Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Salvation past, present, and future”   Our Bible verse for today: “And let us watch out for one another to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.” Hebrews 10:24-25 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Don’t become spiritually malnourished”   You need your church and your church needs you. It has always been God’s plan that His people would congregate in groups as a community of faith. There are no examples in the Bible of Lone Ranger Christians (Christians being alone, out of fellowship with other Christians, and it being a good thing). Jesus was in the desert alone, but that was only for forty days. John the Baptist lived in the wilderness, but great crowds of people went out to be with him (they had church in the desert!)   As Hebrews 10:24-25 teaches, God wants us to gather on a regular basis so we can look out for each other, love, support, and encourage one another. Our time together is also to be a time of teaching, equipping, group worship, and planning for works of service.   This life as a saved person is a time for growing in spiritual maturity as we become more and more like Jesus. The church plays an important role in our growth as Christians. Church is where we most often engage with our preachers, teachers, counselors, and friends. The role the church plays in our lives is often subtle, and the benefits of it are realized a little at a time over a long period of time.   You may have heard the story of the elderly deacon who encountered a younger man who had been absent from church for a long time. The deacon asked him why he had stopped attending. The man replied that on most Sundays he just didn’t feel as if church attendance was doing much for him. He said, “I can’t even remember most of the sermons I have ever heard.”   To that the deacon wisely replied, “You know, I’ve been married for fifty-five years. My wife has prepared a meal for me every day of those fifty-five years but I can’t remember most of them. However, each of those meals nourished my body and helped to keep me healthy. If I hadn’t eaten those meals I would have been malnourished and physically sick. The same is true about every sermon you hear. It nourishes your soul and helps to keep you spiritually healthy.”   You need to be in church. It’s an important part of the transforming work God wants to be doing in your life. Otherwise, over time, you will become spiritually malnourished.   God bless, Pastor Jim   (If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals, and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00, in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Salvation past, present, and future”   Our Bible verse for today: “In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men, but with the circumcision done by Christ.” Colossians 2:11 (NIV)   Our thought for today: “You need to get circumcised”   Let’s talk about circumcision. You know, the surgical procedure that involves taking a sharp knife to the male penis and cutting away the excess foreskin surrounding the head. It is bloody and it is painful. However, in addition to the physical and hygienic function it serves there’s also spiritual symbology associated with it.   In yesterday’s devotional we read in Ephesians 5:15 where the Apostle Paul instructed us to Pay careful attention, then, to how you live – not as unwise people but as wise- making the most of the time …” Then he went on to teach us what it means to be continually filled with the Holy Spirit. In that passage he was telling us that there should be something different and special about how we as the followers of Jesus Christ live our lives. That brings us to the spiritual significance of the symbol of circumcision.   In Genesis chapter seventeen, God directed Abraham to circumcise all the males in his household as a physical sign of the spiritual covenant He was making with them. It was a symbolic gesture which marked them as belonging to God. Later, in the time of the Exodus, God reconfirmed circumcision as a marker to identify His people. However, in Romans 2:25-29, and again in Colossians 2:11, the Apostle Paul explained that true circumcision is circumcision of the heart, not of the flesh. It involves cutting out of our lives anything that does not honor and please God. Physical circumcision isn’t required for New Testament Christians. It’s circumcision of the heart that marks us as the people of God.   What does this have to do with our theme for this month about salvation? Just that circumcision of the heart is an important part of the present state of salvation, which is known as sanctification. Now that you have been saved (salvation past), you are in the process of being transformed more and more into the likeness of Jesus (salvation present). This will involve spiritual circumcision – cutting out of your life anything that does not honor and please God.   So, if you do happen to have one of those male appendages it does not need to be circumcised. But your heart does. So, please don’t run to your doctor to get physically circumcised (unless you really want to). As a matter of faith, it isn’t necessary. But please do circumcise your heart. Cut out of your life anything that does not honor and please God.   God bless, Pastor Jim     (If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals, and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00, in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Salvation past, present, and future”   Our Bible verse for today: “… but be filled by the Spirit.” Ephesians 5:18b (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Continue being filled with the Spirit”   Yesterday I made the point that it is critical for us to maintain a close relationship with Jesus. We considered Jesus’ illustration of the grapevine and the branches from John 15:5 and we thought about some of the attributes of Jesus that should become increasingly evident in the life of the Christian as you grow and mature spiritually. In Galatians 5:22-23 the Apostle Paul referred to that as “the fruit of the Spirit”.   In today’s Bible verse (Ephesians 5:18b) Paul continues that theme by referring to something known as “being filled with the Spirit.” The fuller passage in which this partial verse appears teaches about consistency in the Christian life. Paul starts the passage out with the command, “Pay careful attention, then, to how you live – not as unwise people but as wise – making the most of the time…”  It is within that context that the phrase “but be filled with the Spirit” appears.   In New Testament Greek the term “be filled” is in the present tense. It indicates an ongoing action. That clues us into the fact that although the Holy Spirit came to live in your heart in the moment of conversion, there is something more that is supposed to be ongoing in your life with respect to the presence and work of the Spirit.   This is not a “second anointing” of the Holy Spirit. That’s not what Paul is talking about. In the moment you placed your faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins you were filled with the Holy Spirit – and you got all of Him there is to have. But the idea that we are to “continue” being filled with Him on an ongoing basis means that you are to practice the necessary spiritual disciplines every day so that you remain in-tune with His work in your life, and you are fully submitted to His will. “Continuing” to be filled means that you cultivate your relationship with the Holy Spirit so you are sensitive to His presence, you seek His guidance, and then you follow it.   The ongoing daily experience of being filled with the Spirit is a moment-by-moment walk of obedience with the Father through the ministry of the Spirit, and it is an important part of this process that is progressively making you more and more like Jesus.   I encourage you to seek to be filled with the Spirit again today. Renew and nurture your relationship with Him.   God bless, Pastor Jim             (If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals, and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00, in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Salvation past, present, and future”   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: “Nurture that relationship”   Are you familiar with the term “life verse”? A life verse is a Bible verse that speaks to you personally in a deep way and which plays an important role in helping you to live the Christian life well. There are 31,102 verses in the Bible (23,145 in the Old Testament and 7,957 in the New Testament). And as Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, they are all given to us by God and they are all important and helpful.   But a life verse is one that is particularly special and helpful to you personally. I have six life verses and over the next few days, as we continue to consider our present state of being a saved person and one who is in the process of being sanctified by the work of the Holy Spirit, I will refer to a few of my life verses and tell you why they are so special to me.   In John 15:5 Jesus used a grapevine and the branches that grow from it to help us understand the spiritual reality of Him living His life in us and through us. The grapevine lives its life and produces its fruit through the branches that grow from it. The life of the vine flows through the branches, and the branches then produce the fruit of the vine. As long as the branch stays attached to the vine it will produce the fruit of the vine. But if the connection between the vine and the branch is broken, the fruit will no longer be produced through the branch.   Likewise, by means of the Holy Spirit living in our hearts, the life of Jesus flows in us and through us. The fruit of Jesus is then produced in and through our lives. Some of that fruit is described for us by the Apostle Paul in Galatians 5:22-23. He called it “the fruit of the Spirit”: The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Those are attributes of Jesus and He wants them to be present in our lives too. He wants you to experience and enjoy those things in increasing measure, and He wants the world to experience those fruits from you. His fruit produced in and through your life. I want this to be true of me and that’s why these are two of my life verses.   As you maintain a close relationship with Jesus day-by-day, the fruit of the Spirit becomes more and more a reality in your life. That’s a natural result of the ongoing process of sanctification and it is progressively making you more and more like Jesus. This is part of your salvation and that’s why it is critical to maintain a healthy relationship with Jesus.   Stay firmly attached to Jesus. Spend some time today nurturing your relationship with Him.   God bless, Pastor Jim   (If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals, and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00, in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Salvation past, present, and future”   Our Bible verse for today: “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “It is literally true and profoundly important”   The language Paul uses in Galatians 2:20 is more than just symbolic, it is literally true. It is also profoundly important. When he writes, “I have been crucified with Christ …” It is literally true in a spiritual sense. On the cross Jesus was crucified for your sins and mine. It was your sin being nailed to that cross. In that sense, it was you being crucified. Likewise, when he writes, “and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me …” that is also literally true. By means of His Spirit living in your heart, Christ lives in you (1 Corinthians 6:19).   The name “Christian” means “like Christ.” When you take the name of Christian you are claiming to be like Christ. However, becoming more and more like Christ is a transformation that occurs over time. At the time of your conversion, you received the life of Jesus in you but the likeness wasn’t there yet.   Instead, at that time, sin was still very much present in your life. The sins were forgiven but the residual effects of the sin were still there, as were the habits of sin. At that time sin still had power over you – strong power. In most cases, breaking free from the bonds of those sinful habits occurs progressively over time as we train ourselves to live differently.   This present time of salvation – living as a saved person – is the time during which you move further and further away from who you were and closer and closer to who God wants you to be (more like Christ). This requires daily surrender to Jesus and the working of the Holy Spirit in your life. It is an intentional decision on your part to submit to Jesus and to allow the Holy Spirit to have His way in your life. This is what Paul meant when he wrote, “The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” It’s about faith in Jesus and continuous surrender to Him as you subordinate your life for His and allow Him to live His life through you.   It is literally true – Christ lives in you and He wants to live through you. I encourage you to surrender more fully to Him today.   God bless, Pastor Jim

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Salvation past, present, and future”   Our Bible verse for today: “The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.” Ephesians 1:14 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “It was only the down payment”   In his great little book, “The Doctrine of Salvation,” Dr. Darrell Robinson explains, “Salvation encompasses the total life of the believer – past, present, and future. It may be viewed in three stages: as an instantaneous act, a continuing process, and a glorious consummation. The believer can say, “I have been saved” (see Romans 10:9-10), “I am saved” (see 1 Corinthians 1:18), and “I will be saved” (see Romans 13:11).   In Ephesians 1:14 the Apostle Paul writes that the Holy Spirit was given to us as a down payment of our inheritance. A down payment is a first payment that is made to initiate a transaction, and it comes with the promise that more payments will be made and will continue to me made until the full transaction has been completed.   We have already learned that in the moment you were saved you were given the Holy Spirit as a gift from God. When Paul tells us here that the Holy Spirit is the down payment of what we will inherit from our heavenly Father, he means that the gift of the Spirit was just the first part of receiving a full inheritance as a child of God. From that point forward, there will continue to be installments paid out to you as you continue to receive more and more of your inheritance. Those installments come to you during the present state you are currently living in as a saved person. In this lifetime God bestows upon you many of the blessings and gifts He wants you to have. The final installments will be given to you once you arrive in heaven – especially when you receive your resurrection body. Then you will have received your full inheritance as a child of God.   The sad part is that some people are not allowing God to give them their full inheritance. They did receive the downpayment of the Spirit, but since then they have not been open to receiving more from God. They have essentially closed the account and are not allowing Him to make additional deposits into their life.   An important part of the sanctification process is to continue to place yourself in a position before God every day whereby He can deposit into your life all He wants you to have. The gift of the Holy Spirit was only the down payment. There is much more you are entitled to as a child of God and which your heavenly Father wants to give you. Are you receiving your full inheritance?   God bless, Pastor Jim   (If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals, and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00, in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Salvation past, present, and future”   Our Bible verse for today: “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity.” 2 Peter 3:18 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Growing in grace and knowledge”   Over the last two days, we have been thinking about what Paul meant in Philippians 2:12 when he told us to “work out” our salvation. We have also considered Philippians 1:6, where he explained that God will continue His work of molding and shaping us until He has us in heaven and we are the completed person He has always intended for us to be.   The Apostle Peter builds on that theme in 2 Peter 3:18 where he urges us to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This present state that we live in as saved persons is a time of growing and changing as God develops us into the people we will be for all eternity. That is known as the process of sanctification.   Sanctification is intended by God to be an ongoing and dynamic experience of growth in Christ that continues throughout our time here on earth. God has decreed this to be so for four important reasons. First, He does it for His own sake. God is holy and He wants us to be holy too (Isaiah 48:10-11). He purifies us over time so we can honor and glorify Him with our lives.   Second, He does it for the sake of the cause of Christ on earth. As John 15:5 helps us to understand (the parable of the vine and the branches), Jesus wants to live His life in and through us. He wants to produce His fruit in this world through our lives. The process of ongoing sanctification results in the fruit of Christ being produced through the life of the follower of Christ.   Third, sanctification is for our own sakes. Galatians 5:22-23 describes the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Those are character traits of Christ that become more and more a part of your own character as you grow in the grace and knowledge and likeness of Jesus. The more progress you make in the ongoing process of sanctification, the more you will be like Jesus and the better your life will be.   And fourth, your sanctification now will have a direct impact on what eternity will be like for you later. The Bible teaches this truth in numerous places. Jesus’ favorite illustration was of rewards the believer will receive in heaven based upon how that person lived their life on earth as His follower (we will address that subject in greater detail later in this series).   The point here is that God wants you to grow spiritually. That’s what the process of sanctification is all about and it is what should be happening in your life now, in this present state of being a saved person.   God bless, Pastor Jim   (If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals, and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00, in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Salvation past, present, and future”   Our Bible verse for today: “I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “You are going to love it”   Yesterday I told you the story of how at one point in my life I had a goal of becoming a bodybuilder. I never got there. I never even really came close. But I did have a picture in my head of what it might look like if it ever did happen (I was really something in my imagination!)   It’s good for us to have goals regarding what we want to achieve in life and the person we want to become. That’s not a bad thing. But God also has a plan for the kind of person He wants you to become and He is in the process of bringing that to pass in your life. And here’s the really good news: God’s image of you is better than your image of you. His plan for you is better than your plan for you.   In Philippians 1:6 Paul informs us that the One who started a good work in you will carry it on until it is completed in the day of Christ Jesus. The good work that He started in you began on the day you placed your faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins. That’s when He started changing you into the kind of person He wants you to be. The “carry it on to completion” part is the process of sanctification. The completion happens on that day in eternity when your spirit is united with your resurrection body and you are finally the completed person you will be for the rest of eternity (we will think more about that later in this series).   In Jeremiah 29:11 God assures us, “For I know the plans I have for you – this is the Lord’s declaration – plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” The good and perfect plan God is referring to works itself out over the course of your life and leads you to becoming the person He wants you to be.   Another example God used in the Bible to help us understand what He is doing in our lives is the example of a potter forming clay into the shape he wants it to be. Isaiah 64:8 is a good example, “Yet Lord, you are our Father, we are the clay and you are our potter; we all are the work of your hands.” Being transformed into the person God wants you to be is a huge benefit of having been saved, and it will be a determining factor in the person you will be for all eternity. That transforming process is taking place now and one day, it will be complete.   You are going to love being the person God is transforming you into!   God bless, Pastor Jim   (If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals, and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00, in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Salvation past, present, and future”   Our Bible verse for today: “Therefore, dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” Philippians 2:12 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Don’t skip your workout”   In my twenties and thirties, I was a big fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Not “The Terminator” Arnold, but the “Mr. America” Arnold. Arnold, the bodybuilder. I wanted to be a bodybuilder too. I wanted to have 20-inch biceps and be able to bench press small automobiles.   I had a copy of Arnold’s book, “The Education of a Bodybuilder.” It was filled with suggested workout routines and lots of picture. I had an image in my mind of what I wanted to be like, and I had a plan to follow to help me get there. I never even came close to Arnold’s stature, but for about ten years I was kind of pumped-up and muscular (Linda once told me I was more of a musclehead than a muscleman, but sometimes she got mean like that. Lol)   In Philippians 2:12 the Apostle Paul used the metaphor of working-out and he applied it to the process of sanctification. Paul tells us there that we must work-out our salvation. He does not say we must work for our salvation (we have already addressed that issue and we learned that salvation is by grace not by works.) Paul does say we must work-out our salvation and by that Paul means the same thing Arnold did. If you want big muscles and a big physical stature, you must do exercises to grow those muscles. Likewise, if you want a big spiritual stature, you must do your exercises (the spiritual disciplines that will help you to grow spiritually).   As we learned yesterday, this present state of salvation that we live in during this lifetime is a period of spiritual growth as the Holy Spirit transforms us into the people God wants us to be. It’s the time during which we are supposed to be learning, growing, transforming, and becoming progressively more like Jesus.   Once upon a time, in a different season of life, I wanted to be like Arnold in physical stature. Now I realize it would be much better to become more like Jesus in spiritual stature. Our exercises for this spiritual growth include things like daily prayer and Bible study, worship, full participation in the life of a good church family, acts of service in the name of Jesus, good stewardship, and the other basic disciplines of the Christian life.   When I was trying to grow physically, I relied on Arnold’ book as a guide. If you would like a great book to guide you in learning and applying the basic disciplines required to grow spiritually, I can think of none better (after the Bible itself) than Richard Foster’s classic work “The Celebration of Discipline.” You will find it to be very helpful in guiding and accelerating your spiritual growth.   I encourage you, as part of your daily routine, to work-out your salvation.   God bless, Pastor Jim   (If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals, and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00, in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Salvation past, present, and future”   Our Bible verse for today: “To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy … 1 Corinthians 1:2 (NIV)   Our thought for today: “Live different, live better”   Your state of being saved began in the moment you placed your faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins. If you have had such a moment, then it is a settled fact – a past reality. Although that decision may have taken a long time to arrive at, the actual moment of salvation and the consequent new birth happened in a moment, in a flash, and it is now an accomplished fact.   That brings us to the present. Your present state is that you are saved. In other words, you have been saved, you are saved, and you will continue to be saved. This present state is also where you live-out what is already true of you. In 2 Corinthians 5:17 the Apostle Paul wrote about the new birth, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” Now that you are a new creation you should live your life in a new way. What has happened inside of you should result in a change in how you live.   However, the change is not instantaneous. Salvation is instantaneous. It does happen in a flash. But the changed life occurs slowly and progressively over a lifetime. This is the part of salvation known as “sanctification.” Sanctification is a fifty-cent theological word that simply means “To make holy. To dedicate, consecrate, and set-apart for a divine purpose.”   That’s you. Now that you belong to Christ you have been set-apart, dedicated, and consecrated for His divine purposes and you are in the process of being transformed from the person you were into someone who is holy and who reflects the attributes of Christ. That’s what Paul was referring to in 1 Corinthians 1:2 (above) when he reminded the Corinthians (and us) that as Christians we have been called to live holy lives.   Your salvation will be perfected and complete in eternity. But between the moment of forgiveness when you placed your faith in Christ, and your eventual perfection in heaven when you will be the person you will be for all eternity, there is this long process of transformation as you progressively become more and more like Jesus. That is the life of a Christian and it is what should be happening because you are saved.   We are called by Christ to live differently and to live better than we would if we had not been saved. We will think more about this in the days to come.   God bless, Pastor Jim    (If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals, and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00, in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Copyright © 2025 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571