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

Our Bible verse for today: “If you have raced with runners and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in a peaceful land, what will you do in the thickets of the Jordan?” Jeremiah 12:5 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Just be faithful and hang-in there.”

Jeremiah was having a tough day. In fact, he was having a tough life. God had called him to minister to a bunch of thickheaded, backslidden Jews who were not interested in anything he had to say. It seemed to Jeremiah that he was wasting his time trying to get through to these people and he didn’t understand why God had him there.

In Jeremiah 12:1-4 the prophet voiced his complaints and essentially challenged God to explain Himself. We read God’s response in verse 12:5. But rather than answering Jeremiah directly, God instead posed a rhetorical question for him to consider. I’m paraphrasing God’s response but essentially He said, “Jeremiah, you are contending with mere men and yet they are getting the best of you. So how is it you think you can question Me and My motives?”

The lesson for Jeremiah was to simply obey God and trust Him for the outcome. The circumstances were difficult, but God just wanted Jeremiah to hang-in there, be obedient, and trust Him for the outcome. If you’re familiar with Jeremiah’s story then you know he did exactly that. The years of his ministry were long and hard, but Jeremiah was faithful and he never gave-up.

There’s a lesson for us in that story. Many times our circumstances are difficult and we don’t understand why God has us in the situations we are in. Since God is Sovereign (all-knowing and all-powerful, and therefore in control of every situation), it means that He either directly created your circumstances for a reason, or by His permissive will He chose to allow your circumstances to happen. Either way, He has a purpose and a plan. Your job is to simply be faithful. You are not to give-in and you are not to give-up.

God doesn’t expect you to perform miracles or to accomplish the impossible. He just wants you to be faithful right where you are. Very often a life that He considers to have been well spent life is a life that consists of simple faithfulness, over a long period of time, in difficult circumstances. Jeremiah did that, and so can you.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

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

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

Our thought for today: “Jesus gave you new life for eternity, but also for the here and now.”

This morning I want to return to a subject I wrote about on Easter weekend – new life. In that devotional message I said that Easter means new life, new life for eternity, but new life for the here and now as well. Jesus arose from the grave, thereby defeating death, so that we too can have new life.

We know what is meant by new life for eternity, it’s eternity in heaven with God. But what about new life now, what is that supposed to be like? For one thing it means that we are to be distinctly different than we were before we came to Christ. In Galatians 5:19-21 Paul gave us a laundry list of sinful practices. The list represents the kinds of things lost people are often involved in, actions such as drunkenness, sexual immorality, idolatry, and much more. Then he followed it in Galatians 5:22-23 with another representative list designed to illustrate the kind of godly characteristics that will be evident in the life of a person who is following Jesus. They include things like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, etc.

So the new life in Christ should be one of holiness rather than sinful conduct, but it’s more than that as well. The new life in Christ is to be one that is spent in ways that are productive for the cause of Christ on earth. There are numerous New Testament passages which teach that lesson. The three expressions of the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15 and Acts 1:8 are examples. So are the passages where Jesus taught about our call to service, such as John 13:1-16 and 15:1-8.

If all Jesus meant to accomplish through His death and resurrection was to make it possible for you to spend eternity in heaven, He would have taken you straight to heaven the moment you placed your faith in Him for the forgiveness of your sins. But He didn’t do that. Instead He left you here on earth, living this life, for some number of additional years. He left you here so you can serve Him here, helping to build His kingdom.

Whatever number of years you have left on earth after that moment of salvation, are meant to be spent in service to the Lord and to others. Do that, and yours will have been 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: “It has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. And because of my chains, most of the brother and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.” Philippians 1:13-14 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Serve Christ the best you can, right where you are.”

We often think of the Apostle Paul as a great preacher, teacher, and evangelist. We picture him as he traveled around the known world of his day on daring mission trips, preaching to large crowds, winning people to faith in Christ, starting new churches, confronting hypocritical religious leaders, debating with high government officials, and ultimately writing more than half of the New Testament.

It is true that Paul did all of those things, but he also spent a lot of time in very humble circumstances with no home of his own, with no source of income, and relying on the hospitality and generosity of others just to stay alive. Additionally, he spent lots of time in jails and prisons, sometimes in deplorable conditions.

The letter to the Philippians is a case in point. When Paul wrote this letter he was incarcerated in some kind of a Roman prison, in chains, awaiting trial. But Paul didn’t allow his humble and low profile circumstances to prevent him from being productive for Christ. It’s true that he was in jail, but so was everyone else around him, including the other prisoners, the guards, and the jail staff. Paul had a captive audience in a very literal sense, and so they became his mission field.

It’s not necessary to be a high profile preacher or teacher in order to make a meaningful difference for the cause of Christ. You don’t have to be an international missionary serving in some exotic location. You can make a difference right where you are, doing exactly what you do every day – in your home, at your job, in the neighborhood, and in your church. 99.9% of all Christians are regular people living regular lives doing regular things. The great preacher and author Robert McCracken once wrote, “A man can be as truly a saint in a factory as in a monastery, and there is as much need of him in the one as in the other.”

I encourage you to serve Christ the best you can, right where you are, doing exactly what you are doing.

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, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can such a faith save him?” James 2:14 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Faith without works is dead.”

At Oak Hill Baptist Church we are an “Acts 1:8 church”. Acts 1:8 is our model for ministry. In that verse Jesus gave us the Great Commission and He told us we are to be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. In other words, we are to take our faith outside the walls of the church buildings and make a meaningful difference for His sake out in the world.

In order to accomplish that, we have regularly scheduled church-wide service projects and humanitarian relief work that takes us, as a group, out of the church buildings and into our local community. We also have ministry projects further out in the states of Tennessee and Kentucky, as well as overseas locations. At any given time our entire congregation is always in the process of preparing for one or more of those activities. This helps to keep our focus off of ourselves, and to instead always be thinking about how we can be a blessing to others in the name of the Lord and for the sake of His kingdom.

In James chapter two we learn that faith without works is dead. He means that talk is cheap. It’s easy to claim to be a Christian and it’s not too tough to show-up for services on a semi-regular basis; but it’s another thing altogether to be actively and regularly involved in acts of service to others.

In Isaiah chapter fifty-eight God was speaking through the prophet to the Jews about the kinds of religious activities that were most important and most meaningful to Him. The people were very good at going through the motions and rituals of worship, but many of them were not so good at genuinely living-out their faith. Here’s what God said to them:

“Isn’t this the fast I choose: To break the chains of wickedness, to untie the ropes of the yoke, to set the oppressed free, and to tear off every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your house, to clothe the naked when you see him, and to not ignore your own flesh and blood?” “And if you offer yourself to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted one, then your light will shine in the darkness and your night will be like noonday.” 58:6-7; 10

Faith without works is dead. A life well spent is a life of service to others in the name of Jesus.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

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

Our Bible verse for today: “I life my eyes toward the mountains. Where will my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip; your Protector will not slumber. Indeed, the Protector of Israel does not slumber or sleep. The Lord protects you; the Lord is a shelter right by your side.” Psalm 121:1-5 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “This is how you do it.”

The superscript that appears above Psalm 121 tells us that it is “a song of ascents”. It was primarily written as a song for people to sing as they climbed the road leading up to the temple in Jerusalem. It was also a good song to sing on any long journey, especially a difficult one. The Psalm affirms that the traveler will keep putting one foot in front of the other, keeping his head up and his eyes forward, trusting the Lord to protect and care for him as he continues to make progress on his journey.

This is a metaphor for life. Life is a journey. We make progress through it one step at a time, one day at a time. Often it’s a hard journey, like a long steady climb that ultimately leads us to our destination, but which requires tenacity, perseverance, and steady forward progress.

The way you do it is you keep your head up, your eyes forward, and you trust the Lord. You look to Him for guidance and strength and protection. As was noted in a previous message in this series, the Christian life lived well is sometimes referred to as “a long obedience in the same direction”. That’s a good way to see it.

Sometimes when we think about a life that is well spent we can be tempted to conclude that a life is only well spent if the person achieves spectacular things. Not so. Instead, the picture God gives us of a life pleasing to Him is a simple life of obedience. It’s the life of a person who simply and faithfully does the right thing day in and day out. This is a person who honors God, blesses others, and who keeps moving forward in life, always thinking about their ultimate destination.

Living the Christian life well often isn’t easy, but it’s also not particularly complicated either. This is how you do it: Keep your head up, your eyes forward, honor God, bless others, and keep moving.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

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

Our Bible verse for today: “For when David had served God’s purposes in his own generation, he fell asleep.” Acts 13:36 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “It’s not over until it’s over.”

Acts 13:36 tells us that King David lived until God was done with Him, and then he died. He didn’t die a day before or a day after – he died when God was done with him. He served God’s purposes in his generation, and then he went to heaven.

This is important for us for a number of reasons. For one thing, God has a purpose and a plan for your life. Second, He Himself determines the number of your days. Third, if you’re still breathing it’s because God isn’t done with you yet. It doesn’t matter how old you are, what the condition of your health is, or what you have or have not accomplished in life up to this point. If you are still alive it’s because God isn’t done with you yet. So each day that you continue to live you should be thinking and praying about what God wants to do in your life now, this day.

Also, every day of life offers a new opportunity to change and to make a fresh start. It’s not at all uncommon to meet someone who came to faith in Jesus late in life, a person who seemed to have wasted many years living far from God and accomplishing no good thing in this world (maybe even doing a lot of damage), but who then comes to faith in Christ, is radically transformed, and then spends the rest of their life making a significant difference for good.

I’m firmly convinced that you cannot determine the full measure of a person’s life until that life has been fully lived. A person might live like the devil for the first 40 years of their life, have a mid-life conversion, and then spend 40 more years making a spectacular difference for good. Or, the best and most productive season of a person’s life might be the last 12 months of their life.

You cannot determine the full measure of a person’s life until that life has been fully lived, and every day that you continue to live is a new opportunity from God to do something meaningful and special.

It’s not over until it’s over. Your life continues to have meaning and purpose right up until your last breath. Regardless of what your life may have been like up to this point, every new day brings with it new opportunities to be the man or woman God wants you to be. Take advantage of your days. Use them well.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

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

Our Bible verse for today: “Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord.” Isaiah 37:14 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Bring everything to God.”

Hezekiah was a good king. After years of godless and evil leadership under his father Ahaz, Hezekiah spent years painstakingly leading the nation back to faithful obedience of the One True God. Hezekiah was a good man who loved the Lord and who led the people well. As a result, the nation was blessed by God.

However at one point the army of Assyria came and surrounded the city. The army was huge and powerful and there was no way Hezekiah and Judah could prevail against them. The commander of the army sent Hezekiah a written letter demanding immediate full surrender or else he would destroy the city, slaughter the people, and take Hezekiah captive.

Hezekiah knew the threat was real. There was no way his people could withstand the onslaught of the Assyrians. So he took the threatening letter, went into the temple, knelt at the altar, spread the letter out on the altar before God, and he talked to God about the situation. He affirmed that only God could get them out of this and then he pleaded with God for divine intervention. Well God heard, He responded, and the Assyrian army was defeated.

I love this scene of Hezekiah kneeling at the altar, with the actual letter spread out on the altar before God, and pleading with God for help and deliverance. That’s powerful – and effective.

At Oak Hill Baptist Church we frequently have people come and kneel at the altar as they pray to God about issues they are facing. It’s a symbolic act of surrender and faith, and it is one that God honors.

One of the key aspects of a life well spent is that the person is a pray-er who frequently brings all the issues of life to God in prayer. God is interested in the big issues and in the small ones. He wants us to actually invite Him into all the moments of our lives. Of course He is already aware of it all, but He wants us to actually bring it to Him and ask Him to help us with it. He wants to be asked to be a part of everything we have going on.

I encourage you to bring everything to God in prayer. Pray frequently. Pray with passion and intensity. Actually lay the symbolic letter out before Him and talk to Him about it. The more you involve God in your situations the better your life will be.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is: