Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Graciousness”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another.” Colossians 3:12-13 (CSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Put-up with each other graciously.”

 

One of the things I love about Oak Hill Baptist Church is that we are all so different and yet we get along so well. I have sometimes jokingly compared our church to what I call “The Star Wars Bar”. You may remember the scene from the first Star Wars Movie when Hans Solo and Chewbacca were in an inter-planetary bar. It was packed full of odd looking creatures from across the galaxy. They were all sizes, shapes, and colors. One guy looked like Cyclops with a single eye in the center of his head. Another had five eyes along with tentacles coming from the sides of his head. And on it went. You get the picture. They were all seriously different and yet they all accepted each other and they all got along well.

 

Well, that’s us! We’re a pretty strange group, all of us very different in many ways, and yet we love each other and we get along well. A big part of being a gracious person is the ability to accept people as they are, even if they are pretty different from you.

 

How do you typically respond to people who look different than you, believe different than you, and behave different than you? I’m not talking about people who are engaged in blatant and unrepentant sin, I’m just talking about people who see life different than you do and who therefore make different choices and decisions than you. Can you easily accept the fact that they are different and its okay?

 

There’s an old saying that goes, “Those who dance are thought to be crazy by those who can’t hear the music.” Maybe the reason the other person sees things differently than you do is because they’re dancing to music you can’t even hear. They’re just marching through life to the beat of a different drummer (and maybe they think you’re a little weird because you’re not dancing to their tune).

 

We’re all different, and most of the time that’s okay. As long as we’re not talking about different in sinful ways, as long as we’re just being our own unique selves but still honoring Jesus, then it’s okay. You can be different from me, I can be different from you, and hopefully we’ll accept each other’s difference and still get along just fine.

 

Let’s put-up with each other and let’s do it graciously.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Graciousness”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8 (NASB)

 

Our thought for today: “Grace is one-sided”

 

Grace is a demonstration of love that is undeserved, unearned, and unconditional. That’s how God deals with us and that’s how we are to deal with others. So if we are to be gracious to others in the manner that God is gracious to us it will mean that we intentionally act towards others with love and grace whether they deserve to be treated that way or not.

 

Now that’s tough! I can easily be gracious with those who are gracious with me. It’s not hard to be nice to a nice person. But it’s much harder to be gracious to a knucklehead who I would really like to choke rather than bless.  Likewise, it’s easy and even fulfilling to do something kind and generous for a person who is appreciative and who makes me feel good in return. But it’s disappointing to go out of my way to do a good deed for someone only to have them shrug it off or not show proper appreciation. My human nature will certainly make me less inclined to do something like that for them in the future.

 

But grace isn’t picky or conditional like that. Grace is often one-sided. Grace depends not on the receiver of grace but on the giver of grace. God is gracious because grace is who He is. It’s simply part of His nature. Likewise, we should be gracious not because the other person deserves it but because it’s simply who we are as a spiritually mature Christian.

 

In Micah 6:8 the prophet describes intentional actions taken by a faithful person, and it makes no mention of whether or not the recipient of such actions deserved to be treated that way. You do it because of who you are not because of who they are. You do it because you obey God and follow His commands. You do it because that’s what Jesus did and as a Christian you want to be like Him.

 

Grace is often one-sided and that can make it hard – unless of course that kind of graciousness has been worked into your personality by the Holy Spirit to the point that you do it simply because it’s your nature to do so. In that case grace is easy, even if it is one-sided.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Graciousness”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “For he (Barnabas) was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.” Acts 11:24 (CSB)

 

Our thought for today: “You will be remembered more for who you are than for what you do.”

 

I’ve mentioned before that Barnabas is one of my favorite people in the New Testament. Acts 4:36 identifies him as “The Son of Encouragement”. Acts 11:24 says he was “a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith”. He was known for his generosity, for his encouraging ways, for being good and kind, and for being gracious. He was a man of strong faith, and the fruit of the Spirit was evident in his life. He was always lifting people up and blessing them.

 

The New Testament does give us specific examples of ways in which he blessed people, and many of us remember those specific examples, but more than being remembered for what he did, Barnabas is remembered for who he was. He was the “Son of Encouragement”.

 

The same was true of my mother. When she passed away in April 2012 we were inundated with emails, cards, letters, and phone calls from people who just wanted to say how much they loved her and how highly they thought of her. People from across the country and from across the decades suddenly surfaced to share glowing memories about her. One old family friend from our childhood actually got on a plane in Dallas early in the morning, flew to Nashville, rented a car, drove to Crossville for the funeral, drove back to Nashville, and flew home to Dallas, all in one day and all just to be at my mother’s funeral.

 

The phrase that people used over and over again to describe her was “she was such a beautiful person”. By “beautiful” they were referring to her character. She was a beautiful person in her heart and it showed in the way she treated other people. My mom was kind, friendly, generous, and gracious. And although people cited many specific examples of ways in which she had blessed them, more than anything else they remembered the kind of person she was more than just the specific things she did.

 

The same will be true of you and me. We will be known more for who we are than for what we do. It’s true that what you do will be a product of who you are, but in the end people will remember your character more than they will remember your deeds.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Graciousness”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.” Acts 15:19 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “You don’t get to make the rules.”

 

The words we read in Acts 15:19 were spoken by James, the biological brother of Jesus. The context they were spoken in was what has become known in history as “The Council of Jerusalem”. The new Christian church was very young and consisted mostly of former Jews. These formally Jewish Christians were steeped in Old Testament Law and the customs of the Pharisees. Freedom in Christ and living by grace were still new concepts to them. The practice of their Christian faith still involved many of the trappings of Judaism, including rule-keeping.

 

But now thousands of Gentiles were coming to faith in Christ as well. Should they be required to be rule-keepers too? The Council of Jerusalem had to decide. Amazingly their answer was “No”. Following Christ did not involve keeping a lot of archaic and manmade rules. And of all people, James was the one to verbalize the decision. James was probably the most strict and structured of the bunch.

 

To their credit these early disciples of Jesus were willing to embrace and share grace, even though it was a foreign concept to them when it came to practicing their faith. Extending such grace to others, rather than insisting on a legalistic practice of the faith, was a tremendously gracious act on their part, and one they struggled to arrive at.

 

Many people in our day struggle with it too, and sadly, often unsuccessfully. The great Christian writer H.L Mencken once described a Puritan as “a person with a haunting fear that someone somewhere is happy.” Today many people would apply that same caricature to evangelicals in general, and to fundamentalists in particular. As Philip Yancey noted, “Nowadays legalism has changed its focus. In a thoroughly secular culture, the church is more likely to show ungrace through a spirit of moral superiority or a fierce attitude toward opponents in the ‘culture wars”.

 

By listening to the ungracious speech of many Christians, and by being the targets of stern judgmental condemnation, what does the world come to think about the Jesus we preach?

 

We can learn a lesson from James and the early disciples. We don’t get to make the rules for everyone else. Not only do we not get to make the rules for the rest of the world, but we don’t even get to make the rules for other Christians. The way that James and the other apostles came to their decision in Acts 5:19 was through prayer, reading scripture, and by considering the example of Jesus. They were Biblical and they were gracious. They didn’t try to make the Bible say more than it really says, and they dealt with others in grace. We should do no less.

 

Instead of being stern rule-makers we need to be Christians who model the love and graciousness of the One we profess to follow. Again quoting Yancey, “The world thirsts for grace in ways it does not even recognize.”

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Graciousness”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “… for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I find myself. I know both how to make do with little, and I know how to make do with a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content – whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need. I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:11-13 (CSV)

 

Our thought for today: “Be gracious in times of adversity.”

 

Pastor Chuck Swindoll once wrote, “In all my years of walking with the Lord, I have yet to meet one Christian who has ‘lived happily ever after.’ On the other hand, I have met a great many significant saints who have endured affliction, loss, disappointment, setbacks, failures, and incredible pain through the years. And I have seen many of those same men and women cling to their joy, radiate hope, and sustain a winsome spirit, even through heartache, even through tears, even at death’s door.”

 

I agree with Chuck, I have never met a Christian who lived a fairy-tale life of pure bliss, just tip-toeing through the tulips and skipping along the yellow brick road of life. However I have known many Christians who faced the hardships and trials of life with a sense of peace and confidence and even joy, despite the pain and heartache. They were people who maintained a winsome personality and radiated a sense of hope and happiness, even though they were dealing with great trials.

 

Early in my years as a seminary student I had the privilege of knowing a woman by the name of Phyllis Forte. She was a member of our church and she was one of those great saints who simply radiated joy and love no matter the circumstances. Phyllis had diabetes bad and it was slowly eating her alive. Over the years I knew her I watched the disease take a toe, and then another, and then all of them, and then the entire foot, and then half a leg, and then the other leg started to go. Soon she was confined to a wheelchair and finally she was homebound and a shut-in.

 

I used to visit with her from time-to-time and we would even celebrate the Lord’s Supper together, just me and her at her kitchen table. No matter what she was dealing with personally, she was always upbeat and funny (and fun). She never wanted to talk much about herself or her problems. Instead she wanted to know all about me and my family. She wanted know how Linda and the kids were. She wanted to hear about what I was learning in seminary, whether or not I was taking proper care of myself, what I had for breakfast, and on it went. She was kind and gracious and a great joy to be with!

 

In Philippians 4:11-13 the Apostle Paul described a depth and maturity of faith that enabled him to be happy and content regardless of his circumstances. That’s because his joy came from within his heart and radiated out, rather than coming from outward circumstances and working its way in. His joy, contentment, and graciousness came from Christ and not from circumstances.

 

Paul and Phyllis were content, joyful, and gracious, regardless of the circumstances they found themselves in. May the same be true of us.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Graciousness”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “The Lord has repaid you for all the blood you shed in the household of Saul, in whose place you have reigned. The Lord has given the kingdom into the hands of your son Absalom. You have come to ruin because you are a murderer!” 2 Samuel 16:7-8 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “Watch those words!”

 

The other day I came across an interesting phrase which I had not heard before: “Avoid not only the words you may have to eat, but the words that may eat you.” It was said in reference to a guy by the name of Shimei, whose words you just read in 2 Samuel 16:7-8. Here’s what was happening:

 

King David had just been overthrown as king of Israel by his son Absalom and he was now fleeing for his life. As he was trudging along the rural dusty roads leading to his exile, he encountered a man who was a descendant of the old king Saul. His name was Shimei. Shimei hated David because he thought David had stolen the throne from Saul. So now that David himself had been overthrown, Shimei encountered him on the road and began to mock David, shout curses at him, and even throw stones at him.

 

Okay, so fast forward some short time into the future, to the time that the army loyal to David defeated the army of Absalom, and David was now headed back to Jerusalem to reclaim the throne. Once again he would be the king over all of Israel (and the king over Shimei). So in 2 Samuel 19:19-20 Shimei, realizing that he was in pretty deep do-do, hustled out to meet the returning King David and he begged the king’s forgiveness. In this case Shimei had to eat his words. Lucky for him David was gracious and forgave him, but as punishment David placed certain restrictions on where and how Shimei could live for the rest of his life.

 

Now fast-forward again, this time to 1 Kings 2:8-9 and we find that David, now very old and approaching death, has passed the kingship to his son Solomon. Shimei, evidently thinking he was now free and clear because David was no longer king, violated the terms of his agreement with David. He no longer adhered to the restrictions David had placed upon him. Hearing of this, Solomon had Shimei arrested and executed. Therefore, ultimately, eventually, Sheimei’s foolish words from all those years earlier ended up eating him.

 

An important part of being a gracious person is found in how we speak. It matters what you say, how you say it, and who you say it too. Foolish words – words that should not be spoken, often have a way of coming back and biting us. Sometimes you will have to eat those words, and sometimes those words will eat you.

 

Gracious people speak in gracious ways – all the time. So, watch those words!

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Graciousness”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “My dearly loved brothers, understand this: everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger, for man’s anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness.” James 1:19-20 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Confidence leads to calmness”

 

Yesterday I told you about the conference on Biblical sexual ethics that I attended and how impressed I was by the friendly and respectful manner in which the leaders and attendees discussed the difficult and emotionally-charged issues being addressed. This was especially impressive considering it was not a one-sided discussion. The presenters and attendees included people from across the cultural spectrum including conservative evangelical Christians, leaders of the Gay and Lesbian agenda, Republicans, Democrats, liberals, conservatives, and everyone in-between.

 

To introduce yesterday’s devotional I quoted 1 Peter 3:15-16 which tells us that we must be prepared to present our views when the opportunity arises, but we have to do it with gentleness and respect, “Always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. However, do this with gentleness and respect, keeping your conscience clear.”

 

One of the reasons the leaders and attendees at that conference were able to discuss such emotionally-charged issues in a calm and reasoned manner was because they all had a quiet sense of confidence. They had all done their homework. Everyone had taken the time to thoroughly study the issues from their own perspective, and from the perspectives of those who saw things differently. After lots of research, thoughtful listening, and a genuine desire to get to the truth, each participant arrived at the point of knowing what they believed and why they believed it. Therefore they were confident in their positions and prepared to discuss it in a calm and respectful way.

 

One of the reasons people often get upset and defensive when they’re discussing difficult issues is because they feel threatened. And one of the reasons they feel threatened is because they’re not sure of themselves. They often don’t have good answers for hard questions and they attempt to compensate for that by raising their voice, or using exaggerated language, or lapsing into empty dogma and silly clichés.

 

People who are sure of themselves, people who know what they believe and why they believe it, and who are prepared to discuss it, they tend to have a quiet sense of confidence and are therefore not threatened by opposing points of view. This is why at Oak Hill Baptist Church we are a “teaching church”. In other words there’s a heavy emphasis on teaching the truth of Biblical principle, and doing it in ways that are easy to understand and easy to apply to everyday life situations. Therefore our folks know what they believe, why they believe, and they’re prepared to discuss it.

 

Confidence leads to calmness. When we know what we believe and why we believe it we will feel comfortable discussing those issues, even with those who disagree with us. And, we will do it with grace.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Graciousness”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. However, do this with gentleness and respect, keeping your conscience clear …” 1 Peter 3:15-16 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “There is hope.”

 

Yesterday we gave some thought to the shrill and unkind tone which underlies much of the national conversation in our nation these days. I mentioned a Bart Simpson-like sense of snarkiness which seems to have taken hold of many people. I noted the mean-spirited nature of the political dialogue in our nation’s capitol. And I pointed out that God’s people should be different, that we should be people who are known for our gracious manner, for our warmth and kindness and compassion.

 

Sadly that’s sometimes not true of Christians. Far too often we allow ourselves to get emotional and angry when it comes to hot button cultural issues, and we allow our rhetoric to become overheated and caustic. Sometimes angry Christians are the ones with the sharpest tongues.

 

But there is hope. In fact, I’m actually encouraged. A few years ago I was at a conference of church leaders in Nashville. The conference was sponsored by the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. The title of the conference was “The Gospel, Homosexuality, and the Future of Marriage.” There were over two thousand church leaders there from forty-eight states and five countries. The general sessions and the workshops covered a large spectrum of issues related to Biblical sexual ethics and there was a lot of discussion about the rapidly evolving cultural landscape in our country with respect to sexual ethics.

 

The conference leaders invited spokespersons, leaders, and authors from the Gay and Lesbian movement to attend and to participate in the discussions as well. There were also liberal professors and left-leaning news media invited. The object was to create an atmosphere where all sides of the issues were fully and fairly presented so that honest dialogue could then take place.

 

What impressed me most about the conference was the kind and respectful tone of the discussions. There were no pulpit-pounding hellfire and brimstone sermons; there was no angry finger pointing; and there were no chicken-little types running around crying about the sky falling. Instead the discussions were conducted in kind and respectful tones. Everyone was measured in their speech, the points were well-reasoned and logically presented, and there was a spirit of mutual respect all throughout.

 

I will tell you more about this conference in tomorrow’s devotional. For now it’s enough to know that there is hope. As Christians we can do what Peter called for in 1 Peter 3:15-16. We can stand for truth and we can contend for Biblical principles while being kind and gracious in our manner, even when dealing with emotionally-charged cultural issues.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Graciousness”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “He who loves a pure heart and whose speech is gracious will have the king for his friend.” Proverbs 22:11 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “Be a gracious person”

 

Typically in the Christian world when we speak about grace we’re talking about God’s grace bestowed upon us. The most common theological definition of grace usually reads something like, “Undeserved blessings freely bestowed upon man by God.” Most references to grace in the Bible are about some form of God’s grace bestowed upon us.

 

However not only is grace a character trait of God’s, but it is also supposed to be a character trait which the Holy Spirit brings out in us. God freely bestows grace upon us, and we are to freely bestow grace upon others. Another way to look at it would be that as His people we are to be conduits through which His grace flows to others.

 

When the character trait of grace becomes a dominant feature of an individual’s personality we say that person is “gracious”. Their manner is one of graciousness. The dictionary tells us that a gracious person is, “Marked by kindness and warm courtesy; tactful; merciful or compassionate; marked by elegance and good taste.”

 

Our world needs a lot more people who are gracious – people who are marked by kindness and warm courtesy, people who are tactful in their manner, merciful and compassionate with others (and some elegance and good taste would be a nice touch too).

 

Can I get a witness? The discourse in our culture has become increasingly shrill and unkind; the tone set by many of our leaders is absolutely caustic and often mean-spirited; and we see throughout our society an increasing trend towards Bart Simpson-like snarkiness.

 

But the people of God should be different. In our manner we should demonstrate the graciousness of God. We should be people who are known for our kindness, warmth, courtesy, tact, mercy and compassion.

 

In Proverbs 22:11 Solomon noted that a gracious person is the friend of kings. What he meant was that everybody likes a gracious person. It’s hard not to! People who are kind, compassionate, warm and tactful are very likeable.

 

Hopefully through our study this month the Holy Spirit will have the opportunity to sand down some of the sharp edges of our personalities and we will all become more gracious and likable.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Balance”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “God has made us plain and simple, but we have made ourselves very complicated.” Ecclesiastes 7:29 (TEV)

 

Our thought for today: “Leave room for the singing of angels.”

 

As I was sitting here this morning on the last day of the month, thinking and praying about the final devotional about “balance”, my thoughts were drawn to an article I wrote more than ten years ago. The title of the article is “Room for the Singing of Angels”. (You can read / download it on my website at www.JimMersereauBooks.com. Just click on the tab “free articles”).

 

I got the idea for the article from a book by Howard Thurman entitled “Deep is the Hunger”. In that book he made the statement, “There must be remaining in every man’s life some place for the singing of angels.” By that he meant that we must structure our lives in such a way that there is time and room for quietness and peaceful relaxation so that we can hear from God.

 

The problem for many of us is that we fill our lives right to the outer edges with people and activities and noise. Our days are crammed with work, chores, hobbies, and all sorts of other activities and demands. This is the observation Solomon was making in Ecclesiastes 7:29 when he wrote, “God has made us plain and simple, but we have made ourselves very complicated.”

 

Thurman’s point in his book (and mine in my article) is that there must be space in our lives for quietness and peace, because that’s where God is heard best and most often. This is the “room for the singing of angels” Thurman was writing about. It’s where our heart is calm, our mind is clear, we’re at rest, and we are therefore in a position to hear from God. It’s in such times that He speaks to our troubled minds and soothes our frazzled soul.

 

I want to end this month by sharing with you my favorite Psalm. It is Psalm 23 and this is the NIV rendition:

 

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.

He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

 

I pray that you achieve good balance in your life; that you experience peace and rest; and that you leave room each day to hear the singing of angels.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim