Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Laugh Again”   Our Bible verse for today: “The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places. Indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.” Psalm 16:6 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Remember the 80/20 rule”   An important key to having a light-hearted and joyful demeanor (the kind of outlook that allows you to laugh easily and frequently), is learning to appreciate what you have.   On numerous occasions I have made mission trips to various areas of the Amazon Jungle in Peru, sometimes spending a week visiting with missionary friends who run the El Arca Children’s Home (www.elarcafam.org). The home sits on 110 acres of land in a remote area on the edge of the Rainforest. It is primitive and the living is hard. They only have power a few hours a day when they run the generator. They have indoor plumbing, but only in some of the buildings. They raise cattle and poultry, and they grow a lot of their own food. It is hot and there are lots of bugs, snakes, and wild animals. I always enjoy my time there, but after a week I’m usually ready to come home.   Over the course of the last forty-eight years, first in the Navy and then as a short-term missionary, I’ve traveled to thirty-four countries – the majority of them very poor countries, and I can tell you that most of the rest of the world is not like the USA. Most of the rest of the world is like that situation in the Amazon Jungle, or worse.   Therefore, every time I return home I do so with a new appreciation for how much God has blessed me. I may only have a simple middle-class lifestyle (by the standards of the USA), but I am blessed beyond measure compared to people in most of the rest of the world. I have a comfortable home; I have plenty of food; I have a good income; I have access to good healthcare; I have a loving family and good friends; I live in one of the most beautiful locations in the country; and on and on the list goes. Shame on me if I could have all of this but still not be happy and satisfied!   One of the biggest reasons people are downcast instead of upbeat, complaining instead of thankful, and frowning instead of laughing, is because their thoughts are focused on what they don’t have rather than on what they do have. In Psalm 16:6 King David was reflecting on the contours of his life and he was giving thanks to God for his blessings. The boundary lines of his life had fallen in pleasant places and he had much to be grateful for. I’ll bet the same is true for you. If you think about it you will have to admit that you are blessed in more ways than you have time to count this morning.   Today’s devotional isn’t funny like the others have been. But in order to have a sunny and upbeat disposition, and to be a lighthearted person who can laugh easily and frequently, we need to be people who recognize and appreciate just how blessed we are. There’s an 80/20 rule that can be applied to most people’s lives. It maintains that 80% of the things in our lives are good, and only 20% (or less) are in some way negative. Yet many people focus on the 20% that is negative rather than the 80% that is good.   I encourage you to spend some time today considering how blessed you are. Enjoy the warm sense of being watched over and provided for by a Father in Heaven who loves you very much and who blesses you beyond measure.   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: “Because of the Lord’s faithful love we do not perish, for his mercies never end. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness! I say, ‘The Lord is my portion therefore I will put my hope in him.” Lamentations 3:22-24 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Choose joy”   Have you ever known a person who seems to be an expert at finding something wrong with everything? If you say it’s a beautiful sunny day, they’ll point to the one dark cloud in an otherwise clear sky. If you tell them they look nice today, they’ll respond by saying they recently put on five pounds. If you tell them the glass if half full, they’ll tell you that it’s also half empty.   Do you remember “Eeyore” the donkey from the Winnie-the-Pooh books? Winnie is always upbeat and positive but Eeyore is always pessimistic, gloomy, and depressed. No matter how good things are, Eeyore always finds something wrong. We all have encounters with the Eeyores in life, and they’re not fun to be around.   I saw a cartoon recently of two women talking. One was babbling on and on. We the readers get the conversation in midstream, “… and then I caught the flu, the house burned down, our car was stolen, George had to have an operation, the cat got the flu …” The other woman, looking trapped, is thinking to herself “Dear Lord just take me now!” You’ve been in that situation. You’re trapped in a conversation with a narcissist who drones on and on about all her misfortunes (real and imagined) and there seems to be no way out. And you’re thinking “Just shoot me now!”   Abraham Lincoln is reported to have said that “Most people are about as happy as they make their minds up to be.” That’s a great truth. You can choose to see the glass half full instead of half empty. You can choose to see the sunshine rather than the cloud. You can choose to thank God for what you have rather than complain about the things you don’t have.   In the book of Lamentations, Jerusalem had been completely destroyed and was in ruins. The people had been taken into captivity and the situation seemed hopeless. In the middle of the destruction and desolation the prophet Jeremiah uttered that wonderful statement of faith and praise that we just read in 3:22-24 above. He found reasons to praise God, to trust Him, and to live with joy. I encourage you to read the passage again now.   How about you? Do you choose to live with joy? Do you laugh easily and often? Going back to our consideration of Winnie the Pooh and Eeyore, which are you? If the choice in your life is between Winnie or Eeyore, be Winnie my friends, be Winnie.   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: “Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine …” Genesis 35:22 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Just be you – and enjoy it!”   There’s a great truth expressed in that statement – “Everybody’s normal – till you get to know them.” The fact is that we’re all a little weird. There really is no “normal”. After more than twenty-five years as a Pastor I’ve come to understand that every person is a little odd and every family has skeletons in their closets. Granted, some people are odder than others and some families have a literal boneyard going on, but still, we’ve all got stuff that we’d prefer others don’t know about. (As a Pastor I get to know a lot of that stuff. It’s kind of a side benefit to the job. The stories I could tell! Lol).   A Biblical case-in-point is told by Pastor John Ortberg in his 2003 book by that same title, “Everybody’s Normal Till You Get to Know Them”. In one section he tells the story of one of the great Biblical families – that of Jacob. Jacob was a bit of a scoundrel and a swindler. He had at least thirteen children by four different women. One son (Joseph) was sold into slavery by his brothers. Another son (Reuben) slept with his father’s mistress. Another son (Judah) slept with his own daughter-in-law and fathered a child by her. One daughter was raped and two sons then led a military expedition to wipe out the entire village that the rapist lived in. And those are just a few examples of the dysfunction in that family. John writes, “These people need a therapist. These are not the Waltons. They need Dr. Phil, Dr. Laura, Dr. Ruth, Dr. Spock, Dr. Seuss – they need somebody!”   Feeling any better about your own family?   The point is that we’re all a little weird – there really is no “normal”. And that’s a good thing. I’m glad there are no perfect people. It makes me feel better about myself.   I sometimes tease our folks at Oak Hill Baptist Church that we’re a lot like that place everyone has come to call “The Star Wars Bar”. The Star Wars bar was a scene in the first Star Wars movie. Han Solo and Chewbacca go into this inter-planetary bar and we see that it’s filled with an array of weird creatures from across the galaxy. One guy is purple and has two heads. Another is orange and has a single eye in the middle of his forehead. One creature looks like an octopus with tentacles sprouting from various places, and on it goes. Weird people. Funny looking people. But all of them somehow getting along.   That’s us! At our church we’re just an odd collection of unusual people, but somehow, we all get along. So, if you’re looking for a church, I invite you to visit us. (I’m thinking you will probably fit right in.)   There are no normal people. Nobody is normal because there really is no “normal”. Everyone is a little bit strange. I encourage you to celebrate your weirdness today. Just be you – and enjoy it!   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: “Truly I tell you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:3 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Don’t take yourself too seriously”   In the late 1980s there was a young comedian named Dana Carvey who starred on the television show “Saturday Night Live”. As a member of the cast his job was to come up with funny characters and to put on live comedy skits. One of Dana’s most popular characters was known as “The Church Lady”. The Church Lady was prim and proper – with poofed-up hair, too much make-up (including a hideous amount of red lipstick), and 1950s style dresses. Her cheeks were pinched and sucked-in and her lips were always puckered, making her look like she must have been weaned on a pickle. She held her little purse with both hands at waist level, and her posture was ramrod straight (her girdle was obviously way too tight).   The Church Lady would then proceed to bless us with her opinion on everything from bad boys to loose girls, from rock and roll music to bad manners, from proper etiquette at church potlucks to the awful tie the pastor wore last Sunday, and everything in-between.   Many Christians back then were offended by this caricature of church people and they thought it was terrible for Dana Carvey to make fun of them. Not me. I thought it was hilarious. I still do. And I also think it’s good for us to laugh at ourselves. We often take ourselves way too seriously. That’s one of the reasons I love the ministry of Chonda Pierce. She’s a Pastor’s kid who was raised in church, and she is absolutely brutal in her comedy routines as she points out the silliness of church life – and she gets us all to laugh about it. That’s good for us.   In Matthew 18:3 Jesus was using a child as an illustration of the simple faith that pleases God. But another lesson we can learn from children is to stop being so serious about everything and to just relax. Children have that unique ability to be silly and to have fun, and as adults we need more of that. We’re too uptight.   I’ll share with you one thing that makes me uptight, and it has to do directly with church life. Actually, it has to do with how nice the people at our church are. Did you know it is possible to be too nice? It is. I have a recurring dream (this is real), I have this dream that I’m up on the stage on Sunday morning preaching my heart out and my zipper is down. And nobody tells me.     Why? Why does nobody tell me? Because they’re too nice that’s why, and they don’t want to embarrass me. So, they say nothing!     Look, I’m glad you’re so nice, but for goodness sakes don’t be that nice! Somebody please discretely tell me. We’ll get a good laugh out of it and then I’ll preach the rest of the sermon!   So, go and have a good day today but remember, don’t take yourself too seriously. Also, be nice but don’t be too nice. Lol.   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: “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Lighten up and enjoy life”   I would like to be able to tell you that I thought-up the title for this month’s devotional series, but that would be a lie. The truth is that I stole it (which probably isn’t much better than lying about it I suppose). Unless … unless we can all agree that I didn’t really steal it I just “borrowed it”. Yeah, that’s my story, “I borrowed it”. Let’s go with that.   “Laugh Again” was actually the title of a book written by Pastor Chuck Swindoll back in 1991. It was a life application commentary on the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians (The Epistle of Joy).  In the book Chuck tried to help us see how we can go through life with an upbeat and positive outlook, finding joy and humor along the way.   I especially like the back cover of the dust jacket. There we see a picture of Chuck and his wife Cynthia riding Chuck’s Harley Davidson motorcycle. (It has a personalized license plate that reads “The Sermonator!”) Although Chuck and Cynthia are grey-haired senior citizens they often climb on his Harley, rev up that engine nice and loud, and go roaring off down the road hooting and hollering, laughing and having a good time.   I can relate. I also have a Harley, and although Linda is handicapped and uses a walker to get around, we have on occasions pushed that walker up to the Harley, put her on the back of the bike, and roared off down the road, leaving the walker sitting there in the driveway.   My friends, too many Christians are frumpy and grumpy. They walk around with their heads down, grousing and complaining, grumbling and mumbling into their moustaches, criticizing and finding fault with everyone and everything. That should not be. God doesn’t want us to live that way. Sure, life can get hard and we all have our problems, but it’s not all bad. Lighten up!   Psalm 118:24 reminds us that every day is a gift from God and it is filled with many wonderful things to enjoy and to be grateful for. I encourage you to count your blessings today. Resolve to be joyful. And for heaven’s sake, lighten up and laugh a little.   By the way, did you hear about the pistol-packing pastor who died and went to heaven? When he got to the Pearly Gates Saint Peter asked in astonishment why in the world any pastor would pack a pistol. In his defense the pastor cried out, “But Peter, I was a Southern Baptist Pastor!” Suddenly the expression on Peter’s face softened and with a knowing and sympathetic look he said, “Bless you my son. Those Baptists can be a tough crowd. Enter heaven and receive your reward!”   Enjoy your day my Baptist friends. Rejoice and be glad in it. And be sure to find plenty of things to laugh about.     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: “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.” Proverbs 17:22 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Laughing is good for you”   Once I was leading a marriage enrichment Bible study and suddenly one of the ladies in the group starting imitating Homer Simpson. I don’t know why. Maybe she’s going through menopause and has sudden uncontrollable outbursts of weird behavior (I’m kidding). But whatever the reason, right in the middle of a serious discussion about how a woman can build up her husband with words of affirmation and encouragement she comes out with “Doh!”   According to Wikipedia when Homer Simpson says “Doh!” it means “Homer injured himself, realized that he has done something stupid, or something bad has happened or is about to happen to him.”   I’ll leave you to guess which of those definitions that woman might have felt applied to her use of “Doh!” with respect to the topic of her affirming and encouraging her husband, but whatever her intended meaning, the moment was hilarious. One couple was laughing so hard I thought they were going to pee their pants.   After I finally regained control of the class, we all agreed that laughter is good for us – especially when it comes to strengthening the bonds of close relationships. Life is hard and sometimes it gets heavy. Many of us are way too serious. We all know people who trudge through their days, wearing their circumstances like a heavy old coat, seldom smiling much less laughing. But that’s not how we’re supposed to live. It’s not what God intends for us. Like Solomon tells us in Proverbs 17:22, laughter is good medicine, but a heavy spirit dries up the bones. A heavy spirit makes us sour and grumpy and difficult to be with. Laughter lightens things up. It makes us feel better, it makes us nicer to be around, and it causes other people to want to be with us.   All this month we will explore this idea of laughter as good medicine. We will consider what the Bible has to say about laughing and being happy, and we will also think about the importance of intentionally expressing joy. Laughter and being joyful is good for us.   By the way, did you hear the one about the feminist who demanded to know why we always say “Amen” at the end of a prayer rather than “Awomen”? The Pastor told her it’s the same reason that we sing “Hymns” instead of “Hers”.   May you day today be filled with joy and laughter.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

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

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Fully Alive”   Our Bible verse for today: “Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.” 1 Corinthians 4:2 (NKJV)   Our thought for today: “Be faithful with your life”   God requires us to be good stewards of everything He has entrusted us with. That includes our money, possessions, relationships, skills, talents and abilities, as well as our time. We are to take care of and utilize in a good way all of the things God has filled our lives up with. In fact, we are to be a good steward of life itself. We have a responsibility to God to use our lives well.   When confronted by a man who complained that this country has not provided him with as much happiness as he believed he deserved, Benjamin Franklin replied, “The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.”   What Franklin was referring to is personal responsibility. Every person is personally responsible for how they live their life. And therefore, every person has a personal responsibility to live well, utilizing the full range of their God-given abilities and resources, and to live a life of meaning and purpose that brings glory to God and blessings to others. That’s a life lived well. That’s what it looks like to be fully alive.   Throughout the course of this month, we’ve placed a heavy emphasis on being fully alive by doing things with intentionality and purpose. But the emphasis has been on doing things. However, as has also been mentioned, sometimes it’s necessary to do nothing. Sometimes we have to slow down, shut down, and recharge, and that’s what I am going to do now. I’m going on vacation and will be gone for most of the month of August.   I had considered taking the month off from writing these daily devotionals. Instead, I’ve decided to recycle a series from several years ago. It’s an oldy but goody. The theme is “Laugh Again” and it’s about the therapeutic nature of having a good laugh. I think you’ll enjoy it. I certainly enjoyed writing it.   Finally, this morning I want to leave you with a song. No, I’m not going to sing it myself, but I will provide a link below that you can click on if you would like to. Just copy and paste the link into your browser. This is my swan song, my good-bye song for now. See you in September.   God Bless, Pastor Jim    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu-7DXBiVsA

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

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Fully Alive”   Our Bible verse for today: “Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in everything; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Don’t stifle the Spirit.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-19 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Attitude is everything!”   1 Thessalonians 5:16-19 is one of the most important verses in the New Testament when it comes to living a life that is fully alive, and therefore it’s worth spending a few moments this morning carefully considering it.   First, Paul’s instruction to us in these verses is written in the form of a command. These aren’t suggestions. He isn’t offering us good guidance. He’s telling us emphatically to do these things. Choose to do this. Make up your mind, be intentional about it, and purposely do it. “Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in everything.”   There are literally dozens of verses in both the Old and New Testaments which tell us over and over again to choose joy, to pray about all things, and to be thankful. When God tells us something that many times, it must mean that He wants us to do it. That’s why Paul also writes, “…for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” He then goes on in verse 19 to tell us that if we don’t intentionally adopt those attitudes of joy, prayer, and thankfulness, we stifle the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The Spirit can have less of a positive impact in our lives because we have not adopted the attitude we have been instructed to have.   It is a choice. We have to be intentional about these things. Make a decision, “I choose joy over despair.”; Then decide, “I will pray more – about big things and about small things.”; And also, “I will be thankful for what I have rather than regretting what I don’t have, and I will count my blessings frequently.” This is an attitude that has to be purposefully adopted and then practiced with discipline and intentionality until it becomes your dominant mindset. Over time, thinking like that will simply become your nature.   If you have a bad attitude, you cannot and will not be fully alive – you won’t be at your best and truly enjoying life. There’s a reason God commanded us through Paul to intentionally cultivate and maintain a good attitude. It’s because in life, attitude is everything.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

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

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Fully Alive”   Our Bible verse for today: “I am torn between the two. I long to depart and be with Christ – which is far better – but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.” Philippians 1:23-24 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Age gracefully but live fully”   I’m a Jimmy Buffet fan. Jimmy is “Mr. Beach Music”. All of his songs have to do with life at the beach, or the benefits of vacation time, or about the adventure of living, etc. He has a lyric in one of his songs that really resonates with me at a deep level and which has become something of a personal motto, if not a personal mission statement. It goes, “I’d rather die while I’m living than live while I’m dead.”   Can all God’s people say, “Amen!”?   We should remain fully alive, living life with enthusiasm and gusto, until we die. Oh sure, the nature and contours of life will be different in different seasons of life. At seventy you can’t do some of what you used to do at forty. But still, there is much that can be done at seventy, or whatever age you happen to be, and therefore should be.   In Philippians 1:23-24 (above) the aged and elderly Apostle Paul wrote that he was ready to leave this life and go to heaven, which would be a vast improvement over the condition he was in, but he also realized that God wasn’t done with him yet here on earth. As long as Paul still had breath in his body then God still had a reason for him to be alive. Perhaps at that time all Paul was physically able to do was write, talk, and pray. Perhaps his days of long journeys, sleeping outdoors, and preaching to big crowds, were over. Maybe at that stage in his life his God-given purpose was to write letters, witness for Christ, counsel disciples, and pray. Well then, that’s what he did. And he did it with enthusiasm and gusto. He was determined to live until he died – and to live fully.   Too many people do not age gracefully. Instead, they make constant references to their aches and pains. They complain about getting old. They spend hours upon hours thinking about and longing for the good-old-days. They withdraw from church life. They can’t seem to accept the season of life they’re in.   I believe Christians should be grateful for, and should fully embrace, every day of life the good Lord grants to them. I for one choose to sing along with Jimmy, “I’d rather die while I’m living than live while I’m dead.”   Let’s all resolve to age gracefully, but let’s also be fully alive every day that we’re still alive.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

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

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Fully Alive”   Our Bible verse for today: “The tongue that heals is a tree of life, but a devious tongue breaks the spirit.” Proverbs 15:4 “Pleasant words are a honeycomb: sweet to the taste and health to the body.” Proverbs 16:24 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Help to heal the wounded heart”   I read a statement the other day which was made by a person with both mental and physical disabilities and who had spent a lifetime being ridiculed and bullied because of it. She was speaking to a class of elementary school students and she was explaining how hurtful the name “retard” can be to someone who struggles with mental limitations. She said “If you hurt my arm or leg, it heals fast, but when you hurt my heart, it can last forever.”   Wise words, and very true. The psychological wounds are often the deepest and longest lasting. Psychological wounds are most often inflicted by words, and the thing about words is that once they’re spoken, they cannot be unspoken. They can be forgiven, but they can’t be forgotten. Once they have been spoken and heard, they’re in the person’s memory bank and they will stay there forever. If they were mean words, cruel words, hurtful words, they inflict a wound on the heart that can last a lifetime.   But words can also be healing. Words of kindness, love, and encouragement can help to heal the wounded heart. And that’s where you, Christian, come in. You can speak words of hope and healing to hurting people suffering from wounded hearts. You can be a source of kindness and encouragement to someone who may be silently suffering.   Much of our focus during this month of devotional messages about being “fully alive” have focused on serving others. And much of the service we’ve discussed involved doing things and taking actions like humanitarian relief. But one of the most helpful things any of us can do for people is simply to be kind and encouraging in the way we speak to them. One of my favorite characters in the New Testament is Barnabas, “The son of encouragement”. Barnabas was known for being a source of encouragement to others. Evidently, he helped to heal wounded hearts.     Yesterday I said that when you bless others, you yourself are blessed. That truth holds true in this case as well. When you encourage others, you yourself will be encouraged. When you help to heal their heart, you will find your own heart has been lifted up as well.   Today there will be people with wounded hearts all around you. You can be a blessing to them, if you only will.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

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