Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “A fresh start in a new year”   Our Bible verse for today: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” Philippians 4:4 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “What moves your heart and feeds your soul?”   This morning, I want to continue our thinking from yesterday regarding making some changes in your life in 2025 that will make you feel better physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. I’m talking about changes that will lift you up and revive your soul, giving you a new zest for life and a feeling of deep satisfaction.   I love Paul’s jubilant exclamation in Philippians 4:4 urging us to rejoice in the Lord always. He’s describing a heart that is full, lifted-up, revived, and joyful. Don’t you want to experience that more in your own life? Of course you do. We all do. To begin with, that rejoicing stems from a heart that keeps looking to Jesus in all circumstances, as Paul will teach in the rest of that chapter. But it’s also true that joy like that stems from us making smart choices and doing the right things to be living our best life.   One of my personal go-to positive affirmations, one that I refer to often and try to abide by is, “Reject that which drains you; embrace that which gives life.” Towards that end, I try to intentionally fill my life with things that feed my soul and lift my spirits.   Applying that thinking to the subject of making New Years resolutions, let me take us back to my opening question to you, “What moves your heart and feeds your soul?” What things quicken your pulse and create in you an eager sense of anticipation as you think about doing those things? (Of course, I’m referring to good things, healthy practices that feed your soul). I want to suggest to you that doing more of those things would be an excellent objective for a New Years resolution.   When it comes to improving the overall quality of your life there could be some things that tend to drain you and which you should therefore do less of, but there are other things that move your heart and feed your soul, which you should do more of.   I encourage you to spend some time this morning quietly sitting before the Lord and thinking deeply about the kinds of things that move your heart and feed your soul and how you can experience more of that in 2025.   God bless, Pastor Jim    (If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals, and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00, in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Copyright © 2024 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “A fresh start in a new year”   Our Bible verse for today: “Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord and not for people.” Colossians 3:23 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Success feels good”   It just feels good to be successful, to do something well. When we achieve a goal and accomplish something that we can be proud of, we feel good about ourselves. This is one of the benefits of making New Years resolutions (and sticking with them). You identified an area in your life that needed to be improved or corrected, you created a plan to do something about it, and then you made progress in that area. That just feels good.   I know a person who made a resolution to finally quit smoking after having smoked for most of her adult life – and she did it! Not only is she rightly proud of herself, but she feels better. She is breathing easier and she has the satisfaction of knowing that she is taking better care of herself. That just feels good.   I know someone else who resolved to eat better, exercise, and lose weight. He did it and it has made a significant difference in his life. He looks better, feels better, and he can once again do some physical activities that he used to be able to do but then couldn’t when he was out of shape. Does he feel good about the changes in his life? You bet he does!   I know a married couple who resolved to take their relationship with Jesus to a higher level, and to do it together. They were already solid Christians, individually and as a couple, but they resolved to pray together more, to study together, and to be even more active and faithful in church life. The change in them has been noticeable. As I said, they were already rock-solid but now their commitment to the cause of Christ, to the church, and to each other has been elevated to a new and higher level. They feel good about that because they are experiencing the benefits of the change.   As pastor and author Chuck Swindoll once observed, “There is sheer joy to be found in living life well.”   As you prayerfully consider the New Years resolutions you will make and the changes they will bring about in your life, I encourage you to imagine how good it will feel when you begin to experience those positive changes.   God bless, Pastor Jim   (If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals, and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00, in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Copyright © 2024 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “A fresh start in a new year”   Our Bible verse for today: “When an unclean spirit comes out of a person, it roams through waterless places looking for rest but doesn’t find any. Then it says, “I’ll go back to my house that I came from.” Returning, it finds the house vacant, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and settle down there. As a result, the person’s last condition is worse than the first.” Matthew 12:43-45 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Remove the bad; replace it with good”   For many years, I have been working with men in jails, prisons, and rehab centers who have struggled with substance abuse and all the damage such a lifestyle results in. Typically, those men desperately want to break free from that world, settle down, and live a healthy, productive, and normal life.   The first step for them is always to come to faith in Christ. That’s the most important decision they can make and it’s the one that will make the most difference. Then they must resolve to follow Him in close discipleship. Once that process is in place, we then begin to address issues such as restoring broken relationships, developing good work habits, becoming financially responsible, and many other lifestyle issues that are part of a normal, healthy, productive life.   Getting the drugs and the dependency out of the man’s life is crucial. But that then must be quickly replaced by better habits. If the bad thing is removed but isn’t replaced with something good, there will be a vacuum, an empty space just waiting to be filled. And as they say, “Nature abhors a vacuum.” And so does Satan. Leave that space in your life empty for just a short time and nature or Satan or both will quickly move to fill it for you. That’s the lesson Jesus was teaching in Matthew 12:43-45.   When it comes to making New Years resolutions, we must be thinking about removing bad habits from our life and replacing them with good. If you are going to stop eating bad food you will need to replace it with good food. If you going to stop sleeping late every morning you will spend that time instead on something better, such as time in prayer and Bible study.   I’m sure you see the point. Improving your life is about removing the bad and then replacing it with something good. I encourage you to prayerfully consider what things, what habits or activities, should be removed from your life and what better things you will then replace that with. Just like Santa, make a list and then check it twice.   God bless, Pastor Jim   (If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals, and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00, in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Copyright © 2024 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “A fresh start in a new year”   Our Bible verse for today: “For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?” Luke 14:28 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Be thoughtful, prayerful, and intentional”   I don’t remember where I first came across this statement but I do know it spoke to me powerfully, to the point that I have remembered it for a long time. It also served to reinforce my strong belief in the importance of making resolutions and plans. The statement reads, “A wise person asks, ‘Does the path I’m walking lead to a place I want to go? If I keep walking this way, will I like where I arrive?”   It’s an important question. If you keep eating the way you eat now, and if you continue to make excuses for not exercising, what will the condition of your health be five years from now; in ten years? Is the path you’re walking in terms of diet and exercise leading you to an outcome you want? Will you like it when that day comes?   In terms of finances, if you keep spending the way you spend now, and if you don’t get better at budgeting and saving, what will your financial situation be in five years, or in ten? Will that be the outcome you wanted? Or perhaps, should you learn and incorporate better money management practices now so your situation will be better then?   Will your current habits lead you to the future you want? You can apply that question to a wide range of life issues.   In Luke 14:28 Jesus was teaching a lesson about being thoughtful and intentional regarding the decisions we make and the actions we take. In that specific case, He was speaking to those who were considering following Him. He cautioned them to think it through, consider where that path would lead, and make sure that was the life they were seeking and that they were willing to pay the price for that choice. That was the specific context, but the larger principle applies to all of life. Be thoughtful, prayerful, and intentional about the path you are walking because it is leading you somewhere and to something. Will you like it once you get there?   The reason we make New Years resolutions is because we recognize there are things in our life that need to be different. We make resolutions because we want life to be better. Are you ready to make some changes for the better? So am I. Tomorrow we will begin.   God bless, Pastor Jim   (If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals, and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00, in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Copyright © 2024 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “A fresh start in a new year”   Our Bible verse for today: “But we encourage you, brothers and sisters, to do this even more, to seek to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, so that you may behave properly in the presence of outsiders and not be dependent on anyone.” 1 Thessalonians 4:10-12 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Slow it down and simplify”   At this point in our study of getting a fresh start in the new year, we are still adjusting our thinking and perspective about life in general. So far, we have considered the value of time and the importance of not wasting it on trivial pursuits or on people who are simply wasting our time. Such activities and people are not worthy of being given a little piece of our life that we can never get back (our time).   Another adjustment many of us will need to make if we are truly going to live well in 2025 is to slow down and simplify life. The fact is that most of us are entirely too busy for our own good. Our lives are crammed with activities, demands, responsibilities, and noise. So much so that we go through life stretched thin and frazzled. We even pride ourselves on being busy. Ask someone how they are doing and there’s a good chance they will say something like, “Good, just busy.” Everyone is “busy.”   The problem is that when we have too much going on at one time, we end up doing lots of things poorly rather than a few things well. I want to tell you this morning that multitasking is a lie. Satan has deceived us into thinking that our brain can effectively focus on more than one thing at a time. It can’t. When you multitask what that means is that your brain is rapidly flickering back and forth between multiple things rather than focusing intently on just one of them.   We all believe that the things keeping us so busy are all important and we can’t eliminate any of them. But that’s not true either. The truth is that nobody can do everything and some things are more important than others. It’s not at all uncommon for good things to take us away from the best things. Choices must be made and the word “no” does need to be said. In 1 Thessalonians 4:10-12 the Apostle Paul even made the case for leading a slower, simpler, quieter life rather than one of constant frantic activity.   Soon in this series I will be asking you to consider making some New Years resolutions that will serve as a plan and a guide for you throughout 2025. To do that, you will have to make choices to do some things and to not do others. Towards that end, I have a book to recommend to you that I believe you will find helpful. The title is “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry,” by pastor and author John Mark Comer. It is the best book about this kind of life-change that I have ever read and I strongly recommend it to you.   One of the best pieces of advice I could offer for some of you this morning regarding the structure of your life in 2025 is to slow it down and simplify it around the people and activities that matter the most.   God bless, Pastor Jim   (If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals, and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00, in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Copyright © 2024 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “A new year, a fresh start”   Our Bible verse for today: “Pay careful attention, then, to how you live – not as unwise people but as wise – making the most of the time, because the days are evil. So don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” Ephesians 5:15-17 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Don’t waste your time”   This morning, as we continue considering how we will spend our time in 2025, I want us to think again about my favorite quote regarding the wise use of our time. It comes from Benjamin Franklin and in modern English it reads, “Do you value your life? Then value your time because time is the stuff life is made of.”   As I noted in yesterday’s devotional, your life is made up of the seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, and decades that the Lord grants to you. Your life consists of your time and therefore you must be wise and careful about how you use your time because that is how you are using your life. Also, time is irretrievable. Once the second, minute, hour, or day has passed, you can never have it back. Therefore, when you give some of your time to a person or activity, you have given that person or activity a little piece of your life – a piece you can never have back.   That being the case, I urge you to be thoughtful and careful about who or what you give your time to because you are indeed giving that person or activity a little piece of your life. So, be sure that person or activity is worthy of receiving such a precious gift and don’t allow that little piece of your life to be wasted.   This is important because there are plenty of activities that are simply a waste of time. That means they are also a waste of your life. Cut such things out of your life. And there are people who will gladly waste your time. Don’t allow them to do it! Your time is precious because your time is your life. Make sure the activity or person is worthy of receiving it and don’t let them waste it.   I urge you: Don’t you waste your time, and don’t let others waste your time either. Give careful, prayerful thought to who and what you will devote your time to in 2025. In the days and weeks to come we will think about constructive and helpful ways to do that.   God bless, Pastor Jim     (If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals, and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00, in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Copyright © 2024 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “A new year, a fresh start”   Our Bible verse for today: “Teach us to number our days carefully so that we may develop wisdom in our heart.” Psalm 90:12 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Don’t just meander through life”   “Meander” means to drift, roam, shuffle along, usually without a clear plan or purpose. It is sometimes referred to as drifting with the tide or being carried along by the currents. When applied to a person it means the person lives life without purpose or direction. They just meander through life.   Those of you who know me, or who have followed my preaching, teaching, or writing for any length of time, you know that I have a favorite quote that I refer to often regarding the value of time and how we use it. It comes from Benjamin Franklin and in modern English it reads: “Do you value your life? Then value your time, because time is the stuff life is made of.”   Your life is made up of seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, and decades. And the thing about time is that once it has passed, you can never have it back. So, if your life is made up of the time the Lord has granted you, and if it is indeed fleeting and irretrievable, then we should be careful and intentional about how we use our time. That was Ben Franklin’s point.   That is also the point being taught by Moses, the writer of Psalm 90. In verse 12 he teaches two important truths. The first is that we are to number our days carefully. In other words, we are to appreciate the value of every day of life the Lord allows us to have. The second truth contained in that verse is that we will be wise if we do give careful thought to how we use our time. In other words, squandering your time is foolish.   Sadly, many people do squander their time. They just meander through the days of their lives without much thought or planning. They just do life. That kind of careless and ambivalent approach to life is unbiblical and therefore sinful. The Bible teaches that life is precious and we are to treat it as such. And that doesn’t just mean protecting life but also living it well and in meaningful ways.   As we set the stage for devotionally thinking about a new year and a fresh start, the mindset with which we approach it will be critical. Therefore, we will devote several days to reorienting our thinking about the value of our time (our life), and how we will use it in 2025.   Let’s not meander through our days just doing life and squandering our time. Instead, let’s be intentional and purposeful as we make the most of it.     God bless, Pastor Jim   (If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals, and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00, in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Copyright © 2024 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone, Our theme for this month: “A fresh start in a new year” Our Bible verse for today: “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:13-14 (CSB) Our thought for today: “It’s time for a fresh start” So, how was 2024 as a year for you? Hopefully you experienced many blessings along with great joy, and you had many meaningful accomplishments. But if you are like most of us (and you are), then the year also included its share of pain and sorrow, failures and regrets as well. Knowing what you know now, if you could go back and live the year again would you change some things and hopefully create some different outcomes? Of course you would. We all would. The bad news is that we can’t. There is no going back, there is only moving forward. (Well, okay, there is also the option of remaining where you are but that would be the equivalent of being stuck in the mud or mired in quicksand – and nobody wants to live like that.) In terms of approaching life with a positive, forward-looking attitude that will help us to be successful, there is no going back, only forward.   That’s the issue Paul was addressing in Philippians 4:13-14. There was plenty in his past that he regretted and that he would change if he could. But he couldn’t. The past was past and he couldn’t have it back. What he did have was the present moment and the hope of tomorrow. Therefore, he resolved to shake off the past, live fully in the present, and move forward into the future. January 1st is only a day on the calendar but still, it has great symbolic meaning and it has the potential to motivate us in positive ways. It is the beginning of a new year and it is a great time to get a fresh start. So, for the rest of this month and then on through January, we will think about how we can move forward into 2025 with intentionality and purpose – setting clear goals, making good plans, and then sticking with it. I hope you are looking forward with eagerness and anticipation to getting a fresh start in 2025. God bless, Pastor Jim (If you like what you’re reading in these daily devotionals, and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Copyright © 2024 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone, Our theme for this month: “Living with joy” Our Bible verse for today: “And my God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19 (CSB) Our thought for today: “The joy of trusting Jesus” I love the way Paul chose to conclude this letter of joy. He does it by speaking words of assurance and encouragement and he does so within the context of his important closing lesson about giving, receiving, and being content. Paul writes, “my” God will meet all “your” needs according to “His” riches, in glory in Christ Jesus. This was personal for Paul. This was “his” God he was writing about. Paul had learned through many years of personal experience that his God was the God of all provisions. His God is the God who watches over His children and who is committed to taking care of them and providing for them. Paul had learned this in his own life over many years. “My God will meet all your needs.” In other words, “He will do the same for you that He has done for me.” Paul had spent his life sacrificially serving the people of God without regard for himself. In return God had consistently met all of Paul’s needs – sometimes in abundance and sometimes not, but always his real needs were met. So here Paul was telling the Philippians that God would provide for them in the same way that God had provided for him and so, they did not need to worry. “My God will meet all of your needs (and many of your desires as well), just as He has done for me.” And He will do it out of His great riches, out of His abundance. This is the God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills. This is the God who created the sun and the moon and the stars. This is the God who can influence anyone, anywhere, at any time to accomplish whatever He wants done. God owns it all, He is rich, and He is well able to take care of His children. So, Paul assures them and us that God will provide, as appropriate, and He will do it out of His riches. And He will do it for the glory of Christ Jesus. You see, when God comes through for us in this way it’s a great testimony to Him. It proves once again that He is indeed a great and loving and compassionate God and that the best life anyone will ever have is the one that is lived in close relationship with Him. Gods got this – whatever “this” is in your life at this moment. You can stop worrying and simply trust Him. This is the joy of trusting in Jesus. I hope you have found this extended focus on living with joy helpful, and that you have a renewed sense of joy in Christ that you are carrying with you as you continue this great adventure of living the Christian life. Tomorrow we will begin a new series that will help to prepare us for a fresh start in a new year. God bless, Pastor Jim (If you like what you’re reading in these daily devotionals, and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville)

Copyright © 2024 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone, Our theme for this month: “Living with joy” Our Bible verse for today: “But I have received everything in full, and I have an abundance. I am fully supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you provided – a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.” Philippians 4:18 (CSB) Our thought for today: “The joy of receiving” Do you like to receive gifts? I like to receive gifts. We all like to receive gifts. But which do you enjoy more, giving a gift or receiving one? And which is easier for you, to be the giver or the receiver? Many years ago, when I was first starting out in ministry at Hilltop Baptist Church in Chula, Vista, CA., people in the congregation would sometimes give me little gifts of various types, and it always made me uncomfortable. Mostly it was a pride thing on my part but I had great difficulty receiving the gifts. I wanted to be the giver of gifts not the recipient of them. Finally, one day the pastor’s wife came up and in her gentle grandmotherly way, and with a warm smile on her face, she put her hand on my shoulder and said, “Jim, there is the grace of giving and there is also the grace of receiving. You are a wonderful giver Jim, but you’re a lousy receiver. You have to learn to let people bless you.” And she was right. There is the grace of giving, but there is also the grace of receiving. That’s what Paul was demonstrating in Philippians 4:18 – the grace of receiving. Whether he felt he needed the gift or not, he simply and graciously received it – and with great thanksgiving. We must learn to do that too. The other lesson Paul reinforces here is the one we thought about in the previous devotional – the benefit and blessings to the giver of gifts. Paul knew that it was good for them, and it was to their benefit, to be the givers of gifts. That’s true, but in order for there to be givers, there must also be receivers. So as an act of ministry to them, Paul graciously became the receiver so they could reap the benefits of being givers. There is great joy to be found in the giving of gifts, but for there to be a giver there must also be a receiver, and receiving should be done with graciousness and joy. God bless, Pastor Jim (If you like what you’re reading in these daily devotionals, and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville)

Copyright © 2024 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571