Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Great thoughts from great Christians”   Our Bible verse for today: “Isn’t this the carpenter?” Mark 6:3 (NIV)   Our thought for today: “What you do matters, if you do it for the Lord”   This morning I want us to continue thinking about the lesson we learned from the example of Brother Lawrence in yesterday’s devotional. Lawrence was a simple man performing simple tasks as a cook, dishwasher, and general helper in a monastery. But in the midst of that simple life filled with simple tasks, he had such a deep and meaningful relationship with God that he became famous for it, and Christians are still learning from his example more than 400 years later.   This is important because sometimes we tend to think less of people and professions that are not what we deem to be high profile and important. That was the case with Jesus. He spent most of his life as a carpenter in a small remote village. When He began His public ministry, some people dismissed him with the scornful observation, “Isn’t this the carpenter?”   Billy Graham had an insight about this which I believe is helpful and important. He wrote, “Do you tend to downplay the work you do? ‘I’m only a housewife … I’m just a plumber … I teach school … I’m merely a clerk in a grocery store … I make my living as an accountant.’ But if God gave you that skill, and you are where He wants you to be, then your work is valuable and significant in His sight.”   Moses had something to say about this as well. In Exodus 36:1 we read, “Every skilled person to whom the Lord has given skill and ability … is to do the work just as the Lord has commanded.” So, if God gave you the skill to teach students, to fix a busted pipe, to be an accountant, or whatever it is you do, then accept that gift with joy and thanksgiving and do your job well.   Billy went on: “Another thought to ponder: What kind of carpenter do you suppose Jesus was? Did the doors fall off His cabinets? Do you suppose He took shortcuts or did just barely enough to get by? No, of course not. The Bible says, ‘Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.’ (Colossians 3:23)”   Thank God for who you are and for what you can do. Then, go do it with enthusiasm and joy, and do it very, very well because you’re really doing it for the Lord not for people.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Great thoughts from great Christians”   Our Bible verse for today: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men … It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” Colossians 3:23; 24 (NIV)   Our thought for today: “Enjoy the continuous presence of God”   Over the last few days, we’ve been considering God’s call to us to encounter Him in deep and personal ways. Often, we will find a quiet place away from other people so we can be alone with Him. We also engage in extended times of prayer, meditation on Scripture, fasting, and other spiritual disciplines which help us to go deeper with God. While all of those are good things, and they are helpful in our efforts to create a deeper encounter with God, there is another way.   Nicholas Herman was a young man who lived in Paris in the 1600s. He was a poor peasant and a simple man with no special skills or abilities. But he did love the Lord and He had a strong desire to serve Him. So, he entered a Carmelite monastery, changed his name to Brother Lawrence, and spent the rest of his life working in the kitchen cooking, washing pots and pans, and serving the other monks by doing a variety of simple chores around the monastery.   What Brother Lawrence is remembered for, and became famous for even in his own day, was his unique ability to enter into deep and intimate fellowship with God even in the busyness of all his everyday activities. As he was cooking, cleaning, and going about his regular activities, he had an ongoing conversation with God about all of it. His relationship with God was so deep, so real, so natural, and so observable, that people from around France traveled to the monastery to learn from him. After he died, his lessons were compiled in a small book called “The Practice of the Presence of God”, which has never been out of print in more than 400 years. Here is some of what Lawrence taught:   “The time of business does not differ with me from the time of prayer; and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were on my knees … I have abandoned all particular forms of devotion, all prayer techniques. My only prayer practice is attention. I carry on a habitual, silent, and secret conversation with God that fills me with overwhelming joy.”   “It is not necessary to have great things to do. I turn my little omelet in the pan for the love of God … The most holy and important practice in the spiritual life is the presence of God – that is, every moment to take great pleasure that God is with you.”   Whatever it is you do today, do it for the Lord and do it with the Lord. He is there with you so talk to Him, and enjoy His presence.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

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Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Great thoughts from great Christians”   Our Bible verse for today: “Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your billows have swept over me. The Lord will send his faithful love by day; his song will be with me in the night – a prayer to the God of my life.” Psalm 42:7-8   Our thought for today: “God is calling you explore the depths”   In a previous devotional message in this series, we learned from King Solomon in Ecclesiastes 3:11 that God created us with a sense of eternity in our hearts. Deep down we intuitively know that God exists and that we were made for more than just this lifetime. Yesterday we considered the insight from author Jim Peterson that the Christian life is an adventure of seeking and discovery as we continue to experience God in deeper and more intimate ways. Seeking Him and finding Him is the adventure of living the Christian life.   This morning I want to continue that thought by sharing a thought with you from pastor and author Chuck Swindoll. In his great little book “Intimacy with the Almighty: Encountering Christ in the secret places of your life” Chuck writes:   “Deep things are intriguing. Deep jungles. Deep water, deep caves and canyons. Deep thoughts and conversations. There is nothing like depth to make us dissatisfied with superficial, shallow things. Once we have delved below the surface and had a taste of the marvels and mysteries of the deep, we realize the value of taking the time and going to the trouble of plumbing those depths. This is especially true in the spiritual realm. God invites us to go deeper rather than to be content with surface matters.”   This is what the Psalmist was describing in Psalm 42:7-8. It’s the deep things of God calling to the deep things in man and drawing us to Himself – inviting us to explore the depths of His mysteries. This is that little bit of eternity in our hearts that Solomon wrote about, responding to the call of our Eternal Heavenly Father. It’s the restless heart Augustine wrote about, seeking rest in God. It’s the vacuum in the heart, the empty space that Pascal described which can only be filled by God, seeking to be filled with the presence of God. It’s the deep things of God calling to the deep longing in man and drawing us to Himself.    God is calling to you this morning. He’s speaking to that deep place in your heart. He’s inviting you to come, explore, discover, and be satisfied. Are you listening? Can you hear Him? He doesn’t shout, He whispers. The call is soft, it’s subtle, it’s for those who have the desire to know Him and who are willing to take the time to seek Him.   I encourage you to go to Him now. He is calling you.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

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Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Great thoughts from great Christians”   Our Bible verse for today: “Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ.” Ephesians 1:3 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “God always has something more for us.”   Ephesians 1:3 is a somewhat mysterious verse of Scripture. Paul says that God has blessed us with “every” spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ. Seriously? All of the spiritual blessings in the heavens are ours in Christ? That seems like a lot. Actually, it seems impossible. How could this be?   Jim Peterson was the International Vice-President for the Navigators ministry. He spent much of his life helping the Navigators establish a thriving ministry presence throughout Latin America, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. He was also the author of the book “Lifestyle Discipleship: The Challenge of Following Jesus in Today’s World”. In that book, Jim shared an insight that helps to explain what Paul was getting at in Ephesians 1:3. Jim wrote,   “One of the greatest gifts God has given us is the infinite opportunity for spiritual growth. But however much we have matured, there is always more beyond. It is in this that we find the adventure of living. There will always be new, unexplored dimensions of His person beckoning to us. The possibilities go off the chart.”   What Paul meant in Ephesians 1:3 is that all of heaven is ours. Someday, eventually, nothing will be hidden from us. All will be revealed, all will be understood, and we will get to experience it all. That’s true. But until then, as Jim Peterson explained, our walk with Christ is a continuous unfolding adventure of discovery and growth. And no matter how much we have learned and experienced, no matter how much we think we have matured, God always has something more for us. All the mysteries and glories of life in Christ are ours, just waiting to be discovered and enjoyed, but it’s more than we will ever be able to take-in and absorb in this lifetime. The completion of the adventure and the fulfillment of the discovery won’t happen until we get to heaven.   So, no matter how much you have discovered so far, there is still more waiting for you. A lot more. This is the great adventure of the Christian life. It’s an adventure of discovery as we go deeper and deeper into the mysteries of God until eventually, one day in heaven, it will all be ours.   Tomorrow we’ll look to another modern-day Christian for more insight into this adventure of going deeper and deeper into the mysteries of God. His name is Pastor Chuck Swindoll.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

Copyright © 2021 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved.

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Great thoughts from great Christians”   Our Bible verse for today: “He has also set eternity in the hearts of men.” Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NIV)   Our thought for today: “God created you for Himself”   Just as a reminder, all this month we’re exploring “great thoughts from great Christians.” The reason we’re doing so is because we can learn a lot about God from the experience and insights of others. Quoting Leighton Ford, “I surround myself with the thoughts of those who have thought much about God.” So, this morning let’s consider another deep and profound insight from a great Christian of a different era.   Augustine of Hippo, also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian, philosopher, and the bishop of Hippo in Roman North Africa around 400 A.D. He was one of the great thinkers in early Christianity. Commenting on Ecclesiastes 3:11 Augustine once wrote, “You have created us for yourself, O God, and our hearts are restless, searching, until we find our rest in you.”   What Augustine meant is that in the human heart there’s a deep and innate understanding that we were created for more than just this lifetime. God created us with a little bit of eternity in our hearts. Each person is in reality a spirit-being who will live forever. Although our spirit currently inhabits this physical body, and although this physical body will one day die, our spirit will exist for eternity, and the spirit knows it. The spirit longs for eternity, and for the God of eternity.     That’s why virtually every culture that has ever existed in the history of the human race has had a belief in the spirit world and an afterlife. It’s because God created humans with a sense of eternity in our hearts. Deep down we all know that there must be more than just this lifetime.   This is the great truth Augustine was striving to help us understand. The human heart is restless, searching, until it finds its rest in God. The French philosopher Blaise Pascal once expressed the same truth in a slightly different way, “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the human heart that can only be filled by God.”   God created human beings to be in relationship with Him. Therefore, nothing in all creation will fill that place in our hearts. This is such an important understanding that we will continue to consider it tomorrow. This time we will consider the words of another great Christian, a man who lived more than 1600 years after Augustine and 400 years after Pascal. His name is Jim Peterson.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

Copyright © 2021 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved.

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Great thoughts from great Christians”   Our Bible verse for today: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)   Our thought for today: “God often lets us choose for ourselves”   Dallas Willard is in heaven now but during his lifetime he served as a professor of philosophy at the University of Southern California. He was also a pastor, the mentor of pastors, and the author of many important books about living the Christian life well. In his book, “Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God” Dallas shared an insight that was very helpful to me as a young Christian regarding this business of hearing God and understanding his will.   Up to that point I believed that God wants to direct my every thought, word, and deed. Therefore, I was looking for explicit instructions about how to earn a living, and what to have for breakfast; how to raise my children, and how to mow my lawn. I really thought God had something specific to say about all of it and I was frustrated that I wasn’t hearing from Him like that. Then I read this from Dallas Willard: “Generally speaking we are in God’s will whenever we are leading the kind of life he wants for us. And that leaves a lot of room for initiative on our part, which is essential: our individual initiatives are central to his will for us.”   Dallas illustrated that important truth with an example from how he parented his children. When they were young, he would often send them out to play in the fenced backyard. There were some basic rules, such as they were to stay within the boundaries of the backyard and they were to behave themselves according to the standards of conduct he had taught them. But beyond that, they were then to choose for themselves if they wanted to play in the sandbox, swing on the swings, play with the dog, throw a ball, sit under a tree and read, or any number of other activities. Any of those choices on their part were just fine with their father, as long as they stayed within the established boundaries of location and conduct.   Dallas’ point was that as their father he wanted his children to learn how to use their minds and to make good choices. He didn’t want to dictate every thought, word, and deed for them. He wanted them to learn to think for themselves. And that’s how God deals with us. He gives us boundaries we are to stay within, but then He gives us the freedom to think for ourselves and to make choices. He wants us to learn how to use our free will in ways that honor Him and which bring us a sense of joy and fulfillment in life. As the old saying goes, “God gave you a mind and He doesn’t mind if you use it once in a while.” He was the One who created us with intellect and free will and the ability to reason things out and to make good choices.   As Proverbs 3:5-6 teaches, if your heart is right and you truly do want to honor God, just stay within Biblical boundaries, use your judgment to think things through, make the choice that seems best and most appealing to you, then relax and enjoy life.   God often lets us choose for ourselves.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

Copyright © 2021 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved.

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Great thoughts from great Christians”   Our Bible verse for today: “He who belongs to God hears what God says.” John 8:47 (NIV)   Our thought for today: “The Bible proves that God does speak to us”   Let me assure you that if you are a Christian then you have heard God speak. You probably didn’t hear an audible voice, but you did hear Him speak. God speaks to His people. He speaks in many different ways but one thing that is certain, He does speak.   In “Experiencing God: Knowing and doing the will of God”, Henry Blackaby wrote, “One truth that is evident throughout the Bible is that God speaks to His people.” That’s an important truth. The Bible itself is God speaking to us through His written Word. But then, all throughout the Bible, we get example after example of God speaking to His people in multiple and varied ways. He spoke through a burning bush; He spoke in dreams; He spoke through angels; He spoke through the mouth of a donkey; He spoke from a cloud; and from a pillar of fire. He spoke through His creation, and He spoke through His Son. He spoke through prophets, preachers, teachers, song leaders, and through regular everyday people. On page after page, we get example after example of God speaking to His people.   And He continues to speak to us today. If you are His then He has spoken to you – many times and in many ways. Even if you didn’t know He was speaking, He was and He continues to. The question isn’t “if” He is speaking to you, the question is whether or not you are listening. The question is also whether or not you have learned how to hear Him.   As Henry teaches in Experiencing God, God can communicate with us in an infinite number of ways, and many of them are one-time events that are unique to the individual (Moses and his burning bush). But with that said, in our day there are five basic ways in which God most often speaks. They are through the Bible; through prayer; through our circumstances; through words of counsel from wise Christian friends; and through the testimony of the church.   We don’t have the time or space to explore those five ways in this devotional. That’s something you will need to do on your own. I encourage you to get a copy of “Experiencing God: Knowing and doing the will of God” and work through that 90-day Bible study. It could very well revolutionize your relationship with God just as it did for me almost thirty years ago. But the important truth for us this morning is that God does and is speaking to us because He wants to be heard and He wants to be understood.    Tomorrow I will share with you another important insight about this business of hearing God when He’s speaking to you. It’s another great thought from another great Christian. This time from a man by the name of Dallas Willard.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

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Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Great thoughts from great Christians”   Our Bible verse for today: “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and incomprehensible things you do not know.” Jeremiah 33:3   Our thought for today: “God wants to be heard and understood by His people”   Henry Blackaby spent decades as a pastor, preacher, teacher, church planter, mission team leader, and author. He was the pastor of churches in the United States and Canada. He helped to start mission churches in remote regions of Canada and he started a Bible college which has since grown into a full seminary. But Henry is best known for being the author of the Bible study “Experiencing God: Knowing and doing the will of God”.   I was fortunate to participate in that study early in my Christian walk and it was a formative experience for me. Of all the wonderful nuggets of inspiring spiritual insights that Henry shares in that study the one that caught my attention and captured my imagination the most was this, “One of the most exciting truths in all of scripture is that God wants to be heard and understood by His people.”   God wants to be heard and He wants to be understood. Hearing from God isn’t a mystery and it’s not a riddle that must be solved or a puzzle we must piece together. God wants to be heard so He can be understood and then obeyed. He reaches out to us. He goes out of His way to communicate in ways we can understand, to capture our hearts, and to hold our attention.  Jeremiah 33:3 is true. If we call to God, He will answer us. If we desire to understand Him and His ways, He will help us to hear and understand. If we want a deep relationship with Him, He was already wanting one with us first.   God is the initiator, the motivator, and the primary actor in this relationship. He wants it more than we do. All we have to do is cooperate with Him in the ways He has provided for us, which will then lead us into that deep and intimate relationship with Him.   This is exciting news! It certainly excited me when I first heard it. What a great insight from a great Christian. Thank you, Henry Blackaby. Tomorrow we will take this a step further and consider the ways in which God speaks to us so that He can be understood by us.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

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Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Great thoughts from great Christians”   Our Bible verse for today: “The one who walks with the wise will become wise …” Proverbs 13:20 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Surround yourself with the thoughts of the wise”   Leighton Ford was the brother-in-law of Billy Graham. He worked with Billy for a long time in the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, but he also had a wide-ranging and successful ministry of his own through Leighton Ford Ministries. He was also a successful author.   Speaking of his own devotional life Leighton once said, “I surround myself with the thoughts of those who have thought much about God.” What he meant was that throughout the ages of Christian history there have always been men and women who had spent long years, decades, and entire lifetimes, thinking about God, studying His Word, praying, and seeking to know Him better. They were men and women who, like King David, were after God’s own heart.   We can learn much from people like that. When a man or woman of God has spent decades of their life thinking deeply about God – seeking Him, learning, growing, and experiencing God in deep and profound ways, they have much to share with the rest of us. This is what Leighton Ford was referring to.   Without question, the primary and most important way we learn about God and grow in our relationship with Him is through our personal study of the Bible. The Bible is God’s primary means of communicating with us. But the second most important way we learn about God is from others. That’s why we listen to sermons, participate in group Bible studies, and sing songs about God and to God that were written by others. It’s why we read books and magazine articles and daily devotional messages.  When we do so, we’re surrounding ourselves – immersing ourselves, in the thoughts of those who have thought much about God.   All this month I want to share with you what I consider to be great thoughts from great Christians. These are nuggets of spiritual wisdom that I’ve come across in my own years of seeking and study which have spoken powerfully to me and which I have found to be insightful and helpful. Many of the thoughts come from relatively modern Christian men and women from the last couple of hundred years. Others are ancient, even thousands of years old. But they all have one thing in common – they are great thoughts from great Christians.   Let’s spend the month together surrounding ourselves with the thoughts of those who have thought much about God.   God bless, Pastor Jim

Copyright © 2021 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved.

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Laugh Again”   Our Bible verse for today: “And my God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.” Philippians 4:19-20 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Laugh Again”   As we conclude our month-long study about learning to laugh again, I want to revisit a few of the key themes we’ve considered.   One is that concern about physical needs and financial issues is one of the big joy-stealers in life. In Philippians 4:19-20 the Apostle Paul made a pretty bold statement about the provision of God in our lives. Please note that he wrote about God providing for “all” of your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. That’s a pretty all-inclusive statement. It’s similar to that great passage in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:25-34 where Jesus taught us about the sovereignty of God. He said that your Father in heaven is aware of your every need. He has the power to provide for you, and He is committed to doing exactly that. That understanding should relieve us of a lot of stress and anxiety.   Another lesson we learned is that laughter is good medicine, but a heavy spirit dries up the bones (Proverbs 17:22). A heavy spirit makes you sour and grumpy. Laughter lightens things up and makes you feel better. Happy people are healthy people. Even if your body is sick, your spirit is healthy. Laughter is good medicine.   Many of our devotional messages this month were about the importance of being intentional about being happy (Psalm 118:24). You can’t always choose your circumstances but you can always choose your attitude about your circumstances. I encourage you to go back and review some of the strategies we discussed for being intentionally joyful in your outlook and attitude.   We also considered the brevity of life (Psalm 39:4-5) and the value of time (2 Corinthians 7:2). Life is too short and our time is too valuable to waste it in trivial pursuits or with a negative attitude. Life is also too short to live small or to whine about getting old. A great question once asked by Pastor Chuck Swindoll is “How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?” In other words, you’re as young as you feel. Laughter and a light-hearted spirit keep you feeling young.   Finally, this month I’m reminded of how much joy I personally receive from my little sissy dogs that I told you about in a previous devotional. But not everyone has that kind of a positive experience with their pets. I remember a story told the comedian Rodney Dangerfield. His childhood experiences with his dog were not happy. The dog’s favorite bone was Rodney’s arm. The dog was also evidently an Egyptian breed because he left little pyramids everywhere he went. And perhaps worst of all, Rodney’s parents had to tie a pork chop around his neck just to get the dog to play with him!   That’s sad! My prayer for you is that you have more to laugh about in your life than poor Rodney had in his. As the song says, “Don’t worry, be happy!” You bring glory to God when you live with joy.   God bless, Pastor Jim

Copyright © 2021 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved.