Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Healthy Living”

Our Bible verse for today: “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for God’s glory.” 1 Corinthians 10:31

Our thought for today: “We can honor and glorify God with our diet.”

As a rule of thumb, good nutrition is two-thirds of being healthy and in shape. The old saying, “You are what you eat”, is very true. The kinds and quantities of food you consume determine everything from the health of your internal organs, to your blood chemistry, to the shape and size of your body, to your energy level, to the amount and quality of sleep you get, and much more. What and how much you eat will have a direct impact on almost every other area of your life.

This includes your spiritual health. If taking proper care of the physical body is a spiritual discipline (the Bible clearly teaches that it is), then diet affects spiritual health as well as physical and emotional health.

So is it possible to eat and drink in a way that glorifies God (as directed by Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:31)? Of course it is. Here are just three ways to honor and glorify Him by the way you eat and drink:

1. Eat a reasonably nutritious diet. This will help to make you a good steward of the temple of the Holy Spirit. In this way you will be honoring God by taking proper care of the temple.

2. Thank Him for your food. When you thank the Lord for your food you are giving Him honor and glory and acknowledging it as a gift from Him.

3. Slow down and enjoy your food. God created your taste buds so that you can enjoy food. When you eat slowly and savor your food you are glorifying the Lord as the creator of taste buds.

Food is a gift from God and it is meant to be enjoyed, but not abused. We can indeed honor and glorify Him with our diet.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Healthy Living”

Our Bible verse for today: “I am sure of this, that He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “God is doing something good in your life.”

So, have you begun making some needed changes in your life? Have you set some goals and have you developed a plan to help you achieve those goals? More importantly, have you done so prayerfully, seeking God’s will and guidance? If so, then Philippians 1:6 is a promise you can claim. God has started a good work in you and He will do His part to help you continue it to completion.

But wait, it’s not just God who is at work in this. You have a role to play too. As we already know, we have to seek God’s guidance to know the areas He wants us to improve in; then we need His help to develop a good plan for walking it out; and then we have to put forth the effort to actually do it.

So it could be that while you have perfect confidence in God to do His part, you may not be so sure of yourself. Maybe you have doubts whether or not you can sustain it. Well, no worries. God has you covered there too. Remember, He wants these changes in you even more than you do. It is His desire for you to be the best “you” you can be. And He is fully aware of your weaknesses. So here are two more promises you can claim, and which should give you hope and strength:

“I am able to do all things through Him who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13. God will empower you to do whatever it is He has called you to do. So in your moments of doubt and weakness call to Him and ask for His help. He will give it to you.

“No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to humanity. God is faithful, and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will also provide a way of escape so that you are able to bear it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13

So be encouraged! God is up to something good in your life and He will help you to achieve it.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Healthy Living”

Our Bible verse for today: “For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to desire and to work out His good purpose.” Philippians 2:13 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “God will enable you to make lasting change.”

We already know that God has a wonderful plan for each of our lives (Jeremiah 29:11); and that through Christ we can accomplish it (Philippians 4:13). Here in Philippians 2:13 Paul reinforces that truth but he adds a new wrinkle – not only is it God working in us to accomplish He good purposes for us, but He also gives us the desire for that change to occur and to stick. This is important. Once you have a deep desire for something achieving it becomes much easier.

So be encouraged, God has your best interests in mind. He wants you to be the best person you are capable of being in all areas of your life. If you are making a genuine effort to drop bad habits and replace them with good ones, you can be sure He is at work helping you to do so.

In “The Daniel Plan”, Rick Warren and his team offer us five tips to making lasting change in our lives:

1. Build your life on the truth (John 8:31-32). In other words, have a firm foundation of faith in Christ. Make the spiritual disciplines a part of your daily routine and be sure to include the care of your body as part of the practice of your faith.

2. Make wise choices (Ephesians 4:22-24). This actually means make Biblical choices. Know your Bible and live according to it. If the changes you are incorporating into your life are Biblical, you will have a much better chance of succeeding.

3. Adopt new ways of thinking (Romans 12:2). This includes new ways of thinking about a healthy lifestyle.

4. Rely on the Holy Spirit to help you (Galatians 5:18). It’s the Spirit’s job to help you live in accordance with God’s will. Call on Him for His help. Remember, taking proper care of yourself is a spiritual discipline – it is part of how you practice your Christian faith. So involve the Spirit in every step of the changes you are working on.

5. Be part of a support group (Hebrews 10:24-25). The fact is that we are stronger and better together than we are alone. We need each other and we will be more successful at achieving our goals if we have others helping us.

It is God’s desire for you to be as healthy as you can, for as long as you can. That doesn’t mean you will never get sick and it certainly doesn’t mean that you will never die. You will age, and your body will slowly deteriorate, and someday you will die. But still, there are many things all of us can do on a daily basis to stay as healthy as possible for as long as possible. The Bible teaches very clearly that that is God’s desire for us. So take good care of your body.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Healthy Living”

Our Bible verse for today: “For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate.” Romans 7:15 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “To achieve healthier lives which are better balanced we need new habits.”

Have you ever felt like Paul did when he wrote Romans 7:15? He was essentially saying, “I know what I need to do, and I really want to do what I’m supposed to do, but I keep doing the thing I hate! What is wrong with me?!”

We’ve all felt that way, probably many times. Old habits are hard to break. Someone once said, “Good habits are hard to acquire but easy to live with. Bad habits are easy to acquire but hard to live with.”

Amen! I have some bad habits I would love to get rid of and you probably do too. Maybe the bad habits that need to change involve diet and exercise; or they could be financial in nature; or they could pertain to how you relate to other people; or it could be something about the practice of your faith; and there are lots of other possibilities.

But making real and lasting changes in our lives is never easy. Forming new and better habits to replace the old and destructive ones takes time and discipline. The good news about good habits is that the longer you practice them the easier they get. Soon they become so much a part of your regular routine that you feel odd and out of synch when you aren’t doing that good thing. If exercise becomes part of your daily routine then you will miss it on those days you don’t exercise. If prayer and Bible reading is a regular part of your morning, then you will feel funny and empty on the days that you skip it.

Tomorrow we will consider five things we can do to replace bad habits with good ones and then to incorporate those good habits into our lives so they become change that lasts.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Healthy Living”

Our Bible verse for today: “Don’t you know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “Jesus paid a high price for your body.”

I love the illustration Rick Warren uses to help us understand how much Jesus values our physical bodies. In the TV show “American Pickers and Pawn Stars”, owners of old items bring them to experts in hopes of discovering that their “antique” is worth big money. Invariably the owners believe the item to be worth more than it really is. But the reality is that something is only worth as much as someone else will pay for it. For instance, regardless of how much you think your house is worth, it’s only really worth what someone will pay you for it.

Think about that truth: an item is only worth what someone will pay for it. So how valuable is your physical body to Jesus? Well, He died for it. Yes it’s true that He died first, foremost, and primarily to save your soul, but He died for your physical body too. That was Paul’s whole point in 1 Corinthians 6:12-20, the entire passage is about the physical body.

If Jesus values your physical body so much that He was willing to die to purchase it for His use, don’t you think He wants you to take care of it? As Rick asks, “If you bought a million-dollar race horse would you feed it junk food and keep it up all night?” The answer of course is “no”. You would protect your investment in that horse by taking good care of it. Jesus expects no less from us in how we protect His investment in us. He paid for your life with His life, and He expects you to take care of yourself so He can use you for His purposes.

Join us over the next six weeks at Oak Hill Baptist as we learn how we can be better stewards of not just our physical bodies, but better stewards of our whole lives. On Sunday mornings at 10:00 I will preach a sermon on this subject. Then on Sunday evenings at 6:00 we will study “The Daniel Plan”. Together we will learn how to live lives which are better balanced and healthier.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Healthy Living”

Our Bible verse for today: “Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship. 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 12:1-2 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “We must commit our bodies to God.

Romans 12:1-2 is a fascinating passage of Scripture because in just two sentences Paul effectively illustrates how it is that all facets of our being interact and effect one another.

He begins by urging us to present our physical, mortal bodies to God as a living sacrifice. That thought makes it clear that what we do with our body matters very much to God. How we take care of our body and the things we use it for should be holy and pleasing to Him.

Then Paul makes the connection between the physical condition and use of our body, to the spiritual act of worship. What we do with our body can be an act of worship. There is a clear connection here between the physical and the spiritual.

In the next section Paul writes about the mind. Not only must the body and the spirit interact in a way that is holy and pleasing to God, but the mind is involved too. The mind needs to be renewed and transformed. All of this together – body, mind, and spirit – cared for, healthy, and committed to God, is holy and pleasing to Him.

But Paul starts with the body. As Rick Warren points out, “What you do with your body sets the tone for everything else. Physical health influences your mental health, your spiritual health, your emotional health, your relational health, and even your financial health.”

When we have good physical health we then have the energy and alertness to make needed changes in other areas of our life as well. Will you commit to taking good care of your body? We’ll explore this idea a little further tomorrow.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Healthy Living”

Our Bible verse for today: “Dear friend, I pray that you may prosper in every way and be in good health physically just as you are spiritually.” 3 John 2 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “God wants us to take care of ourselves.”

This Sunday evening at Oak Hill Baptist (January 4th), we are going to begin a group study of Rick Warren’s program “The Daniel Plan”. The Daniel Plan is a “whole life” Bible study which is designed to help us to get and stay healthy in all areas of life. The five main areas of emphasis are faith, food, fitness, focus, and friends.

As Rick explains in the book, he realized the need for such a study on a day when he was baptizing a large number of people. In the middle of doing so it occurred to him that the majority of the people were overweight, many of them seriously so, including himself. Now please note that when Rick made that observation he was not being critical, it was simply an observation of fact. I’ve met Rick several times and I can tell you that he is an extraordinarily nice and kind man. Weight control has been a struggle for him his entire life and he freely admits it’s as much of a problem for him as it is for others.

Rick points out in his book that obesity has become such a problem in our society that now, for the first time in history, as many people suffer from consuming too much food as do from malnutrition. Seven in ten Americans are overweight; diabetes, heart disease, and other life-style based diseases now kill more people than infectious diseases do.

It was out of that realization that the Daniel Plan was born. But Rick also realized that just being physically healthy isn’t enough. As humans we are body, mind, and spirit and therefore in order to be truly healthy, we must be healthy in all of those areas. So he assembled a group of subject-matter experts and they went to work to develop this plan which simply and effectively addresses the whole person.

In order to support and reinforce what we will be learning in our study, the Daily Devotionals for this month will all be drawn from the Daniel Plan. I hope you will join us for the study. We will meet every Sunday evening at 6:00 at Oak Hill Baptist.  You can find more information, and the associated resources, on the Daniel Plan website at http://www.danielplan.com. The study guide, daily journal, and Daniel Plan book are also available on the shelf in all LifeWay bookstores.

Also, for the next six Sunday mornings at OHBC the sermons will all be on subjects related to healthy living.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “The Lord’s Presence”

Our Bible verse for today: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” Romans 8:35 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Nothing in all creation can separate the Christian from God.”

Romans 8:35-39 is one of the most reassuring passages in the New Testament. Picking it up in verses 37-39: “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.”

Please don’t miss Paul’s progression in that passage. He begins in verse 35 by posing the question, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” He then mentions some typical challenges we all face in life such as trouble and hardship, persecution, hunger, danger, etc. And he quickly rules them all out. Surely such simple, transitory, and temporary things like that could never move us out of the realm of being loved and cared for by our Savior.

But then Paul’s rhetoric really takes off as he tells us that beyond those common trials and tribulations of life which are routinely experienced by everyone in the physical realm, there is also nothing in the spiritual realm that can get between us and God. Angels can’t and demons can’t. In fact there are no powers that are strong enough to snatch us away from our Lord. There is no height high enough, no depth low enough, nothing that exists in the present, and nothing that will ever exist in the future, which will be able to take us away from Jesus.

Paul says that once you are “in” Christ (once you belong to Him), He will never ever let you go. You are His and there is no circumstance, no power, nothing in this world and nothing in the next, which can do anything to change it. He gave His life to save you, His Holy Spirit worked hard to draw you to Him, and now that He has you He will never let you go.

Any time you are feeling alone and wondering where God is, remember this passage in Romans. God is with you even if you aren’t aware of His presence in that moment. You are His and He will never let you go.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “The Lord’s Presence”

Our Bible verse for today: “Those who know Your name trust in You because You have not abandoned those who seek You, Yahweh.” Psalm 9:10 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “God rewards those who seek Him.”

One of the great truths revealed to us in the Bible is that God desires to have fellowship with us. If we will simply seek Him, He will reveal Himself to us. In Jeremiah 29:13 we read, “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.”

In Jeremiah 33:3 God says, “Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and incomprehensible things you did not know.” In 1 Chronicles 28:9 King David instructed his son Solomon regarding the Lord’s presence, “If you seek Him, He will be found by you.” And in Psalm 9:10 David affirmed how pleased God is when His people seek His presence. He does not abandon those who place their faith in Him.

The truth is that God greatly desires fellowship with us. He is always working to get our attention and draw us to Himself. If you sincerely seek Him you are sure to find Him because it’s what He wants to begin with.

Your Heavenly Father loves you more than you can even begin to imagine; nothing gives Him more pleasure than for His children to simply be with Him. As a father myself, I can relate to that. I can remember many times when my children were young that one of them would climb up on the couch, snuggle up next to me, and just sit there. They didn’t want anything, they weren’t interested in doing anything, they didn’t even necessarily want to talk – they just wanted to be close to me. Even the memory of it warms my heart.

God is like that. He just wants you to be with Him; He just wants you to want Him as much as He wants you. If you seek Him you will find Him because He wants to be found by you.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “The Lord’s Presence”

Our Bible verse for today: “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” James 4:8

Our thought for today: “We have a responsibility to stay close to God.”

You’ve probably seen the bumper sticker which reads “If God seems far away, guess who moved?” It’s a cliché but there’s also a lot of truth to it. The implication is that if God seems far away then it’s probably your own fault. The testimony of Scripture is that God wants to be close to us and He wants us to be aware of His presence. For the most part, if we’re not experiencing the presence of the Lord it’s either because we’re living in sin, or because we’re not doing the things necessary to cultivate an awareness of the Lord’s presence with us.

Admittedly there are times in every Christian life when God allows us to go through periods when He seems far away. Saint John of the Cross was a sixteenth century Christian mystic who wrote the classic work “The Dark Night of the Soul”. John was a Carmelite monk living in a monastery in Spain. His entire life was devoted to practicing the presence of God. He spent many hours every day in prayer, Bible reading, and worship. But still he went through periods when God seemed very distant. He called these times his “dark night of the soul” and he concluded that God allowed such times into our lives in order to create within us a deeper longing for His presence. It’s the old notion that absence makes the heart grow fonder.

So yes, sometimes God does withdraw our awareness of His presence for a short period just to remind us of what life is like without Him. But those times are the exception and usually they are rare.

Much more often, if God seems distant it’s because we have allowed unrepentant sin into our lives or we are not engaging in regular spiritual disciplines such as prayer, Bible study, worship, and fellowship. We have a responsibility to place ourselves in a position before God whereby He can cultivate within us a deep awareness of His presence. That’s what James meant when he wrote, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”

Do you have some goals for your spiritual growth in 2015? When it comes to incorporating spiritual disciplines into our lives we have to be thoughtful and intentional. Also, from time to time we need to shake things up just to stay fresh.

Beginning next Sunday evening, January 4th, at 6:00 at Oak Hill Baptist we will begin a group study of “The Daniel Plan”. It is a plan designed to help us achieve a healthy balance in five key areas of life, including how we practice our faith. If you study with us you will get some fresh ideas regarding how to cultivate an awareness of God’s presence. I encourage you to join us.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim