Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “True Greatness”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Sitting across from the temple treasury, He watched how the crowd dropped money into the treasury. Many rich people were putting in large sums. And a poor widow came and dropped in two tiny coins worth very little. Summoning His disciples, He said to them, ‘I assure you: This poor widow has put in more than all those giving to the temple treasury. For they all gave out of their surplus, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she possessed – all she had to live on.” Mark 12:41-44 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Great men and women of God give sacrificially to His work.”

 

Her name was Jane. When I knew her she was in her late seventies. Jane had been a pastor’s wife. At other times in her life she had been a Youth leader, a Christian camp counselor, a manager of a Christian bookstore, and for years she wrote Sunday school curriculum for the Southern Baptist Sunday School Board. She also delivered mail for the U.S. Postal Service out in the California desert. Talk about tough work!

 

But when I knew her she was long-since retired and she lived alone in a little trailer in a little town out in the desert. Jane was a member of our church and she served in many ways. Sunday School Director, substitute teacher, kitchen committee, church prayer team leader, and of course, if the doors of the church were open, Jane was there.

 

One year on Pastor Appreciation Day I saw Jane approaching me with a little smile on her face and a gift bag in her hand. It was a gift for me – a book she knew I had been wanting and hadn’t gotten around to buying for myself yet. Jane bought it for me.

 

It was one of the most meaningful gifts anyone has ever given me because I knew it cost Jane a lot to be able to give it. As I said, she was single, she lived on a small fixed income in a very small very old trailer in a little town, and she just barely made ends meet each month. Jane had no extra money. Ever. So for her to spend the $20 to buy that book for me meant that she did without something for herself, probably food.

 

That was fifteen years ago and the entire exchange took less than two minutes but I can see it as clearly today as I did back then in the moment it was happening. And, I’m sure I will never forget it.

 

The point Jesus was making in Mark 12:41-44 was that it’s not the size of our gift that matters to God it’s the sacrifice we’re willing to make in order to give it. If we give a gift out of our excess, and therefore it cost’s us little to give it, that’s nowhere near as meaningful as if we give in a manner that requires us to make a personal sacrifice in order to give it.

 

Truly great men and women of God are generous to the point of sacrificial giving. I encourage each of us to prayerfully consider how much we give to help support the work of God, and how much does it really cost us?

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

 

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “True Greatness”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “… whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be a slave to all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life – a ransom for many” Mark 10:43-45 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Great men and women of God are servants at heart.”

 

There probably is no greater measure of spiritual stature and greatness in the eyes of God than a person’s willingness to serve others. The greatest men and women of God think of others before themselves, and put aside their own concerns in order to serve others.

 

Conversely, when a person is self-absorbed, always thinking of themselves, always talking about their own problems, and who seldom does much of anything for others, that person is of small spiritual stature and certainly is not great.

 

Great men and women of God are servants at heart. They think of others first. They look for ways to serve. This is the example Jesus set with His own life and it is the standard He established for His followers as well.

 

Interestingly, when we do put others first, and when we do focus on being a blessing to them rather than being self-absorbed with our own issues, our lives suddenly become more meaningful, fuller, happier, and we discover we’re not nearly so worried about ourselves and our own issues anymore. In Matthew 10:39 Jesus told us that, “Anyone finding his life will lose it, and anyone losing his life because of Me will find it.”

 

This is one of the reasons that at Oak Hill Baptist Church we place such a heavy emphasis on service and missions. It’s because when a person focuses on helping others, their own spiritual life becomes much richer and they discover that they themselves are happier, fuller, and more content. This is the truth Jesus was teaching in Matthew 10:39. When you give your live away in service to others, that’s when you truly find it.

 

Do you doubt that? Try it. Test Jesus. For just a while stop focusing so much on yourself and on your own issues and turn your thoughts instead to helping others. Then just watch to see what happens in your own life. You will discover that serving others makes you more like Jesus and the more like Jesus you become, the happier and more content you will be. And that will be true regardless of your circumstances.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “True Greatness”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’ – and you forgave the guilt of my sin.” Psalm 33:3-5 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “You can be a flawed person and still be a great person.”

 

Yesterday we considered the example of the Apostle Peter. As was noted, he was a deeply flawed individual who failed repeatedly. And yet, he was a great man of God. An Apostle of Jesus Christ! A leader in the early Christian church!

 

Today I want us to consider King David, another deeply flawed individual who is also remembered as one of the great men of the Bible. If you know his story then you know that over the course of his life David was guilty of adultery, murder, lying, deceitfulness, and he was such a poor parent that he directly contributed to the delinquency of some of his children.

 

But David is remembered as one of the great men in the Bible and is put forward as an example of faith and devotion for the rest of us to follow. How could that be?

 

The answer is found in Psalm 35:3-5. David sinned but he repented. He failed but he recovered from his failures by bringing them before the Lord. He confessed them, he learned from them, he corrected his behavior, and he moved on with new determination to bring honor and glory to God by the way in which he lived from that point forward.

 

Being a great man or woman of God doesn’t require perfection. Even the most faithful and committed person blows it from time to time, sometimes in big ways. But great men and women of God have a moral center in their lives, which comes from having Jesus at the center of their lives. That spiritual center of gravity keeps drawing them back to Him. At those times when they sin and fail, they recognize the sin and failure for what it is. Then they confess it, they correct it, they make restitution if needed, and then they move on with life renewed and determined to be a godly person.

 

Great people of God aren’t perfect, just forgiven. Great men and women of God are anchored, they are centered in Jesus and that then provides the moral compass needed to stay on course – or to get back on course once they have strayed.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “True Greatness”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the forces of Hades will not overpower it.” Matthew 16:18 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Great men and women of God are not defeated by failure.”

 

There is some debate among Bible scholars regarding exactly what Jesus meant in Matthew 16:18 when He said, “and on this rock I will build My church.” Some believe that here Jesus identified Peter as the leader upon which He would launch the new Christian faith. Others believe that Jesus was actually referring to the example of faith Peter had just demonstrated in verse 17. If that was case then it was upon faith like Peter’s that the new church would be built.

 

Either way, there’s no arguing the fact that Peter went on to become an important leader in the new faith and a towering figure in Biblical history. That’s pretty remarkable considering how miserably and how often Peter failed.

 

One of the reasons Peter is such a beloved Biblical figure is because he is so much like us. Peter was always messing up. He was constantly saying things he shouldn’t have said, doing things impulsively, and failing when he should have been succeeding. Yup, pretty much like me.

 

Read Peter’s story through the Gospels and the book of Acts and you will find him speaking when he should have been silent (MT 16:23); being silent when he should have been speaking (JN 18:17); sleeping when he should have been praying (LK 22:46); lying (LK 22:57); being a hypocrite (Gal 2:12); just to cite a few examples.

 

But what’s truly fascinating about Peter’s life is the character development that occurred as a result of his mistakes and failures. Even though he failed miserably on numerous occasions, and even though he was publically rebuked and corrected numerous times by both Jesus and Paul, Peter never let his failures defeat him. He always hung in there, he always worked through it, he corrected his behavior, and he kept going.

 

There’s an important lesson in Peter’s example for us. From time to time we will all fail, sometimes in spectacular and embarrassing ways. But failure can become the smelting furnace in which God refines us, removing the impurities and flaws from our heart and soul, and forging steel into our character.

 

That’s what happened to Peter and that’s the primary reason he went on to become the man he ultimately was. He never gave up. He had a humble enough spirit to acknowledge his failures and to accept correction. Then he changed his ways and moved on with life as a better, stronger, and more spiritually mature man.

 

But here’s another important point – Peter did not deny his failures. He didn’t attempt to excuse or rationalize or blame others. He accepted responsibility for what he had done, he was remorseful about it, and he was willing to be corrected.

 

Great men and women of God aren’t defeated by their failures. Instead they learn from them and use them as a catalyst to become better and stronger. I encourage you to accept your failures and disappointments in life as an opportunity to learn and grow. If you do that, then your failures become stepping stones that lead you to success.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “True Greatness”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “But Balaam responded to the servants of Balak, “If Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go against the command of the Lord my God to do anything small or great.” Numbers 22:18 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Great men and women of God are men and women of sincerity and integrity.”

 

I’ve always found the story of Balaam a little confusing. It’s found in the Old Testament book of Numbers, chapters twenty-two and twenty-three. It took place during the Exodus while Moses was leading the nation of Israel through the wilderness towards the Promised Land. They needed to pass through the land of Midian but King Balak was afraid of them and would not grant them passage. He summoned the well-known Soothsayer Balaam to pronounce a curse upon the Israelites and hopefully turn them away.

 

What’s confusing in this story is that when the messengers of Balak presented the King’s request to Balaam he made a series of statements, like the one in Numbers 22:18 above, which give the impression of a godly man who was truly seeking guidance from the One True God. As the story unfolds we find Balaam praying, giving reports about what God had said to him in the times of prayer, and rejecting the request of the king to curse the Israelites – and doing it all in the name of God.

 

Any yet, we also find that God was unhappy with Balaam and He even sent an angel to confront him (22:33). Fortunately for Balaam he had a donkey that was smarter than he was and it was through the donkey that Balaam was saved.

 

By the time the story is over we realize that Balaam was not really a good and godly man, even though he did give the appearance of being one. So what was that all about? What was happening there and what should we learn from it?

 

The lesson is that Balaam lacked sincerity and integrity. His actions were mostly a religious show. He used a lot of God-talk, and he went through the motions of seeking God and professing to speak for Him, but it wasn’t real. Balaam was a poser. He was only pretending to be a man of God.

 

A man or women of integrity must actually be on the inside what they appear to be on the outside. Balaam was not. A person’s words must accurately represent their true character or else they’re just putting on a show. God-talk doesn’t make us godly and a religious show doesn’t mean we are acting for God.

 

A truly great man or woman of God has a heart that is genuinely and fully devoted to Him. When that is the case, then honesty, integrity, and sincerity will be natural outcomes and they won’t have to be faked.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “True Greatness”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “I swear that none of you will enter the land I promised to settle you in, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.” Numbers 14:30 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “God honors faithfulness and obedience.”

 

Thirteen men were selected by Moses to go scout the Promised Land. Their mission was to get a feel for the lay of the land and to bring back a report to the rest of the people.

 

There was no question that the land would be good, God had already told them that. There was also no question that it would be theirs, God had already told them that too. And there was no question that they were to go, God had commanded it. Now it was simply a matter of moving forward and claiming what the Lord had granted to them.

 

That’s not to say there weren’t obstacles, there were. And that also isn’t saying it would be easy, because it wouldn’t be. But taking possession of the Promised Land was the future God had determined for them and therefore they should have simply marched forward in faith and obedience. But they didn’t.

 

Eleven of the thirteen spies were intimated by what they saw on their scouting mission. The people were big and strong. The cities were fortified. The challenge before them was frightening. And so they came back to the people with woeful forecasts of impending disaster should they attempt to do what the Lord was telling them to do.

 

Interestingly, Caleb and Joshua saw exactly the same things that the other eleven did, but their response was different. Despite the obvious obstacles and challenges, Caleb and Joshua had faith in God and were determined to simply march forward and do what He had commanded them to do.

 

You know the rest of the story. The people listened to the eleven frightened and timid men rather than to the two bold and courageous ones; and they ended up spending forty years wandering in the wilderness rather than enjoying the good life the Lord had ordained for them.

 

As you continue to read the Bible from that point forward, you discover that the names of the eleven are never mentioned again. They fade into history and are forgotten. Joshua however, went on to have a great life as the successor to Moses and he is one of the truly admirable men in Biblical history. Caleb likewise appears numerous times in the Bible he is always portrayed in a positive and complimentary way.

 

The lesson for us? Don’t be afraid to do what God has told you to do. Don’t doubt Him. Don’t be intimidated by the apparent obstacles and challenges. And don’t disobey God’s clear command to you.

 

God honors faithfulness and obedience. He honored it in the lives of Joshua and Caleb and he will honor it in your life too. Great men and women of God faithfully trust God and obey Him, regardless of the obstacles or challenges.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “True Greatness”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today – to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul – then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and oil. I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.” Deuteronomy 11:13-15 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “God never overlooks faithfulness”

 

This morning I was thinking about the Old Testament book of Leviticus.  Leviticus is twenty-seven long tedious chapters of detailed rules and regulations that the Old Testaments Jews were required to follow. Those rules and regulations governed all aspects of worship, and stewardship, and daily life in general.

 

I found myself thanking God that Jesus did away with all of that and therefore I don’t have to live under the burden of that law. But I also found myself thinking about why it was that God required such things of them. There are many answers to that question but one of them is that God is pleased by and honors faithfulness. That’s the point Moses was making in Deuteronomy 11:13-15.

 

When the Old Testament Jews faithfully applied themselves to obeying all that God had commanded and required of them, it was a measure of how serious they were about honoring and pleasing Him. It was a matter of faithfulness.

 

As I noted, the commands of Leviticus don’t apply to us in the New Testament age. But there are other commands of God that do apply and like those in Leviticus, they too can be a measure of our faithfulness. One of those commands is found in Hebrews 10:25, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing.”

 

Meeting together, regularly and consistently, is a vital part of the practice of the Christian faith. God expects it of us, and in fact, He requires it. And yes, it is a measure of our faithfulness.

 

I remember a man by the name of Bob who was a member of the first church I was the Pastor of. Bob was in the advanced stages of emphysema and was close to dying. He was on oxygen 24/7, needed help to get out of bed, and had to be transported everywhere in a wheelchair. But he was in church every Sunday until just a couple of weeks before he died. In my view (and I believe in God’s view too), Bob’s great faithfulness made him a great man of God.

 

I think of Mary Rose Kemmer –a dear saint and a wonderful woman of God. Her entire adult life she was an active and faithful member of our church. If the doors of the church were open you could count on Mary Rose being there. Even in her old age, when she was weak and sick, when it required a major effort on her part to go anywhere or to do anything, if she could get someone to come for her and help her, then she would be in church on Sunday. You couldn’t keep her away. Her faithfulness was a sign of her greatness.

 

Mary E. Henry was another example of faithfulness that was greatness. I could name others but you get the point.

 

What about you? Will you be gathering with your church family this Sunday? If not, why not? This is an issue some of us need to be thinking and praying about. Faithfulness is a direct measure of where we’re at in our relationship with God. I encourage you to think about it, pray about it, and then make it a point to gather with your church family this Sunday.

 

God never overlooks faithfulness. Nor is He blind to the lack of it.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

 

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “True Greatness”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “So Pilate decided to grant their demand and released the one they were asking for, who had been thrown into prison for rebellion and murder. But he handed Jesus over to their will.” Luke 23:25 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Don’t be like Pilate.”

 

You’ve probably heard it said that we can learn from bad examples as well as from good examples. It’s true. Sometimes lessons are learned best by means of negative examples rather than positive ones. Pontius Pilate is a case in point.

 

Pilate was the governor in Jerusalem to whom the Jewish leaders brought Jesus after they arrested Him in the Garden of Gethsemane. After questioning Jesus to try to determine what the ruckus was all about, Pilate quickly realized that Jesus was innocent and should be released. He even said as much – more than once.

 

But the people and the leaders had already decided that they wanted Jesus to be crucified by the Romans and the more Pilate resisted them, the angrier the crowd became. Soon Pilate realized he had a potential riot on his hands and his thoughts turned from “What’s the right thing to do?” to “How can I get out of this?”

 

You know the story. Pilate gave into their demands. Even though he knew what was true and right, he didn’t have the strength of character or the integrity or the courage, to stand his ground and do the right thing. So he turned Jesus, whom he knew to be innocent, over to the Jews to be executed in a horrible fashion.

 

So, is Pilate remembered in history as a great man? No he isn’t. Even though he was a powerful Roman official in his day, and even though he did have the power of life and death over those under his authority, his legacy is that of having been a weakling.

 

Rejecting the moral high ground never produces good results over the long term. It may provide temporary relief from a difficult situation, but in the long run it will always do more harm than good. In Pilate’s case he lost what little respect the Jews and the other Roman authorities had for him, and within just a couple of years he ended up being removed from office and sent into exile anyway.

 

Truly great men and women of God consistently do what they know to be right, even if doing so isn’t easy and even if it isn’t popular. I want to encourage you today to make it a point to not to be like Pilate. Don’t give-in and take the path of least resistance just because it’s the easy thing to do. Have the strength of character, the integrity, the confidence, and the courage to do what you know to be right. Because that’s what great men and women of God do.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme this month: “True Greatness”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” Matthew 23:11 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Humility is a mark of true greatness.”

 

I will admit to being a football fan. I don’t watch very much television but I do watch football games. Like most fans, I have my favorite teams and my favorite players. Typically I have great respect for the players who are quiet and humble and who simply strive to be good athletes, good sportsmen, and good examples. Peyton Manning comes to mind. So does Aaron Rodgers. I’m also a baseball fan and have great admiration for players like Lou Gehrig and Tony Gwynn, and for the same reason – they were great but they were also humble.

 

I have little tolerance for the loud-mouthed hot dogs who think way too highly of themselves, who are convinced of their own greatness and are constantly tooting their own horns. That’s true whether we’re talking about football players, baseball players, or candidates for President.

 

In the Bible God commends a humble spirit and He condemns those who exalt themselves. That was Jesus’ point in Matthew 23:11 and it is a point God makes repeatedly throughout scripture. Proverbs 16:18 warns that “Pride comes before destruction, and an arrogant spirit before a fall.” Religious pride was the primary sin of the Pharisees (Matthew 6:5). An argument among Jesus’ disciples about who among them would be the greatest earned them all a stern rebuke from Jesus (Luke 9:46-48).

 

One of the keys to the greatness of Moses was his humility (Numbers 12:3). Jesus described Himself as “humble and gentle in heart” (Matthew 11:29). The Apostle Paul tells us to be completely humble and gentle (Ephesians 4:2). James tells us to humble ourselves before the Lord (James 4:10). Likewise Peter writes that we must humble ourselves (1 Peter 5:6).

 

The problem with humility is that it is so elusive. If we try to force it, it becomes false humility. When practiced to excess, it becomes groveling. And once we’re sure we are humble, we obviously are not. I had a friend who once informed me (tongue in cheek) that he was very humble, and that he was proud of it!”

 

Godly humility, as seen in Moses and Jesus, and as called for by Paul, James, and Peter, is a virtue that comes from within and works its way out. It’s a matter of the heart and it is developed by the Holy Spirit in us. The more spiritually mature a person becomes, the more true humility will be a part of who they are.

 

 

Humility is a mark of true greatness, but it’s a work of the Holy Spirit in your heart as He slowly and progressively transforms you into the person God wants you to be.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “True Greatness”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.” Hebrews 12:1-2 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “Perseverance in the face of adversity is a mark of true greatness.”

 

“Nobody said this was going to be easy!” said Tony Horton, the creator and coach of the popular extreme video workout program P90X. “But if you just stick with it, if you just keep showing up and you just keep pushing the “play” button on your DVD, overtime you will get the results you seek.”

 

What’s true for P90X is also true for the Christian life. Nobody said it was going to be easy! In fact, Jesus promised exactly the opposite. He told us it would be hard. In John 16:33 He said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

 

Yes, Jesus has overcome the world and so, as the writer of the letter to the Hebrews told us, we are to just keep our eyes on Him and keep moving forward, determined to successfully complete the race marked out for us. In P90X we all keep our eyes on Tony. He leads us in the exercises, calling out words of encouragement, and coaching us through it to a successful completion. In the Christian life we are to keep our eyes on Jesus.

 

Someone once said, “Nothing is over until you give-up.” In other words, as long as you continue to persevere, you still have a chance of succeeding. You haven’t failed until you have quit. That’s true of life in general but it’s also a key to living the Christian life well. We have to persevere.

 

Perseverance is one of the characteristics of truly great men and women of God. They face adversity with courage, confidence, and patience, and they just don’t give-up. We see such greatness in the spouse who refuses to give-up on a difficult marriage. We see it in parents who never stop loving their wayward child. We see it in the chronically sick person who refuses to be defined by their illness and instead lives life to the best of their ability (and we see it in the family members who care for them).

 

Comparing the Christian life to an extreme exercise program is actually not a bad analogy. In many ways the similarities are striking. “Nobody said this was going to be easy!” And usually, it isn’t. Therefore the key to success is found in never giving up.

 

Perseverance in the face of adversity is a mark of true greatness.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim