Oak Hill Baptist Church

It’s okay to play

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Enjoy the journey by redeeming the time”

Our Bible verse for today: “The streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in them.” Zechariah 8:5 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “It’s okay to play”

I read a book not long ago called “The Circle” by Ted Dekker. It’s actually a series of fiction novels similar to “The Chronicles of Narnia” by C.S. Lewis. However, it’s also similar to the “This Present Darkness” series by Frank Peretti because the story unfolds in two dimensions simultaneously – one dimension is the world as we know it and the other is similar to that of Lewis’s Narnia. The events in each world are directly tied to and influence events in the other world.

In Dekker’s Narnia-type world God is known as “Elyon”, and one of the things Elyon loves to do is to come out and play with His people (similar to how God walked in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve in the early chapters of Genesis). In the story, when Elyon calls His people to come out and play, all sorts of wonderful and amazing things happen. For instance, for the length of their playtime the people discover that they can fly like birds. Elyon also makes waterfalls flow upside down, He turns the grass purple, He makes the water taste like cherry cool-aid, and much more. So of course, the people eagerly look forward to the times when Elyon calls them to play.

Is the notion of God playing like that nothing more than a creative part of a silly fantasy story? I don’t think so. I think there’s some truth to it. I think God has a great sense of humor and I think He loves to play. It was God’s idea for a puppy to chase its tail; God was the one who created a baby’s smile and the cute little giggle that goes with it; and ice cream is a gift straight from heaven. God is playful and fun-loving and I also think He loves for us to play. The Bible refers to feasts and feasting, to dancing and celebrating, more than 150 times.

In his book, “The Christian at Play” author Robert Johnston makes the case that “The person at play is expressing his or her God-given nature.” In other words, God created us with a playful nature like His own and He intends for us to express it as a means of enjoyment and leisure.

Sometimes we adult Christians get too serious for our own good. We equate holiness with seriousness and we become a bunch of dull old fuddy-duddies. We need to lighten-up. It would do most of us some good to spend an hour sitting in a mud puddle splashing and playing with a three-year-old.

God created you with the ability to enjoy life and to have fun. It’s okay to play.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Don’t be a slave

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Enjoy the journey by redeeming the time”

Our Bible verse for today: “Be careful to remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy as the Lord your God has commanded you. You are to labor six days and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. Do not do any work – you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your ox or donkey, any of your livestock, or the resident alien who lives within your gates, so that your male and female slaves may rest as you do.” Deuteronomy 5:12-14 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Don’t be a slave”

It was miserable to be a slave. Whether we’re talking about a slave back in the times of Moses, or in the Roman Empire during the time of Jesus, or in the USA prior to the Civil War, or in any other place at any other time under any other circumstances. Being a slave was a terrible life. Not only was there a complete lack of freedom, but slaves were sometimes literally worked to death, and then they were simply replaced.

Thank God that you are not a slave. Or, wait, are you? Perhaps you’re not a slave in the traditional sense as referred to above, but are you a slave to your job, or to your chores, or to some sense of obligation regarding what others expect of you? Although you almost certainly are not a slave in the traditional sense, many of us behave as if we are slaves by the way we drive ourselves without letup.

In Deuteronomy 5:12-14 Moses was reminding the people of God’s instruction, originally given in the fourth of the Ten Commandments, to observe the Sabbath and to keep it holy. If you flip back in your Bible to that fourth commandment, found in Exodus 20:9-11, you will find that God linked the commandment to observe the Sabbath to the example He set for us in Genesis 2:2 where He stopped His work and rested.

Sabbath is taught directly or referred to at least 172 times in the Bible. If God begins by setting the example for us, and then mentions it 172 more times, that’s probably a clue that we need to pay attention to it.

The concept of Sabbath-keeping is actually divided into two distinct parts. There is Sabbath-worship and there is Sabbath-rest. Most of us are better at Sabbath-worship than we are at Sabbath-rest. We usually faithfully participate in corporate worship services with our church family (so apparently, we get that part of Sabbath), but the resting part is a bigger problem. Most of us don’t really participate in very much Sabbath-rest.

Why is this so important? Moses answered that for the Israelites in Deuteronomy 5:15: “Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out of there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.”

In other words, “You are no longer slaves so stop acting as if you are.” They were not to be slaves to the Egyptians, nor were they to be slaves to their jobs, their chores, or to their endless activities.

That goes for us too. Don’t be a slave to your job or to your chores or to your activities. Sabbath-rest helps us to push back against and to resist the endless pressure to do, do, do. God intends for our Sabbath-keeping to consist of both Sabbath-worship and Sabbath-rest.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Come apart and rest, or you might just come apart

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Enjoy the journey by redeeming the time”

Our Bible verse for today: “I have had enough! Lord, take my life, for I’m no better than my fathers. Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree.” 1 King 19:4-5 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Come apart and rest, or you might just come apart”

Elijah was a mighty man of God who was often used by God in great ways. In 1 Kings 18:20-46 he confronted and defeated 450 prophets of Baal in a single spectacular contest on Mount Carmel. But then in 1 Kings 19:1 we find him running away in fear from the evil Queen Jezebel. And then in 19:4-5 he just gives-up entirely and tells God he wants to die.

What happened to Elijah? How did he go so quickly from being a bold, confident, mighty man of God confronting and defeating an army of pagan priests, to this whimpering and somewhat pathetic man who was ready to quit? Simple, he was spent. He was wiped-out. His emotional gas tank was empty. He was physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually exhausted. He needed time to rest and renew.

Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is to take a nap. Such was the case with Elijah in this scene. The old adage that you need to come apart and rest – or you might just come apart, is very true and it applies to all of us.

Many of us push too hard for too long. We make excuses for not taking a break. We think about all the work that has to be done, all the chores that must be completed, all the people who depend on us …

But the fact is that if you don’t take a break, sooner or later you will end up like Elijah, out of gas and giving-up. If you don’t take care of yourself, you won’t be able to take care of anyone else, you won’t be able to continue taking care of the people and the situations that need your care and attention.

You have to come apart and rest – or eventually you will simply come apart. Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is to take a nap (or a vacation).

God bless,
Pastor Jim

A time of rest, and maybe transformation

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Enjoy the journey by redeeming the time”

Our Bible verse for today: “Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “A time of rest, and maybe transformation”

Forest Home Christian Camp is located in the San Bernardino Mountains in southern California. At over 8000 feet in elevation, it’s a beautiful setting of magnificent forests, pristine lakes, and spectacular views.

Forest Home is where Billy Graham, as a young evangelist just starting his ministry, settled an important issue with God. It was 1948 and Billy was wrestling with doubts about the Bible. A close friend had challenged him with questions about it that he couldn’t answer. Those questions raised doubts in his mind and he was deeply troubled. So, he took a weekend to go off into the seclusion of Forest Home to rest and spend time with God. One afternoon, sitting quietly deep in the forest, Billy came to the conclusion that he trusted God implicitly and even if there were some aspects of the Bible he didn’t fully understand, he would take it all on faith as the inerrant Word of God.

Billy left Forest Home with the question settled in his mind and heart. Three weeks later he began his famous “Los Angeles Crusade” which drew hundreds of thousands of people over the course of many weeks, and which launched Billy’s amazing career. Today there’s a beautiful little chapel in the woods at Forest Home marking the exact spot that Billy Graham settled that issue with God.

Many years ago, I spent a few days at Forest Home on a personal retreat and I spent some time alone in that very chapel. It was a beautiful, peaceful, and profoundly moving experience. I just sat there in the deep quiet, with the sun shining through the stained-glass windows, and I soaked-in the presence of God. I was so full and so at peace that I can vividly recall the experience more than two decades later.

In his great book, “The Rest of God: Restoring Your Soul by Restoring Sabbath” author Mark Buchanan writes about the importance of Sabbath-rest: “From it, you can rise up and go – stronger, lighter, ready to work again with vigor and a clear mind.” Let me also add that just as was the case with Billy Graham, those quiet times of rest and renewal also often bring clarity and peace as God helps us to resolve difficult issues we’ve been wrestling with.

At regular times on our journey through life we need special, extended times for rest and renewal. You can call it a personal retreat, or a sabbatical, or a vacation, or whatever, but secluded quiet times like that can be transformative experiences. It’s a time of renewal and spiritual nurture, but it can also transform. I encourage you to regularly set aside a weekend or longer for extended times of Sabbath-rest.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Be sure to get your Sabbath-rest

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Enjoy the journey by redeeming the time”

Our Bible verse for today: “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” Mark 6:31 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Be sure to get your Sabbath-rest”

All this month we’ve been considering how we can better enjoy the journey of life by being more thoughtful and intentional about redeeming each and every moment of life. By redeeming I mean using it to our best advantage. This is about not frittering life away or wasting our time on things that don’t really matter and are not beneficial.

One of the uses of our time that matters very much is resting properly. This is so important that God commanded us to set aside time specifically for worship and for rest. In his excellent book “The Rest of God” Mark Buchanan refers to this as sabbath-worship and sabbath-rest.

The clearest and best distinction I have ever seen between Sabbath-worship and Sabbath-rest comes from my friend Bud Lenz. For over twenty years Bud has operated the El Arca Children’s Home in the Andes Mountains, and now in the Amazon Jungle of Peru. Today the El Arca compound consists of 110 acres on the edge of the Amazon Rainforest near the Bolivian border. Bud and the staff provide a safe and loving Christian home for orphaned, abandoned, and abused Peruvian children.

Life in the Jungle is hard. The days begin early, well before the sun comes up. Everyone has chores to do from feeding the animals, to cleaning the buildings, to preparing and serving breakfast. Then it’s off to school for the younger children and off to work on the land for the older teens and adults. In the evening there are more chores, family time, and an early bedtime.

Saturday is the day for Sabbath-rest. Everyone sleeps late and then has a light breakfast. The day then consists of lots of personal time for prayer, reading, wandering on Jungle trails, or maybe sitting by the river. There’s plenty of time for lounging in the family room, playing games, lying in your bunk listening to music, or any other relaxing activity you care to engage in. It’s a deeply restful, relaxing, and enjoyable time spent with the Lord and with your brothers and sisters. This is Sabbath-rest. It is renewing, rejuvenating, relaxing, and enjoyable. There’s no schedule; there are no expectations; just rest.

Sunday is the day for Sabbath-worship in the family room. This is the day to gather for worship, sing songs, study God’s Word together, share testimonies, and perhaps share the Lord’s Supper. It’s not that they don’t sing songs, share testimonies, study the Bible, and engage in acts of worship on other days of the week, but Sunday morning is the designated time for group Sabbath-worship. Together Saturday and Sunday provide a full weekly experience of Sabbath-keeping. You get Sabbath-rest, and you get Sabbath-worship.

I always enjoy Sabbath-keeping at El Arca and I’m getting better at implementing this structure here at home. Sunday is my time for Sabbath-worship, and Monday is my time for Sabbath-rest.

How about you? Are you fully experiencing Sabbath-keeping? I’ll bet you’re pretty faithful at Sabbath-worship, but how about Sabbath-rest? In your case your worship and resting may need to occur on the same day, but I encourage you to make sure you don’t neglect the resting part of the Sabbath.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Bang the pots and pans later

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Enjoy the journey by redeeming the time”

Our Bible verse for today: “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has made the right choice, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:41-42 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Bang the pots and pans later”

Jesus was in the house! He was sitting right there in the living room talking with Mary and waiting for supper (or so Martha thought). As Mary relaxed and enjoyed being with Jesus, Martha hustled around the kitchen, banging pots and pans and pushing hard to prepare a meal. The harder she worked the more agitated and irritated with Mary she became. Martha was busting her buns in the kitchen while Mary was sitting on her buns in the living room!

Soon she had had enough. Into the living room she stomps ready to give Mary a piece of her mind (and wondering why Jesus didn’t tell that lazy sister of hers to get in the kitchen and help her). But instead of correcting Mary, Jesus corrects Martha. It turns out that Jesus was more interested in company than food, and what he really wanted Martha to do was to sit down, rest and relax, and just enjoy being with Him.

Unfortunately, I tend to be more like Martha than Mary. I spend a lot of time banging pots and pans when I should be enjoying time with Jesus. I have a list of things to do, I have places to go, people to see, things to accomplish. Day after day, chore after chore, and all of it seems so important. You too?

The trick is to have our priorities in order. It’s a matter of putting first things first. Jesus didn’t tell Martha it was wrong to work hard to prepare a nice meal – He only said she was doing it at the wrong time. There would be time later for cooking and cleaning, but in that moment, she needed to rest, relax, and enjoy.

Sabbath-rest is an attitude. As Mark Buchanan explains in his book “The Rest of God”, Sabbath-keeping isn’t just a day, it’s an orientation, it’s a way of thinking that governs life and establishes our priorities.

We’re all pretty good at doing things. We fill up our days with work and chores and endless activities, but seldom do we make enough time for rest and renewal. What we need is a change of attitude. We need to reorient our thinking. I encourage you (and me) to slow down and relax. Bang the pots and pans later. For now, it’s time to sit with Jesus.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Make the journey with Jesus

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Enjoy the journey by redeeming the time”

Our Bible verse for today: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Make the journey with Jesus”

We have a large, beautiful, stained-glass window adorning the front of our sanctuary at Oak Hill Baptist Church. It is right in the center, behind the pulpit, and it depicts Jesus with His arms spread wide in a welcoming and inviting gesture. The caption below the image is from Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened …”

Life is a journey – often a very difficult one. But in Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus invites us to make the journey through life with Him. The picture He uses to illustrate the invitation is of a team of oxen yoked together plowing a field. In every team of oxen there is always a lead ox and a follower ox. The lead ox carries most of the burden and provides all of the direction. The follower ox is yoked to, and walks alongside of, the lead ox, sharing the burden and learning. Through this parable Jesus is saying to us, “Let Me be your lead ox. I will carry most of the burden and I will provide all of the direction. You just stay right here with Me and we will do this together.”

When it comes to enjoying this journey of life by redeeming the time that makes up your life, there is no better way to do that than to be yoked closely to Jesus and to walk through the days of your life with Him. Are you doing that? Day-by-day and moment-by-moment are you staying right there with Jesus?

There is no better way to make this journey through life than to be walking side-by-side with Jesus.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Be wise in your ways

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Enjoy the journey by redeeming the time”

Our Bible verse for today: “The wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their ways, but the folly of fools is deception.” Proverbs 14:8 (NIV)

Our thought for today; “Be wise in your ways”

This morning I want us to continue our thinking from yesterday about making good choices regarding how we use our time. We have to prioritize the options before us and the things that are being asked of us, choose the ones that are most important to us, and then say “no” to the others.

We have also been considering the wisdom of redeeming the time by living in the moment (or fully embracing and fully enjoying each moment) without being stuck in the past or being excessively concerned about the future. We should learn from the past, enjoy the present, and plan for the future.

In Proverbs 14:8 Solomon urged us to be wise by giving thought to our ways. This applies to big decisions and to little ones. For instance, are you developing the career you really want to have so you will spend your days doing something you enjoy? That’s big. Or, will your eating and exercise habits result in the kind of health you want to have, now and later in life? Those are small choices made repeatedly, meal-to-meal, but with long-term implications. Are your interactions with people today helping to build strong relationships that will last for tomorrow? Will the way you practice your faith result in lifelong spiritual maturity? Moment by moment, day by day, options have to be considered and choices have to be made, many of which will have long-term implications.

We can’t engage in every activity with every person who asks us, and we can’t choose every option and walk every path. If we try too, we will not be making good use of our time and we certainly will not be fully embracing and enjoying each moment of life. We will instead be scattered and stressed as we allow ourselves to be pulled in multiple directions by multiple people. And many of those directions will turn out to have been wrong, or at least, less than the best.

Choices are called for. Decisions have to be made. Solomon’s word for all of us is, “Be prudent. Be thoughtful. Make good choices. Be wise in your ways”.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Yes, you do have the time

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Enjoy the journey by redeeming the time”

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 …” Ephesians 5:15-16 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Yes, you do have the time”

Do you have enough time? The correct answer is “yes”, yes you do. You have twenty-four hours given to you every day from God. If He wanted you to have twenty-five hours, or twenty-six, or thirty-six each day, He could have given you that many. But no, He gave you twenty-four and so, that must be enough. Yes, you do have enough time. And in fact, you have as much time available to you in each day as anyone else does. We all get twenty-four hours.

The question isn’t how much time we have but rather, what do we do with it? We all get the same amount of time, and then we have to make decisions about what we will do with the time we have been given.

And that’s where the problem lies. We all make choices about what to do with our time, usually based upon what’s really most important to us at the moment. You may think you don’t have time to exercise, but that’s not true. The truth is you choose to spend the hour you could have been exercising first thing in the morning in bed instead, rather than getting up earlier and exercising. The extra sleep is more important to you than the exercise. You may tell your friend you don’t have time to go do some activity with them, and you then spend the time mowing the lawn instead. Did you have time for the activity with your friend? Sure you did. But mowing the lawn was evidently more important to you.

The point is that we make choices about how we will spend our time, and then we have to own those choices. Typically, we excuse ourselves for not doing something by saying “I just didn’t have the time.”

Liar, liar, pants on fire. Yes, you did have the time. You just chose to do something else with it. The truth is that we make time for the people and the activities that are most important to us and for the rest, we make excuses. And our favorite excuse is …. come on, say it with me … “I don’t have the time.”

In Ephesians 5:16 the Apostle Paul urges us to redeem the time we have by making good choices about what we do with it. We will all enjoy the journey of our lives a lot more if we stop making excuses and start making better choices for how we use our time.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Reject what drains you; embrace what gives life

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Enjoy the journey by redeeming the time”

Our Bible verse for today: “Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring – what your life will be! For you are like vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes.” James 4:14 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Reject what drains you; embrace what gives life”

In his excellent book, “The Rest of God: Restoring your soul by restoring Sabbath”, Mark Buchanan recounts a scene from J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy. In this scene the hobbits, along with their guide Strider, are on a perilous journey through dangerous lands, on a mission that could prove fatal for many of them. Halfway through the journey they come to the kingdom of Rivendell, and the Lord of Rivendell, Elrond, offers them a safe haven to rest and recuperate before they continue on to an even more dangerous part of their journey. It’s a wonderful time of renewal for all of them. We read:

“For awhile the hobbits continued to talk and think of the past journey and of the perils that lay ahead; but such was the virtue of the land of Rivendell that soon all fear and anxiety was lifted from their minds. The future, for good or ill, was not forgotten, but ceased to have power over the present. Health and hope grew strong in them, and they were content with each day as it came, taking pleasure in every meal, and in every word and song.”

J.R.R. Tolkien was a Christian, and his stories, although fables, were woven through with Christian themes. Here we read of what is essentially a sabbath orientation, or sabbath thinking. The hobbits were living in the moment, fully embracing it, redeeming the time, and reaping the rewards of doing so, “The future, for good or ill, was not forgotten, but ceased to have power over the present. Health and hope grew strong in them, and they were content with each day as it came, taking pleasure in every meal, and in every word and song.”

Sabbath thinking; this sabbath orientation to all of life; living in the moment and fully embracing it; includes intentionally rejecting that which drains us and embracing that which gives life. It is life with a restful spirit and a sense of joy and wonder.

I love that thought, “Reject what drains you; embrace what gives life.” That sounds like some pretty good advice. I think I’ll do that today. I hope you will too.

God bless,
Pastor Jim