Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Fully Alive”   Our Bible verse for today: “I sought the Lord, and he answered me and rescued me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant with joy; their faces will never be ashamed.” Psalm 34:4-5 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Live by faith not fear.”   You may remember from your own study of the Bible that early in the book of Numbers the nation of Israel was in the wilderness with God. They had escaped from Egypt and God was leading them to the Promised Land. But rather than taking them by the most direct and easiest route along the coast, He instead made them take the longer, more difficult, and more dangerous route through the wilderness.   The reason God did that was because there were some lessons He wanted the people to learn regarding faith and trust and fully depending on Him. They were going to have to be confident and courageous if they were going to enter the Promised Land, fight the battles, and win the victories that God had planned for them. They could not be fearful as they faced their challenges. So, their time in the wilderness would be a time of training for them. There they would learn to depend on God and to trust Him. They were not to live in fear.   I recently read a statement regarding that trek to the Promised Land which made that same point: “Before they can succeed, however, they must deal with the fear and doubt that grip them. God requires that those called by His Name put their faith in Him alone. Numbers shows the process by which He brings His people to that place of trust and leads them into blessing.”   That was true for them and it’s also true for us. We are not to live in fear. We too must learn to approach our challenges with confidence and courage as we depend on, and trust in, the Lord. And likewise, sometimes our life situations can seem like a trek through the wilderness, but that’s our time of training. It’s when we learn to trust God.   We will not be fully alive, living the life God wants for us, until we have learned to depend on Him and to trust Him. The people of God live by faith not fear.   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: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.” Matthew 22:37-40 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Don’t make it harder than it is”   We make living the Christian life harder than it needs to be. By nature, most of us are black-and-white, cut-and-dry, rules-oriented people. We want to know exactly what’s expected of us. We want it spelled out clearly, and it would be nice if a checklist is provided so we can just check things off as we go.   That tends to be especially true when it comes to religion. People want clear guidelines, explicit rules and regulations, and even that checklist, so they can toe-the-line and not get in trouble with God. That’s exactly how the Old Testament Jews ended up with such an extraordinarily complex religious system of rules and regulations. Some of the stuff God gave them (Leviticus and Deuteronomy) was complex enough by itself, but then their leaders added incredible layers of detail to it. The end result was a heavy and onerous religion that was demanding and difficult.   But as we learned in yesterday’s devotional, Jesus set us free from that. Jesus took the complexity and difficulty out of it and, as we see in today’s Bible verse, He simplified it all down to a matter of the heart, “Just love God and love people, and you’re good-to-go.” Get your heart right, love God completely and fully, extend that love to how you interact with other people, and you will have fulfilled all of the Law and all of the commands from the Prophets.   So, don’t make this harder than it needs to be. Rather than memorizing, complying with, and submitting to the tyranny of heavy and complex lists of rules and regulations, focus instead on loving God and loving people, and then go enjoy life. If your heart is right the Holy Spirit will guide you through everything else. Proverbs 3:5-6 teaches, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and rely not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and He will make your paths straight.”   When your heart is right, your life will be too. Don’t make it harder than it needs to be. Love God and love people, and then just go enjoy life.   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: “So if the Son sets your free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:36 (NIV)   Our thought for today: “Christ has set you free”   Yesterday was my day off. I slept a little later than usual and then had my personal quiet time with the Lord – during which I read the book of Leviticus. The whole thing. All twenty-seven chapters.   Okay, maybe I didn’t actually “read” all twenty-seven chapters, I skimmed some of it (it really is pretty dry stuff, right?). So I guess it would be more accurate to say I read/skimmed/sort of “took-in” all twenty-seven chapters.   It wasn’t intentional. My regular routine of progressively reading through the Bible simply landed me on this day at the beginning of Leviticus, and my plan was to just read a bit and stop. But an editorial comment in my study Bible in the introduction to Leviticus captured my attention and launched me into that marathon reading session. The editors wrote,   “God created humans to lead upright and orderly lives, but through the fall we lost the God-given ability to choose consistently between right and wrong. The Book of Leviticus reflects God’s plan to lead humanity back to righteousness, initially through a set of righteous laws, and effectively through the righteousness of His only Son, Jesus Christ.”   That’s what captured my attention – the difference between life for those Old Testament Jews under the system prescribed in Leviticus, compared to the wonderful simplicity and freedom of life in Christ. As I read/skimmed/took-in the twenty-seven chapters, I was struck by the complexity and the heavy onerous nature of it all. Yes, “complex, heavy, and onerous” does describe it. How did they do it? I know it was all intended to be a powerful lesson in God’s holiness as opposed to our sinfulness, and it certainly does illustrate that, but my goodness!   But then I realized that God led us through the extraordinary complexities of Leviticus and into simplicity and freedom found only in Christ. What a difference! So this is what Jesus meant when He said in John 8:36 “If the Son sets you free you are free indeed!” We are free from the penalty of our sins, and from the terrible and impossible complexity of always trying to attain holiness, as prescribed by Moses in Leviticus.   Thank God we live in the age of grace! Thank God that we have been set free by Jesus from all the rules and rituals and endless sacrifices. Thank God we are fully alive in Christ.   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: “How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony!” Psalm 133:1 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “The more we get along, the happier we will all be.”   Recently they published the annual list of “The Best U.S. Presidents”. It’s an annual survey of over 150 prominent historians who rate the greatness of our Presidents based upon their performance in a wide variety of categories. The top five are almost always the same every year – Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, FDR, Dwight Eisenhower, and Teddy Roosevelt.   Teddy has long been one of my favorites. He was an inspiring leader who accomplished significant things and who had a lasting long-term positive impact on the nation. Unfortunately, there’s a famous quote attributed to him which, although he did say it, is often misquoted and /or taken out of context. It’s this one: “There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism … There is no such thing as a hyphenated American who is a good American.”   Teddy made those remarks on Columbus Day 1915 while speaking to the Irish Catholic Knights of Columbus. Irish-Americans were notoriously clannish and had little to do with anyone who was not of Irish descent. Catholics believed theirs was the only legitimate expression of the Christian faith and all other professing Christians were actually going to hell. So, to be an Irish-American Catholic was to be part of an exclusive segregated cultural group who shunned virtually everyone else.   Teddy’s message was that they needed to get over themselves and learn to get along better with others. His meaning was not that its un-American to enjoy and celebrate our various cultural heritages, only that we should not be clannish and exclusive about it. We need to get along with, interact with, learn to live with, our fellow citizens, and focus on the things that unite us rather than on our differences.    This brings me back to yesterday’s devotional message. As Christians we need to be serving as peacemakers in our society to the greatest extent possible. We need to be helping our fellow citizens come together. That doesn’t mean that we set-aside our cultural differences or that we can’t celebrate our Italian or Hispanic or Asian heritages. It also doesn’t mean that we compromise values and principles that are important to us. But it does mean it’s in all of our best interests to get along rather than to fight so much.   The truth is that the more we make an effort to get along, the happier we will all be.   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: “There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “The more divided we are the less alive we are.”   I grew-up in a little town in New Jersey about thirty miles outside of New York City. There was a commuter train that ran through our town that would take you to Penn Station in the heart of the city. As an older teenager and young adult, I would sometimes take that train and spend the day exploring New York. By means of walking, buses, and subways, I would go to Times Square, Fifth Avenue, Central Park, as well as places like Little Italy and China Town.   I was always amazed at the cultural diversity in the city. There seemed to be people from every nation in the world. It reminded me of the important symbology of the Statue of Liberty. Our nation is a melting pot of cultures, and we’re stronger for it.   Later in life that love of exploring and experiencing diverse cultures carried over to a career in the U.S Navy, followed by many more years of leading mission teams on international humanitarian relief efforts to remote locations around the world. Again, I loved the exposure to different people and cultures. What an amazing and diverse world the Lord has created!   Sadly, today in our country we seem to have lost sight of our rich and diverse cultural heritage. Instead, we’re deeply divided along racial, ethnic, social, political, and religious lines. We seem to be focusing more on our differences and the things we don’t like about each other, rather than on the things we can share and appreciate and enjoy about each other.   In Galatians 3:28 the Apostle Paul teaches that in the body of Christ such divisions should not exist. Instead, we should be focused on our shared identity in Christ. We are still male and female, Hispanic and Asian and Caucasian, Republican or Democrat, a dog person or a cat person, and we don’t need to stop being any of those things, but we have a more important shared identity in Christ. Rather than being put off by our differences, we bring them together, enjoy and celebrate what’s special and unique about the other, and our Christian fellowship is stronger and better because of it.   What’s true in the church can and should be true in the larger society. And perhaps we as Christians can help to make that so. Perhaps we can take this model of Galatians 3:28, which works so well in our church fellowships, and use it more in society. Maybe we can show everyone else how a shared civil life can work – even if our groups are different in many ways.     The more we segregate ourselves from our fellow citizens the less fully alive we are as individuals and as a nation. The more division there is, the worse off we all are.   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: “Give, and it will be given to you; a good measure – pressed down, shaken together, and running over – will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Luke 6:38 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “You will get more than you gave.”   Yesterday I told you about the service-oriented attitude that exists in our church and how it produces such love and joy and a sweet spirit of fellowship. The day before, I described that same dynamic at work on mission trips and among mission team members. When the focus is on Jesus and on others, the fruit of the Spirit overshadows and dominates (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control).   In such situations you discover that not only does your strong faith have a significant impact in your own life, but it makes a difference in the lives of others too. That’s one of the reasons our members are so enthusiastic about our church life – the practice of their faith is more than just words and rituals. Instead, it takes the form of deeds that make a difference. Even our children and teenagers get caught-up in the enthusiasm of it all. In the devotional two days ago, I said that international mission trips are often described as a mountaintop experience. That’s true of healthy church life too. We’re at our best when we’re serving others. Individually and as a church, we’re at our best when we’re serving others.   Another comment we often hear, both from mission teams and from church members is “I got more than I gave.” That’s what Jesus was describing in Luke 6:38. In that parable He described a marketplace scene His listeners would have related to, and He was contrasting a “good measure” from a “bad measure”. A dishonest merchant would have inaccurate scales that would result in the customer receiving less than they paid for. That would be a bad measure. An honest merchant would not only have accurate scales but then, once he had poured in the full measure you paid for, he would pour in a little extra just for … good measure. And if what you paid for filled the sack, that gracious and honest merchant would pound the sack on the table, pressing it down in order to create room so he could pour in a little more, perhaps even to overflowing.   That’s how God blesses us, especially once we have blessed others. You bless others and He will bless you. He will bless you over and above, abundantly and generously, pressed down, shaken together, running over, and poured into your lap. You cannot out-bless God. You will get more than you gave.   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: “Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve others, as good stewards of the varied grace of God.” 1 Peter 4:10 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Worship Jesus and serve others”   People often remark that there seems to be something special and unique about our church. There’s a spirit of joy and fellowship that’s above average. One Sunday morning during our time of greeting and fellowship in the worship service one visitor looked around and said, “This is such a happy church!” We get that a lot.   A big part of the reason that’s true is because Oak Hill Baptist is a service-oriented church. First and foremost, we take good care of each other. Christians should take care of Christians and so we’re intentional about looking for ways to be a blessing to each other. Second, we’re an Acts 1:8 church. We are actively and intentionally on-mission with Jesus outside the walls of our church building. We have ministry partners and mission projects in our county, state, country, and world. There’s never a time when we’re not in the process of preparing for the next mission project.   Third, we encourage every person in the church to find at least one way to serve within the church. Then each year, at the beginning of the new church year (in September), we ask everyone to commit to serving in some ministry within the church for one year. We even provide a long list of ways each person can serve and we ask them select one or two they would like to help with (most people choose more than just one or two).   All of that emphasis on serving others helps to keep our focus where Jesus wants it to be, on Him and on others. We worship Him and we serve others. As long as we’re doing that, then our focus is not on ourselves and it’s not on small petty things that church members sometimes argue and even fight about. When people are focused on Jesus and others, there’s not much room left for selfishness or pettiness. The end result? Peace, love, unity, harmony. And joy (This is such a happy church!)   What I’ve just described is an important aspect of healthy church life, and so I have more I would like to say about it. We’ll get to that tomorrow. For now, know that you individually and your church as a group will be most fully alive when your focus is on worshiping Jesus and serving others.   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: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last.” John 15:16 (NIV)   Our thought for today: “Being fruitful for Jesus enriches your life.”   One of the features of Facebook I appreciate is that it notifies you when a friend has a birthday. And, if in the past you have posted pictures of that friend, then on their birthday Facebook will show you some of those pictures. It then allows you to post those pictures and share those memories along with your birthday greeting to your friend.   Since I’m Facebook friends with lots of people who have gone on international mission trips with me over the years, and since there have been lots of pictures from those mission trips posted on Facebook, all throughout the year I’m able to send birthday greetings to old mission team members along with pictures of those past mission trips. The person always appreciates that because the memories from those trips are special. Mission trips are often referred to as “mountaintop experiences”, and rightly so. Mission trips change lives. Not just the lives of the people on the receiving end of the ministry, mission trips change the lives of the people who go on them. That’s true because being fruitful for Jesus enriches your own life.   In John 15:16 Jesus said that He has appointed us to go into the world and bear fruit in His name. The lesson of the New Testament, and the example set for us by Jesus and the Apostles, is that we are to go into the world and serve others. How do we do that? In a thousand different ways. It can be anything from going on an international mission trip to a remote corner of the world, to serving a meal at your local homeless shelter, to mowing the lawn for an elderly shut-in, to sharing the gospel with a co-worker, and an unlimited number of other ways. Any effort made to bless someone in the name of Jesus constitutes producing fruit for the Lord.   Our theme this month is all about being fully alive. In other words, living life large, on-mission with Jesus, fulfilling your purpose in life. Jesus said that He has appointed you to go and bear fruit for Him. When you’re doing that, you are fulfilling your primary purpose in life as a Christian, and that is the point at which you will be most fully alive.   This is an important point – it’s a crucial aspect of being fully alive, and there’s much more to be said about it. Therefore, we will continue this discussion tomorrow. Being fruitful for Jesus enriches your own life.   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: “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will save it.” Luke 9:24 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Take your eyes off of yourself”   You are your own most favorite person. It’s true of all of us. You’re with yourself more than you’re with anyone else. You think about yourself more than you think about anyone else. And you talk to yourself more than you talk to anyone else. It’s true of all of us and therefore our natural human tendency is to be self-absorbed. It will happen automatically and naturally unless we work to make it otherwise.   Jesus spoke to this issue in Luke 9:24. There He said, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will save it.” That same statement is recorded five times in the four gospels, each time in a slightly different context but with the same meaning. The more we focus on ourselves the smaller our lives are. The more we focus on God and others the more fully alive we are. This is one of the mysteries of life in the kingdom of God. You give to get; you let go in order to receive; you to die to yourself in order to really live.   The Christian music group “Big Daddy Weave” once recorded a song based upon this Biblical truth. The name of the song is “Give My Life Away”:   “I earn it just to spend it, throw it out when it’s broken Like a hamster on the wheel I keep making the spokes spin Do I have what I have or does it have me? There’s only one way I know I can be free:   I wanna give my life away I wanna give my life away Move every little thing standing in the way Oh I wanna give my life away”   That’s what Jesus was talking about. He continued the thought in Luke 9:25 when He said, “For what does it benefit someone if he gains the whole world, and yet loses or forfeits himself?”   When we’re preoccupied with ourselves, we lose. When we shift our thinking to God and to others, we win. It seems counterintuitive, but life in the kingdom of God often is because God’s ways are different from ours. The truth is that the more we take our eyes off of ourselves and focus instead on serving God and others, the more fully alive we will be.   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: “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:31 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “You bring glory to God when you are fully alive”   Irenaeus was one of the leaders in the early Christian church. He lived from 130 – 202 A.D. and he knew people who had known the Apostle John (the longest living of all the original apostles). Irenaeus was a church-planter, pastor, scholar, and trusted theologian. He is remembered for helping to define and defend orthodox Christian doctrine during a time when there were many divergent and false teachings being promoted in the Christian world. Irenaeus is often referred to as the father of Christian orthodoxy.   The single statement he is best remembered for, and the one that is frequently quoted even in our day almost two thousand years later is, “The glory of God is a human fully alive.” I love that thought. We bring glory to God when we live a full, active, and productive life. This is the life Jesus proclaimed for us when He said in John 10:10, “I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.” It’s the life the Apostle Paul described in Galatians 5:22-23 when he wrote, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” It’s the life Jesus was calling us to when He said in John 15:16, “I have appointed you to go and produce fruit …”   The fruit that Jesus wants to see in our lives is the fruit of the Spirit as described by Paul. It’s also the acts of service to others that He taught, modeled, and called for throughout the Gospels. And it’s our participation in the Great Commission as we help with His kingdom-building work on earth.   Interestingly, Paul captures all of that and sums it up for us in 1 Corinthians 10:31 with the simple instruction to do everything for God’s glory. He doesn’t say that we necessarily have to build churches, start schools, establish hospitals, fill stadiums, or go as a missionary to serve Pygmies in the jungles of Papua New Guinea. He says “whatever you do”, and then he cites simple everyday things like eating and drinking, working and playing, coming and going. Do it all with the Lord in mind and for His honor and glory.   It brings glory to God when His people are fully alive in Christ, living victorious lives of simple faith. I encourage you to embrace life with enthusiasm. Live it with vigor and gusto. Be fully alive in Christ.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

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