Our theme for this month: “Change can be good for you”

Our Bible verse for today: “Be still, and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “A slower, simpler pace of life can enhance your relationship with God.”

Early in my life as a Christian someone introduced me to the writings of A.W. Tozer, and I’ll be forever grateful to them for it. Tozer lived during the early to mid-1900s and served for 44 years as a pastor, author, and conference speaker for the Christian and Missionary Alliance denomination of churches. His many books, articles, and sermons are still studied today and widely quoted by other pastors, authors, and speakers.

Tozer’s most popular book was a small volume entitled “The Knowledge of the Holy”. The purpose of the book is to help the reader come to an accurate understanding about the essential elements of God’s character and nature. Tozer believed that without such an understanding, the Christian could not really grasp who God is and what He is like. However, gaining such an understanding requires time and effort – unhurried, thoughtful, prayerful time and effort. And that’s where the modern Christian fails. Most of us aren’t willing to commit that kind of unhurried time to gaining an accurate and deep understanding of who God is and what He is like. Tozer wrote,

“Modern Christianity is simply not producing the kind of Christian who can appreciate or experience life in the Spirit. The words, ‘Be still, and know that I am God,’ mean next to nothing to the self-confident, bustling worshiper in this middle period of the twentieth century.”

Tozer wrote those words in 1961. In my opinion, the problem has gotten exponentially worse since then. Most of us are simply too busy, too distracted, too uninterested and too unwilling, to invest the time to develop a truly deep relationship with the Lord. It takes time to “Be still, and know that I am God.” It takes willingness and desire; it takes discipline; and it takes a lifestyle that allows sufficient room for matters of the spirit.

Many years ago I wrote an article entitled “Room for the Singing of Angels”. It was inspired by a quote I once read that said, “In each life there must be room for the singing of angels.” In other words, our lives must be structured in such a way that we allow the time, solitude, and quietness to experience spiritual things. If you would like to have a copy of that article let me know and I would be happy to send it to you.

During this time of social distancing and isolation most of us have probably had extra time for sitting quietly before the Lord in prayer, study, and worship. I hope that’s been true for you. I encourage you to continue that as life now begins to return to normal. Make sure that in your life there is “room for the singing of angels.”

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Change can be good for you”

Our Bible verse for today: “God has made us plain and simple, but we have made ourselves very complicated.” Ecclesiastes 7:19 (TEV)

Our thought for today: “It may be time to simplify your life so you can focus more on the things that truly matter.”

There’s a chronic condition that afflicts many people in our society today know as “multitasking”. It’s the idea that we can focus on and accomplish multiple things at once, and it’s usually spoken of as if it’s something good. Many of us brag about our ability to do two or more things at the same time. We drive the car, talk on the phone, glance at the passing billboards, and tap our fingers along with the song on the radio. Or we have a halfhearted conversation with our spouse or children as we’re scrolling through our Facebook newsfeed on our smartphone.

In such cases we’re multitasking, doing more than one thing at once, but none of them have our full attention. We’re doing several things poorly rather than doing one thing well. Also, the constant pull of multiple distractions eventually dulls our senses, exhausts us intellectually, and drains us emotionally. Korean-born German philosopher Byung-Chul Han (a professor and writer who studies Western culture) calls this kind of constant hyper-activity the signature issue of our society. He says it defines us. His conclusion is that we’re so hurried, frazzled, and distracted that we are, in his words, “too alive to die, but too dead to live.”

Modern society, with all its time-saving technology and innumerable conveniences designed to make our lives easier, is actually having the reverse effect. We’re all too busy, too distracted. It’s dulling our senses and numbing our emotions. But it was never supposed to be this way. As Today’s English Version of the Bible (TEV) translates Ecclesiastes 7:19, “God has made us plain and simple, but we have made ourselves very complicated.”

Hopefully with all the social distancing, the stay-at-home-orders, and with the closing of many of the places we normally go to and the activities we engage in, one of the impacts of this COVID 19 pandemic is that it has caused all of us to slow down a bit and to simplify our lives. If so, that’s a good thing. That’s a good outcome, and I hope it’s one you will resolve to carry with you out of this. Many of our lives have become so complicated and so busy that we’re doing a lot of things poorly but none of them well. That often includes, most importantly, our relationships with God and with others. Those relationships suffer when we’re too busy and too distracted.

This is vitally important and therefore we’re going to spend some time thinking more about this in the days to come. How could our lives be better if we simplified them, focused intently on the things and people which really matter, and learned to do one thing at a time well rather than multiple things poorly? We’ll explore that thought more tomorrow.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Change is good for you”

Our Bible verse for today: “They are focused on earthly things, but our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly wait for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.” Philippians 3:19-20 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Keep your priorities straight”

I’ve learned an important lesson as a result of this COVID 19 pandemic. It’s something I was already aware of and which I had been attempting to practice more and more in my life anyway, but this crisis in our nation has really brought home to me the importance of this particular mindset.

Our nation today is in crisis, and not just from the pandemic and the associated economic meltdown. We are a nation divided in so many ways. There is so much anger and partisanship; so much social dysfunction and even class warfare. We’re a society that is angry, bitter, and divided, and in some respects, we’re finding it increasingly difficult to function at all. The issues associated with the pandemic have only served to amplify all of that.

As Christians this situation creates a dilemma for us. On the one hand, we are supposed to be active and engaged in the society in which we live. Therefore, we should be part of the political, social, and economic discussions, and we should attempt to influence those issues in good ways. But on the other hand, we have to be careful we don’t become so deeply involved in the debates that we lose sight of our higher calling. We’re citizens of heaven first, citizens of a country second. We’re to be on-mission with Jesus in this world first, and proponents of a particular political, social, or economic agenda second.

Unfortunately, as I listen to and observe all that’s going on in our society today, it often seems as if many Christians are more focused on advancing a political, social, or economic point of view than they are about advancing God’s kingdom on earth. They think about, talk about, and engage in the issues of the world much more than they do the issues of God. And please don’t misunderstand me, the political, social, and economic issues are important; they’re just not the most important. We need to keep our priorities straight.

Personally, I’m more grateful than ever for my calling as a pastor. It helps to keep me focused on what matters most. My job first and foremost (and therefore my primary focus) is to preach the Gospel, teach Biblical principles, care for God’s people, and look for opportunities to bless others by meeting their needs in the name of Jesus. And that needs to be true regardless of whatever else is going on in the world at this time. I am aware of, concerned about, and engaged in the political, social, and economic issues of the day. But all of that is, and must remain, of secondary importance. Kingdom issues must come first.

What’s true for me as a pastor is also true for all of us as Christians. We’re citizens of heaven first, citizens of a country second. The issues of the world do matter, but they don’t matter as much as our Father’s business does. We should be engaged in the current issues of importance in our society, but we should be about our Father’s business first. The current issues of the day can be used to advance our Father’s business of course, there is a connection, and we can be a positive force for good as we deal with those political, social, and economic issues, but we do need to be careful to keep our priorities straight. We have a higher calling.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Change is good for you”

Our Bible verse for today: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. You are to labor six days and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You must not do any work – you, your son or daughter, your male or female servant, your livestock, or the resident alien who is within your gates. For the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days; then he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath and declared it holy.” Exodus 20:8-11 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “You need to practice Sabbath”

The word “Sabbath” comes from the Hebrew word “Shabbat” and literally means “to stop”. As John Mark Comer wrote in his book “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry”, “Sabbath is simply a day to stop: stop working, stop wanting, stop worrying, just stop.” It’s a time to take our focus off of the demands and chores and obligations and worries that fill up our lives the other six days of the week and to focus on God, and then on ourselves. It’s a time intended by God for us to worship, rest, renew, and enjoy.

Many Christians today mistakenly believe that the concept of Sabbath was an Old Testament teaching that applied only to the Jews, and that it doesn’t apply in the New Testament Age. But that’s just not true.

Observing the Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandants (the fourth). It’s the only spiritual discipline that made it onto that list. Praying is not one of the Ten Commandments. Neither is reading your Bible; or putting a check in the offering plate; or serving in a ministry at church; or any of the other things we normally associate with the ways in which we practice our faith. Only the practice of Sabbath is on that list of Ten Commandments and none of the Commandments have been superseded or done away with. It’s not as if there are only Nine Commandments still operative in our day. All ten of them still apply, including observing the Sabbath.

The concept of Sabbath – of just “stopping” is so important, and we need it so badly, that God modeled it for us in the creation account by resting on the seventh day. It’s not as if He was tired; it’s not as if He had things He needed to stop fretting about for a day; it wasn’t that He had unfulfilled wants and desires that occupied His thoughts the other six days of the week and which He needed to let go of for a while. God rested as an example for us. In Mark 2:27 Jesus even told us that God created the Sabbath for our benefit. You need a day of the week that is set aside exclusively to refocus on God in worship, and then to rest and recuperate – and the truth is that many of us are bad at this. Many of us make excuses for skipping church, and then we fill our Sundays with busyness and chores.

Hopefully one of the changes each of us experiences as a result of this COVID 19 isolation is we will come out of it with a renewed appreciation for our group worship experiences, and for the importance and pleasure of downtime and renewal. That’s what the practice of Sabbath is supposed to be for us.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Change can be good for you”

Our Bible verse for today: “I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “God is at work in your life”

Philippians 1:6 is an amazing verse of scripture which communicates some deep and important truth about God, and about His work in our lives. Only twenty-six words in the Christian Standard Bible, but twenty-six words that reveal deep and profound theological truths.

For one thing, Paul tells us that God is at work in our lives and He is in the process of accomplishing something important. He started it at the time we placed our faith in His Son Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins, and He will continue that work until the day in heaven when we are complete in Christ and we will be the person God intends for us to be for all eternity. Paul was writing about the doctrine of sanctification. Sanctification is the life-long process whereby the Holy Spirit slowly and progressively molds and shapes us into the people we are supposed to be. It’s an ongoing process that progresses daily, and will continue until you take your final breath and pass into heaven.

Also found in that verse is the implied truth that God must then be sovereign over the events of our lives. God is omnipotent (all-powerful); He is omniscient (all-knowing); and He is omnipresent (present everywhere, all the time). He is everywhere, He knows everything, and He has complete power and total control over everything. That includes the events of your life. You will never experience anything in your life that God isn’t aware of. You also will never experience anything that He has not either caused directly, or chosen to allow. And He uses all of it to help accomplish His good purposes in your life.

Fast-forward now to today’s COVID 19 crisis and the associated economic meltdown. Bad stuff, right? Inconvenient and painful, right? Yes, and yes. But God is sovereign over these events in your life, and He is using it as part of the process of your sanctification (Romans 8:28). That doesn’t mean that the things that are happening to you at the moment are necessarily good, but it does mean that God can and will bring good things out of this bad situation to help further His work in your life.

Can you see His activity in your life? Are you paying attention to it? Are you cooperating with Him as He works to bring good out of bad and to use it all in the continuing process of transforming you into the person He wants you to be? Sanctification implies change, and change means that things don’t stay the same.

As we continue our study of “Change can be good for you”, I will attempt to help us see some of the ways in which God may be using this current crisis to bring about good change in our individuals lives, and in our nation.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Change can be good for you”

Our Bible verse for today: “Look, I am about to do something new, even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:19 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “In what way will your life be different?”

During the recent COVID 19 pandemic there is a political party that has done something which I believe is shameful. As government leaders were scrambling to mitigate the disastrous impact of having to shut down the economy, one of the parties took advantage of it for partisan political purposes. To legislation intended to bring relief to businesses and individuals, they attempted (and succeeded) to attach all sorts of additional spending for things that had nothing to do with the crisis. They did it to advance the most liberal aspects of their political agenda. When asked about it on national television multiple spokespersons for that party smugly responded, “Never waste a good crisis. This is a great opportunity for us to advance our agenda and we would be foolish to waste it.”

While I’m repulsed and angered by the way those politicians shamefully took advantage of a national disaster to advance their partisan agenda, I do agree with the basic premise of “Don’t waste a good crisis”. Within every crisis there are moments of great opportunity for change. A crisis often causes disruption to the normal way of doing things, and that then causes us to pause and reevaluate how we have been doing things up to that point. A crisis will often require us to make temporary adjustments in our lives that we then discover to have been good, and which we decide to continue after the crisis is over.

I believe we have such an opportunity before us as a result of the COVID 19 pandemic. As a nation and as individuals we have all had to make major adjustments in order to deal with this crisis. Many of those changes have been inconvenient and some of them have been bad. But not all them. Some of the changes have been good for us, and it would be in our own best interest to carry the new habits forward into a new season of life, both as individuals and as nation.

Have there been some good things that have come out of this crisis for you so far? Has it caused you to consider some ways in which you might change your life for the better? Without question, this pandemic and economic meltdown are bad, and they are causing tremendous suffering and long-term damage. But just as in any crisis, there can also be some good things that come out of it. We will spend the coming month thinking about the ways in which this crisis can result in good changes for all of us.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

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

Our Bible verse for today: “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.” John 16:33 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Don’t be afraid of what lies ahead.”

In his great little book, “The Care of Souls: Cultivating a Pastor’s Heart”, Harold Senkbeil was writing primarily to encourage pastors to stick with the task of caring for God’s people regardless of whatever the current set of circumstances happen to be. Towards the end of the book he pointed out how it is that the world has always been in a state of flux and turmoil, that’s normal, and therefore regardless of whatever else is going on in the world, the task for God’s people remains the same – we are to seize the day for the cause of Christ. At one point he was comparing our current day to the dawn of the Middle Ages and here is what he wrote:

“In many ways our world is much like theirs. Things familiar and comfortable have vanished, replaced by radically different lifestyles and values … We live in an era of change now between the age of reason and whatever comes after it. It is much like the world of late antiquity – when the classic age was collapsing and the early Middle Ages were just beginning to dawn. But those threatening years turned out to be the church’s moment in the sun, one of its best periods of vigorous mission and growth. It wouldn’t be too many centuries before those Germanic hordes that had sacked and looted the city of Rome would themselves become Christians.”

As we conclude our study of “Life on this side of the cross”, and as the COVID 19 pandemic begins to wind down and we start moving forward into whatever lies ahead for us as individuals and as a nation, there is no need to fear it. In all probability life is going to be different now in significant ways, but the mission of God’s church hasn’t changed. And the promise of Jesus that He will never leave us and never abandon us (Matthew 28:20; Hebrews 13:5) is still true. Likewise, John 16:33 is still true too. There will be challenges ahead and there will be trouble, but we are to face it courageously because Jesus goes forward into it with us and He has already conquered the world.

In every generation of human history there have always been troubles and challenges, disasters and times of crisis, but they have always passed and history has marched on. The same will be true for us in our day. For our part, we need to be faithful and remain focused. Our mission is to shine for Jesus in the middle of whatever the circumstances are, and to help build His kingdom here on earth. Don’t be afraid of what lies ahead and do not be deterred. There will be great opportunities for good things to happen as we go forward from here.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

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

Our Bible verse for today: “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.” Romans 12:2 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Protect yourself against assimilation”

In yesterday’s message I noted that in time this COVID 19 pandemic will be over and we will recover from the economic meltdown. Like all of the other disasters that have engulfed the world over the course of history, including plagues, wars, famines, natural disasters, and economic meltdowns, this one too shall pass.

But a problem that will not pass is the sinfulness of the pagan world. The ways of the world are evil. Entire cultures rebel against God, and this situation will continue to get worse and worse as history unfolds and as we get ever-closer to the end of time. The challenge for the people of God has always been to be “in” the world without being “of” the world. We have to live within the culture, making a positive difference for the cause of Christ, without being absorbed and assimilated by that culture. This is our problem today, and it’s not going away.

On the other side of the cross, in the Old Testament Age, this was actually less of a problem for the Jews than it is for Christians today on this side of the cross. The Jews were a people set-apart from the cultures around them. In terms of language, appearance, customs, beliefs, and lifestyle, the Jews were always different. Historically, in whatever country they found themselves, the Jews have tended to live in isolated communities so they could keep themselves separate and so they could protect their faith and their customs. But even with that strict sense of separation, if you know your Old Testament history, you know that they were frequently infected by the cultures around them anyway, and it was always their downfall.

The problem is more acute for Christians, and especially so for us today in the USA. For the most part, we don’t live as a called-out and separated people. Instead we are knee-deep in the culture around us. So much so, that we are often indistinguishable from the people around us. This is what Paul was warning against in Romans 12:2, and it’s the battle we will continue to have to fight long after the COVID 19 pandemic is just a footnote in history.

Christians today often lament the opposition and perceived persecution we believe we face because of our faith. But I say to you this morning that much more than opposition or even persecution, the bigger danger we all face is assimilation – being absorbed into the culture and becoming just like the society we live in.

As we go forward in the days, weeks, months, and years ahead, I encourage you to take the steps necessary to protect yourself from being assimilated. You are still part of the called-out people of God, and I encourage you to live like it. Be in the world, but don’t be of the world – don’t be just like the culture you are suppose to be helping to change.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

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

Our Bible verse for today: “A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever; What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 1:4; 9

Our thought for today: “Keep it in perspective”

As we near the end of our study of “Life on this side of the cross” I want to take these last three days to consider how we should be thinking about the days, weeks, months, and years ahead of us. These are difficult and perilous times that live in. A worldwide pandemic has engulfed us. We don’t know how much longer it is going to take to run its course, or if it will ever completely go away. The world economy has ground to a halt and people are suffering great financial hardships. Even once we get our economy running again, it will take years to recover from this.

So how should we, the people of God, be thinking about the future? I believe there are several important lessons we’ve learned over these last two months of devotional messages which we need to keep in mind. First, we should not live in fear. God is sovereign over all of this. We can trust Him to strengthen us and to get us through this. Second, we should not be dismissive of the severity of what we’re dealing with. The health crisis is very real, as is the economic crisis. People are suffering physically, mentally, emotionally, financially, and spiritually. Third, we are to honor God and bless others. This crisis is an opportunity for us to shine for Jesus and to bless others with acts of mercy and compassion. Fourth, we should cooperate with our healthcare and civil authorities who are doing their best to get us all through this. As long as they’re not advocating things contrary to Biblical principles, we should do our parts to be helpful.

And also, it’s important for us to keep this current crisis in its proper perspective. As bad as it is, it’s just the current crisis in a long list of disasters and calamities that have progressively and continuously engulfed the world since the beginning of time. As wise King Solomon observed more than three thousand years ago in Ecclesiastes, generations come and generations go; time rolls on; people and events are here and then they’re gone; and there is really nothing new under the sun.

There have been pandemics before. Many times. There have also been many times of economic hardship, even serious disasters like the Great Depression. There have been wars and famines and droughts and endless examples of terrible times of crisis, but all of them have passed and history has continued to unfold. The same will be true for this COVID 19 pandemic and the associated worldwide economic meltdown. As bad as it is, it is temporary.

I encourage you to stay strong in the Lord and trust Him. Do your part to help us all get through this by staying calm and by blessing others. Keep it in perspective and in time, this too shall pass.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

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

Our Bible verse for today: “A manifestation of the Spirit is given to each person for the common good.” 1 Corinthians 12:7 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “You have been called by God into a life of service.”

One of the great distinctives of life on this side of the cross is found in the level of participation and involvement a person is called to in the ongoing work of God in the world.

In the Old Testament certain special people were called and equipped to be priests or scribes or to perform some other function in the temple. However for the average person the expectation was simply for them to obey the rules, participate in the rituals, and live according to Biblical principles. That was it. But in the New Testament there’s more to it. In the New Testament every individual is called to be on-mission with God in the world (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 1:8). Also, every person has been given the Holy Spirit to live within them, equipping and empowering them for acts of ministry (that’s what Jesus meant when He said in Acts 1:8 “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you …).

There’s an entire body of New Testament literature which teaches that the Holy Spirit provides, brings out, and develops particular gifts, skills, and abilities in each individual Christian which are then to be utilized to help in God’s kingdom-building work (Romans 12:6-8; 1 Corinthians 12:7-10; 1 Corinthians 12:28-30; Ephesians 4:11; 1 Peter 4:11). There’s a wonderful tool available through the Southern Baptist Convention known as a “Ministry Gifts Inventory” which helps individuals to identify the ways in which the Spirit has equipped them to serve in the mission of God. Those acts of service and participation extend from being a preacher or teacher, to being an usher or greeter, to acts of compassion and hospitality, to caring for the church facilities, and much more. The point is that in the New Testament Age our level of participation in the work of God on earth is to be much greater than it was in the Old Testament Age.

Every summer at Oak Hill Baptist we ask each member to prayerfully consider how he or she will serve in the church in the upcoming church year (which begins in September). We do that because exercising your skills, gifts, and abilities for the sake of others is an important part of the practice of our faith in this New Testament Age. God has chosen to accomplish much of His work among His people, and in the world, through the active participation of each individual member.

I encourage you to prayerfully consider how the Spirit of God has called and equipped you to serve. If you aren’t sure, then please get your own copy of “The Ministry Gifts Inventory” from www.lifeway.com.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim