Oak Hill Baptist Church

Eat this book

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Stay strong”

Our Bible verse for today: “So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, ‘Take and eat it; it will be bitter in your stomach, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth. Then I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it.” Revelation 10:9-10 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Eat this book”

In recent days we’ve considering the importance of staying spiritually strong so we will be ready to meet the trials and tribulations we all inevitably have to deal with in life. In a previous devotional I said that as important and helpful as good health and physical strength is, spiritual strength is actually our greatest asset. Therefore, doing the things necessary to get and stay spiritually strong is an essential factor in living the Christian life well.

I’m currently reading an interesting little book by one of my favorite authors, Pastor Eugene Peterson. The title is, “Eat this book: A conversation in the art of spiritual reading”. The idea is based on three instances in Scripture when a man of God was instructed to “eat” a holy scroll. Those would be Ezekiel in Ezekiel 2:8; Jeremiah in Jeremiah 15:16; and the Apostle John in Revelation 10:9. “Eat this” of course, was metaphor. They were not really chewing on parchment and swallowing the pulp. Instead, they were to take what was written on the divinely inspired holy document, internalize it, and then think and act accordingly. About this Peterson writes:

“Christians feed on Scripture. Holy Scripture nurtures the holy community as food nurtures the human body. Christians don’t simply learn or study or use Scripture; we assimilate it, take it into our lives in such a way that it gets metabolized into acts of love, cups of cold water, missions into all the world, healing and evangelism and justice in Jesus’ name, hands raised in adoration of the Father, feet washed in company with the Son.”

Just as the food our body consumes is internalized, metabolized, converted into energy, and produces physical activity, our study of the Bible should have the same spiritual impact on us. Peterson goes on, “Eating a book takes it all in, assimilating it into the tissues of our lives. Readers become what they read. If Holy Scripture is to be something other than mere gossip about God, it must be internalized.

“Readers become what they read.” I love that statement. If we truly do consume and internalize the Word of God it will determine not just how we think and what we say and how we act, but it will determine who we become.

Yes, by all means, eat this book.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Don’t be your own biggest problem

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Stay strong”

Our Bible verse for today: “I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Don’t be your own biggest problem”

Without question, I am my own biggest problem. I cause more trouble for myself than ten enemies combined ever could. Even Satan and all the demons are not as big a problem for me as I am for myself. They can’t force me to do anything. They can suggest, lie, mislead, and entice but ultimately, I’m the one who makes the decisions and takes the actions. And what dumb stuff I sometimes say and do! Yup, I’m my own biggest problem. And you are yours.

I often provide pastoral counseling for people struggling with a wide variety of life issues. Many times (perhaps the majority) the individual is convinced that the source of their problems lies outside of themselves. Their spouse is cranky and difficult; their kids are disobedient and rebellious; their boss is a jerk, their friends have let them down, the price of gas is too high, and the universe is aligned against them. You’ve heard the story before. You’ve probably told it a time or two.

Usually, people in that frame of mind are convinced that the solution to their problems will be found in a change of behavior by other people; or with a change of jobs; or perhaps a change of geography. The problem with that thinking is revealed in the old adage, “Wherever you go, there you are.” In other words, you take yourself with you wherever you go, and you will be the same person in your new circumstances that you were in your old circumstances. So, if you were the problem in Detroit, you will still be the problem in Denver.

In Philippians 1:6 the Apostle Paul was making reference to the Biblical doctrine of progressive sanctification. It’s the understanding that over the course of our lives, the Holy Spirit works in us to slowly mold us and shape us into the person God wants us to be. It’s a lifelong process that should result in ever-increasing spiritual maturity, along with the associated improvement in our thinking and behaviors. It’s the work of the Holy Spirit.

However, we have a role to play in that process. We have to cooperate with Him by placing ourselves in a position whereby He can have unfettered access to our mind and heart. That’s when He can do the work He wants to do in our lives. You can resist Him or you can cooperate with Him, and which it is will go a long way towards determining how much spiritual maturity you experience, and how fast.

Circumstances and other people may in fact be part of your problem, but the most important and consequential part of every situation is how you choose to deal with it. It’s a matter of how you decide to think and act in that situation and your spiritual maturity, your strength in Christ, will determine that.

Don’t be your own biggest problem. Cooperate with the Spirit by practicing the basic disciplines of the Christian faith (prayer, Bible study, worship, etc.) so that the He can progressively transform you into an increasingly mature and strong person.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Stay spiritually strong

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Stay strong”

Our Bible verse for today: “Haven’t I commanded you: be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Stay spiritually strong”

Recently I had a serious health scare. During my annual physical, lab results came back with blood markers indicating I could have a treatable but incurable form of cancer. Further testing by my primary care physician seemed to confirm it. He said I needed to see an oncologist. Unfortunately, there was a three-week delay between the time I was referred to the oncologist until I actually got to see him. Three weeks is a long time to spend inside your head dealing with what-ifs and unknowns about a potentially life-threatening disease.

My entire adult life I have made it a point to stay healthy and physically fit, and I was glad that I did. At least I would be going into this healthy and strong. But as helpful as that might be, I knew it would be even more important to be spiritually strong. If the test results were accurate, spiritual strength was going to be my greatest asset. I was going to have to lean hard on God. And I did. During those three weeks I prayed more than usual, I recited a lot of Scripture, and I determined to trust the Lord. I was still concerned, but I also had a sense of peace about it. Regardless of how this went, God would be with me through it (Joshua 1:9).

As it turned out, more detailed testing by the oncologist revealed better news than I was expecting. He said that the majority of people who come to him with those markers in their blood do in fact have bone marrow cancer. But he also said that every once-in-a-while he gets a patient (like me), who has the markers but not the cancer. It’s a pre-cancerous condition in the bone marrow. He said that some of those people have ultimately progressed to the cancer itself, but many have not. He feels that the odds are in my favor. So now I simply have to repeat the labs every six months and be monitored for the condition.

I’m grateful to the Lord for the reprieve, but I’m also grateful for the lesson this reinforced for me. Spiritual strength is our greatest asset. That’s true at all times, but it’s especially true when we’re faced with an actual or potential crisis. It has been rightly said that the most debilitating form of weakness is not physical weakness but spiritual weakness, and the greatest form of strength is spiritual strength not physical strength. That is without question true.

I encourage all of us to take good care of ourselves. Stay as physically strong as you can for as long as you can. But much more important than that is to do the things necessary to stay spiritually strong. We need to stay strong so we’re ready to face the trials that life will ultimately bring to all of us.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Don’t worry, trust God

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Stay strong”

Our Bible verse for today: “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.” Matthew 6:33 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Don’t worry, trust God”

Are you familiar with the “Do not worry” portion of the Sermon on the Mount? It’s my wife’s favorite passage. It’s found in Matthew 6:25-34. There Jesus teaches more about the subject we considered in yesterday’s devotional regarding the sovereignty of God. In that devotional we learned that not only does God rule and reign over all creation, and not only does He have power and full control over all things, but God is also good and merciful and compassionate. He loves us more than we know and He is always seeking the best for us.

So, in the “Do not worry” passage, Jesus tells us not to worry about our life, or about what we will eat or drink or wear. He points out that our sovereign, loving, compassionate Father in heaven even looks out for and provides for the birds of the air, and that we are much more important to Him than are birds and other lesser forms of His creation. Jesus assures us that God knows everything about all that is going on in our lives and that He is committed to caring for us and providing for us. Therefore, we don’t need to worry. Instead, as verse 33 tells us, “… seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.” The Old Testament prophet Isaiah said the same thing in a slightly different way. In Isaiah 26:3 he wrote, “He will keep in perfect peace the one whose mind is stayed on Him, because he trusts in you.”

Pastor and author Chuck Swindoll once observed, “God takes care of His own. He knows our needs. He anticipates our crises. He is moved by our weaknesses. He stands ready to come to our rescue. And at just the right moment, He steps in and proves Himself as our faithful heavenly Father.

My word of encouragement for you this morning is, “Don’t worry, trust God.” Keep your mind focused on Him. Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and then just trust Him. You will be stronger for doing so.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Trusting in God’s sovereignty makes us strong

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Stay strong”

Our Bible verse for today: “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Trusting in God’s sovereignty makes us strong.”

The doctrine of the sovereignty of God is broad, sweeping, and all-encompassing. It means that God is supreme – He is the creator, sustainer, and ruler of all creation. But it’s also more than that. God is everywhere (omnipresent); He knows everything (omniscient); and He is all-powerful (omnipotent). That means that there is nothing in all creation that He is not aware of and which He does not have control over. That includes all the situations of your life and mine. There will never be anything going on in your life that God is not aware of, and which He doesn’t have full control over.

Beyond that, God is good and loving. He is also kind, compassionate, merciful, and He is always seeking the best for us. Combine those attributes with His sovereign rule over your life, and we begin to understand what Paul is telling us in Romans 8:28. Whatever is going on in your life at this moment God is there, He is at work in the middle of it, and He will use that situation to bring some good thing out of it. That doesn’t mean that the thing itself is good. It may not be. But it does mean that God is at work behind the scenes and in the middle of it to bring good things out of it.

When we come to the point that we understand the full scope of God’s sovereignty, along with His tremendous love for us and His infinite goodness, we realize that we can trust Him with our situations. Then, if we will release the situation to Him and trust Him with the outcome, we will find peace about it, and that will make us stronger.

Many years ago I was at a large international missions conference as a representative of the mission organization I was on staff at. It was a dark time in my personal life. There were complicated issues that were weighing heavily on me. At one point, as I was on a break from my duties at our booth in the resource/display area, I wandered into the host church and discovered they had set-up a prayer-walk (sort of a thematic maze that led you from station-to-station, each with a focal point of prayer). The entire thing was designed with people like me in mind, people who had a burden they needed to let go of. At one station there was a cross with medium-sized stones at the foot of it. A bin to the side of the cross contained more stones. The instructions at the station were to pray about the burden you were carrying, consider it in light of the sovereignty of God, and then, as an act of faith and trust, take one of the stones out of the bin and lay it at the cross as a symbol of releasing that burden (and the outcome) to God.

I did, and I was amazed at the sudden wave of relief I felt. So much so that I took another of those stones and brought it home with me to serve as a reminder to trust God for the outcome of this particular situation, and for all my situations. (To this day that stone sits on a shelf in my office. I’m looking at it now as I write this.)

Trusting in God’s sovereign goodness will bring peace and relief, and it also makes us strong. I encourage you to trust Him today with whatever difficult thing you are dealing with.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

We’re better together

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Stay strong”

Our Bible verse for today: “How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh cry out for the living God … Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.” Psalm 84:1-2; 10 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “We’re better together”

The other day my personal Bible reading brought me to Psalm 84 and as it always does, the Psalm reminded me of my old friend Dick DeGrow. Dick was a retired pastor who was a member of Bancroft Baptist Church in Spring Valley, CA when I arrived there in the mid-1990s as a brand-new pastor. I was a retired Naval officer with a couple of college degrees, but I had little experience as a pastor. Dick had served many years as a pastor and at that time he was a deacon and Sunday school teacher, and he also served as the church custodian.

Dick was a kind and gentle man, soft-spoken and very wise. I quickly discovered that he would be a great source of counsel and assistance to me, and so we had lunch together every Thursday. Each of us would bring a brown bag lunch and we would go to one of the Sunday school rooms. We would eat and talk for an hour. I learned so much about being a pastor during those lunches!

All these decades later there are two specific encounters with Dick that still stand out in my mind. The first happened on a day I was in my office writing a sermon. There was a soft knock on the door, it opened, and Dick stuck his head in. He was there, as always, to clean the church. With a warm smile he said “How’s my Pastor this morning? Is there anything I can do for you?” I looked at him for a moment and said, “Dick, why are you still cleaning the church at your age? You don’t need to be doing this.” He smiled and paraphrased Psalm 84:10 by saying, “Pastor, I would rather clean toilets in the house of the Lord than to be the CEO of a Fortune 500 company.” Then with another warm smile he said, “Have a good day”, and he went happily about the business of cleaning the church.

The other event occurred during one of our lunches. I commented on the fact that if the doors of the church were opened, if there was any event going on at all, Dick and his wife Jean were always there. They missed nothing. To that Dick replied, “Pastor, gathering with our church family makes us stronger. The more time we spend with other Christians the better it is for us. As Christians we’re better together. We make each other strong.”

Wise words. Great truth. The fact is that we need each other. We need to be together. I encourage you to gather with your church family this Sunday. We need each other and we make each other stronger. We’re better together.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Do something rather than nothing

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Stay strong”

Our Bible verse for today: “When the Philistine started forward to attack him, David ran quickly to the battle line to meet the Philistine.” 1 Samuel 17:48 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Do something rather than nothing.”

In these last few devotional messages, I’ve stayed with the story of David and Goliath because it’s such a great example of being strong in the Lord and experiencing victory as a result. In today’s verse, 1 Samuel 17:48 (above), we find David demonstrating one of the keys to being strong – he did something about his problem. For forty days the rest of the army of Israel had been looking at this same problem (Goliath) but not doing anything about it. Consequently, the problem didn’t get solved. David viewed the exact same problem, gathered some stones for his sling, trusted in the Lord for victory, and then went forward and did something about the problem.

In his great little book “Overcomer”, Dr. David Jeremiah challenges us with the thought, “No matter what the world throws at you – anxiety, fear, confusion, temptation – you have a choice on how to respond. You can concede defeat or live in the victory God promises you.” Wise words. You have a choice to make. Will you shrink from your challenges, procrastinate, rationalize about why it makes sense to do nothing rather than something, or will you take action and do something about it? Even if you don’t have the entire problem figured out from start to finish, almost always there is something that can be done to make the situation better.

Procrastination in the face of problems and challenges is usually a spiritual issue first. We need to come to the point, as David did, that we trust God to provide us with the wisdom and strength needed to deal with it. Get that straight in your head and in your heart and the battle is half-won. Then if you actually take that faith in God and turn it into action on your part, you’re well on your way to victory.

How should we deal with our challenges in life? The story of David and Goliath teaches us to run toward our problems rather than away from them. I encourage you to take action. Doing something is almost always better than doing nothing.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Pray to become a stronger person

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Stay strong”

Our Bible verse for today: “In Your strength I can crush an army; with my God I can scale a wall.” Psalm 18:29 (NLT)

Our thought for today: “Pray to become a stronger person”

This morning I want to take us back to the scene from yesterday’s devotional from 1 Samuel 17:45-46. There we read about how the boy David ran forward to engage the giant Goliath in battle. The entire army of Israel had spent weeks shrinking back from and cowering before Goliath, but David boldly went forward, engaged him in battle, and defeated him. David made it clear from the start that it was in the power and strength of the Lord that his victory was achieved. It was God who gave him the courage and the strength to prevail in the face of overwhelming odds.

Many years later David wrote the words of Psalm 18:29, “In Your strength I can crush an army; with my God I can scale a wall.” What David wrote in Psalm 18:29 was the truth he had experienced in his battle with Goliath, and then in multiple other battles over the unfolding years. David had learned, through personal experience, that as long as he was standing with God the odds against him didn’t matter. And the more David experienced that, the more he learned to rely on God.

What was true in David’s life is true in ours too. We learn to trust in God rather than in ourselves by trusting in God rather than in ourselves. But here’s an important truth about that: In order to experience those victories, we have to engage in the battles. Any member of the army of Israel could have experienced the victory over Goliath that David had if they had done what David did. But they didn’t. They shrank from the challenge and cowered in fear while David trusted in the Lord, boldly went forward, engaged in the battle, and experienced the victory.

Too often we pray for God to take our challenges away rather than asking Him to give us the strength to deal with them. The great pastor and leader from another century, Philipps Brooks, once urged his people, “Do not pray for easy lives. Pay to be stronger people! Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for power equal to your tasks.”

If God were to take all your struggles away you would never learn to trust Him for the victory and you would never get bolder and stronger. So rather than asking Him to take your challenge away, ask Him instead to give you the strength to handle it and then go boldly forward and deal with it.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

If you’re standing with God then the odds don’t matter

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Stay strong”

Our Bible verse for today: “David said to the Philistine: ‘You come against me with a sword, spear, and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord of Armies, the God of the ranks of Israel – you have defied him. Today, the Lord will hand you over to me.” 1 Samuel 17:45-46 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “If you’re standing with God then the odds don’t matter.”

I love the way Dr. David Jeremiah describes the encounter between David and Goliath in his book “Overcomer”. Goliath was a giant in the Philistine army. The Bible tells us that he was nine feet tall, bulging muscles, covered in armor, a seasoned warrior, and carrying the most advanced weapons a solider in that day could possess. David was a puny teenager, short and slight, and he had no weapons of any significance. The passage in 1 Samuel tells us that he was “just a youth, healthy and handsome.”, and when Goliath saw him, he scoffed and despised David.

David went out to meet Goliath in battle and should have been in fear for his life, but instead he was bold, confident, and courageous. You can read what he said about that in 17:45-46 (above). The difference between David and Goliath, as noted by David Jeremiah, was, “… the three terms describing Goliath are all physical: size, sight, and shout. But the three terms describing David are all spiritual: conviction, courage, and confidence.”

Goliath was relying on his own strength, but David was relying on the Lord. Goliath was confident in himself, but David was confident in God. And although by worldly standards Goliath should have easily won this battle, if you know the story then you know it ended with Goliath dead and David the hero. Goliath’s mistake was that he relied on himself. David’s key to victory was that he relied on God.

What was true for David in his battle with Goliath is also true for us in our own battles. As we learned in yesterday’s devotional, if God is for us who can be against us? What can men do to us?

In His sovereign wisdom and according to His plan, it was God’s will for David to defeat Goliath. David did his part – he showed up for the battle despite the odds, he turned the outcome over to God, and then he boldly went forward and engaged in the fight. Likewise, God can slay your giants, part your Red Seas, defeat your enemies, and overcome your obstacles. You just do your part – show up, be bold, engage, and then trust Him for the outcome.

If you’re standing with God, then the odds don’t matter.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Since God is for you, it doesn’t matter who or what is against you

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Stay strong”

Our Bible verse for today: “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.” Isaiah 40:29 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Since God is for you, it doesn’t matter who or what is against you.”

Sometimes, when we speak of God being the source of our strength, I think we do so in an off-handed and casual manner, without really giving much thought to what it is we’re claiming to be true. If we’re not careful, it can become one of our throw-away lines, something of a cliché. That’s unfortunate because the strength of the Lord can and should be a very real and very powerful force in our lives.

Not long ago a friend gave me a copy of the little prayer book “The Valley of Vision”. It’s a collection of prayers from Puritan leaders, most of them written in the mid-to-late 1600s. I read one the other day which speaks in a direct and personal way about the power of God in our lives:

“O Lord God, thou art my protecting arm, fortress, refuge, shield, buckler.
Fight for me, and my foes must flee.
Uphold me, and I cannot fall;
Strengthen me, and I stand unmoved, unmoveable;
Equip me, and I shall receive no wound;
Stand by me, and Satan will depart;
Anoint my lips with a song of salvation, and I shall shout thy victory.”

What great truth! If the Lord fights for me, my foes are defeated. If He upholds me, I cannot fall. If He strengthens me, I am strong and unmoveable. If He protects me, I’m bulletproof. And if He stands with me, Satan and his minions are powerless.

As Christians this is the power and strength that is ours, and it is exactly the point the writer of the letter to the Hebrews was making when he wrote in Hebrews 13:6, “So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can men do to me?’”

There is nothing you will face today that you and God cannot handle together. If He is for you, it won’t matter who or what is against you.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim