Good Morning Everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Celebrating is good for us Our Bible verse for today: “While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” Luke 2:6-7 (NIV)   Our thought for today: “Celebrate Jesus by making room for Him.”   One of the curious aspects of the birth of Christ is the fact that when the time for His birth arrived, there was no room for Him in the inn. He was therefore born in some outdoor structure such as a stable or perhaps a cave. It was a shelter for animals, and his bed was a manger or feeding trough.   If you’re familiar with the backstory, then you know that the reason Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem was because of a government-ordered census that they were required to participate in. Bethlehem was Joseph’s ancestral hometown. Since it was an event that affected everyone, there were many travelers on the roads and therefore all the inns were full. As D.L. Moody once observed, “For four thousand years the world had been looking for Christ. Prophets had been prophesying, and the mothers of Israel had been praying and hoping that they might be the mother of that child; and now that he has arrived, we find He is laid in a borrowed cradle because there was no room in the inn.”   In Bethlehem there was no room for Him in the inn. Today many people have little or no room for Him in their lives. Not even at Christmastime. It’s true for Christians as well. We allow our lives to get so filled-up with other things that there’s little or no room for Jesus. That’s true on even a normal day in say, July, or September, but it can be especially true when all the hustle and bustle of Christmastime is added into an already over-busy life. Then we end up with little or no time for the very One whose birthday it is we’re supposed to be celebrating.   How much room do you have in your life for Jesus this year at Christmas? The Christian thing to say is something like, “Jesus is at the center of my life all the time. My life revolves around my faith in Christ.”, or words to that effect. We say it, but is it really true? In a real and practical way, is it true? Often it isn’t. Not really.   I encourage you to make Jesus the focal point of your Christmas celebration. Don’t just include Him among all the other faces and names and activities. Make sure that in your life, there is indeed room for Jesus.   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: “Happy are the people whose God is the Lord.” Psalm 144:15 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Celebrate the joy of the Lord.”   The great devotional writer Oswald Chambers once wrote that the majority of God’s people are satisfied on too low a level. I think he was right. C.S. Lewis once expressed the same thought like this: “It would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”   That is certainly true at Christmastime. We often get all caught up in the superficial and secular aspects of the season and allow ourselves to be satisfied with that. It’s as if the right gift card, the perfect tree, colorful lights, and a good meal are all we need to be happy. Yes, we can easily be satisfied at far too low a level.   In Psalm 144:15 Solomon taught that true happiness is enjoyed by those who have a deep and rich relationship with God. We read something similar in Nehemiah 8:10 where we’re told, “… the joy of the Lord is your strength.” The things of the world are a cheap substitute for the joy we find in Jesus.   Probably the most popular of all the Christmas hymns is “Joy to the World! The Lord is Come” by Isaac Watts. It was inspired by the Christmas story as recorded in chapter two of the gospel of Luke when the angels proclaimed joy at the birth of Jesus, but Watts said the lyrics are actually a paraphrase of Psalm 98. He felt that Psalm 98 expresses the joy and praise proclaimed by the angels in Luke 2, and therefore the lyrics of his song simply paraphrase what we read there.   The point for our devotional this morning is that experiencing and then proclaiming the joy of the Lord is really the object of the Christmas celebration. This is the goal for the Christian. Christmas is a celebration of Jesus – nothing more, but also nothing less. Again, quoting Oswald Chambers, “If I am full of the joy of the Lord, it will pour out of every cell of my body.”   I encourage you to truly and fully celebrate the joy of the Lord this Christmas. Don’t settle for anything less than that.   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: “When the angels left them and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “let’s go straight to Bethlehem and see what has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” They hurried off and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby who was lying in the manger. 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 2:15-18 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Celebrate the reason for the season”   Two of the primary complaints we often hear about the Christmas season is first that it is so busy, and second, that it’s so commercialized. Both complaints are valid. Most of us live busy lives all year long. But then at Christmas there’s shopping for gifts, parties to go to, relatives to visit, extra cooking to do, etc. And in a society that’s already assaulted with a never-ending blizzard of advertising (both overt and covert), during the Christmas season Madison Avenue is on steroids. So yes, the season is too busy and it is too commercialized, and therefore it’s easy to lose sight of the true reason for the season.   In Luke chapter two, as part of the Christmas story, Luke tells us about shepherds who were out in a field tending to their flocks when angels appeared to them to announce the birth of Jesus. The shepherds then hurried off to find the child so they could see for themselves and worship Him. Then they went and told others about what they had seen. There are some lessons in this for us.   First, those shepherds had a life, just like you and I do. They had a job to do and they had sheep they were responsible for. They must have also had families they were thinking about, along with all the other cares of life that any normal person in that time would have had. Also, this appearance of the angels happened in the middle of the night, and surely those shepherds needed their sleep. But they put all those other concerns aside and chose to focus on Jesus instead. We should too.   The second lesson in this for us is that they then went off and encouraged others to focus on Jesus too. They did so by telling other people about their own Christmas experience.   There are lots of things each of us can do to refocus on the true reason for the season, such as listening to Christian Christmas music, using special Christmas devotional messages, talking to others about the birth of Christ, and we can also attend the Christmas celebrations at our church. At Oak Hill Baptist we will celebrate Christmas in song and sermon this Sunday, December 20th, at 10:00. We would love to have you join us. We will also celebrate the birth of Jesus with a Christmas Eve candlelight service at 5:00.   The best way to keep yourself from getting distracted and overwhelmed this Christmas season is to be very intentional about celebrating the real reason for the season.   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 today: “Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” Luke 2:13-14 (NIV)   Our thought for today: “Celebrate the Prince of Peace”   I’m so glad the Christmas season is finally here. This is the time of year when people are inclined to put aside their fussing and fighting, their selfishness and bickering, to be a little more cheerful and a little more considerate of others. Boy do we need that this year!   In Luke 2:13-14 Luke records that the angels announcing the birth of Jesus declared that He would bring peace on earth to people on whom His favor rests. That was essentially a reiteration of Isaiah’s prophecy in Isaiah 9:6 that Jesus would be “The Prince of Peace”. He brings peace on earth to those upon whom His favor rests.   I sure do want His favor to rest upon me and I’m sure you do too. We all need to experience more of His peace. Often, for the Christian, the peace of Jesus is experienced in times of prayer, or in quiet meditation, or through the words of a song. It’s internal and personal and often occurs when we’re alone with Him. But the primary way the world gets to experience the peace of Jesus is when it flows through His followers and out to the world.   You’ve probably heard the old saying, “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.” That saying has appeared in song lyrics, poems, stories, articles, and daily devotionals, and it has been attributed to many different authors. It was actually originally part of a children’s song composed by songwriting team Seymour and Jill Miller in 1955. But whatever the source, the theology is sound. If there is going to be peace on earth, or in our country, or state, or town, or home, it needs to begin with each of us individually. If the peace of Jesus is going to be experienced far and wide this Christmas season (as it needs to be), it will be up to you and me to be the conduits through which it flows to a broken, bleeding, and hurting world.   I encourage you to celebrate the Prince of Peace by being an emissary of His peace. Remind the world of what Christmas is really all about by sharing the peace brought to us by the Christ of 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: “Here I am today, eight-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: “Celebrate staying active. It’s good for you.”   I love to hike and walk. It was instilled in me by my mother at a very young age. She was a walker. She walked everywhere. She walked to get places (our family only had one car and my Dad usually had it); but she also walked simply for the pleasure of enjoying the fresh air, seeing people, and getting exercise. We children walked with her and therefore, I’ve always been a walker too. I regularly go for long hikes on mountain trails, but I also go for an after-dinner walk almost every evening.  I think it’s in my DNA.   My Mom reminds me of a lady in our church. She’s in her 70s now but she has obviously taken care of herself and she too loves to walk. Even now during the pandemic when she’s staying mostly at home in order to stay safe, she still walks every day. Her sons made a walking path for her at the back of their property around their pond, and she goes out pretty much every day just walking laps, breathing the fresh air, enjoying the sunshine, and basically staying healthy.   All this month we’re devotionally considering the idea that celebrating is good for us. I’ve called our attention to all the many ways we celebrate big occasions, like Christmas and Easter and birthdays, but I’ve also made the point that we need to be attentive to celebrating the smaller more routine things in life too, like puppy dogs and ice cream and time with friends and family. Even a good walk is a time to smile, give thanks, and enjoy.   I came across a great quote the other day from the poet and writer Robert Lewis Stevenson. He was a hiker/walker/traveler. In fact, he spent most of his adult life in the early 1800s traveling from one location to another and writing about it. He said, “I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” Stevenson simply enjoyed being active because there’s great joy in it.   During this time when so many people are staying home, or severely restricting their activities and travels, I encourage you to avoid being sedate. Be safe but be active. There’s joy to be found in being active. Be grateful that you can move, that you can go.   Whether you’re traveling around the world or around the block, I encourage you to “go”. Celebrate being active. It’s good for you.   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 will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” Matthew 16:18 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Jesus wins. Celebrate the victory”   It appears at the moment that the church in the United States is on the ropes. Even before the COVID 19 pandemic church attendance had been in steady decline for years. Once the pandemic hit, many churches across the land stopped holding service for some period of months. Some still haven’t started meeting again nine months later. For those that are meeting, most only have about 65% of their pre-pandemic attendance.   Those who study church life and trends say that once the pandemic is over, churches will have to go into an intensive and extended time of rebuilding that will probably take 18-24 months just to regain what was lost. They also say that many churches won’t make it and will end up disbanding.     So, we could conclude that things look kind of bleak for the church. But I believe that would be an incorrect conclusion. For almost two thousand years Christianity has repeatedly gone through seasons of trial and struggle. Powerful leaders, governments, even entire societies have been aligned against Christianity. Churches have been destroyed, Bibles have been burned, Christians have been persecuted, imprisoned, and executed. There have been times of wars and famines, times of plagues and natural disasters. But through it all the church of Jesus Christ has survived and thrived and there are more Christians on this planet today than there has ever been at any time in history.   In Matthew 16:18 Jesus declared that He would build His church and the gates of hell – even all the forces of Satan – wouldn’t be able to prevent it from happening. That was two thousand years ago and here we are today, even after having to face all those trials and struggles for two thousand years, and His church is bigger and stronger across the globe than ever.   Yes, the pandemic has been a problem for us. Yes, it has caused some temporary disruptions to our normally scheduled programing. It’s true that our numbers here in the USA are down right now. But Jesus is still on the throne, we are still saved, the message of the Gospel is still being shared around the world, people are still coming to faith in Christ, and the church is still growing worldwide.   Jesus said He would build His church and He has – and He still is – and He will continue to. Despite Satan’s best efforts to prevent it, Jesus is winning, and we are a part of His victory. Now 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: “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. 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; “Celebrate the change”   I have a childhood friend I still keep in touch with. We grew up together and did a lot of crazy stuff. Once, when we were sixteen, we each lied to our parents by saying we were going to spend the weekend with the other one’s family at the beach. Then we hitchhiked down the Jersey Turnpike all the way to Washington D.C. to participate in some big hippie demonstration going on there. When we got there, we discovered that the National Guard had locked down the city and the demonstrators had been forced off the streets. We ended up spending the weekend in the basement of a church with other demonstrators, and then we hitchhiked back to New Jersey.   Unfortunately, shortly after that, my friend became addicted to alcohol and he spent the next twenty years of his life as a barely functional drunk. Finally, he somehow found his way to Alcoholics Anonymous, got sober, and put his life back together. He got married, started a business, joined a church, and became active in the community. He also became a mentor for other alcoholics. Now, every year, on the anniversary of the day he became sober, he celebrates another year of sobriety. That’s been more than twenty-five years now and my friend has stayed sober. He will tell you that he is still a work in progress, and every day he tries to be a little better than he was the day before.   That’s what the Apostle Paul was writing about in Philippians 3:13-14. He had been a notorious sinner – a mean and cruel man who presided over the persecution, arrest, torture, and execution of Christians. Once he came to faith in Jesus Christ he was transformed and began to change, but for the rest of his life he considered himself to be a work in progress. He never “arrived”. He was always in need of continued growth and constant improvement.   The same is true of you and me. Your background might not be as dark as Paul’s, or my friend’s, but like the rest of us, you have your own skeletons hiding in the closets. And like the rest of us, you too should be in a constant state of growth and improvement. If you are, that’s something to celebrate.   There’s an old saying that goes, “I’m not yet who I should be, but thank God I’m not who I used to be!” Can I get an “Amen!”?   If you’re a little better today than you were yesterday, that’s something to celebrate. If you’re a lot better today than you were say, twenty years ago, that might deserve a party, or maybe an annual celebration.   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: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” Psalm 116:15 (NIV)   Our thought for today: “Even death can be a cause for celebration”   All this month we are devotionally considering the truth that celebrating is good for us. It’s even an essential part of life. The Bible itself is filled from beginning to end with examples of God’s people celebrating. In some cases, such as with the Lord’s Supper, God has commanded us to observe, remember, and celebrate, and He has given us specific instructions for how to do it. In many other passages we’re simply told stories about weddings and feasts and public ceremonies that God’s people participated in.   But not only is celebration an important and essential part of life, if viewed correctly we realize it can also be part of the death experience too. A Christian funeral is often referred to as “A celebration of life”. That’s true for several reasons. First, we make it a point to remember and celebrate the life of the deceased person. Their life was a gift to them and to us, and we celebrate the fact that the person was with us for whatever number of years they were here on earth.   Another reason we celebrate is because of the promise of eternity in heaven. Christians understand that when the person’s mortal body ceases to function, that person didn’t really die. Instead, the spirit simply left the physical body and transitioned from this realm into heaven. All the pain and suffering associated with this world ended for that person, and they immediately entered into a new reality that is glorious beyond anything we can imagine. That too is a reason to celebrate.   And then, as Psalm 116:15 explains, the passing from this life to the next is a precious thing for God. He was waiting patiently for His child to complete his or her journey through this world and arrive at their real home in heaven. The moment that happened was precious to God and it was a cause of rejoicing and celebrating in heaven. A dearly loved child was finally home.   So, the death of a Christian is a bitter-sweet experience. While it certainly is a time of grieving and mourning with sadness and with tears, for multiple reasons it’s also a time of celebration.   For those who have lost a loved one this year and are now approaching their first Christmas without that person, I encourage you to remember their life and be thankful for it. Then celebrate the fact that the person is now in heaven.   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: “Do not fear; for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine.” Isaiah 43:1 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Celebrate your purpose in life”   Human beings need a clear purpose in life in order to thrive. It has been said that lack of clear purpose is as harmful and destructive as lack of adequate sleep. We can survive without it, but we can’t thrive without it. The greater sense of clear purpose a person has in his or her life, the richer, fuller, and more satisfying that life will be. I know of Pastors who are still preaching and teaching in their 80s and even 90s. Taking care of God’s people is what they do, it’s what gets them out of bed in the morning and it’s what keeps them going in life.   I once read an account from a humanitarian aid worker in a Bosnian refugee camp about the refugees whose lives had been shattered. They had lost everything they owned – they had no home, no money, no resources, and no prospects for the future. Most of the refugees were depressed and just shuffled through their days with no sense of purpose and with no hope. He said the refugees who seemed to handle it best were the parents and grandparents who had young children to care for. They knew they had to wake up every day and be strong for someone else. It gave them a focus and a sense of purpose.   The issue of purpose and meaning is relatively simple for Christians. Although God may call us to many different endeavors and responsibilities through the course of the different seasons of life, our most basic purpose in life is to know God well, honor Him with how we live, and bless others through acts of service in His name. For many of us we even get to enter a season of life (usually the last season) when the responsibility of jobs, children, and many other things are no longer present, and instead we get to devote ourselves entirely to times of prayer, Bible study, worship, fellowship, and service. Your purpose is clear and you have lots of time for it.   The words of Isaiah 43:1 were spoken to the nation of Israel. God called them by name and redeemed them. They were His and their purpose was to honor Him with their lives. But that’s true of us too. God has called you to Himself – you are His. And although you may have other purposes in your life too, your primary purpose is to know God, honor Him, and spend your life helping to build His kingdom on earth.   I encourage you to spend some time this morning thinking and praying about that clear and primary purpose of your life and the different ways in which you are fulfilling 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: “For through me your days will be many, and years will be added to your life.” Proverbs 9:11 (NIV)   Our thought for today: “Celebrate the life not just the number”   One of the most common forms of celebration is a birthday celebration. In our church we celebrated two of them just this past week. One was for a boy who turned ten. His was celebrated with a party in the church gymnasium which included all the treats kids love, along with a NERF battle complete with NERF guns and swords. The other was for a man who turned fifty. For him family and friends provided a cake which we all shared in the Fellowship Hall after the service.  Both birthdays were both special and both were celebrated.   Birthdays are important forms of celebration for several reasons. First, just the simple fact that the person was given another year of life is special. Many people don’t get the privilege of living a long life. Some who were here for their birthday last year are no longer with us today. A birthday party is a celebration of the gift of a life that continues.   Also, when we celebrate a person’s birthday, we aren’t celebrating a number but a life. We’re expressing joy and gratitude for this person. We’re celebrating the fact that this person was brought into the world to begin with and is still here with us today. Birthdays celebrate the gift of life and the uniqueness of this person’s individual life. Every person is special. Every person is a unique and much-loved creation of God. And every person is a reason to celebrate. (Speaking of unique, I once knew a man whose last name was “Christmas” and he was born on Christmas day).   The next time you get to participate in a birthday celebration I encourage you to really think about the person and the life you are helping to celebrate. We’re celebrating a life, not just a number.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

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