Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “A Fresh Encounter”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Just one thing: Live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.” Philippians 1:27 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “A fresh encounter empowers us to live in a way that honors God.”

 

Throughout this month we’ve considered what it means to have a fresh encounter with God and how such fresh encounters typically happen. We’ve also addressed the truth that the primary reason we should desire and seek fresh encounters with God is simply so we can enjoy Him and He can enjoy us. God created us to have a love relationship with us.

 

But another important reason we need frequent fresh encounters is so that the practice of our faith with remain fresh and vibrant, and so we will honor the Lord by the way we live. When our relationship with the Lord becomes stale and routine it frequently results in the individual becoming spiritually lukewarm and lazy. That then will often lead to unbiblical behavior.

 

As was noted earlier in our study, when God finds it necessary to bring discipline into the life of one of His children He does so out of His deep love for us. He does it in order to bring us back into right relationship with Himself and it is always in our own best interest. But it’s also in God’s interest. If we claim the name of Jesus Christ, but are then behaving badly out in the world, that brings dishonor upon the Lord and it impedes His kingdom-building work. Unbelievers seeing a Christian behaving badly will often be put off and turned away from the faith as a result.

 

As a child of the King we have a responsibility to conduct ourselves in such a way that we bring honor to Him. That’s what Paul was writing about in Philippians 1:27. For one thing, if our faith is lukewarm, and if the practice of our faith is lackluster and just a matter of routine, what does that say about our Lord? Is that as much enthusiasm as He is able to elicit from His followers? Rock stars, actors, and sports figures get a better response from their fans than that.

 

And what if a person professes to be a Christian but then curses like a drunken sailor, is mean to co-workers and family members, is dishonest, or gets involved in other unbiblical behavior? What kind of a witness is that to the unbelieving world?

 

As followers of Christ we have to live in such a way that to even to the casual observer it will be obvious that “That person is a Christian. I can tell by how they conduct themselves.”

 

Frequent fresh encounters with God will keep us in a dynamic and fruitful relationship with Him – one that pleases Him, is a good testimony to others, and brings blessings to us as well.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “A Fresh Encounter”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “How she sits alone, the city once crowded with people! She who was great among the nations has become like a widow. The princess among the provinces has been put to forced labor.” Lamentations 1:1 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Don’t give-up. The story’s not over and God isn’t done yet.”

 

Our Bible verse for today is the opening paragraph to the book of Lamentations in the Old Testament. Lamentations was written by the prophet Jeremiah and it’s the story of how the city of Jerusalem was devastated by an invading army. As Jeremiah was writing this he was looking at a city that was in ruins and the population had been taken off into slavery.

 

Sometimes that scene can seem like a picture out of our own lives. Unemployment, sickness, the death of a loved one, being betrayed by someone we trusted, those are examples of the kinds of things that can cause us to feel as if our world has come crashing down around us.

 

In this case the people were entirely at fault and God had allowed this tragedy into their lives as a form of punishment. Sometimes that’s true for us too. Sometimes we bring it on ourselves and God allows us to experience the consequences of our own bad choices – but usually not. More often what we’re experiencing is simply something that happens because we live in a broken and bleeding and sin-filled world.

 

But either way, whether we brought it on ourselves, or it happened as a result of someone else’s bad behavior, or it’s simply life happening, the devastation we’re experiencing at that time is almost never the end of the story. It wasn’t the end of the story for the Jews. The day would come when their suffering would end; they would have a fresh encounter with God and He would deliver them from their suffering. That’s true for you too.

 

Lamentations is one of the saddest books in the Bible. But even in the middle of such a sad, sad story there are words of hope and promise. In Lamentations 3:22-26 we read:

 

“Because of the Lord’s faithful love we do not perish, for His mercies never end. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness! I say: The Lord is my portion, therefore I will put my hope in Him. The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him. It is good to wait quietly for deliverance from the Lord.”

 

Yes, “It is good to wait quietly for deliverance from the Lord.” No matter how bad it might seem right now, your time of deliverance will come. So don’t give-up. The story isn’t over and God’s not done yet.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

 

 

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “A Fresh Encounter”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Therefore, I remind you to keep ablaze the gift of God that is in you through the laying on of hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fearfulness, but one of power, love, and sound judgment.” 2 Timothy 1:6-7 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Fresh Encounters keep us strong and fearless.”

 

Although I’ve never actually counted them myself, I’ve often heard it said that in the Bible there are three hundred and sixty-five variations of the command from God to “Fear not!” If so then that would be one “Fear not!” for every day of the year.

 

In 2 Timothy 1:6-7 the Apostle Paul writes one of those “Fear not!” statements. In this case it’s to his young protégé Timothy (and to us). Timothy was a young man who Paul mentored and then trained for the ministry. It seems as if Timothy served primarily as a “church fixer”. In other words, Paul kept sending the young man into situations where a church was having serious problems and Timothy’s job was to sort it out and get them back on track.

 

In my own years as a pastor God has sent me into three such situations and so I can tell you from experience that it’s a tough way to make a living! But at least in my case those assignments came to me after I had completed a twenty-one year career in the military. So I was able to bring a little military officer attitude to bear on the situations as well. Poor Timothy was in his twenties and still wet behind the ears. It must have been a rough ride for him.

 

So in 2 Timothy 1:6-7 Paul reminded Timothy of two very important truths that he needed to remain conscious of. First, Timothy needed to keep ablaze the passion that he had when he first started out in ministry. That blazing passion within him would be absolutely essential to keep him motivated and persistent as he faced what surely would seem like never-ending problems. But keeping that passion ablaze would require regular fresh encounters with God. Without those fresh encounters on a regular basis Timothy would quickly get weary, discouraged, and off track.

 

Secondly Timothy needed to remember that the Holy Spirit within him wasn’t afraid of anyone or anything. Therefore the Spirit (big “S”) provided Timothy’s spirit (little “s”) with a sense of fearlessness in the face of adversity. Instead of being fearful Timothy was to have a sense of power, and love, and sound judgment. In the NIV it reads “power, love, and self-discipline.” But the best translation comes from the Amplified Bible:

 

“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, or craven and cringing and fawning fear), but (He has given us a spirit) of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control.”

 

By now I’m sure you get the picture. The same Spirit that was within Timothy doing all of that for him is also in you and giving you the same fearlessness.

 

I encourage you to keep the passion within you ablaze with continuous fresh encounters with God. Then go forward into life with a sense of power, and love, and calmness, and discipline, and self-control. In other words, “Fear not!”

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “A Fresh Encounter”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Rather, train yourself in godliness, for the training of the body has a limited benefit, but godliness is beneficial in every way, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” 1 Timothy 4:7-8 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Train yourself for godliness.”

 

I read an interesting statement this morning that caused me to appreciate all over again the importance of spiritual maturity and God-given wisdom. The statement reads, “Not every problem has only one solution. Wisdom is required: God’s Spirit must do the leading.”

 

The fact is that life is complicated, and often it’s not easy to discern the best course of action in any given situation. Many times there is more than one right answer and it can be tough to decide what choice to make and which action to take.

 

This is why spiritual maturity is so important. It’s crucial for us to be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives. This is one of the reasons we cannot afford to be lazy and lukewarm in our faith, because when we are, we drift from God’s standards and become increasingly insensitive to the Spirit’s leading.

 

In 1 Timothy 4:7-8 Paul urges young Timothy (and us) to train ourselves in godliness. Just as an athlete intentionally and vigorously trains his or her body so they will be at their best for the physical challenge of athletic competition, so too we must train ourselves spiritually so we will remain in tip-top spiritual shape.

 

Training ourselves in godliness infers that we have a system or routine in place. That then requires intentional actions and the discipline to stick with it. And just as an athlete will monitor their progress and development and periodically make adjustments as needed, so too must we in our spiritual training.

 

Training ourselves in godliness leads to spiritual maturity and the Spirit-led ability to make wise decisions in the face of multiple choices. One of my personal life verses is Proverbs 3:5-6. In the NIV it reads:

 

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”

 

That passage teaches that once we have this Spirit-led maturity and sensitivity which comes grows out of spiritual training, we can depend on the Spirit to lead us as we make wise choices. We may not have specific step-by-step instructions from the Lord but because we have a heart that is fully surrendered to Him, and because we are familiar enough with His ways and therefore are sensitive to His quiet voice and gentle guidance, we can count on Him to lead us in the way He wants us to go.

 

I encourage you to continue training yourself in godliness.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “A Fresh Encounter”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “My son, do not take the Lord’s discipline lightly or faint when you are reproved by Him, for the Lord disciplines the one He loves and punishes every son He receives.” Hebrews 12:5-6 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “God disciplines you because He loves you.”

 

Yesterday’s devotional message was a little hard to write and it was probably a little hard to read. Nobody likes to consider God’s discipline and punishment. We want to focus instead on His blessings and mercies. But as we learned yesterday, God has many ways of dealing with His people, and the way He deals with us at any given moment depends on what is most appropriate to the situation based upon our behavior.

 

Yesterday we read of two times in the history of the Jews when they were so far away from God, that He had to withdraw His hand of protection and blessing from them and let them experience life fully exposed and totally unprotected from their enemies. And we also learned that sometimes individual Christians force God’s hand in a similar manner with our own behavior.

 

Now the question before us today is “why” would God deal with His people in that manner? Why would He let them (and us) suffer like that? And the answer is, “Because He loves us.” God loves us too much to leave us in our sins. He loves us too much to simply look the other way as we engage in conduct that is going to hurt us and those around us. So He will bring increasing levels of discipline into our lives as necessary to get our attention and bring us back into obedience.

 

Any good human parent would do the same for their children, so we should expect nothing less when God in dealing with us. His discipline is an act of love designed to bring us back to the behavior and conduct that He knows is in our own best interest, and which will honor Him.

 

In the Bible study “Fresh Encounter” Henry and Richard Blackaby explain it like this:

 

“Though difficult to endure, undergoing God’s discipline is a sure sign that we are in a relationship with Him. When we are corrected by God, it is a sure sign that he is watching our lives and desires to direct our steps.”

 

When we recognize and respond to God’s correction in our lives that is a fresh encounter with Him and it does bring us back into a full and healthy relationship with Him. It also places us back within the boundaries whereby He can and will protect and bless us.

 

God loves you too much to just leave you in your sinful behavior without at least trying to correct you. God disciplines us because He loves us.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “A Fresh Encounter”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “For the days will come on you when your enemies will build an embankment against you, surround you, and hem you in on every side. They will crush you and your children within you to the ground, and they will not leave one stone on another in you, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.” Luke 19:43-44 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “God will withdraw His protection and blessings if He needs to.”

 

In Luke 19:43-44 Jesus was telling the nation of Israel what was going to happen to them in the near future. As individuals and as a nation they had drifted far from God. Although God had been calling out to them through the prophets, and He even sent them His Son to them, they were hard hearted and would not listen. So God was about to withdraw His protection and blessings and as a result, they would be overrun by their enemies.

 

This was not an isolated instance in the life of Israel. In Isaiah 5:5-6 God compared Israel to a vineyard that was supposed to have produced good fruit for Him but did not. Therefore God would remove His hand of protection from them: “Now I will tell you what I am about to do to My vineyard: I will remove its hedge, and it will be consumed; I will tear down its wall, and it will be trampled.”

 

In the Bible study “Fresh Encounter” Henry and Richard Blackaby teach that one of the reasons we need a fresh encounter with God is to open our eyes to how far we have drifted from Him. They make the sobering observation that this is for our own good because if we continue to drift further and further away from Him, eventually we will place ourselves outside of the conditions within which He will protect and bless us. Like the nation of Israel, at some point God will withdraw His protection and blessings and then we are at the mercy of the world.

 

Many Christians experience this and don’t even realize it. In the Bible God has given us the boundaries within which He expects us to live our lives. But sometimes individual Christians, churches, and even nations make decisions to conduct themselves outside of Biblical standards. That then places them in a condition that God cannot and will not bless. When you are living in that condition you have essentially forced God to remove His hedge of protection, and to withhold His blessings. You are then exposed and at the mercy of the world.

 

A fresh encounter with God opens our eyes to how far we have drifted and it calls us back to obedience, fellowship, protection, and blessing. If you are living outside of Biblical boundaries I encourage you to correct that situation immediately. You are vulnerable and at great risk because you are in a situation God cannot and will not bless.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “A Fresh Encounter”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “The man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence indeed is the Lord, is blessed. He will be like a tree planted by water. It sends its roots out toward a stream, it doesn’t fear when heat comes, and its foliage remains green. It will not worry in a year of drought or cease producing fruit.” Jeremiah 17:7-8 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “A fresh encounter with God will result in deep spiritual roots.”

 

I love it when God paints word pictures for us like the one in Jeremiah 17:7-8. Here He compares our spiritual health to that of a living tree that has deep roots. Because the roots run deep, they have constant access to underground springs of cool and refreshing water. That being the case, even if there’s a drought on the surface, this tree continues to remain healthy and producing fruit while others with shallow roots are wilting and dying.

 

This is intended by God to be a picture of our spiritual lives. Our roots need to go deep so they are continually being nourished by the deep living water that is Jesus Christ. When that’s the case we will be strong and healthy, flourishing and producing spiritual fruit, even if on the surface life has become like a barren desert with the blistering heat of difficulty and the hot dry winds of adversity.

 

But roots don’t grow deep automatically or quickly. This takes time and in the case of spiritual roots, it takes work on our part. There are things that we need to do in order for our spiritual roots to run deep. Prayer, Bible study, worship, fellowship, acts of service, as well as the other spiritual disciplines of the Christian life are all essential to spiritual growth and deep roots.

 

Also, participation in the life of a good church family is crucial. I’m convinced that Biblically you cannot and will not be a spiritually healthy Christian if you are out of church. The Bible simply makes no allowance for it. Exactly the opposite is true. The Bible explicitly tells us not to skip church (Hebrews 10:24-25). Part of a healthy spiritual life includes full participation in church with other Christians.

 

It’s also true that the Bible makes no allowance for “pew potatoes”. These are people who do attend worship services, but mostly they just sit there. They arrive a minute before the service begins, they just sit there and watch, and they leave the minute the service is over. Then you won’t see them again until the following week.

 

Regularly attending worship services is certainly important, but a worship service is not a show to be watched, and it is also not just a religious duty that is performed once a week. Instead, attending and participating in the worship services is but one element in our participation in the full life of a church family, and active participation in the life of a good church is but one part in developing deep spiritual roots.

 

I encourage you to gather with your church family this Sunday and participate fully in the life of the church. If you don’t have a church home then I invite you to visit us at Oak Hill Baptist. Sunday school begins at 9:00; the worship service is at 10:00; and at 6:00 we will continue our Bible study “Fresh Encounter”. I hope to see you there!

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “A Fresh Encounter”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “If you have raced with runners and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses?” Jeremiah 12:5 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Without God, life will wear you out.”

 

I love the word picture God created for us in Jeremiah 12:5. God was using the prophet Jeremiah to try to talk some sense into the nation of Israel. As a nation they had all drifted far away from God. They were focused on the cares and pleasures of life, and their hearts were given over to the idols of the surrounding pagan people.

 

What the Jews were finding to be increasingly true was that no matter how much they devoted themselves to the cares and concerns of life such as earning money, building houses, and pursing pleasure, it was never enough. In fact constantly pursing the things of the world was exhausting and it was wearing them out.

 

In Jeremiah 12:5 God compared their silly worldly pursuits to racing with runners – mere humans. His point was that if even the average everyday cares of life are wearing you out, how in the world will you be able to handle things that really matter – like good spiritual health and your eternal destiny?

 

When phrased in that way we see how ridiculous their focus was. In their own power, and without God’s blessing, even regular life and taking care of common everyday things was wearing them out. That being the case there was no chance that in their own power they could accomplish truly important things like being spiritually healthy, or being in right relationship with God, or ensuring their eternal salvation.

 

What they needed was a fresh encounter with God. They needed to return to Him and make Him the central focus of their lives. He then would help them to be successful in ways that truly mattered.

 

A New Testament version of this truth is found in Matthew 11:28-30 where Jesus said “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest …”

 

This lesson applies at least as much to us today as it did to them back then. Many Christians have drifted away from God and have a lukewarm relationship with Him at best. They’re involved in unbiblical behaviors and are therefore living outside of His blessings. As a result they are finding that even common everyday life is difficult and exhausting and not going well. So if they’re not even able to handle normal life well in their own power, how could they achieve true peace and joy, as well as good spiritual health without God’s blessing? The obvious answer is that they can’t.

 

The truth is that without God, life will wear you out. Come back to Him today. You cannot and will not really thrive without Him.

 

God Bless,

Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “A Fresh Encounter”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “But we encourage you, brothers, to do so even more, to seek to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands …”

1 Thessalonians 4:10-11 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “There’s a lot to be said for living a simple and quiet life.”

 

I have a poem hanging on the wall of my office called “The Double Life” by Don Blanding. It’s about man who is torn between his love for exploring and adventure, and his strong desire to simply stay at home safe and warm, quiet and peaceful. The poem reads in part,

 

“How very simple life would be if there were only two of me.

A restless me to drift and roam, a quiet me to stay at home;

A searching one to find his fill, of varied skies and newfound thrill;

While sane and homely things are done, by the domestic other one.”

 

I always smile when I read that because it describes me so well. Next week I will turn 63. I’ve been in the full-time workforce since I was 17 – most of it in work that included traveling to far off lands and exotic locations. As a Naval Officer I circled the globe. As a mission team leader I have led more than 25 mission teams to places like the Amazon Jungle – and I’ve loved it all.

 

The only problem is that I’ve had to leave home to do it. You see, I love being at home too. The poem goes on, “With candlelight and well-loved books, and treasured loot in dusty nooks; with puttering and garden things, and dreaming while a cricket sings; and all the while the restless one, insists on more exciting fun …”

 

And so for forty-five years I’ve struggled with finding a balance between living life to the fullest, and slowing down enough to actually savor and enjoy that life.

 

What does all of this have to do with our theme this month of having a fresh encounter with God? Just that it’s hard to hear God’s “still small voice” in the middle of constant movement and activity and noise. Leading a busy life filled with lots of good and meaningful activities like a career, family, hobbies, and friends is fine up to a point. But we have to also make sure there is plenty of uninterrupted quiet time when we can simply sit in the presence of God and just savor being with him.

 

In 1 Thessalonians 4:10-11 the Apostle Paul encourages us to consider the virtues of a simpler, slower, quiet life. As I’ve gotten older I find myself increasingly drawn away from the adventure and travel and the high pressure world of a demanding career, and more towards a quiet and simple life. Oh, I still enjoy a long motorcycle ride on a pretty summer day, and I’m looking forward to going back to Haiti in September on another mission trip, but these days more quiet time with God and new fresh encounters with Him sound pretty inviting too.

 

How about you, is your life filled to overflowing with constant activity? Are you allowing enough time to just relax and savor life? If you go to my website at www.JimMersereauBooks.com you can download a free article entitled “Room for the Singing of Angels”. You might find it helpful as you try to find the right balance in your own life.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “A Fresh Encounter”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings.” Jeremiah 3:22 (NKJV)

 

Our thought for today: “The drift away from God is almost always subtle.”

 

I’m not sure that anyone would ever want to boil a frog in a pot of hot water but if you did, you would not simply drop a live frog into boiling water. If you did do that then the frog would immediately leap back out of the pot.

 

The way to boil a frog (if you were so inclined), would be to gently place the frog in a pot of slightly warm water. The pleasing sensation of the comfortably warm water will cause the frog to relax and stay right there. Then you very slowly increase the heat until the water is boiling. The change in temperature will be so subtle that the frog won’t even notice it as its occurring. He will just keep adjusting to the subtle and acceptable changes until finally the change has become so severe (without him realizing it) that he boils to death.

 

That illustration of subtle incremental changes is also a picture of how Christians end up drifting away from the Lord. It happens very slowly, incrementally, over a long period of time. Because the changes are slight we usually don’t realize they’re happening, and because they are continuous we don’t realize how far away from God they’re taking us. That’s a condition many Christians are in today and they don’t even realize it. They are far from the Lord but because they’re sitting in a pew every Sunday they think they’re doing fine.

 

Usually when we think of a Christian in a “backslidden” condition we think of someone who used to be faithful but is now out carousing in the bars and cursing like a sailor. And while that is one description of being backslidden, the term actually refers to someone who has lost ground spiritually and has therefore “backslidden” to an earlier state.

 

For many Christians this means that they are actually less spiritually mature than they used to be. They have lost ground in their relationship with the Lord and it happened so slowly, so incrementally, that they don’t even realize it has happened. It has become the new normal for them, and all the while they’re sitting there thinking everything is fine.

 

In Jeremiah 3:22 God was speaking to the entire nation of Israel. They were all in a spiritually backslidden condition but they thought they were doing just fine. So in an effort to open their eyes to their true spiritual condition, God sent the prophet Jeremiah to speak words of conviction and truth to them. God’s solution to their problem was, “Return to Me!” That was it, just acknowledge that you have slipped and take the actions necessary to correct it. They needed a fresh encounter with the Lord.

 

Where are you at in your relationship with God? Is it possible that overtime you have backslidden – lost ground from where you used to be – and you don’t even realize it? Spend some time with the Lord today and invite the Holy Spirit to speak to you about where you really are with God. Then be prepared to do something about it if needed.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim