Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “A Fresh Encounter”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “For me, living is Christ and dying is gain.” Philippians 1:21 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Be on God’s side.”

 

Many Christians go through life just a little bit discouraged and maybe even doubtful about their faith, because it seems as if God never speaks to them and that they never have fresh encounters with Him.

 

With respect to that dilemma author Dallas Willard poses the challenging and convicting question: “Are you and God in business together in life, or are you in business for yourself, trying to “use a little God” to advance your projects?”

 

Sadly that does describe how many of us live. We try to use God to get what we want. We have an agenda of our own that we hope God will fulfill for us and we therefore include God just enough so that He may grant us the things we desire.

 

That right there explains why so many of us experience so little of God. It’s because we’re trying to use Him to advance our own agenda, rather than simply making ourselves available to Him to advance His agenda.

 

During the Civil War Abraham Lincoln was once asked if he thought God was on the side of the North. Lincoln wisely responded, “I’m not so concerned with whether or not God is on our side, as I am with whether or not we’re on God’s side.”

 

In Philippians 1:21 the Apostle Paul expressed what was probably his life’s mission statement, “For me, living is Christ and dying is gain.” In other words, his sole purpose in life was to serve Christ. And he knew that when his life was over he would die and go to heaven, which would be icing on the cake.

 

In an effort to help us encounter God and have regular and meaningful communication with Him, Dallas Willard offers this addition insight: “We are more likely to hear God when we can say, “I am living for one thing and one thing only – to be like Christ, to do his work and to serve his people and him. My life is to bless others in the name of God.”

 

When you’re thinking and living like that then God has every reason to allow you to have frequent and close encounters with Him. Here’s one final helpful thought from the writing of Dallas Willard, “Ask yourself: ‘Am I using God to fix my world or am I immersing myself in God’s world and learning to live my life the way Christ would if he were me?”

 

I encourage you to resolve to be on God’s side. Align your life with His agenda.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “A Fresh Encounter”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Learn to do what is good. Seek justice. Correct the oppressor. Defend the rights of the fatherless. Plead the widow’s cause.” Isaiah 1:17 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Acts of service often lead to a fresh encounter with God.”

 

In yesterday’s devotional message we thought about how it is that God often leads us to a fresh encounter with Himself by speaking to us through His written word. Another way in which people often encounter God is through acts of service.

 

This is a truth I have personally experienced, and have seen in the lives of others, many times. When people engage in acts of service in the name of Jesus the Lord often shows up in big ways – usually, and first, in the life of that individual person. On our international mission teams I have often told our team members that the mission will probably turn out to have been more about what God wanted to do in you rather than through you.

 

This is why Christians become so enthusiastic about participating in acts of service. It’s because when you put action to your faith, when your faith clearly makes a difference in your own life and in the lives of others, you get to experience God in new and fresh ways.

 

I’ve mentioned before that at Oak Hill Baptist Church we are a service oriented church. We are actively on-mission with Jesus outside the walls of the church, and the members of our church are very enthusiastic about it. Just a few weeks ago we had our Sunday evening service at the local rescue mission (as we do numerous times throughout the year). We held a church service and then prepared and served the evening meal. There were so many of our members there that we had to find things for people to do.

 

As I write this it is Wednesday morning. Tonight at church will be an evening of service rather than our normal Wednesday night activities. We will be packing 100 boxes of food, each with enough food to feed a family of four two meals. This is for our weekend mission trip this Friday to work with our friends in the coal-mining region of eastern Kentucky. I’m sure there will be a large turn-out tonight to help with the work because our people love being involved in this kind of service.

 

We’re also in the process of planning our next mission trip to Haiti in September. We will spend a week working in an orphanage doing construction, feeding children, and providing orphan care. There are a lot of members of our church, and from other churches, who are eager to participate. It may be the biggest group we have ever taken to Haiti. This is all happening because Christians get excited and enthused when their faith makes a real difference in their own lives and in the lives of others. And, it almost always results in a fresh encounter with God.

 

Isaiah 1:17 is just one of numerous verses in both the Old and New Testaments where God calls us to put action to our faith. When we do we get to encounter Him in new and fresh ways.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “A Fresh Encounter”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than a double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the ideas and thoughts of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “The Bible offers us unlimited fresh encounters with God.”

 

The Bible is God’s primary method for communicating with us. He speaks in other ways too, and throughout this month we will consider some of those other ways, but His written word is His primary means of communicating with us.

 

One of the most important jobs of the Holy Spirit, as our Counselor, Teacher, and Guide, is to use the words of Scripture to communicate to us the things that God wants us to know. Often those things will be general Biblical principles that provide basic guidance, but other times He will use the words of the Bible to bring us something specific, something tailored to us for this moment in our lives. It could be a word of encouragement or inspiration; it could be conviction of sin; or it could be the answer to a perplexing life issue you’ve been wrestling with.

 

Hebrews 4:12 is clear that the word of God is alive. That means that the Holy Spirit takes those words, which in themselves are nothing more than ink on paper, and He infuses them with divine life, speaking deep into our mind and heart. Once that takes place, the word from God then becomes like a sharp sword, penetrating to the deepest parts of us, speaking truth and conviction, communicating promises, and providing inspiration.

 

But all of this depends on how we as individuals approach our time of Bible study. First, we have to actually have that time. And second, we must approach it with a desire and an expectation to have a fresh encounter with God. Far too many Christians force themselves to do their daily Bible reading because they think they’re supposed to. It’s little more than a religious duty. Others read for mileage. They’ve decided they want to read through the Bible in a year (a good goal), but then they put the pedal to the metal and speed through their readings just to get them done so they can put a check in the box.

 

Neither of those approaches are likely to result in very much of an encounter with God. And what a shame that is! The Word of God is alive and powerful, and through it God is ready and eager to speak deeply into our hearts. But we have to approach the scripture as if every word of it is a new opportunity to encounter God in a fresh way.

 

The Bible offers us unlimited fresh encounters with God every time we read it. I encourage you to slow down, be attentive, and think deeply about what you’re reading.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “A Fresh Encounter”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “As a deer longs for streams of water, so I long for You, God. I thirst for God, the living God. When can I come and appear before God?” Psalm 42:1-2 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “How do you feel about God?”

 

Yesterday our Bible verse for the day was Jeremiah 33:3 “Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and incomprehensible things you do not know.” That verse expresses one of the greatest truths in Scripture – God wants to be heard and understood by His people.

 

And so, God invites you to call out to Him, to come to Him, and He in turn will speak with you. So the question then is not “How much does God desire your presence but how much do you desire His?” It’s not the condition of God’s heart that’s in question here, it’s yours. How much do you want God?

 

Psalm 42:1-2 has always been special to me. I love the picture it paints of a thirsty heart longing after God like a thirsty deer longs after a cool stream of water. Virtually every time I see a deer I think of this passage, and that then causes me to consider my relationship with God. I want this verse to describe how I feel about God.

 

I’ve sometimes heard it said that your relationship with God is the most important thing about you, and I believe that is true. Your relationship with God will determine how you think, speak, and act. The depth and quality of your relationship with God will determine how diligently you seek Him, how much time you spend with Him, and how much He impacts your life. Your relationship with God will determine everything else about you.

 

But the quality of your relationship with God is going to be determined to a very large degree by how you feel about God. If God seems to be a distant deity with whom you have little personal contact then your relationship with Him won’t have much impact on you. But if He is so real, and His presence is so enjoyable, that you find yourself longing to put the rest of life on hold so you can just savor being with Him, then those feelings will drive you to seek Him often and to truly enjoy being with Him.

 

If Psalm 42:1-2 does not describe how you feel about God then I encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit to make it so. Read this passage; think about it; meditate on it; invite the Holy Spirit to create this kind of longing in your heart. How you feel about God will determine what your relationship with Him is like, and your relationship with Him will determine everything else about you.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “A Fresh Encounter”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and incomprehensible things you do not know.” Jeremiah 33:3 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “God wants to revive us.”

 

At Oak Hill Baptist Church we’re beginning a new Sunday night Bible study series entitled “Fresh Encounter” by Henry and Richard Blackaby. It’s all about personal spiritual renewal and church-wide revival.

 

In the introduction to the study Henry makes this observation, “Many churches are filled with professing Christians who are not experiencing the power of God in their lives.” He then goes on to say, “There are lifeless, powerless churches dotting the landscape which are making little difference for God’s kingdom.”

 

That’s a shame and it should not be. Many individual Christians, and consequently many churches, are not experiencing the power of God as they should be.

 

There’s actually a cyclical pattern which is easily observable and which repeats itself over and over again. First God draws people to Himself; they respond to Him; they are excited and passionate about their relationship with Him; but then their passion cools and they get lukewarm and begin to drift; God then disciplines them in some manner; they cry out and repent; they return to God; and once again He blesses them.

 

It is a sad and unnecessary pattern that’s repeated over and over again and at some point most of us go through it. But God never gives up pursuing His people and calling them back into a deep and healthy relationship with Himself.  Jeremiah 33:3 is just one of numerous passages which remind us that God calls us to Himself and when we respond, He blesses us.

 

Throughout the month of April I’ll share with you in these devotional messages some of the lessons we’re learning in our small group time at Oak Hill Baptist. Oak Hill is a wonderful little church which has actually been in a condition of slow, steady, progressive revival for the last 2-3 years. Just the other night some members were marveling and giving God glory for the healthy changes He has brought into our church life during that time.

 

But as good as those things are, we recognize that God always has more for His people. No matter how much individuals or churches have changed and grown, with God there is always something more, always something new, always something better. The adventure never ends. So we continue to seek those fresh encounters with Him and, we invite you to join us. I’m looking forward to sharing insights with you and growing together as we seek spiritual renewal and revival.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

 

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Trust”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Absolute futility, says the Teacher, absolute futility. Everything is futile.” Ecclesiastes 1:2 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Our trust must be in God alone.”

 

Last night I was watching a news program and it occurred to me how much of the newscast was dedicated to the never-ending and seemingly unsolvable problems in our federal government. It was just one story after another about arguments and debates, stalemates and political maneuvering, he-said she-said, and we the viewing public are left wondering what’s true and what’s not. All we know for sure it that not much is getting done.

 

The last Presidential election was supposed to solve all of that for us. They promised us it would. And yet, the gridlock is worse than ever and nobody trusts anybody. And that’s just on the federal level of our government. A similar scenario plays out at all levels of government and is also becoming increasingly evident throughout all parts of our society. We truly are a deeply divided nation.

 

The biggest problem we face though is the fact that we insist on putting our trust in leaders and programs and policies to fix things for us. We allow ourselves to believe that if only our candidate is elected, if his or her policies are fully implemented, if there were new and better laws, if others in our society would only see things our way and agree with us, everything would be ok. But when we do that we’re putting our trust in the wrong things. People and politicians and policies and programs are not the answer. God is the answer.

 

That was certainly the lesson King Solomon learned and recorded in the book of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes is one long and sad record of a lifetime spent placing his trust in all the wrong things. Solomon depended on wisdom, and on wealth, and on pleasure, and on public projects, and entertainment, and government, and everything he could think of, only to finally realize that it was all futile, “a chasing after the wind”. After he had experimented with every possible solution life had to offer he finally discovered that, “When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is: “Fear God and keep His commands.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13)

 

The truth is that the President, your Senator, your political party, your career, your lifestyle choice, and your social policies are not the answer. Faith in God is the answer. As individuals and as a nation we need to place our trust in God and in His ways. That’s the only hope for us. I encourage you to put your full trust in God – in no one else and in no thing else.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Trust”

 

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 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “God’s not done with you yet.”

 

As I write this it’s very early in the morning and I’m getting ready to leave the house to make a long trip to Nashville. I have a meeting this morning with a young man I have been mentoring. He is currently doing time in a maximum security prison.

 

My friend is a Christian and he really is a fine young man. But he was raised in a bad environment which got him off to a pretty rough start in life. Since then he has made some poor decisions, the consequences of which are pretty severe. He makes no excuses and he doesn’t blame others. He knows that he’s responsible for his choices and for the consequences of those choices. The task now is to put the pieces of his life back together again and to move on with life in a positive way. I believe he will do exactly that.

 

It would be easy for a person in circumstances like that to conclude that his life is ruined and there is nothing good waiting for him in the future. But that would be a wrong assumption. As long as he stays in right relationship with God he will be fine. God is working in this young man’s life and God has a good plan for his future. All this guy needs to do is walk it forward with God, and to trust God.

 

That’s true in your life too. Regardless of your past, and regardless of whatever it is you’re going through right now, the truth is that God’s not done with you yet. If you’re a Christian then God has a great plan for you and even if you make mistakes along the way, God will never give up on you. He will keep guiding and directing and providing, all in an effort to get you where He wants you to be and to accomplish in your life the things He wants accomplished. As Paul wrote in Philippians 1:6, He started a good work in you, and He will stick with you until He brings it to completion.

 

I have often said (especially at funerals), that you cannot determine the full measure of a person’s life until that life has been fully lived. It’s true. As long as you are still living, God’s not done with you. It’s not until your last breath is breathed, and you are at home with Him in heaven, that the full story of your life can be told.

 

So here’s the good news: “God’s not done with you yet!” He has a good plan for you and He is in the process of bringing it to completion. Your job is to just trust Him and obey Him.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Trust”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Where were you when I established the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.” Job 38:4 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “He is God and you are not.”

 

In my personal Bible reading I have just finished the book of Job. I’ve always found his story inspiring and instructive for multiple reasons – not the least of which is that although Job was a good man, he was not a perfect man. Overall he did do a pretty admirable job of handling disaster, pain, and suffering well, but he also had his moments of doubt and whining.

 

Throughout the long course of Job’s trials he held firmly to his faith in God and he resolved to honor God as best he could regardless of the circumstances of his life at any particular moment. But he also went through periods of depression and dismay. There were times when Job was ready to throw-in the towel and just give-up and die. There were other times when he wondered why God had even allowed him to be born in the first place if He was going to allow him to suffer like this.

 

There were times when Job accused God of being unfair and of maybe even being a bit callous and heartless. And then there were the multiple times when Job angrily declared that he didn’t deserve what was happening to him, it wasn’t fair, and that he longed to challenge God face-to-face so God could explain Himself. (The longer this goes on the more it sounds like me.)

 

Then finally, beginning in chapter thirty-eight, God responded. “Who is this who obscures My counsel with ignorant words? Get ready to answer Me like a man; when I question you, you will inform Me. Where were you when I established the earth?”

 

And things went downhill for Job from there. God proceeded to lay-out for Job very clearly that “I am God and you are not!” For four long chapters, 137 verses, God puts Job in his place.

 

To Job’s credit he got the point and he learned his lesson. In 42:2 he said, “Surely I spoke about things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.”

 

Additionally, after a long period of pain and suffering and bewilderment, and then finally through renewed faith in God’s goodness, Job’s faith grew by leaps and bounds. He ended up coming to know God in a deeper and more intimate way than he ever had before all his suffering: “I had heard rumors about You, but now my eyes have seen You. Therefore I take back my words and repent in dust and ashes.” 42:5-6

 

So then, at the end of the story we read, “So the Lord blessed the last part of Job’s life more than the first.” 42:12

 

Whatever it is you are dealing with in life right now you can trust that God is aware of it and that He is Sovereign over it. Nothing happens without His knowledge and permission, and He is a good God and a loving Father.

 

Even if you don’t understand why this is happening or why God is allowing it, it’s imperative to remember that He is God and you are not – and you can trust Him.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Trust”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, the word of the Lord spoken through Jeremiah was fulfilled. The Lord put it into the mind of King Cyrus to issue a proclamation throughout his entire kingdom and to put it into writing …” Ezra 1:1 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “God is always at work behind the scenes.”

 

At the time of the opening chapters of the book of Ezra the nation of Israel had been in captivity for 70 years. However God had previously promised, through the words of the prophet Jeremiah and recorded in Jeremiah 29:10-14, that at the end of the 70 years He would deliver His people from their captivity and allow them to return home to Jerusalem. Now that was about to happen.

 

Interestingly, God used a pagan king to accomplish His purposes for His people. It was King Cyrus who felt led to begin the process of sending the Jews home and he was the one who put it into motion. As it turned out, during all those years of misery and deprivation while they were in captivity, God had been quietly working behind the scenes to orchestrate His next round of blessings for His people. And He used one of the most unlikely sources of all to accomplish it, a pagan king.

 

The fact is that God is always at work behind the scenes, working to accomplish His purposes for His people. And like a master chess player, he strategically moves pieces and orchestrates strategies, sometimes over very long periods of time and using unlikely people and situations, to ultimately bring about His purposes.

 

It’s true on a large scale in terms of nations and churches, but it’s true in individual lives too. It’s true in your life too. Don’t ever doubt that God is at work behind the scenes patiently moving the pieces and setting things up to accomplish His intended purposes for you. Even if current circumstances are difficult and confusing, (as was true for the Jews in the years preceding the book of Ezra), God is there nonetheless and He is at work on your behalf.

 

If you doubt that, or if you simply need to be reassured, there are multiple stories in the Bible you could refer to where you will see God at work in that way in the lives of other people. Joseph in the book of Genesis would be a good one to look at. The book of Job shows us another powerful example of that truth. As does the story of Esther, not to mention what we read about in Ezra and Nehemiah. Those stories are in the Bible as examples for us of how God works in the lives of His people.

 

Think of Him as the Cosmic Chess Player if you will, but don’t doubt that He is patiently at work behind the scenes in your current life situations working to bring about His desired purposes in and through and for you.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Trust”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Then Job stood up, tore his robe, and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshiped, saying: ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will leave this life. The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Praise the name of Yahweh.’ Throughout all this Job did not sin or blame God for anything.” Job 1:20-22 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “It’s in the worst times of suffering that we learn to trust God the most.”

 

For more than 3000 years Bible readers have been fascinated by the story of Job. A good and godly man who had great success and who honored God with his life, Job suffered a series of horrible and seemingly inexplicable tragedies in his life. It was like a cascading row of dominos falling, with one awful event leading right into the next.

 

In order to really understand the lesson of Job you have to have endured terrible loss and pain in your own life – or you have to have been close to someone who did and you walked through it with them.

 

But in reality, Job’s story is all of our stories because sooner or later life brings tragedy and great suffering to all of us. And the questions are always the same: “Why is this happening to me?”, “What am I supposed to do about it?”, “How long is this going to last?” and “What’s going to happen next?”

 

The story of Job reinforces the truth that we live in a broken and bleeding world that is filled with sin and suffering. Worse, we have an adversary (Satan) who actively seeks to bring pain and suffering into our lives to further his own evil purposes. The challenge for us is that we must trust God to help us face those situations and in the middle of it all we have to remember that God is supremely good and absolutely sovereign, and therefore He has a purpose for allowing these things into our lives.

 

As we follow Job’s story we discover that he suffered greatly. We also see that he did not pretend to like it or to be happy about it – and he also did not attempt to minimize the severity of what he was suffering. But through it all he remained focused on the proven goodness of God. The lesson is that in the good times and in the bad times God is still God. He is still good, He is Creator, Redeemer, Savior, Sovereign, and Lord; and we can trust Him.

 

If that’s our confession in the middle of suffering, then Satan’s best efforts in our lives have been rendered harmless and he is shown to be a defeated foe.

 

Yes life can be hard, and we will be faced with situations we don’t like and would rather not be going through. But in such times we are to stay focused on the great truth that God is there with us in the middle of the trial, He has a purpose and a plan for it, and when it’s all said and done it will be shown to be true that God is good and we can trust Him.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim