Oak Hill Baptist Church

Be a reason people come to church

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Personal Responsibility”

Our Bible verse for today: “How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony!” Psalm 133:1 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Be a reason people come to church”

Today is Monday, how was your Sunday? Did you remember the lessons from our recent daily devotionals and did you practice them? For instance, did you fulfill your personal responsibility to attend the gathering of your church? Remember, your church needs you to be there.

If you were there, did you fulfill your personal responsibility to encourage, bless, and serve others? All of us have been given spiritual gifts, talents, skills, abilities, and resources that God intends for us to use to bless others and to help with His kingdom-building work. Did you do your part? Did you help?

Finally, did you fulfill your personal responsibility to protect the unity of your church? It’s up to each of us to be thick-skinned and not easily offended; and we are to be agents of peace rather than taking offense and bickering. Most things are not a big deal and therefore should not be made into big deals.

A healthy church family gathered together, with everyone fulfilling their personal responsibilities to make and keep the church healthy, is a joyful and spiritually nurturing experience. That’s what David was describing in Psalm 133:1 (above). He was writing about the community of faith and what a wonderful thing it is when God’s people get along with each other. That’s why David was also able to write, in Psalm 122:1, “I rejoiced with those who said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” David loved going to church! And so should we.

When I began this series about personal responsibility, I noted that the issues we would think about this month were all matters of personal responsibility for us because God has revealed in the Bible that He has made them our responsibility. Therefore, I suggested we should each select a few and turn them into New Years resolutions that we would work on in the coming year.

Today’s topic from Psalm 133:1 would be a great goal to work on this year. Decide to be a source of blessing, peace, and harmony in your church – a person others love to be around. How wonderful if you were a reason people wanted to go to church! They don’t want to miss church because they don’t want to miss seeing you. That’s not taking anything away from Jesus. Quite the contrary. It would be evidence of Jesus working in you and through you to bless others.

Will you make it one of your resolutions this year to be a reason people want to be in your church?

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Churches die from within

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Personal Responsibility”

Our Bible verse for today: “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to live worthy of the calling you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” Ephesians 4:1-3 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Churches die from within”

I’m currently reading an excellent book entitled, “Winsome Conviction: Disagreeing Without Dividing the Church” by Tim Muehlhoff and Richard Langer. The basic premise is that Christians within a church family have to be able to respectfully disagree on non-essential issues, without hurting or dividing the church. There are some moral and theological absolutes that do have to be agreed upon and on which we cannot compromise. But most things don’t fall into the category of “absolute”. Political preferences being a perfect example.

At one point the authors pose the question “What is the greatest threat to the church of Jesus Christ today?” They then go on to suggest some possible answers: postmodern relativism, the LGBTQ agenda, racial injustice, sexual predators, Islamic fundamentalism, etc. But then they write this:

“But without denying the significance of any of those threats, we believe the greatest threat to the church today is the same as it has been in every generation since the New Testament was written: quarreling. Persecution (from outside forces) strengthens the church. Intellectual and cultural challenges deepen our faith and stimulate our theological thinking. Ethical commitments that conflict with the culture make us stand out as salt and light – or at times may provoke us to purify our own lives to become better salt and light. Quarreling, on the other hand, is insidiously dangerous because it kills from within.”

They are right. It’s very rare for a church to die as a result of an assault from an outside force. Almost always churches get sick and slowly die from within. Very often that sickness is the result of quarreling and divisions among the members, and usually, those quarrels are about non-essential things. I can’t remember a case of a church being divided and splitting because one group insisted there weren’t even people being saved and the other group thought there were already too many. Usually, church members are in agreement about the absolutes of the faith. Church fights almost always revolve around lesser important things that should not be allowed to take on such importance and to do so much damage.

God has given us each personal responsibility for protecting the unity of our churches. Unity among the faithful was a prominent theme in the New Testament writings of the Apostle Paul. Ephesians 4:1-3 (above) is just one of the many passages on the subject. Colossians 3:12-14 is another, “Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive. Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.”

Churches almost always die from within. God has given us all personal responsibility to be agents of peace, reconciliation, and unity in our church families. We’ll think more about this tomorrow.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Be intentional about doing good

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Personal Responsibility”

Our Bible verse for today: “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Be intentional about doing good.”

I honestly don’t know how many verses there are in the Bible that instruct us to do good deeds, but there are a lot. I tried counting them but stopped once I passed 100. I mean seriously, God has made His point. Does it really matter if He said it 99 times or 110 times? The fact is He has clearly, overwhelmingly, and convincingly revealed to us in the Bible that we are to go out into the world and as Jesus said, let others see your good works so they will give glory to God.

So, no pew potatoes, please. We have to get up and get going. We have work to do. God requires it; Jesus taught it; and the Holy Spirit empowers it. And, God has made it a matter of personal responsibility for us. It’s an important part of how we practice our faith, and we have to be intentional about doing it.

One important way to accomplish this is as a church family. That’s why at Oak Hill Baptist we base our church life on the Acts 1:8 model of ministry. This is a structure that results in us having ministry partners and ministry projects in our city, our state, our country, and in other places around the world. As a result, there’s never a time in our church life when we’re not all working together to prepare for the next ministry activity that will take us, as a group, outside the walls of the church buildings to shine the light of Jesus in a hurting and broken world. If you would like more information about how the Acts 1:8 model of ministry works, let me know and I’ll be happy to email it to you.

However, as important as those group efforts are, serving others and doing good deeds should be a regular part of our personal practice of the faith. Doing those things should be so much a part of who we are as a disciple of Jesus Christ, that doing them is second nature to us. It’s simply who we are and how we live.

I once read a challenging question that I find both convicting and inspiring. So much so, that I wrote it down and periodically ask it of myself: “As I go through life, do I leave blessings in my wake? Do I leave a trail of gladness behind? Let it be said that, ‘He went about doing good and blessing people.’” I want that to be true of me, and I hope you want it to be true of you too.

I encourage all of us to be intentional about doing good. God requires it of us. He has made it a matter of personal responsibility.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

God makes us responsible for doing good

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Personal Responsibility”

Our Bible verse for today: “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith.” Galatians 6:10

Our thought for today: “God makes us responsible for doing good”

All this month we’re considering issues of personal responsibility which God has clearly revealed to us in the Bible. In other words, there are things God has shown us in the Bible which He wants us to do, and we therefore have a responsibility to do them. Being all-powerful, God could easily accomplish these things by Himself and without our involvement. Instead, He chooses to involve us for our own good. It’s good for us to have responsibility for stuff.

One of the things the Bible clearly reveals to us that God makes us responsible for is doing good deeds for others. We are to bless them, in His name, with the objective of helping them to understand and experience the love God has for them.

The most common example of Christians doing good for others is doing something good or helpful for a suffering person. This often takes the form of humanitarian aid, or some other means of comforting those who are suffering. This kind of helping is so important to God that in Matthew 25:40 Jesus said that when we do something like feeding the poor, housing the homeless, or visiting those who are sick or in prison, He considers it to have been done directly for Him personally. This kind of helping someone in need could even be as simple as helping a neighbor with a repair or chore. It can all be done in the name of Jesus and for His glory.

Another form of doing good that’s especially important to the Lord was mentioned by Paul in Galatians 6:10 (above). It’s doing good for those in the household of faith. He was referring to Christians taking care of Christians, church family looking out of each other. This is an important part of church life and it goes a long way towards helping a church stay healthy and strong.

A somewhat surprising form of doing good which God requires of us, is doing good for and being a blessing to your enemies. In Matthew 5:44, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said we are to bless our enemies. In Romans 12:20 the Apostle Paul said, “If you enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For in so doing you will be heaping fiery coals on his head.” In other words, for example, when you answer anger and meanness with calm reason and kindness, it will often cause the other person to be ashamed of themselves for not being as gracious as you are. That then can lead to a change of attitude and behavior in them.

Being intentional about doing good is a dominant theme in the Bible and therefore there’s much more to it than we can address in a single devotional. So, we’ll come back to this tomorrow.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Christians should not use filthy language

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Personal Responsibility”

Our Bible verse for today: “But now, put away all the following: anger, wrath, malice, slander; and filthy language from your mouth.” Colossians 3:8 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Christians should not use filthy language”

This morning we will continue our lesson from yesterday about the importance of taking responsibility for our language. As the followers of Jesus, we are not to use profanity, mean or hateful words, or even crude language.

The Bible is pretty clear about this. Yesterday we read two passages which teach this (Colossians 4:6 and James 3:9-10). I just cited another one above (Colossians 3:8). I’m about to quote three more. That’ll be six, but I could list more. The point is, there’s a body of Biblical literature which teaches that we, the people of God, are not to use profanity or mean and hurtful speech.

“No foul language should come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need, so that it gives grace to those who hear.” Ephesians 4:29 “Obscene and foolish talking or crude joking are not suitable, but rather giving thanks.” Ephesians 5:4

This issue of using strong, foul, and profane language, along with crude jokes and suggestive innuendos, is becoming more and more of a problem. The political and social atmosphere in our country is overheated and supercharged. Too many Christians are allowing their passionate advocacy for political and social issues to stoke their emotions and incite them to strong and inappropriate language. This should not be. The Bible doesn’t allow for it.

As was noted yesterday, we can and should and must advocate for Biblical principles in the social and political arenas. We should be active in and vocal about political and social issues. But we have to control our emotions and our language as we’re doing so. My book “Getting Along Without Going Along” is about that very thing. If you would like a copy, message or email me.

How do we get to the point where we can confidently and even passionately contend for our positions but without letting our emotions and our language get away from us? Here’s a prayer King David prayed that you could make your own. You could pause and pray it before you speak: “Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips.” Psalm 141:3 (NIV)

Prayerfully ask God to set an angelic guard over your mouth. Make that your repeated prayer. Then, as Paul instructed in Colossians 3:8, put away filthy language from your mouth. This is a matter of personal responsibility.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

We are responsible for our language

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month “Personal Responsibility”

Our Bible verse for today: “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer each person.” Colossians 4:6 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “We are responsible for our language”

Recently a video surfaced on the internet of a QAnon-linked rally that was held in Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas. The church is led by the controversial charismatic pastor John Hagee. In the rally hundreds of people jumped to their feet and began chanting “Let’s go Brandon!” over and over again. The church later attempted to distance itself from the incident by saying it was done by an outside group that was using the church facilities.

Most of you are probably aware that “Let’s go Brandon” is a code phrase that means “F-Joe Biden” The people who use it omit the actual profanity, but the meaning is the same. The question for Christians of course is, “Is it okay for Christians to use a phrase like that?” Hopefully we can all agree it’s totally inappropriate in church. But is it okay for Christians to say it, wear it on a tee-shirt, or to even imply it?

The “F” word is profane slang for the act of sexual penetration. When it’s used as a curse directed at someone, it essentially means that the person saying it hopes the person on the receiving end of the curse will be sexually penetrated by their enemies. That’s what “F-You” means. So, when someone says “Let’s go Brandon” they are essentially saying they hope the President of the United States gets sexually penetrated by his enemies.

Now, you can dismiss the phrase as just political hyperbole; you can claim that it’s nothing more than an expression of frustration, disagreement, and dislike; you can assign it any meaning you want; but you cannot get away from what it really means.

You might also claim that since the person isn’t actually using the “F” word, it’s not really a curse. But Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount that it’s not just your words or actions that matter, but the intent of your heart. So if a Christian says, “Let’s go Brandon”, but what they really mean is “F-Joe Biden”, then what Jesus hears them saying is “F” Joe Biden.” That would be wrong whether it was said in reference to Joe Biden or Donald Trump, or about anyone else for that matter. The issue for us isn’t political preference, it’s Biblical behavior.

In Colossians 4:6 Paul taught us to use gracious language sprinkled with salt. The salt being referred to is not salty speech (profanity) but Biblical wisdom. We are to speak graciously and with Biblical wisdom. Likewise, James wrote, “With the tongue we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in God’s likeness. Blessing and cursing come out of the same mouth. My brothers and sisters, these things should not be …” James 3:9-10

As the followers of Jesus Christ, we have personal responsibility (clearly revealed in Scripture), to use speech that honors God. We’re still free to voice our political opinions, and we can argue for our positions, but we cannot be hateful, hurtful, mean-spirited, or profane about it. We are not to use crude or profane language.

We’ll think more about this tomorrow.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

There are many ways to help your church

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Personal Responsibility”

Our Bible verse for today: “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in it’s various forms.” 1 Peter 4:10 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “There are many ways to help your church”

In the last couple of devotionals, I’ve noted that helping our churches to be healthy and vibrant is a matter of personal responsibility. It’s also a matter of how we practice of our faith. So far, we’ve considered the importance of faithful attendance and full participation in the life of our church. But there are also other ways in which we can support the work of our church and bless and encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Generous financial gifts help to support the work of the church. Participating in the prayer ministry of your church is a very important way of being involved, and you don’t even have to be physically present to do it. Being available to others in your church family, outside of the normal times of gathering, for aid, assistance, or just to talk, is very helpful, and it’s an essential element of life in a good church family.

Another act of ministry to each other which is very helpful, and which goes a long way towards strengthening the faith community, is encouragement. I have a good friend and brother in Christ who often sends me a word of encouragement via email. It’s usually just short note such as “I’m praying for you today, brother.” Or, “Great sermon yesterday! Now enjoy your day off, you deserve it!” Those little shots in the arm mean more to me than he might realize. Encouragers make a big impact, and they help to keep the church strong.

As I noted in a previous devotional, many churches in our country are struggling right now. It’s the personal responsibility of every Christian to do everything we can to lift our churches up and help them to be strong during these very difficult days. Faithful attendance and full participation are important and essential always, especially right now. But beyond that, there’s much more we can all do. Generous giving; strengthening relationships; finding ways to serve one another; intentional acts of encouragement; all add to the health and vitality of the church.

In these difficult days that we live in, as our churches are working hard to be healthy and vibrant – with many of them struggling, I encourage all of us to do all we can to help our churches be strong.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Faith grows in community

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Personal Responsibility”

Our Bible verse for today: “And let us watch out for one another to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other; and all the more as you see the day approaching.” Hebrews 10:24-25 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Faith grows in community”

This morning I want to continue our thinking from recent days regarding the theme of taking personal responsibility for our spiritual health and growth. As we learned yesterday, an important part of that is faithful attendance and full participation in the life of your church.

The fact is that faith grows in community. God never intended for any of us to be “Lone Ranger Christians”. Although our private personal faith practices are essential and even crucial, our faith is to be lived-out in the midst of, and along with, our faith community. That’s our church family.

We need to be together. That’s the point of Hebrews 10:24-25 (above). Not only does your presence and participation in the gatherings of your church benefit you, but your presence benefits others as well. That’s what the writer meant when he wrote about provoking love and good works and encouraging one another. God uses us to bless, encourage, and motivate each other.

When you join with your church family in Bible study, worship, fellowship, and ministry activities, you will hear from God and you will be blessed in various ways. That insight and those blessings will come to you from God, but He will deliver them to you through other people. It will come to you through the teaching, or the music, or the sermon, or from kind and encouraging words from other church members. And likewise, God will use your words and your actions to do the same for them.

There’s a spiritual dynamic at work in the gatherings of the faithful that simply isn’t present during our times alone with God. Often a person’s greatest encounter with God will come as a result of something that occurs in the group setting. But the more people who are missing, the more that group dynamic is diminished. There’s a good reason the writer in Hebrews urged us not to miss the gatherings of our church family. You need to be there for yourself, and others need you to be there for them. And as was noted in yesterday’s devotional, this is a matter of personal responsibility for each of us.

But if you aren’t there, then you’re not a part of that. If you aren’t there, then you miss the blessings for yourself, but also, God can’t use you to bless and encourage others. This Sunday will someone miss a blessing because you weren’t there to deliver it?

I encourage you to be present as often as you can when your church family is gathered. You need to be there for yourself, and you need to be there for the sake of others.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Churches are struggling:

ood morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Personal Responsibility”

Our Bible verse for today: “But I have this against you: You have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember then how far you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.” Revelation 2:4-5 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Churches are struggling”

In chapters two and three of the book of Revelation there are seven churches mentioned. Jesus had a special message for each of them – tailored to their particular set of circumstances. These were real churches which existed in that day, but each was also intended to represent a problem or situation which would exist in multitudes of churches down through the ages. Therefore, the lesson taught regarding each of those seven churches was not just for that particular church, but for all churches like them which would ever exist. And of course, since churches are made up of people, the lessons have to apply to us as individuals. Any church will only be whatever the people of that church make it.

If you read the full passage about the church in Ephesus (2:1-7) you realize their problem was that they were a mere shadow of what they had once been. Jesus said that the reason was because their love for the Lord and for the work of the church had cooled. They had lost much of the love and passion they had once had, and as a result, they were something less than what they had been. The church in Laodicea (3:14-22) had a similar problem. Jesus described them as being lukewarm.

That’s also the situation in many churches today. The Church in the USA has been in decline for decades, but especially so now in the pandemic era. During the pandemic large numbers of active church-goers have drifted away from church, and many haven’t come back. Others started watching church services online and decided they liked that better. Others have gotten in the habit of only infrequent attendance. As a result, many churches today are struggling with lower attendance. Most are at the 50-70% level compared to pre-pandemic numbers.

This is a big problem because diminished numbers result in not only lower attendance, but also in scaled-back ministry activities – there are simply fewer workers to help. This limits the church’s influence in their communities. Diminished numbers also mean that those who are there have to do more, and work harder, to cover for those who are not there. This will eventually lead to burnout among leaders and church members. Diminished numbers are also discouraging, and all of it adds to the perception that the church isn’t as effective as it once was. That hurts morale and makes it harder to generate enthusiasm.

As was already noted, the church is made up of individuals, and any church will only be what the people of the church make it. That makes this a matter of personal responsibility. Faithful attendance and full participation in the life of your church is an important part of how we practice our faith, and right now, most churches are struggling because church-goers are being less faithful than before.

If we want our churches to be healthy and vibrant, we as members have to do the things necessary for them to be healthy and vibrant. That begins with just showing up. Granted, nobody can be there all the time. Work, sickness, family obligations, and vacations sometimes take us away. Some people, such as elderly shut-ins and others who live geographically distant from the church, rely on the online broadcast. But all of us need to do everything we can to be present as often as we can. The church in America is in trouble. Too many of us are simply not showing up.

Today is Friday. Sunday is coming. I encourage you to attend the worship service at your church this week. The fact is that your church needs you to be there – now more than ever.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

The rewards of spiritual growth

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Personal Responsibility”

Our Bible verse for today: “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Ephesians 2:10 (NLT)

Our thought for today: “The rewards of spiritual growth”

I love the way the New Living Translation uses the word “masterpiece” to describe us. We are God’s masterpieces. This wonderful spiritual truth, revealed by the Apostle Paul, is actually connected to and flows from two other essential and foundational truths revealed in other places by Paul. In 2 Corinthians 5:17 he wrote, “… anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun.” And in Philippians 1:9, “And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.”

In the moment you placed your faith in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins you became a new spiritual creation. Your sins were forgiven once and for all and forever, and in God’s eyes you are perfect – a spiritual masterpiece! That’s what 2 Corinthians 5:17 means. But also, at the same moment, God began a process of transformation that involves spiritual growth. This is what Philippians 1:9 teaches. So, in terms of forgiven sins you are already perfect. But in terms of spiritual stature, you are growing and becoming better and stronger. In that sense you are a masterpiece in process. You are being formed into what you will one day be.

One important reward of spiritual growth is the knowledge that God is making us better and stronger. And because we know that is true, we can learn to rest and relax in the Lord and just let Him have His way in our lives. We can learn to stop striving and stressing over the things of life; we can stop trying to find our identity and our value in the standards of the world; we can stop looking to the world for peace, joy, meaning, and fulfillment. Rather than looking to the world to define us and to assign us our identity, we instead look to God and when we do, we find ourselves described with this wonderful phrase, “God’s masterpiece”.

What a relief this can be! How much pressure is lifted and stress is removed when we have learned to rest and relax in the Lord as we let the Holy Spirit do His work in us. This is big. This is a game-changer. It’s what we were talking about in yesterday’s devotional about all the rest of life flowing out of a deep and rich relationship with God.

And this is what God wants for us. This is why He has revealed to us, in the Bible, that the most important thing is our spiritual growth. This is why we need to have spiritual disciplines that place us in a position before God every day whereby He can continue molding and shaping us.

Take personal responsibility for this. Do your part. Have a solid structure of daily spiritual disciplines in your life. Then embrace your reward. Enjoy it. Learn to rest and relax in the Lord knowing that you are becoming who He wants you to be.

God bless,
Pastor Jim