Our theme for this month: “Take care of each other”

Our Bible verse for today: “After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals.” Judges 2:10-11 (NIV)

Our thought for the day: “Teach the younger generation”

What a sad passage of Scripture Judges 2:10-11 is! During the lifetime of Joshua, the nation of Israel had been relatively faithful to God. They obeyed Him, took possession of the Promised Land, developed it, defeated the enemies of God and drove them off, and as a result, they lived in peace and prosperity.

But then Joshua died, as did the generation after him, and then, as we read in the passage above, an entire generation grew up that didn’t know the Lord and who were unaware of the awesome things God had done for their nation in the past. How did that happen? How did an entire generation grow up who knew nothing of God and who were ignorant of the important history of their people?

The answer is that “somebody didn’t do their job.” Those in the previous generation evidently took care of themselves and enjoyed their comfortable lifestyles, but they didn’t bother to pass along their faith or their history to the next generation. And so, if you read the book of Judges, you discover that it was a very sad period in the history of the nation of Israel. The people were constantly seeking after the false gods of the surrounding cultures, and they suffered terribly because of it – including social ills, crashing economies, and military defeats.

As was noted in yesterday’s devotional, one of the most important and impactful things you can do for others, especially those in the younger generation who are close to you, is to set a good example for them. Consistently and enthusiastically live your faith before them, modeling it for them and teaching it to them. If you do, your good example will pay dividends in their lives for generations to come. But if you don’t, how will they learn?

You may remember one of the last statements we heard from the great leader Joshua before he died (Joshua 24:15). There he declared that he and his family were going to honor the Lord regardless of whether anyone else did or not. Joshua had the courage of his convictions and he was going to set a good example no matter what. Caleb said and did the same thing.

How about you? Do you have the courage of your convictions? Will you stand for what’s right; honor the Lord by the way that you live; teach, preach, practice, and model the faith for the younger generation whether others do or not?

One of the greatest acts of service you can perform for others, one of the most meaningful ways in which you can help the younger generation, is to honor the Lord in your own life and then pass the faith along to them.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Take care of each other”

Our Bible verse for today: “Not a man of this evil generation shall see the good land I swore to give your forefathers, except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land he set his feet on, because he followed the Lord wholeheartedly.” Deuteronomy 1:35-36 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Follow the Lord wholeheartedly”

This morning I want to return to our thought from yesterday about the importance of setting a good example for others. One of the most impactful things you can to for others is to set a good example for them. Those close to you will be influenced by how they see you conduct yourself. If the practice of your faith is deep, sincere, and consistent, they will notice, and there’s a good chance they will follow your example.

For many reasons, Caleb is one of my Old Testament heroes. For one thing, I’m inspired by the courage he demonstrated in Numbers chapters 13-14 when Moses sent him on an undercover mission to spy out the Promised Land. When ten of the other spies who went with him brought back a bad report to the nation, voicing fear about the strength of their enemies and encouraging the people to disobey God, Caleb (along with Joshua) boldly opposed them and insisted that the nation obey God and trust Him. Caleb continued to maintain that position even when the other ten, along with the majority of the people, threatened to stone him for voicing a contrary opinion.

I’m also inspired by Caleb’s passion for life, and the vigor and strength he displayed when, in Joshua 14:11, at the advanced age of eighty-five, he entered the Promised Land, took possession of it, and declared his intention (and ability) to fight and defeat any enemies who would dare to oppose him.

But another thing I really admire about Caleb is his passion for following the Lord. Five times the Bible describes the way he practiced his faith as having been “wholehearted” (Numbers 32:12; Deuteronomy 1:36; Joshua 14:8,9,14). Caleb followed the Lord “wholeheartedly”, with great enthusiasm and with nothing held back. Not only did God reward him for his single-minded, wholehearted, full-steam-ahead attitude, but ever since then God has used Caleb’s story and his great example to inspire countless thousands of others.

He will do the same with your good example. One of the most important and helpful things you can do for others is to set a good example for them in how you follow the Lord. I encourage you to be faithful and passionate – be “wholehearted”.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Take care of each other”

Our Bible verse for today: “As for me and my family, we will worship the Lord.” Joshua 24:15 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Set a good example”

Recently I’ve been seeing an increasing number of articles being written, published, and shared by church leaders regarding the worsening problem of church attendance in the USA. The other day there was a new one, this one shared by a missionary friend of mine on Facebook. In this article the author’s point was that as far as he was concerned, church attendance is non-negotiable for him and his family. Attending church is more important to him than virtually anything else going on in life and therefore it takes priority over everything else including likes a minor sickness, social or recreational activities, house guests, or anything else.

He wrote that American Christians have become entirely too casual in our church attendance. We’ve become willing to skip church for far too many reasons, and I agree. When I was growing up my mother was adamant about church attendance. We all went, all the time, no matter what. If we had house guests staying with us, they were invited to go to church with us. If they didn’t want to go, then they could wait for us to get back home, but my mother and her children were going to church. And to this day my mother’s good example continues to influence me. The example of her faithfulness was indelibly imprinted in my memory banks and has borne fruit in my own life ever since.

That’s what Joshua was talking about in Joshua 24:15. In that scene he had just finished telling the people that they would have to make their own choices about the practice of their faith but as for him and his family, they were going to honor the Lord regardless of whether others did or not.

When it comes to taking care of each other, especially those who are close to you such as family members, one of the most important things you can do is to set a good example for them in how you practice your own faith – including in your church attendance habits.

Christians often talk about how we want our nation to be faithful to God, and we want our children and grandchildren, our friends and neighbors, to faithfully follow Jesus. That’s good, but it starts with us as individuals. You have to be diligently faithful yourself first before you can expect others to be. Those close to you are watching, and they are being impacted by what they see you doing. Your example matters, so be sure to set a good one.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Take care of each other”

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: “Happy Valentine’s Day!”

Today is Valentine’s Day. It’s the day set aside each year to celebrate romantic love. There’s a good deal of mystery and debate surrounding the origins of this day. It certainly does have Christian roots, but there are elements of it that are pre-Christian also and which were born out of pagan mythology.

For Christians, Valentine’s Day is attributed to a mysterious individual known in the Catholic church as “Saint Valentine”. But even the Catholics can’t agree on which person in history that actually was. There were three men named Valentine, or Valentinus, from the third century who were all priests and who are all sometimes identified as the original “Saint Valentine”.

The most likely of the three was a priest named Valentinus who defied an edict from the Roman Emperor Claudius II regarding love and marriage. Claudius believed that unmarried men made better soldiers and therefore he forbade his soldiers from marrying. As you would imagine, this rule was very unpopular and so Valentinus performed weddings for the soldiers anyway, in direct disobedience to the Emperor’s command. Eventually he was arrested and executed for his disobedience. The Catholic church then declared him a martyr, made him a saint, and established a holiday in his honor. About 100 years later, the official date for Valentine’s Day was established as February 14^th in order to offer the people a “sanctified substitute” for the Roman festival of “Lupercalia”, which was a fertility festival celebrated around this same time.

The figure of Cupid is often portrayed today as a naked chubby cherub (an angel-like being), whose job it is to initiate feelings of love in young couples. The figure was originally actually a depiction of the Roman god of love known as Cupid, and the Romans copied him from the Greek god Eros.

So, should Christians celebrate Valentine’s day? I think so. Valentine’s Day is all about love. In John 13:34-35 Jesus commanded us to love one another as He loves us, and according to Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, love is the greatest of all the virtues.

So, yes, use Valentine’s Day to celebrate love. But your focus doesn’t have to be on just romantic love. You can use this day as an opportunity to celebrate love in general. You can celebrate the love of God for us, and our love for each other. So, happy Valentine’s Day. God loves you and so do I!

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: Take care of each other”

Our Bible verse for today: “My brothers and sisters, if any among you strays from the truth, and someone turns him back, let that person know that whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.” James 5:19-20 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Lead them back to Jesus.”

This past Sunday our church was at the Bread of Life Rescue Mission. Once each quarter we hold our Sunday evening service at the Mission rather than at the church. While we’re conducting the service in the chapel, we also have a crew in the kitchen preparing the meal. After everyone is served, our folks then get plates and sit down and eat with the residents.

We’ve been doing this for years and one of the things I’ve noticed about the majority of the people staying the Mission is how many of them profess to already have faith in Jesus. That’s probably true for the majority of the residents. For most of them the story is that they were in church as a child and teenager, but then drifted away from the Lord and ended up making a mess out of their lives as adults.

That being the case, for them, the focus of our ministry isn’t about leading them to place their faith in Christ, but rather to lead them back to the Lord. Our job is to remind our straying brothers and sisters that God can and will bless the life that is lived within Biblical boundaries. When we stray outside of God’s commands, we’re choosing to live life outside of the boundaries within which He can and will bless us.

A big part of the ministry of the Bread of Life, and of the churches such as ours that partner with them, is to love our straying brothers and sisters back into fellowship with Jesus. We meet their physical needs by providing food and shelter, but we also minister to their wayward souls and attempt to lead them back into a healthy relationship with the Lord.

We can all use that same approach when dealing with the straying Christians we encounter in our families, in our neighborhoods, in school, and in the workplace. There are many professing Christians who have strayed far from the Lord and who are living well outside of the boundaries within which He can and will bless them. The best way you can help them is to lead them back into a healthy relationship with Jesus. Often that will entail blessing them by meeting some physical need they have or helping them in some other way, so you can then have a conversation with them about their spiritual condition.

A Christian living in a broken relationship with Jesus is usually a miserable person with lots of problems. The greatest act of service you could provide for such a person is to help lead them back to Jesus.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Take care of each other”

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: “Err on the side of blessing.”

So, when it comes to taking care of each other, when should you help someone and when should you not? Is it always the right thing to do stuff for others? All the time? Always? Or, perhaps, is a little discretion and sound judgment needed as well?

In James 4:17 quoted above, the Apostle tells us that if we know we should do something good for someone and we don’t, we have sinned. However, that statement implies sound knowledge on our part. It does not say that we should help everyone, always, all the time. It means that we should evaluate the situation, determine if we should and can help this person, and if the answer is “yes” but we still don’t, that then is sin.

In Proverbs 3:27 Solomon said something similar when he wrote, “Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act.” Please note the conditional and modifying word “deserve” in that statement. Not everyone deserves to be helped. Sometimes the issue they’re dealing with is a result of their own irresponsible behavior and therefore they need to experience the consequences of their poor choices in order to learn an important lesson that will lead to better choices in the future. The Apostle Paul was very direct about this as well in 2 Thessalonians 3:10 when he wrote, “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.”

As faithful followers of the Lord Jesus Christ we have a desire to be kind, compassionate, merciful, and to be a blessing to others, so our default mode should be to err on the side of blessings. We should be looking for reasons to help and bless people, not to withhold blessings and help. But we do need to be smart about it too.  We need to be sure our help is actually helping and not simply enabling bad behavior. We always want to help and bless if we can. But sometimes the right thing to do is to withhold the help and allow them to experience the consequences of bad choices.

When it comes to taking care of others, if there is any doubt in your mind, I encourage you to err on the side of blessings. Help if you can – and if it is appropriate to the situation.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Taking care of each other”

Our Bible verse for today: “One of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet and begged him earnestly, ‘My little daughter is dying. Come and lay your hands on her so that she can get well and live.’ So Jesus went with him …”
Mark 5:23-23 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Make it personal.”

Jesus’ ministry to people was almost always direct, personal, face-to-face, and hands-on. Although He was God and He could therefore have ministered to people from a distance with a simple thought, or by just speaking a word from afar without ever having any direct contact with them, most of the time He didn’t do it that way. He didn’t simply mail them a miracle. Instead He interacted with people face-to-face, one-on-one. He visited in their homes, He talked to them, He touched them, He ate meals with them, and He had a deeply personal relationship with individual people.

The idea that we need to be with people in order to take care of them seems like a no-brainer. But in truth it can often seem easier and safer and more appealing to simply sit comfortably inside our little Baptist forts and just send prayers, or to write checks and send them off in the mail, rather than dealing directly with actual people.

At Oak Hill Baptist Church we make it a point to make it personal. First, within the church, we get involved in each other’s lives. If a brother or sister is in need or is hurting and struggling in any way, we’re there for them – in person.

But also, as a group, we get up out of our pews, leave the building, go out into the world, and have personal, one-on-one, face-to-face contact with the people living at the Bread of Life Rescue Mission in our town; and the girls who live in the Tennessee Baptist Children’s Home in the next county; and with the children at the Lighthouse Christian Camp; and we go to the coal-mining region of eastern Kentucky to work side-by-side with our partners at New Beginnings Church in Hi Hat, KY; and we send mission teams to the El Arca Children’s Home in the Amazon Jungle in Peru, and to the Grace International orphanage in Haiti.

The point is that when it came to taking care of people Jesus made it personal – so we need to make it personal too. There are people right now in your town, in your neighborhood, at your place of work, or perhaps even in your church, who would be blessed by having a personal, one-on-one, face-to-face encounter with you today.

I encourage you to on out there and make it personal!

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Take care of each other”

Our Bible verse for today: “Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, ‘Be strong and courageous, for you will go with this people into the land the Lord swore to give to their fathers. You will enable them to take possession of it.’” Deuteronomy 31:7 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Be a source of inspiration and encouragement for others.”

There’s an interesting theme that God has woven all throughout scripture, which appears over and over again. It’s the truth that He does not want His people to live in fear and doubt. Instead, He wants us to have courage and confidence as we walk through life obeying Him, fulfilling His will, and bringing Him glory. He has promised that He will go with us, He will empower us, He will fight for us, and He will protect us. For our part, we are to obey Him and trust Him. And then, we are not to live in fear.

Although I haven’t actually counted them myself, I’ve read from numerous authors and Bible scholars that the command to “fear not” appears in some form exactly 365 times in the Bible – one for each day of the year. Sometimes that command is delivered directly from God Himself, such as in Joshua 1:9 when God told the young leader Joshua, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Or Isaiah 41:10 where He says, “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with my righteous right hand.”

At other times God used angels to deliver the command to “fear not”.  But actually, the way in which the “fear not” command is delivered most in the Bible, is from one person to another, such as we read in Deuteronomy 31:7. There, Moses was attempting to encourage and inspire the young man Joshua as he was about to assume leadership of the nation of Israel so he urged him to “be strong and courageous …”

More than by any other means, God communicates those words of encouragement and inspiration to us through our brothers and sisters in Christ. Therefore, this is one of the most important acts of service we can do for each other. It’s a big, bad, mean, and troubled world that we live in, and life can be hard. We need encouragement and inspiration, and often that comes to us through our fellow Christians reminding us of God’s words. Moses was simply repeating to Joshua what he himself had heard from God. Joshua then repeated it numerous times to the people of Israel. Many of the New Testament writers, including Paul, James, Peter, and John, included such words of encouragement in their letters. Preachers, teachers, and everyday Christians have been offering similar words of encouragement and inspiration to us for two thousand years since then.

Many people you encounter today will be hurting and struggling in some manner. We all need to be encouraged and inspired by the truth that our God is always with us, He goes before us, He protects, empowers, guides, and provides for us, and therefore we can live with courage and confidence instead of in fear and doubt. Remind someone of that important truth today.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Take care of each other”

Our Bible verse for today: “God sets the lonely in families …” Psalm 68:6 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Your church family is a gift from God.”

I come from a fairly large family. I’m the oldest of six siblings. I also had nineteen first cousins (sixteen living less than an hour away). As my siblings and I got older and had families of our own, there were ten different spouses (and counting), who added nineteen nieces and nephews to the family (most of whom now have children of their own). And that doesn’t count the multiple spouses and numerous children of the cousins either. So, ours is a large family.

But as we all grew older many of us moved away from our original homes in the suburbs surrounding New York City. For most of our adult lives we have been spread out across the country and have often gone for years, even decades, without seeing each other. I’ve found that to be a significant missing element in my life and I regret it. I would like to have had family closer during those years. For one thing, a good family takes care of each other and they are there for each other during the tough times in life.

So, I’ve been especially grateful for our church families. Regardless of where Linda and I and our children have lived (we’ve moved a lot), our church family has always filled an important need in our lives. God gives us our church families as a gift. Those people effectively become our family – our brothers and sisters, grandmothers and grandfathers, sons and daughters, and yes, even grandchildren. A good church family takes care of its members every bit as well (and perhaps better) than even a good biological family does.

Even for those who have a lot of biological family close-by, church family is important. The relationships you have with your brothers and sisters in Christ goes deeper and lasts longer than the ties you have with your biological family. The biological ties end at death, but the spiritual ties last for eternity.

As I write this it is Saturday. Tomorrow is Sunday, the day our church families will gather together. I encourage you to faithfully attend the gatherings or your church. You need to be there and they need to have you there. Don’t skip the weekly family reunion!

If you’re not a member of a good church, you need to be. You are missing an important element in your life. If you are in Crossville, or even close to Cumberland County, Tennessee, I invite you to visit us at Oak Hill Baptist Church, 3036 Genesis Road in Crossville. Sunday school begins at 9:00, the worship service is at 10:00.

Church families are a gift from God.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Take care of each other”

Our Bible verse for today: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.” Matthew 22:37-40 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “It’s not that complicated.”

This morning I want to return to our subject of the last two days about taking care of each other by living by the Golden Rule, as Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:12. Just treat others as you would want them to treat you if the roles were reversed. In Matthew 22:37-40 (above) Jesus taught that same point again and he paired it with the statement to love God with all your heart. That’s it – just love God and love other people and you’re good-to-go.

Jesus was a great simplifier. He uncomplicated things and distilled them down to easily remembered and easily followed principles. We find other examples of this kind of simplification in both the Old and New Testaments. The Old Testament prophet Micah wrote in Micah 6:8: “Mankind, he has told each of you what is good and what it is the Lord requires of you: to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God.”

In 1 John 4:19-21 the Apostle John wrote, “We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and yet hates his brother or sister, he is a liar. For the person who does not love his brother and sister whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And we have this command from him: The one who loves God must also love his brother and sister.” So, it’s not complicated; it’s not hard to understand. Love God and love other people.

The other day I came across a wonderful statement written by Phillips Brooke, who was a Christian author and songwriter in the mid-to-late 1800s. He urged us to: “Be such a person, and live such a life, that if every person were such as you, and every life such as yours, this earth would be God’s paradise.” That’s great advice. Live the life you wished everyone else was living. Stop trying to fix everyone else and focus instead on being the be the best “you” that you can be. Love God, love people, and you’re good-to-go. It’s not that complicated.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim