Our theme for this month: “Celebrating Christmas”

Our Bible verse for today: “So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child … She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manager, because there was no room for them in the inn.” Luke 2:4-5; 7 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Christmas Eve is a time of anticipation and preparation.”

Christmas Eve is one of the busiest travel days of the year as people go in cars, trains, and planes to see family and friends. Those of us at home eagerly wait for and anticipate the arrival of our friends and loved ones. Christmas Eve is also a time of eager anticipation for the joy of opening presents on Christmas morning. I’m sixty-four years old and I’m still a big kid on Christmas morning when it comes to giving and receiving presents.

But Christmas Eve should also (first, and primarily, and most importantly), be a time of eager anticipation and preparation as we celebrate the birth of Christ. After all, that’s what Christmas is really all about. Jesus really is the reason for the season.

To help us refocus and have a better appreciation for the significance of Christmas Eve, let’s think back to the original Christmas Eve and what it must have been like in heaven and on earth. Nine months earlier Jesus had voluntarily laid aside His power and His glory, descended to earth and placed Himself in the womb of a teenage girl, and had spent nine months growing just as any other fetus would. Now the birth was about to occur. All of heaven watched and waited in eager anticipation.

For Joseph and Mary it was also a time of anticipation and preparation. Mary was in labor. Her body ached, her back was killing her, and she was more uncomfortable than she had ever been in her life. The pains were shooting through her abdomen and she needed to lie down. Joseph was desperately trying to find a place for his wife to safely give birth. The inn was full.

I consider what was going-on on that first Christmas Eve with Jesus in the womb, the Father and angels watching from heaven, and Joseph and Mary on earth trying to prepare for the birth of their child – and suddenly my preoccupation with presents, guests, Christmas cookies and football games seems shallow and childish. I’ve lost my focus. I’m grateful for the presents; I look forward to having the family together; I love Christmas cookies; and all of those things do have their proper place in the Christmas celebration. But Christmas Eve is about so much more than that.

Tonight at Oak Hill Baptist Church will celebrate Christmas Eve with a short candlelight service beginning at 5:00. The lights in the sanctuary will be dimmed. Candles will be glowing. There will be Christmas music, a short Christmas Eve message, lighting of more candles, and we will end with singing “Joy to the World”. We would love to have you join us. Christmas Eve is a time of anticipation and preparation. It is a time to think about Jesus.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Celebrating Christmas”

Our Bible verse for today: “But after he considered these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit … When Joseph woke up, he did as the Lord’s angel had commanded him. He married her …” Matthew 1:20; 24 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Notice the forgotten people.”

Recently I came across a wonderful little booklet written by O.S. Hawkins entitled “The Christmas Code”. In it Hawkins shared some observations about the Christmas story that I had never considered before. One of them pertains to Joseph, the husband of Mary. In many respects Joseph is the forgotten man in the Christmas story. He is seldom mentioned and never directly quoted. Mary, the shepherds, the wise men, Elizabeth, Zacharias, Herod, Simeon, and even the angels all have lines to speak. But there is no record of anything Joseph ever said. Most of the time the spotlight is on others and Joseph is in the background.

Also at Christmas we sing songs about Mary, the baby Jesus, the wise men, the shepherds, the angels, and the star. We even have a song about the mythical donkey that Mary was supposed to have ridden on (Dominic the Christmas donkey). But how many of our songs directly mention Joseph? Not many. To a large degree Joseph is the forgotten man in the Christmas story.

Joseph had an important role to play, and there is a good reason God chose him to provide a home for and to raise the child Jesus. Joseph was a good godly man who was certainly a fine husband to Mary and a good father to Jesus. But he was quiet and unobtrusive. He largely remained in the shadows of the story and to this day doesn’t get much attention.

This caused me to wonder, “How many forgotten people are there in our own Christmas stories?” How many quiet and unobtrusive people are in the shadows of our Christmas celebrations?  In your church there are probably single people who have no family close by. The nursing homes in every town are crowded with lonely elderly people who won’t get a present or have a visit on Christmas day.

I encourage all of us to notice the forgotten people all around us. Then select one or two who you will reach out to and bless with some attention, or perhaps a small gift, or maybe even an invitation to join you and your family for Christmas dinner.

In some respects Joseph is the forgotten man in the Christmas story. Let’s make it a point to give some attention to those around us who might be overlooked this Christmas.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Celebrating Christmas”

Our Bible verse for today: “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel – which means, “God with us”. Matthew 1:21; 23 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “The names of Jesus tell us everything we need to know about Him.”

Choosing a name for a baby is often a fun and sometimes challenging occasion for parents. Often the parents choose a name simply because they like it. The most popular girl’s names in 2018 were Sophia, Olivia, and Emma. The most popular boy’s names were Jackson, Liam, and Noah.

Sometimes a child is given a name with Biblical significance in the hope that they will grow-up emulating the character traits of that Biblical person. For that reason names like Joseph, Joshua, Caleb, Mary, and Deborah have traditionally been popular. Other families name their children in honor of a close family member. Author O.S. Hawkins explains that his name is a combination of family names, the O.S. standing for Otis Swafford (which is why he goes by his initials!). And sometimes the names parents choose for their children are just plain weird. The rock and roll singer of the 1960s, Frank Zappa, named his children Dweezil and Moon Unit.

In Matthew chapter one the angel told Joseph that he was to name the baby in Mary’s womb “Jesus”, which is derived from the Hebrew name “Yesuha” and means “to deliver or to save”. But two verses later the angel said that Jesus would also be called “Immanuel”, which means “God is with us”.

No other baby name in history so accurately described what would be true of the person it was given to. Jesus came to rescue us from our sins, and He was in fact God in a human body – God with us. God lived among us in the person of Jesus Christ and He saved us from an eternity in hell.

There should be no confusion about the meaning and purpose of Christmas. His names, Jesus and Immanuel, tell us who He is and why He came.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Celebrating Christmas”

Our Bible verse for today: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin. Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need.” Hebrews 4:15-16 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Christmas is about more than just Christmas.”

Christmas is about more than just Christmas. By that I mean that Christmas is not just about the birth of Jesus. It’s not just about Jesus coming into the world so He could one day die upon a cross to pay the penalty for our sins so that we can then go to heaven. Christmas is about that, but Christmas is about life too.

The implications of Christmas extend to all of life. One of the reasons Jesus lived for thirty-three years on this earth is so that He could experience life as we do. That’s what the writer of the letter to the Hebrews meant when he said that we have a high priest (Jesus) who is able to understand and sympathize with the things we deal with in life.

And it’s also why, in Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus was able to issue this invitation to us: “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Jesus offers to walk through life with us. As a human being He experienced life as we do. Now as the Resurrected Lord, and by means of His Holy Spirit living in your heart, He is willing and eager to walk through life with you, helping you to deal effectively with whatever issue you are facing. “Come to me” He said. “Let’s do this together. Walk side-by-side with me and we will carry the burdens and deal with the issues together.”

One of the reasons we celebrate the Advent season is so our Christmas celebration will strengthen our relationship with the Lord. Focusing on the true meaning of Christmas, with all of it’s implications for eternity, but also for all of life, makes us stronger. Christmas is about more than just Christmas. The implications of Christmas extend to all of life.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Celebrating Christmas”

Our Bible verse for today: “Then he said to them, ‘Go and eat what is rich, drink what is sweet, and send portions to those who have nothing prepared, since today is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, because the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “It is good for God’s people to celebrate.”

It is good for God’s people to celebrate. That’s one of the reasons the Jewish calendar is based upon a cycle of feasts and celebrations. There are dozens of them each year, big and small, twenty-eight of which are national holidays in the state of Israel. (Those people are serious about their celebrating!)

In Nehemiah 8:10 Nehemiah instructed the people to hold a day of celebration and feasting. They needed to do this because “the joy of the Lord is your strength”. Joy and fun are important parts of celebration because they lift our spirits. Celebration takes our minds off of the cares of life and helps us to simply relax as we enjoy good food and good company.

Setting aside special times for joyful celebration was God’s idea, and it is good for us.

Christmas is such a time. In this case the focus of the joyful celebration is the birth of Christ, and it includes gathering with family and friends, feasting with good food and music, and exchanging gifts. All of it done as a means of celebrating what God has done for us by sending His Son to earth to live among us and to save us from our sins. That certainly merits a good celebration.

It might seem strange that God would be pleased and even honored by a good Christmas party. But if the joy and celebration, the feasting and the gift-giving, the singing and the laughing, is all done for the right reason (in honor of Jesus), then God is pleased.

So party hardy my friends. Enjoy the parties, the feasting, and the gift-giving because it is good for God’s people to celebrate. Just keep the focus where it’s supposed to be (on Jesus), and then enjoy yourself.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Celebrating Christmas”

Our Bible verse for today: “Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are small among the clans of Judah; one will come from you to be ruler over Israel for me. His origin is from antiquity, from ancient times.” Micah 5:2 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “God loves to use ordinary people to do great things.”

Of all the places God could have chosen for Jesus to be born, Bethlehem was one of the least likely locations. It was an out-of-the-way backwater little village that few people had ever heard of and still fewer people ever went to. There was no reason for people to go there. There was nothing there.

Likewise, of all the people God could have chosen to be the human parents of the baby Jesus, why Mary and Joseph? She was an uneducated teenage peasant girl. He was a simple carpenter of no distinction. Why them?

It would have seemed to have made more sense for Jesus to have been born to a High Priest and his wife. Then Jesus would have grown up as religious nobility. And as for location, why not Jerusalem instead of Bethlehem? Talk about a high profile birth! The much anticipated baby of the High Priest and His wife, born under the best and most sanitary of circumstances in the cosmopolitan city of Jerusalem. Surely that makes more sense than a filthy animal shelter on the outskirts of a place like Bethlehem.

But no. Bethlehem it was. To Mary and Joseph. In the hay. Among the animals.

God actually prefers to use the common and the ordinary instead of spectacular locations and famous celebrities. Oh yes, the world does need our Billy Grahams, Rick Warrens, and Lottie Moons. High profile people filling stadiums, writing best selling books, and doing pioneering mission work are needed. And without question the Sistine Chapel is a remarkable work of religious art and architecture that has inspired millions of people for hundreds of years. All of that is needed.

But God does His best work, and most of His work, through the simple circumstances and everyday lives of ordinary people like you and me. The Christian world is populated almost entirely by people like you and me, not like Billy Graham and Lottie Moon. And most places of worship in the world look more like your church and mine, not like the Sistine Chapel.

The nativity scene in Bethlehem serves to remind us that God loves to use ordinary circumstances like yours and mine, and simple everyday people like you and me, to accomplish the majority of His work in this world.

Your current circumstances are very useful to God. Your life matters to God. YOU matter to God. Bethlehem proves it.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is: