Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Perseverance”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:8-9 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “Sometimes we have to learn to live with the problem.”

 

The Apostle Paul had a problem he called his “thorn in the flesh”. He never really explained for us what that thorn was or in what way it tormented and limited him (many Bible scholars believe it was bad eyesight. Others speculate that Paul stuttered and was therefore a poor public speaker). All we know is that it was something that he desperately wanted to be freed from and he pleaded with the Lord in prayer to please take it away.

 

But God didn’t take it away. Instead, God worked through Paul’s weakness and limitations. When it became clear to Paul that the thorn would now be part of his life, he adjusted to it as best he could and got on with life under that new set of circumstances.

 

And get on with life he did. Despite whatever thorn in the flesh he had to deal with, Paul lived a robust life of purpose and commitment, and he ended up being the greatest evangelist and church planter in the history of Christianity. He also wrote the majority of the New Testament. Not bad for a man who by his own estimation was physically limited and weak.

 

I’ve always admired people who determine to live life large, to the best of their ability, despite being faced with great challenges. That certainly describes my wife Linda. Despite having suffered a major stroke and having had part of her brain removed, and despite the resulting physical and mental limitations she is now faced with, she never gives up. With her little black walker on wheels (complete with Harley Davidson stickers and flames), she scoots around like the Energizer Bunny, always involved in one thing or another, and always ready for some new challenge. She inspires all the rest of us to try harder and to complain less.

 

While God may not always take away a problem, He will always give us the grace to deal with it well.

 

Hopefully whatever problem you’re currently facing is temporary and the time is coming soon when you will overcome it. But if not, if it turns out to be long-term or even permanent, then I encourage you to do what Paul and Linda did. Make whatever adjustments to your life which are necessary, then get on with life as best you can under whatever the circumstances are. Don’t give-in and don’t give-up. Live life fully, to the best of your ability, accomplishing all that you can for as long as you can.

 

Sometimes we just have to learn how to live with the situation as it is.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Perseverance”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” Matthew 7:11 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “God delights in answering your prayers and in meeting your needs.”

 

Persevering through tough times can be especially challenging when your situation includes an important unmet need. It could be a bill you can’t pay, an illness you’re dealing with, a broken relationship which needs to be restored, a new job, etc.

 

The correct way to deal with such situations is of course to first bring it to the Lord in prayer. Then you must also make sure you do your part too so that you’re being part of your own solution. But then what? Once you’ve made the situation a matter of consistent and persistent prayer and you are doing all you can do to be a part of your own solution, what do you do after that?

 

You wait on the Lord. Patiently and in faith you wait on the Lord. You keep praying, and you keep doing your part, and you trust that in His time and in His way God will take care of you.

 

In Matthew 7:11, which is part of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus reminds us that God is our good and loving heavenly Father and the He delights in answering our prayers and giving us the things we need.

 

Don’t forget that the Sermon on the Mount also includes that wonderful passage in Matthew 6:25-34 where Jesus taught that our Father in heaven is aware of every need we have and He is committed to meeting those needs. For our part we must simply “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.” Matthew 6:25-34 and Matthew 7:11 are part of the same lesson and they teach the same truth.

 

It would be wrong to underestimate God and the delight He takes in coming through for His children. It’s not greedy or selfish to ask God for the things you need. Jesus encourages us to ask God to help us and to provide for us.

 

The great Christian writer C.S. Lewis once wrote that our problem is not that we ask too much of God, but that we don’t ask enough. He said that he believes we are much too easily pleased and that we usually stop well short of asking for the things God would be more than happy to provide for us.

 

That was Jesus’ point exactly. If human parents know how to give good gifts to their children, how much more is that true of our Father in heaven? The problem isn’t that we ask too much of Him, but that we don’t ask enough.

 

So persevere. Ask God to be active in your situation; talk to Him about your needs; ask Him to provide for you; and also be sure you are doing your part. God delights in answering your prayers and meeting your needs.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Perseverance”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “We live by faith, not by sight.” 2 Corinthians 5:7 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “A delay is often just a prelude to something better.”

 

Today is Saturday, the day before Easter. On this day Jesus was in the tomb and the disciples were huddled together in a house, afraid and confused. Friday had been a nightmare for them and now Jesus was dead and gone.

 

What those disciples didn’t realize was that that long day of mourning was simply a prelude to something better, something glorious. This gap between the death of Jesus on Friday and His resurrection on Sunday would turn out to be little more than an incubation period. True, the physical body of Jesus was dead and lying in a borrowed tomb, but God was preparing the body for a miraculous resurrection which was soon to happen.

 

But the dispirited disciples didn’t know that. They should have known it, but they didn’t. They knew the promises of God. They had been with Jesus. They had seen the miracles. They had heard His words. Even with the unforeseen turn of events they were now experiencing, their faith in God should still have been strong. But it wasn’t.

 

The phrase “We live by faith, not by sight” was a favorite theme of Paul’s. He used it here in 2 Corinthians 5:7, and again in Romans 1:17, and also in Galatians 3:11, just to name three. In numerous other places in his writings he expressed the same truth indirectly and in different words. Other Biblical writers in both the Old and New Testaments also refer to it. So the lesson is pretty clear – despite how our current circumstances appear, we are to live by faith not by sight.

 

This period of confusion and uncertainty which we see the disciples living through, between the death of Jesus on Friday and His resurrection on Sunday, is illustrative of what also happens in our lives. Very often we experience the tragic events of a Friday, and then the long Saturday of grief and regret (which may go on for weeks, months, even years). However, Sunday coming. Just like for them, it turns out for us also that the long Saturday of delay is simply an incubation period as the Lord prepares us for what’s coming.

 

But also just like them, we sometimes don’t realize it’s coming. We should know. The Lord has promised to walk through the dark times with us and to get us through them. But often in the middle of those long Saturdays of delay, between Friday and Sunday, we lose sight of the truth that God isn’t done yet; the final word has yet to be spoken; and the story is not over.

 

I’m going to preach about this in my Easter sermon at Oak Hill Baptist Church tomorrow. I encourage you to join us for our Easter Celebration Service at 10:00.

 

In the meantime, if you are currently experiencing a long Saturday of delay between the tragedy of Friday and the glorious deliverance of Sunday, I encourage you to live by faith not by sight.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

 

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Perseverance”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “…who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame and has sat down at the right hand of God’s throne.” Hebrews 12:2 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Persevere because it’s the right thing to do, and then trust God for the outcome.”

 

As I write this it is Good Friday morning. This is the day above all others throughout the year when we as Christians pause to remember the sacrifice Jesus made for us on the cross.

 

It’s instructive and helpful for us to remember the amazing degree of perseverance required of Jesus in order to get to, and through, this day. And let’s also remember that through it all the eventual outcome appeared to be questionable. The three years of Jesus’ earthly ministry produced some success stories to be sure, but there was even more opposition, resentment, disappointments, and betrayals. Now this is the way it ends, with torture and death on a cross?

 

Last night I read a brief summary of the life story of the great composer of classical music Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach was a musical genius as well as a deeply committed Christian man. He believed that the true purpose of music was to bring glory to God. In the margins of his musical manuscripts he always penciled the initials “J.J.” which stood for “Jesu Juva” which means “Help me, Jesus”. At the end of every manuscript he always jotted the initials “S.D.G.” which stood for “Soli Deo Gloria”, which means “To God alone the glory.”

 

The interesting thing about Bach is that during his lifetime his music received very little attention. Although he produced a lot of it, and it was all very, very good, people didn’t seem to care. But then again, Bach didn’t care that they didn’t care. He was writing his music for God not for them. It was only many years after his death that his music was rediscovered and celebrated. Today he is known as one of the greatest composers of classical music of all time.

 

During His years of ministry on earth, the work of Jesus seemed to have only minimal impact, and then it ended badly. But, He carried-on in His ministry anyway. He did it faithfully and He did it well. He persevered because the motive force driving His life was to obey the will of the Father. Jesus was determined to bring honor and glory to God and to help fulfill His plan for the human race.

 

You and I know how it turned out. We know that His death on the cross wasn’t the end of the story. He arose from the grave; He appeared to and inspired His followers; He prepared the way for the coming of the Holy Spirit; the church grew like wildfire; over two thousand years untold millions have come to faith in Christ and gained eternal salvation as a result; and today there are more Christians on planet earth than at any time in history.

 

There’s a lot to be gained from perseverance. Even if you aren’t seeing many results at the moment and even if you aren’t sure of what the outcome will be, persevere for God. Seek to know His will and then be obedient to it. If your focus is simply to please Him and to fulfill His purposes, everything else will fall into place in God’s way and in God’s timing.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

 

 

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Perseverance”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.” 1 Corinthians 14:58 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “Structure and order helps us to persevere.”

 

I thrive on structure and routine. I’m a little OCD by nature to begin with, but then there are those twenty-one years of military discipline and training …

 

This morning I was reading in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 and I came across those two verses which are music to the heart of an OCD former military officer and current pastor: “For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.” 1 Corinthians 14:40, and “But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.” 1Corinthians 14:58

 

God is a God of order and structure. We can see that in the amazing and beautiful complexity of creation. The more scientists are able to unravel the mysteries of the universe the more they discover the intricate manner in which creation is planned, structured, and woven together – right down to the molecular level.

 

All of creation is ordered and structured, that’s what makes it so efficient and effective.  To a large extent we are to be too. Human beings thrive on order and structure. That’s why we tend to be creatures of habit. Of course there is something to be said for spontaneity and creativity too, but there can be much advantage to regularity and routine – and that is especially true when we’re attempting to persevere through hard times.

 

For instance, when a person has lost a spouse one of the most helpful things they can do to help them progress through the stages of grief and adjustment is to establish a daily routine and then stick to it. Get up at the same time every morning; pray and read your Bible at the same time and in the same place everyday; have a plan for daily activities and make yourself to stick to it; go to bed at the same time every night; etc.

 

When it comes to successfully persevering at anything it is often simply a matter of having a clear plan for each day, putting one foot in front of the other, and then just continuing to move forward. Order and structure, plus a clear plan and a resolve to stick with it, goes a long way when it comes to persevering.

 

To a very large degree God is ordered and structured; His creation is ordered and structured; and we tend to be at our best when we are too.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Perseverance”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “But godliness with contentment is great gain; for we brought nothing into the 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 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “Learn to be content”

 

Sometimes perseverance involves settling-in, settling-down, and being content with what we have rather than constantly striving for more and more and more. The opposite of being content is being discontent, and discontentment is a serious spiritual malady in our society today. We’re conditioned by our culture to always want more and more. No matter what we have, we believe we need more, and that we are entitled to more.

 

Whereas contentment with a spirit of godliness is the sign of a spiritually mature person and leads to a happy and peaceful life, perpetual discontentment is a sure sign of spiritual immaturity and leads to all sorts of problems in life.

 

For one thing, it’s the primary cause of the rampant indebtedness that is so pervasive in our society. The reason people go so deeply into debt is because they don’t know how to be content with what they have.

 

Discontentment also shows itself in numerous other areas of life, from the job we have to the person we’re married to; from the car we drive to the house we live in; from our physical appearance to which version of the iphone we have; and on and on it goes. When we’re easily discontented we manage to find problems with everything, nothing is ever good enough.

 

People with a spirit of discontentment live unhappy lives. They often feel like they’re being cheated out of something and they’re frequently in conflict with others because of it.

 

Paul’s prescription for discontentment is to settle-in, settle-down, and be grateful for what you have. Because if you don’t, what you “have” can quickly become what you “had”. Whether we’re talking about your job, your marriage, your friendships, your home, your financial security, or whatever, be content with and be grateful for what you have because discontentment and ingratitude lead to conflicts, insecurity, bad decisions, and often, bad outcomes.

 

Sometimes persevering involves nothing more than being content with what we have – and then remaining content with what we have.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Perseverance”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.” 1 Corinthians 3:2 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “Faithfulness is what matters to God.”

 

As I write this I’m thinking of a man I know who has very little in terms of worldly accomplishments and possessions, but he is an extraordinarily faithful man of God. He can always be counted on to be at church whenever the doors are opened, and he is always ready and willing to help as needed. This man perseveres in faithfulness and although he seems to have little by the standards of the world, the day will come when he will be richly rewarded in heaven by God.

 

And then I’m thinking of another man who does have a lot by worldly standards. He is a successful and accomplished professional who earns a large salary and has many nice things. But he too is a faithful man of God who can consistently be counted on to be present whenever he can be, and he offers his services in ministry as needed. Additionally, he uses large sums of his wealth to bless others and to help further the kingdom-building work of God on earth. I believe this man too will one day hear the Lord say “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

 

What the Lord values most is faithfulness. Your skills, abilities, wealth and possessions are of much less importance to Him than is your faithfulness. What He wants is your heart fully surrendered to Him, and then your best effort offered up to Him.

 

Many years ago one of my favorite authors, Eugene Peterson, coined a phrase to describe the Christian life lived well, he called it “A long obedience in the same direction”. He meant that so much of what matters in the Christian life is simply a matter of showing-up before God and doing the things you are supposed to do, over and over again, day after day. That includes prayer and Bible reading of course, but also things like attendance at worship services and participation in ministry activities.

 

But it also pertains to life in general. A big part of faithfulness is simply a matter of being where you’re supposed to be and doing what you’re supposed to do – and doing it all in a spirit and in a manner that honors the Lord.

 

When it comes to perseverance perhaps the most important matter you can persevere in, is faithfulness.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Perseverance”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “Attend church regularly and faithfully”

 

The story is told of two old men, friends who hadn’t seen each other in a long time. They were actually members of the same church but one of them had stopped attending long ago.

 

One day when they met on the street, the one man asked the other where he had been and why he hadn’t been to church for so long. The other answered, “I don’t know. I guess I just lost interest. I mean, going to church was ok but nothing special. Heck, by Tuesday I couldn’t even remember what the sermon had been on Sunday. In fact, over all the years I was in church I don’t think I remember a single sermon I ever heard.”

 

The other man thought about that for a moment and replied, “You know, I’ve been married to my wife for over 50 years. Over all those years she has prepared many hundreds of meals for me and I’ll bet you I can’t remember ten of them. But each one of those meals provided me with the nourishment I needed at that time and if I had not had those meals, my physical health would have suffered and I would have shriveled up and died from malnourishment. Likewise, I’ve heard a lot of sermons over those years too and I don’t remember most of them. But every one of them provided my spirit the nourishment it needed at the time. And if I had not had that spiritual nourishment, I would have become spiritually malnourished.”

 

In the Fourth Commandment God instructed us to “Observe the Sabbath and keep it holy.” That commandment is for our benefit. The fact is that life is hard. It’s filled with trials and struggles, pain and heartaches. One of the reasons we come together as a church family is for the spiritual renewal we experience. It’s a time to put aside the cares and woes of life as we focus our attention instead on study and worship and fellowship. Through that, the Lord ministers to our souls.

 

In Nehemiah 8:10 we read of the Jews coming together for group worship. Ezra the priest instructed them to leave their grief and sadness outside and focus instead on receiving a fresh dose of “the joy of the Lord”.

 

We all need that. We need to renew our joy. Regular attendance at worship services is a source of spiritual nourishment and it strengthens us so we can more effectively deal with life. I encourage you to gather with your church family this Sunday. If you don’t have a church family, then I invite your to join us at Oak Hill Baptist. Sunday school begins at 9:00 and the worship service is at 10:00.

 

Attend church regularly and faithfully. You’ll be a stronger and more joyful person if you do.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Perseverance”

 

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: “God is always on time.”

 

Life unfolds over time and in seasons. One season is necessarily different from the previous one and almost always involves change. There is a time and a season for everything. But often we’re impatient, especially if things are changing, and especially if we want the change to be over quickly.

 

The key of course, is to relax and allow life to progress at it’s own pace. But that’s easier said than done because … well, because we tend to be impatient, at least I am.

 

I remember back in the 1970s when microwave ovens were beginning to become common appliances in many households. We were all amazed at how quickly it could cook our food for us, but others were concerned about the quickening pace of life that the microwave oven represented. This was at the same time that the comedian Joan Rivers was rising to fame. I remember she had a comedy routine that poked fun at our growing sense of impatience and at the accelerating pace of life. In the skit she was standing in front of a microwave oven, drumming her fingers on the kitchen counter and then suddenly, in an explosion of impatience and anger she shouts at the microwave, “Hurry up!!!” Yup, that’s me sometimes.

 

There is a season and a proper length of time for everything – including cooking our food. One of my personal complaints is that although I am often in a hurry, the Lord never is. Sometimes I want to shout at Him, “Hurry up!!!”

 

In Psalm 90:4 Moses wrote, “For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.” Well, that explains it then because sometimes it seems like the Lord is taking a thousand years to answer my prayers!

 

The Apostle Peter repeated that thought more than a thousand years later when he wrote in 2 Peter 3:8, “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.”

 

I’ll leave you this morning with one final thought from Peter on this subject of time and patience and perseverance. In 2 Peter 3:9, right after his observation about how the Lord keeps time, Peter wrote this, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promises, as some understand slowness.”

 

Yes, there is a season for everything, and God is never late. He is always right on-time. So persevere. And when you think you’re done persevering, persevere some more. God will show-up; He will be on-time; and He will show-up in His time. And when He does you will discover it to have been the right time.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Perseverance”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “The righteous will live by faith.” Romans 1:17 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Trust that God is sovereign over your circumstances.”

 

When we speak of the sovereignty of God we mean that God is the King and Supreme Ruler of the entire universe. Not only did He create all there is, but He rules over all there is.

 

Beyond that, He has power over all there is. Nothing occurs at any time or in any place, anywhere in the universe, that is beyond the power of God to control if He so chooses. In Ephesians 1:11 Paul writes, “(He) works out everything in agreement with the decision of His will …”  In other words God either directly causes it (His direct will), or He chooses to allow it (His permissive will), for His own purposes and according to His divine will.

 

God rules and reigns over the universe. He is sovereign.

 

Throughout history, and across the denominational spectrum, there are and have been differences in understanding regarding exactly how God’s sovereignty operates in our individual lives. The general consensus among conservative theologians (and this is my personal belief as well) is that God chooses to exercise His sovereignty over our lives in conjunction with human responsibility. In other words, God works in partnership with us. He does His part and we have to do our part; and if we are in synch with Him, then it is His will that prevails in our lives.

 

What does all of that have to do with our theme of “perseverance”? Simply this: The best place for any of us to ever be is right in the center of God’s will. So do your best to understand and obey His will, and then stick to it regardless of the circumstances.

 

Remember, God is sovereign. He can orchestrate events in your life as necessary to achieve His purposes. If for your part you genuinely desire to simply know God’s will and to be obedient to it, and then you actually take the steps necessary to be obedient to His will as you understand it, you can relax and trust Him to act in your best interest according to His will. This is what Paul meant when he wrote in Romans 1:17 “The righteous will live by faith.”

 

In his own life Paul relinquished all of his own desires and all of his own plans in exchange for being obedient to the will of God as best as he could. Paul trusted that God would honor that effort on his part, and since He is sovereign, since He rules and reigns over the affairs of men and nations, He can be trusted to “work out everything in agreement with the decision of His will.”

 

The bottom line here for us is to trust God and live by faith. He is sovereign. Do your best to understand His will and to be obedient to it, and then trust Him.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim