Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Confidence”

Our Bible verse for today: “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 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “Have confidence in God to help you withstand temptation.”

Today you are going to be tempted. Not once and not twice, but many times. Some of those temptations may be big, most will be small, but they will all require strength of character and discipline to resist.

The problem is that we are often weak in the face of temptation. This is an individual issue which varies considerably from person to person. Something that is very tempting to me might not be a problem for you, and visa-versa. I have a sweet tooth and find it difficult to resist ice cream, donuts, and jelly beans. But a big juicy steak appeals to me not at all. For one person alcohol holds no attraction but for another, take that first sip and he will soon be gutter-crawling drunk.

So when it comes to resisting temptation we must first of all know our weaknesses and then take steps to protect ourselves. If I need to lay off the donuts then I need to bypass the parking spot right in front of the donut shop.

But even still, I have little confidence in my own ability to be strong in the face of temptations. I need more than just my own will power – much more. Fortunately, God provides the strength that I lack. That is what Paul was writing about in 1 Corinthians 10:13.

First, he tells us that we will never be faced with any temptation that isn’t common to all people. You’re not the only one dealing with this issue. Second, God will never allow us to be faced with any temptation that we are not able to withstand. No matter how strong the pull seems, it will not be more than we can bear. Third, and this is the key, God Himself will show us a way of escape from the power of that temptation. We just have to turn to Him and ask Him to show us the way out. And then we have to take it.

When it comes to resisting temptation my confidence cannot be in myself and in the strength of my own willpower. If it is, no donut in Cumberland County Tennessee is safe from me. My confidence is in God and in the power of His promise. He will always provide a way out. I just need to ask for it, look for it, and then take it. That’s true for you too.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Confidence”

Our Bible verse for today: “Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.” Acts 17:23 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “We must confidently tell people about Jesus.”

I once read a very provocative statement about man’s search for God which has stuck with me for many years. The writer claimed that, “Every man lying in the arms of a prostitute is really searching for God.”

What he meant was that there is an empty place in the human heart which can only be filled by God. It’s what King Solomon was referring to in Ecclesiastes 3:11 when he wrote, “He has set eternity in the hearts of men.” God created us as spirit-beings designed to live forever. Eternity is in our DNA. That’s why virtually every person who has ever lived has had a sense that this life is not all there is. It’s why every culture that has ever existed has always had a theology of an afterlife and worship practices designed to help them to connect with the spirit world.

God has created us for eternity and deep in our heats we know it. There is a space in the human heart, an emptiness that longs to be filled. But in our human nature we try to fill that place with everything except God. We try to fill it with achievements and possessions, with earthly relationships and sex, and often we end up relying on addictive substances such as drugs, alcohol, or food which all provide a temporary (and false) sense of fulfillment.

I love the scene in Acts 17:23 where the Apostle Paul was in Athens. As he looked around he noticed that the Athenians had images and altars of worship for multitudes of false gods. Clearly these were a spiritual people; observably they were seeking after spiritual fulfillment; and Paul recognized this for the opportunity it was. He immediately began explaining to them that although their spiritual yearning and searching was a good thing, they were looking for God in all the wrong places. He then went on to tell them about the One True God.

People all around us today are seeking after God, and most of them don’t even know it. What they think they’re yearning for is the next promotion, a big raise, a new car, the next meal, or physical satisfaction in the arms of a prostitute. But what they’re really yearning after is God. They’re trying desperately to fill the emptiness in their heart with the things of this world when in fact that place can only be filled by God Himself.

Like Paul, this presents great opportunities for us to tell people about God. We can do so with confidence because even if they don’t realize it, God is who they’re really looking for. I encourage you to be confident as you tell people about Jesus today. He is who they need, and He is who they’re really looking for.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Confidence”

Our Bible verse for today: “… and they sent out Barnabas to travel as far as Antioch … for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.” Acts 11:22; 24 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “It takes a healthy sense of self-confidence to stay focused on blessing others.”

Barnabas is one of my favorite people in the New Testament. “Barnabas” was not his given name. His real name was Joseph but we learn in Acts 4:36 that once they got to know him the Apostles nicknamed him “Barnabas”, which means “Son of Encouragement”.

The Bible doesn’t tell us a lot about Barnabas but what we do know is that he was a generous man who shared his resources joyfully with his church family (Acts 4:36); he was not afraid to befriend outcasts such as the new convert Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9:27); he was a dependable man who could be trusted with important ministry tasks (Acts 11:22); he endured hardship and danger for the cause of Christ (Acts 13:3); he was willing to serve as a mentor to younger Christians such as his nephew John Mark (Acts 15:39); and of course, he was a great encourager of people (Acts 4:36).

I believe it requires a great deal of self-confidence and spiritual maturity to continually focus your time and attention on being a blessing to others. The natural human tendency is to be self-centered – to worry about our own wants, needs, and desires. It takes a contented and confident person, one who fully trusts in the Lord’s provision and protection for his own life, to continually focus on blessing and encouraging others. Barnabas was that man. In his example we see the words of Jesus come alive, “Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant.” (Matthew 20:26)

I want to encourage all of us today to be intentional about blessing and encouraging others. Trust the Lord to take care of you and your needs, while you bless others in His Name. Wouldn’t this world be a better place if all of us were striving to be “Sons and Daughters of Encouragement”?

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Confidence”

Our Bible verse for today: “Therefore, brothers, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and wisdom, who we can appoint to this duty.” Acts 6:3 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “It takes confidence to serve humbly.”

Soon we will be celebrating Easter. For many people Easter, like at Thanksgiving and Christmas, there is an extra emphasis on serving others – especially those in great need.

This Easter, since we’re also gearing-up for another election cycle, we will soon be seeing stories on the television news of high profile politicians with their sleeves rolled up, on the serving line at a Rescue Mission, serving dinner to homeless people. At best these scenes remind us of the importance of service. At worst it’s a staged photo op for a politician trolling for votes. They’re doing it for the attention it gets them.

However in the scene described in Acts 6:3 we find another standard for service. In this case there were widows in the early church who needed special attention. The Apostles were concerned about it, but tending to that need themselves took them away from their primary roles of prayer and preaching and teaching. So they needed dependable men to assume responsibility for ensuring the widows were properly cared for.

Now look at the qualifications they felt were necessary for those who would fulfill this ministry role of mercy and compassion. They were to be of good reputation, full of the Spirit, and wise. As we read on we come to realize that each of these godly men could probably just as easily have filled the role of Apostle, or preacher or teacher or elder. But instead they gladly assumed the responsibility of distributing food to widows.

I personally believe it takes spiritual maturity and confidence for a person to serve in a low profile ministry and to do it humbly, joyfully, and with a commitment to excellence. People like that serve in those ministry positions, and with that attitude, out of great love for the Lord and for His people. Such servants are a joy and a blessing to any church.

As a pastor I am very thankful for the faithful saints who serve in the multitude of low profile, but essential, ministry positions in the church. Without their service the church will be very ineffective. The widows would go hungry, the children would not be cared for, and the Pastor would be a worn-out wreck. Thanks for all you do!

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Confidence”

Our Bible verse for today: “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the proceeds from the field? … You have not lied to men but to God!” Acts 5:3; 4 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “Have the confidence to be honest with people.”

This morning I was reading in Acts chapter five and once again came upon that odd and disturbing story of Ananias and his wife Sapphira. They were part of the early church in Jerusalem. In chapters three and four we read about the great spirit of fellowship, compassion, love, and generosity which prevailed in that church. All the members were making great sacrifices on behalf of others; many were selling their possessions and bringing the proceeds to the Apostles to be used for the benefit of everyone.

Ananias and Sapphria saw the selfless sacrifices and the joyful giving that others were engaged in, and they saw the high esteem the most generous givers were held in by the rest of the congregation, and they wanted some of it for themselves.

So they sold a field they owned but then, they gave only part of the proceeds while attempting to convince everyone that they were giving it all – and they got caught. Peter made it clear that it would have been perfectly fine for them to have kept all or part of the proceeds for themselves. Their sin was not keeping some of it for their own use; their sin was the sin of deception. They lied about it and they deceived others.

Why did Ananias and Sapphria do that? Obviously it was because they were jealous for the praise other people were getting. They were so concerned with what other people thought of them, and so eager to be held in high esteem by the group, that they engaged in a despicable act of religious deception. However, we cannot sin against the people of God without also sinning against God. That’s the lesson we learn from the example of Ananias and Sapphria.

Public praise can be an addictive thing. The strong desire for approval and acclaim can drive us to present ourselves and our motives in dishonest and deceptive ways. It’s essential that we have the confidence to be completely open and honest with God – and with God’s people. Resist the temptation to deceive or mislead people in an attempt to get them to think more highly of you. Be honest and let your words and actions speak for themselves. Just be you.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Confidence”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” Psalm 63:1 (NLT)

 

Our thought for today: “God will give you the confidence you need to face the day.”

 

Well, welcome to Monday. How are you doing today? Did you pop out of bed this morning like a piece of toast out of a toaster? Are you bright and chipper, eagerly anticipating the start of a new week?

 

Or maybe you’re feeling like David was in Psalm 63:1, thirsty, longing, weary, like you’re trudging through a dry land where there is no water. (I hope that doesn’t describe your job!)

 

David was just being honest. We all have days like that. But don’t stop reading at verse 1, continue on in the Psalm and see what David did about those feelings. In verse two he recounted some of his best moments in church. “I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.”

 

In verses 3-4 he savored God’s love and gave Him praise. In verse 5 he considered how deeply satisfying his relationship with God is, “My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods.”

 

He goes on from there and dwells on times of rich prayer (verse 6); he gives thought to how much he relies on God (verses 7-8); and in verses 9-11 he records his memories of previous times when he was faced with enemies and difficulties and found himself feeling like he did in verse 1, but God delivered him then too.

 

All of this was a shot in the arm for David. He went from trudging, grudging, despair and depression, to tip-toeing through the tulips as he sang the Lord’s praises.

 

I don’t mean to suggest that you should now be prancing around your workplace doing the Snoopy Happy Dance, but turning your thoughts to the Lord will certainly lift your spirits and give you a better perspective about the day and the upcoming week.

 

Start your day with Him; give careful thought to His glory, to His majesty, and to His great love for you; think about His watch-care over you; and you will find renewed confidence to deal with whatever it is you’re facing today.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

 

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Confidence”

Our Bible verse for today: “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.” Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “If your heart is right, you can have confidence that God will guide you.”

I want to return to the question we considered in yesterday’s devotional, “How can I have confidence that I’m doing the things that God wants me to do?” For the serious disciple of Jesus, it’s an important question, and the answer almost always comes in subtle ways that require spiritual discernment. Seldom does God peel back the clouds, poke His head through, and say “Hey Jim, take a left at the next light.”

So how do we know, especially when it comes to the big things in life? Unfortunately there is no simple five-step formula we can apply for discerning the will of God. As has already been noted, knowing when God is speaking, and understanding what He is saying, is a subtle thing that comes with spiritual maturity. But there are many principles and patterns given to us in the Bible that are intended to guide us in spiritual growth, and help us to better understand God and His ways and His desires for us as individuals.

One lesson that comes through loud and clear in the Bible is that God wants to be understood by us so that He can then be obeyed. We also see on the pages of Scripture that God goes to extraordinary lengths to communicate His will to His people.

Although God can communicate with us in an infinite number of ways, in our age He typically does so in five basic ways: through the Bible, through prayer, through the circumstances of our lives, through the counsel of other mature Christians, and sometimes through the testimony of the church as a body.

As we learn in Proverbs 3:5-6, the starting place for understanding and obeying God is to have a heart that is fully surrendered to Him. If you are determined to trust in Him rather than in yourself, and your desire is to honor Him with your choices, you can then trust Him to guide you in the way He wants you to go. That then gives you the confidence to just begin moving forward the best way you know how, trusting that He is guiding you.

We will consider this subject in much greater detail in our Sunday night Bible Study, “What on Earth am I Here For?” which begins at Oak Hill Baptist on Sunday March 22nd, at 6:00. I encourage you to join us.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Confidence”

Our Bible verse for today: “I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5 (NKJV)

Our thought for today: “Abide in Jesus; be confident in God.”

Are you doing the things God wants you to do with your life? Are you sure? A better question would be “how” can you be sure? I speak with people all the time who are not sure they’re doing the things God wants them to do. Many Christians live with a deep-seated sense of guilt that God wants and expects more from them than they’re giving. “Am I supposed to be a Sunday school teacher; a street evangelist; a missionary to Timbuktu?” “Is God disappointed with me because I’m not doing those things?”

In John 15:5 Jesus gave us some crucial insight into this question. He compared Himself to a grape vine and us to the branches that grow from the vine. Just as the life of the vine flows out through the branches, and the fruit of the vine is then produced through the branches, so too the life of Jesus flows through us and the fruit of Jesus (works) is produced through us. All the branch has to do is remain firmly attached to the vine. It is the vine that actually produces the fruit.

So the key then is to “abide” in Jesus and He then will produce the fruit He desires through us. To “abide” means to stay with, to live with. To abide “in” Jesus suggests that our life exists within Him. He is our life. To remain firmly attached to Him is accomplished by means of a daily practice of the basic spiritual disciplines of prayer, Bible study, worship, meditation, fellowship, service, etc.

When we do those things, the life of Jesus flows in us and through us, and the fruit of Jesus gets produced in our lives. That fruit could take the form of teaching Sunday school, or preaching on a street corner, or caring for lepers in the slums of Calcutta. But whatever form it takes, Jesus will be the one to decide that. He is the branch, and it is His fruit not yours. It’s not up to you to decide what kind of fruit you “want” to produce, or you think you “should” be producing. It is up to you to abide in Jesus and then let Him produce in your life whatever it is He wants to produce.

This can be a difficult concept for us to grasp and therefore it’s one we need to spend time with. On Sunday evening March 22nd at 6:00 at Oak Hill Baptist Church we will begin a six week Bible study by Rick Warren entitled, “What in the World Am I Here For?” This study will go a long way towards helping us to understand how Jesus works in our lives and it will help us to gain the confidence to simply relax and let Him do what it is He wants to do. I invite you to join us.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Confidence”

Our Bible verse for today: “For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father!” Romans 8:15 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “We can approach God with confidence.”

Author Philip Yancey frequently refers to himself as a “recovering fundamentalist”. It’s a reference to his childhood. Right on up through his High School years, Philip was raised in a very strict fundamentalist home and church. Therefore he grew-up knowing God as a stern taskmaster and disciplinarian. There were long lists of rules to follow, “church police” to monitor your behavior, and public discipline and shaming for when you violated the rules.

I find it hard to picture Philip in such a setting because all of the best-selling books he has written over the last four decades have been grace-based. They have included titles like “What’s So Amazing about Grace?”, and “The Jesus I Never Knew”, and “Where is God When It Hurts?” among many others. From Philip’s writings I have learned much about the grace of God, and the freedom we have to enter His presence with joy and thanksgiving and confidence, rather than in fear, trembling, and uncertainty.

This was a lesson the Apostle Paul learned too, and he too, like Philip Yancey, lived the rest of his life as a “recovering fundamentalist”. As a leading Pharisee Paul was one of those fundamentalists of his day. He was the stern taskmaster, the church police, and the disciplinarian. Paul’s God was a fearsome and righteous Judge who had to be approached with trembling and uncertainty.

But then Paul met Jesus and everything changed. Jesus introduced Paul to God the Father as He really is. Soon Paul came to know God as good and gracious and merciful, a loving heavenly Father. It wasn’t long before Paul the recovering fundamentalist was calling God “Abba” (which essentially means “Daddy”), and climbing into his lap. Jesus makes this possible.

In Hebrews 4:16 the writer urges us, “Therefore let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us at the proper time.”

You see, we don’t have to be afraid of God and we don’t need to doubt whether He welcomes us into His presence. Jesus and Paul both taught us to think of Him as “Abba, Daddy”, and then to approach Him with joy, thanksgiving, eagerness, confidence, and even boldness.

Thanks to Jesus we can always go to the Father with the confidence of knowing not only does He welcome us, but it brings Him great joy that we have come to Him.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Confidence”

Our Bible verse for today: “The glory of young men is their strength, and the splendor of old men is their gray hair.” Proverbs 20:29

Our thought for today: “Have the confidence to age gracefully.”

She was a bar fly. The woman was in her mid-50s but was trying hard to look 30. Her short dress was way too tight, she wore an excessive amount of jewelry, and she used far too much make-up. Evidently she thought this made her attractive. She seemed oblivious to the fact that the excessive make-up made her look clownish, and the tight dress simply highlighted and revealed all the belly-rolls and varicose veins. Undeterred, she flirted shamelessly with men half her age.

Then there’s the guy, also in his 50s, dressed-out in the baggy pants, pony tail, ear ring, and ball cap on backwards. He’s a white man but he tries hard to act black. “Yo bro, you down with that?”

It’s always a sad spectacle when an older person hasn’t learned how to age gracefully. They look and act ridiculous and everybody knows it (everybody except them).

One of the things a mature Christian faith does for us is it gives us the confidence to embrace and enjoy all the seasons of life – maybe especially old age. While it’s true that as we age our physical body begins to break down and we therefore we experience aches and pains we probably didn’t have in younger years.  But it’s also true that the passing of the years brings with it many advantages and bonuses. For one thing, we should be much more spiritually mature, and therefore experiencing the fruits of the Spirit much more than when we were younger.

Old age also usually brings with it a transition from the working years into some kind of retirement, and that affords us new freedoms and flexibility which we didn’t have in other seasons of life.

And of course, if you are a Christian and you therefore have the promise of eternity in heaven, then each day of life brings you one day closer to your eventual eternal reward.

Many people never have the privilege of growing old. For those of us who do get that privilege, we should be thankful for it and we should learn to appreciate and enjoy it. I remember a line from a poem I read many years ago regarding aging. It went, “Come with me, the best is yet to be, the last of life, for which the first was made.”

I encourage you to age gracefully and with dignity. Thank God for the privilege of growing old and then fully embrace and enjoy it.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim