Good Morning Everyone,   Our theme for this month: “You are loved”   Our Bible verse for today: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” Revelation 3:20 (NIV)   Our thought for today: “Open the door and let Him in.”   I once saw a painting that was based on the truth revealed by Jesus in Revelation 3:20. It was a picture of a young man, obviously in distress, standing on one side of a closed door, and Jesus standing on the other side, ready and waiting to embrace him.   As I looked at the picture, I could just sense the desperation and need in the young man, as well as the eagerness and willingness of Jesus to help him. But there was that closed door between them. Then, as I continued to look at the picture, I realized that there was a door knob only on one side of the door, on the young man’s side. If that door was going to open, it would have to be the young man who opened it. That’s the point Jesus was making in Revelation 3:20. He stands at the door of our heart and knocks, but we have to open the door and let Him in.   We often mistakenly use this verse in an evangelistic way in an attempt to convince a non-Christian that Jesus wants to be invited into their heart and life. And it is okay to use it that way, it certainly does mean that, but Jesus was actually speaking these words to the Christians in the church in Laodicea. They were people who were already Christians but who still were not letting Jesus into most of the situations of their lives. The lesson in this verse is that Jesus wants to be invited into all the situations of your life, and you’re the one who has to open the door to let Him in.   Oswald Chambers once observed that with respect to our relationship with God, most of us are content to live on too low a level with Him. Most of us don’t allow Him into large parts of our lives, and then we wonder why we don’t have a closer relationship with Him.   In Psalm 42:1-2 the Psalmist wrote, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?”   Does that verse express the desire of your heart? Do you long for Jesus in that way? Do you want Him to be involved in every part of your life? Spend some time this morning meditating on that verse and ask the Holy Spirit to create that kind of a longing for Him in your own heart. Then make it a point to invite Him into all the moments of your life. He is at the door of your heart, ready to enter into every moment of your life, but the door has to be opened on your side.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

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

Good Morning Everyone,   Our theme for this month: “You are loved”   Our Bible verse for today: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me.” John: 14:1-3 (NIV)   Our thought for today: “God is eagerly awaiting your arrival in heaven”   Yesterday I told you that Linda and I are eagerly anticipating the arrival of our first grandbaby in April. It’s only September but we’re already making plans to fly to San Antonio so we can be there for the birth. Additionally, we’re looking forward to the gender reveal event, the baby shower, shopping for gifts, and everything else that goes along with preparing for the arrival of a new baby.   That’s essentially the picture Jesus paints for us in John 14:1-3 of what takes place in heaven as God eagerly awaits our arrival there. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, along with the angels and all the saints who have gone before us, they’re all anticipating the day of our arrival. Jesus Himself is preparing a home for us, a special place just for us. A young couple expecting a baby prepares a room to serve as the nursery, they carefully pick out furniture, they decorate, they buy clothes and diapers and toys, and then they wait – in eager anticipation of the day. And what a day that is! What a time of joy and celebration!   That’s the scene in heaven as your Father, and all those with Him, patiently wait for your arrival. And they have waited. Sometimes 70, 80, 90 years until your time on earth is done. From our perspective here on earth we view death as the end of life. From God’s perspective in heaven our physical death here on earth is similar to the passage through the womb for the baby in birth. It’s not an ending but a beginning. It’s at that point that real life begins. Which is why, in Psalm 116:15 we read, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” What we see as a sad departure of a friend or loved one God sees as the long-awaited arrival of a dearly loved child.   Make no mistake, you are loved by God and He is eagerly waiting for the day you are home with Him in heaven.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

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

Good Morning Everyone,   Our theme for this month: “You are loved”   Our Bible verse for today: “Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Matthew 19:14 (NIV)   Our thought for today: “Cuddles and coos.”   My wife and I are eagerly anticipating the arrival of our first grandbaby in April. We don’t know the gender yet but it doesn’t really matter. Every child is a gift from God and we can’t wait for this precious gift to arrive. It’s still September but we’re already making plans to fly to San Antonio so we can be there for the birth.   As I imagine holding that beautiful little infant in my arms, I can already hear myself making silly babytalk sounds – sounds which have no meaning in the literal verbal sense and yet, sounds which communicate volumes. You know what I’m talking about. You’ve seen it. You’ve probably done it. An adult holding a little infant, the two of them making eye contact and gazing at each other, the adult making cooing sounds, the baby smiling and giggling in response.   The parent / infant bond is perhaps the clearest and purest picture we have of simple, uncomplicated, and unlimited love. Is there a relational bond that is stronger for human beings than that of a parent and infant? And think about the communication that’s going on – it’s not even articulate distinguishable speech. It’s just cuddles and coos, but it communicates a love-bond that comes straight from the heart and is about as deep as it could possibly be.   There’s a reason Jesus used children as an illustration of the kind of love relationship God wants to have with us. In Matthew 19:14 Jesus didn’t say the kingdom of God belongs just to children, He said it belongs to those “such as” children. In other words, “like” children. It belongs to those who come to God with the purity, simplicity and faith of a child.   We often think God is looking for us to be spiritual giants who are theologically correct, spiritually astute, verbally articulate, upright, moral, and towering examples of virtue and integrity. But all the while He’s yearning for cuddles and coos. All of those other attributes and virtues are important and should be developed, but in its simplest and best form, our relationship with God should be a love relationship that is tender, gentle, and deep. It’s the faith of a child.   When was the last time you spent time with God like that? Why not try it now? Just sit with Him for awhile and simply enjoy being with Him. You don’t need words. It’s okay to just enjoy being together.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

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

Good Morning Everyone,   Our theme for this month: “You are loved”   Our Bible verse for today: “When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that he would give you – a land with large and beautiful cities that you did not build, houses full of every good thing that you did not fill them with, cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant – and when you eat and are satisfied, be careful not to forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.” Deuteronomy 6:10-12 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Don’t get casual or indifferent”   The Old Testament book of Deuteronomy is all about Moses preparing the nation of Israel to enter the Promised Land. In the passage from chapter six quoted above, He gave them words of caution to guard against becoming casual or indifferent in their relationship with God. He noted that as promised, God was going to bestow gifts upon them that they had not earned and which they did not deserve. He would do it simply because He is a good and loving Father who finds joy in blessing His children. But when that happened, the danger would be for the people to get casual and indifferent. They would settle into their comfortable lifestyles, forget where the blessings came from, and slowly drift away from the Lord.   We see something similar happen in marriages. On their wedding day a man and a woman stand at the altar professing that their love for each other is limitless and that their marriage will be “until death do we part”. Then God blesses them with careers and incomes, with a house and with babies, and with a nice life for which they should be grateful. But over time life gets busy, they settle into routines, they take the marriage for granted, and they slowly drift apart. Then the man has a midlife crisis, complete with a red Corvette and a blond floozy, and the wife has an affair with a coworker. Soon they’re headed to divorce court.   In both cases, with the nation of Israel in their relationship with God, and with the man and woman in marriage, they took their relationship for granted, got casual about it, and it slowly diminished and then died. We have to be intentional about preventing that from happening. Relationships have to be protected and cared for. That’s true for marriages and it’s true for our relationship with God.   God loves you and He longs to bless you. But you have a responsibility to care for your relationship with Him and to nurture it. There are things you need to do in order to keep it vibrant and healthy. That includes daily prayer and reading your Bible, and it also includes regular participation in group worship services. Full participation in the life of a good church is one of the most helpful things we can do to keep our relationship with God healthy and vital.   In encourage you to plan to attend worship services this Sunday. Don’t get in the habit of skipping. It’s an easy thing for your relationship with God to slip into casualness and indifference. Don’t let that happen to you.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

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

Good Morning Everyone,   Our theme for this month: “You are loved”   Our Bible verse for today: “For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him. He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ for himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.” Ephesians 1:4-5 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Adoption is a great act of love.”   I have four adopted children. The two oldest are from my wife’s first marriage. They needed a daddy and they wanted my name, so I adopted them. Then Linda and I adopted two babies together from Korea. So, all four of my children are adopted, and that makes them extra-special.   Having biological children is a natural process that often even occurs unintentionally. But adoption is different. Much different. Adoption is intentional and difficult. You have to really want that child in order to go through the process. There are applications to complete, interviews to go through, and home inspections to submit to. The process involves administrators, social workers, clerks, lawyers, and judges. It is difficult and it takes a long time. And, it is expensive. Sometimes very expensive. If you are going to adopt a child you will have to really want that child in order to submit to everything you will have to go through for it to happen.   Adoption is an act of supreme love. It is proof of a parent’s love. The ultimate example of love like that was shown to us by God when he adopted us into His heavenly family. The process of making that happen was infinitely more difficult and more costly than that of human parents adopting a human baby. For God to adopt us into His family, Jesus had to die on a cross. The price was extraordinary.   But to God it was worth it. You were worth it. He loves you so much, and He wants you in heaven with Him so badly, that there was no price too high, no process too complicated, no effort too extreme, in order complete the adoption and bring you into His family.   God loves you. He loves you more than you realize, more than you can understand. Your adoption into His family is proof of His love for you.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

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

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “You are loved”

Our Bible verse for today: “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.” 1 John 4:9 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Love is an action word.”

Love is a verb. It is an action word. Okay, it’s a noun too. It is descriptive. But in its best form love is a verb. Love also is more than just a feeling. In order to be experienced by the object of your love, love must be expressed. Saying words of love is helpful, but actually doing things driven by deep love is much more meaningful.

God could have simply told us He loves us. Instead He showed us how much He loves us by actually sending us His beloved Son Jesus to give His life for ours in order to rescue us from the penalty of our sins. Words are cheap and easy; action is what matters. God’s love for us is more than just a vague and sentimental feeling hidden away in His heart. Instead, it is real and vital and vibrant, expressing itself in the ultimate sacrifice. Much more than just sentimental jargon, the demonstration of His love was physical and costly.

As we’ve learned in previous devotionals this month, God has chosen to express His love most often through the actions of His people. As has been said, we are the hands and feet of Jesus. He loves the world through us. Therefore, if other people are going to experience the love of God in real and tangible ways, it’s most likely going to come to them through your actions and through mine.

People all around you need to experience the love of God coming to them through you. I encourage you to willingly be the vessel through which His love can flow to someone else today.

And also, if you happen to be on the receiving end of such an act of God’s love, I encourage you to recognize it for what it is – God’s love. Thank the other person, but make sure you see God in that act of love. After all, the entire point of our devotional messages this month is to help us all come to a better awareness of and appreciation for our own experience of God’s love for us. So, when He loves you through the actions of someone else, thank them but see Him.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Copyright © 2020 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved.0People Reached0EngagementsBoost PostLikeCommentShare

Good Morning Everyone,   Our theme for this month: “You are loved”   Our Bible verse for today: “No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.” John 15:13-14 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Jesus teaches us to love others sacrificially.”   Our Bible verse from yesterday was John 13:34-35, “I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” In that passage Jesus was teaching that he wants other people to experience His love as a result of having interacted with you. He was so serious about inspiring us to do that, He repeated it just a little latter in John 15:12, “This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you.”   Then, right on the heals of having said it a second time, He rolls right into His teaching in verses 13-14 about the greatest proof of that love being a willingness to lay down your life for another. In verse 14 He taught that the depth of our relationship with Him will be revealed by how willing we are to do what He just taught in verses 12-13.   The great Bible scholar and devotional writer from a previous generation, Oswald Chambers, offered some helpful insight into the application of Jesus’ teaching when he wrote, “The fruitfulness of friendship is described in verse 13: “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” If I am a friend of Jesus Christ, I lay my life down for Him. That does not mean that I go through the big crisis of death; it means that I lay down my life deliberately … I have a day before me, and I am going to lay it out for Jesus Christ; I have my duty to perform, but I am going to lay it out in devotion to Jesus Christ all through.”   This is about sacrificial love. It is about a willingness on our part to go the extra mile, to do the extra thing, to make the extra effort – even at sacrificial expense to ourselves – to serve Jesus and to serve others. This laying down of your life is a metaphor for loving and serving sacrificially in the name of and on behalf of Jesus.   I love being around Christians who have learned to live like this. Not only do I end up being blessed by them (blessing is simply what they do because of who they are), but also, their example inspires and motivates me to want to be better than I am.   I encourage you to make it a point to find people who know how to live, and love, and serve like that, and spend time with them. Then, go and do likewise.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

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

Good Morning Everyone,   Our theme for this month: “You are loved”   Our Bible verse for today: “I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34-35 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Jesus is the standard that our love is measured by.”   Jane was one of the kindest people I ever knew. She was a widow and for many years after the death of her husband who was a pastor, she ran a small Christian bookstore in our desert town. She was also one of the most active and faithful members of our church. If the doors were open, Jane was there. If there was an activity going on, Jane found a way to be involved and to help.   But the thing Jane was known for most was her great love for others. She genuinely, deeply, cared for others, and it grieved her to see them suffering and struggling. And when she did, if she could do something to help them, she would. She lived modestly on a small fixed income but that didn’t matter. She would give freely and generously in an effort to help and bless others. And if you asked her why she did it she would simply say, “Because that’s what Jesus would do.”   In John 13:34-35 we read of Jesus doing something He often did: He took an Old Testament precept and He raised it to a new, higher New Testament standard. In the Old Testament God’s people were told not to commit murder (Exodus 20:13); in the New Testament Jesus tells us we are to avoid even anger (Matthew 5:21). In the Old Testament we’re told we are not to commit adultery (Exodus 20:14); in the New Testament Jesus says we are not to even think lustful thoughts (Matthew 5:27-28).   In the Old Testament we are taught to love others as we love ourselves (Leviticus 19:18); here in John 13:34-35 we’re taught to love others as Jesus loves us. He raised that Old Testament standard to something higher and better. Now the measure for how much we are to love others isn’t how much we love ourselves, but how much Jesus loves us. That’s different. That’s much higher. He loves us unconditionally. He loves us sacrificially. And that’s how we are to love others.   The way the love of God is most frequently experienced is by the people of God loving other people on His behalf. That’s why Jesus told us to go out and express our love for others with the same love that He has for us. It’s a pretty high standard and it’s one that’s actually impossible for us flawed Christians to meet. But it is the standard we are to strive for. We’ll think more about this tomorrow.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

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

Good Morning Everyone,   Our theme for this month: “You are loved”   Our Bible verse for today: “The Spirit of God is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor; and the day of our God’s vengeance; to comfort all who mourn, to provide for those who mourn in Zion; to give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, festive oil instead of mourning, and splendid clothes instead of despair. And they will be called righteous trees, planted by the Lord to glorify him.” Isaiah 61:1-3 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “God brings beauty out of the ashes of our lives.”   In addition to being a pastor and a writer, many years ago God gave me a jail and prison ministry. I work with young men who have been caught-up in the world of drugs and crime but who are now ready to turn their lives around. Some of them have successfully done so, but sadly others have had only short periods of success and then ended up back on drugs and back in jail or prison.   But I don’t give up on them. Even if they’ve fallen again, if they ask me to visit them, write letters to them, send them daily devotionals, take their phone calls, and visit with them, I will. I do that because nobody is beyond the reach of the Holy Spirit and everyone has the potential of being truly transformed. They might have two or three false starts, they may stumble and fall backwards, they may end up back in jail or prison and have to start all over again on the road to recovery, but the potential for true transformation always exists. If the individual comes to the point of truly and fully surrendering to Jesus and to the work of the Holy Spirit in his life, God will bring beauty out of the ashes of that life. That’s what Isaiah was writing about. He was describing the powerful difference Jesus can make in a life that is fully surrendered to Him. Beauty from the ashes.   In yesterday’s devotional I mentioned that this Sunday we at Oak Hill Baptist Church will celebrate our annual Homecoming Day. It’s the day at the beginning of the church year when we celebrate our church family and all the wonderful things God has done in us and through us in the past year; and we anticipate with eagerness what He is going to do in the year to come.   When the church family is together like that, I always marvel anew at what God can do in and through the lives of those who are truly His and who are fully committed to Him. All of us gathered there are cracked vessels, flawed individuals, people who carry with us the scars from past sins and lives that were lived far outside of God’s will. And yet, there we are, gathered with a wonderful church family, praising God for His great love, and enjoying lives that are far better than the things we were involved in in the past. God truly does bring beauty out of the ashes, and the evidence of that is all around us!   Regardless of where you are in life right now, I encourage you to never give up hope and never stop trusting God for great things. Fully surrender your life to Him and in His great love for you, He will bring beauty out of the ashes.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

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

Good Morning Everyone,   Our theme for this month: “You are loved”   Our Bible verse for today: “But I will sing of your strength and will joyfully proclaim your faithful love in the morning. For you have been a stronghold for me, a refuge in my day of trouble. To you, my strength, I sing praises, because God is my stronghold – my faithful God.” Psalm 59:16-17 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Experience God’s love by praising Him for it.”   The Christian calendar year is structured around a series of feasts, celebrations, and special days, all of which are designed to bring the people of God regularly into the presence of God for special times of praise and thanksgiving. Depending on which tradition you belong to within the Christian community, those days may include (beginning in January): The Baptism of Jesus; Saint Valentine’s Day; Ash Wednesday; Saint Patrick’s Day; Palm Sunday; Good Friday; Easter; Pentecost; All Saints Day; Thanksgiving; Christmas; and New Year’s Eve. There are more, but those are the major ones.   Actually, we Christians adopted that tradition from our Jewish friends. There are no less than seventeen major feasts and celebrations on the Jewish calendar, and for the same reason. They are scheduled times designed to bring God’s people together to celebrate some particular expression of His great love for us. We do it because intentionally celebrating God’s love is one of the best ways to experience God’s love. At such times our minds are focused on Him, our hearts are drawn back to Him, and we are reminded in powerful ways of how much He loves us.   This coming Sunday we at Oak Hill Baptist Church will celebrate our annual Homecoming Day. It’s a Sunday at the beginning of the new church year (which begins in September) when we gather as a church family to celebrate what God has done in and through our church in the past year, and we anticipate with eagerness what He plans to do in the year to come.   This year we especially have a lot to celebrate. After eight months of going through a pandemic, we’ve had no major illnesses and no deaths from Coronavirus in our church family. And after three months of being shutdown and not meeting at all, we’re back together again and our church life is slowly returning to normal.   Yes, it will be a time of celebration and thanksgiving. It will be a time of loving God and loving each other. It will be a time of remembering how very blessed we are, and of how much God obviously loves us and cares for us. If you’re anywhere near Crossville, TN this Sunday morning we invite you to join us. One of the best ways to experience God’s love is to join with others and praising Him for it.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

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