Our theme for this month: “A life well spent”

Our Bible verse for today: “See how the faithful city has become a prostitute! She once was full of justice; righteousness used to dwell in her – but now murderers! ”Isaiah 1:21 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Don’t get lazy and indifferent.”

In the passage from Isaiah above, the prophet was describing how the nation of Israel had slowly, progressively, and over time, drifted far from God. Once they were God’s pride and joy. Once they had honored Him and He was pleased with them. But the holy city had become a place of spiritual emptiness and despair; the people were indifferent and lazy.

It didn’t happen over night and there were no sudden shifts in the thoughts or practices of the people. The change was gradual and subtle, it occurred in barely noticeable degrees. But over time the people as individuals, and the nation as a whole, drifted far from God.

The problem was that they got lazy and indifferent when it came to their spiritual lives. Once they had been diligent and faithful in the practice of their faith. But times were good, they were prosperous, there was a chicken in every pot and a camel in every driveway, and soon they forgot how much they needed God. They were living lives of comfort and pleasure, many of them were flirting with the fake gods from other cultures, and so they slowly drifted further and further away from the One True God.

A life that is well spent is a life that remains faithful to God in the good times and in the bad times. A person living a godly life knows to seek the guidance, protection, and help of God when they are faced with trials and struggles, but they also remain faithful to God when times are good and they are not struggling.

Pastor and author Eugene Peterson once coined the phrase “A long obedience in the same direction” to describe a Christian life lived well. It means that the person knows what they need to do to maintain a strong and vibrant and relationship with the Lord, and they discipline themselves to stay engaged in those practices – all the time.

Of course that includes things like daily prayer and Bible study, but it also includes regular and full participation in the life of your church. Drifting away from God almost always occurs slowly, progressively, subtly, in small degrees, over a long period of time. The person eventually becomes lazy and indifferent in the practice of their faith and soon they find themselves far away from God.

I encourage you to not let that happen in your life. Stay alert, stay focused, remain diligent and faithful. Don’t get lazy or indifferent.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “A life well spent”

Our Bible verse for today: “Wisdom is found with the elderly, and understanding comes with long life.” Job 12:12 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “You have a lot left to give.”

I’m deeply grateful to God for some of the older people He has strategically placed into my life over the years. They were godly men and women who had lived lives of faithfulness and who had acquired great wisdom through the years. And they were people who loved me enough to use their wisdom and experience to help me learn and grow.

There was Oren and Louise Teel. Oren was my pastor, my father in the faith, and my mentor in ministry. Louise was everyone’s grandmother and I considered her to be my west coast mother. There was Dick DeGrow, a retired pastor who served as a deacon, Sunday school teacher, and custodian in the first church I was the pastor of. Dick was instrumental in helping me to learn how to be a pastor. In another church there was Jane Fish, a pastor’s wife, the former manager of a Christian bookstore, and a writer of curriculum for the Southern Baptist Sunday school Board. She was my prayer partner, fellow book-lover, a confidant, and a great source of counsel.

Over and over again throughout the years, right up until this present day, God has always strategically placed one or two older and wiser men and women to serve as a source of counsel for me. Not only am I grateful to God for providing those men and women to guide and teach me, but I’m grateful to them for remaining available. Not everyone does that in their old age.

All too often I see older people withdraw from life in general, and even from participation in the life of their church. Sometimes they retreat to the four walls of their home and live like a shut-in – when they’re really not. What a great loss! They have so much left to contribute! The church needs your wisdom. We need to learn from your experiences. There are men and women, boys and girls, who need to be around you so they can learn from you.

A life well spent is a life that is fully lived right up until the day it ends. As you age the kinds of activities you can be involved in necessarily change. That’s okay, but don’t retreat from life in general, and certainly do not withdraw from the life of your church. You have a lot left to give and we need you!

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “A life well spent”

Our Bible verse for today: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. There is reserved for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me, but to all those who have loved his appearing.” 2 Timothy 4:6-8 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “What matters is that you tried.”

When Paul wrote the letter of Second Timothy he was in prison in Rome facing probable execution. During previous imprisonments he always had the expectation and hope of being released, but not this time. Death was close and he knew it.

At that time Paul was an old man nearing the end of his life, the last thirty years of which had been very hard. He had given-up his prestigious life as an up-and-coming Pharisee. He spent it instead as an itinerant evangelist, a church-planter, and as a Pastor helping to establish the new Christian faith. It had been a hard life with no home of his own, no income most of the time, constantly chased and harassed by enemies of the Christian faith, arrested numerous times, jailed, beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, and more. Now he was old, physically broken, he owned virtually nothing, and he was about to be executed.

Yet in his own estimation his had been a life lived well – it had been spent for a noble purpose and he was confident of his reward in heaven.

Most of us will never be faced with the challenges Paul had to deal with, but we will have to make decisions and choices about how we will invest our own lives. I want to share with you a quote from one of my personal heroes from history, President Teddy Roosevelt. It’s a quote I keep in a picture frame on a bookcase in my office and I review it frequently:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but he who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great devotion; who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails while daring greatly, knows that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

In life all you have to do is try. Just do your best. Even if you seem to come up short by earthly standards, God observed your efforts and He knows your heart. He knows you gave it your best.

I encourage you to be engaged in meaningful endeavors. Dare to try hard things, things that will make a difference. Just give it your best effort, and trust the rest to the Lord.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “A life well spent”

Our Bible verse for today: “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You were faithful over a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Share your master’s joy.” Matthew 25:21 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Invest your life in things that matter.”

I have to admit that I struggled a little bit with the theme for this month. I didn’t struggle with whether or not this was the theme God wanted me to write about, I was pretty sure of that. Last week when I was praying and asking Him to give me a theme, this was what He gave me, and then He confirmed it several times in various ways. So I was confident this is the subject I’m supposed to be exploring this month.

Instead, I was concerned that it might seem repetitive to you. In the past year I’ve written about “Living with no excuses”; “Pushing through adversity”; and “A prosperous life”; all of which are roughly along the same lines as “A life well spent”.

And yet, the theme of “A life well spent” resonated with me personally and I was looking forward to exploring it because I really want it to be true of me. When it’s all said and done and I cross over into eternity, I want to see Jesus with a smile on His face and I want to hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant! A life well spent!”

I’m thinking that’s probably true of you too. You want Him to say that about you too. And so, that’s what we will think about this month – living a life that is spent in ways that really matter. We will think about activities that make a real difference; people whose lives can be influenced by yours; staying focused; dealing with obstacles, disappointments and critics, and much more.

Maybe you’ve heard the story about the man who spent his entire life climbing the ladder of success only to get to the top and discover the ladder had been leaning up against the wrong wall. What a sad ending – getting to the end of life only to realize your years had been spent on things that ultimately didn’t really matter much.

Let’s resolve that that will not be true of us. Let’s invest our lives in things that really matter.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Being a virtuous person”

Our Bible verse for today: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!” 2 Corinthians 5:17 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Easter means new life”

As I write this it is Saturday, the day before Easter, 2018. Easter Sunday – Resurrection Sunday – reminds us that Jesus defeated death and arose from the grave, just as He said He would. The resurrection is the ultimate miracle and it proves beyond all doubt that He is God and that He has power over life and death. And since He was able to defeat death and arise from the grave (just as He said He would), that makes everything else He said true too.

So based on the fact of the resurrection, it only makes sense that we would place our faith in Him for the forgiveness of our sins and that we would become His disciples. But Jesus didn’t come back from the dead just so He could be admired, worshiped, and studied. He died and rose again so that through Him we can have new life. Not only did He get a resurrection life, but so do we.

In 2 Corinthians 5:17 Paul wrote about that new life. There he explained that when a person places their faith in the risen Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins, that person becomes a new creation in the eyes of God. In John 3:3 Jesus Himself described it as being “born again”. You were already alive physically, but in the moment of salvation you experience a rebirth and you are born spiritually. Your spirit literally comes alive. In Ephesians chapter two the Apostle Paul described our previous spiritual condition as being “dead in our transgressions and sins.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 describes the moment in which the dead spirit is “born again” into new life. That’s what the resurrection of Jesus made possible for us.

That new life begins in the very moment you place your faith in Christ and it extends into eternity. It is a new life and that should result in a new way of living. The old life is gone, a new life has been birthed and is now beginning to grow and develop. Paul said, “The old has passed away, and see, the new has come!”

Tomorrow, Easter Sunday, we will celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and the new life we have because of His resurrection. We invite you to join us at Oak Hill Baptist Church. At 9:00 we will enjoy an Easter breakfast buffet while the children have an Easter egg hunt. At 10:00 we will move to the sanctuary for our resurrection celebration service. It’s going to be a great time and we would love to have you with us. Come and celebrate His resurrection and your new life.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Being a virtuous person”

Our Bible verse for today: “But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.” Ephesians 5:3 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Make room in your life for the good things God wants to give you.”

One of the helpful features of “The Every Man’s Study Bible” is that the editors included lots of sidebars which offer additional insights designed to help men become the person God wants them to be. Referring to Paul’s instruction in Ephesians 5:3-20 the editors wrote:

“Ever since God gave the Ten Commandments, some have been tempted to think he enjoys making people miserable and taking away their happiness by denying them earthly pleasures. The truth is, God wants to give us something much better. But in order for us to receive it, we need to clear some room in our lives. Often, that means getting rid of sins or bad habits that are using up the space God wants to claim.”

What an interesting thought – God wants to fill our lives with good things, but in order for Him to do so we have to make room to receive those good things by clearing out the bad things that are currently filling up that space.

I once heard a speaker at a conference tell about his life before Christ. It was one of drugs and drunkenness and sexual immorality. He said, “I had to give up so much when I became a Christian! I had to give up an addiction to drugs; I had to give up my habit of being gutter-crawling drunk every night and waking up the next day with a terrible hangover; I had to give up the constant threat of contracting a sexually transmitted disease; I had to give up being angry and miserable all the time and not even knowing why. I had to give up so much when I became a Christian!”

And he went on, “But in exchange for what I gave up, God gave me so much in return! He filled that same space in my life with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Yes, I gave up a lot. But I gained so much more!”

Are you ready to make room in your life for the good things God wants to give you? It’s your choice. You can allow your life to be filled with sinful things that hurt you and keep you miserable, or you can clear those things out and make room for the great things God wants to fill you up with.

It seems to me that’s really kind of a no-brainer.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Being a virtuous person”

Our Bible verse for today: “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:18 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Biblical virtues often seem foolish to the world.”

Sometimes we can’t understand a thing until we actually experience it. I can try to describe for you what it’s like to jump out of an airplane at 13,000 feet, but until you’ve experienced it for yourself you won’t really know. A new father can tell you what it was like to stand side-by-side with the doctor as he assisted in the birth of his first child. But until you’ve had that experience for yourself you won’t really understand the emotions involved.

Some things just have to be experienced in order to be understood. Christianity is like that. A person won’t really understand or appreciate what it’s like to have a close relationship with Jesus, until they have that relationship for themselves. They can hear other people describe what it’s like for them, and they can see the difference it has made in the other person’s life, but they won’t really get-it until they have that relationship too.

The same holds true for living a life of moral excellence based upon Biblical principles. Those of us who have the Holy Spirit of God living in our hearts and who know what it’s like to be in a love relationship with Jesus, we know and understand the deep driving desire to live in a way that honors and pleases our heavenly Father. But to the world such behavior often appears to be foolish.

Your friend might ask in astonishment, “That pretty woman was flirting with you, offering herself to you, and you turned her down because you didn’t want to be unfaithful to your wife? Are you nuts? Who does that?” Well, a godly man who loves his wife does that, that’s who.

Likewise, if you tell the truth when a lie would have been easier and more to your personal advantage, the world will often shake their collective heads and consider you naïve. If you object to an X-rated bookstore doing business in your community some will think of you as a narrow-minded prude. If you faithfully attend church every Sunday rather than treating Sunday like a second Saturday, you’re a religious nut. Why would you want to live like that?

Some things just have to be experienced to be understood. The message of the cross, and living in a way that is pleasing to the Lord, is often seen as naïve and foolish to those who don’t know Jesus. But to those of us who do know Him, it’s the only conduct that makes any sense.

Living a virtuous life of moral excellence based upon Biblical principles will sometimes seem foolish to the world. But that’s okay, be virtuous anyway.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Being a virtuous person”

Our Bible verse for today: “What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside.” 1 Corinthians 5:12-13 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “We must help each other be virtuous.”

I’ve heard it said and I believe it is true that if the church were more like Christ, the world would be more receptive to the message of the Gospel. Sadly, the behavior of Christians is often not too different from that of the culture we live in. Sometimes it’s worse. Sexual sin, dishonesty, gossip, back-biting, greed, gluttony, you name it – if it exists out there in the world you will also find it in the church.

Ironically, and to our shame, we’re often very vocal about the sins of the world and very blind about our own sins. We’re pretty good at pointing out all the things “those people” do wrong, and we’re pretty bad at acknowledging all the things that we do wrong. Picture the loud and opinionated big-belly preacher spitting and fuming about “them homosexuals”, while he himself is clearly in bondage to the demon of gluttony.

In 1 Corinthians 5:12-13 Paul tells the Corinthians (and us) that we would be well advised to pay a little less attention to “them” and a little more attention to “us”. We’ve got a few things to get cleaned up in our own lives before we’re going to be very effective at convicting the world of their sin.

And for that, we need each other. We’ve all got blind spots and we need to help each other see them. That doesn’t mean that we’re to be running around inside our churches pointing out each other’s faults. It does mean that in gentleness and love we need to help each other see our own weaknesses. That’s usually best done in subtle ways. Sermons and Bible studies (and daily devotional messages) are helpful in this respect. Close friendships can also serve as a platform from which we can minister to each other in this way. Counseling with your pastor or other church leaders is another way these issues can get addressed.

But get addressed they must. We have a responsibility to help one another identify and deal with our own obvious (and not so obvious) sinful ways.

Being virtuous in a sinful world is not easy. We need to help each other. You help me to see and deal with my faults and weaknesses, and I’ll help you to see yours, and maybe then, together, we can help the world see theirs.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Being a virtuous person”

Our Bible verse for today: “If only you would be altogether silent! For you, that would be wisdom.” Job 13:5 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Silence can be a virtue.”

A wise person knows when to speak and when to remain silent. Sadly, silence is a virtue many of us lack. Or at least, we don’t have enough of it. Many of us speak more than we should, and often with inappropriate words which would be better left unsaid.

Such was the case with Job’s friends. If you’re familiar with the story then you know that Job suffered through a series of terrible calamities. In rapid succession he lost his children, his wealth, and his health. He quickly went from being the most prosperous and influential man in his community, to sitting in dust and ashes, covered in oozing sores, and despised even by the town drunk.

When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar heard about it they quickly went to Job and spent seven days just sitting with him and sharing in his grief. It was what we call “the ministry of presence”. They didn’t say a thing. They simply entered into his grief with him and comforted him by just being there.

But then they started talking. And when they did, they got stupid. They attempted to share wisdom they did not possess; they spoke words that hurt rather than helped; and they did it all in a reproachful and judgmental manner. Finally, in pain and anger and frustration, Job lashed out at them and said, “If only you would be altogether silent! For you, that would be wisdom.” One Bible commentator wrote, “Job’s friends spoke their wisest words during the first seven days they spent with him. That’s when they shut their mouths and kept silent.”

Some of you are old enough to remember the television commercial from the 1980s for the investment firm E.F. Hutton. E.F. Hutton claimed that their brokers only spoke when they had real investment wisdom to impart. Therefore when E.F. Hutton spoke, people listened. So the commercial showed two men in a crowded noisy room having a conversation about investments. One man said to his friend, “Well my broker is E.F Hutton and E.F. Hutton says …” As those words left his mouth the entire room fell silent and everyone turned to the man and leaned forward to hear what it was E.F. Hutton had to say.

In Ecclesiastes 9:17 Solomon wrote, “The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouts of fools.”

Silence is often a virtue. If you’re the kind of person who just runs your mouth for the sake of making noise, people will soon tune you out because they realize you have nothing of value to say. But if when you speak you really have something meaningful (and accurate) to say, your words will have weight and people will listen. Don’t be like Job’s friends, opinionated and mouthy. Consider your words carefully and before you speak, make sure you really do have something helpful and of value to share.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is: