Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Planning”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “When I am afraid, I will trust in You. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” Psalm 56:3-4

 

Our thought for today: “Plan to trust in God.”

 

Let me ask you, “Do you plan to trust in God?” I’m not asking if you do trust in God, I’m asking if you plan for it – future tense. Is this something you have already decided in your heart, in advance, that you will do in the future?

 

David did. That’s what Psalm 56:3-4 is about. He wrote “When” I am afraid, I “will” trust in You. David had a plan and it included trusting in God. He already knew in advance how he was going to handle scary and difficult situations that had the potential to cause him fear or worry. He would trust in God.

 

What was David’s plan based on? How did he come to the point of knowing that in the future, when he was faced with threatening or dangerous situations, the thing he would do would be to call out to, rely upon, and trust in God? He learned it from experience. There were many times in David’s life when he had trusted in God and sure enough, God came through for him time and time again. So based upon God’s past faithfulness, David knew he could and would trust him in the future too.

 

So how about you? Has God come through for you in the past? Can you even count the ways? Probably not. His watchcare over you, and His provisions for you, both in big ways and in small, probably number in the bazillions – and counting.

 

So can you trust Him to look out for you and to take care of you in the future? Come on, say it with me, the answer is “YES!” Do you have anything to fear? (No). Should you be fretting and stressing and losing sleep over your problems? (Again, no). Does God have your back and is He large and in-charge? (Ok, I’m getting carried away here, but you get the point).

 

I want to encourage you this morning to trust God – really trust Him. Not just for the present but for the future too. Plan to trust Him.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Planning”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Woe to the rebellious children!’ This is the Lord’s declaration. ‘They carry out a plan, but not Mine; they make an alliance, but against My will, piling sin on top of sin. They set out to go down to Egypt without seeking My advice …” Isaiah 30:1-2 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “It’s foolish to make plans without seeking God’s guidance.”

 

This morning in my personal Bible reading I came across Isaiah 30:1-2 and the thought occurred to me that this is a lesson God repeats over and over again all throughout the Bible. Depending on which translation of the Bible you look at, the word “plan”, and the concept of “planning”, appears more than 100 times.

 

Why does God keep bringing us back to this subject and giving us instructions about it? It’s because as humans it’s our nature to want to plan things. In an attempt to gain some control over the future we envision how we would like things to turn out; we make plans for getting us from where we are to where we want to be; and then we attempt (with various degrees of success) to carry out our plan.

 

That’s fine, unless we are doing it in our own wisdom and with no thought to what God wants. The fact is that God is Sovereign and I am not. God is all-knowing and all-mighty, and I am not. God has a good and perfect plan, and I usually have foolish plans that make little sense and which often get me in trouble if I haven’t checked with God first.

 

That being the case, when it comes to making plans, we have to seek God’s guidance. Since His plan is perfect, and ours is not, it needs to be His plan that we desire and seek.

 

Otherwise we could end up like the children of Israel, stupidly looking to Pharaoh (their enemy) to meet their needs rather than to God. The equivalent situation for us could be something like coming to the conclusion that you need a new job in a new city so you can have more income, when God actually wants you to stay put and trust Him for your needs. Or you decide to go ahead and marry a person, mostly because you’re tired of being single, rather than being patient and waiting for God to bring you the spouse He has chosen for you. Or… a thousand other examples, but you get the point.

 

Interestingly, a little later in that same chapter, in Isaiah 30:21, God told them that if they would seek His guidance they would receive it: “…whenever you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a command behind you: ‘This is the way. Walk in it.”

 

Proverbs 3:5-6 promises us, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; think about Him in all your ways, and he will guide you on the right paths.”

 

There are many other similar passages but God’s point is clear: “It’s foolish to make plans without seeking His guidance.”

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Planning”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “The one who gives an answer before he listens – this is foolishness and disgrace to him.” Proverbs 18:13 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Give some thought to how you will interact with difficult people and what you will say in difficult situations.”

 

I’ve learned from personal experience that it’s always foolish to speak from emotion in heated or difficult situations. We should never allow our emotions to control our tongue because inevitably, our emotions will lead us to say things that make the situation worse rather than better. Instead, calm and thoughtful reason needs to carry the day.

 

How do we accomplish that? First of all you must learn to hold your tongue. It’s like your mamma always said, “Count to ten first.”

 

Years ago I adopted Abraham Lincoln’s favorite way of addressing a difficult subject with a difficult person – he wrote to them. Before he attempted to discuss it with them he would write them a letter about it. When we write about something it causes us to think deeply about what it is we really mean to say. Then we can reread it multiple times and edit it until we’re sure it says exactly what we want it to say. We also need to make sure it reads in a measured and reasonable tone. Then the recipient can slowly read it, think about it, and reread it multiple times before a decision is made about how to respond. Only then would Lincoln actually meet with the person for a verbal conversation.

 

However you achieve it, it’s important to think-through and plan for how you are going to deal with people in difficult situations. Thought must be given to what you’re going to say and how you’re going to say it. In Proverbs 18:13 Solomon counseled us to listen carefully to what the other person is saying (and by implication to give fair thought to it) before responding to them.

 

Another important strategy is to resist the urge to interrupt the other person when they’re speaking. Interrupting is rude and it shows that you’re more interested in what you have to say rather than what they have to say.

 

Relationships are important, and they’re built on good communications. In difficult situations spontaneous speech is seldom helpful. We have to plan what we’re going to say and how we’re going to say it.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Planning”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “When you come to appear before Me, who requires this of you – this trampling of My courts? Stop bringing useless offerings. Your incense is detestable to Me.” Isaiah 1:12-13 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Don’t let your plan interfere with your worship.”

 

For the most part, planning a worship service is a good thing. Actually, it’s a necessary thing. Although on occasions worship can be and should be spontaneous, for the most part regularly scheduled group worship services need to have good planning and structure.

 

But sometimes planning creates problems too. For one thing, if worship leaders are too fixated on a particular plan or structure they can inhibit the moving of the Holy Spirit among a congregation. But also, over time, a plan repeated over and over again can quickly become mindless habit, and that then can lead people to simply go through the motions of worship without really engaging with God at the heart level. I was raised in one of the most highly structured and ritualized denominations there is and so I have experienced many worship services that were virtual carbon copies of each other – week, after week, after week. Eventually I came to wonder how much actual “worship” was really taking place.

 

In the opening chapter of the book of Isaiah, God had the prophet address two worship-related issues with the people of Israel. One was that many people were living like the devil six days a week but then coming to the Temple on the Sabbath, going through the rituals of worship, and then walking out the door and returning to their sinful lives. It was like what the singer and songwriter Jimmy Buffet once sang about, “There’s a fine line between Saturday night and Sunday morning!”

 

But the second issue Isaiah addressed is more to my point and it is that for many of the people, worship had become a matter of mindless routine. It was the same thing over and over again and they were just going through the motions and putting a check in the box.

 

Sometimes our religious plans do that to us. That’s why variety is important, both in our public worship and in our private time with the Lord. At Oak Hill Baptist Church we make it a point to use different kinds of music (traditional hymns and contemporary praise); and we sometimes incorporate dramas; and interpretive dance; and also video clips, testimonies, and more.

 

We have a different person open the service each week with Bible reading and prayer; we also have a time of informal fellowship (meet and greet) when people freely wander around the sanctuary shaking hands, hugging, greeting, and laughing. That portion of the service is sometimes a loud and chaotic mess but it’s a happy mess that is joyful and loving. I personally think God is probably smiling warmly as He watches it unfold as part of the worship service.

 

Planning worship is important, but so is flexibility and variety. That’s true in our private relationship with the Lord as well as in group worship. We need to mix it up in order to keep it fresh. Don’t let your “plan” interfere with your worship.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Planning”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “The one who walks with the wise will become wise, but a companion of fools will suffer harm.” Proverbs 13:20 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Plan who you will associate with – and who you won’t”

 

The other day I found myself back in jail again. That seems to happen to me a lot. But don’t worry, I’m not leading a life of crime, I’m just a visitor in the jail not a resident. I go to the jail fairly often to meet with men who have led a life of crime – usually petty crimes associated with long term drug addiction, and all the criminal behavior which typically stems from that lifestyle.

 

On this day I was meeting with a young man who was raised in a home where the adults used drugs, sold drugs, and always had drug-using friends over the house. So it should come as no surprise that as a teenager and then as a young adult this young man became a drug user and drug dealer too. It’s a basic law of human nature that over time we become like those we associate with.

 

I explained to him that if he wanted his life to be different he would have to begin by changing the crowd of people he associates with. If you’re going to hang with drug users it’s a pretty good bet you will be a drug user too. That being the case it’s essential for him (and for all of us too), to think carefully about the kind of life we want to have and then surround ourselves with people who are already living that life. You become like those you associate with.

 

But changing your sphere of influence, especially one that has been established over years or decades, is hard. You have to be intentional about it. You have to have a well thought out plan for how for you’re going to go about it and then you have to be disciplined in sticking to that plan.

 

The best association any of us can have is to be fully involved in the life of a good church. A good church is filled with strong Christians who love Jesus and who live Biblically. Being surrounded by people like that will rub off on you and they will influence you to become a strong and faithful Christian too. You become like those you associate with.

 

This Sunday, September 11^th, we at Oak Hill Baptist Church in Crossville will celebrate our annual “Homecoming Day”. This is a day at the beginning of the new church year when we gather-in all of our current members and attenders, many former members, friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, and lots of visitors, for a special day of celebration. The service will include special music, interpretive dance, a homecoming message, and it will be followed by lunch and a relaxing afternoon of fun and fellowship.

 

I can’t think of a finer group of God’s people than those you will find at Oak Hill Baptist Church. They are warm and kind, caring and compassionate, loving and welcoming, and in terms of being a good influence, they sure have kept me in line!  I invite you to come and experience it for yourself. Sunday school begins at 9:00 and the Worship service starts at 10:00. We would love to have you visit with us.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Planning”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has.” Proverbs 21:20 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “Have a financial plan”

 

It never ceases to amaze me that we Americans can live in the most affluent nation in the world and yet still have so many financial problems. It’s because we live in such a consumer-oriented culture. We are awash in every conceivable form of advertising, which is all designed to make us discontented with what we have and to convince us that we have to have more. So we end up being conditioned to consume at enormous rates that far exceed the consumption of any other society in the world.

 

Some have labeled it “conspicuous consumption.” And it is unbiblical. In the Bible conspicuous consumption is always portrayed as a bad thing. Instead, we’re taught to live modest lives of contentment. Here’s just one example, “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world and we can take nothing out, but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these.” 1 Timothy 6:6-8.

 

As a result of this consumer-oriented culture bent on conspicuous consumption, many Christians get caught-up in the trap of spending every dollar they earn in order to acquire all that they can get, and then, when they run out of money, they go deeply into debt so they can acquire even more. And so we have a situation where many people are deeply in debt to the point of practically being insolvent. In most homes if one paycheck is missed they’re faced with a financial crisis. They have no reserves to cover it.

 

That’s why a financial plan is so important. In order to be a good steward of the finances the Lord has entrusted you with, you must have a financial plan that begins with the understanding that “I will live modestly and below my means.” In other words, you learn to live on whatever your income is, and you will not spend more than you earn. Your financial plan must also include a detailed budget that you actually live by.

 

In his book “The Total Money Makeover” Dave Ramsey writes that “You must tell your money where to go, or your money will just get up and go.” There’s a lot of truth to that.

 

In Proverbs 21:20 Solomon expressed an age-old truth that shows itself to be true in every culture and in every age of human history. Those who have a financial plan and who stick to it are wise and they consistently have enough. Those who don’t have such a plan make poor use of what they do have, and they never seem to have enough.

 

I encourage you to have a financial plan and to stick to it.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: Planning”

 

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

 

Our thought for today: “Satisfaction and fulfillment does not come for the good things in life, but from the Giver of life.”

 

“Our thought for today” is actually a paraphrase of something I read recently in the Daily Walk Bible. It’s an observation about what Solomon was referring to in Ecclesiastes 1:2. In frustration and despair he wrote that life seemed totally meaningless.

 

In order to fully appreciate the depths of Solomon’s despair and what prompted him to write about it, we have to understand the context of Ecclesiastes. Solomon was the king of Israel. He was the richest, wisest, most powerful man in the world. He could have, and he did have, absolutely anything he wanted.

 

He was the proverbial “poor little rich boy”. He had it all but still, he was bored with life. So in his boredom he devised a plan to experience everything life had to offer. He then spent decades trying one worldly pursuit after another including women (1 Kings 11:3 tells us he had 700 wives and 300 concubines); educational pursuits (Ecc. 1:17); pleasure (2:1); hard work (2:17); and career advancement (4:13-16).

 

The end result? He discovered that ultimately it was all meaningless. In the grand scheme of things he ended up with an empty life. Ecclesiastes was written towards the end of his life. It’s a long and sad lament from a man who realized he had wasted his life in the pursuit of things that ultimately didn’t really matter.

 

Finally, after decades of wine, women, song, and chasing after the things of this world Solomon finally discovered this: “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.” (12:13)

 

Now here’s the thing we need to be sure to catch: Solomon “planned” to live like he did. He made a “decision” to go after those worldly pleasures and then He spent almost his entire adult life pursuing them. But in retrospect he found himself wishing he had put all that time and effort into developing a deeper relationship with God.

 

So, what plan do you have for your life? What is it that you are spending the days, weeks, years, and decades of your life in pursuit of? And when you reach the end of your days will you have a peaceful sense of having lived your life well or will you, like Solomon, find yourself crying out that it was all meaningless and wishing you had lived differently?

 

Think this through. Way too many people spend their lives climbing what they believe to be the ladder of “success” only to get to the top and discover the ladder was leaning against the wrong wall.

 

Learn from the lesson of Solomon. What really matters is a life lived in faithfulness to God and His commandments. As the writer said, “Satisfaction and fulfillment doesn’t come from the good things in life, but from the Giver of life.”

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Planning”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “The plans of the diligent certainly lead to profit, but anyone who is reckless certainly becomes poor.” Proverbs 21:5 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Planning provides focus”

 

You’ve probably heard the old adage, “Aim at something and you just might hit it, aim at nothing and you’ll hit it every time.” In other words, if you’re not aiming at a specific target that you want to hit, then the results of your efforts will be from random chance, and that may turn out good or bad – but probably bad.

 

Here’s another old saying that can be very helpful: “Plan your work and then work your plan.” Give careful thought to what you’re trying to accomplish, think through the steps required to accomplish it, then work your plan and stick to it.

 

That’s the point Solomon was making in Proverbs 21:5. Those who are serious about accomplishing meaningful things with their time and efforts will take the time to plan their activities. Then they will be diligent about carrying out that plan. Those who don’t do that are actually being somewhat reckless. They’re leaving the results up to chance and more often then not, their efforts will either prove to be wasted entirely, or they will certainly be less successful than if they had taken the time to make a plan.

 

There are many Biblical principles which support the idea of doing good planning and then being diligent about working the plan. First and foremost would be the Apostle Paul’s instruction in Colossians 3:23: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.” (NIV) In other words, do your best. Don’t be casual, nonchalant, and thoughtless about it.

 

But your efforts aren’t going to be your best if you haven’t thought it through and devised a plan. That certainly applies to the work environment, but not just to the workplace. It applies to all areas of life. Paul wrote, “Whatever” you do, do it with all your heart.

 

My personal observation from more than sixty-two years of life, forty-five of them in the workforce and most of those in positions of leadership, is that those who are focused and diligent have the most productive and successful lives and those who are unfocused, indifferent, and even lazy, end up with lives that are much less than what they otherwise could have been.

 

God wants us to strive to be the best that we can be and do the best that we can do. Planning provides focus, and that helps to keep us on track and moving forward.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Planning”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “You are to labor six days and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You must not do any work …” Exodus 20:9-10 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Happy Labor Day”

 

God had a plan for our labor. We are to work diligently and well for six days and then we are to have a day of rest. Working hard is good for us and as I’ve noted in previous devotional messages this month, we do our best and most effective work when we plan it.

 

But we must also plan for our days of rest. God Himself has woven into His plan for our work lives regularly scheduled periods of rest from our labor. That’s one of the purposes of the Sabbath Day.

 

It’s also the purpose of Labor Day. It’s not certain exactly who came up with the idea of Labor Day, or when it started, but its origins can be traced back to the late 1800’s and the Labor Movement. The economic greatness of America is due in large part to the skill, diligence, and hard work of the men and women who make up the labor force in our nation. In the late 1800’s individual cities and towns began to designate a certain day each year for the celebration of the American worker. Individual states soon followed and finally in 1898, the Federal Government officially designated the first Monday in September as a national holiday and named it “Labor Day”.

 

Working hard is important. Being a good worker at whatever you do is also a spiritual discipline. It is part of the practice of our Christian faith. I personally believe that Christians should be the best workers in any business or organization and we are at our best, when we have a plan.

 

But that’s also true when it comes to rest from our labor. You have to plan for it. The Sabbath Day is designed to be a planned day of rest. So is Labor Day. Beyond that, each of us should individually plan regular periods of rest from our labor.

 

Happy Labor Day!

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Planning”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “How happy are those whose way is blameless, who live according to the Lord’s instruction! Happy are those who keep His decrees and seek Him with all their heart. They do nothing wrong; they follow His ways. You have commanded that Your precepts be diligently kept; How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping Your word.” Psalm 119:1-4; 9 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Knowing the Bible and obeying it makes you wise.”

 

As was noted in yesterday’s devotional, the Bible provides us with our clearest and best communication with God and it also provides us with all the instructions and guidance we need in order to live in a way that is pleasing to Him.

 

When it comes to making plans and God-honoring decisions, there is no better resource available to us than the Bible. This morning I want to share with you a devotional thought I read recently in “The Daily Walk Bible”:

 

“If a carpenter can take a block of wood and turn it into a beautiful piece of furniture, we say that person is a gifted craftsman.

 

If a conductor can shape the myriad skills of an entire orchestra to produce the sounds of a symphony, we say that person is a musical genius.

 

And if a man or woman, boy or girl, can take the raw materials of life and shape them skillfully according to the blueprint God has provide in his Word, we say that person is wise. It has nothing to do with IQ and everything to do with obedience. You can be wise with an IQ of 70; you can be a fool with an IQ of 170. The choice is up to you.

 

Whether you are a parent struggling to discipline a child, a teenager wrestling with peer pressure, or a rising executive tempted to follow the crowd in an unethical choice, you’ll find Proverbs brimming with insight for living. Pick a topic you are eager to study from God’s perspective and retrace your steps through the book of Proverbs. Don’t be surprised if God provides some heavenly (un)common sense.”

 

The point is that no matter what the issue, the starting place for wisdom is the Bible. Check with God for specific instructions, as well as for general principles which apply to your situation, then make your plans and decisions from there.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim