Oak Hill Baptist Church

Be a source of grace, peace, and comfort

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “You have been set free”

Our Bible verse for today: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” 2 Corinthians 1:2 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Be a source of grace, peace, and comfort”

I love the way Paul began his letter to the Corinthian believers, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” What a wonderful word of blessing to greet someone with. Then, he immediately follows that in verses 3-4 with an explanation of how it is that we can be a conduit for that grace and peace to flow from God to other people: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort that we ourselves received from God.”

It never ceases to amaze me how much pain and suffering there is in this world. From famines and wars; to natural disasters like earthquakes, hurricanes, and pandemics; to the normal everyday trials that we all experience like the death of a loved one, sickness, wayward children, betrayal by friends, etc. And Christians aren’t exempt from any of it. We suffer those things right along with our fellow humans.

Yes, there is a lot of pain and suffering in life. But that’s just life in a broken, bleeding, sin-filled world. However, God often does His best work in the middle of suffering, because that’s when people are most open to Him. As Christians we often experience God most and best in the middle of pain and suffering, and that’s even truer for non-Christians. Typically, the closer a person gets to rock-bottom in life the more open that person is to seeking comfort from the God of all comfort.

That’s the situation Paul was describing in 2 Corinthians 1:3-6. First, God will comfort you in the midst of your own pain and suffering. Then, He will use your times of pain and suffering, and what you learned through them, to make you more sensitive and empathic to those who are suffering like you did. That then creates the opportunity for God to use you to deliver His grace and peace and comfort to others who are suffering and who may not even know Him.

Through their pain and suffering you can help other people to find the grace and peace that you have found from God through faith in Jesus Christ. Pain and suffering can become a pathway that leads them to freedom – the true freedom that we’ve been thinking about all month. I encourage you to look for someone you can be a source of comfort to today.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

The Jesus way

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “You have been set free”

Our Bible verse for today: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” John 14:6 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “The Jesus way”

Pastor and author Eugene Peterson once had this to say about Jesus’ metaphor of being “the way”: “The Jesus way wedded to the Jesus truth brings about the Jesus life … But Jesus as the truth gets far more attention that Jesus as the way. Jesus as the way is the most frequently evaded metaphor among Christians …”

We commonly think of Jesus as “the way” to heaven. And He is that. That is the primary context of John 14:6. But He’s more than just the way to eternal salvation, He’s also the model of the way we as Christians are to live. Repeatedly throughout the gospels Jesus demonstrated with His own life and taught in His parables how He wants His followers to conduct themselves, and then He said “Now go and do likewise”.

Seriously. We need to pay attention to this. Jesus is our example. He shows us how we are supposed to conduct ourselves in this world. We are to measure our life and conduct against His, and then make adjustments accordingly. His life is the gold standard and His example is our guide, it’s what we’re supposed to be striving for.

Not too many years ago there was a popular saying in Christian culture which we were supposed to frequently ask ourselves as both a challenge and a reminder. It was, “What would Jesus do? (WWJD)” It’s true that it was overused to the point of becoming a trite cliché and yet, it is Biblical. And important. And helpful. What would Jesus do in your situation?

Granted, He is not you and you are not Him. Your world today is different than His world was then. Jesus wasn’t a forty-year -old man driving a car in Crossville, TN and He didn’t just get flipped off by another driver who thinks you cut him off. But if He was, then how would He respond in this instance? What would Jesus do? And Jesus wasn’t a fifty-year-old woman working in an office with an irritating and obnoxious coworker. But if He was, how would He deal with this person? What would Jesus do? And Jesus isn’t here to show us how to deal with angry fellow citizens on the other side of the political spectrum. But if He was, how would He respond in such situations? What would Jesus do?

You get the picture. The Gospels don’t provide us with explicit instructions to address every situation we will encounter in life. But they do provide us with principles that apply broadly, and they do offer us enough examples from the life of Jesus so that we can ask the question “What would Jesus do?” and then apply those principles and His example to our situations.

Jesus is “the way” that we are supposed to be conducting ourselves in our world. It’s “the Jesus way”, and not enough of us are doing it. I think our society needs to see a little less of our way of handling things and a little more of the Jesus way.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Let them see it in your life

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “You have been set free”

Our Bible verse for today: “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom.” 2 Corinthians 3:17 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Let them see it in your life.”

In the passage from 2 Corinthians that we’re looking at this morning, beginning in chapter two and extending throughout chapter three, the Apostle Paul was in the middle of a discourse about what it means to be “ministers of the new covenant”. He was using his own ministry as an example but what he described should be true of all of us.

In the passage, Paul explained that as we make our way through our days people should sense the “fragrance” of the knowledge of Jesus from us (2:14); they should be able to read us as if we are a letter to them from Jesus Himself (3:3); and while Moses covered his face with a veil after he came from meeting with God to hide the fact that the glory of the Lord through him was temporary and soon faded away, the glory of Christ should shine through us continuously and not only should we not conceal it, we should be intentional about letting it shine through us (3:12-18).

Then, in 3:17, we read that the presence of the Lord is meant to bring freedom – just as Jesus declared in Luke 4:18, “I have come to set the captives free”, and we remember that the presence of the Lord is meant to set people free in all the ways we’ve been considering this month.

Taking all of this together, we realize that what Paul meant in 2 Corinthians 3:17 is that we must let people see the glory of the Spirit of God at work in our lives, and they should see the freedom we have because of it. Don’t hide it behind a veil like Moses did. Don’t be silent about Jesus or inactive for the cause of Christ. Show them Jesus by what you do and tell them about Jesus with your words.

If you have been set free by Jesus; if the Holy Spirit of God is at work in you and through you; if the fruit of the Spirit describes your character; I encourage you to let people see it in your life today.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Do your part to restrain evil

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “You have been set free”

Our Bible verse for today: “And you now know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.” 2 Thessalonians 2:6-7 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Do your part to restrain evil in the world. “

2 Thessalonians 2:6-7 is a critical passage of scripture for Christians today to understand. The Apostle Paul was giving his readers insight into the end times when Satan, through the work of the antichrist, will be unrestrained and therefore evil in the world will be worse than ever. This will happen at the midpoint of the seven-year tribulation period which occurs just prior to the second coming of Jesus.

It’s at this midpoint in the tribulation that the rapture occurs and all the remaining believers in Christ are removed from the world. Since the Holy Spirit resides in the hearts of those believers and does most of His work in this world through them, when they are taken out of the world the work the Holy Spirit was doing through them stops. Up until this point, the Holy Spirit has been present in the world living in the hearts of multiple millions upon millions of Christians. Through their faithful ministry in the world evil has been restrained and pushed back; lost sinners have been led to Jesus; lives have been changed; and eternal destinies determined. But at the time of the rapture their influence in the world is gone and then, all hell literally breaks loose on earth.

Every day we get a little closer to the end of time, but right now you and I live in the pre-rapture period. The Holy Spirit lives in our hearts and works through us to oppose Satan and to restrain evil as we promote Kingdom principles, minister in the name of Jesus, and lead people to faith in Him.

Remember, Jesus has set us free so that we can help others to be free too. In this fractured and hurting world that we live in the best thing we Christians can do to help make our society a better place is to actively oppose the influence of Satan. It is for this that Jesus saved your soul and then sent you off on-mission in this world. You are to help restrain Satan’s evil influence in this world. I encourage you to find ways to do that today.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

We must represent Him well

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “You have been set free”

Our Bible verse for today: “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.” 2 Corinthians 5:20 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “We must represent Him well.”

In his great Bible study series “The Kingdom Agenda”, Pastor Tony Evans likens Christians in the world to ambassadors sent to another land on a diplomatic mission. The Ambassador is commissioned by his or her government to go to a foreign land and represent the interests of their homeland. The ambassador has the authority of the home government to conduct the business of the homeland in that foreign country.

In 2 Corinthians 5:20 the Apostle Paul says that we Christians are ambassadors of Christ. We are citizens of heaven (Philippians 3:20) but we have been sent to this foreign land to represent the interests of the homeland (heaven) and to promote the policies of our King (Jesus). Just as a diplomatic ambassador is not there to represent his or her own interests, nor are we here to represent ours. We’re on a mission from our home to a foreign land to promote the interests of the kingdom to which we belong.

In the Great Commission, as it is expressed in Acts 1:8, Jesus said, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Please note He said, “You are to be “my” witnesses.” We are not here to be witnesses for ourselves, or to promote our own agenda. Nor are we here to be witnesses for someone else, or to promote some other agenda. As Christians our purpose here on earth is be witnesses for Jesus and to promote His kingdom. Our role is to help others see the goodness and the righteousness of the rule and the ways of our King, and to convince them to follow Him as well.

One of the reasons we Christians often lose our influence with the unbelieving world is that we sometimes lapse into self-promotion and pursue our own interests. Or, we seem to be more of a witness for a political party or a politician than we are for Jesus Christ.

As Americans we appreciate the freedom our democratic system of government affords, and we eagerly and proudly promote democracy around the world. How could be do anything less as Christians in our efforts to promote the cause of Christ in the world? We should be even more eager to represent Jesus in this world and to promote Christianity than we are to represent anyone else or to promote any other cause.

Jesus set us free and then sent us out into the world to be His witnesses, His ambassadors in this broken and bleeding world. I encourage all of us to represent Him well.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

We are free to gather

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “You have been set free”

Our Bible verse for today: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and signs were being performed through the apostles. Now all the believers were together and held all things in common.” Acts 2:42-43 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “We are free to gather together”

During the recent pandemic we Christians here in the state of Tennessee never lost our right to gather together with other Christians for worship. Initially, at the beginning of the pandemic, when there were so many unknowns and our leaders were scrambling in their efforts to figure it out and to protect us all from this dangerous virus, our Governor did “ask” us to “voluntarily” suspend in-person services until healthcare and government officials could gain a better understanding of what was happening and how to control it.

We gladly cooperated with that effort. We did it voluntarily, not because we were compelled to. Our constitutional freedom of religious assembly was never infringed upon. Not in our state. Unfortunately, and sadly, the same wasn’t true in many other states. Some states compelled churches to close rather than asking them to. I believe that was an unconstitutional infringement on religious liberty and it violated Biblical principle as well.

God’s people must be free to worship. That’s what Moses told Pharoah was one of the reasons he needed to let the people go. It’s also the picture we’re reading about in the scene in Acts 2:42-43. There we’re seeing the early New Testament church, shortly after the day of Pentecost, gathered daily in Jerusalem for worship, study, prayer, fellowship, and ministry. At that time, they were still relatively free to do so. Shortly, the persecution would begin. When it did, many of the believers would continue to meet anyway and simply suffer the consequences. Many others would leave Jerusalem and go to other places where they could gather and worship in peace and security.

The freedom to choose to gather for worship is a non-negotiable. There may be occasions when we choose not to gather – perhaps because of personal illness, or maybe because of a weather event like a snow or ice storm makes it dangerous and so we chose to cancel church for the day, or perhaps even at the “request” of a government official in order to assist with an emergency situation of some sort. In such cases we can decide for ourselves to gather or not, but the freedom to gather for worship should not be infringed upon.

Throughout Christian history believers have often faced persecution for gathering, yet they have done it anyway and chosen to suffer the consequences. It happens every day in China. Believers are forced into what is called “underground churches” in order to gather for worship, while avoiding the authorities who are trying to prevent it.

For those of us who don’t face such persecution and obstacles, we should exercise our freedom to gather with other believers. We have Biblical instruction to not neglect gathering together (Hebrews 10:25); we have Biblical models for it (Acts 2:42-43); and we even have the freedom to do it. Why would be not?

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

You are the plan

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “You have been set free”

Our Bible verse for today: “Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought at a price. So glorify God with your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Our thought for today: “You are the plan”

You are God’s plan for spreading the Good News of the Gospel. It’s through you that He plans to shower the world with the love and blessings of Jesus Christ, and it is you who will help to build His kingdom on earth. You’re it. You are the plan, and it is for this that you have been set free by Christ.

How does that news make you feel? If you’re like me then you feel unworthy and inadequate. Certainly not up to such a task. What could God be thinking? There must be better ways for Him to accomplish His plan than through an imperfect, deeply flawed, sometimes confused, and often lazy knucklehead like me. If I’m the best plan He has then I’m afraid He has set Himself up to be disappointed.

Fortunately, there’s a little more to it than that. Actually, there’s a lot more to it than that. It turns out that His plan involves us – plus the Holy Spirit. As Paul explained in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, at the time of your salvation God placed the Holy Spirit in your heart. This is where the power comes from. It’s not you or me, it’s Him living in us and working through us. This is such an important understanding that the subject of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is addressed at least sixteen times in the New Testament.

But what does the indwelling mean, how does it work, and what does it accomplish? It means that the Spirit of God lives within us and works through us. In 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Paul painted a picture of the follower of Christ being a walking, talking, mobile temple of the Holy Spirit. Wherever you go, you bring the Holy Spirit with you in a very focused way. If you let Him, He will use your mouth to speak God’s words, and He will use your hands and feet to accomplish God’s purposes.

Jesus taught this truth in John 15:5 in His parable about the vine and the branches. Just as a grapevine lives its life through the branches that grow off of it and produces its fruit through those branches, so too Jesus lives His life through the lives of His followers and produces His fruit through them. In Galatians 5:22-23 the Apostle Paul picked up on that analogy and described for us what some of that fruit will look like – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

As we go through our days, carrying the Holy Spirit of God with us wherever we go, we’re to simply allow Him to use us to accomplish God’s purposes through us. We are God’s plan – but it’s the Holy Spirit who actually accomplishes the results. We just need to let Him.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Your freedom in Christ might get you in trouble.

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “You have been set free”

Our Bible verse for today: “We must obey God rather than men!” Acts 5:29 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Your freedom in Christ will sometimes get you in trouble.”

This morning I want to talk about how our freedom in Christ allows us, or perhaps even requires us, to refrain from certain actions, and how the decision to refrain may actually put us crossways with the society in which we live. Christians correctly believe that as citizens of the USA we have all the same constitutional rights that any other citizen of this nation has. That is correct.

However, we don’t have the Biblical freedom to act on those constitutional rights if doing so would in anyway conflict with the law of God. In fact, there are occasions when our freedom in Christ will require us to actively oppose and defy a constitutional right. For instance, legally every woman in America has a constitutional right to an abortion. But it would be wrong for a Christian woman to get an abortion because it would violate God’s Biblical principle regarding the sanctity of human life. So, this is a situation where you might have the constitutional freedom to do something, but you don’t have the Biblical freedom to do it. Beyond that, as Christians we have a Biblical responsibility to actually oppose this constitutional freedom and attempt to get it overturned.

Likewise, the issue of homosexuality and same-sex marriage. Constitutionally every citizen has the freedom to engage in homosexual behavior and to enter into a same-sex marriage if they want to. But even though Christians have the constitutional freedom to do so, they do not have the Biblical freedom to do so because it violates God’s principles of human sexuality.

Just because we have the constitutional freedom to do something doesn’t mean we have the Biblical freedom to do it. We may even find ourselves in the position of having to oppose that constitutional freedom in our society precisely because it does violate Biblical principles. And that of course, will put us crossways with culture. Others will feel that we are attempting to infringe on their liberty. However, our freedom in Christ liberates us from that concern. We are to obey God rather than men and, we are to try to help our society to obey God rather than men too.

However, a word of caution: Before taking such a stand we must be certain that the position we are taking is solidly Biblical and the one we’re opposing is not – and we have to be able to prove it. Be sure there are passages of Scripture and Biblical principles which speak clearly and directly to the situation. Base your actions on clear guidance from the Bible.

Our freedom in Christ gives us the courage and boldness to take stands that might be unpopular, and that sometimes might even get us in trouble.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Live like this and people will notice

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “You have been set free”

Our Bible verse for today: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Galatians 5:22-23

Our thought for today: “Live like this and people will notice.”

We started our study of being set free by considering the similarities and the differences between our constitutional freedoms as citizens of the USA, and our Biblical freedoms as Christians. We also learned that although we have great freedom, both constitutionally and spiritually, neither our constitutional freedoms nor our spiritual freedoms are unlimited. Our constitutional freedoms are necessarily limited and constrained by the rule of law. Our spiritual freedom is necessarily limited and constrained by Biblical principles.

We then spent some days considering what it is we have been set free from, spiritually. We have been set free from the penalty for our sins; we have been set free from living with a pervasive sense of guilt; we have been set free from legalism; and we have been set free from the burden of unforgiveness. Now we will shift our thinking to the impact our spiritual freedom should have on the way we live. In doing so we will also circle back and finish where we began, considering the manner in which our spiritual freedoms and constitutional freedoms overlap, and the ways in which they don’t. Included in that discussion will be the understanding of our being “salt and light”, as Jesus meant it in the Sermon on the Mount.

In Galatians 5:22-23 the Apostle Paul gave us what is without question one of the most helpful passages in the New Testament. This passage describes the results of the work of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life. Overtime, as the Spirit slowly molds and shapes the individual into the man or woman God intends for them to be, the more the “fruit of the Spirit” will be evident in that person’s life. The more these attributes are evident in the person, the more spiritual maturity the Spirit has been able to bring about in their life. Although it is the work of the Spirit, that work is aided by the cooperation of the individual. Our cooperation includes things like frequent prayer, daily Bible study, fellowship with other Christians, worship, acts of service in the name of Jesus, and the other basic disciplines of practicing the Christian faith.

The character traits of Galatians 5:22-23 then become something of a spiritual marker that help us to assess how we’re doing in our spiritual growth. The more you embrace your freedom in Christ in an appropriate Biblical manner, the better, fuller, and more enjoyable your life will be.

Also, the more the character traits of Galatians 5:22-23 describe you, the more of a positive impact for Christ you will have in the world around you. People will be blessed, encouraged, and influenced in a positive way, because they had an encounter with you. And the more Christians there are who are living like that, the better our society will be.

You have been set free by Jesus to live fully in the Spirit. Do the things necessary in order to cooperate with the Spirit as He cultivates the fruit of the Spirit in your life. Live like this and people will notice.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Set that prisoner free!

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “You have been set free”

Our Bible verse for today: “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” Colossians 3:13 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Set that prisoner free!”

When we placed our faith in Christ, God set us free from the penalty for our sins by forgiving us. Now, for multiple reasons, He wants us to forgive others. For one thing, by doing so, we help to set them free. Let them experience forgiveness, even if they don’t deserve it. Often, unmerited forgiveness extended as an act of grace will have a profound impact on someone. It may soften their heart toward you and towards God. Also, by forgiving them you are setting them free from an ongoing adversarial relationship. Proverbs 17:9 says, “Love prospers when a fault is forgiven, but dwelling on it separates close friends.”

But more often, the one who gains the greatest freedom from the act of forgiveness is the one doing the forgiving. In his book “Forgive and Forget: Healing the Hurts We Don’t Deserve” author Lewis B. Smedes wrote, “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.”

What he means is that when we continue to hold a grudge against someone the greatest damage is done to ourselves, not to the other person. Often the other person has completely forgotten about the offense, or seldom thinks about it, or doesn’t care. But if you are holding onto the offense that means you think about it, stew about it, and continue to expend emotional energy on it. When you do that, it will darken your disposition and therefore probably have a negative impact on other parts of your life as well. When you choose to forgive the offense, whether the other person deserves forgiveness or not, you do it more for yourself than for them.

Forgiving someone doesn’t mean that you are excusing or even accepting their offensive behavior. It simply means you are giving it over to God, and choosing to let it go and not think about it anymore. This is what Paul was counseling in Romans 12:18-20 when he wrote, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written, ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay, says the Lord. On the contrary: If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

You can help to set others free by extending forgiveness to them – even if they don’t deserve it. But more importantly, the prisoner you end up setting free may very well be yourself.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim