Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Trust”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.” Leviticus 26:8 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “God can do a lot with a little.”

 

In Leviticus 26:8 Moses was teaching a great truth about God to a skittish and doubtful nation of Israel. Repeatedly the people had shown themselves to be fearful and unfaithful in the face of adversity and big challenges. So Moses was explaining that even though they were a relatively small and weak group, especially when compared to their enemies, as long as God was working on their behalf they would be victorious despite the odds.

 

There’s an old saying that goes, “God plus one is a majority.” That was true in their case and it’s true in yours too. With God working in them, through them, and with them, five of them would chase away a hundred enemies; ten thousand of the bad guys would flee in fear before only one hundred faithful people of God. The point being that God can do a lot with a little.

 

I see this truth lived-out on a weekly basis in the life of Oak Hill Baptist Church. We’re a small church, currently running 70-80 on a Sunday morning. But we’re an Acts 1:8 church. We are committed to being on-mission with Jesus outside the walls of our church buildings in our Jerusalem (Cumberland County), in our Judea (Tennessee), in our Samaria (Eastern Kentucky), and to the ends of the earth (foreign missions).

 

We have ongoing ministry projects in our town with the Bread of Life Rescue Mission; in our state with the Tennessee Baptist Children’s Home; in Kentucky with our partners at New Beginnings Church; and we also send people on international mission trips. And those are just the regularly scheduled large scale ministry projects. There is much more that our folks are involved in as well all throughout every week.

 

One of the most common observations visitors make about our church is that “You folks do so much!” and that is absolutely true. So it could lead a person to think that the members of our church must be exhausted by all that work. Surely the people must be stretched thin and running on fumes as we frantically try to squeeze it all in and make it all work.

 

But the exact opposite is actually true. Visit with us and you will find a group of happy, joy-filled, relaxed people who love each other, who take care of each other, and who genuinely enjoy being together. There is no striving and straining; no anxiety over ministry projects’ no stressing over results.

 

How can that be? How can so few do so much with so little and be peaceful and serene about it? It’s only by the power of God’s Holy Spirit. What you see at Oak Hill Baptist Church is a group of people who have surrendered their will for God’s will; people who are willing to simply be used by God to accomplish whatever it is that He wants done; and people who realize the truth of Zechariah 4:6, “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord Almighty.”

 

The truth is that God can do a lot with a little. If you faithfully give Him the little that you have to offer, you can trust Him do a lot with it.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our Bible verse for today: “If I go up to the heavens, you are there. If I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. Psalm 139:8-10 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “Trust Him to always be with you.”

 

The Bible is true. Period. The Bible is God’s words to us and it is 100% true, all the time. Therefore anything written in the Bible, even if it only appears one time, is God-spoken truth. But if something is repeated in the Bible, especially if it is repeated numerous times, then that’s a truth God wants to drive home to us and to embed deeply into our hearts. When God repeats something numerous times in the Bible it’s because He wants to be certain that we get it.

 

One of the great truths God repeats over and over again is that He is always with us. Psalm 139:8-10 explains that truth in beautiful and poetic language. In other passages God uses much more direct language to make the same point. As was noted in a previous devotional on this topic, 13 times in the Bible God promises to go before His people. That means that you will never enter into any situation where God is not already there and waiting for you. 22 times He promises to never leave us. Hebrews 13:5 may be one of the most direct passages on this topic in all of Scripture, “Never will I leave you. Never will I forsake you.” Matthew 28:20 is another, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

 

This is important because sometimes we can find ourselves doubting God’s presence, especially during times of trial and hardship when answers and resolutions don’t seem to be coming. We begin wondering, “Where is God in the middle of all this?” Well, the promise of Scripture is that He is right there with you. Even if you don’t sense His presence in that moment it’s no less true that He is still right there.

 

During those times when the presence of God seems far away or even non-existent ask yourself these questions, “Do I believe the Bible is true, in all respects and at all times?” “Do I really believe that God is with me always, just as He promised He would be?”

 

Then rest in the knowledge that He is in fact with you in the middle of whatever it is you’re dealing with. In the right way, at the right time, He will make His presence known to you and it will be obvious that He was right there with you all the time. You can trust Him to always be with you.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Trust”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a difficult time.” Proverbs 17:17 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Can your friends trust in you?”

 

Not long ago a friend took a courageous stand on my behalf which I deeply appreciated. Without going into the messy details, there was a problem brewing behind the scenes in a situation where I was in a position of leadership. A disgruntled individual was at work stirring up strife and sowing seeds of dissension, and I was unaware of it. If left unchecked, it had the potential to create big problems for me and for others.

 

My friend made attempts to address the situation on my behalf by confronting the individual, but to no avail. So she came to me and told me what was going on. I was then able to get involved and deal with the situation before it created too much more damage. My friend did that knowing that it would quickly become obvious to the disruptive individual who it was that had exposed the situation – and that had the potential to involve my friend in conflict. But she came and told me anyway.

 

My friend had my back and I’m grateful for it.

 

Can your friends trust you to look out for them and to take action on their behalf, even when doing so could be hard, or even risky? That’s what friends do for each other.

 

In Proverbs 17:17 Solomon writes that a friend loves at all times. Obviously that means that a friend is faithful and trustworthy when times are good and things are easy, but the Proverb goes on to say that it especially means that a friend can be counted on when times are not good and things are not easy.

 

It means that as a friend you will be there for the other person when being there costs you something. I’m talking about 2:00 AM in the Emergency Room; or making a car payment for them when they’re unemployed; or standing over the grave and weeping with them when a loved one has died; or taking a courageous stand for them when doing so could mean conflict.

 

Are you a good and trustworthy friend? Do your friends know that you have their back? I encourage you to be the kind of friend that you would like others to be for you.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Trust”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “You can trust Him to guide you.”

 

Life can be very confusing. Worse than that, receiving guidance from God about important decisions can also sometimes seem confusing. Right at the time we need to hear from Him the most is often the time when we have the greatest difficulty hearing Him.

 

So what do you do? What do you do when you need guidance from God and it doesn’t seem to be coming? Worse still, what if you have reached the point where a decision simply has to be made and action must be taken, but you still do not have a clear word from God about it?

 

Proverbs 3:5-6 gives us the answer. Decades ago I made this one of my personal life verses and I have relied on it frequently ever since.

 

There’s an old saying that goes, “God gave you a mind, and He doesn’t mind if you use it once in a while!” In other words, God wants us to think things through, pray hard, search the Scriptures, and then make the best decision we can and just move on.

 

It’s similar to how a parent teaches a child to make their own decisions. As the child matures he or she should become increasing more able to make good decisions of their own, without the parent having to give them explicit guidance every step of the way. That’s what God does with us. He wants us to become familiar with His written guidance in the Bible and spiritually mature enough so that we evaluate things and make decisions based upon Biblical principles. And then He wants us to use those skills to make good decisions of our own. He does not want us to remain spiritual babies who have to have every decision made for us and every step forward spelled out for us in detail.

 

Proverbs 3:5-6 provides us with a simple three-step process we can use to confidently guide our decision-making:

 

1. Trust God. Realize that God wants to be understood by us so that we can then be obedient to Him. He has more at stake in this than you do. This is about one of His children conducting themselves in a way that honors Him. So He has a vested interest in making sure that we do conduct ourselves well.

 

1. Make sure that your heart is right and that your only desire is to know God’s will and then be obedient to it. Submit your will for His.

 

 

1. Pray and search the Scriptures for guidance.

 

1. When the time comes that a decision must be made and action must be taken, make the best decision you can and just get moving, trusting that God will guide and direct you as you walk it forward.

 

Remember, He wants your obedience even more than you do. He wants you to honor and glorify Him with your conduct and your life even more than you want it. So trust Him – and then get moving.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Trust”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “The Lord is the One who will go before you. He will be with you; He will not leave you or forsake you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.” Deuteronomy 31:8 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “You can trust God even in the most difficult circumstances.”

 

Do you trust God? I mean really trust Him? Do you trust Him in the most difficult of circumstances; even when things look bleak and the way forward is uncertain and confusing?

 

Recently I learned a powerful lesson in trust and obedience. As you know, I have just returned from a two week medical and dental mission to the Amazon Rainforest in Peru. For a variety of reasons I really did not want to go on this mission trip. I’ve planned and led close to thirty international mission trips for CERT International over these last thirteen years and this is the only one that I really did not want to go on.

 

But I did go, and the entire experience turned out to be one of great revelation and enlightenment for me. Never before have I had such a tremendous awareness of God going before me into a situation, and then of being there with me all throughout it.

 

If you would like to hear more about that adventure in my life, and the lessons I learned from it, you can listen to our mission trip presentation which was given at Oak Hill Baptist Church yesterday, Sunday March 12^th. Just go to our website at www.oakhillbaptist.net, click on “listen” and select the sermon for March 12^th. Be sure to also select the PowerPoint option so you can see the pictures Brooke Foster presented as well. Also, in order to better appreciate the lesson God taught me on this mission trip about trust and obedience, I recommend you first go to “Google” and Google the popular Christian praise song “I Am Not Alone” by Kari Jobe and listen to it. Then view the mission presentation.

 

In Deuteronomy 31:8 we read of the time that the nation of Israel was about to go forward to take possession of the Promised Land – but they were not going to simply have it served up to them on a silver platter. They were going to have to fight for it, and against some pretty powerful enemies. The situation had the potential to be frightening to the point of causing them to turn away and not go forward (exactly as they had done forty years earlier).

 

Beyond that, their trusted leader Moses was not going to go with them. They were to go forward under the leadership of a new leader – the young man Joshua. So Moses summoned the entire nation, called Joshua forward in front of them, and then on behalf of God he spoke the words we read in 31:8, “The Lord is the One who will go before you. He will be with you; He will never leave you or forsake you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.”

 

What was true for the nation of Israel going forward into the Promised Land was also true for me going forward into the Amazon, and it is true for you too. You will never enter into any situation where the Lord is not already there. He will have gone before you and prepared the way for you. Once you get there He will already be there and He will already have the situation well in hand for you.

 

Your job will always be to simply trust and obey. Do what you know He wants you to do and then simply trust Him.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Attitude”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers, read it, then went up to the Lord’s temple, and spread it out before the Lord.” 2 Kings 19:14 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Please pray for us”

 

In 2 Kings Chapters 18 and 19 we read the story of the time that the nation of Judah, under the leadership of the good godly King Hezekiah, was being attacked by the armies of Assyria. The city of Jerusalem was under siege. Hezekiah and the Jews were trapped inside. The Assyrian army had the city surrounded. And the siege went on, for a long time.

 

Finally the Assyrian General sent a letter to King Hezekiah explaining to him why continued resistance was futile and that if Hezekiah didn’t surrender, the Assyrians would kill everyone and ransack the city. In 19:4 we read of how Hezekiah responded to that. He went into the temple, knelt at the altar, spread the letter out before the Lord, and then prayed passionately for the Lord’s intervention on their behalf. Long story short, God answered that prayer and destroyed the Assyrian army.

 

How passionate are you in your prayers? To what lengths do you go to lay your requests out before the Lord? Is your attitude about prayer similar to Hezekiah’s? Obviously Hezekiah pleased the Lord with the way he prayed, to the point that the Lord answered in a mighty way.

 

Today I will depart for the Amazon Jungle in Peru. I’m part of a small team of medical and dental professionals who will be traveling in the restricted region of the Rainforest to bring free medical and dental care to Machigengua Indians who live in primitive conditions in small Jungle villages. We will be traveling the rivers in a 50 foot canoe with an outboard motor. We will be sleeping in tents and eating campfire meals. It will be hot, there will be swarms of bugs, and it will be physically demanding.

 

This will be the last devotional message until Monday March 13^th but I want to ask you to please keep this one, actually print it out, and then like Hezekiah, spread it out before the Lord each morning and use it to pray for our team. Specifically:

 

• Pray for safe travel to and from Peru with no missed flights and no lost luggage. (All of our medicines and supplies will be in our luggage)
• Pray all of our supplies and equipment will clear Peruvian customs in Lima.
• Pray for safe travel in-country, including in vans, trucks, boats, and hiking.
• Pray that no team members will get sick or be injured.
• Pray that the Indians will be receptive to receiving not only the medical and dental care, but also the love of Jesus and the Good News of the Gospel.

 

We thank you in advance for your faithful prayers. For those of you who follow along on Facebook, we will post pictures and stories at the beginning of the trip and at the end. That’s because on February 26^th we will begin our trek into the Rainforest and we will be back out on the afternoon of March 7^th. For that period of time we will be out of communication.

 

Thanks again for praying for us.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Attitude”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “No, in all these things we are more than victorious through Him who loved us.” Romans 8:37 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Live like you really do have victory in Jesus.”

 

“O victory in Jesus, my Savior, forever. He sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood; He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my life is due Him, He plunged me to victory, beneath the cleansing flood.”

 

“Victory in Jesus” is one of the most beloved hymns of all time. It’s a happy snappy tune with lyrics that are uplifting and inspiring. It was written in 1939 by Eugune Bartlett. Mr. Bartlett was a successful and wealthy businessman, as well as a talented singer and songwriter.

 

“Victory in Jesus” was the last of many great hymns that he wrote in his lifetime. The reason it was the last he wrote was because he suffered a major stroke and was unable to sing or play the piano anymore. But he wrote “Victory in Jesus” after the stroke. He wrote it while he was partially paralyzed and bedridden. That’s right, he wrote this joyous ode about living victoriously in Christ while he was lying in bed, no longer able to do anything he loved, and waiting to die (he died two years later).

 

This is what Paul was writing about in Romans 8:31-39. Verse 37 is actually a hinge verse that connects everything that came before it with everything that comes after it. Paul began his chain of thought in verse 31 when he asked, “If God is for us, who is against us?” He then went on to write about how it is that nothing can ever separate us from the reality of God’s love for us – not affliction or anguish, not persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, or the sword – nothing.

 

That was all in verses 31-36. Then in verse 37 he affirms that we are victorious in all those things. But, he couldn’t leave the thought there. He picked it up again in verse 38 and went on to say that neither death nor life, angels or rulers, present things, things to come, hostile powers, height, depth, or any created thing has the power to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

I don’t know what it is that you are dealing with today, but I do know that all of us have things in our lives that we wish weren’t there. But be that as it may, we can still have victory in Jesus and we can still live like it.

 

I want to encourage you this morning to spend a little extra devotional time slowly reading the words of Romans 8:31-39. Let the reality of their meaning wash over you; let them sink deeply into your heart and inspire in you a sense of both peace and of victory.

 

Make it a point today to live like you really do have victory in Jesus.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Attitude”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You.” Isaiah 26:3 (NKJV)

 

Our thought for today: “Bring it to Jesus.”

 

Ok, time for true confessions, and I’ll start with me. When I allow myself to get stressed-out I tend to get grumpy, irritable, short with people, and even mildly depressed.

 

I know, I know, you’re shocked. You thought pastors lived in a constant state of prayer and that we walk around all day loudly singing “Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine …” Well, perhaps other pastors do but this one tends to get stressed-out and grumpy from time-to-time.

 

Now is one of those times. I’m getting ready to leave on Friday to take a small medical and dental team on a two week mission trip into the restricted region of the Amazon Jungle. And as Satan always does, in the days before departing he always creates extra problems for the team members. Family or church members get sick and need special attention; or you get sick; or the car breaks down; or difficult people become more difficult than they normally are. This afternoon I will unexpectedly be getting extensive dental work – $3000 worth (no dental insurance); and on it goes.

 

So pardon me while I spit and sputter and kick the dog. (Ok, just kidding. If I kicked the dog Linda would kick me!)

 

I know I’m not just describing my life but yours as well. We all go through times like that. The prophet Isaiah had a bit of advice for us regarding such times. He recorded it in Isaiah 26:3. There he reminds us that God will keep us in perfect peace if we first keep our mind fixed on Him.

 

In other words (in New Testament terms), we are to bring it all to the feet of Jesus and leave it there. This is what Jesus was talking about in Matthew 11:28-30 when He said:

 

“Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. All of you, take up My yoke and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for yourselves. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (HCSB)

 

When life seems to be closing-in on you and your attitude is slipping, that’s when you need to spend even more time focused on the Lord. Bring it all to Him and lay it at His feet. Allow Him to carry the burdens for you. When we do that, as both Isaiah and Jesus said, we find relief. The fear, anxiety, doubts, stress and strain start to melt away and in exchange we get peace.

 

So give your spouse, your co-workers, your friends, and that poor dog a break. Give it all to Jesus instead.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

 

 

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Attitude”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.” Romans 12:2 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Let you mind be cleansed.”

 

The words of the Bible, under the power of the Holy Spirit, have a tremendous ability to cleanse our minds. In his book, “Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God”, Dallas Willard offers a wonderful illustration regarding the amazing way in which the Bible serves to cleanse our minds:

 

“Just think for a moment about what happens when you wash a dirty shirt: the water and laundry soap move through the fibers of the shirt material and carry out the dirt lodged within those fibers. When we come to God our minds and hearts are like that dirty shirt, cluttered with false beliefs and attitudes, deadly feelings, past deeds and misguided plans, hopes and fears. The word of God enters our mind and brings new life through faith. As we open our entire life to this new power and as those sent by God minister the word to us, the word moves into every part of our personality, just like the water and soap move through the shirt’s fibers. God’s word pushes out and replaces all that is false and opposed to God’s purposes.”

 

As a Pastor it concerns me greatly that so many professing Christians are essentially Biblically illiterate. They simply do not know the Bible very well at all. That’s because they don’t study it for themselves, and they spend little time listening to it being taught. That then means that their minds and hearts are very much like that dirty shirt Dallas Willard described, the filth and grime of the world is caked on and embedded into the very fibers of their being. The word of God is powerful, and it will break the dirt and grime free and wash it away, but it has to be applied.

 

So what’s your attitude about the Bible? Do you love it enough to actually read it, study it, and absorb its lessons? How much time do you spend each day applying it to your mind and heart?

 

I encourage you to get a translation of the Bible that you can easily read and then resolve to study it everyday. There are many good ways to study the Bible. You can just read it from start to finish like a chapter book. You can get study notes and do an in-depth study of small portions of it. You can do a character study of individual people in the Bible. You can study themes, or memorize passages.

 

The particular manner in which you are reading and studying the Bible at this time doesn’t matter, as long as you are reading and studying it everyday and applying its lessons to your life. The Holy Spirit will use God’s words to break free and wash away all the accumulated dirt and impurities in your mind and your heart. You will be cleansed and transformed as Paul wrote about in Romans 12:2. I encourage you to have a personal Bible study plan and stick to it. If you need help deciding on a plan that is right for you, email me and I will be happy to discuss it with you.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Attitude”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Then Amaziah said to the man of God, ‘What should I do about the 7,500 pounds of silver I gave to Israel’s division?’ The man of God replied, ‘The Lord is able to give you much more than this.” 2 Chronicles 25:9 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Do what you know to be right and then trust the Lord.”

 

Amaziah was one of the few good kings of Judah during the era when the Jews were divided into two kingdoms, Judah in the south and Israel in the north. This was a time when most of the kings in both Israel and Judah were evil.

 

For the most part, Amaziah honored the Lord in the way he led the nation of Judah. However at one point, when he was preparing his nation for war, he became concerned that his army wasn’t large enough to prevail over his enemies. So he decided to enter into an agreement with the kingdom of Israel to hire 100,000 of their soldiers to supplement his army. But at that time the kingdom of Israel was knee-deep in idolatry and all sorts of wickedness. That means that the godly man Amaziah was about to enter into a business and military partnership with people who were very evil. He was dancing with the devil.

 

So God sent an unnamed prophet, identified in Scripture only as “the man of God”, to warn the king not to enter into this partnership with Israel. At that time Amaziah had already paid 7,500 pounds of silver in order to pay for the rented army, and he knew the Israelite king would never voluntarily return the money. That’s why he asked the man of God the question he did in 2 Chronicles 25:9, “But what about the money I paid?”

 

The response from the man of God was classic and it’s one we need to remember, “The Lord is able to give you much more than this.” In other words, “Just let it go. Just break the partnership you have made with evil people. Do what you know to be right and trust the Lord for the outcome.”

 

Far too many Christians are willing to dance with the devil if it seems as if there might be some advantage to doing so. Oh, they don’t intend to fully embrace him, of course not. They’re not thinking about a cozy and cuddly slow dance, arms wrapped tightly around each other. They’re going to keep him at arms length and just do a polite little two-step.

 

Uh-huh. The Apostle Paul warned us about this in 2 Corinthians 6:14-15: “Do not be mismatched with unbelievers. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? What agreement does Christ have with Bellal? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?”

 

This does not mean that we cannot be friends with or work with unbelievers. However it does mean that we have to be cautious and wise about how deeply we allow them into our lives and what kind of relationships we have with them. It also means that we should not allow ourselves to be drawn into anything that is in anyway illegal, unethical, or even questionable. We should strive to avoid even the appearance of impropriety in our own lives – and that has to include not allowing ourselves to be associated with the evil or ungodly activities of others.

 

Sometimes this is not so easy. Sometimes it will require us to make tough choices. And sometimes it might appear that if we decline to dance with the devil, just a little bit, it might cost us in terms of friendships, job, income, etc. Decline anyway.

 

Let your attitude be that you will do what you know to be right and then you will trust the Lord for the outcome.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim