Our theme for this month: “Life on this side of the cross”

Our Bible verse for today: “Truly I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.” John 14:12 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “This is how the work is greater.”

As we now move into the first weekend of social distancing and the resulting canceled activities that come with it, and as our thoughts turn towards the worship services we would normally be attending on Sunday, I want to take us a little deeper theologically into the theme of “Life on this side of the cross”.

In recent devotionals in this series, I’ve been urging all of us to consider how we can use the troubling circumstances being caused by this COVID 19 pandemic as an opportunity to shine for Jesus and to bless others in His name. I’ve made the point that the Holy Spirit will empower us to do that. Let’s go a little deeper with that by considering what it means, how it happens, and what it looks like for the Holy Spirit to engage us in this “greater” work.

In John 14:12 Jesus made what appears to be a strange and even impossible declaration. He said that once He returns to heaven, those who believe in Him would stay behind and accomplish even greater things than He did when He was here on earth. How could that be? How can we possibly do anything that would be greater than what Jesus did?

First, Jesus was referring to the totality of His work. He was saying that once it was all finished and He had died on the cross, risen from the grave, ascended back into heaven, and the Holy Spirit was given in His place, then something even greater would begin to occur.

Second, by “greater” Jesus did not mean greater in terms of power and performing miracles. He meant greater in extent. He meant that after His part in God’s plan was accomplished in its totality, what He had begun in the land of Israel among the Jews would then begin to spread and would eventually encompass the entire world. This is what He was referring to when, in the moments prior to His ascension He told them, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8

What Jesus accomplished during His time here on earth was incredible and miraculous – it was truly “great”. But His immediate impact was still limited to that area and to those people. However, Jesus came for all the people of the world. The Good News of the Gospel needed to spread everywhere and be heard by everyone. That part of the plan was to be carried out by His followers after He was gone. And that of course, includes you and me in our day. The “greater” work is the ever-expanding and growing nature of the kingdom of God as more and more people learn about the love of God, have their sins forgiven, and receive the promise of eternity in heaven.

However, as helpful as that explanation may be, it is still incomplete. There’s more we need to consider in order to fully understand what is happening in the world now as a direct result of your participation in that “greater” work. We will continue our discussion of this tomorrow in a special “Sunday edition” daily devotional.

(Also, make sure you listen to Sunday’s sermon. We will be continuing our study of the Gospel of Matthew and we will be in chapter nine. Just go to www.oakhillbaptist.net, click on “listen” and select the sermon for March 22, 2020.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Life on this side of the cross”

Our Bible verse for today: “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” James 4:17 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Rise to the occasion and shine for Jesus.”

Yesterday morning I went to the grocery store near our home to pick up a few items that we needed. I noticed that most of the store workers seemed frazzled and a bit jaded, but the store had only recently opened and the day was just beginning. As it turns out, the previous week has been something of a nightmare for them. Crowds of people have engaged in panic buying and when the items they were looking for were out of stock, some customers expressed anger at the store workers, as if it was their fault the items were out of stock.

Such conduct is totally uncalled for. And panic buying is completely unnecessary. The only reason there is a shortage on things like toilet paper is because people are giving-in to fear and acting foolishly. But worse, some of them are getting mean and selfish. Sadly, that’s the way of the world sometimes.

But that’s also why God has us, the followers of Jesus, out in the world. It’s one of the reasons He didn’t take you straight to heaven the moment He saved you. Instead, He left you here so you can share the love of Jesus with hurting, frightened, and struggling people, and so you can be an agent of peace and calm and clarity in the middle of chaos. Christians are to be forces for good in a world that is often bad.

That’s what James was writing about in James 4:17 when he taught us that it is a sin to know the right thing to do but then to not do it. Doing good in the name of Christ is why God has us here. In Proverbs 3:27 the great King Solomon expressed the same thought this way, “Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act.”

I want to encourage you to actively look for ways to be a help and a blessing to people during these difficult times. If you’re looking for it, you will see a hundred opportunities every day. It might be something big, like bringing groceries to an elderly shut-in; or it might be something small, like smiling at a frazzled store clerk and thanking her for her patience and service. The opportunities for acts of love and kindness are endless on a normal day, but especially so during a time like this.

Brothers and sisters, this is our opportunity to really shine for Jesus. People are scared, some of them are now out of work, some of them are sick. It’s time for the Church to rise up and seize the moment. Perhaps God has you right where you are, right now, for a time such as this.

This is your moment to shine.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Life on this side of the cross”

Our Bible verse for today: “Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but for the interests of others.” Philippians 2:4 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Look out for the needs of others”

Prior to the current outbreak and massive community response to the COVID 19 pandemic, we had already been considering this month what life is supposed to look like for Christians on this side of the cross. In other words, once Jesus ushered the world into a brand new age, and since on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came to earth to live in the hearts of the followers of Christ and to continue Christ’s work on earth through the lives of His followers, what does that mean for those of us who live in this age? How then should we live?

Throughout the almost 2000 years since the coming of the Holy Spirit, one of the hallmarks of the conduct of the committed followers of Christ has been acts of compassion and kindness towards those who are suffering. Whether the situation was famine, plague, natural disaster, political upheaval, or hard economic times, Christians have always waded right into the situation, bringing help and healing in the name of Jesus Christ – and almost always, at great sacrifice to themselves. Many thousands of books have been written chronicling the great humanitarian services of Christians throughout the ages.

That work continues today. Recently a town adjacent to ours was devastated by a tornado. The response from the churches was overwhelming as more help immediately pored into that community than they could use. I have a couple of friends who are both medical professionals. They serve on the Samaritan’s Purse (SP) medical disaster relief team. They are some of those special individuals who, when a disaster strikes anywhere in the world, they put their own lives on hold, get on an SP plane, fly to the disaster scene, set-up a medical camp, and spend weeks or sometimes longer serving sacrificially in a high risk environment. They are both currently serving with an SP team in northern Italy in the middle of one of the worst outbreaks of COVID 19 anywhere in the world.

Here at home, in the middle of the pandemic as it exists in our own communities, there are many opportunities to be a blessing to others who are in need as a result of what’s going on, and who might be less able to help themselves than you are. Doing so would be in the best tradition of our great and noble Christian history of humanitarian relief in the midst of a crisis. Tomorrow we will consider some practical ways in which we can all that.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Life on this side of the cross”

Our Bible verse for today: “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “There are blessings to be found in the middle of bad situations – find them and share them.”

Romans 8:28 is one of the most comforting passages of New Testament scripture for those who are dealing with a crisis and facing an uncertain future. The verse does not say that all things are good, because of course, many things are not. What it does teach is that God can and does reach into the middle of bad situations and He brings good things out of them for those who love Him, for those who trust Him, and for those who turn to Him for help in such situations.

Good and blessings can come in many forms and in unexpected ways. And even though the actual trial might not immediately go away, and even if there may still be pain and suffering to be dealt with, God is there and He is working quietly behind the scenes to comfort and bless.

The other day an old friend shared a poem on Facebook that I believe speaks beautifully to this issue precisely as we all find ourselves having to cancel activities, avoid crowds, and stay home more. It’s not an explicitly Christian poem, although it clearly does reflect the truth of Romans 8:28. I want to share it with you this morning:

“And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows. And the people began to think differently. And the people healed. And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways, the earth began to heal. And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed.” – Kitty O’Meara

As bad as this COVID 19 pandemic is (and may still get), there are also good things that can come out of it. There will be blessings to be found – and shared. As was noted in yesterday’s devotional message, Jesus calls us, His followers, to be salt and light in a confused and panicked world. We are to be agents of peace and voices of reason who shine light into the darkness and who bring order into the confusion. We can help others see God at work in the middle of it all. There are blessings to be found in the middle of bad situations. I encourage you to find them and to share them.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Life on this side of the cross”

Our Bible verse for today: “You are the salt of the earth; you are the light of the world …” Matthew 5:13;14 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “A Christian response to the COVID 19 pandemic.”

As we follow the ministry of Jesus through the Gospel accounts, we see that He was drawn to those who were suffering. He healed a leper and an unclean woman with a flow of blood that made her impure; he raised the dead; He allowed Himself to be touched by a prostitute who was considered ritually unclean; He dined with sinners and outcasts; and on and on it went. He then taught His followers to go and do likewise – and they have been doing so ever since.

Down through the ages, for almost 2000 years, during plagues, famines, natural disasters, and much more, Christians have always viewed such periods of mass human suffering as an opportunity to “be Jesus” to those who were suffering. Whether that meant caring for the sick, providing food to the hungry and water to the thirsty, clearing debris after a tornado, or comforting the distraught and sharing the Good News of the Gospel, Christians have a history of treating times like that as an opportunity to be salt and light as Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount.

That continues to be true today. As the world is currently wrestling with the outbreak and rapid spread of the COVID 19 virus, and as governments and health agencies scramble to respond to it, many people are succumbing to fear and panic. We see news reports of crowds of people storming to big box stores, clearing shelves of basic commodities, fighting in the aisles over rolls of toilet paper, and all sorts of other outrageous behavior driven by fear and uncertainty.

As sad and serious as the current situation is, it’s also an excellent opportunity for Christians to shine for Jesus. This is the time for us to wade into the chaos and be the agents of peace, the voices of reason, the ones who help to make things better instead of worse.

On Sunday March 15^th at Oak Hill Baptist Church I preached a sermon about the COVID 19 outbreak. In that sermon I attempted to separate fact from fiction in order to dispel some of the misinformation that is being spread about this situation, and I also offered a Biblical perspective and a roadmap forward for individual Christians and for the Church. You can listen to that sermon on our website at www.oakhillbaptist.net. Just click on the “listen” tab and select the sermon for March 15, 2020.

In the midst of any crisis and chaos there is always an opportunity for Christians to shine. This is one of those times. I encourage you to shine the light of Christ into the darkness of fear and uncertainty. Be a calming influence and a voice of reason, an agent of peace and love in the midst of panic and human despair.

We’ll think more about this tomorrow.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Life on this side of the cross”

Our Bible verse for today: “If the world hates you, understand that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of it, the world hates you.” John 15:18-19 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Satan hasn’t stopped us yet, and he’s not going to stop us now.”

Over the last few days we’ve been considering how it is that on this side of the cross we – the followers of Jesus – are to be on-mission with Him in this world blessing people in His name and sharing with them the Good News of the Gospel. And we have considered the fact that often that mission can seem a lot like “Mission Impossible”. Sometimes it can be just plain hard! We also thought about the fact that we are engaged in constant spiritual warfare as the forces of Satan oppose our efforts, but we also found that Jesus promised us that His kingdom will prevail and the very gates of hell will not be able to stop it (Matthew 16:18)

In John 16:18-19 Jesus told us it wasn’t going to be easy. Satan, the forces of evil aligned with him, and the people in the world under his sway, all hate Jesus and therefore they will also hate and oppose those of us who follow Him. That’s just the way it is. And, it has always been like that. From the time of those first followers of Jesus, down through the last 2000 years and right up until today, Christians have always been opposed by the forces of evil in the spiritual realm and in the world. It’s no different for us today but remember, you’re on the winning side! The very gates of hell cannot prevent us from accomplishing the Father’s will.

To prove that point let me share some statistics with you. There are approximately 7.5 billion people living on earth this morning. 2.4 billion of them profess to be Christians. That’s roughly 1/3 of the entire population who profess to follow Jesus. Your guess is as good as mine as to how many of those professing Christians are true followers of Christ but still, 1/3 of the population of the world claims to be. Despite all the satanic opposition Christians have faced over the last 2000 years, there are more Christians in the world today than ever before. Yes, the kingdom will grow and prevail and the gates of hell cannot stop it!

Here’s another fun fact: Although it’s difficult to accurately calculate what the total population of the earth has been over the 2000 years since the time of Christ (estimates vary), the right number seems to be right around 60 billion. And likewise, it’s difficult to estimate how many professing Christians there have been over that time (although thanks to church records this one is a little easier to calculate), but there seems to have been approximately 3 billion up to the current generation. Adding the current 2.4 billion to that number, the total number of professing Christians ever, since the time of Jesus, is somewhere between 5-6 billion. Not bad for a movement that started with a scared bunch of dejected disciples huddled together in an upper room in Jerusalem!

Courage my friends. Satan hasn’t been able to stop us up to this point and he’s not going to stop us now! We’ll think more about this tomorrow.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Life on this side of the cross”

Our Bible verse for today: “Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus responded, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” Matthew 16:16-18 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Even the gates of hell can’t stop us.”

Yesterday we thought about the Great Commission Jesus gave to us and how it is that sometimes that mission can seem like “Mission Impossible”. The fact is that we live in a broken and sometimes crazy world. Satan and his demonic hordes are present and very actively working in opposition to the people of God.

That’s especially true for Christians who are passionate about being on-mission with Jesus. Casual Christians don’t need to worry about encountering too much opposition from the dark side because they’re not doing much that causes Satan any real concern. Therefore, he and the demons don’t need to pay too much attention to those people. But for the ones who are serious and intentional and who are out there making a real impact for the cause of Christ, buckle your seat belts! It’s likely to be a rough ride. The forces of evil will oppose your efforts. That’s what Paul was writing about in Ephesians 6:10-20 when he went to such great lengths to stress the reality of the spiritual warfare believers are engaged in every day.

So, it could seem as if this mission of ours is indeed close to impossible. And that would be true except that we have the Holy Spirit working in us and through us to accomplish the objectives of God. In Matthew 16:16-18 Jesus made it clear that His kingdom will be established, and His goals will be achieved, and that the best efforts of the powers of hell will not be able to prevent that from happening. When Jesus said the words “on this rock I will build my church” He was referring to the strong profession of faith that Peter had just made. It is upon a strong and bold profession of faith like that, and on the actions that flow from such strong faith, that the church of Christ is built. Nothing Satan and the demons do can prevent it. The forces of darkness are powerful, but they are no match for the power of God at work through His people.

So what does that mean for you and me as we live our daily lives on-mission with Jesus in this crazy and difficult and sometimes dangerous world? We will explore that thought further tomorrow. In the meantime, just know that you are on the winning side! The very gates of hell cannot prevent the kingdom from being established and from growing.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Life on this side of the cross”

Our Bible verse for today: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Your mission, should you choose to accept it is …”

When I was growing up in the 1960s there was a popular weekly television series called “Mission Impossible”. Each episode began with special agent Jim Phelps (Peter Graves) listening to a cassette recording of a deep male voice saying “Good Morning Mr. Phelps. Your mission, should you choose to accept it is …” And the voice would then go on to describe some impossible mission that Mr. Phelps and his team would have to accomplish in the 30 minutes allotted to that weekly episode. The audience would then watch as the cassette tape self-destructed with hissing and smoke.

In Matthew 28:19-20, and again in Acts 1:8 and Mark 16:15, Jesus gave us, His followers, our mission. We are to go into all the world on His behalf, sharing the Good News of the Gospel, leading people to faith in Christ, and teaching them how to be His disciples too. This is the primary reason God left you here on earth after He saved you from your sins. God’s great desire, and His ultimate goal, is to create an eternal family to spend eternity with Him in heaven. It is His desire that none be lost (Matthew 18:14; John 6:39; 2 Peter 3:9), but that all should have the opportunity to place their faith in Christ and be adopted into the family of God. This is why Jesus came to earth to begin with.

Once a person has placed his or her faith in Christ, the Father could instantly bring that person to heaven now that His ultimate objective for that person has been accomplished. But seldom does He do that. Instead, He leaves us on this earth for some period of time so that we can participate in this mission of helping to draw others to Him as well. That’s what the Great Commission is all about. It’s the mission of the followers of Christ to spread out across the earth carrying on the work of Christ.

Sadly, many Christians don’t accept that mission, or at least they don’t participate in it in any meaningful way. Sometimes it’s because they’re lazy; other times it’s because they’re not really concerned much about the salvation of others; sometimes it’s because they haven’t been taught how to participate in the mission; and sometimes it’s because they’re afraid. This mission of ours really can seem as if it is “Mission Impossible” and it can therefore sometimes be a bit intimidating.

But we don’t need to feel afraid or intimidated. Remember, we have the Holy Spirit living in our hearts teaching, leading, guiding, and empowering.  He is the One who makes it possible for us to be successful in what would otherwise be an impossible mission. We’ll think more about this in the days to come. In the meantime, I encourage you to accept your mission and get busy telling others the Good News of the Gospel.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Life on this side of the cross”

Our Bible verse for today: “When the day of Pentecost had arrived, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like that of a violent rushing wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were staying. They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and rested on each one of them. Then they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them.” Acts 2:1-4 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “The sequence of events was complete and the new era had begun.”

The Day of Pentecost was the last in a long sequence of events that brought mankind into the final chapter (or dispensation) of human history before Christ will return. It began with the incarnation of Christ, which led to His birth, followed by thirty-three years of life, then His death on the cross, then His resurrection three days later, and then forty days of post-resurrection appearances and ministry, followed by the ascension.

For ten days after the ascension the disciples huddled together in Jerusalem in eager anticipation of the coming of the Holy Spirit. They didn’t know exactly when that would be or what it would mean, but they knew He was coming and that God would then be present with them in the form of the Spirit, rather than in the human body of Jesus.

On the day of Pentecost they were all together, presumably in a prayer meeting or worship service, and the Spirit arrived in spectacular fashion with wind and noise and power. He filled them and gave each one the ability to speak in tongues. But, as verse 11 explains, the tongues they were speaking in were human languages that they had not known prior to this, but which they were now miraculously fluent in and which they used to share the Good News with the people around them who spoke those languages.

So now all the pieces were in place. The new era was fully inaugurated and the disciples of Christ were prepared to spread out across the world carrying on His work to spread the Good News of the Gospel far and wide – even to the very ends of the earth. This is the age of human history that you and I now live in. The question we are left with then, (borrowing a great book title from the eminent Bible scholar Francis Schaeffer) is, “How Should We Then Live?” In other words, since we have the full revelation of God about Himself in the form of the Bible; and since we have the Holy Spirit of God living in our hearts informing us, guiding us, and empowering us; and since we have been adopted into God’s family making us co-heirs with Christ of God’s kingdom; what is it God expects of us His people? Now should we now live?

We will spend the rest of the month exploring that question.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Life on this side of the cross”

Our Bible verse for today: “Then he led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. And while he was blessing them, he left them and was carried up into heaven. After worshiping him, they returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they were continually in the temple praising God.” Luke 24:50-53 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Jesus was gone, but not for long.”

Jesus spent approximately thirty-three years on earth in a human body. Then, after His resurrection, He spent forty days more on earth in His resurrection body. The Bible records ten different occasions during this forty-day period when the resurrected Jesus appeared to hundreds of people. There could very well have been more occasions that the Bible does not tell us about, but we do know there were at least ten involving hundreds of different people.

Then, at the end of the forty days, Jesus took a group of His closest followers out to the Mount of Olives near the village of Bethany, about a day’s walk from Jerusalem. He was about to leave them and return to heaven, and this confused them. They had been thinking all along that the Messiah, when He finally came, would restore the kingdom of God on earth – and they were especially thinking that once they witnessed Jesus in His resurrection body. So as they stood there on the Mount, with Jesus about to leave them by ascending back into heaven, they asked Him, “Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?” (Acts 1:6) But Jesus said, “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:7-8).

There was then one more thing that had to happen before the final phase of God’s plan for mankind would be fully inaugurated. The Holy Spirit was coming and He would infuse them with the power they would need in order to carry on the work of Christ on earth. They still didn’t fully understand what that meant, but they were eagerly looking forward to it. That passage in Acts chapter one goes on to tell us that as soon as Jesus had said these words His body literally left the ground before their eyes and He ascended up in the air and out of sight. Then angels stood before them and said “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen him going into heaven.” (Acts 1:11)

The disciples then returned to Jerusalem filled with joy and eagerness and a great sense of expectation. Ten days later, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came as promised. We will pick the story up there tomorrow.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim