Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Success”

Our Bible verse for today: “I am able to do all things through Him who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “God enables us to have the right success, at the right time, in the right way.”

When it comes to having success in life people tend to gravitate towards one of two extremes. First, there are those who are way too impressed with themselves. They’ve managed to accomplish a few things and as a result they think they’re pretty nifty, pretty special. These folks believe “I can do anything”.

Then there are those who have a poor self-image and who don’t believe they’re capable of accomplishing much of any real value. These folks believe “I can’t do anything.” Max Lucado calls it the difference between “self-loving” and “self-loathing.”

The correct balance actually lies in the middle and is explained in Philippians 4:13, “I am able to do all things through Him who strengthens me.” In other words, I can do anything God wants me to do. It’s not a matter of what I can do, but what God can do. And therefore, He gets all the credit (and the blame).

“And the blame”? Yes, and the blame. What I mean is that if God has not equipped and empowered me to do a thing, then He obviously doesn’t want me to do it and therefore I can stop stressing about it.

There are three things in life that I have always wanted to accomplish and never have. I’ve always wanted to be a talented musician and singer, I’ve always wanted to be a fluent Spanish speaker, and I’ve always wanted to be six foot three. But I’m none of those things. I’ve tried. I’ve studied the guitar and sang some songs; I’ve stuttered and stumbled my way through broken Spanish; I’ve done stretching exercises and worn platform shoes; but none of it took. I still croak like a frog, I still accidentally say outrageous things in a language I don’t understand, and I’m still only five foot ten.

And it’s God’s fault. He didn’t grow me the extra five inches, and He didn’t give me an ear for music or a gift for languages. But it’s ok. He did give me the gifts, abilities and skills He wants me to have in order to accomplish the things He wants me to do. And so I leave the singing to others, I play golf instead of basketball, and I rely on translators when I’m in Spanish-speaking countries.

It’s true for me and it’s true for you: God enables us to have the right success at the right time and in the right way. And that’s about right.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Success”

Our Bible verse for today: “Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity.” Proverbs 21:5 (NLT)

Our thought for today: “Success in life requires perseverance.”

The ancient philosopher Seneca once wrote, “It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness.” This is true. Nothing of any significance is ever achieved easily. It requires hard work and perseverance.

The editors of the “Christian Arts Publishers” Daily Planner offered some thoughts on this:

“The road to success is not straight. There is a curve called Failure, a loop called Confusion; speed bumps called Friends; red lights called Enemies; caution lights called Family. You will have flat tires called Jobs. But, if you have a spare called Determination; an engine called Perseverance; insurance called Faith, and a driver called Jesus, you will make it to a place called Success.”

Their illustration is comical and a little silly but it does make the point. Nothing of any significance is ever achieved easily. There are twists and turns on the road to success; there are speed bumps to get over, detours to go around, unexpected problems to overcome, and sometimes the entire thing breaks down and stops, and then has to be fixed before you can proceed.

But still if you don’t give up, if you just deal with the obstacles and diversions as they come up, and if you will just keep going, eventually you will get where the Lord wants you to be. The key is perseverance. Just don’t give up.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Success”

Our Bible verse for today: “Commit you actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed.” Proverbs 16:3 (NLT)

Our thought for today: “Real success begins with submission to God.

To compliment and enhance the study we have just completed on “Healthy Living”, we will spend the rest of the month of February thinking about success in general.

In Proverbs 16:3 the writer seems to make a promise that if we make plans, and then commit those plans to the Lord, we are guaranteed of succeeding in those plans. But that would be a misreading of the text because it puts you ahead of God. It puts your plans first and then asks God to coming along and bless what you have already decided to do.

What the writer actually means is that our plans and actions are to grow out of our complete submission to God. We must begin with a commitment to know His will and be obedient to it. The Amplified Bible is helpful. The Amplified Bible includes all the English words needed to capture the full meaning and intent of the original Hebrew. In that expanded translation this verse reads:

“Roll your works upon the Lord (commit and trust them wholly to Him: He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and) so shall your plans be established and succeed.”

So it’s a matter of the heart. Your heart has to be right first. Your desire must be to know and obey the will of God and from that, come your plans and actions. When that is the case, as the Proverb says, “…your plans will succeed.”

I encourage you not to make any plans, do not set any goals or take any actions in life, until you have first committed yourself wholly and fully to the will of God. Let all your plans, goals, aspirations, and dreams start there.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Healthy Living”

Our Bible verse for today: “… choose for yourselves today the one you will worship …”Joshua 24:15 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “It’s all about choices.”

As we conclude our study of healthy living I want to remind all of us that: “It’s all about choices.” The quality of our lives, the success we do or don’t have, the joy, satisfaction, and sense of fulfillment we experience, all boils down to the choices we make.

In Joshua chapter 24 Joshua was near the end of his life and he was giving the nation of Israel some final words of wisdom. He reminded them that as they went forward in their lives they were going to be faced with many choices, and those choices would determine everything else they experienced. If they made good choices and if they honored the Lord, then they could expect to be blessed. Otherwise, they would find themselves suffering the consequences of their bad choices.

It shouldn’t be hard to see how their lesson applies to us. We are all responsible for our own lives. Where you are in life right now is largely a result of the choices you have made in the past. Where you will be tomorrow will largely be a result of the choices you make today.

To make good godly choices, you have to live Biblically. You must acknowledge that God does have a good plan that He wants to work out in your life and that He will reveal that plan to you. You must then commit yourself to seeking His guidance in all your choices day-by-day and moment-by-moment.

Then you must know your Bible and live accordingly. In the Bible God has established the boundaries we must live within. The boundaries are actually very wide. God gives us lots of room to live full and active lives which are filled with endless variety and options, but still, there are limits, there are boundaries. We must know them and remain within them. It’s when we wander outside of the Biblical boundaries that we begin making bad choices and we find ourselves tangled-up in the briar patches of life.

This study has been all about making good choices in the most important areas of life. I encourage you to go back and review some of the lessons that were most helpful to you. If you need me to resend some of them to you, I will be happy to do that. My prayer for you is that you will experience life in all of its fullness. That’s what Jesus came to give you.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Healthy Living”

Our Bible verse for today: “Do not be misled: Bad company corrupts good character.” 1 Corinthians 15:33 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Associate with people who will help you to be your best.”

As we approach the end of our study on Healthy Living I want to encourage you to maintain close relationships with people who will help you to be the best “you” you can be. Who you associate with matters very much. Over time we become like those we associate with. It’s like your mamma always told you, “Choose your friends carefully.”

When it comes to healthy living, you want to spend lots of time with others who are also committed to a healthy lifestyle. If you know you shouldn’t live on a diet of burgers, fries, and cokes, then don’t have meals with those who do. Instead, include family members and friends in the planning, preparing, and eating of healthy foods.

Likewise, if you know it’s not good for you to be a coach potato, wasting endless hours in front of a television or computer screen, always talking with others about the latest episode of this show or that one, then it’s not good to spend a lot of time with people who do that. Instead, associate with people who fill their spare time with walks and workouts and activities that get their bodies moving.

And of course, there is your faith life. Foundationally this is the most important element of all when it comes to having a life that is healthy and balanced in all the important ways. It’s absolutely essential for all of us to be actively and deeply involved in a good church family. When you spend a lot of time with people who love the Lord and are passionate about their spiritual growth then your faith life will be stronger and better too.

Who you associate with matters a lot. I encourage you to cultivate a close group of friends who will help you to become all that God wants you to be.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Healthy Living”

Our Bible verse for today: “For it was you who created my inward parts; You knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Psalm 139:13 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “Just be the best “you” you can be.”

This theme of healthy living has all been about making an effort and being intentional about being the best “you” you can be. It has not been about being perfect, nor is it about becoming like someone else. Each of us is free to simply be the unique person God created us to be. But with that said, our desire should be to be the best that we can be.

Many people go through life with a poor self-image, wishing they were different than they are. They wish they were taller, or shorter; they wish they had the musical talents of Joe and Sally, or a mathematical mind like Joe’s. They’re unhappy with the shape of their chin or the color of their eyes; they think they’re too stupid, or too smart. And on and on it goes.

But as David wrote in Psalm 139, it was God who created you to be the unique individual you are. He knit you together in your mother’s womb. He wove the strands of your DNA together, giving you your nose, ears, chin, height, hair, and yes, even the pimples and warts. God made you to be you and God doesn’t make junk. He also doesn’t make mistakes.

So should you strive to improve upon your current condition? Yes, of course. If you’re overweight and it’s causing you to be unhealthy, then you should lose weight. If you don’t have an exercise routine, then you should take some steps to strengthen those muscles and improve the cardiovascular system. If your spiritual disciplines aren’t what they need to be, if your financial habits need to improve, if your closest relationships need extra attention and nurture, then you should make the effort and strive for improvement in those areas.

But accept and embrace the unique individual God created you to be. Be comfortable in your own skin.

Forty years ago author Og Mandino wrote a little book on this subject which has since become a classic in Christian literature. The title is “The Greatest Miracle in the World”, and I recommend it to you. It’s a small book, an easy and fast read, but it will change your perspective on who you are and why God created you, in the unique way He did.

Tomorrow, as we begin to draw this theme to a close, we will continue this discussion of why God created you to be you.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Healthy Living”

Our Bible verse for today: “But godliness with contentment is great gain.” 1 Timothy 6:6 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “In order for our lives to be in proper balance, we must learn to be content.”

One of the primary reasons life sometimes gets out of balance and unhealthy is that we are not content. Rather than simply being satisfied with what we have, we convince ourselves that we need more, bigger, better. We then work longer and harder so we can earn more so we can then buy more. We also fill our lives with endless activities because we believe doing so will increase the quality of our lives.

But all of that leaves us stressed, strained, and drained. The answer, as Paul taught in 1 Timothy 6:6, is to learn to be content. Maybe we don’t need more, bigger, and better after all. Maybe what we have already is good enough, maybe even more than enough.

In his book, “Cure for the Common Life”, Max Lucado tells the story of a farmer who was discontent with life on his farm. He complained about the animals that always needed attention; he was weary of tending the crops; he was tired of looking at the same old scenery. He decided he was going to get rid of the farm and move somewhere nicer. So he called a real estate agent and made plans to list the farm for sale.

In just a few days the agent called him back, wanting approval for the ad she was about to place for the farm. She read the ad to the farmer. It described a lovely farm in an ideal location – quiet and peaceful, contoured with rolling hills, carpeted with soft meadows, nourished by a fresh lake, and blessed with well-bred livestock. The farmer said, “Read that ad to me again.” After hearing it a second time, he said, “I’ve changed my mind. I’m not going to sell. I’ve been looking for a place like that all my life.”

The moral of the story of course was that the famer already had what he really wanted and needed, but he had allowed himself to take it for granted and to become discontented with what he had.

Many times we become consumed with thoughts of what we don’t have and we lose sight of what we do have. If we practice a little more contentment we will be less likely to cram our lives with a bunch of things and activities we don’t really need. And, we will be healthier and better balanced for it.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Healthy Living”

Our Bible verse for today: “I am certain that I will see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living.” Psalm 27:13 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “God has good things planned for you.”

In Psalm 27:13 King David had a sense of eager expectation that God had some good things in store for him. But David wasn’t talking about good things waiting for him in eternity – he was talking about in the here and now, in the land of the living. David clearly was expecting to be blessed by God now. And you can too.

If you have sought and embraced God-given goals, and if you are in the process of doing your part to fulfill those goals, then you can expect to be blessed by God. Remember, God has things that He wants to bring about in your life. This is His plan. And so as long as you are doing your part, He will orchestrate events as necessary to bring about the results that He desires.

Sometimes that’s hard for us to believe, especially if the thing God has us pursing is big and is going to take time. Often it can seem impossible. But the good news is, Jesus reminded us in Matthew 19:26, that with God, nothing is impossible.

The great missionary to China, Hudson Taylor, used to teach his students that when it comes to God’s plan unfolding in your life there are three stages we typically go through – impossible, possible, done. When we first consider this thing God has for us we can often conclude that it’s impossible. That’s because we’re viewing it from a human perspective. We’re thinking about what we are able to accomplish in our own power and with our own abilities.

But then we remember that with God nothing is impossible and therefore if He’s in it, it is in fact possible. From that point we’re not far from, “Done!”

Impossible, possible, done!

God has good things planned for you – now – in the land of the living. Seek His plan, embrace it, do your part, and then have faith that in His way, and in His time, it will come to pass.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Healthy Living”

Our Bible verse for today: “…we have unanimously decided to select men and send them to you along with our dearly beloved Barnabas and Paul, who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Acts 15:25-26 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “We must be willing to take risks.”

The theme for this month is “Healthy Living”, but the verse for today talks about Paul and Barnabas putting their lives at risk. That doesn’t sound very healthy. In fact, considering all Paul went through in his life, (the persecutions, the beatings, the imprisonments) he doesn’t seem like such a good example of someone who lived a healthy life.

However as we’ve learned, an important part of living a healthy and balanced life is to have God-given goals that provide the direction for our lives. These are assignments from God which we’re enthusiastic about and which motivate us. These are the things that get us out of bed in the morning with a sense of eagerness and anticipation. Paul had that.

But those things always include some element of risk. Living the life that God has planned for you is a spiritual endeavor and as such, it will involve spiritual warfare. Satan does not want you to be the man or woman God wants you to be. Satan wants you to be defeated and miserable. And so you can bet he will do everything in his power to put stumbling blocks and obstacles in your way.

It’s true that God will empower you to persevere and to push through the obstacles, but that does not mean you won’t experience difficulties and even set-backs. You will. And that’s where the risk comes in. In order to walk the path that God has prepared for us we must be willing to accept the risks that come with it. We have to be realistic in acknowledging that there are going to be difficulties, set-backs, and even perhaps some failures. We must be willing to face those and push through them, in order to achieve the thing God has ordained for us.

In John 16:33 Jesus told us “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (NIV)

How do we push through the troubles Jesus told us would come? Paul helps us with that in Galatians 6:9, “So we must not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up.” (NIV).

Nothing is over until you give up. You’re not defeated until you quit. If you’re pursuing a God-given goal you can count on satanic opposition, and therefore difficulties and challenges, but you can also count on God’s help to get you through. Accept the risk, face the challenges, push through, and don’t give up.

I want to recommend a book to you that you might find very helpful, it’s “Failing Forward” by Pastor John Maxwell. It’s all about how you can use your set-backs and even your failures as stepping stones to propel you forward toward accomplishing the plans God has for you.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Healthy Living”

Our Bible verse for today: “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Proverbs 29:18 (KJV)

Our thought for today: “A God-given vision is essential to living well.”

When people have no vision, when they have no purpose or direction in life, they perish. In other words, they wander through their days aimlessly, attempting little and achieving nothing of significance. That’s a Biblical truth which we can all see played out everyday in the lives of people all around us. So many people are purposeless and it’s a sad thing to behold.

One of the keys to success in life is believing that God really does have a purpose and a plan for your life. You must then ask Him to reveal it to you, and once He does, you must then choose to embrace it.

Now, God’s plans for us are seldom revealed in their entirety upfront. If God did that, if He clearly showed us the starting point, and all the milestones along the way, and the end result, we would have the whole thing mapped out for us from start to finish and therefore we wouldn’t need a whole lot of faith to carry it out. We would be less inclined to depend on God.

Therefore, God will give us a general direction to get us started, but then we have to continue relying on Him step-by-step and moment-by-moment. God wants us to invite Him into all the moments of our lives. He wants us to lean on Him and to depend on Him. Therefore He shows us enough of the vision to get us started, and then as we walk it out moment-by-moment and day-by-day, He will continue to guide and direct as necessary to keep us moving in the right direction.

One of the keys to living a healthy and balanced life is to seek God’s plan for your life, and then to pursue it. You must believe that He does have a plan and a purpose for you and you must then choose to embrace it. We will be talking much more about this at Oak Hill Baptist Church when we conduct our Bible Study “What on Earth Am I Here For?” (The Purpose Driven Life). That study will begin on Sunday evening March 15th at 6:00 and we invite you to join us for it.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim