Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Grace”

Our Bible verse for today: “For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
2 Corinthians 4:17-18 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “We experience God’s grace in trials and troubles.”

God’s grace – His abundant blessings freely poured out upon us – is experienced even in the midst of our worst problems. Sometimes that’s hard to believe. Usually when we’re suffering and struggling we wonder where God is in the middle of it all. Seldom do we feel as if we’re being blessed.

But, the Bible is pretty clear that God does indeed bless us even in (maybe especially in) our times of trouble. Read Matthew 6:25-33 and Romans 8:28 for starters.

This morning I want to borrow a teaching from Rick Warren in his book, “What on Earth Am I Here For?” Rick teaches that God actually uses our troubles to transform us. He uses our tough times to grow us spiritually and to make us more like Jesus. Rick writes that, “God has a purpose behind every problem.” “He uses circumstances to develop character.” And, “God uses problems to draw you closer to himself.”

As evidence Rick offers these examples from scripture: “God could have kept Joseph out of jail, kept Daniel out of the lion’s den, kept Jeremiah from being tossed into a slimy pit, kept Paul from being shipwrecked three times, and kept the three Hebrew young men from being thrown into the blazing furnace – but he didn’t. He let those problems happen, and every one of those persons was drawn closer to God as a result.”

It’s often in the middle of our deepest darkest times of trial and despair that we come to know God best. It’s then that we turn to Him, rely on Him, and experience His grace in ways we never have before. And thus, our greatest blessings often come out of our greatest trials.

We’ll conclude today with one more thought from Rick: “Every problem is a character-building opportunity, and the more difficult it is, the greater the potential for building spiritual muscle and moral fiber … What happens outwardly in your life is not as important as what happens inside you.”

I encourage you to look for evidence of God’s grace in the middle of your trials and troubles. It is there. In some way He is blessing you. Learn from this, grow from it.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Grace”

Our Bible verse for today: “Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive.” Colossians 3:13 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “Grace leads to forgiveness.”

Last Sunday in our evening Bible study we had a great group discussion about forgiveness. There were some tearful testimonies about the power of forgiveness – given and received. We talked about times someone forgave us, and times when we forgave someone, and of course we also discussed how much God has forgiven us.

That’s where Paul starts us in Colossians 3:13, with the fact that God has forgiven us: “Just as the Lord has forgiven you …” The Bible also says, “For I will forgive their wrongdoing and never again remember their sin.” Jeremiah 31:34. And, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” Psalm 103:12.

Yes, God has forgiven us. His forgiveness is an essential element of His grace freely and abundantly bestowed upon us – our sins forgiven and remembered by Him no more.

And then, as Paul continues his teaching in Colossians 3:13, he tells us that we must forgive in like manner. Jesus told us this too in Matthew 6:12, “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

Unfortunately forgiveness is often easier in theory than it is in actual practice. Very often we are too slow to forgive ourselves and to forgive others. Philip Yancey writes,

“Many years ago I was driven to the conclusion that the two major causes of most emotional problems among evangelical Christians are these: the failure to understand, receive, and live out God’s unconditional grace and forgiveness; and the failure to give out that unconditional love, forgiveness, and grace to other people.”

If you live in regret for past sins you have committed, even after you have confessed them to God and have received His forgiveness, then you are wallowing in unnecessary misery – you have failed to forgive yourself for the things that God has already forgiven you for.

And if you are harboring an unforgiving spirit towards someone else – holding a grudge and nursing bitterness – you have failed to extend to them the grace God extended to you. Not only is that wrong Biblically, but you are also harming yourself. An unforgiving spirit holds you captive to that past offense. It has been often said that the act of forgiving sets a prisoner free and that prisoner often turns out to have been you.

Forgiveness is an essential element of God’s grace – received and given. Have you accepted forgiveness? Have you given it? I encourage you to set the prisoner free.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Grace”

Our Bible verse for today: “Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God.” 1 Corinthians 2:12 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “God’s special grace enables us to understand spiritual truth.”

I was raised in a Christian home and spent virtually all of my childhood and teenage years in church. So I was familiar with the Bible. But I was not a Christian and truthfully, I found the Bible to be rather boring. Interestingly however, later in life, when I placed my faith in Christ and became a Christian, the Bible suddenly came alive; from that moment forward it became the most interesting and absorbing book I had ever read.

What happened to make what had once been boring to suddenly become so interesting? It was God’s gift of special grace in my life. Beyond the common grace of God which I had, up to that point, experienced right along with every other person on the planet, in the moment I opened my heart to Jesus and received the gift of His Holy Spirit, I was flooded with God’s special grace.

God’s special grace is multi-faceted and greatly varied, but one of the elements of it is spiritual understanding. This is what Paul was teaching in 1 Corinthians 2:12-16. In verse 12 he tells us that the Spirit helps us to understand that which we had previously been unable to understand. In verse 13 he writes that the Spirit explains spiritual things to spiritual people. In verse 14 Paul says that unbelievers do not understand spiritual things because they don’t have the Holy Spirit explaining it to them. Therefore those spiritual things seem foolish (and boring) to unbelievers.

In verse 15 Paul writes that the spiritual person, with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, is able to evaluate things accurately; and in verse 16 he says we can even attain “the mind of Christ.”

But please don’t miss this very important point: Special grace is a gift that has to be received and embraced. This new ability of ours to be illuminated and instructed by God’s Holy Spirit does not happen automatically. We have to cooperate. You will not discover the deep riches of the Bible if you don’t bother to read the Bible. You will not hear the soft and gentle voice of God speaking to you in prayer if you don’t pray.

Rick Warren writes, “Spiritual growth is not automatic. It takes an intentional commitment. You must want to grow, decide to grow, make an effort to grow, and persist in growing.”

Part of God’s gift of special grace to you is the opportunity to gain new understanding of spiritual realities. But you do your part and He will then do His. God’s special grace enables us to understand spiritual truth.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Grace”

Our Bible verse for today: “Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? Colossians 2:20-21 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Christ freed us from the tyranny of manmade rules and regulations.”

Let’s be clear that grace does not give us a license to sin. We cannot simply do whatever we want. But grace does give us freedom from the bondage of legalism. Grace empowers us to live in the fullness of, and under the guidance of, the Holy Spirit, rather than being bound by a long list of manmade rules and regulations.

That’s the point Paul was trying to get across to his Colossian readers in Colossians 2:20-21, and it’s also what he meant in Romans 6:14 when he wrote, “For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under law but under grace.” If you have truly embraced the gift of grace, sin will not rule over you because the Holy Spirit does, and therefore you won’t need rules and regulations to govern your conduct, the Holy Spirit will do that for you.

Philip Yancey spoke about the tension between legalism and grace when he wrote, “Some of us seem so anxious about avoiding hell that we forget to celebrate our journey to heaven.” Legalism does that. It causes people to become so preoccupied with all the things they can’t do, that they forget to celebrate and enjoy all that they can do. Grace frees us to enjoy the journey.

If you have truly and fully surrendered your heart to the work of the Holy Spirit in your life, then you can trust Him to guide you to live in ways that are pleasing to God. That then gives you the freedom to just relax and enjoy life. This is what Solomon meant in Proverbs 3:5-6 when he wrote, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” If your heart is right, you can trust Him to guide you.

God has given us a big beautiful world filled with wonderful things for us to appreciate and enjoy. Embrace the gift and enjoy the journey!

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Grace”

Our Bible verse for today: “But encourage each other daily …” Hebrews 3:13 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “We must encourage each other.”

I’ve mentioned to you before that one of my favorite people in the New Testament is Barnabas, “The Son of Encouragement”. His real name was Joseph but the Apostles in the early church gave him that nickname because he was such a kind and gracious man. Every time we see Barnabas on the pages of the Bible he is blessing someone, giving a gift, reaching out to an outcast, or helping to mediate a conflict.

I love it. Over the years I’ve been so captivated by Barnabas’ winsome personality that once Linda and I even owned a book company which we called “The Barnabas Book Company.” We sold encouraging books designed to lift you up and improve your life.

On the pages of the New Testament we’re only given little snapshots of Barnabas in action but the fact that he was given such a nickname, “Son of Encouragement”, provides us with the fuller picture. He was a dispenser of God’s Grace. He was the guy whose presence brightened every scene, who raised people’s spirits, who brought joy into their days.

I believe that should describe the rest of us too. We are not to be harsh and critical of each other. That’s the work of Satan. He’s the one who tears down; he’s the one who is the source of gossip and slander; he’s the one who accuses and blames. When Christians do that to each other, they’re effectively doing Satan’s work for him.

No, we are to be dispensers of God’s grace. We are to build each other up, encourage one another, and as Hebrews 10:24 reminds us, we must spur one another on to love and good deeds.

I encourage you to consider who needs to hear a word of encouragement from you today. I encourage you to be Barnabas for someone today.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Grace”

Our Bible verse for today: “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “We can learn to be gracious by spending time with others who are gracious.”

“The way of excellence starts by copying the excellence around you.” I read that quote just the other day and I like it. I’m also convinced it is true. We learn to do something well by studying others who already do that thing well.

The great philosopher Plato spent years studying at the feet of Socrates. He learned to think like Socrates, debate like Socrates, write like Socrates. In time Plato developed his own style and he was very much his own man, but he learned philosophy by studying under a great philosopher. Beethoven spent many years studying and copying the music of Mozart. The great home run hitter Barry Bonds learned the skill of hitting a baseball by studying the style of the great home run hitter Willie Mays.

Yesterday I confessed to you that I am not by nature a gracious person. God has had to teach me grace by continually keeping me in the presence of other people who are gracious. I can think of four men in particular over the last twenty-five years whom God has placed in my life as models of grace. As far as becoming gracious, I have a long, long way to go compared to them, but their examples have inspired me to want to be better than I am. This is what Solomon was referring to in Proverbs 27:17. We can help each other to be better than we are.

Once at a Promise Keepers Conference I heard a speaker say, “Every person should have three key relationships in his life, you should have a Paul, a Barnabas, and a Timothy.” You should have a Paul – a person who is more spiritually mature than you are and who will build into your life. You should have a Barnabas – a person who is on an equal footing with you spiritually, who knows you well, and who will tell it to you like it is. And you should have a Timothy – a less spiritually mature person whose life you can build into.

When it comes to the spiritual attribute of grace, and of being a gracious person, we all need to be around others who are more advanced in this business of graciousness than we are. “The way of excellence starts by copying the excellence around you.”

I encourage you to seek out gracious people in your church family, observe them, learn from them, and strive to be more like them.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Grace”

Our Bible verse for today: “Now we who are strong have an obligation to bear the weaknesses of those without strength, and not to please ourselves.” Romans 15:1 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “We must extend grace to those who don’t deserve it.”

I have a confession to make, “I am not, by nature, a grace-filled person.” Exactly the opposite is true. In my flesh I have to resist the temptation to slap difficult people. When I’m confronted with a whiny, complaining, self-absorbed, and divisive person, my military officer persona begins rising to the surface and I start seeing images in my mind of this person dropping to the ground and giving me twenty push-ups.

It takes nothing less than the Holy Spirit Himself to keep that in check.

In my reading this morning of Rick Warren’s book, “What on Earth Am I here for?”  Rick introduced me to a new term, “EGR People”. “Extra Grace Required”. These are people who have porcupine personalities – they’re always poking and jabbing and irritating. They are individuals who always seem to have an issue; needy people seeking attention.

There are some in every church. In fact, from time to time I’m probably one of them – and so are you.

Obviously in such situations if we allow our flesh to dictate our responses we could end up with a lot of conflict in the church. And so, the New Testament provides believers with lots of guidance on how to handle difficult people (and how to avoid being one).

In Romans 15:1 the Apostle Paul made reference to being strong and putting up with the weaknesses of others. He’s talking about being strong in the Spirit. He’s referring to spiritual maturity and how it should enable us to be kind and patient and loving and gracious even with – especially with – those who don’t deserve it. You know, kind of like what God does with us.

As you gather with your church family this week you’re probably going to have to deal with some EGRs. I urge you not to slap them! Instead, surrender the situation to the Holy Spirit. Ask Him to empower you to deal with difficult people gracefully. We must extend grace even to – maybe especially to – those who don’t deserve it.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Grace”

Our Bible verse for today: “The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” Psalm 14:1 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Only a fool would refuse God’s grace.”

We’ve learned this month that there are two broad categories of God’s grace, “Common” grace and “Special” grace. Common grace is that which is common to everyone, they get to experience it just because they live on this planet. It includes things like sunshine and rain, beautiful flowers and singing birds, a good night’s sleep and the laugh of a baby.

Special grace is reserved only for those who are part of God’s family because they have placed their faith in His Son Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins. It includes salvation, sanctification, the fruit of the Spirit, eternal life, and so much more.

When a person resists and rejects God, that person is refusing God’s special grace. How foolish! Why would anyone do that? If a person truly understands what it is they are giving up, surely they would choose God and His abundant grace. Paul tells us in Galatians 5:22-23 that the fruit of the Spirit in a person’s life produces “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” And that’s just one element of special grace. Why would anyone reject that if they truly understood it?

I’ve heard it said, and I’m convinced it is true, that the real test of any worldview (any philosophy of life), is the quality of life it produces in the person who holds that view. So when we’re considering the validity of a worldview or philosophy of life that a person is promoting, we should consider things like how much love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control does this person have in their life? How stable are their relationships? How much of a blessing are they to others? That’s an indication of how good or bad that worldview is.

Well, I can say with absolute certainty that I’ve never met an atheist who had a life that I would want. Not once. Not ever.  I have however, met countless Christians whose spiritual maturity and depth of faith produced in them qualities of life that were attractive, winsome, and desirable. They were people who inspired me and whom I found myself wanting to be like. They were experiencing the richness of God’s special grace in their lives and it showed.

Only a fool rejects God, and I believe they do it only because they don’t really understand what they’re missing. That being the case, I encourage you to make sure they can see the fruit of God’s special grace in your life.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Grace”

Our Bible verse for today: “In Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” Romans 12:5 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “God’s grace is experienced best and most often when we are with other Christians.

Over the years I have known many Christians – far too many, who were not active in a local church. Maybe they would occasionally attend a church service somewhere, but they were not actively and deeply involved in the life of a good church.

Their explanations for their lack of attendance and involvement varied, but none of them were good. The reason I say that is because the New Testament provides us with no example or model (not one) of Christians who were Lone Rangers – uninvolved in a local church, and it having been a good thing. Every positive example God provides us in the New Testament involves Christians being a vital part of a good church.

One of the best teachings on this subject that I have ever come across is from Pastor Rick Warren in his book, “What on Earth Am I Here For?” Rick reminds us that the Apostle Paul taught that being a member of a local church involves much more than just having your name on a membership role. Instead, in Paul’s mind, it meant that you are a vital organ of a living body, “an indispensable, interconnected part of the Body of Christ.”

Rick wrote, “If an organ is somehow severed from its body, it will shrivel and die. It cannot exist on its own, and neither can you. Disconnected and cut off from the lifeblood of a local body, your spiritual life will wither and eventually cease to exist. This is why the first symptom of spiritual decline is usually inconsistent attendance at worship services and other gatherings of believers. Whenever we become careless about fellowship, everything else begins to slide too.”

This is why my people at Oak Hill Baptist hear me speak so frequently about the vital importance of consistent and faithful attendance at the gatherings of the church. You cannot be, and will not be, spiritually healthy apart for participation in the life of a good church. God has ordained it that way. The place where we will most often experience the manifestation of God’s grace – His manifold blessings poured out upon us, is in the midst of other dynamic Christians gathered together as God’s family in a local church.

Again quoting from Rick’s book, “Satan loves detached believers, unplugged from the life of the Body, isolated from God’s family, and unaccountable to spiritual leaders, because he knows they are defenseless and powerless against his tactics.”

If you are out of church right now, if you don’t have a church home and therefore are not regularly and faithfully participating in the weekly gatherings of a good church family, I urge you to correct that right away. For one thing, you are vulnerable; but also, you are missing so much! God’s grace is experienced best and most often when you are gathered with His people.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Grace”

Our Bible verse for today: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:6 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “God blesses a humble spirit.”

Do you remember our working definition for God’s grace? Grace is, “Undeserved blessings freely bestowed upon people by God.” In James 4:6 we’re told that God gives that grace, those undeserved blessings, to the humble. Those are the ones who are His favored recipients. The less humility we have, the fewer blessings we should expect to receive from God. And if our hearts are full of pride, God actually resists us. His most and best blessings are for the humble.

I witnessed a wonderful example of this on my recent fact-finding trip to Haiti. There I had the privilege to meet and begin a working relationship with Pastor Joel Jeune. Joel’s actual title is “Bishop” because he’s the leader of a vast Christian network which includes over 260 churches, 3 orphanages, a widow’s home, a hospital, and more than 65 Christian schools across the island of Haiti. His ministry is called “Grace International”. It’s a great name and it describes the ministry as well as the man very well.

Bishop Jeune is one of the most influential Christian leaders in Haiti. He has met with Presidents and Prime Ministers in his own country and in the USA; he is often on television and radio programs in both countries; and he speaks to gatherings of thousands.

I met him on my first night in Haiti. There was a soft knock on my door and when I opened it, there stood the Bishop. With a big smile on his face he half-bowed to me and in a gentle voice said, “My brother Pastor Jim. Thank you so much for coming to my country.” And then he gave me a big hug. We then sat and talked for almost two hours.

The thing that impressed me most about him was his gentle spirit and his deep humility. He was soft-spoken, warm, kind, funny, and very easy to be with. As we talked, he explained how over forty years God repeatedly poured out His blessings upon the ministry of Grace International – growing it from a small collection of little churches to what it is today. Joel gave all the credit and all the glory to God; saying many times that there was no good reason for God to have chosen to work through a flawed vessel like him. He reminded me a little of Billy Graham – a great man of God with a humble spirit.

The lesson we learn from such examples is the same truth James taught in his letter, that God blesses the humble in spirit. God’s grace – His most and best blessings, are reserved for those who are humble.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim