Our theme for this month: “Personal Responsibility”

Our Bible verse for today: “Be strong and courageous; don’t be terrified or afraid of them. For the Lord your God is the one who will go with you; he will not leave you or abandon you.” Deuteronomy 31:6 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “It’s up to you to turn to God for courage.”

This morning I want to revisit our thought from yesterday about having the courage to stand your ground. Throughout history it has always been the case that God’s people have been faced with adversity and opposition from the surrounding culture. And it has always been true that God’s people needed to turn to him for the courage they needed to face that opposition.

In Deuteronomy 31:6 we’re reading part of Moses’ farewell speech to the nation of Israel. He was about to die, and they were about to cross the Jordan River to take possession of the Promised Land. When they did, they were going to have to face their enemies and they were going to have to trust God, drawing courage from Him to go forward and do what they needed to do. Once before, forty years earlier, they had been faced with the same situation and they had failed. At that time they did not trust God and they did not turn to Him for the courage they needed in order to deal with the challenge. And so, they wandered in the wilderness for forty years.

There has never been a time when God’s people did not face opposition and challenges. The nature of the opposition and challenges do change, but the need for courage and trust is the same. We need to look to the Lord and trust that He is leading us in the way He wants us to go. We also need to remember that as Christians helping to build our Father’s kingdom on earth, our cause is noble and right and just.

In his great little book “Make Your Bed”, retired Four Star Navy Admiral and SEAL William McRaven made a great statement about the value of courage:

“Our goal, which we believed to be honorable and noble, gave us courage, and courage is a remarkable quality. Nothing and nobody can stand in your way. Without it, others will define your path forward. Without it, you are at the mercy of life’s temptations. Without courage, men will be ruled by tyrants and despots. Without courage, no great society can flourish. Without courage, the bullies of the world rise up. With it, you can accomplish any goal. With it, you can defy and defeat evil.”

I encourage you to remember that the Lord your God is with you and He goes before you. He will not leave you and He will not abandon you. Therefore there is no need to be afraid.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Personal Responsibility”

Our Bible verse for today: “For God did not give us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love and self-discipline.” 2 Timothy 1:7 (NLT)

Our thought for today: “You have a responsibility to stand your ground”

It’s amazing to me how many verses and passages in the Bible urge the people of God to push past their fears and to take a stand for righteousness. From the earliest chapters of the Old Testament to the last chapters of the New Testament we find examples of great men and women of God who were faced with challenging and even threatening situations, and who had to find the courage to push past their fears and do the right thing.
The lesson we learn from all of their examples is the one Paul was teaching to young Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:7, that our God gives us the courage, the fortitude, and the determination to deal with such situations.

The most common form of intimidation the average Christian is faced with in our society today is the pressure to remain silent about your faith and about Biblical principles. We live in a culture that is becoming increasingly intolerant of Christian thought and speech. Virtually every other point of view (even the most perverse ones) are tolerated and celebrated, but Christianity is mocked, shouted down, and ridiculed. (Colin Kaepernick is hailed as a courageous hero for kneeling in protest, while Tim Tebow was scorned as a narrow-minded religious bigot for kneeling in prayer).

The primary reason I wrote my new book “Getting Along without Going Along: Biblical Sexual Ethics in an Age of Controversy and Conflict” was to help Christians to be prepared to speak-up for Biblical principles regarding sexual ethics. The thirty-four short and easy-to-read essays in the book provide the reader with simple and accurate teaching from the Bible, as well as good answers to difficult questions about sexual issues, along with strategies for boldly and confidently taking a stand for righteousness in a kind and respectful way. You can visit my website at www.JimMersereauBooks.com to read excerpts from the book and to place orders.

In many different ways God equips us to take a stand for Him and to do so with boldness and confidence. You have a responsibility to stand your ground, and God will help you to do it.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Personal Responsibility”

Our Bible verse for today: “I am the vine, you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.” John 15:5 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “You are responsible for maintaining a healthy relationship with Jesus.

In John 15:5 Jesus directed the attention of His disciples to the grape vine and its branches. The life of the vine flows in and through the branches, and the fruit of the vine is produced through the branches. As long as the branch stays firmly attached to the vine, the life of the vine will continue to flow through it and the fruit of the vine will continue to be produced through the branch. But should the branch become detached from the vine, the healthy relationship ends and no more fruit is produced.

That’s a perfect picture of the relationship you and I have with Jesus. He is the vine and we are the branches. His life flows in us and through us. His fruit is produced through our lives, and as long as we remain in a good and healthy relationship with Him, that continues to be the case. Within the disciple the fruit will be what Paul described in Galatians 5:22-23, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” That’s what you experience in your life as a result of your relationship with Jesus. The fruit that is produced through your life is the blessings of God showered upon a broken and bleeding world. It’s the work of Christ in this world being performed by His faithful followers.

Each of us has a personal responsibility to protect and nurture the relationship we have with Jesus. We do that by practicing the basic spiritual disciplines of the Christian life including, prayer, Bible reading, worship, fellowship, acts of service, etc. That will help to keep our relationship with Jesus healthy and thriving and there will be plenty of fruit.

Today is Saturday, tomorrow is Sunday. One of the most important ways of keeping your relationship with the Lord vibrant and healthy is through regular participation in group worship and fellowship. We each need to be an active member of a good church family. If you don’t have a good church that you are already a part of, then I want to invite you to visit with us at Oak Hill Baptist. We’re located at 3036 Genesis Road in Crossville, TN. Sunday school is at 9:00, the worship service starts at 10:00, and the evening service is at 6:00. I hope to see you there!

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Personal Responsibility”

Our Bible verse for today: “Here I am today, eighty-five years old. I am still as strong today as I was the day Moses sent me out. My strength for battle and for daily tasks is now as it was then.” Joshua 14:11

Our thought for today: “You are responsible for taking care of yourself.”

I know a lady who is ninety-nine years old. She is spry and active and full of life. She is healthy, she comes to church every Sunday, her mind is sharp, and she just stopped driving a car two years ago.

The other day I ran into an old friend who is eighty-nine. He too is energetic and active and in good health. He’s getting ready to go on a tour of the Holy Land and is looking forward to walking the streets of Jerusalem.

Last year I made a trip to California to visit the man who had been my pastor and mentor for many years. He is eighty-seven now but looks sixty-seven. He is fit and trim and he just went on a trip to Japan to visit his granddaughter who is stationed there in the military.

I’ve recently made friends with a man who has just moved to our town and is now attending our church. He is eight-four and he rides his Harley even more than I ride mine.

What do all those people have in common? They took care of themselves! They have made it a point to protect their health by eating right and getting some exercise every day. Oh, each of them have had some health issues over the years. Two of them have had to fight cancer. One fell and broke her hip and had a stint in rehab. Disease, sickness, and accidents are just part of life and affect us all at some point. But the healthier you are the better you will handle the sickness and disease when it comes.

Taking proper care of yourself isn’t that hard. Just eat moderate amounts of reasonably healthy food and get some exercise every day. Throw in adequate sleep and plenty of relaxation time, and you will have the physical side of it covered. Then make sure you have a healthy spiritual life as well, and you will be well on your way to being healthy in body, mind, and spirit.

Nobody can avoid all disease and sickness. And, someday we will all die anyway. But there is a lot you can do to stay as healthy as possible for as long as possible – and you should! Your physical body is a gift from God. The healthier you are the more He can use you to accomplish His purposes.

Taking proper care of yourself is your responsibility. Borrowing a quote from that wise old Vulcan from Star Trek (Mr. Spock), “May you live long and prosper.”

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Personal Responsibility”

Our Bible verse for today: “Five times I received the forty lashes minus one from the Jews. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked. I have spent a night and a day in the open sea. On frequent journeys, I have faced dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, and dangers from among false brothers; toil and hardship, many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, often without food, cold, and without clothing. Not to mention other things, there is the daily pressure on me: my concern for the churches.” 2 Corinthians 11:24-28 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Life isn’t fair. Get over it and keep moving.”

I once had a friend named Bob who was a co-worker of mine. As a teenager Bob was athletic and active, a High School football player who was probably going to receive an athletic scholarship to a good college. But then he broke his neck and became a quadriplegic. From that point on Bob spent his life in a motorized wheelchair. He had limited use of his right arm and hand, but that was about it. He needed help with every basic life function except feeding himself.

You might think that Bob’s life was ruined, but you would be wrong. Bob still went to college and earned a Master’s degree in counseling. Over time he learned to drive a specially equipped van, and he got a good job as a Marriage and Family Counselor. He married, adopted two children, sang in the choir at church, and taught Sunday school. Bob was bright and cheerful and he had a great sense of humor. He lived a better and fuller life than a lot of people who have full use of their bodies.

In 2 Corinthians 11:24-28 the Apostle Paul wasn’t whining. He was simply sketching for us a brief summary of the kinds of challenges he encountered over his decades of ministry. This was a laundry list of the kinds of things he had to face, lean into, and push through, in order to live the life he had lived and accomplish the things he accomplished.

It might seem as if Bob and Paul faced unfair obstacles in life, and perhaps they did. Maybe it was unfair, but life is like that. Often the trials we face and the situations we have to deal with are not fair. Okay, but then what? Will you allow the unfairness of it all to stop you from enjoying life and living it well? Will you whine and cry and spend your days reciting for everyone how unfair it is that you have to deal with this challenge or that trial? Or, will you accept the fact that life isn’t fair and you just need to get on with it anyway?

It’s true, life isn’t fair. Now that we’re all in agreement about that, the only thing to do is to put on your big boy pants, get over it, and move forward. We each have a responsibility to deal with life as it is, not as we wish it was.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Personal Responsibility”

Our Bible verse for today: “But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at his appearance or his stature because I have rejected him. Humans do not see what the Lord sees, for humans see what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Don’t be fooled by appearances”

I’ve been in various levels of leadership positions for more than forty-five years, and too often I’ve allowed myself to be fooled by a person’s appearance, or their accomplishments, or their talent. That’s less true today than it was in the beginning, but my sense of caution about such things has been learned through painful experience.

I remember one time many years ago I had a talented young man serve as a guest worship leader on multiple occasions in our church in California. He was a great guitar player, he had a beautiful voice, he was dynamic in the way he engaged the congregation, and I liked his style of music. I did have a sense that something was not quite right about his character, but I couldn’t put my finger on it and I didn’t think too much about it. Besides, I really liked his music.

One day I learned that he was in jail. He had sold the family’s mini-van and used the money to buy a large quantity of drugs he was then going to resell (after he kept a good amount for his own use). It turned out he was a secret drug addict. His young family was in serious financial trouble because of his addiction, they now no longer had a car, and he was headed for prison. But, I really liked his music.

The lesson of 1 Samuel 16:7 is that God is totally unimpressed with a person’s appearance, talents, professional accomplishments, or wealth. What God pays attention to is the condition of a person’s heart. We need to learn to do the same.

Good moral character, a strong sense of integrity, humility, a determined sense of perseverance, a commitment to hard work, loyalty, dependability, and of course, a close walk with the Lord, are all character traits that are much more important than any of those other things.

In terms of personal responsibility there are two points of application here. First, each of us has a personal responsibility to be developing the virtues in life that really matter most. Professional accomplishments, education, creative talents, etc, are all helpful and important, but such things are not as important as the condition of your heart.

Second, in our interactions with other people we each have a responsibility to not be fooled by outward appearances. Instead, look for evidence that reveals what kind of heart the person has. That’s what matters most to God, so that’s what should matter most to us.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Personal Responsibility”

Our Bible verse for today: “Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “We need each other.”

As we continue to consider our theme of “personal responsibility”, we need to think about the responsibility we have to maintain healthy relationships. The truth is that we all need other people in our lives. Nobody makes it through life alone. And the more close relationships we have, the better the quality of our life will be.

In 1969 a hit song was released by the rock and roll band “The Hollies” which beautifully reflects the truth expressed by the Apostle Paul 1900 in Galatians 6:2. The title of the song was “He Ain’t Heavy He’s My Brother”. It goes like this:

The road is long
with many a winding turn,
that leads us to who knows where,
who knows where.
But I’m strong,
strong enough to carry him.
He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother.
So on we go,
his welfare is of my concern,
no burden is he to bear
We’ll get there …

We need each other. At times I’ll be strong and I’ll help you, and at other times you will be strong and you will help me. That’s what happens when we’ve taken the time to develop and maintain close relationships.

But here’s the thing: Having close and healthy relationships in your life is your responsibility. There’s an old saying that goes, “In order to have a friend you have to be a friend.” You have to make an effort to cultivate close relationships with people.

Good friends and close relationships enrich our lives. I encourage you to make as many friends as you can, and then do the work to nurture those relationships and keep them healthy.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Personal Responsibility”

Our Bible verse for today: “And may the Lord cause you to increase and overflow with love for one another and for everyone, just as we do.” 1 Thessalonians 3:12 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “The health of the church is your responsibility”

The little church in Thessalonica was a good church that was faced with tough times. They were being persecuted and afflicted by a hostile society, but they were holding fast to their faith. This was a healthy church during a time when it wasn’t so easy to be a healthy church.

But many churches are not healthy. Hundreds of churches close their doors in the USA each week. (Fortunately, as those churches are dying and closing, the Lord is raising up new churches to take their places). Interestingly, while those churches are in the process of dying, the Lord lets them die. That’s right, He lets them die. He doesn’t have to. He is all-powerful. The Holy Spirit could draw people to those churches and fill the pews every Sunday if He wanted to. But He obviously doesn’t want to. Instead, He let’s them die.

The reason those churches die is because the people aren’t doing their part to keep them healthy. Often they get stuck in tradition and refuse to change their methods, even though the old ways of doing things obviously don’t work anymore. In other cases they have compromised their doctrine and therefore the Holy Spirit has withdrawn His blessing. In many cases the people have gotten lazy and they simply make little or no effort to keep the church healthy. Sometimes they have circled the wagons and are hunkering down inside their little church forts, having nothing to do with the outside world.

For many reasons churches die – and God lets them. But it doesn’t have to happen. Churches can continue to survive and thrive, but it’s up to the individuals to take the steps necessary to keep their church healthy.

This Sunday at Oak Hill Baptist Church we’re going to celebrate our annual Homecoming Day. It’s our way of kicking off the new church year in a big, fun way. Oak Hill is a church that was revived, and which is once again on-fire for the Lord and making a difference in our little corner of the world. In the sermon I will talk about why that happened and how it happened.

Come and enjoy the day with us! Sunday school is at 9:00 and the worship service is at 10:00. There will be special music from the choir, a commissioning service for our new missionary Trevor Wright, a word of greeting from our missionaries to Southeast Asia Jeff and Rachel Gayhart, and a special Homecoming message as the sermon. Afterwards we will enjoy a catered lunch from Big John’s BBQ. We would love to have you with us!

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is: