Good Morning Everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Think for yourself”   Our Bible verse for today: “Plans fail when there is no counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.” Proverbs 15:22   Our thought for today: “Don’t live in an echo chamber – part two”   In 2005 Presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin published her bestselling work “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln”. It was about how upon winning the Presidency, Lincoln recruited into his cabinet to be his closest advisors a team of political rivals who had previously vigorously opposed him. Lincoln brought these rivals into his inner circle for numerous reasons, but one was because he wanted intelligent people around him who would challenge his thinking and force him to be clear and sharp about what he believed and why he believed it.   The kind of intellectual courage and confidence displayed by Lincoln by surrounding himself with people from opposing points of view used to be an attribute that was admired, promoted, and taught in American society. College campuses used to be places where young people were forced to grapple with a vast array of competing and conflicting ideas and to sort through them, eventually deciding for themselves what ideas were true and best.   But not anymore. Today in our culture it is much more common for people to retreat into “echo chambers”, or “safe-spaces” where they don’t have to deal with competing ideas. The term “echo chamber” is a metaphor for an environment where only safe and agreeable ideas are allowed in, and all others are shut out. Therefore, the only ideas the person inside the echo chamber is exposed to are those they already agree with.    As was note in yesterday’s devotional, the most extreme example of this is seen on college campuses among young liberals. However, conservatives are equally guilty of creating echo chambers, and this is not a good thing. Proverbs 15:22 is just one of several Proverbs where wise King Solomon exhorted his readers to be open to considering various points of view before deciding what to believe and what actions to take.    This is important advice. Christians in our day need to be strong and clear in our thinking so we can effectively engage with people regarding the important issues of our day. I believe that all of us, on both sides of the political spectrum, need to come out of our echo chambers. We need to have the courage to honestly listen to and explore the ideas being promoted by those different from us.   Abraham Lincoln wasn’t afraid of giving serious thought to opposing ideas, and we shouldn’t be either. We need to be willing to listen to what others are saying, compare that to what we believe, and then decide what the best position is. If we do that, our own thinking will be sharper and our intellect will be stronger. And also, we just might come to a better understanding of the people who see things differently than we do.    God Bless, Pastor Jim

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

Good Morning Everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Think for yourself”   Our Bible verse for today: “For lack of guidance a nation falls, but many advisors make victory sure.” Proverbs 11:14   Our thought for today: “Don’t live in an echo chamber.”   This morning we will continue our discussion from yesterday about the fact that the sky is not falling and therefore it’s important that we don’t sound as if it is. When we Christians allow ourselves to get swept up in and carried away with extreme or fatalistic thinking, it diminishes the power of the redemptive message our Lord has given us to preach. In the eyes of the unbelieving world we begin to appear silly and simple-minded, and that damages our credibility.   One of the ways we can sometimes slide into a “sky is falling” perspective, is when we allow ourselves to live in an echo chamber environment. The term “echo chamber” is a metaphor for an environment where only safe and agreeable ideas are allowed in, and all others are shut out. Therefore, the only ideas the person inside the echo chamber is exposed to are those that they already agree with.    The most extreme example of this is seen on college campuses where uncomfortable ideas and opposing ideologies are deemed as being “emotional violence”, and students are afforded safe-space echo chamber environments which they can retreat to in order to avoid anything that doesn’t conform to their way of thinking. Creating echo chamber safe-spaces for those students is extremely damaging. It reinforces the belief that they should never have to be exposed to or required to contend with opposing ideas. It also cripples their ability to engage in critical thinking.   However, conservatives are equally guilty of creating echo chambers. How many of us get our news exclusively from conservative sources? How often do we engage in serious discussions about important issues with those who think differently than us, rather than just with our friends who already agree with us? The truth is that like those students on college campuses, we too sometimes shut-out opposing points of view. Also, when we do consider opposing viewpoints, rather than going directly to the liberal sources to determine what their ideas really are, our information about those issues often comes to us filtered through the conservative reporters and commentators we rely on for our news.   This is life in an echo chamber and it amounts to allowing others to think for us. But in Proverbs 11:14 Solomon was writing about the importance of considering various points of view before we come to the conclusion that we fully understand an issue and therefore know everything we need to know about it.   The further our nation drifts from Biblical principles, the more important it is for Christians to be strong and clear in our thinking and able to articulate our message in a reasoned and convincing manner. Life lived in an echo chamber is not only limiting, it is damaging in that it hinders our ability to effectively engage with those who think differently than us. This is so important that we will continue our discussion of it tomorrow by considering a courageous and inspiring example from President Abraham Lincoln. He refused to allow an echo chamber environment to exist in his White House.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

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

Good Morning Everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Think for yourself”   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: “The sky is not falling.”   Chuck Colson served as Special Counsel to the President during the administration of Richard Nixon. He was known as Nixon’s hatchet man because he was relentless in attacking and undermining the President’s political enemies. If you crossed the President, or Colson himself, he would cut you off at the knees and toss your body into the parking lot. He was ruthless.   Chuck ended up going to prison for his part in the Watergate scandal and while there, he became a Christian. He then spent the rest of his life serving prisoners and their families, writing good Christian books, and being a high-profile spokesman for many Christian causes. One of the last books he wrote before he died was “The Sky is Not Falling: Living Fearlessly in These Turbulent Times”. It was written in response to the embarrassing way in which many conservative Christians conducted themselves after the election of Barak Obama in 2008. To listen to them you would have thought that Barak Obama was the anti-Christ, that the apocalypse was upon us, and surely Jesus was coming back at any moment. In short, they were running around like a bunch of “Chicken Little’s” crying that the sky was falling.  But it wasn’t.   And it isn’t in our day either. As difficult as our times seem – with a pandemic, with racial tensions at a high level, with riots in the streets of major cities, with an economy in the toilet, with a nasty Presidential election in the offing, with the liberals going so far left that they’re halfway to Hawaii and still going, and with the prospect of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in some important position in a Joe Biden administration – yes, as bad as all that seems, the sky is not falling. Jesus is still on the throne, you are still saved, and the kingdom of God will continue to spread all across the globe. As Colson wrote back then and as is still true today:   “Only one compelling claim to transcendent truth remains, one secure hope: Christianity. The church has stood unshaken through the ebb and flow of two millennia. It has survived both the barbarian invasions of the Middle Ages and the intellectual assaults of the modern era. Its solid walls rise up above the ruins littered across the intellectual landscape. This moment, when the culture at large is facing the bankruptcy of its systems, is the worst possible time for Christians to despair. On the contrary, it is time for us to blow trumpets and fly the flag high.”   Amen! What was true in 2008 is still true today. This is a time for us to claim the cultural high ground, be salt and light, serve in the name of Christ, and preach the Gospel without fear and without apology.   I encourage you to resist getting caught up in the fear and hysteria being spread by so many in the Christian community (especially on social media). Think for yourself. Better still, let Jesus think for you. He proclaimed that the gates of hell itself could not and would not hinder His kingdom-building work. That is our sure confidence. Jesus wins, and therefore so do we.   The sky is not falling. So please, let’s stop acting as if it is.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

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

Good Morning Everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Think for yourself”   Our Bible verse for today: “May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us, so that the world may believe you sent me; I am in them and you are in me, so that they may be made completely one, that the world may know you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me.” John 17:21; 23 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Come out of the world for a while.”   John chapter seventeen has been called “The great priestly prayer of Jesus”. The entire chapter records a lengthy prayer spoken by Jesus to the Father. In it He prays for Himself, and for those who were His disciples in that day, and for all those who would ever be His followers. That’s the section in which John 17:21; 23 appears – it’s part of Jesus’ prayer for all future believers.   Jesus was praying there that His followers would enjoy a sense of unity and peace among themselves that would be similar to the relationship enjoyed by the three persons of the Trinity. That then, would be a great testimony to the world and it would bring glory to God. This is an important understanding for us as we prepare to gather with our church families this Sunday.   As a Pastor I spend a lot of time with people behind the scenes of their personal lives, helping them to sort through all sorts of difficult and painful life situations. Doing so helps me to appreciate the truth that everybody has stuff going on in their lives that they wish wasn’t there. Everybody. Including you and including me. We’re all dealing with stuff. That’s just life. And that means that life is challenging and stressful for all of us, even during the best of times.   But then, if you add on top of the normal stuff all of the craziness that’s part of our world these days, including the COVID 19 pandemic and all of its associated side issues; along with the racial tensions and the protests and riots; along with the angry and divisive political situation we have right now in this country; and all of it together will absolutely wear a good person out! The constant stress and strain of all of it combined leaves everyone a bit edgy and jaded. And that of course, can result in unpleasant and unhelpful additional tensions and problems.   Back to John 17:21;23: Jesus’ prayer is that His people will come together in unity and enjoy the sweet, sweet fellowship that He enjoys with the Father and the Holy Spirit within the structure of the Trinity. That’s an image of what our times together as a church family should look like.   Sabbath is a day for worship, fellowship, rest, and renewal. It’s a time intended by God for His people to be rejuvenated in body and soul. It’s a time to take a break from all the thinking that the rest of life requires from us the other six days of the week. I encourage you to come out of the world for a while and enter into the sweet fellowship of the Body of Christ as your church family comes together. It’s what Jesus prayed for. I hope to see you on Sunday.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

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

Good Morning Everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Think for yourself”   Our Bible verse for today: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” Isaiah 5:20 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Beware of ‘The Brave New World’, but don’t fear it.”   In 1932 British author Aldous Huxley published his dark and disturbing novel “A Brave New World.” The story is set in a futuristic One World society where individuals are genetically engineered in the womb to fit into certain classes, and where overlord government officials use sleep-learning and a variety of other psychological tools to manipulate and control the population. The result is that the authorities are easily able to control the people, getting them to believe and do whatever is required of them. There’s much more to the story, including some brave heroes who discover the truth and rebel against it, but now you have the context and the setting of the story.   Our world today has become something of a “Brave New World”, and in the same bad way. In our case the efforts to control and manipulate people haven’t reached the draconian depths depicted by Huxley in his story, but they are heavy-handed and they are bad. We’re in the situation the prophet Isaiah wrote about in Isaiah 5:20 whereby powerful persuasive cultural forces have convinced masses of people to abandon long-held and time-honored traditional Biblical principles of morality and righteousness, and substitute for it a severely distorted understanding of right and wrong, of good and evil. Ours has become an up-side-down world where what used to be called good is now considered evil, and what used to be evil is now considered good. And, worse, if you don’t agree with that new perspective it means that you are evil too.   Sadly, masses of people, including many Christians, are giving in to the powerful cultural forces and are being swept up in the new way of thinking. They’re abandoning the time-honored long-held beliefs given to us by God in the Bible, and accepting the theology and morality of our Brave New World. Why? Sometimes it’s because their moorings in correct theology weren’t strong to begin with and therefore, they are easily fooled into believing a lie. In other cases, they have found that life is easier if you just go along so you can get along. In either case, they drank the cool-aid and they have joined the larger culture in the new up-side-down way of thinking.   The way we as Christians avoid that happening to us is to think for ourselves. First, we must be solid in our faith. We must know what we believe and why we believe it. We must be securely moored to the foundational principles of our faith. Then we have to have the courage to resist the lies and to stand strong for what we know to be true.   Life in our Brave New World is not going to be easy, but the good news is that Jesus promised us He would never leave us nor abandon us (Hebrews 13:5), and that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13).   Beware of the Brave New World, but don’t fear it.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

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

Good Morning Everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Think for yourself”   Our Bible verse for today: “My dear brothers and sisters, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger, for human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness.” James 1:19-20   Our thought for today: “Don’t take the bait.”   More than twenty years ago author John Bevere wrote a great book that has become a classic of Christian literature and which is still widely studied by Christians today. The title was “The Bait of Satan: Living Free from the Deadly Trap of Offense”. The premise of the book is that Satan wants people to be offended and angry because, as James said, anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness. So he studies us; he determines the things that are most likely to jerk our chains and cause us to be offended; and then he points them out to us and encourages us to be outraged. The potential offense becomes “bait” and Satan dangles it in front of us tempting us to snatch it and get hooked into being offended.   That was twenty years ago. Personally, I’m thinking too few of us read the book. America today is the land of outrage and offense. Our society thrives on outrage. It exists on all sides of the social and political spectrums and it weakens us as individuals and as a society. Congressman Dan Crenshaw writes, “If you’re losing your cool, you are losing. If you are triggered, it is because you allowed someone else to dictate your emotional state. If you are outraged, it is because you lack discipline and self-control. These are personal defeats, not the fault of anyone else. And each defeat shapes who you are as a person, and in the collective sense, who we are as a people.”   To be sure, there are things that should bother us and cause us to speak up. But the kinds of outrage and offense that John and Dan write about in their books is anger and offense that is driven by emotion rather than by reason.   Today offense and outrage are not only common, they are trendy. It’s hip to be outraged. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez even publicly declared “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention!” The message is “Be part of the cool-kids club. Join us in our outrage!” It’s that mob mentality we were thinking about in an earlier devotional in this series.   But according to the Bible, being easily offended, and being driven to the kind of outrage that we’re talking about here, is not cool, instead it’s actually a sign of intellectual and spiritual weakness.   I encourage you to resist the bait. Don’t allow Satan to entice you into participating in the outrage culture. Most things that people allow to trigger them are relatively unimportant in the grand scheme of things and therefore should be like water off a duck’s back to us. It should just roll right off. I encourage you to resist the bait of Satan. Don’t allow yourself to be triggered. Don’t be part of the outrage culture.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

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

Good Morning Everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Think for yourself”   Our Bible verse for today: “A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is his glory to overlook an offense.” Proverbs 19:11 (NIV)   Our thought for today: “Don’t give-in to the outrage culture.”   In our exploration of the theme “Think for yourself”, we started by considering why it’s important for us to not be satisfied with shallow or simplistic thinking. Now we’re spending a few days thinking about how it is that various forms of peer pressure, including criticism and public shaming, is often brought to bear upon us in order to shape our thinking, or to get us to do and say the politically correct things. Soon we will move to the third category of ways in which we sometimes allow our thinking to be controlled by others, and that is what I call being part of a cult of personality. My plan has been to take us progressively and logically through these three categories, and I actually mapped out most of the month before we even started. This morning’s devotional is simply where that progression has brought us to today.     One of the books about this subject that I’ve recently read and which I will refer to occasionally throughout this month is Congressman Dan Crenshaw’s book, “Fortitude: American Resilience in the Era of Outrage”. The reason the Congressman wrote the book is because he is so concerned about the way in which the American people are allowing themselves to be controlled by what he calls “The Outrage Culture”:   “(This book) is about outrage culture, and the newfound tendency to reflexively assume the worst of intentions when reacting to news or commentary or political discourse, and default into an emotionally driven hatred of the “other”, whoever that may be. It is the petty, weak-minded, and ultimately unproductive response to neighbors, fellow citizens, and political opponents that has been normalized and even elevated in our culture.”   Dan goes on, “It is about hypersensitivity that has infected our society, where undesirable language is the equivalent of physical violence, where an old tweet or Facebook post can be grounds for ruination and public shame, and where an absence of reason or fact encourages public indictment, moral outrage, and mob rule. Outrage culture is the weaponization of emotion, and the elevation of emotion above reason.”   In Proverbs 19:11 Solomon told us that having patience and overlooking offenses is evidence of godly wisdom and it is a virtue. In other words, we shouldn’t allow people to jerk our chains and trigger our emotions. We should not be participants in the outrage culture. Instead, our spiritual maturity should result in our ability to remain calm and rational even if others around us are being provoking in their manner and speech. In Proverbs 15:18 Solomon wrote, “A hot-tempered person stirs up conflict, but one slow to anger calms strife.” That should be us!   Surviving and thriving in the age of outrage and offense is an important strength for Christians to develop. Therefore, we will 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: “Think for yourself”   Our Bible verse for today: “So any person who knows what is right to do but does not do it, to him it is sin.” James 4:17 (Amplified Bible)   Our thought for today: “Have the courage to do the right thing.”   This morning I want to continue our discussion from yesterday regarding how criticism is sometimes used as a tool to control people’s actions. The prospect of being criticized can serve as a powerful inhibitor to doing what we know to be right. This is especially true in our society today. Paraphrasing what Congressman Dan Crenshaw explains in his book “Fortitude: American Resilience in the Era of Outrage”, ours is a culture that is defined by a sense of outrage and offense, and public shaming is a tool that is increasingly used to embarrass, silence, and control anyone who dares to disagree with the politically correct mindset. The criticism is often relentless and fierce. And, sadly, often effective.   Using the threat of public criticism and shaming as a tool to control others is not new, but it is getting worse. More than 100 years ago President Teddy Roosevelt offered some insight and encouragement for those who are willing to do what they know to be right, regardless of the criticism they will face for doing so. He said:   “It is not the critic that counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great devotion; who spends himself in a worthy cause, who, at best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails while daring greatly, knows that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls, who know neither victory nor defeat.”   Please don’t misread or misunderstand what Roosevelt was saying there. He was not saying that those who offer criticism are cold and timid souls. Teddy Roosevelt himself had strong opinions on many subjects, and he was vocal about them. If he thought someone was wrong, he didn’t hesitate to say so. So, Teddy himself was often a critic. The cold and timid souls he was referring to were those who were so fearful of possibly being criticized that they attempted nothing. Or, if they did attempt to do the thing, once they encountered opposition or criticism they gave-up or changed course so that the criticism would stop. That’s what Roosevelt was arguing against.   In James 4:17 James was essentially urging us to take the time to evaluate situations, determine the right course of action, and then have the courage and boldness to do the thing you know to be right. Don’t make excuses for not doing it and don’t give-up once you’ve started doing it.   Let me also note that this devotional is not specifically about any one particular issue. Instead, it’s a general principle that I believe should be a basic way in which we practice our faith and live our lives. Pray, search the Scriptures, seek counsel, think deeply, make smart Biblically-informed decisions, and then have the courage to do the right thing, even if you might be criticized for it. Think for yourself and do the right thing.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

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

Good Morning Everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Think for yourself”   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: “Don’t fear the criticism”   One example of people not thinking for themselves is when they form their opinions and make their decisions based upon what is popular rather than on what is right. The appropriate response to the recent (and ongoing) COVID 19 pandemic is a case-in-point. On the frontend of this thing nobody knew for sure what we were dealing with or how dangerous and deadly it would be. Initial indicators were ominous – it seemed like the illness and death that could result from it would potentially be catastrophic. (Even with the extraordinary measures that were taken to control it we have still had 110,000 of our friends and loved ones die from this disease in just over five months – and it isn’t over yet. Without the shut-downs and social distancing measures that number would have been much higher).   But still, there were heated debates and even angry arguments about how much was enough, and how much was too much, in terms of social and economic interventions to control the spread of the disease. A common refrain from the naysayers was some version of “Don’t give-in to fear”. The implication was that the entire thing was overblown and those who instituted or complied with the suggested health protocols, social distancing, and other measures, were doing so out of fear.   Personally, I think those people are confused about the difference between fear and courage. Being dismissive of a risky or potentially dangerous situation is not courageous. That’s reckless and it’s also inconsiderate of others. Courage is when you acknowledge the situation for what it is, engage it, and then do the hard work to get yourself and others safely through it – even if doing so isn’t popular.   I thank God for all the elected leaders, healthcare professionals, religious leaders, and influencers at all levels of society who had the courage to engage the situation, ignore the sometimes withering criticism, and simply do the things that needed to be done in order to get everyone through this. I’m also grateful for all the people who were willing to err on the side of safety, endure the inconveniences and the economic hardships, and cooperate with the best efforts of our elected officials and healthcare professionals to deal with a confusing and fluid national crisis.     Often however, people are too quickly influenced and moved by criticism. Even in those cases when we truly believe our actions are correct, the prospect of being criticized by those who disagree with us can lead us to change course even though deep down we know we shouldn’t. In such cases we’re allowing our actions to be determined by others, rather than boldly doing what we know to be right.   I encourage you to not do that. Have the courage and the boldness to do what you believe to be right, and don’t be deterred by the critics on the sidelines. Tomorrow we’ll consider a word of encouragement about this from one of our country’s greatest Presidents.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

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

Good Morning Everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Think for yourself”   Our Bible verse for today: “Iron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Let’s challenge each other to think.”   I’m deeply grateful for those preachers, teachers, writers, mentors, and friends who God has put in my life who challenged me and pushed me to think for myself and to think deeply. By no means have I arrived. I’m very much a work in progress and I have a long way to go. But those people have helped me tremendously in my process of learning and growing.   I remember many long conversations with my pastor, Oren Teel, as he patiently trained me to assume increasing levels of responsibility in the church. He explained things, he encouraged me to ask questions, he challenged me to think things through, and he recommended books to read and Bible passages to study.   I’m grateful for seminary professors who pushed me to figure out not just what I believed, but why I believed it (and then to explain it to back to them). I’m grateful for the hundreds and hundreds of good Christian authors whose books I have learned so much from. Those books remain on my bookshelves today, filled with underlines and notes in the margins. And I’m grateful for the Christian brothers and sisters I’ve had the privilege to know over the years. They too have challenged me and pushed me to deeper learning. It really is true that iron sharpens iron and one person sharpens another.   Today I’m blessed to be the pastor of a church filled with deep thinkers who are serious students of God and His ways, as well as of people and of the world in which we live. Without even realizing it, they too encourage me to study hard, to think deeply, and to make sure that whatever I’m preaching, teaching, or writing, it is true and accurate. Because if it isn’t, I know they will catch it. Therefore, as I’m preparing, I’m well aware that I’d better get it right. You can’t just mail-in your sermon with this group!   When it comes to avoiding the trap of simplistic thinking, superficial childish faith, and dumbed-down easy-believe-ism, the best thing you can do is to surround yourself with people who refuse to be that way – because they won’t allow you to be that way either.   Iron sharpens iron and one person sharpens another. Let’s challenge each other to really think.   God Bless, Pastor Jim

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