Good Morning Everyone,   Our theme for this month: “The power of hope”   Our Bible verse for today: “The ropes of death were wrapped round me; the torrents of destruction terrified me. The ropes of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me. I called to the Lord in my distress, and I cried to my God for help. From His temple He heard my voice and my cry to Him reached His ears.” Psalm 18:4-6 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “God is our hope in times of trouble”   David was in trouble. Saul, the mentally unstable ruler of the kingdom was after him. In fact, Saul was obsessed with hunting David down and killing him. David was desperate and was running for his life. Things looked bad. He wasn’t sure he could go on. So, he cried out to God for deliverance.   Ever been there? Have you had a time in life when everything that could go wrong was going wrong and you weren’t sure there was a way out for you? Marriage problems, unemployment, unpaid bills, wayward children, health problems, and the list goes on. Sometimes life can seem pretty dark and bleak.   When that happens, you need to do what David did. Call out to God. Look to Him for deliverance. Put your hope in Him. And then trust Him.   Psalm 18 was written by David long after the events actually occurred. By the time these words were penned, David had long since been delivered, life had stabilized, and he was now the king in place of Saul. Looking back, he realized that God had heard his prayer and saved him; and as time passed things just continued to get better and better. David had placed his faith and his hope in God and God came through.   He always does. One way or another, He always does.   Whatever it is that you are faced with today, God is there for you. Call to Him, put your hope in Him for deliverance, and then trust Him.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

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

Good Morning Everyone,   Our theme for this month: “There is power in hope”   Our Bible verse for today: “The one who has the Son has life.” 1 John 5:12 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Jesus is our hope”   In his book “The Journey of Desire” author John Eldridge writes about the tendency of the church in our day to focus too much on simply communicating facts and transferring information. He writes:   “Christianity is often presented as essentially a transfer of a body of knowledge. We learn about where the Philistines were from, and how much a drachma would be worth today, and all sorts of things about the original Greek. The information presented could not seem more irrelevant to our deepest desires.”   And then there is also the excessive emphasis on modifying behavior:   “Then there are systems aimed at getting our behavior in line, one way or another. Regardless of where you go to church, there is nearly always an unspoken list of what you shouldn’t do (tailored to your denomination and culture, but typically rather long) and a list of what you may do (usually much shorter – mostly religious activity that seems totally unrelated to our deepest desire and leaves us only exhausted).”   Eldridge’s point is that although knowledge is helpful and behaviors matter, Jesus didn’t come primarily to teach us things and to give us a new list of do’s and don’ts. He came to give us life. He came to help us experience life as a child of God in a full and deep relationship with God. And, deep in our heart, that is what we truly desire.   One of the major themes of Jesus’ teaching was that He came to help us experience life – really experience it, in all its fullness – both life eternal, and life now. “I have come that they may have life and have it in abundance.” (John 10:10); “I am the resurrection and the life.” John 11:25); “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6).   Remembering our Biblical definition of hope: “A confident expectation of good things to come.”, we realize that as the people of God we have the hope, the confident expectation, of life as it was meant to be, life that is full and rich and complete. That’s life in Christ and it’s what Jesus came to bring. He is the way, the truth, and the life. Our hope, our confident expectation, is in Him.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

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

Good Morning Everyone,   Our theme for this month: “There is power in hope:   Our Bible verse for today: “As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for You, God. I thirst for God, the living God. When can I come and appear before God?” Psalm 42:1-2 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “God always has more for you”   Throughout the Bible, but especially in the Psalms, there’s an intentional tension created between longing for God and finding fulfillment in Him. Psalm 42:1-2 (above) is an excellent example of longing for God, as is Psalm 63:1: “God, You are my God; I eagerly seek You; my body faints for You in a land that is dry, desolate, and without water.”   Many such passages portray the true seeker as one who longs, thirsts, and yearns for a deeper and more meaningful encounter with God. King David was described as “a man after God’s own heart.” And then passages like Psalm 16:11 speak of actually finding and experiencing that fullness and joy: “You reveal the path of life to me; in Your presence is abundant joy; in Your right hand are eternal pleasures.”   So on the one hand, the Bible clues us into the truth that there is something more, something better than the experience of God that we’ve had so far – and it is attainable. But even then, once we have experienced it, we will find ourselves yearning for still more.   One of the best explanations I’ve ever come across for this experience of yearning for more of God, attaining it, but then yearning for even more, comes from author Jim Peterson in his book “Lifestyle Discipleship”:   “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.”   This is the Christian life as it was meant to be – a rich and deeply rewarding experience of God, followed immediately by a longing for even more. We aren’t meant to fully attain it, not yet. That will come in eternity. For now, our hope is for an ever-fuller experience of God. Our pursuit of that hope is rewarded with a deeper experience of Him; but then there is always the promise of more to come, and that promise beckons to us to continue thirsting, seeking, pursuing.   The person whose heart is after God is confident that God always has something more for us.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

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

Good Morning Everyone,   Our theme for this month: “There is power in hope”   Our Bible verse for today: “Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen.” Hebrews 11:1 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Strong faith leads to confident hope.”   Biblical hope is more than just wishful thinking. Instead, it’s a confident knowledge that God’s promises are true and that we can trust Him.   Sadly, we live in a world where many people are hopeless rather than hopeful. Many people base their hopes and desires on things and on people rather than on God’s promises, and so they are constantly disappointed and discouraged. They end up living with what theologian Emil Brunner once called a deep-seated “sorrow of heart”, or what the writer Henry David Thoreau famously described as “a life of quiet desperation.”   But for Christians the experience of hope can and should be very different. Theologians teach us that the Bible includes an entire “theology of hope”, meaning that the Bible provides us with a complete and systematic body of instruction on why we can have confident hope.   In Hebrews 11:1 the writer linked the Biblical concept of hope with the reality of strong faith (the stronger the faith, the more confident the hope). In his commentary on this verse Pastor and author John MacArthur writes: “The faith described here involves the most solid possible conviction, the God-given present assurance of a future reality.”   That’s what strong faith does. It gives us a profound hope – a confident expectation and a present assurance of a future reality. Therefore, you’re certain that the promises of God are true and so your hope and confidence in a glorious future is solid and assured.   Regular participation in the life of a dynamic church family is one of the greatest faith-building activities you can participate in. The faith of others helps to strengthen our own. Your faith is strengthened and your hope is renewed by your participation in a small-group Sunday School class, and in group worship services, and by fellowship with other Christians, and by participation in group ministry projects.   I encourage you to attend church services this Sunday, and make it a point to bring someone with you. Strong faith leads to confident hope – and we can all use more of that.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

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

Good Morning Everyone,   Our theme for this month: “The power of hope”   Our Bible verse for today: “Rest in God alone, my soul, for my hope comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I will not be shaken.” Psalm 62:5-6 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Faith in God gives us hope for the future”   I once heard a story told by a man who grew up on a farm in South Dakota. On cold dark nights during the long months of winter his family would often sit in front of the fire looking at seed catalogues. They did that because the catalogues included brightly colored pictures of all the wonderful fruits and vegetables the seeds would produce. The man said that as the frigid winter raged outside, he and his family would enjoy the warmth of the fire and visualize the beautiful fruits and vegetables that would be theirs in the summer. That image gave them hope for the future and got them through the long dark nights of winter.   It’s a powerful metaphor. We all go through seasons of life that sometimes resemble those cold dark South Dakota winters. In the middle of it all, it’s easy to forget that better days are ahead. Nighttime passes, the darkness lifts, dawn comes, and things look brighter. Someone once said that their favorite passage in the Bible is “and it came to pass …” Those are actually encouraging words because in time, everything does pass.   In Psalm 62:5-6 King David reflected on his hope in God. If you read the rest of the Psalm you realize the context is that David was being threatened and attacked (verse 3); he was being lied about and cursed at (verse 4); there was evidently treason in the kingdom and perhaps his life was in jeopardy (verse 4). But in the middle of that he found his rest in God. He drew his strength and assurance from God and he found that God was his rock, his refuge, and his sure foundation. And as a result, David knew that better days were ahead. Despite tough times, David had hope for the future because he trusted in God.   What was true for David is also true for us. God is our fortress and our strength. He is our rock and our salvation. He is our trusted and glorious hope for the future.   Faith in God gives us hope for the future.     God Bless, Pastor Jim

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

Good Morning Everyone,   Our theme for this month: “The power of hope”   Our Bible verse for today: “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:29-31 (NIV)   Our thought for today: “Don’t be an Eeyore.”   Are you a hopeful person? Do you live with an eager expectation of good things to come? Is your disposition sunny and upbeat? Perhaps the answer for you depends on the context. As a Christian you should be hopeful regarding your eternal inheritance in heaven and it should show. But perhaps you’re less hopeful regarding things going on in this world, such as with the economy, or politics, or your health; and maybe about such things you come across pessimistic and even sour.     So, perhaps I should rephrase the question as, “Are you a hopeful person in general? Does hopefulness and an eager expectation of good things to come describe your general demeanor and your overall approach to life? Generally speaking, are you an optimist or a pessimist?”   To be hopeful means that you have a confident expectation that your desired outcome will happen (or at least you look for silver linings in dark situations); but to be hopeless is to be dismal and bleak. That definition of hopelessness reminds me of the character Eeyore from the Winnie the Pooh series. Winnie is a bear; Eeyore is an old grey donkey. Winnie is usually upbeat and positive, but Eeyore is always pessimistic and gloomy. No matter the subject, Eeyore finds something negative or depressing to say about it. When complimented on his tail he replied, “Well, it’s not much of a tail, but I’m sort of attached to it.” When someone said “Good morning” Eeyore replied, “Well yes, good morning – if it is a good morning, which I doubt.”   We all know people who fit the Eeyore mold. Even Christians. But that shouldn’t be – especially not for a child of God. And especially not now, as our nation and our communities are increasingly troubled. If we’re going to be effective at winning people to faith in Christ and drawing them into Kingdom life, we won’t do it by being a bunch of sour old donkeys muttering and mumbling about how bad things are. Instead, we need to show people how it is that Jesus empowers us to live victoriously, positively, joyfully, and with great hope, even in the midst of a troubled world. When Isaiah said in the passage quoted above that our hope in the Lord would strengthen us and enable us to soar like eagles, he was talking about in this lifetime, now, even with all the trouble that’s brewing around us.   All this month we’ll explore what this hope is that Isaiah was referring to, and how we apply it in a practical way in the world in which we’re living. A Christian shouldn’t be an Eeyore.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

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

Good Morning Everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Resilience”   Our Bible verse for today: “Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up.” Galatians 6:9 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Resolve to be resilient”   As we’ve learned over these last two months, a resilient Christian is one who doesn’t just survive, but thrives. More than just persevering and pushing on, a resilient Christian embraces life with joy and enthusiasm and lives well in both the good times and in bad, when things are easy and when they are tough. But becoming resilient and staying that way doesn’t just happen. It requires intentionality and discipline. You have to want it and you have to work for it.   We’ve covered a lot of ground in these two months in our study of resilience and it could seem a bit overwhelming, but there are really just a few basic principles underlying the concept of being a resilient person. Do your best; don’t give-up; stay focused on the Lord and His agenda; live with enthusiasm and gusto; look for joy, and share the joy; take care of yourself; and … thrive.   One of the ways to become and stay resilient is to do a deeper study of living the resilient life. Over these two months I have referred to and recommended some of the books that I’ve personally found helpful. Any or all of them would be well worth your time to read. Here’s a short list to choose from:   “Resilience” by Eric Greitens; “Toughness Training for Life” by James Loehr; “You Gotta Keep Dancin” and “Holy Sweat” by Tim Hansel; “The Traveler’s Gift” by Andy Andrews; “If You Want to Walk On Water You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat” by John Ortberg; “A Resilient Life” by Gordon MacDonald; “Living with no Excuses” by Noah Galloway; and “Fortitude” by Dan Grenshaw.   We’re living in difficult times right now. We’re all concerned about the things taking place in our nation culturally, politically, economically, and health-wise in terms of the pandemic. Although being engaged in the issues of our day is important – even essential and Biblical – the most important thing we as Christians can do, and the thing that will help the most in the long run, is to be strong in the Lord and to stay focused on His kingdom-building agenda. As Billy Graham once wrote, “The greatest roadblock to Satan’s work is the Christian who, above all else, lives for God, walks with integrity, is filled with the Spirit, and is obedient to God’s truth.”   Now more than ever we need resilient Christians. I encourage you to be one of them.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

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

Good Morning Everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Resilience”   Our Bible verse for today: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy: You are to labor six days and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You must not do any work … For the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything in them in six days; then he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy.” Exodus 20:8-10 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Practice Sabbath.”   The practice of Sabbath is an idea that’s commonly misunderstood in our day. First, we usually think of it as something that Old Testament Jews did. Second, if we do apply it to ourselves in these New Testament times, it’s usually thought of as attending a church service on Sunday. But Sabbath is more than that. Although God did intend for there to be one day out of seven that is set aside for worship, fellowship, and rest, the practice of Sabbath extends beyond that. More than being a day, Sabbath is a way of life. Sabbath is a mindset that helps us to remember that life is more than always being in motion – always doing and accomplishing.   This is important for us and for our study of resiliency because resilient Christians are the ones who are focused and who can be depended upon to take action – and to keep at it until the thing is done. And then, they shift their focus to the next thing. But nobody can go, go, go, all the time. If you do, you will run out of gas and soon you won’t be much good to anyone for anything.   In addition to being proactive and taking charge and accomplishing important things, resilient Christians also take care of themselves. This is where Sabbath comes in. The weekly day of worship, fellowship, and rest is essential. But more than that, the daily practice of Sabbath is perhaps even more essential. We need “God time” and we need “me time” every day. There has to be time carved out of our busy schedules for prayer, Bible study, and quiet reflection, and also time for rest, exercise, and relaxation. We need this if we’re going to be able to go, go, go the rest of the time.   It has been rightly said that the battle is won in the quiet times. In other words, the Sabbath times are the times of preparation. It’s during those Sabbath rests that our body is renewed, our spirit is nurtured, and our batteries get charged. Then we’re ready to go out and be a mighty force for good in our world, instruments of ministry in the hands of the Holy Spirit making a positive difference in a hurting world.   I encourage you to take care of yourself. If you don’t, you will become increasingly less and less effective until eventually, you won’t be much good at all. When daily and weekly Sabbath rests are a regular and non-negotiable part of your life, you will be at your best.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

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

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Resilience”   Our Bible verse for today: “I the Lord do not change.” Malachi 3:6 (NIV)   Our thought for today: “The future belongs to those who refuse to quit.”   One of the most reassuring aspects of the character of God is that He does not change. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The constancy and the consistency of God is a source of stability and comfort for us.   Like God, we too should be constantly and consistently dependable. We’re not unchanging like God is because we aren’t perfect like God is, therefore we do need to be constantly growing, maturing, and improving. But still, we should be like God in our consistency and dependability. As a resilient Christian people should know they can count on you to be where you’re supposed to be, doing what you’re supposed to be doing, and that you won’t quit or give-up just because the going gets a little tough.   Throughout the two months of this study, I’ve noted repeatedly that resilience is more than simple perseverance. But although that’s true, it’s also true that resilience is rooted in perseverance; resilience begins with and grows out of a firm resolve to stick with the thing, to lean into it, and to push through it without giving up. Resilient Christians are the ones who are still there doing what needs to be done long after others have stopped.   The way we do that is to stay focused on the task in front of us and not worry about what others are or aren’t doing, and by not allowing ourselves to be distracted by other issues whose time is not now. There will be time later to deal with other things. For the moment it’s the thing in front of you that merits your full attention. There’s great power in focus. A laser beam is just light that is no longer diffused but is instead intensely focused. The diffused light is scattered and harmless. The focused light will cut through steel. Resilient Christians have the discipline to focus and to see the thing through to completion.   It really is true that the future belongs to those who refuse to quit. Our nation, our churches, and our families need resilient Christians who are focused and dependable, and who won’t give up.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

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

Good Morning Everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Resilience”   Our Bible verse for today: “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” Matthew 10:16 (NIV)   Our thought for today: “Don’t lose your way in life”   This morning I want to return to our discussion from yesterday about Solomon’s story, recorded in Ecclesiastes, and how he lost his way in life. As we learned, Solomon involved himself in many pursuits which of themselves, were not necessarily bad. Some of them were pretty good. But he became so involved in and so obsessed with those pursuits that he was pursing them for their own sake, rather than as part of God’s rule and reign over his life. Solomon lost himself in the secondary agendas of the world and he drifted away from the most important agenda under which all of the other agendas must fall – and that is God’s agenda.   We’re often guilty of doing the same thing. We expend enormous amounts of our time, energy, effort, and resources on things like our career, social issues, politics, hobbies, and in the process, we drift away from God’s agenda.   We often deceive ourselves by claiming that our full and passionate involvement in those things is an extension of our commitment to God – that we’re pursuing those things as part of the practice of our faith and for the sake of the kingdom of God. That would be fine if it were really true. But often it’s only tangentially true at best. In truth our passion for say, our politics, is usually really mostly about politics, and only tangentially for the sake of the kingdom. Likewise of our career, or our favorite social issue, or our hobbies, or whatever else we’ve committed ourselves to.   We also like to claim that if we successfully achieve our objective in this area it will be in the best interest of God’s kingdom agenda. We assert that some situation that isn’t good or right will become better if our politician is elected, or if our legislation becomes law, of if the social issue is resolved our way. And that may be true, but isn’t that the equivalent of treating the symptom rather than the disease? The disease is sin. The cure is Jesus Christ. Our task as citizens of God’s kingdom is to lead people to faith in Christ and to help them grow as His disciples. All of our efforts in these other agendas should be helping to achieve that ultimate purpose.   It’s a rough and tumble world out there. In Matthew 10:16 Jesus told us we need to remain sharp, aware, astute, and focused. Resilient Christians live with passion and purpose, but it’s passion and purpose focused in the right way and on the right thing. Let’s stay focused on the thing that matters most (God’s agenda), and not lose our way in life like Solomon did.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

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