Good Morning Everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Celebrating is good for us”   Our Bible verse for today: “The hidden things belong to the Lord our God, but the revealed things belong to us and our children forever, so that we may follow all the words of this law.” Deuteronomy 29:29 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Celebrate your partnership with God in life.”   This past Sunday (December 27th) I preached our New Year’s sermon at Oak Hill Baptist Church. The title was “Give an account, then move forward into the New Year”. The premise was that as we end 2020 and as we begin to move forward into 2021, we should pause to review 2020 and learn what we can from it. But then we need to move forward into 2021 with courage, boldness, eagerness, and anticipation of good things to come. If you would like to watch that sermon you can do so by going to our website at www.oakhillbaptist.net.   In that sermon I quoted numerous passages of scripture but the bulk of the sermon was built upon the lesson Moses taught to the nation of Israel in Deuteronomy 29:29 (quoted above). There Moses told them that as they prepared to move forward into the Promised Land, they needed to keep in mind that there are many things about the future that are “hidden things” which belong to the Lord, but there would also be “revealed things” which would belong to them.   The hidden things are the mysteries and unanswered questions, the unknowable things about the future. Those things belong to God and we can trust them to Him. This brings us back to the issue of the sovereignty of God which we discussed two days ago. When we arrive in the future, God will already be there because He is omnipresent (everywhere, all the time); and He will already know everything about the future because He is omniscient (He knows everything); and He will have complete control over the future because He is omnipotent (He is all-powerful). So, we can trust those hidden, unknowable things to Him.   The revealed things are the things that God makes known to us and which we therefore have some responsibility to do something about. This includes His will and His ways as revealed to us in the Bible, and it includes the circumstances of life that we can see and which we can do something about. God will help us with deal with those revealed things, but because they have been revealed to us, we have a responsibility to get involved and do something to help ourselves and others. Dealing with those things is not all up to God.   As we go through life we do so in partnership with God. It’s not all on us, but it’s also not all on Him either. We do this together. That will continue to be true in 2021.  Take some time this morning to celebrate your partnership in life with God.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

Copyright © 2020 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: “For we are God’s coworkers …” 1 Corinthians 3:9 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Celebrate your involvement.”   Yesterday we celebrated the sovereignty of God. We rejoiced in the knowledge that as we move forward into and then through the New Year, God will already be there waiting for us. He will be there with full knowledge of what awaits us, and He will be there with complete power and total control over all things.   Today we will celebrate the fact that when we get there and we discover what awaits us, we will have a role in dealing with it. It’s true that God is sovereign, but it’s also true that He doesn’t work in this world, or in our lives, in isolation. He doesn’t work in our lives independent of us but with us and through us. He involves us in the things He allows us to be faced with. But He doesn’t have to. He could do it all by Himself and we could just be puppets on a string dancing to His tune. However, that’s not the way it is.   Jeremiah 29:11-13 assures us that God has a plan for each of us that He is in the process of working out in our lives, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord …” But those plans don’t unfold without our involvement and cooperation. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has prepared ahead of time for us to do.” Psalm 90:17 reads, Let the favor of the Lord our God be on us; establish for us the work of our hands – establish the work of our hands.” In 2021 God intends to do stuff – big stuff – great stuff – and He intends to do it not only in us, but through us and with us. However, it requires us to get involved and to cooperate with Him.   I encourage you to give careful thought to how you plan to approach it the New Year. Will you just wander through your days without purpose or vision, and without really participating and cooperating with God in any meaningful way? Or will you approach it with a determination to make the most of the days, weeks, and months God will grant to you? Benjamin Franklin once posed the challenging question, “Do you value your life? Then value your time, because time is the stuff that life is made of.”   Don’t waste your time in 2021 on things that don’t really matter. God wants you to be involved in meaningful things. Your life will be fuller, richer, and much more enjoyable as a result.   We’ll think more about this tomorrow. For today, I encourage you to celebrate the fact that God chooses to involve you in what He’s doing in the world all around you. Celebrate your involvement in life.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

Copyright © 2020 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: “The Lord is the one who will go before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or abandon you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.” Deuteronomy 31:8 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Celebrate the sovereignty of God”   In the book of Deuteronomy, the nation of Israel was facing a challenging but exciting time. They were completing forty-years of wandering in the wilderness. They were on the cusp of crossing over into the Promised Land, which they had longed for and anticipated most of their lives. It was an exciting time, but it was also a moment of anxiety and doubt. Moving forward wasn’t going to be a walk-in-the-park or a tiptoe through the tulips. They knew there were big challenges awaiting them. Their future was promising but they were going to have to work for it; they were going to have to fight for it.   However, in Deuteronomy 31:8 Moses assured them that God would go before them into the Promised Land. When they got there, He would already be there waiting for them. Then, He would be there with them as they faced those challenges, and He would not leave them or abandon them. Therefore, there was no need for them to be afraid or discouraged at the prospect of what was ahead of them as they moved forward into the future.   What Moses was assuring them of is what theologians refer to as “the sovereignty of God”. This means that God is the king and supreme ruler of the universe. He is all-powerful (omnipotent); all-knowing (omniscient); and all-present (omnipresent). He has power over everything; He knows everything; and He is everywhere – all the time, always.   What was true for the Israelites and their relationship with God is also true for us in our relationship with God. He is the same God and He is still sovereign. As we move forward into the New Year there are many unknowns for us, and there will be many challenges. But the good news is that when we get there, God will already be there waiting for us. And, He will have full knowledge of the situations we will face and He will be in complete control over them. So, we can and should take comfort in and celebrate the sovereignty of God.   However, there is more to this equation. God is indeed sovereign, and that is something to celebrate. But, just as there were things the Israelites had to do in order to be in the center of God’s will and to be in-synch with Him as they moved forward into their future, so it is true for us as well. We’ll talk more about this tomorrow. But for now, I encourage you to celebrate and take comfort in the sovereignty of God.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

Copyright © 2020 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: “But 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.” Philippians 3:13-14 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Get ready for the New Year”   I’m sure most of us are more than ready to celebrate the New Year. We’re ready for 2020 to be over and we believe that 2021 will surely be better. Therefore, we should be eager to move forward into it. I think we still have a couple of tough months in front of us with respect to the pandemic but after that, surely things will get better.   This past week I’ve been working on the New Year’s sermon which I will preach at Oak Hill Baptist this Sunday (the 27th). In preparation, I’ve spent some time thinking and praying about Paul’s great declaration in Philippians 3:13-14 about leaving the past behind and pressing forward into the future (what a great New Years theme!).   Another statement I came across which was enlightening and helpful came from a book a friend gave to me recently. The title is “The Valley of Vision.” It’s a collection of Puritan prayers and devotions, most of which were written in the 1600s. They are deep, profound, and powerful. At the end of one of those prayers (a prayer which contained a lot of big requests made by the man doing the praying), he concluded with the declaration, “I ask great things of a great God.”   Yes, what a mighty God we serve! He does truly great things. And so, we shouldn’t hesitate to ask great things of Him. However, … the truth is that God seldom sits on His throne in heaven, waves a magic wand, and instantly and miraculously brings about stupendous changes in our lives. Instead, the way such things almost always happen, is with a combination of God’s power and our personal responsibility. God combines His power with our participation and together we move forward accomplishing wonderful things according to His will. So yes, we do ask great things of a great God, but then we must also roll up your sleeves and put some effort into doing our part to bring such things about.   2021 certainly can be better than 2020 for all of us, but it will take great works of God’s mighty power, along with prayer and vision and effort on our parts.   I invite you to join us at Oak Hill Baptist Church for the New Year’s message this Sunday. Our worship service begins at 10:00. You can join us in-person, or online on the Oak Hill Baptist Church Facebook page, or on our website at www.oakhillbaptist.net. The service will be live-streamed on Facebook beginning at 10:00, and it will also be recorded for later viewing on Facebook and on the website.   Let’s begin to celebrate the New Year by getting our minds and hearts ready for it.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

Copyright © 2020 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: “After seeing them, they reported the message they were told about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.” Luke 2:15-16 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Go, tell it on the mountain”   The message of Christmas is a birth announcement: “Jesus Christ is born!” That’s the good news that the shepherds had to share in Luke’s version of the Christmas story as told in Luke 2:1-20. The angel came to them at night in the field as they were watching over their flocks, announced that the Messiah had been born, and told them how they could go and see for themselves. The shepherds went, saw, and then left there telling others the good news. And we read “… all who heard it were amazed …”   Along with His resurrection, the birth of Jesus is one of the two most important events in the history of the world, and the story needs to be told. One of the most upbeat, joyful, and celebratory hymns that we sing at Christmas is “Go, Tell it On the Mountain”. “Go, tell it on the mountain, Over the hills and everywhere; Go, tell it on the mountain, That Jesus Christ is born!”   I’m sure I’ve sung that song a hundred times, and I’ve probably heard it sung by others hundreds of times more. My favorite version of “Go, Tell it On the Mountain” was recorded by the band MercyMe on their Christmas album a few years ago. It is by far the funkiest version of the song I have ever heard – you can’t help tapping your foot and singing along. Here’s a YouTube link to it if you would like to take a couple of minutes to listen to it yourself. Just copy and paste the link into your browser (I encourage you to do it. You’ll be glad you did): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xTTBI1zxL4   My family and I would like to wish you and yours a happy, joyful, blessed, (and funky) Merry Christmas.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

Copyright © 2020 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: “In the same region, shepherds were staying in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people; Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” Luke 2:8-11 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Celebrate the night of nights”   As I write this it is Christmas Eve 2020. I love Christmas, but I especially love Christmas Eve. I love the Christmas Eve candlelight service at church, followed by a family meal at home, and then a comfortable evening in front of the fireplace anticipating the celebration of the birth of Christ. It’s a celebration, but a warm, soft, quiet, and relaxed celebration.   There are some problems of chronology and sequence associated with the celebration of Christmas Eve which I believe, as intelligent thinking Christians, we do need to acknowledge. First, Jesus almost certainly was not born in the winter but in the spring. Sheep don’t spend long cold winter nights out in open fields, they spend them in shelters of some sort. They’re out in the fields in the spring and summer. Second, as we read in verse 2:11 of Luke’s Christmas story, the angel appeared to the shepherds and said “today” a Savior “was” born for you. In other words, the scene in Luke 2 with the shepherds took place on Christmas night after the birth, not on Christmas Eve before it.   But none of that really matters much to our celebration of Christmas Eve. The intent of our hearts is more important than the season or sequence. Our objective is to quietly reflect on the profound theological importance of what the birth of Christ meant. For thousands of years the world had patiently waited for a Savior. Now, on the eve before His birth, we wait in eager anticipation of the most important and significant event in all of human history. God Himself was about to come into the world as a human baby to live among us, and then to one day die for us.   Christmas Eve has been called “the night of nights” because there is no other night like it. That first Christmas Eve was the moment before the world was about to change forever. The birth of this long-awaited baby would change everything, and the world would never be the same again.   On this Christmas Eve I encourage all of us to spend some quiet time reflecting on the significance of what Christmas means. “For God so loved the world that He sent His one and only Son so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”   That’s something to be thankful for. It’s something to celebrate.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

Copyright © 2020 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: “But the angel said to them, ‘Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” Luke 2:10-11 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Jesus is for everyone.”   Billy Graham told the story about a conversation he once had with the famed movie director Cecil B. DeMille. Billy asked him about the blockbuster film “The King of Kings” which DeMille had made about Jesus, but which was produced during the silent-movie era. It was estimated that the film was eventually seen by over 800 million people around the world.   Their conversation was taking place many years after the movie’s release and Billy commented that he was surprised that DeMille never updated the movie and re-released it with color and sound. But DeMille replied, “I will never be able to do it, because if I gave Jesus a southern accent, the northerners would not think of Him as their Christ. If I gave Him a foreign accent, the Americans and the British would not think of Him as their Christ. As it is, people of all nations, from every race, creed, clan, can accept Him as their Christ.”   I love that story. And I think DeMille had it exactly right. Jesus is for everybody. He’s not a white Jesus or a black Jesus. He isn’t an American Jesus or an African Jesus. He didn’t come only for the Jews, or just for the people in Biblical Palestine of that day. Jesus is for everybody. He came for the whole world. The message of salvation is applicable and relevant in every culture, and that must mean that the Christmas story is applicable and relevant in every culture as well.   It’s interesting that the secular aspects of Christmas vary considerably from culture to culture. In some parts of the world we have Santa Claus, in other places he is Father Christmas. In some places kids sing about Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, but in other places they have no idea who those characters are.  However, the Biblical truths of the incarnation remain the same no matter where the story is told. No matter where you go around the world, the Biblical story of the birth of Jesus is the same. That’s because there is only one Bible and it tells the same story in every language.   The great truth of Christmas is that Jesus came as the Savior of the whole world, He is for everyone – and that’s something to celebrate!   God Bless, Pastor Jim

Copyright © 2020 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: “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live. Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” John 11:25-26 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Jesus is the hope of the world”   Martha was distraught with grief. Her beloved brother Lazarus was dead. When he first became sick, she and her sister Mary sent a desperate message to Jesus to come and heal their brother, but He arrived too late. By the time He got there Lazarus had been dead for four days; but even in her grief Martha declared her faith in Jesus. In response, Jesus made the great declaration we read in John 11:25-26 that He is the resurrection and the life and that anyone who places their faith in Him will live, even if they die.   One of my favorite hymns speaks of the hope we have in Jesus – not only hope for eternity, but hope for today and for tomorrow. The name is “Because He Lives”. The first verse and chorus go like this:   “God sent His Son, they called Him Jesus; he came to love, heal, and forgive; He lived and died to buy my pardon, an empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives. Because He lives, I can face tomorrow; Because He lives, all fear is gone; Because I know He holds the future, and life is worth the living just because He lives. “   At Christmastime we celebrate the birth of the Savior. But Jesus didn’t come just to live – He came to live, and to die, and then to live again. That baby in the manger would grow up to one day die upon a cross for the sins of the world. But then He would defeat death by being resurrected to new life and then, by means of placing our faith in Him for the forgiveness of our sins, we too will live. In John 14:19 Jesus declared, “Because I live, you will live too.”   Jesus is the hope of the world. He enables us to live with hope – for today, and for tomorrow, and for all eternity. That’s the truth about the baby whose birth we celebrate at Christmas!   God Bless, Pastor Jim

Copyright © 2020 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: “The nations will put their hope in his name.” Matthew 12:21 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “What if Jesus had never come?”   One of the most beloved Christmas movies of all time is “It’s a Wonderful Life”, starring Jimmy Stewart. The story is about a middle-aged man named George Bailey who believes his life has been wasted, spent in the little town of Bedford Falls running the family business.   One year at Christmastime a series of unfortunate events transpired and George decided the world would be a better place without him, so he decides to commit suicide. But God sent a friendly and bumbling angel by the name of Clarence to earth to intercept George and then, through a series of dreams or visions, Clarence showed George what the world would have been like if he had never lived. George then saw that his life had made a dramatic and positive difference in the lives of the people he loved, and in the town of Bedford Falls.   That story causes me to think about what the world would have been like if Jesus had never lived. In the movie, George was shown all the good things he had done in life and the tremendous impact for good that his life had on others. If we think back over the history of the world for the last two thousand years, we stand amazed at the tremendous impact the life of Jesus of Nazareth has had on the world, and how much the world has been blessed by Christianity.   Even setting aside for a moment the fact that billions of people will spend eternity in heaven instead of hell thanks to Jesus, we also have to think about all the good works that have been done in His name by His followers, and how richly the world has been blessed by that work. Just think of the hospitals that have been started by Christians; the schools that have been founded and operated; the homeless shelters; the food banks; the disaster relief teams; and so much more. All of that began with and followed after the birth of the child we celebrate at Christmas.   What if Jesus had never come? What a cold, dark, dismal place this world would be – much, much worse than it is. And this morning we’ve only considered the physical ways in which the world has been blessed by Jesus and His followers. As important as that is, more important is the salvation and hope that Jesus brought into the world. We’ll think about that tomorrow. For now, as you prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus, consider what a better place this world is because He lived.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

Copyright © 2020 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: “See, the virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name him Immanuel.” Matthew 1:23 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Our world needs Jesus”   One of the old hymns we often sing at Christmastime is “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”. It speaks of the Old Testament Jews crying out in their captivity for the Messiah to come and rescue them:   “O come, O come, Emmanuel, And ransom captive Israel, That mourns in lonely exile here, Until the Son of God appear. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel, Shall come to thee, O Israel …”   The song then goes on to sing of the deliverance that will be theirs’, and what a glorious time that will be when the long-awaited Messiah comes to rescue them from their suffering.   Our nation today is troubled in many ways, and the people of God are crying out for Jesus to be among us in a new, fresh, and powerful way. Our land needs Jesus. We are a people in distress and we need Immanuel – God with us.   This Sunday at Oak Hill Baptist Church we will celebrate Christmas. In the sermon I will teach about what Christmas means for us not just historically and theologically, but in a real and practical way as the lessons of Christmas are applied to the world we live in and to the issues we are faced with.   If you’re close to Cumberland County, TN, we invite you to join us. The service begins at 10:00. If you aren’t nearby, or if you’re staying home for health reasons, you can join us live online at 10:00. Just click on to the Oak Hill Baptist Church Facebook page. Or, you can view the recorded service on our website later in the day at www.oakhillbaptist.net.   The name “Immanuel” means “God is with us”, and that is true in a very real way. Join us for the service and let’s explore that important truth together.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

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