Good Morning Everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Resilience”   Our Bible verse for today: “For when David had served God’s purposes in his own generation, he fell asleep …” Acts 13:36 (NIV)   Our thought for today: “On a mission from God”   One of my favorite movies from the 1980s was the comedy “The Blues Brothers”. It starred John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd and was about two hapless brothers, Jake and Elwood Blues. After being released from prison, Jake reunites with his little brother Elwood. Soon afterwards they learn that the Catholic orphanage where they were raised was in danger of being shut down because it owed $5000 in back taxes. So, Jake and Elwood decide they’re going to get their old band back together, “The Blues Brothers”, and they were going to raise the money by playing gigs in bars. Their much-repeated reason for doing so was “We’re on a mission from God”.   It was a funny movie but one which actually highlights an important characteristic that is almost always true of resilient Christians – they’re on a mission from God. Resilient Christians have direction and purpose in life. They know who they are, what they’re doing, and why they’re doing it. A resilient Christian has a reason for living and they know they’re needed by others.   Having a worthy cause to be involved in is essential in all seasons of life. In Acts 13:36 we read about King David and how his life was characterized by purpose and direction. He was on a mission from God and he knew it. That sense of purpose and direction filled his days until his dying day, and it kept him going. It wasn’t until that purpose was fully fulfilled that God called him home to heaven.   We all need a reason for living that gets us out of bed in the morning and keeps us moving through life with eagerness and enthusiasm. It could be a call to vocational ministry; or it could be a career that you love and which is fulfilling and rewarding; or your purpose can be raising your children or being active in the lives of your grandchildren. It can be your ministry at church, or your involvement in civic organizations. The nature of the purpose will vary widely from individual to individual but the truth is still the same – we need to be needed. We need challenges in life and worthy causes to be involved in. It’s good for us.   A key to being a resilient Christian is to have a sense of direction and purpose. If you don’t already have your own “mission from God”, I encourage you to get one. Regardless of the season of life you’re in there are always many ways to be active and involved, making a difference for the cause of Christ and for the good of others.   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 able to do all things through him who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Optimism is a force multiplier”   There’s an old leadership principle used in both the military and in the corporate world which states, “Optimism is a force multiplier”. As we approach any situation, we must do our best to plan and prepare, and we should bring all the forces or resources we have to bear on the situation. But it’s also vital to approach the situation optimistically, expecting a good outcome. A healthy dose of optimism multiplies your efforts and increases the impact of every other resource you bring to bear on the situation. Optimism is a force multiplier – in the military, in the business world, and in life.   A university once conducted a study regarding the long-term academic performance of incoming freshmen over the course of their four years in college. They discovered that an optimistic attitude about their studies was a much better indicator of academic performance than was SAT scores. Likewise, the American Heart Association conducted a study of men who had suffered similar kinds of heart attacks. They sought to determine which kinds of men were most likely to have long-term recovery and survival. They measured factors like improved diet and exercise, but they also evaluated attitudes. They discovered that those who were optimistic about their recovery prospects were 300 percent more likely to have good recovery and long-term survival.   Resilient Christians train themselves to be optimistic. First, they resolve to do their best in all situations, thereby ensuring that they have done their part to be successful. Then they also pray hard and seek guidance from the Bible and from other Christians. But once they have done those things, they then trust the Lord and they expect good outcomes. Pastor and author Gordon MacDonald once termed it “vital optimism”. “Vital” as in “urgent”, but also “vital” as in “alive, energetic, and thriving.” Resilient Christians are alive, energetic, and thriving – briming with optimism and the expectation of good things to come.   Remember, how we think about things matters. We tend to attract to ourselves the outcomes we expect. I encourage you to train yourself to be optimistic. Expect good things.   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: “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name. For the Lord is good, and his faithful love endures forever; his faithfulness, through all generations.” Psalm 100:4-5 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Feed your soul”   It’s been a tough week for us here in the USA. We’re still in the middle of a surging pandemic; the economy is still struggling, with millions unemployed; and a very nasty Presidential election cycle came to disastrous conclusion with an angry mob actually storming the halls of Congress. Virtually all Americans are grieved that it came to that. Some feel strongly that the election was stolen from their candidate, others feel just as strongly that it wasn’t. Either way, as a nation we are all hurting and we need to heal.   First, we need spiritual healing – we need to feed and nurture our souls. We need to take some steps to reorient ourselves. The social, economic, and political issues of our day are vitally important and we should be concerned about them. And yet, there’s a higher and more important reality to consider. As Christians we are citizens of whatever country we live in on earth, but we’re citizens of the kingdom of God first. We should be concerned about and involved in the issues of the day in whatever society we live in, but we should be more focused on the Kingdom of God.   And therein lies the good news for us. Despite what’s happening in the USA at the moment, the kingdom of God, which we’re a part of, is doing just fine. In Matthew 16:18 Jesus told us that He would build His church and all the forces of hell would not prevent it. That has proven to be true. The Church has survived and thrived for over two thousand years. It has transcended cultures, borders, languages, generations, and changes in government. Today there are more Christians in the world than at any previous time in history. This is what the Psalmist was referring to in Psalm 100:5 when he wrote, “For the Lord is good, and his faithful love endures forever; his faithfulness, through all generations.” “Through all generations …” That’s why regardless of social, political, economic, or any other issues of the day, God’s people throughout the generations have joyfully gone to their places of worship to praise God, to engage in discipleship, to fellowship with one another, and to grow spiritually.   Resilient Christians stay resilient by nurturing their souls. They come together with brothers and sisters in Christ in their houses of worship and they feed their souls on praise, worship, study, and fellowship. That keeps them strong and it keeps the Church growing despite all turbulence, the ups and downs, and sometimes even chaos, of events in the world.   I encourage you to do that this Sunday. You need it. Your soul needs it. Attend your own church, or join us at Oak Hill Baptist Church in-person, or online on Facebook, or on the church website at http://www.oakhillbaptist.net. The worship service begins at 10:00. In the sermon I will talk more about what happened this past week and how we as the Church can most effectively help our nation to heal. I hope you’ll join us.   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: “Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, what is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable – if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy – dwell on these things.” Philippians 4:8 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Feed your mind.”   In his great little book, “If You Want to Walk on Water You’ve Got to Get Out of The Boat” Pastor John Ortberg made the statement, “People are often astoundingly cavalier about the way they treat their minds.” He was writing about the truth that how we act is determined by how we think, and how we think is determined by what we feed our minds. But people are often very careless about taking care of the mind. We allow a lot of junk into it.   This is important because how you think creates your attitudes, shapes your emotions, and determines your behavior. Everything about you flows from your mind, and the condition of your mind is determined by what you put into it. Bad influences produce bad thoughts which produce bad behaviors. Positive influences produce positive thoughts which produce positive behaviors.   This brings us back to what we were discussing the other day regarding memorizing key verses of scripture that teach some aspect of resilience. Bring those scriptures to mind frequently so you can dwell on them, visualize them, and embed them deeply into your subconscious mind. Feed your mind on Biblical truth about resilience. Resilient people are intentional about training and conditioning their minds to think in a way that will result in behaviors and outcomes that produce the kind of life they want to have. It all starts with how you think, and how you think is determined by what you put into your mind.   I encourage you to be careful and intentional about what you feed your mind. Choose influences that will help you to develop the perspectives and attitudes that will produce positive results. We’ll think more about this tomorrow.   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: “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: “Live with purpose and direction.”   In his book “Resilience: Hard-won wisdom for living a better life” former Navy SEAL Eric Greitens writes, “Resilience is distinct from mere survival, and more than mere endurance. Resilience is often endurance with direction. Where are you headed? Why are you going there?” What he means is that resilient people live life with purpose. They live life large. They see it big and they approach it with eagerness, purpose, and direction.   Joshua knew what his life was about. He knew where he was going and why he was going there. In Joshua 1:9 he was preparing to lead the nation of Israel into the Promised Land. It was a big deal and there were lots of uncertainties associated with it. But God assured him that he could go forward into the future with courage and boldness because wherever he went, God would already be there waiting for him. God would go before him and prepare the way. He would be waiting for Joshua when he got there, and God would walk through the challenges with him, protecting him and providing for him. So, Joshua had no fear. He moved forward, did his part, and trusted God for the rest. He lived life large, with eagerness and gusto.   In your life you probably won’t have to lead an entire nation of wayward Jews to conquer a new land. I suspect your challenges will be something less than that. But the assurance of Joshua 1:9 applies to your life just as much as it did to Joshua’s. Whether your challenges are found on the job, or in the home, or in a ministry activity, God has gone before you into the future. He will be waiting for you when you arrive and He will walk with you through whatever it is you have to face and deal with when you get there. And like Joshua, your goal is not just to get through it, not just to endure and survive, but to thrive.   Resilient people approach life with clear purpose and direction. They know what they’re doing, why they’re doing it, where they’re going, and why they are going there. Whether we’re talking about big things or small, resilient people thrive in life because they approach it with enthusiasm, purpose, and direction. They live life large.   Success in life is also often largely a matter of attitude and perspective. We’ll think about that tomorrow.   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: “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” Isaiah 26:3 (NKJV)   Our thought for today: “Visualize it”   In his book, “Toughness Training for Life” Dr. James Loehr writes about a strategy commonly utilized by world class athletes to help them train for peak performance. It’s the training technique called “visualization”. It involves forming a picture in your mind of what it would look and feel like for you to be performing at your very best. Then you rehearse that scene over and over again, deeply embedding it into your subconscious mind. Then you train for that. You train yourself to perform at the level you have visualized in your mind.   Visualization works just as well for average people like you and me. It works especially well when it comes to developing the Biblical virtue of resilience. Here’s how to do it:   Select for yourself several Bible verses that are especially meaningful to you which teach about some aspect of resilience. So far this month I’ve offered your four: Philippians 1:6 “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” Joshua 14:10-11 “Here I am today, eighty-five years old. I am still as strong today as I was the day Moses sent me out. My strength for battle and for daily tasks is now as it was then.” Joshua 24:15 “As for me and my family, we will worship the Lord.” And Isaiah 26:3 “You will keep in perfect peace, him whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”   Additionally, here’s s sneak peek at a few others which will appear in coming devotionals, 2 Timothy 1:7 “For God has not given us a spirit of fear (or timidity), but one of power, love, and sound judgment.” Joshua 1:9 “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.” Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” There will be more than twenty others in the days and weeks to come.   Select several of the verses that are most helpful and inspiring to you; write them down and then memorize them, repeating them to yourself over and over again; visualize yourself living and acting in the way described in those verses. Then, when you’re faced with a difficult situation, pause, remember your memory verses about resilience, and ask yourself, “How would I act in this situation if I was at my best?”  Then act that way.   Visualization is a helpful and effective strategy to achieve behavior modification and to progressively become the best, most resilient person you can be. Visualize yourself acting the way you would if you were at your best, and then act that way.   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: “As for me and my family, we will worship the Lord.” Joshua 24:15 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Resilience is a way of being.”   Yesterday I briefly pointed to Caleb as an example of a resilient man. Today I want to highlight Joshua, who was a contemporary of Caleb’s. Joshua too lived as a slave in Egypt, and he too experienced the escape and the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea. Along with Caleb, Joshua was one of the spies sent to reconnoiter the Promised Land and he and Caleb were the only two who brought a good report and who encouraged the Israelites to trust the Lord and to go forward to occupy the land. Joshua then endured the forty years of wandering in the wilderness, and during that time he served as Moses’ right-hand man.   At the death of Moses, Joshua was selected by God to be the new leader of the nation of Israel. He then spent the rest of his life leading them in the occupation and settling of the Promised Land.  He was a good, strong, confident man who faithfully served God, Moses, and the people through long years of hardship and challenge, and he consistently grew stronger and better as a result of it. Now in chapter twenty-four of the book of Joshua, as he is nearing the end of his life, we find Joshua challenging the nation of Israel to continue following the Lord after he is gone. If you read the rest of the passage you will find that the people were inspired by Joshua’s example and they responded positively to his challenge.   Joshua is an example of a resilient man who didn’t just persevere through hard times – he didn’t just stick with it and keep going, instead, he lived and learned and grew and thrived. He faced his challenges with strong faith in the Lord and with a determination to live well and victoriously no matter what he encountered. For Joshua and Caleb resilience was simply a way of being. It’s what they had become. It was who they were. The virtue of resilience came to define them as men. The people of that day saw that in them and were inspired by it, and we today continue to be inspired by their stories when we read them in the Bible.   Resilience is a virtue we develop when we resolve to face our challenges with faith and determination, and to use them as an opportunity to grow stronger and better. Over time resilience becomes a way of being, it is simply who we are.   Tomorrow we’ll begin thinking about how the virtue of resilience is developed in a life.   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: “Here I am today, eighty-five years old. I am still as strong today as I was the day Moses sent me out. My strength for battle and for daily tasks is now as it was then.” Joshua 14:10-11 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Resilience is the key to a life well-lived.”   At this point in our study of resilience we’re still exploring the meaning of it and why it’s important to be resilient if you want to live a good life. Yesterday I provided some descriptive words and terms to help us define resilience. They included words like flexibility, adaptability, and rebounding. When used to describe a person, “Rodale’s Synonym Finder” also includes terms like buoyant, irrepressible, jaunty, lighthearted, breezy, perky, carefree, and cheerful.   There have been many good books written over the years intended to help Christians learn to live a resilient life. Over the course of this month, I’ll recommend several of them to you. Perhaps my favorite, and the one that I personally found to be most helpful, was written by former Navy SEAL and former Governor of Missouri, Eric Greitens. The title is “Resilience: Hard-won wisdom for living a better life”.   Greitens writes, “Resilience is the key to a well-lived life. If you want to be happy, you need resilience. If you want to be successful, you need resilience. You need resilience because you can’t have happiness, success, or anything else worth having without meeting hardship along the way.”   His point is that every life is filled with hardship, trials, and challenges. We can’t escape those things – they’re common to every life. The difference between people is found in how we handle them. It’s the old truism that “You can’t always choose your circumstances in life but you can always choose your attitude about your circumstances.” Faced with adversity some people buckle and fold; others grit their teeth and endure it – persevering through it; but a resilient person embraces the challenge, learns from it, grows through it, and comes out stronger and better. And, they might even have some fun with it along the way (buoyant, irrepressible, jaunty, lighthearted, breezy, perky, carefree, and cheerful).   Caleb was a resilient person. We read a little of his story in Joshua 14:11 (cited above). He had faced slavery in Egypt; followed by a mad dash across the desert to the Red Sea as they were chased by Pharaoh’s army; followed by forty tough years of wandering in the wilderness. But still, he was upbeat and ready for the next challenge – eighty-five years old and still kicking butt and taking names. He was resilient.   Resilience is the key to a life well-lived. It’s also a way of being. We’ll think more about this tomorrow.   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 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: “Be resilient”   The attribute of resilience is a close cousin to the attribute of perseverance. And yet, it’s more than that. To persevere in something means to persist without giving up. It means that you lean into it and push through the issue or situation and you keep at it until you’ve achieved the objective. It has a lot to do with striving and enduring, and it’s an admirable quality for a person to have. In fact, it’s Biblical.   Resilience, however, is more than merely sticking with something and not giving up. It is that, but it’s also more. Resilient people have the ability to thrive and grow as they persevere. A resilient person does lean into hardship and keeps pressing forward without giving up, but that person also learns and grows and becomes stronger, tougher, and better as a result of the experience. A resilient person has the ability to recover quickly from difficulty and setbacks.   Synonyms for resilience include words like flexibility, pliability, adaptability, and rebounding. Interestingly, when used to describe a person, “Rodale’s Synonym Finder” also includes descriptive terms like buoyant, irrepressible, jaunty, lighthearted, breezy, perky, carefree, and cheerful. (This is sounding a lot like victory in Jesus). Our goal as Christians is not to just get through the tough times of life, but to thrive as we do so.   All this month we’re going to consider the attribute of resilience. We will explore the character traits that combine to make a person resilient; we will consider what resilience looks like in actual day-to-day life; and we will talk about actions we can take and disciplines we can develop in order to become more resilient individuals.   As Paul tells us in Philippians 1:6, God is in the process of developing us into the persons He wants us to be. We aren’t supposed to simply endure the days of our life and the experiences we have, we’re to enjoy them, learn from them, grow from them, and thrive. We’re to be resilient people.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

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

Good Morning Everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Celebrating is good for us”   Our Bible verse for today: “Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.” Isaiah 46:4 (NIV)   Our thought for today: “You made it!”   As I write this it is New Years Eve 2020, the last day of what turned out to be an extremely difficult year. The COVID 19 pandemic and all of its associated issues have caused untold hardship and stress on all of us. In addition to the sickness, death, inconveniences, and the economic hardships caused by the pandemic, there was the social unrest, the nasty political season we just went through, and all of the unique individual personal issues each of us also had in our lives. 2020 was a tough year.   But we made it! Here we are at the last day of the year and we’re ready to move into 2021. That’s something to celebrate. I have full confidence that 2021 is going to be better and brighter than 2020, and I’m looking forward to it. I hope you are too.   Isaiah 46:4 is one of my personal life verses and it’s one that brings me great comfort. It speaks of how God guides us and carries us through the days of our lives, leading us to all of the tomorrows He has for us. And when we get to tomorrow, He will already be there waiting for us, and He will guide, protect, and provide then just as He has in the past. I’ve actually rewritten that verse in order to make it more personal for me. In “The Bible according to Jim” that verse reads: “Even to your old age and gray hairs, Jim, I am He. I am He who will sustain you. I will sustain you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.   There’s another verse I love which is also very appropriate as we approach the New Year, and it goes hand-in-hand with the truth expressed in Isaiah 46:4. It comes from the pen of the Apostle Paul and is found in Philippians 3:13-14, “… one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.”   The reason we can leave the past in the past and stride forward into the future with confidence and boldness (as Philippians 3:13-14 describes), is precisely because Isaiah 46:4 is true. God watches over us, He cares for us, He protects us, and He provides for us. That has been true in the past and it will continue to be true in the future.   2020 is over and you made it! I encourage you to celebrate that fact, and then get ready for a great 2021!   God bless, Pastor Jim

Copyright © 2020 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved.