Devotional for Tuesday September 30th

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Boundaries”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Each person should do as he has decided in his heart – not reluctantly or out of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver.” 2 Corinthians 9:7 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Pay attention to feelings of resentment.”

 

At first glance 2 Corinthians 9:7 may seem like an odd verse of Scripture to conclude our study about boundaries. In that passage Paul was teaching about giving money to help support the cause of Christ. In that context he wrote verse 7 where he cautioned his readers to give with a cheerful heart and not out of a sense of compulsion and not with any resentment. The implication is that if you are not able to give with that kind of cheerful and willing heart you should just keep your money, God doesn’t want it.

 

Although that’s excellent guidance when it comes to the subject of giving money in a way that pleases God, there’s also a larger truth here which pertains to all of life in general, and to the subject of setting good boundaries in particular. If you’re feeling resentment about it, that’s a pretty good indication that something is wrong.

 

If a family member is requiring so much of your time and attention that you’re starting to resent it, that person is probably pushing the outer limits of healthy boundaries and it could be time for you to start saying “no” to them. If your job is requiring so much from you that you’re beginning to resent it and you’re starting to think that you might like to do something different for a living, there could be a boundary issue. If you’re ending most days exhausted and feeling as if there was little time to just stop and smell the roses, or to sit quietly reading a good book, and you find yourself wishing your life was slower, simpler, easier, you may need to adjust some boundaries.

 

When feelings of resentment about a particular area of life begin to crowd your thoughts, it could be a red flag warning you of the need to adjust some of your critical boundaries. If you find yourself thinking “This didn’t used to bother me very much but now I’m starting to get fed up with it.”, you know the boundary line has been breached and you need to make adjustments.

 

As we end our devotional study of boundaries I want to encourage you to give careful, prayerful thought to the boundaries you have set in your life. Are there any that need to be adjusted? Are there some that don’t currently exist but need to be put in place? Healthy boundaries are needed in every area of life. 

 

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Devotional for Monday September 29th

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Boundaries”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with My righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Fear is a self-imposed boundary.”

 

At least 94 times in the Old Testament and 28 times in the New Testament the people of God are told to “fear not” or to not give in to fear. If God repeats an instruction more than 120 times there must be something to it.

 

To describe fear the dictionary uses words like “anxiety”, “apprehension”, “disquiet”, and “agitation”. It is an impending sense of something bad that may happen. That sense of anxiety and apprehension can be crippling. Fear will often cause us to delay actions we need to take, or to put off decisions which need to be make, and it can render us ineffective or even helpless when we need to be strong. God doesn’t want the lives of His people to be governed by fear and so He repeatedly teaches against it. Over and over again He reassures us that we have no reason to fear.

 

Isaiah 41:10 speaks of the Sovereignty of God. To be “sovereign” means that He is supreme and has absolute authority over all people and over all things. That includes you and the circumstances of your life. This verse also reminds us that in addition to being sovereign – having supreme authority over your life – He is also “Omnipresent”, in that He is always with you, and He is “Omnipotent”, in that He is all-powerful.

 

So, because God has complete authority over your life, and because He is always with you, and because He has absolute power over every issue in your life, you do not need to fear. One other attribute of God which we need to consider this morning, and which applies to this subject of rejecting fear, is His total, unconditional, and perfect love for you. God is the very definition of perfect love and in 1 John 4:18 we read, “There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear.” (HCSB)

 

Fear is a self-imposed boundary. Fear limits and restricts us. It immobilizes us when we need to be active and it steals our joy. But God, in His perfect love for us, by means of His never-ending presence with us, and by His mighty power, gives us victory over fear. “Fear not, for I am with you.” says your God.

 

May you live free from fear today.

 

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Devotional for Saturday and Sunday September 27-28

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Boundaries”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” Jeremiah 33:3 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “God will expand the boundaries of our understanding”

 

I was already an adult when I came to faith in Christ. When it finally dawned on me what I had been missing all those years, I remember feeling as if I had wasted years of my life. I could have spent that time learning about God and growing as a Christian. I felt that I had a lot of ground to make up.

 

Shortly after that, I came across a statement in a book which captured my imagination – it gave me great hope and propelled me on a journey of seeking God. It came from the book “Lifestyle Discipleship” by Jim Peterson:

 

“One of the greatest gifts God has given us is the infinite opportunity for spiritual growth. But however much we have matured, there is always more beyond. It is in this that we find the adventure of living. There will always be new, unexplored dimensions of His person beckoning to us. The possibilities go off the chart.”

 

The Christian life, properly lived, can be an exciting journey of spiritual growth. Every day there can be new discoveries and greater understanding. And no matter how much we have learned or how much we have grown, there will always be something more waiting for us. God is a deep ocean. His wonders, richness, and beauty are infinitely more than we can comprehend or take in and no matter how much of Him we experience, there will always be more.

 

The promise of Jeremiah 33:3 is true for you too. If you call to Him, if you seek Him, He will answer you and show you great and wondrous things you did not know. One of the best ways to experience God in new and profound ways is in a good worship service. I encourage you to join us this Sunday at Oak Hill Baptist Church. This week we will be celebrating our 75th anniversary as a church. It will be a special service filled with music and testimonies, along with good teaching from our guest preacher Bill McCreary, and great fellowship. The service will begin at 10:30 and there will be a catered dinner afterwards. We look forward to seeing you there.

 

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Devotional for Friday September 26th

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Boundaries”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “So he (Caleb) said, ‘Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me twice now.” Genesis 27:36 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “We must place strict boundaries on the manipulators in our lives.”

 

Jacob was one of the patriarchs of the Old Testament. It was from him that the twelve tribes of Israel came. But the primary thing Jacob is remembered for is that he was a manipulator of people. He was cunning and a bit devious and he was always quietly maneuvering behind the scenes to advance his own interests – usually to the detriment of those closest to him. As a result, Jacob brought upon himself and his loved ones years of suffering.

 

Do you have a Jacob in your life, someone who has a habit of being deceptive; someone who is always scheming; always seems to have a slightly unbelievable story; and who can’t really be trusted? Often such persons are close family members who we love and who we want to help, but who over time have lost our trust and burned all their bridges. With such people we have to have firm boundaries to protect ourselves from their manipulations. We have to be tough.

 

In their book “Boundaries” John Townsend and Henry Cloud label such people as “Controllers”, they are determined to gain control over the people around them in order to get what they want. Controllers come in two basic varieties, “Aggressive Controllers” and “Manipulative Controllers”. Aggressive controllers don’t even make a pretense of respecting your boundaries. They are often verbally and sometimes physically abusive. They try to get what they want from you by means of fear and intimidation. The boundaries needed with them are often physical and legal. We’re talking about locked doors, restraining orders, and perhaps jail time.

 

Manipulative controllers are much more subtle. They often have friendly and engaging personalities, and they usually try to give the impression that they care deeply about you and fully respect the boundaries you have established. But all the while they’re working their way around your boundaries, often coming in through the back door of your heart. In the end they walk away with the keys to your car, or a check for this month’s rent, or whatever else they were seeking. The boundaries needed to deal with the manipulative controller usually consist of a firm “no” and then sticking to it.

 

The Jacob of the Bible never really learned his lesson. There were times in his life when he was a little better than at other times, but right to the end he gives the impression of being self-absorbed, selfish, whiny, and putting himself before others. If you have a Jacob in your life you may find that the only thing you can do is establish firm boundaries to protect yourself them. Sometimes you will just have to be tough with them and then stick to it.

 

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Devotional for Thursday September 25th

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Boundaries”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:38 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Jesus broke down the boundaries which separate people”

 

The first century Jewish world that Jesus entered into was highly structured with multiple boundaries designed to separate people. Men were superior, women less so, and children least of all. Jews esteemed themselves very highly, and everyone else was pond scum. The rich were exalted, the poor were despised, and the sick and disabled were obviously cursed.

 

These manmade boundaries were most prominent in the house of worship – the Temple complex. Non-Jews and half-breeds like the Samaritans could enter the outer court of the Gentiles, but a wall and guards prevented them from going any further. Jewish women and children could proceed into the next section, but that was it for them. Men could proceed into the inner courtyard, but only the priests could go any further than that into the most holy and sacred section. Menstruating women, the deformed, those with infectious diseases, and lunatics were all unclean and needed to stay outside altogether.

 

Into this unfair and unkind caste system Jesus came. He tore down all the divisions and the artificial manmade barriers designed to keep people segregated. Jesus touched the lepers, forgave the prostitutes, and He ate with the tax collectors. He taught that the only thing that divided people (into two distinct groups), was the forgiveness of sins. If you have repented and are forgiven, you are part of the family of God. If you have not repented, then you are on the outside looking in. That’s the only boundary that matters to God.

 

If you’re a Christian then you probably agree with what I just wrote – at least in theory – but how about in actual practice? If a person has placed their faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins do you consider that person to be a brother or sister of yours, in full equality? Is the smelly homeless person, the struggling alcoholic, the Muslim or Hindu, welcome into your worship service? How about into your church family? How about into your home for dinner? Is the single mother with the child born out of wedlock welcome to become a fully member of your church family, in equal standing with everyone else? How about someone of a different race or one in a significantly lower income bracket?

 

Jesus came to destroy the manmade boundaries which separate people. The only distinction which really matters is whether you are a Christian or not. If you are, then you’re a brother or sister of mine and we have equal standing before the Lord. It is absolutely true that the ground is level at the foot of the cross. There are no barriers or boundaries separating people there.

 

God Bless,
Pastor Jim
 

Devotional for Wednesday September 24th

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Boundaries”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” Matthew 25:23 (NIV)

 

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

 

Well, it turns out that I’m not Billy Graham. I know, I know, you’re disappointed, me too. For one thing, I don’t have his hair. I haven’t even owned a comb in over twenty years. More importantly, I don’t have his preaching ability, and I certainly can’t fill an entire stadium with people eager to hear about Jesus.

 

But here’s the good news: I don’t have to be Billy Graham. All I have to do is be the best Jim Mersereau I’m capable of being. God created Billy and Jim as unique individuals and He has a tailor-made plan for each of our lives. In His divine wisdom He gave each of us the gifts, skills, abilities, and talents He wanted each of us to have, and then He holds each of us accountable for how we use what we do have, not for what we don’t have.

 

That’s the lesson Jesus was teaching in Matthew 25:14-30. It’s what we know as “The Parable of the Talents”. In this story there were three men who were each entrusted by the master with something of his, which they were then to put to good use. The amount each was given was determined by the master and was in accordance with their abilities. Each was then held accountable by the master for how they used what they did have, not for what they didn’t have.

 

This is an important lesson because so many of us allow ourselves to feel inadequate – we think we don’t measure up to other people. We believe other people are smarter, more talented, better looking, more successful, etc, and we then come to the conclusion that we are inadequate by comparison. But the truth is that God didn’t create you to be someone else, He created you to be you. And He doesn’t compare your achievements to those of other people He compares your achievements to what He knows you are capable of, based upon what He has given you to work with.

 

Each of us needs to learn to live within the boundaries of who God created us to be. More importantly, we need to learn to be happy about who God created us to be. That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t strive to grow and improve and to acquire new skills, but it does mean that all you are responsible for is to be the best “you”, you are capable of being. Jim Mersereau doesn’t have to try to be Billy Graham. And Billy Graham doesn’t have to try to be Jim Mersereau (which would certainly be the easier side of the equation!) Just be who God created you to be.

 

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Devotional for Tuesday September 23rd

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Boundaries”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not My ways.” This is the Lord’s declaration. “For as heaven is higher than earth, so My ways are higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “We are restricted by boundaries, but God is not.”

 

As human beings we are limited, hemmed in, by the boundaries of our humanity. We have the five senses of sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste but each of them only to a limited degree and we have nothing beyond that. There is no Spock-like sixth sense of mental telepathy which enables us to plant thoughts into the minds of other people or to read their minds. Telekinesis – the ability to move and lift objects simply by thinking about it – is the thing of science fiction movies.

 

We are also limited by our intellect. The human mind is an amazing thing but even the smartest person in the world doesn’t know everything. Likewise and most importantly, we are limited in our ability to understand God and His ways. We have very little understanding of anything supernatural. Being finite physical human beings with only five senses, we have great difficulty grasping the infinite and the spiritual.

 

I hate that. There’s so much I want to know and understand that’s just beyond me. How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? Can God create a rock that’s so heavy even He can’t lift it? Will the Titans ever make it to the Super Bowl? So many questions, so few answers!

 

But on a more serious note, why do innocent children get incurable cancer? Why would a good God allow bad things to happen to the people who love and obey Him? Why is it that when we’re hurting and struggling, God often seems a million miles away?

 

There is so much we simply do not have the capacity to understand. We’re hemmed in by the boundaries of our humanity. But this is where faith comes in. It’s true that we are limited and restricted, but God is not. God sees all, knows all, and has control over all. God is good and He loves us. He will guide us when we cannot see, carry us when we are weak, and protect our interests when the problems are too big and too complicated for us.

 

“Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you. I will hold on to you with My righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10 (HCSB)

 

While it’s true that we are limited by the boundaries of our humanity, it’s also true that God is not. In His divinity He is without limit or restriction and He is Sovereign over all the situations of our lives. And so, since He is boundless as well as infinitely good, and since He loves us without limit, we can walk by faith and simply trust in Him even when we cannot see and do not understand.

 

God Bless,
Pastor Jim
 

Devotional for Monday September 22nd

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Boundaries”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Christ has liberated us to be free. Stand firm then and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Thanks to our freedom in Christ, the boundaries for Biblical living are very wide.”

 

The great Christian writer G.K. Chesterton once wrote an essay about what he called “The problem of pleasure.” His thesis was that many Christians don’t know how to deal with the fact that pleasure is good because God created pleasure. God was the One who created taste buds so we could enjoy our food. It was God who came up with the idea of humor and laughing. Sex was God’s invention. But many Christians are suspicious of pleasure and just a bit uncomfortable with it. This problem of pleasure was the basis upon which the Old Testament Pharisees constructed the huge volumes of rules and regulations designed to govern and regulate virtually every aspect of Jewish life.

 

A careful study of Paul’s letter to the Galatians helps us to understand that Jesus has freed us from the problem. Christ did away with the heavy yoke of the Old Testament Law which produced a highly regulated and extremely narrow way of life. He replaced it with the freedom in Christ that Paul taught us about. It turns out that in the New Testament, the boundaries for Biblical living are extremely wide. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit Christians can learn how to fully enjoy the incredible array of God-created, God-ordained pleasures that life is so full of.

 

But this is not a license to sin. There are limits, there are boundaries. However a mature Christian, following the leading of the Holy Spirit, can enjoy the pleasures of life as a gift from our Father in Heaven without crossing the line into sin. One of the rewards of a mature Christian faith is the ability to fully enjoy the pleasures of life in the right way. This is a gift from God. It is part of our freedom in Christ. But it can only be done under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

 

Praise God that thanks to our freedom in Christ the boundaries for living a life blessed by God are very wide indeed. We will all be better off, and a lot happier, when we learn how it is that an obedient Christian, living a godly life, can still joyfully embrace life in all it’s fulness.

 

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Devotional for Saturday and Sunday September 20-21

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Boundaries”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen.” Hebrews 11:1 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Our life must be lived within the boundary of faith”

 

According to the dictionary “Faith” is: “Confident belief or trust in a person or thing.” It also says that in Christianity, “faith is the secure belief in God or the acceptance of God’s will.” According to the writer of Hebrews, faith is our certainty in the reality of the One in whom we have placed our hope.

 

Faith is a decision we come to, whether there is physical proof to support it or not. It is a certainty we have chosen to embrace. In terms of boundaries, if our faith is strong then by an act of our will, and as the result of an intentional choice, we will confine our thoughts and actions within the boundary of our faith. In the life of Job we find a good example of this.

 

Job was a man who endured a terrible and extended trial which made no sense from a human perspective. In worldly terms, Job could not explain or understand what was happening to him or why. But his thoughts and his entire life were kept within the boundary of his strong faith in God. And so despite his circumstances, he maintained his faith. “Though He slay me, yet I will trust in Him.” Job 13:15 (NKJV). “Yet I know that my Redeemer lives …” Job 15:25 (NKJV).

 

The great devotional writer Oswald Chambers observed that Job refused to make excuses for God. He admitted that he could not fathom why God was either causing or allowing these things in his life, but he (Job) repeatedly asserted that despite his circumstances, he knew that God is good and right and just and that when all was said and done, and when all the facts were known, God would be proven to be good and right and just.

 

That’s an example of life and thought experienced wholly within the boundaries of faith. When our faith in God is the starting point from which we view all the rest of life, then no matter what the circumstances are it will be our faith in God which determines how we think, speak and act. It will also be our faith in God which determines how much anxiety we feel about current events, and how much hope we have for the future. Job viewed it all from within the boundaries of his strong faith in God – and so can we.

 

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Devotional for Friday September 19th

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Boundaries:

 

Our Bible verse for today: “… and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “We need boundaries to govern our thoughts”

 

For many people the life of the mind is the least structured and the most unruly part of them. While they may manage to impose physical boundaries on themselves which control their outward behavior, inwardly their mind is a chaotic mess. Many people have developed the bad habit of “living inside their head”. In other words, while their physical body exists and functions in the real world, inside their head they’ve got a whole other life going on. It consists of wild imagination and fantasy situations. They see themselves winning arguments, wooing lovers, staring in movies, fabulously beautiful (or handsome), and so on. It’s a whole other life going on inside their head which is pretty much divorced from reality.

 

Another common mental mistake is to brood over our conflicts with people and allow them to grow in our mind to exaggerated proportions. This will result in the situation being much worse in our mind than it is in reality.

 

The unrestrained mind can be a wild thing. In 2 Corinthians 10:5 Paul reminds us that we must have well established boundaries to govern our thinking. He writes about the necessity to actually take every thought captive and force it to honor Christ. Imagine a bucking bronco which has to be lassoed, restrained, and then brought under control. Yup, that pretty much describes many of our thoughts.

 

The way we do this is with the help of the Bible and the Holy Spirit. We intentionally fill our minds with Biblically inspired and Biblically guided thoughts. This comes from spending lots of time reading the Bible, listening to Christian music, memorizing and reciting Bible verses, and keeping ourselves immersed in good Christian fellowship. When we do enough of that, we will find that over time we become intentional about keeping our mind occupied with things that honor Christ. This will be true even when, and most importantly, when we are alone and not reading the Bible or listening to Christian music. It’s when we’re alone and our mind is not intentionally engaged, that our thoughts will take off on us.

 

The most important boundaries in our life are the ones that restrict, provide structure for, and govern, our thoughts. Romans 12:2 instructs us, “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.” (HCSB) We need to be intentional about gaining control over our thoughts.

 

God Bless,
Pastor Jim