Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “A life that matters”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.” 2 Peter 1:5-7 (KJV)

 

Our thought for today: “Strive for balance.”

 

I once heard someone say that the Bible teaches moderation in all things. Actually, that’s something your grandma used to say. The phrase “moderation in all things” isn’t actually used in the Bible. But the concept of moderation and balance is Biblical.

 

In 2 Peter 1:5-7 Peter gave us a laundry list of virtues we should try to cultivate in our lives. All of them taken together would constitute a well-balanced personality, but if any one of those virtues were to dominate the person’s character at the expense of the others, then that person’s character would be out of balance.

 

One of the virtues Peter lists as being an important part of any well-rounded life is temperance. In one narrow sense temperance can be used to mean abstinence, such as when the “temperance” movement in the early 1900’s urged everyone to abstain from using alcohol. But another application of the word refers to moderation and balance. When a person is temperate it means that they don’t over-indulge in, or over-emphasize, any one thing. They are moderate in all things and therefore they have a healthy and proportional balance in their lives.

 

This is an important understanding for us as we consider changes we need to make in our lives in 2017. We have to be careful that our new objectives don’t get us out of balance in other areas of our lives.

 

Usually when there are changes that need to be made it’s because we’re already out of balance and need to make some corrections. For instance, perhaps we have been over-indulging in food and under-indulging in exercise. Now we need to make some changes to achieve a healthier balance. Or maybe we have allowed ourselves to become far too busy at work and that has resulted in us neglecting key relationships in our life. So now we need to dial back the work stuff and focus more on our family.

 

But also, sometimes when we set a new goal or establish an objective we want to meet, we become too enthusiastic about it and we allow the pursuit of that objective to become too dominant in our lives. That then gets us out of balance again.

 

I recently read a book entitled “Moderation: Defending an Ancient Virtue in a Modern World”, by Harry Clor. In one section, when he was writing about the importance of maintaining a healthy balance in all areas of life, he wrote, “A single object of desire – be it love, family, career, politics, or even self-sufficiency – that is unbalanced by anything else can easily become a narrow fixation resembling addiction.”

 

Ever known somebody who was essentially “addicted” to this new thing in their lives, be it working out, or a hobby, or a relationship, or whatever, to the point that they gave it an unhealthy amount of time and attention? Maybe that’s you right now.

 

As you give careful and prayerful thought to how you will spend your time in 2017 – the kinds of activities you will be involved in, the goals you will set, and the plans you will make, I encourage you to strive for good balance in your life.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “A life that matters”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless!” Ecclesiastes 1:2 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “Don’t waste your life.”

 

The story is told of how, just months before he died at the age of only 42, Elvis Presley made a sad entry in his diary. It was late at night and he was alone in a penthouse suite in a luxurious hotel in Las Vegas. Earlier in the evening he had finished a show to a sold-out audience. Now he was alone in his hotel room.

 

I don’t have the exact quote in front of me but the essence of it was that Elvis was sad and lonely. He wrote of how, despite his fame and wealth, his life was actually empty and unsatisfying. He said that when he is onstage thousands of people cheer for him, and his millions of fans love and adore him, but privately he found his life to be unfulfilling and unrewarding. He was a deeply unhappy man. And just a few months later he was dead.

 

Actually, Elvis’ story is fairly common. Howard Hughes was one of the richest men in his day, a billionaire in a day when billionaires were rare. But when he died he was a sad and lonely recluse, terrified of having any contact with the outside world. Kurt Cobain was a rock-god, fabulously wealthy and adored by millions. He committed suicide at the age of only 27. Robin Williams gained fame and fortune by making others laugh, but in his private life he was depressed and miserable. He too committed suicide.

 

There’s an old saying that goes, “If you’re going to spend your life climbing the ladder of success, be sure the ladder isn’t leaning against the wrong wall.” How sad it is when someone finally reaches the top only to discover they’ve spent their life climbing a ladder that didn’t get them where they really wanted to go. What do you do when you realize that your achievements really didn’t matter much after all – that they didn’t bring you the peace and happiness and fulfillment you were searching for?

 

That’s King Solomon’s story and that’s why he wrote the book of Ecclesiastes. Few men in history have had more than Solomon had in terms of wealth, power, freedom, and instant gratification – only to discover how empty and meaningless such a life is.

 

Over the last few days I’ve been encouraging you to consider making spiritual growth a major focus in 2017. That’s because ultimately it’s only a deep and personal relationship with God which will provide you with the life you are seeking. Regardless of what you do for a living, and regardless of how much you acquire in terms of earthly wealth and possessions, it’s your relationship with God that will determine how happy and fulfilled your life is. So as you make choices about your life, do so based upon which choice will bring you closer to God.

 

Howard Hughes, Elvis Presley, Kurt Cobain, Robin Williams, and countless others like them never learned that lesson and consequently never found the peace and happiness they were seeking. But King Solomon did. It took him a while but towards the end of his life, and in the closing chapter of Ecclesiastes he wrote, “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter; Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”

 

That’s it. That’s the bottom line. If you have Jesus you have everything. If you don’t have Jesus then you have nothing – at least nothing that really matters. We’ll explore this idea a little further tomorrow.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

 

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “A life that matters”

 

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: “Cultivate a deep relationship with God.”

 

As we continue to consider the best investment of our time and energy in 2017 I want to remind you that the single most important thing you can do with your time is to take the steps necessary to cultivate a deep and meaningful relationship with God. Nothing you do will have a greater positive impact on your life than that.

 

Yesterday I encouraged you to consider the truth that many times in life “less is more”. By that I mean that sometimes the best thing we can do to improve the quality of our lives is to take things out rather than adding more in. But I also made the point that the purpose of creating that space in our lives is so we have quiet time to spend with God.

 

In that devotional message I encouraged you to go to my website at www.JimMersereauBooks.com and read the article entitled “Room for the Singing of Angels.” In that article you will read about the concept I refer to as “buffer zones of quiet inactivity”. The idea is that we are to pare back the sheer volume of people, activities, and noise that crowd into our lives, and thereby create buffer zones of quietness where we can meet with God.

 

Today I want to ask you to read another article I wrote some years ago, one that goes along with “Room for the Singing of Angels”. This one is called “Ancient Wisdom for Modern Times”. It teaches of how Christians down through the ages have been able to cultivate a deep and intimate relationship with God by developing what is often called a “contemplative lifestyle”.

 

To be a contemplative means first of all that you have the regular habit of sitting quietly before God and simply listening. During this time there is no Bible reading, no talking to God, or in any other way attempting to interact with Him other than to sit quietly before Him and let Him talk to you. It involves listening, thinking deeply about Him, and simply savoring His presence. But this takes times. It takes set-aside time specifically for this purpose.

 

In time, and with practice, you will develop a contemplative mind-set that carries over into all of life. At that point you will find that you are able to go through your regular daily routine while maintaining a God-consciousness, an awareness of the continuous presence of God. This is sometimes referred to as active contemplation or, the with-God life. I encourage you to read the article.

 

Cultivating a deep and intimate relationship with God takes time, but there is no better way you could use your time.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “A life that matters”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Be still, and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “Less is more”

 

We live in a culture today that would have us believe that more is always better than less, bigger is always better than smaller, and that the truly happy life is the one that’s filled to overflowing with people, possessions, activities, and achievements.

 

Folks, I’m here to tell ya this morning that it just ain’t so. More is not always better than less, bigger is not always better than smaller, and a life filled to the brim usually belongs to a person who is stressed out, overworked, and running on empty.

 

Years ago I wrote an article entitled, “Room for the Singing of Angels”. It was based on a theme I found in Howard Thurman’s book “Deep is the Hunger”. Thurman’s point was that if our lives are too filled with people, and things, and activities, and noise, then we’ve left no room when we can just sit quietly and listen to the music of heaven – the singing of the angels. In order to be able to hear the soft voice of God and the heavenly melodies of the angels, we have to be still and quiet. Such things are obscured and drowned out in the hustle and bustle of life. If you would like to read that article you can go to my website at www.JimMersereauBooks.com and click on the tab “Free Articles”.

 

As we approach 2017, and we give some thought to how we will invest our time in the New Year, we’re considering the activities we will be involved in, the people we will give time to, and the goals and objectives we will set for ourselves. I want to ask you to consider the great truth that sometimes less is more. Sometimes you can greatly improve the quality of your life by cutting some things out, rather than by adding things in. And that being the case, when it comes to deciding which people, activities, goals, and objectives you will keep in your life and which you need to cut out, you will have to make smart, Spirit-led choices.

 

We’re going to talk more about this in the days to come. For now I want to leave you with that thought that many times “less is more”. Often you will be much better off, and the quality of your life will improve dramatically, by cutting things out rather than adding them in.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “A life that matters”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “Thank a veteran.”

 

For most of our history the people of the USA have always demonstrated deep gratitude for those who have served in our Armed Forces. There was one sad and dark period in our nation’s history when a segment of the population did not appreciate the active duty military or veterans. That was in the late sixties and early seventies during the Vietnam era. During those days members of our Armed Forces were often ridiculed, criticized, sometimes spat upon, and even discriminated against.

 

But aside from that ugly time, there has always been a sense of recognition by the citizens of our country that our nation’s security depends in large part on the sacrificial service of the members of our Armed Forces, and that in many ways, both big and small, their service does involve great sacrifice.

 

Beyond the fact that they could find themselves in battle and called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice of giving their lives in defense of our nation, members of the Armed Forces serve for relatively low pay; they’re on-call 24/7; they often put in work weeks of 60 or 70 hours or more; and they’re frequently away from home for long periods. There were a number of times during my own career in the Navy when I had to leave my wife and children on a Monday morning in January and I wouldn’t come back home until a Friday afternoon in July. Six and seven month deployments are still part of life for those who serve in the Navy. Our men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan are routinely away from home for a year or more.

 

Today is Veteran’s Day. I want to encourage all of us to make it a point to say a special word of thanks to those who have served our country in the Armed Forces. Maybe you could even go a little further and buy them a cup of coffee, or lunch.

 

I also want to say a word about those who serve in our law enforcement community. Sadly, there are people in our society today who are treating our law enforcement officers much the same way our military and veterans were treated by some back in the Vietnam era. Actually, it’s worse. Today police officers are being ambushed and killed, right here in the streets of our own communities.

 

Just as the active duty military and the veterans during the Vietnam era needed words of encouragement and support, so do our law enforcement officers today. Please reach out and let them know how much you appreciate what they do for us. While you’re thanking a veteran, thank a police officer too.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “A life that matters”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.” Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “Establish proper priorities”

 

At one point in my career as a Naval Officer I served as an instructor at the Surface Warfare Officer’s School in Coronado, CA. The purpose of the school was to prepare newly commissioned officers for their first assignment onboard a Navy warship. I taught courses in Propulsion Engineering and Basic Leadership Principles.

 

In the Basic Leadership course one of the issues I addressed is something known as “the tyranny of the urgent.” This is a principle which states that the thing that makes the most noise or which seems to be the most pressing, is the thing most likely to capture your attention and get your time. This can be a problem because the things that sometimes seem the most urgent are often not really the most important.

 

That ringing telephone seems urgent because it’s making noise and begging for your attention, but your time would actually be better spent comforting your distraught child who simply needs to be held for a few moments. Or a co-worker walks into your office wanting you to take care of something for them (right away), but you’re already involved in something that’s more important to you. Does their sense of urgency trump your priorities? The answer should be “no”. I’m reminded of the old saying, “A lack of planning on your part doesn’t constitute an emergency on my part.”

 

The point that Solomon was making in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 is that there is proper time for everything and therefore everything has to be keep in its proper place. He’s talking about getting your priorities right and then living by them. But for many of us this isn’t easy. We find ourselves continuously subjected to “the tyranny of the urgent” and we allow those “urgent” things to interfere with our priorities.

 

Very early in my adult life I discovered that in order to protect myself from the tyranny of the urgent I had to actually write-out my priorities, on a daily to-do-list, and then stick to them. Number one on my list, everyday, is my time with God. I get up early everyday and spend time with God before anything else can happen to get in the way. Number two on my list, everyday, is time with my family. For forty years I have always made it a point to have at least a few moments of quality time at the beginning of the day with my wife (and with my children when they still lived at home). Exercise is on my list, everyday. So is some time for reading.

 

My point in all of this is that as we approach 2017, and we give thought to how we will spend our time and what kinds of things we are going to involve ourselves in, we have to set good priorities and then stick to them. Don’t allow your life to be dominated and directed by the tyranny of the urgent. Take control, establish priorities, stick to them, and keep everything in its proper time and place.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “A life that matters”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “I have come that they may have life and have it in abundance.” John 10:10 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “All lives matter.”

 

Right now in our country there’s a movement known as “Black lives matter”. The motivating premise behind the movement is the belief that blacks, especially young black men, are being singled out by law enforcement officers for unfair treatment and are even being killed by police in numbers disproportionate to other ethnic groups.

 

While everyone would agree that black lives do indeed matter, many people believe they hear in that slogan an inference that perhaps black lives matter more, and therefore blacks should be given special consideration or special treatment. So the push-back has become “White lives matter too”, and “Police lives matters”, and “All lives matter”.

 

It’s not my intent this morning to enter into that debate. I only wish to use that contemporary example as a way of pointing out that while all lives do matter, some people live lives that are full and rich and productive, while others waste their lives. So when in our theme for this month I urge us to strive to live “A life that matters”, I don’t mean to suggest that your life doesn’t matter if you don’t do the things I write about this month. I only mean that there is a way to live that will make your life much more meaningful, and productive, and significant.

 

What I’m referring to is what Jesus meant in John 10:10 when He said that one of the reasons He came was so that those who follow Him can have a life that is full and abundant. In one respect that’s a reference to eternal life. That’s the life that matters most. But Jesus also meant that it is His desire for us to live lives now that are full of meaning and purpose. His intent is that we don’t waste our lives on frivolous pursuits and on things that don’t ultimately matter very much.

 

Towards that end, He has given us the power of His Holy Spirit living within our hearts in order to empower us to live the life He wants for us (Acts 1:8, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20). And, as was taught in an earlier devotional message this month, He has also endowed each of us with spiritual gifts, talents, skills, and abilities which we can and should use to bring glory to God and as a blessing to others in His name.

 

That’s what we mean when we refer to living a life that matters. As the followers of Jesus we are to utilize the power of His Holy Spirit and the gifts, talents, skills, and abilities He has given us, to live a life that is full and abundant and productive in ways that matter for eternity. That, my friends, is a life that matters.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “A life that matters”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “We are to be kingdom people.”

 

Many of you probably noticed that our Bible verse for today and our thought for today are identical to yesterdays. That’s because I want to continue the discussion we began yesterday about being kingdom people, as well as what obedience to Jesus’ command in Acts 1:8 should look like in the lives of individual Christians and their churches.

 

The editors of “The Mission of God Study Bible” made an interesting point when they wrote, “God is a sending God, a missionary God, who has called His people, the church, to be missionary agents of His love and glory … Although it is frequently stated “God’s church has a mission”, according to missional theology, a more accurate expression is “God’s mission has a church.”

 

I like that – “God’s mission has a church”. Jesus called us to be His missionary agents in this world. That’s what Acts 1:8 is all about. To accomplish that we have to take the practice of our faith outside the walls of the church building, making a difference by spreading the love and glory of God in a broken and bleeding world.

 

The way we accomplish that at Oak Hill Baptist Church is we have adopted one mission project in our Jerusalem (Cumberland County, TN) which regularly takes us as a group out of the church building. In our case we partner in a variety of different ways with the Bread of Life Rescue Mission in our town. In our Judea (the state of Tennessee) we have a partnership with the Tennessee Baptist Children’s Home. We regularly leave our church building and go do things with the girls who live in that home. In our Samaria (the coal mining region in eastern Kentucky) we partner with a small church in a very impoverished rural area. Three times a year we take weekend mission trips to bring relief supplies to help them minister in their community. And throughout the year some of our members go on short-term overseas mission trips with CERT International (The Christian Emergency Relief Teams). We are also the host church for a family of Southern Baptist Missionaries serving in Southeast Asia.

 

Not all of our members can actually go on mission trips overseas, or to Kentucky, or even to the children’s home or the rescue mission. But all of our members can pray for the works, and they can contribute financially, and they can help pack supplies, wrap Christmas presents, and much more. Participating in those ways constitutes involvement in the Great Commission of Jesus as expressed in Acts 1:8.

 

As we continue to think about how we will invest our time in 2017 I want to ask you to prayerfully consider actively being on-mission with Jesus outside the walls of your church building. Actually think it through and plan for it. Put in on your calendar. Whether your mission activity will be in your Jerusalem, or your Judea, or Samaria, or to the ends of the earth, God and His Kingdom are much, much bigger that just what you can experience in your own little piece of the world. Let Him expand your understanding. Make a plan to be on-mission with Jesus.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

 

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “A life that matters”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “We are to be “kingdom” people.

 

In Acts 1:8 Jesus established a Biblical perspective that He expects His followers to adopt. It’s what we call “a kingdom perspective.” This is the understanding that the kingdom of God on earth is much larger, and includes much more, than just what we personally experience in our own church and in our own community. The kingdom of God on earth is worldwide and manifests itself in an incredible array of cultural settings. It involves people of every color and language and ethnic group.

 

The problem for many of us is that our understanding of God and His kingdom is usually extremely limited. It’s limited by what we see and hear and experience in our own church and in our own community. That being the case, since our church and our town is such a miniscule part of the world, it means that we miss out on most of what God is doing. To a large degree we remain unaware of and insensitive to most of the ways in which He expresses Himself and interacts with His people. That’s such a shame! We’re missing so much!

 

In Acts 1:8 Jesus called for His people to expand their vision (and therefore their perspective). He commanded us to get involved in the kingdom of God beyond just our own little piece of the world. When we do that we get to see and experience God in many new and different ways and our understanding of Him and His ways and His kingdom grows exponentially.

 

At Oak Hill Baptist Church in Crossville, TN we have adopted what we call “The Acts 1:8 model of ministry.” This is an understanding on our part that our Jerusalem is Crossville, TN. Our Judea is the state of Tennessee. Our Samaria is the United States of America. And the ends of the earth, well that’s everywhere else beyond the USA.

 

We have then structured our church life in such a way that all of our members are able to participate in a variety of different ways in ministry activities in all of those different locations. This approach to ministry and to church life has had a transformative impact on our church. If you would like to learn more about the Acts 1:8 model of ministry, I encourage you to visit our church website at www.oakhillbaptist.net and click on the tab for “Acts 1:8 model of ministry”.

 

As we consider how we will use our time and structure our lives in 2017, being on-mission with Jesus in our world has got to factor into our thinking. Tomorrow we will continue this discussion and I’ll offer you some ideas for how any church or individual Christian can follow Jesus’ command in Acts 1:8.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “A life that matters”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” 1 Corinthians 12:7 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “You can and should be serving others.
I once knew a man who had the spiritual gift of criticism. Seriously, he was an expert at finding fault in others and he was committed to utilizing his special ability with enthusiasm and gusto. So whenever you encountered this guy you could count on him to be prepared to tell you exactly what was wrong with other people – and with you.

 

What a blessing! As long as you had him around you didn’t need to waste time and effort on deep introspection, trying to discover your flaws and faults and looking for ways to improve – he was happy to help you with that.

 

Obviously I’m being sarcastic. Criticism is not a gift of the Spirit, it’s a sin inspired by Satan. And if that guy had spent a little time searching his own heart he would have discovered the truth of 1 Corinthians 12:7 that God has given each of us a spiritual gift, along with skills and abilities, that can and should be used for the common good. We are to use our spiritual gifts, our skills and abilities as a means of blessing others and making the church stronger.

 

There are four main passages in the New Testament which teach about spiritual gifts. They are Romans 12:6-8; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11; 1 Corinthians 12:28-30; and Ephesians 4:7-12. The spiritual gifts listed in those passages are things like preaching, teaching, administration, service, mercy, leadership, and more.

 

It’s also commonly understood that God has given each of us skills and abilities such as musical talents, handyman skills, financial understanding, and much more, which are also intended by Him to be used by us as a means of blessing others. All of these things are collectively known as “ministry gifts” – or ways in which you are uniquely suited for serving God and others for the common purpose of building up the body of Christ.

 

The point is that God has intentionally equipped each of us in different ways so that we can serve Him and bless others. When each of us serves in the way in which we are best suited, all of the areas of ministry are covered. I can preach and teach, but I can’t drive a nail straight or turn a wrench in the right direction. Fortunately there are others who may not preach or teach, but they are very gifted at fixing things. I’m also not musically inclined, but God has brought us others who are. And the examples go on.

 

What gifts, skills and abilities has God developed in you that you should be using as a means of serving Him and blessing others? If you’re not sure what your gifts and skills and abilities are, please let me know and I will help you to discover them. In my office at the church I keep a supply of a handy little booklet called “The Ministry Gifts Inventory”. It’s a short test which will help you to better understand how God has equipped you to serve.

 

As we approach 2017 I urge you to consider the ways in which God intends for you to be using your gifts and skills and abilities in ways that matter.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim