Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Doubts”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?’ ‘Yes, Lord,’ he said, ‘you know that I love you.’ Jesus said, ‘Feed my sheep.” John 21:15 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “God will forgive you and restore you.”

 

Are you a flawed individual? Well welcome to the club, me too. In fact, we’re all flawed. We’re all damaged goods and in truth, we’re all just a little weird.

 

The Apostle Peter was certainly flawed. He was often brash and outspoken, and bit like a bull in a china shop. He made lots of mistakes, some of them big mistakes. Most famously, he denied three times that he even knew Jesus and then he went off in a corner and cried like a baby. After that he probably sulked around mumbling about what a worthless dog he was, embarrassed to the core by his behavior, and doubting that he would ever amount to anything after what he had done.

 

But Jesus wasn’t done with Peter. You know the story. The resurrected Jesus appeared to Peter, called him out, gave him an opportunity to repent, restored him to ministry, and Peter went on to become an important leader in the early Christian church, he even wrote two books of the New Testament.

 

John Newton was even worse than Peter. He was a cruel and brutal slave-trading sea captain. He was so mean that even his closest crew members lived in fear of him. But Jesus had a plan for Captain John. Long story short, John Newton gave his life to Christ and he ended-up becoming a humble, gentle, kind and compassionate pastor and preacher. He even wrote the most popular Christian hymn of all time, “Amazing Grace”, and he wrote it about himself. “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.”

 

The point is that Jesus wasn’t done with Peter and John and He’s not done with you either. Despite your warts and pimples, regardless of your flaws and weaknesses, and even with your many past failures, Jesus will pick you up, dust you off, forgive your sins, and walk with you into an amazing and wonderful future life.

 

If you let Him. You do have to be willing. And you do have to trust Him. Peter was remorseful but also hopeful and trusting. He was willing to be forgiven. And once Jesus gave him a new ministry (feed my sheep), Peter accepted it, trusted the Lord would empower him to accomplish whatever the assignment was, and then he got busy doing it. It wasn’t too many weeks after this, in Acts chapter two, that we find Peter wading into a crowd of thousands and boldly preaching the Gospel.

 

There is no question that Jesus will forgive you, restore you, and lead you into a new and better season of life. Don’t doubt it. Just accept it and then move forward with Him into a new and better life.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Doubts”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “So we must not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, we must work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith.” Galatians 6:9-10 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Don’t let doubts stop you from doing what is right and good.”

 

I recently read the inspiring story of George and Martha Scarborough. George was a part-time Baptist preacher who, in July of 1870, believed God was calling him to move to west Texas to raise cattle and to preach the gospel to other ranchers.

 

George and Martha were very poor and had only a small piece of land and no money to build a house. Therefore their first home was little more than a dugout shelter in the side of a hill. Eventually they were able to build a small crude cabin. That’s where they lived for many years as they raised their only son, Lee, while George tended their few cattle and tried to share Jesus with others in the area.

 

George had little success at ranching or at preaching, but he hung in there. All the while he and Martha saved their money in hopes of one day building a large house on the hill overlooking their land. Finally, after 18 years, they had enough money to build the house. But Martha became convinced that God wanted them to spend that money instead to send their son Lee to Bible College. At first George was opposed. He had dreamed of that house for 18 long years, but in time he came to share his wife’s vision and the money was used instead to send Lee to college and then to seminary.

 

Long story short, George and Martha never did get to build that house. They lived in that crude little cabin for the rest of their lives. And George never won many ranchers to faith in Jesus either. But Lee went on to become a preacher and one of the most effective travelling evangelists in all of Texas. Then he became a writer, and then the President of a Seminary, and then a leader in the Southern Baptist Convention.

 

Later in life Lee became a successful businessman and ended up donating large sums of money to Bible Colleges, seminaries, churches, hospitals, and to international missions – and all because George and Martha never gave-up. Despite the long hard years, despite the doubts and the disappointments, despite the struggles and the sacrifices, they never gave-up.

 

And neither should you. As Paul tells us in Galatians 6:9, if you don’t give-up, if you hang in there doing good, doing the right thing, in due season you will reap what God has planned. Don’t let doubts stop you from doing what is right and good.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Doubts”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Hebrews 11:1 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “Doubts fade when faith grows.”

 

One of the surest and most effective ways to dispel doubt is to practice faith. Faith is the opposite of doubt. The more faith you have the fewer doubts there will be. But there is a reason we speak about the “practice” of our faith. Faith is something we have to work at in order for it to grow and become stronger. It’s like lifting weights in order to strengthen your muscles. The more you do it, the stronger you get.

 

This is why in Philippians 2:12 the Apostle Paul instructs us to “work out” our salvation. He doesn’t tell us to work “for” our salvation, you can’t do that. Instead he tells us that once we are saved we must then ‘work out” the proof of that salvation, the evidence of it in our lives. Doing so is an intentional effort that continues over a lifetime and as you do it, you grow and become stronger.

 

So what does all of this have to do with our theme of doubts? If you refer back to the first devotional message in this series, you will remember that having doubts about anything means that you don’t have enough information about something, or enough experience with it, to be convinced it is true. Therefore the more information you gather about something, and the more experience you have with it, the fewer doubts you will have about it.

 

Apply that understanding to your Christian faith and to your experience with God and you immediately see why it’s so important to have daily times of prayer and Bible study, as well as regular attendance at worship services, and active participation in acts of ministry. The more of those things you do, the more your faith will grow and the fewer doubts you will have.

 

In Hebrews 11:1 the writer defines faith for us. There he tells us that faith is being certain of what we believe in. When your faith is strong you gain a sense of certainty – certainty about God, about the spiritual realm, about the promises of God, and about the Bible in general. So even though you cannot see God, your knowledge and experience of Him grows to the point that you are certain of the reality of God. Doubts have faded and faith is strong. This happens as you “practice” your faith.

 

An important part of the practice of your faith is faithful participation in the regular gatherings of your church family. Strong faith expresses itself in group worship. I encourage you to practice your faith, and strengthen it, by attending church this Sunday.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Doubts”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:31-33 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “Stay focused on the things that really matter.”

 

At Oak Hill Baptist Church the way we approach the Bible is that I select a book of the Bible to preach on, I begin in chapter one, verse one, and then each Sunday whatever the next major theme in the book is, that’s the subject of this week’s sermon.

 

Recently we’ve been studying the Gospel of Luke. In chapters 14, 15, and 16 we find Jesus teaching a series of lessons designed to help us get our priorities right. In those stories He illustrates for us the great truth that He first taught in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:31-33 above, and which He then re-taught numerous times throughout His ministry. The lesson is that earthly riches and status are all fleeting and very temporary. Instead it’s godly values that really matter and which have eternal value.

 

All of those sermons are available for you to listen to on our website at www.oakhillbaptist.net. We will continue the study this Sunday as Jesus teaches yet another lesson about the difference between worldly values and kingdom values, between what really matters and what doesn’t.

 

The distinction is important because it’s human nature for us to focus our time and attention primarily on physical things like money, possessions, power, fame, position, status, etc. And if we have not accumulated houses and cars, big bank accounts and high positions, then we can easily doubt ourselves and conclude that we haven’t been successful in life.

 

But God measures success differently. God looks at a person’s heart and wants to see faithfulness, love, joy, and contentment. He looks at your life and He desires to see kindness, compassion, mercy, and generosity. In return He blesses you with the Fruit of the Spirit as Paul described in Galatians 5:22-23 – love and joy, peace and patience, kindness and goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The more you live by godly values, the more of God’s blessings you will experience in your life. Those are blessings the world can’t give, and therefore they are blessings the world can’t take away.

 

If you haven’t experienced an abundance of success as measured by worldly standards, please don’t doubt yourself. Ultimately it’s not the standards of this world that really matter anyway. Instead, consider your life based upon the things that God says are important such as spiritual maturity, godly character traits, and Christ-likeness. That’s the measure that really matters, in this lifetime and for all eternity.

 

Join us this Sunday at Oak Hill Baptist Church as we continue following Jesus’ teaching on this subject. The worship service begins at 10:00.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Doubts”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening.” 1 Samuel 3:9 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “God speaks to His people.”

 

One of the greatest truths in the Bible is that God wants to be understood by us and He does speak to us. The Bible itself is one long record of thousands of years of examples of God speaking to His people. He spoke back then, and He continues to speak today.

 

As was noted yesterday, God can speak to us in an infinite number of ways. In the Bible we find Him speaking through a burning bush, and through the mouth of a donkey, and in dreams, and through the mouths of prophets, and in numerous other ways. Likewise today, if He chooses He can speak in any of those ways, or in virtually any other way He wants to. But as Henry Blackaby teaches in his Bible study “Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the will of God”, in our day God usually speaks to us in five primary ways. This morning we will take a moment to look at each of those five ways.

 

1. God speaks through the Bible. The Bible is God’s primary means of communicating with us. In it He has told us everything He wants us to know about Himself, about the spiritual realm, about the issues of life, and much more. So when you’re dealing with doubts and looking for answers, the Bible is the first place you need to go.

 

1. God speaks through prayer. I personally have never heard the audible voice of God and I don’t know anyone who has. When we say that God speaks to us through prayer we mean that in prayer we receive a dawning awareness of the answer we seek and a settled peace about it in our heart. The more you pray about something the more opportunity you’re giving God to speak to you in this way.

 

1. God speaks through the circumstances of our lives. God is amazingly consistent in how He works in our lives. Usually there are patterns, with past events and situations being directly linked to our current circumstances, and our current circumstances pointing us in the direction God wants us to go now. Circumstances by themselves can be unreliable indicators of what God is doing in our lives, and therefore we should not rely on circumstances alone to help us understand. But circumstances are a part of the picture and we do need to include them as we seek understanding and clarity.

 

1. God speaks through counselors. God often speaks to us through the words and wisdom of trusted Christian friends and counselors. When you have doubts about important issues and you are having trouble finding answers, involve others in your pursuit of godly wisdom. Ask them to search the Bible too, and to pray with you and for you. Then ask them to spend some time talking through the issue with you. God’s answers will often come through the words of other Christians.

 

1. God speaks through the testimony of the church. Sometimes, especially in situations like the confirmation of a call into ministry, God will involve an entire church body in the process of understanding and confirming what He is saying.

 

Seldom does God speak to us in just one of those ways. Usually He will communicate in two, three, or even all five of them. Therefore it’s incumbent on us to seek God in all five of those ways. If you would like to gain a more thorough understanding of how it is that God speaks to us, I encourage you to get a copy of the Bible study “Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God”.

 

Don’t ever lose sight of the great truth that God wants to be understood so that He can then be obeyed. He will speak to our doubts and fears.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Doubts”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.” Proverbs 4:7 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “You have to seek understanding. You have to work for it.”

 

In the book, “The Traveler’s Gift”, David Ponder is a middle-aged man whose life has fallen apart. He is in a deep dark valley, he can’t seem to find his way out, and he doesn’t understand why he is having so much trouble. He has doubts and fears and he desperately needs answers.

 

So God takes him on a little trip through time to have seven encounters with seven historical figures. In each of those encounters David is taught one important Biblical principle which, if applied to his life, will help him to live the life God wants for him.

 

On his second stop in history David meets with King Solomon, the wisest man in the world. Solomon’s lesson for David is, “You must seek wisdom”. You must “seek” it. You have to be willing to work to obtain it and you have to intentionally go after it. The wisdom Solomon was referring to is godly wisdom and it is found in the Bible. Solomon tells David, “Wisdom waits to be gathered. She cannot be bartered or sold. She is a gift for the diligent.”

 

One of the best lessons I’ve ever learned about how to seek the wisdom of God was taught by Henry Blackaby in his classic Bible study “Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God”. It’s all about taking the actions necessary to place yourself in a position before God whereby He can speak to you. This is probably the most thorough approach to hearing from God that I’m aware of.

 

Henry teaches that although God can speak to us in an infinite number of ways, in our day He most commonly speaks to us through five different mediums:

 

1. Through the Bible
2. Through prayer
3. Through the circumstances of our lives.
4. Through the counsel of wise and trusted Christian advisors.
5. Through the testimony of the church.

 

When it comes to dealing with our doubts and finding answers to the questions that perplex us, we have to apply ourselves to hearing from God. That takes time and effort. It’s like King Solomon told David Ponder in the story of The Traveler’s Gift, wisdom waits to be gathered, but you have to seek it. Wisdom is a gift for those who are diligent.

 

The approach to hearing from God that Henry Blackaby teaches is bit labor-intensive and time-consuming, but it is also very effective. Tomorrow we’ll take the time to explore each of those five steps in greater detail.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

 

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Doubts”

 

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 be heard and understood by us.”

 

One of the greatest truths in the Bible is that God wants to be understood by His people. He wants us to hear Him and He wants us to understand what He is saying to us. He can’t expect us to obey Him and to correctly follow His will if He doesn’t first clearly communicate His desires to us.

 

In the devotional message two days ago we read about the young man Gideon and his genuine desire to simply be sure he understood God correctly. He asked God for clarity and confirmation, and God gave it to Him. That’s a pattern we see repeated all throughout the Bible and it’s what Jeremiah meant in Jeremiah 33:3. Call to God with a sincere heart and in His way and in His time, He will reveal to you things you didn’t know or understand.

 

In James 1:5 the Apostle tells us that if we lack wisdom (or have doubts about what to do), we only need to ask God and He will give to us the wisdom we seek.

 

Jeremiah 29:11 is one of the most popular verses in the Old Testament: “For I know the plans I have for you’ – this is the Lord’s declaration, plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” Unfortunately many people stop there and they don’t continue on to verses 12 and 13. They should consider those verses as well because they are an important part of the promise:

 

“You will call to Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you – this is the Lord’s declaration …” Jeremiah 29:12-13

 

God wants to be heard and understood by us so we can then obey Him. But it takes effort on our part. We have to want to hear and understand Him.  Every one of the verses I cited, and many others in the Bible teach us that we have to desire to hear and understand God and we have to go after that understanding, we have to make the effort to seek it out. Having such an encounter with God is the reward of diligent and passionate faith.

 

Tomorrow, as we continue to consider ways to deal with our doubts and find answers from God, I want to revisit a lesson from Andy Andrew’s wonderful little book “The Traveler’s Gift”, and another from Henry Blackaby’s excellent Bible Study, “Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God”.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Doubts”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “For it was You who created my inward parts; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I will praise You because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, and I know this very well. My bones were not hidden from You when I was made in secret, when I was formed in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written in Your book and planned before a single one of them began.” Psalm 139:13-16 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “You are not a mistake.”

 

Psalm 139:13-16 is a beautiful passage of scripture which teaches primarily about the great truth that God is sovereign over each individual life. He knew you before He even formed you in your mother’s womb. He saw you as your pieces and parts slowly developed over nine months. The color of your eyes, the texture of your hair, how tall you would be – everything about you was within His control. You are a miracle of His creation.

 

If you would like to read a much more complete description of the miracle that is you, I encourage you to Google “The God Memorandum” by Og Mandino.

 

It’s far too common a story for a person to be unhappy with who they are. They wish they were taller, thinner, prettier, stronger, a different skin color, blue eyes instead of brown. They wish they had different parents, or different ethnicity, or a different country. And so they doubt themselves. They think they could be better, happier, more successful, if only …

 

God is sovereign over your life. You are not a mistake. It is possible that you have made mistakes; and it is possible that you haven’t taken full advantage of your opportunities; but God is still sovereign and He isn’t done with you yet.

 

Read “The God Memorandum”.

 

Today is the 4^th of July. It’s the day that we here in the USA celebrate our Independence as a nation. Here’s more evidence of God’s sovereignty over your life. He could have chosen for you to be born in any country on earth, at any time in history, but He chose for you the United States of America in this age of history. Praise Him for His goodness and grace. Praise Him for allowing you to be here instead of somewhere else.

 

Over the last forty-five years I have circled the globe and visited thirty-four different countries, some of them multiple times. I can tell you there is no place I would rather live than right here in the United States of America.

 

As you celebrate this holiday, take a few moments to thank God for this great nation of ours. Then thank Him that He chose to allow you to be born here, in this land, at this time in history, rather than anywhere else on earth, or at any other time in history. Then also thank Him for who you are as a person – because you are not a mistake.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

 

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Doubts”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me.” Judges 6:17 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “You may doubt yourself but don’t doubt God.”

 

One of the greatest and most perplexing doubts that Christians wrestle with is whether or not God is really speaking to them about an issue and if He is, what exactly is He saying?

 

That was the case with young Gideon. At that time the entire nation of Israel was living in great sin, worshiping other Gods. In punishment God was allowing them to suffer at the hands of the cruel Midianites. It was an awful time in the history of the nation. Everyone was suffering.

 

When it was time for the punishment to end and for deliverance to come, God called Gideon to lead the people in a revolt against the army of Midian and to thereby bring His people relief from their oppressors. But Gideon couldn’t believe it. He was young and untrained and weak. Therefore he doubted if God was really telling him to do this thing. So Gideon essentially tested his call. He asked God to confirm it for him and to remove his doubts. And God did.

 

Please note that Gideon didn’t doubt God, he doubted himself. Gideon wasn’t testing God, he was testing the accuracy of what he believed he might be hearing. There’s a big difference there.

 

If God has already made his will clear to you, and you continue to ask for more clarity and confirmation anyway, you are simply being disobedient. Many people use the desire for “more clarity” as an excuse to avoid doing something they don’t want to do. But when your genuine desire is just to make sure you understand Him correctly so that you can obey Him, then you can and should ask Him for clarity and confirmation.

 

In such cases you can trust God to make Himself clear to you. But be sure your heart is right. Make sure that the only thing holding you back from taking action is a genuine desire to be sure you do understand Him correctly, and that you really do intend to obey Him once you have clarity and confirmation.

 

If you read the story of Gideon in Judges Chapters six through eight, you can see the method he used to gain the clarity and confirmation he needed. It involved putting out a fleece – but that was unique to his situation. It’s not a method I recommend for you to try. And if you were to use it, I doubt you would get the results that Gideon got. Instead, there are other ways God has given us to gain the understanding we need and to remove the doubts.

 

One way of hearing from God involves just placing yourself in a position before Him whereby He has your undivided attention and He can speak to you. Often that will happen in church. So how about if you go to church this Sunday, pay attention to what God might want to say to you, and then on Monday we’ll talk about another method you can use to help gain clarity and understanding that will help to alleviate your doubts.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Doubt”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Immediately Jesus reached out His hand, caught hold of him, and said to him, ‘You of little faith, why did you doubt?” Matthew 14:31 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Doubt is the opposite of faith.”

 

When we have doubts it simply means that we don’t have enough information about something, or enough experience with it, to be convinced it is true. Doubt leaves us uncertain and undecided, and it causes us to hesitate or even to do nothing at all.

 

Doubt is something we all struggle with at many times, in many ways, and about many things. It can be about small and relatively unimportant things, such as if today’s weather report is accurate or not, or it can be about big and important issues, such as whether or not there really is a God or whether the claims of the Bible can be trusted.

 

Doubt is the opposite of faith. If you doubt someone or something then your faith in that person or thing is weak or nonexistent. Doubt also bothers us. Doubt begs for resolution and therefore we find ourselves restless, mildly agitated (or perhaps not so mildly), and we’re not able to see a clear way forward.

 

Doubt can sometimes be a good thing. It can cause us to be cautious rather than impulsive and it can move us to use our brains as we dig deeper, do research, ask questions, and strive to discover what is really true about a person or thing.

 

But doubt can also hamper us, much as it did to the Apostle Peter in Matthew chapter 14. In that scene Peter was in a boat with the other disciples on the Sea of Galilee and they were caught in a storm. Suddenly, in the middle of the storm, in the middle of the night, Jesus came walking towards them on the water. Peter called out and asked Jesus to empower him to walk on the water too. Jesus agreed and encouraged Peter to get out of the boat. He did and for a moment, while he kept his eyes on Jesus and trusted in the power of Jesus, Peter was fine and he walked on the water too. But then doubt set it. He took his eyes off of Jesus and focused on the storm instead. His faith then faltered, his doubts and fears took over, and he began to sink.

 

That’s the story of my life. More doubt than faith!

 

All this month we will apply ourselves to gaining a better understanding of this issue of doubt. We’ll consider what doubt is, why it’s a problem, what we can do about it, and also how it can help us in positive ways. We’ll also consider many of our most common doubts and fears and we will expose them for the phantoms God says they are. I look forward to exploring this subject with you.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim