society needs this to be true of us. Somebody has got to come back up out of the rabbit hole of lies, deceit, deception, misinformation, and manipulation. It has to be us. We, the Christians, must be the people of honesty, integrity, virtue, and character. If not us then who? We’ll think more about this tomorrow.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

We need men and women of character and integrity

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Character and Integrity”

Our Bible verse for today: “Better a poor person who lives with integrity than the rich one who distorts right and wrong.” Proverbs 28:6 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “We need men and women of character and integrity”

In my opinion, in our society today, character and integrity are no longer the highly regarded virtues they once were. Instead, relativism and expediency seem to be the dominant operative values. Rather than taking a stand on principle, many people choose the path of least resistance. And, doing so is often seen as being smart rather than as evidence of weakness or of a character flaw.

Character, as I’m using it, refers to moral and ethical strength. A person of character has a personal code of conduct which they believe in strongly, value deeply, and which they refuse to compromise. Synonyms for this meaning of character include courage, strength, honor, rectitude, uprightness, morality, goodness, scrupulousness, and honesty.

Integrity is similar but slightly different. Integrity is the quality of having strong moral principles about which you are steadfast, and which then govern the way you conduct yourself. Synonyms for integrity include words like honesty, probity, truthfulness, veracity, sincerity, and courage.

Character is about who you are. Integrity is more about how you act. When your character is strong you then live with integrity. Being a person of strong character and absolute integrity is often described as having moral fiber and intestinal fortitude. People with strong character and integrity are the ones who have the courage to take a stand on principle, even if doing so is costly. Those who are weak in these areas lean towards expediency and the path of least resistance.

Our society needs more men and women of character and integrity. We have far too many who are morally weak rather than strong, and fearful rather than courageous. Therefore, they compromise and capitulate when they should stand firm for truth and righteousness. Sadly, this is even true in the Christian community.

All this month we will explore character and integrity as taught by God in the Bible, and we’ll consider what true character and integrity looks like in actual practice.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Trust your instinct

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Living by faith”

Our Bible verse for today: “He has also planted eternity (a sense of divine purpose) in the human heart (a mysterious longing which nothing under the sun can satisfy, except God). Ecclesiastes 3:11 (Amplified Bible)

Our thought for today: “Trust your instinct”

As we conclude our month of devotionally thinking about living by faith, I want us to end where we began – trusting what our heart is telling us is true. To do so, I have again quoted Solomon in Ecclesiastes 3:11, but this time from the Amplified Bible. The Amplified Bible is a translation that uses all the English words necessary to capture the full meaning of the original Biblical language. So, it gives us a fuller understanding of what Solomon was telling us in the original Hebrew.

God created you with an understanding that He is real and there is more than just this physical dimension. There’s also an empty place in your heart that can only be filled by Him. Nothing in all creation can fill the place in your heart that is reserved for God, and it will remain empty until you have brought God into your life.

C.S. Lewis wrote about this in his great little book, “Mere Christianity”, “Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”

Instinctively you know that God is real and that there is eternal life after death. Trust that instinct. Structure your life around it. Spend your life pursuing it. The fact that you yearn for something more is because there is something more.

There is good reason to live by faith. Creation reveals God; all of human history attests to Him; and instinctively, in your heart, you know He is real. I encourage you to trust that instinct. Live by faith.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

You’re on a mission from God!

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Living by faith”

Our Bible verse for today: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “You’re on a mission from God!”

Several times this month I’ve referred to scenes from J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic series “The Lord of the Rings”. I’ve used those scenes as illustrations of what it looks like to be part of a grand adventure and to live by faith. I love the way the unlikely heroes in the story were part of something greater than themselves. C.S. Lewis used the same literary device in his series “The Chronicles of Narnia”. We even saw it play out in the movie “The Blues Brothers”. The entire story revolves around the efforts of Jake and Elwood Blues to save the orphanage they grew up in. As Elwood described it, “We’re on a mission from God!”

May I ask you this morning, “Are you on a mission from God”? Do you see your life as being part of a grand adventure you’re involved in, something greater than yourself? You should. That is what the Christian life is. Jesus said so Himself, numerous times. We read one of those times in Acts 1:8 (above). There, just before He ascended back into heaven, He told His disciples that they would receive special power from the Holy Spirit and then they were to go out in the neighborhoods, cities, states, nations, and around the world serving others in His name and spreading the Good News of salvation. They were on a mission from God!

And so are you. That’s the grand adventure of your life. You are to be on-mission with Jesus serving others and sharing the Gospel. Perhaps your part in the adventure will be limited to your immediate surroundings of home, neighborhood, workplace, and community. That’s fine and it’s sufficient. Or, maybe your part will take you a little further, to other places in your state or nation. But if you’re really fortunate and adventurous, your involvement in the grand adventure of the Great Commission could include mission trips to other places around the world.

The point is that we’re on a mission with Jesus in this world to spread His love, to bless people in His name, and to share the Good News of the Gospel. It’s a joint effort with our fellow travelers, and it is an effort that is bigger and grander than any of us as individuals.

God has called us to be part of something bigger than ourselves. It will require faith and courage on your part, and it will often not be easy. But this is what you have been called to, and it is what God has prepared you for. You are indeed on a mission from God.

God bless,
Pastor Jim