Our theme for this month: “Knowing God”

Our Bible verse for today: “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphim were standing above him; they each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Armies; his glory fills the whole earth.” Isaiah 6:1-3 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “God is majestic”

A.W. Tozer once wrote, “What comes into our mind when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” I believe he is right. What you think about God will ultimately determine everything else about you.

So what is the first thought that comes into your mind when you think about God? Many people think of God in irreverent ways like “The big guy in the sky”, or “The man upstairs”. Some think of Jesus as their good buddy, greeting Him with the equivalent of a fist-bump and a pat on the back. Many others think of God as a celestial scorekeeper and a stern disciplinarian. He’s always watching you, He’s keeping score, and when you get home He’s going to give you a good spanking.

I’ve always loved the passage in Isaiah chapter six. I’m deeply grateful that early in my Christian life my pastor directed my attention to it, because it helped to form my initial understanding of God. Over the years since then I’ve learned about many of God’s other attributes, like His love and mercy, His compassion and kindness, His goodness and grace, but one of my earliest impressions of God came from Isaiah’s image in this passage of God as majestic – high and holy, lifted up and exalted.

Isaiah’s vision helps us to remember that when we approach God’s throne of grace it is indeed a throne we are approaching, and the One upon that throne is the mighty and majestic God of the universe. We are welcome at that throne because we are His children. He loves us deeply, He is kind and gracious, and He takes great pleasure in our presence there with Him. So we need not cower or crawl on our bellies, but let’s also not be casual about it.

One of the great tragedies in modern Christianity is our low view of God. We have become entirely too casual in His presence. Tozer contends that that low view of God is the cause of a thousand lesser evils. When you have a low view of God you will easily minimize and excuse sin. If you have a high view of God you will see Him as majestic, exalted, holy and lifted up, and that high view of God will change a lot of things in the rest of your life.

I encourage you to spend some extra time this morning slowly reading Isaiah 6:1-6. Mediate on it, pray over it, and ask the Holy Spirit to help you see God the Father as He really is.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Knowing God”

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

Our thought for today: “We need to know God as He really is.”

A.W. Tozer (1897-1963) was a Christian and Missionary Alliance Pastor. He was also a popular conference speaker, retreat leader, and the author of more than thirty books. His most important work was written and published in 1961 and was called “The Knowledge of the Holy”. It’s a small book written for the average Christian and it is intended to help us get a better understanding of God’s basic attributes, as well as what those attributes mean for us in a real and practical way as we live our everyday Christian lives.

It’s essential for us to know God as he really is; that’s a critical factor in living the Christian life well. Unfortunately, many Christians today have a distorted and inaccurate understanding of God.  To a large extent our Christian culture has formed a god in our own image and to our own liking. Many people have ideas about God which bear little resemblance to the God of the Bible. Tozer writes, The Church has surrendered her once lofty concept of God and has substituted for it one so low, so ignoble, as to be utterly unworthy of thinking, worshiping men.”

Even in our day we are still technically a “religious” people. Even considering how far our culture has drifted from God, we still have lots of “religious” activity in America. In many towns there is a church on almost every corner. The airwaves are filled with Christian radio and television broadcasts. There are Christian bookstores. Bibles are easily available to anyone who wants one (or two, or ten, or twenty). There are Christian concerts, and Christian conferences, and Christian bowling nights. We have bumper stickers, fish symbols, a dashboard Jesus, and John-the-Baptist soap-on-a-rope. Quantity isn’t the problem. Quality is.

Tozer goes on, The words ‘Be still, and know that I am God,’ mean next to nothing to the self-confident, bustling worshiper in the middle period of the twentieth century.” What was true when Tozer wrote those words in 1961 is even truer today in 2018. Our knowledge of God is too often superficial and inaccurate.

This month we will take the time to get to know God as He really is. We will consider some of God’s most important attributes, we will talk about what those supernatural truths mean for us, and we will think about how they impact our everyday lives.

We need to know God as He really is. We won’t have full knowledge of God until the day we arrive in heaven, but the Bible reveals enough about Him that we can know Him now, much better than we do.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

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

Our Bible verse for today: “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?” Mark 8:36 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Don’t spend your life pursuing things that won’t matter in eternity.”

There was a time in by “BC” days (before Christ), when I was a bit of a gambler. I enjoyed playing poker, blackjack, slot machines, and the lottery. For a couple of years during that period my family and I lived in Florida where greyhound dog racing was popular. So from time-to-time Linda and I would go to the dog track, which is similar to horse racing tracks in other states.

The way it works is that the greyhounds are all lined up in a starting gate and there is an electronic rabbit on a circular metal rail that goes around the edge of the entire track. The dogs have been trained from birth to chase the rabbit. At the start of the race the bell rings, the rabbit takes off, the gates come up, and the dogs charge out like they were shot out of a cannon – and the race is on. The rabbit is programmed to move just a little faster than the dogs can run. The dogs race madly around the track trying in vain to catch the rabbit, but they never do.

However, one day the rabbit broke down part way through the race and suddenly stopped. When it did, the dogs caught it. But once they did catch it, they had no idea what to do with it. This had never happened before and the dogs were totally confused. Instead of tearing the rabbit apart, the dogs started barking and yelping and running around in circles snapping at each other. After all those years they finally caught the rabbit and when they did, they discovered it wasn’t what they thought it would be.

Many people spend their lives chasing the rabbit. Year after year they race through life chasing things that always seem to remain just beyond their grasp. It’s exhausting, it’s frustrating, and for the most part, it just leaves them tired and dissatisfied. In the unlikely event they finally catch the thing they were chasing, they often discover it wasn’t what they thought it would be and they end up discouraged and disillusioned.

In Mark 8:36 Jesus asked the provocative question, “What will it benefit you if you gain the whole world but lose your soul?” You see, when it’s all said and done, when your body is buried and your soul is facing eternity, the only thing that will matter is your relationship with Jesus.

As we end this series about “A life well spent”, I encourage you to stay focused on the most important pursuit in life – a close relationship with the Lord. Don’t waste your life chasing after things that won’t matter two seconds after you’re dead. As the poet C.T. Studd once wrote, “Only one life; will soon be past; only what’s done for Christ will last.”

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

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

Our Bible verse for today: “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Proverbs 4:23 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “What’s in your heart determines everything else about you.”

Henry Ward Beecher was a well-known and widely respected pastor, speaker, writer, and social reformer in the mid-1800s. In much of his teaching and preaching Beecher asserted that the quality of any person’s life is determined by what’s in their heart. Commenting on Proverbs 4:23 he once wrote, “It is the heart that makes a man rich. He is rich according to what he is, not according to what he has.”

Of course, that kind of thinking flies in the face of human wisdom. People are usually considered rich based upon what they have. If you make a lot of money, own a big house, drive a nice car, wear expensive clothes, go on exotic vacations, and have a lot of money in the bank, then you are rich. And if not, then you are poor. So says the world.

Beecher’s point in the quote above, and Solomon’s point in Proverbs 4:23, is that it is what’s in your heart that makes you rich or poor. A happy poor man is better than a miserable rich man. A small apartment filled with love and joy is better than a large mansion filled with anger and strife. A content man of modest means is better off than a greedy man who is rich but never satisfied.

And so, Solomon warns us to carefully guard the condition of our heart. Prayerfully consider the things that are most important to you. What is it that you crave, and what captures and holds your attention? The condition of your heart will ultimately determine everything else about you – it will determine the quality of your life.

One of the best places to go to get your heart right is church. A good worship service can be a powerful tool in the hands of the Holy Spirit. Through the prayers, scripture reading, music, and preaching, as well as through the powerful spiritual dynamic created by a group of worshipers all seeking God together, the Holy Spirit can often break through a calloused heart faster and better in a worship service than anywhere else.

I would like to invite you to visit with us this Sunday at Oak Hill Baptist Church. Sunday school is at 9:00 and the worship service begins at 10:00. Give your heart to Jesus and everything else in your life will quickly begin to fall into place, because it’s the condition of your heart that determines everything else about you.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

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

Our Bible verse for today: “Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him …” Luke 24:31 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Living the ‘with-God’ life is possible.”

Please excuse me if I make this devotional message very personal. As I write this it is the morning of my sixty-fourth birthday. Now-a-days birthdays always put me in a reflective mood. They cause me to think back over the life I’ve had up to this point, and to think forward about the life I hope to have in the years to come. That’s where my mind is at this morning.

One theme that has become increasingly important to me at this stage in life is what Dallas Willard termed “The with-God Life”. That phrase, “The with-God Life”, became the theme around which Dallas’ lifework as a Christian thinker, philosopher, and writer, revolved.

“The with-God Life” is a life that is literally lived “with God” in a very real, very practical, and very experiential way. Through his own life experience, and as a result of his own close walk with the Lord, Dallas discovered that it is possible to know, hear, experience, and interact with God as the most important person in your life.

As we learn to live with God in this manner, we progressively experience what the disciples on the road to Emmaus experienced, “Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him …” We learn to hear God speaking to us in a thousand different ways; we learn to experience Him through the events of our lives; we sense His presence with us; and we come to know Him in ways we never have before. Our eyes are opened and our hearts are burning.

Dallas’ lifework of explaining, teaching, and modeling “The with-God Life” is so intriguing and compelling that his books not only became best sellers, but they have become classics of modern Christian literature. Beyond that, so many Christians over the last thirty years have had a hunger for that kind of life with God, that two graduate level schools have been created based upon the work of Dallas Willard. They are “The Dallas Willard Center for Christian Spiritual Formation” at Westmont College in California, and the “Renovare Institute for Spiritual Formation.” (You can Google both of them).

One of my remaining life goals is to participate in the two-year spiritual formation program sponsored by the Renovare Institute. I have had a vision for doing this for almost twenty years since I first learned of it. It is mostly online classes, video conferences, lots of private personal study, research projects, and four one-week on-campus sessions over the two years. It is an intensive two year program of deep spiritual development and it is done with a small group of students, living in different locations around the country, all working together and helping each other. Each year the program only accepts 45 students nationwide. The 2018-2020 class, which begins in August, is already full. I am applying for the 2019-2021 class and would appreciate your prayers. It is a highly competitive application process and only a small percentage of applicants are accepted. As I said, this would fulfill one of my remaining life goals.

We are all works in progress (me especially), and we should all be in a constant state of learning, growing, and developing in our spiritual maturity. A life well spent is a life lived in a close relationship with Jesus – the closer the better. I pray that will turn out to have been true for me, and I pray it will be true for you too.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

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

Our Bible verse for today: “Grey hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained by a righteous life.” Proverbs 16:31 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Growing old is a good thing.”

The other day I was having a Facebook chat with a couple of old friends whom I haven’t seen in more than forty years. We grew-up in the same town but we haven’t seen each other since our early twenties. However, we have been Facebook friends for probably six or seven years.

On this occasion they wanted to wish my wife Linda a happy birthday. One of them then mentioned that she was having some ear problems and had lost some of her hearing. Another mentioned that she was experiencing some back and leg pain and was having therapy for it. I said that the older I get the more aches and pains I have, but still, I’m grateful for the privilege of growing old because so many people die young. We then mentioned some of our friends we had grown-up with who died in their 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s but here we were, in our 60s and still kicking it – but complaining! We all agreed that the aches and pains were worth it and we were glad to be alive.

That conversation was about the aches and pains associated with growing old. Last night I was thinking about old age again, but this time in a different way and for a different reason. In my reading I came across a statement written by Dallas Willard regarding Christians who age well. He wrote, “As people age the beauty of their souls can shine through.” Yes! I’ve known many older Christians like that. As they aged not only did they become more mellow and relaxed, but they became increasingly spiritually mature.

If we live this Christian life well then the fruit of the Spirit as described by Paul in Galatians 5:22-23 (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control), will become more and more a part of our nature. As we mature spiritually, those virtues will shine forth out of us.

In Proverbs 16:31 Solomon referred to grey hair (which is associated with old age), as being a crown of splendor which is attained by that person as a result of having lived a righteous and virtuous life. That’s a word picture, a metaphor. The crown of splendor attained through righteous living is the beauty that Dallas Willard was referring to. It is the wonderful, beautiful, well-developed, and spiritually mature soul which was formed over a lifetime of faithful living, and which is now shining out of that older person.

Growing old at all is a good thing. Many people don’t get the privilege of living a long life. But growing old well is a beautiful thing. People who walk closely with Jesus all the days of their lives grow old well, and the beauty of their soul shines through. That’s proof of a life well spent.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

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

Our Bible verse for today: “The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the person who seeks him. It is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord.” Lamentations 3:25-26 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Don’t be a quitter.”

I’ve always been a big fan of John Wayne. The Duke was a tough guy, but in the best sense of the term. He was a champion for justice, a defender of the helpless, and a nightmare for the bad guys. And he never gave-up. He persevered and saw things through. I saw a picture of him the other day with a caption that read “I don’t much like quitters, son.” The point was that giving-up just isn’t something that winners do.

If your life is going to be one that is well spent you will have to learn to persevere through tough times. Life is filled with difficulties and challenges. Many times those difficulties will last for a long time. The people I admire most are those who hang in there and push through times of adversity – someone who doesn’t give-up when the going gets a little tough, a person who has learned to persevere with dignity.

This morning I want to share with you two quotes which have been inspiring for me and which I’ve held onto for years. The first comes from our 30^th President of the United States, Calvin Coolidge. He once wrote:

“Nothing can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”

The second is from author Andy Andrews in his book “The Traveler’s Gift” and it is the seventh of the seven major decisions he lists as being key to a life lived well:

“I will persist and persevere without exception. I hold fast to my dreams and visions. I stay the course. I do not quit. Fatigue is often a precursor to victory. I will not be one of those who gave up just before the victory would have come … trying times produce great men. I will persist and persevere without exception.”

The ability to persevere through tough times is a trait shared in common among those whose lives are well spent. It’s what Jeremiah was referring to in Lamentations 3:25-26. Deliverance from the Lord comes to those who wait patiently for God to come through for them and who don’t give-up.

Don’t be a quitter. Hang in there and don’t give-up. Wait patiently for the Lord and He will deliver you.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

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

Our Bible verse for today: “So my people come to you in crowds, sit in front of you, and hear your words, but they don’t obey them. Their mouths go on passionately, but their hearts pursue dishonest profit. Yes, to them you are like a singer of passionate songs who has a beautiful voice and plays skillfully on an instrument. They hear your words, but they don’t obey them.” Ezekiel 33:31-33 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Live what you profess to believe.”

If ever there was a prophet of doom and gloom, Ezekiel was that guy. Ezekiel ministered in the southern Kingdom of Judah from 593-571 B.C. This was before, during, and after the fall of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonian army. Ezekiel preached to the people, warned the people, pleaded with the people, and even threatened the people, but all to no avail. They just wouldn’t listen. One commentator described these people as being exceedingly sinful and thoroughly hopeless.

What’s interesting about this though is that the people were very religious. They came to the church services, they gathered around Ezekiel, they sat under his preaching, they listened to all he had to say, they even passionately mouthed pious religious platitudes in response, but it meant nothing. It was all a religious show. Their hearts were actually far from God. They left those worship services unaffected and unchanged, and they obeyed nothing they had been commanded to do (or to stop doing). They were religious phonies and they ended up paying a big price for it.

Their story is not just an old one, it’s a modern story too and it pertains to many people in our churches today. As the singer Jimmy Buffet once said, “There’s a fine line between Saturday night and Sunday morning!” Many people in our churches come to the services, sing the songs, listen to the sermons, nod their heads in agreement, and even mouth superficial Christian clichés, but then they live like the devil Monday through Saturday.

A life well spent is a life where the individual actually lives what he or she professes to believe. There shouldn’t be a fine line between Saturday night and Sunday morning. There should be no line at all. Your church face should be your everyday face. The person you are in the pew on Sunday should be the same person you are at work on Monday.

I encourage you to actually live what it is you profess to believe.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

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

Our Bible verse for today: “Jesus said, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” John 20:29 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Believe even if you can’t see”

We’re all familiar with the story of “doubting Thomas”. Thomas was one of the original 12 apostles. But he wasn’t present at the time the resurrected Jesus appeared to the other apostles and so, Thomas refused to believe that Jesus was alive. A week later, Jesus appeared to them again and this time Thomas was there. Once Thomas saw Jesus for himself he did believe, but his belief was based on sight, not on faith.

This is a primary problem for many people. We have trouble believing in things we can’t see and so many people have trouble believing in God. We can’t see Him and so we often having trouble believing He is real. But He is there none-the-less, and He does reassure us of His presence in many ways.

Author Gary Moon tells the story of how one day he and his wife watched a woman playing in a parking lot with her blind dog. The dog was completely blind and therefore could not see his master. To compensate for the dog’s inability to see, the woman ran backwards across the gravel parking lot dragging her feet and making a scraping noise for the dog to hear. The dog followed the noises made by the woman’s feet and joyfully, playfully, sprinted after his master. As she continued to back up she kept calling out to the dog, “I’m right here, I see you, keep coming”, and the dog responded by continuing to follow the clues the master provided.

Gary said that as he watched this playful exchange between the woman and her blind dog he sensed God speaking to him saying, “Gary, you are like that dog and I am the owner. You can’t see Me, but I am real and I am here. And even though you can’t see Me, I can see you. I’m here. I’ve got you. Just follow My voice and stay close to Me.”

To live the Christian life well we have to believe even when we can’t see. God is real and He is here. He can see you even if you can’t see Him. And, even though you can’t see Him, He will make noise, He will provide clues, He will call out to you so you can be sure of His presence and so you can stay close to Him. Just pay attention, listen and follow.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is: