Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “A life that matters”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” 2 Corinthians 5:10 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “God will hold us accountable for the life we lived.”

 

In 2 Corinthians 5:10 the Apostle Paul makes reference to a great Biblical truth that is often the cause of confusion. Some Christians mistakenly believe that the only ones who will stand before God for judgment are non-believers who did not accept Christ in this lifetime. That’s simply not true. “All” people will stand before God, believers and non-believers too.

 

It’s true that believers will not have to account for their sins – Jesus took care of that on the cross. But we will have to account to God for our stewardship of the time, skills, talents, abilities, and financial resources that he entrusted us with. That’s what Paul was writing about in 2 Corinthians 5:10. He also addressed it in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15. In that passage he wrote of how in that day, when we stand before God to give an account of what we did with the things He entrusted to our care, only that which was done for Christ will matter. Every other achievement will be looked upon as worthless by God and will be tossed aside.

 

That means that God will not be impressed with your career achievements, or with the size of your bank account, or with your level of physical fitness, or with your good looks, or with any other achievement, accomplishment, possession, or anything else that did not specifically and directly honor Him, bring Him glory, help to build His kingdom, and bless others in His name. Only that which was done for Christ will be considered to have been of eternal worth.

 

This same truth is addressed in numerous other places in the New Testament, including by Jesus Himself.  I encourage you to go online to the Oak Hill Baptist Church website at www.oakhillbaptist.net. Click on the “listen” tab and select the sermon for 10/23/16. There you will learn about a time when Jesus very directly taught this same lesson.

 

This is important and it applies to our theme for this month. As we prayerfully consider how we will use our time in 2017; as we think about changes we want to make, goals we want to set; accomplishments we want to achieve – we must do so with the thought in mind of what eternal value those things have. That does not mean that we shouldn’t focus on career achievements, or set financial goals, or attempt to improve our physical fitness and nutritional habits. But it does mean that we need to be sure our lives are centered on serving Christ and that the use of our time and our activities reflects that. We will talk more about how to accomplish this in the days to come.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “A life that matters” 
Our Bible verse for today: “For my days vanish like smoke.” Psalm 102:3 (NIV) 

Our thought for today: “We must make the best use of our time.” 

One of my all-time favorite quotes about the proper use of time comes from Benjamin Franklin. He once posed the challenging question: “Do you love life? Then value your time, because time is the stuff life is made of.” 

Think about it. Your life is made up of seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years. Time – you only have so much of it. The Bible tells us repeatedly that God has numbered our days and they pass quickly. Additionally, once each segment of time has passed, it is gone forever and you can never have it back. So what you do with your time matters very much. 

I have often counseled people to consider carefully who you give your time to because since your life is made up of time, when you give somebody some of your time you have in essence given them a little piece of your life. And since once the time has past it is gone and you can never get it back, that means that when you give someone some of your time you have given them a piece of your life, and you can never have it back. That being true, giving someone your time is a precious gift. But not everyone is worthy of such a precious gift. Not everyone deserves to be given a little piece of your life that you can never have back. So give careful thought to who you will allow to take up your time. 

As we approach the New Year beginning in January, and as we spend November thinking about how we will use our time in 2017, we need to remain conscious of just how precious that time is. Let’s not waste it on activities that really don’t matter, or on people who are not worthy of receiving such a precious gift.

Yes it’s true that all people are important to God and should therefore be important to us too. But it’s also true that we have a limited amount of time available to us, and it is precious time that can never be retrieved once it is gone. So we must be selective in our choices of the activities we will be involved in, and the people who will be allowed to have some of our time. 

Do you value life? Then value your time, because time is the stuff life is made of.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “A life that matters”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Show me, O Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life.” Psalm 39:4 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “Resolve to live your life well.”

 

Today is the last day of October but it is the first day of the new week. Therefore I have chosen to begin the theme for the month of November today. In just sixty-two days we will begin 2017. New Year’s is often when we take time to evaluate our lives and consider habits we would like to break, goals we would like to achieve, and things we would like to change.

 

I personally believe that is good. New Year’s resolutions are helpful. I think we should periodically take stock of where we’re at in life and identify areas in which we need to make improvements and changes. I also believe it’s important to have dreams and goals that we’re working on. A focused life is a life of purpose and direction. A lack of focus usually results in a person wandering through life with no real direction and consequently achieving little.

 

In Psalm 39:4 the great King David was prayerfully reflecting on the truth that life is short and therefore we need to be thoughtful and intentional about how we spend our days. He was asking God to help him better appreciate the value of life and it’s relative brevity. There’s a great truth there. Life is short, so don’t waste it.

 

I don’t know about you but I want to live a life that matters – a life that makes a real difference in ways that count. When it’s all said and done I want to know that I lived well and that I did the best I could with the time and opportunities I had.

 

To help us think about plans, goals, objectives, and changes we would like to achieve in 2017, we will spend the month of November considering how we can be sure we’re living a life that matters. In the Bible God gives us all the guidance on this issue that we will ever need. Therefore each day we will examine a different passage of Scripture and consider how it applies to living life well. I’ll then offer thoughts and suggestions about how we can go about incorporating those things into our lives.

 

A word of caution: Change takes time, and we can only effectively focus on a few things at a time and still do them well. Therefore each of us will want to select no more than two or three, and maybe only one, area in which we’re going to focus on making significant improvements in the coming year.

 

I look forward to learning and growing with you.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Excellence”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Flee from youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” 2 Timothy 2:22 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Just live a simple life of faithfulness.”

 

Most of us know the story of Helen Keller. She was blind and deaf and therefore went through life without being able to see or hear. And yet, amazingly, she learned how to interact well with the world around her. She communicated well through touch, signs, and writing and she lived a life that was rich and full and which many others have since found inspiring.

 

Just like us, Helen wanted to live the best life possible, but she often felt hindered by her limitations and she longed to be better and do more than she could. Eventually she wisely realized that, “I long to accomplish a great and noble task; but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.”

 

That right there is the key to living an “excellent” life by God’s estimation. We are to simply focus on doing small things well. We are to live simple lives of faith, honoring God and blessing others in the normal ebb and flow of our regular daily lives.

 

In 2 Timothy 2:22 the Apostle Paul offers us some simple advice that captures the essence of what Helen wrote about. When he says we are to “flee youthful passions” he’s saying that we are to grow to maturity in our faith. Just apply yourself to spiritual growth.

 

He counsels us to pursue things like righteousness, faith, love, and peace. Those are godly values – Christlike characteristics – which are lodged deeply in our hearts and then show themselves in how we interact with the people and with the world around us.

 

And he tells us to do it “along with those who call on the Lord with a pure heart.” In other words, surround yourself with others who are also striving for godly excellence in how they live. This is a reference to the age-old truth that you become like those you associate with. So if you want to be a man or woman who is striving to live a life that is filled with godly excellence, then associate with others who are living that way too.

 

The best place to find such people is in a good church family. Today is Saturday, tomorrow is Sunday. The people of God in towns and cities across the nation will be gathering together in their churches. I encourage you to gather with them. If you’re in the area of Crossville, Tennessee then I invite you to join us at Oak Hill Baptist Church. We’re located at 3036 Genesis Road in Crossville. Sunday school beings at 9:00 and Worship at 10:00. I can’t think of a better group to associate with.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Excellence”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:26-28 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “Take your eyes off of yourself.”

 

One of the most impressive and inspirational men I have ever known was a retired pastor by the name of Dick DeGrow. When I first met Dick he was already in his 70s. He was a member of the first church I was the Pastor of and he served as a deacon, Sunday school teacher, and as the church custodian. Yes you read that right, he was a retired Pastor and he was the church custodian.

 

Dick was a calm and quiet man who always had a smile on his face and was usually softly humming some old favorite hymn. He had great knowledge of the Bible, a lot of life experience, and he was wise in the way that great men of God are wise. People came to him frequently for advice and counsel – including me.

 

One of the things I remember most about Dick was his servant’s heart. He loved people and he cared about them. He was available at all hours of the day and night to talk, counsel, and pray with others, and he was always looking for things he could do to help make their lives a little better, a little easier. He found great joy in simply and quietly being a blessing.

 

Jesus was like that. Matthew 20:26-28 is just one of the many Gospel passages that describe for us the servant-heart of our Lord. The main thrust of that passage, and of the others like it is “Go and do likewise.” As a follower of Jesus we are to be like Jesus. If He came to serve others, then that’s what we need to do too.

 

Interestingly, Dick DeGrow was also one of the happiest and most content people I have ever known. He just seemed to have a deep-seated sense of quiet contentment and peace. I believe that’s true in general of those who have a Christ-like servant’s heart. When we take our eyes off of ourselves and focus instead on being a blessing to others, our own cares and worries seem to fade away and become much less significant in our own minds. Those who focus endlessly on themselves and on their own problems tend to be consumed with those thoughts and as a result, they spend their time agitated and worried.

 

Jesus calls us to follow in His footsteps and to be a servant. If we make service to others our focus, we soon discover that the quality of our own lives improves significantly. Worry is replaced with peace and our own issues just don’t seem as big and bad anymore. I encourage you today to take your eyes off of yourself and to focus instead on doing things for others.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Excellence”

 

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: “Transformation occurs slowly and progressively over time.”

 

There’s an old story about two men, members of the same church, who hadn’t seen each other in a long time because one of the men had stopped coming to church. One day they met on the street and the first man said to the second, “I haven’t seen you in church in a long time, how come?” The second man answered, “I decided it was a waste of time. I sat in church for years and during that time I listened to hundreds of sermons, but two days later I couldn’t even remember what the preacher had preached the previous Sunday. It had no real impact and so it was a waste of time.”

 

To that the first man responded, “I’ve been married for forty years. During those years my wife cooked a meal for me every day and I honestly don’t remember most of those meals. However, each of those meals nourished me at that time and kept me well fed and healthy. My body would have ended up in pretty poor condition if I had not had those meals.”

 

The point of the story is that every time you pray; every time you read your Bible; every time you attend worship services or participate in an act of ministry, your spirit is nourished and you grow a little spiritually. If you deny your spirit that regular nourishment it will wither and become sickly, just as your physical body would if you skipped meals each day.

 

The path to excellence in life is paved with numerous, seemingly small but very important, good daily habits. That’s true physically as well as spiritually. If you want to be spiritually healthy, if you want to keep growing spiritually, you have to do the things that facilitate spiritual health and growth.

 

That’s what Paul was writing about in Romans 12:2. Christ-like transformation occurs as the result of regular and steady spiritual nourishment. The term “Christian” means to be “Christ-like”. We become more and more Christ-like slowly and progressively over time as we consistently place ourselves in a position before God whereby He can mold us and shape us, slowly transforming us into the men and women He wants us to be.

 

Daily prayer and Bible study, along with regular and full participation in the life of a good church family, are essential elements for spiritual health and growth. The transformation will occur, but how much and how fast will depend to a large extent on how much spiritual nourishment you get.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Excellence”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.” Proverbs 17:22 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “A cheerful disposition is good for you and for those around you.”

 

I remember two men I used to work with. Both were Christians and both worked in a Christian ministry. The first man was intense. Well, that’s an understatement really. He was high-strung, temperamental, and often harsh. But he did get things done. He was usually extremely focused on the task-at-hand and when it came to producing results, he did. But he sure was tough to be around.

 

The second man was almost the polar opposite. He was relaxed and easy-going, usually happy and laughing. In truth, in didn’t accomplish anywhere near as much as the first guy did, but he sure was nicer to work with.

 

Now, which man was living an “excellent” Christian life? Well, neither, or both, depending on your definition of excellence. They both had strengths and weaknesses. If you’re looking for results then I guess you would have to vote for the first guy. If you’re thinking about which of them could be counted on to bring a smile to your face and make your day a little better, then hands down you would prefer the second man.

 

Biblically I would vote for the second guy. While getting things done is important, blessing people and making them smile is more important. There’s an old saying that goes, “God created us as human beings, not as human doings.” In other words, God is more concerned with how you are than with what you do.

 

Looking at Solomon’s Proverb in 17:22 above, the second guy had a joyful heart that was good medicine for himself and for those around him. The first guy was productive but relatively joyless. A broken spirit and dried up bones describes him fairly well actually. And, sadly, he had a way of making others feel that way too.

 

Ideally we want to be both joyful and productive – but with extra emphasis on the joyful part. As you go about your day today, establishing your priorities, checking things off your to-do list, and getting things done, don’t allow your push for productively to steal your joy.

 

A cheerful disposition is good for you – and for those around you.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Excellence”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “The pure in heart are blessed, for they will see God.” Matthew 5:8 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “God is most interested in the condition of your heart.”

 

I recently read a statement by an anonymous writer which said, “When God measures the greatness of an individual He puts the tape measure around the heart not the head.”

 

By that I believe the writer meant that God isn’t so interested in the amount of education and intelligence we have, nor the size of our bank accounts, nor our career accomplishments, and not even necessarily our religious rituals. Instead He looks to see what’s in our hearts.

 

This was the theme of the greatest sermon ever preached – The Sermon on the Mount. That sermon, preached by Jesus, is recorded for us in the Gospel of Matthew chapters 5-7. Jesus began the sermon, in Matthew 5:3-12, by describing the heart attitude God is looking for in His people. These attributes have become known as “The Beatitudes”, sometimes also known as the “Be-Attitudes”, or, “Let this be your attitude.”

 

In that passage Jesus calls us to be gentle and peaceful, to thirst for righteousness and to show mercy, to strive for purity of thought, and to be humble. These are all matters of the heart. From there He then explains that He also wants us to be active in our world by being salt and light (5:13-16), and He wants us to conduct ourselves according to the Law of God (5:17-20). He also wants His followers to make extra efforts to bless others by doing things for them (5:38-42). But first we have to get our heart right.

 

That is so much the case that although three small sections of the Sermon on the Mount address activities Jesus wants us to engage in, the entire rest of the sermon is all about what takes place in the heart, including avoiding sinful thoughts, not giving into anxiety and worry, not being judgmental, how to pray, and much more.

 

The point in all of this is that an excellent life in God’s estimation is much more a matter of what’s in your heart than it is a matter of the things that you do. The Pharisees of Jesus’ day did a lot. They were always busy with religious rituals and loud public prayers, as well as dramatic displays of charitable giving so others could see them doing it. But spiritually they were as lost as could be. What mattered to God was the condition of their hearts, not their showy religious activities.

 

Doing things for God is certainly important. But having a heart that is right with God is much more important.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Excellence”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Detest evil; cling to what is good.” Romans 12:9 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “We are to live by God’s standards.”

 

I once saw a bumper sticker that read, “It’s the Ten Commandments, not the ten suggestions!” The obvious meaning being that in the Bible God has given us clear and absolute instructions about how He wants us to live. Those standards are fixed for all time and we are not free to fudge on them.

 

All this month we’ve been considering the concept of “excellence”, but excellence as defined by God in the Bible, rather than how it is understood and defined by the culture around us. There’s a difference. God’s commandments are absolute and they apply to all people in all places at all times – regardless of the age of history you live in, and also regardless of what the current cultural trends might be in any given society at any given time. The people of God are to live by the word of God – all the time, always.

 

We are also not to have any accommodation or cooperation with evil. We are not to go along with things that are contrary to the Word of God, and we are not to turn a blind eye to them and act as if we’re not aware it’s going on. This requires us to be vigilant and strong.

 

We live in a society which has turned the concepts of good and evil upside down. Biblical values, which were once universally understood as being good and best, are now ridiculed and even legislated against. Practices which are clearly identified in the Bible as being evil are now called “good” by society, and are even being forced upon those of us who still consider them to be evil. God had something to say about that in Isaiah 5:20:

 

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.”

 

Yes, woe to them – and woe to us if we go along with them. I encourage you to get a Bible Concordance and do a word study to see how many times in both the Old and New Testaments God clearly commands His people to detest evil, to avoid evil, to flee from evil, to oppose evil, and to have no accommodation, cooperation, or partnership with anything that has been identified by Him as being evil. You might be surprised to discover how often this command is repeated by God.

 

To live in a manner considered to be “excellent” by God, we must first of all be very familiar with the Bible, and then we must resolve to live by it. And we must do that regardless of the demands or pressures put upon us by whatever society we live in. The expectation of God for His people is always the same and was stated very well by Peter in Acts 5:29, “We must obey God rather than men.”

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Excellence”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Look around at the nations; look and be amazed! For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it.” Habakkuk 1:5 (NLT)

 

Our thought for today: “Just be faithful.”

 

In recent days we’ve been considering lessons from Old Testament prophets regarding how God’s faithful people can live with excellence even when their society is crumbling and falling apart all around them. Today I want us to consider one final lesson from the prophet Habakkuk.

 

Habakkuk was living and ministering in the land of Judah in its final days before they would suffer total destruction at the hands of the Babylonians. Habakkuk saw the calamity unfolding all around him and he was incredulous that God would actually allow it to happen. In 1:1-4 we read of how he cried out to God in frustration and confusion. He simply could not believe that God would allow the evil Babylonians to have victory over His chosen people.

 

Then in 1:5 and following, God answers Habakkuk by telling him that not only is the devastation coming, but that the nation is going to crash and burn in such spectacular fashion and it will be a sight to behold.

 

Habakkuk, still unable to accept that this could possibly be God’s final answer, decides that he is going to simply go before God in extended prayer and wait until God gives him more clarity about what’s happening, why it’s happening, and how it’s all going to turn out. We read of that in 2:1. Beginning in 2:2 God answers him with a long narrative that goes on for 19 verses and which describes how in the future, when the time of punishment and correction of God’s people is over, it will be time for the Babylonians to be punished and for God’s people to be restored.

 

There are three key verses in that narrative which provide all the guidance we need for dealing with our current cultural and political situation in the USA. Verse 3 says, “This vision is for a future time. It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled. If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed.” Verse 4b reads, “But the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God”, and verse 20 tells us, “But the Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before him.”

 

So there it is right there. As we, the people of God in the USA today, watch our society slowly but surely deteriorate, we are to remember that God is sovereign over the affairs of nations, and that in His way and in His time His plan for the nation will unfold. And while that’s happening, we’re to be patient and continue to be faithful.

 

The instructions we received from Jesus in Matthew 5:13-16 that we are to be salt and light in our society still apply. We are to be actively engaged in the affairs of the nation; we are to advocate and work for righteousness and for Biblical principles; we are to oppose evil; and we should vote. But we are not to despair if things don’t appear to turn out the way we hoped they would.

 

God is still sovereign over the affairs of our nation, and nothing is happening that is out of His control. Our job is to be faithful and to trust Him.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim