Our theme for this month: “Mistakes”

Our Bible verse for today: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “Since God has forgiven you, you should forgive yourself.”

1 John 1:9 is probably one of the greatest verses in the Bible. Every Christian needs to have this one committed to memory. If we confess our sins, God forgives us of our sins. There’s no more to it than that. God doesn’t hold a grudge. God doesn’t nurse bitterness and resentment against those who have sinned against Him but who have since asked for forgiveness. We confess, God forgives, and that’s the end of it.

So if God is so willing to forgive us, why are we so unwilling to forgive ourselves? This is a big problem for many of us. We allow a sense of guilt over past mistakes to linger in the back of our mind as it quietly and subtly poisons our thinking and colors our personality. There’s a sense of despair and regret that never entirely goes away.

But God doesn’t want us to live like that. He doesn’t want us to spend our lives shackled to past mistakes, never experiencing the joy of complete forgiveness and the freedom to move forward. Yes we should be sorry for our mistakes. And yes we should learn from them and resolve to avoid those mistakes in the future. And yes we do need to seek forgiveness – from God and from others, but then we need to let it go and move on.

The past is past and it cannot be changed. Living in the past, and allowing ourselves to be haunted by our past mistakes, is a sure recipe for doom and gloom, despair and depression. If you have confessed your sins then God has forgiven you for your sins. Now it’s time to let it go and get on with life. Since God has forgiven you, you need to forgive yourself.

God Bless,

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Mistakes”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Fools think their own way is right, but the wise listen to others.” Proverbs 12:15 (NLT) “Enthusiasm without knowledge is no good; haste makes mistakes.” Proverbs 19:2 (NLT)

 

Our thought for today: “Impatience often leads to poor decisions.”

 

I have grouped Proverbs 12:15 and 19:2 together in this devotional because together they help to emphasize a mistake that many Christians make. I’ve known many Christians who had the bad habit of making hasty decisions, without consulting with others, and then baptizing their decisions as “being from God.” In other words they quickly decided for themselves what they wanted to do in a particular situation, and then rationalized in their own minds that the choice they made must have come from God. Although they would seldom phrase it this way it’s as if they’re thinking, “This is what I want to do, so it must be what God wants me to do too.” They seem to think that their personal desires and whims can be trusted as always being from God and always consistent with God’s will.

 

Impatience in decision-making often leads to serious mistakes being made. When we act in a hurry, without first checking our facts, without consulting others, without checking the Bible for guidance, and without waiting on God, we frequently end up with a mess on our hands. Worse still, when we make choices that are obviously selfish, willful, and inconsistent with Biblical standards, but then try to convince ourselves and others that “God is leading me in this direction”, we fool nobody (certainly not God), and we set ourselves up for serious mistakes.

 

Including God in our decision-making is sometimes quick and easy. If you’re thinking about choking your knucklehead co-worker, you know how God feels about that (Thou shall not murder). If you’re attracted to your neighbor’s wife … well again, it’s a no-brainer, you know what God has to say about that. But many times things are not so clear and so our decision-making cannot be quick and easy. Including God in our choices often requires time, thought, prayer, counsel with others, searching the Scripture, and then more time.

 

Impatience in decision-making often leads to serious mistakes so take the time to include God and others.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Mistakes”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him.” Colossians 1:19

 

Our thought for today: “It is a mistake to misunderstand who Jesus is.”

 

This Sunday at Oak Hill Baptist we will begin a new sermon series on the Gospel of Luke. As we do with every book of the Bible that we study, we will begin in chapter one, verse one, and we will study every major theme in the book. So whatever the next major theme is, that will be the subject for this week’s sermon.

 

I like the Gospel of Luke for many reasons but one of them is that Luke was not a Jew – he was a Gentile, a Greek. Because he was a non-Jew he was able to observe, understand, and then explain the life, times, and ministry of Jesus from a non-Jewish perspective. That’s very helpful to me because I am not a first century Jew living in Biblical Palestine and therefore it’s sometimes difficult for me to accurately understand things from that perspective. Luke is very helpful by simply and clearly explaining great Biblical truths about Jesus in a way that this Gentile can easily understand.

 

A mistake that many of us make is that we allow ourselves to end up with a distorted and inaccurate understanding of who Jesus is and what He is like. Philip Nation, a member of the LifeWay Research Group and a writer for the “Mission of God” study Bible, explained it like this: “It is vital to remember that Jesus is not whom we often make Him out to be. Though He taught, He is more than a great teacher. Though He performed miracles, he was not just a magical figure. Though He lived perfectly, He was not just an ethics professor.”

 

In Colossians chapter one the Apostle Paul tells us that the Jesus we worship and follow is actually the visible image of the invisible God (verse 15); Paul explains that of the members of the Trinity, it was actually Jesus Himself who did the creating (verse 16); it is Jesus who holds all of creation together (verse 17); and all the fullness of God the Father actually dwells within Jesus (verse 19).

 

The Jesus described by Paul is a good bit different from the smiling shepherd holding the little lambs who we commonly present to our children in Sunday school. He’s also a good bit more, and a good bit different, than “Jesus my good buddy, my friend.” as we so often tend to think of Him. Well yes, He our friend, but He is also the Almighty Lord of the universe, the Creator of heaven and earth, God Himself in a human body.

 

Luke is especially good at helping us Gentiles to better understand the real Jesus. A thorough study of his Gospel will help us to avoid the mistake of misunderstanding who Jesus really is.

 

My goal for this study, as a pastor and preacher, is for all of us to grow and mature as a result of digging deeply into the wonderful truths Luke teaches. The Apostle Paul expressed it well in his prayer for the Colossian Christians, “We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God.” Colossians 1:9-10 (HCSB)

 

That’s also my prayer for you. I invite you to join us for our study of the Gospel of Luke.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

 

 

Our theme for this month: “Mistakes”

Our Bible verse for today: “Because of the Lord’s faithful love we do not perish, for His mercies never end. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness! I say: The Lord is my portion, therefore I will put my hope in Him. The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him. It is good to wait quietly for deliverance from the Lord.” Lamentations 3:22-26 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “It is a mistake to give up hope.”

Life can sometimes land us in strange places. Many times we find ourselves wondering, “How did I get here, how did this happen?” Sometimes our regrettable situations are a result of our own mistakes and poor decisions. At other times we find ourselves the innocent victim of someone else’s unjust actions. And sometimes it’s just life. Sometimes our trials and struggles come upon us simply because this is a broken world filled with sickness and death and natural disasters and economic recessions.

The temptation during such times is to lose hope – especially if the difficulties drag on for an extended period of time. But losing hope is always a mistake; that’s especially true for the child of God. Death and destruction, divorce and despair, unemployment and hard times, are never the end of the story. God always has a plan and it is always good. Even in the midst of trials and sufferings God is at work to bring about some good thing for those who love Him (Romans 8:28).

When Jeremiah wrote Lamentations the city of Jerusalem had been destroyed, the people had been taken off into captivity, the brutal army of the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar was in total control, and the future looked bleak. But that was not the end of the story. The truth was that God’s mission, and God’s people, would rise again.

The same is true for us. Regardless of how bleak the current circumstances may look, regardless of how big the challenges are or how high the hurdles seem, the truth is that God isn’t done. His mission and His people will rise again. At the present time the “when” and “how” of it all may have to remain questions for tomorrow; your approach for the moment may be to simply be faithful, to trust in the Lord, and to just keep putting one foot in front of the other as you continue to walk through it. That’s ok because God will give us the grace we need for today. And then He’ll do it again tomorrow, and the day after that and the day after that.

Eventually the entire story will have unfolded and we will be able to view it all from hindsight. And when we do, we will discover that Jeremiah was correct, “Because of the Lord’s faithful love we do not perish, for His mercies never end.”

It is always a mistake to give up hope.

God Bless,

Our theme for this month: “Mistakes”

Our Bible verse for today: “I don’t want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters, about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago … These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us.” 1 Corinthians 10:1, 11 (NLT)

Our thought for today: “We can learn from the examples of others.”

We can and should learn from the examples set for us by others – both the good examples and the bad ones. More specifically, and maybe more importantly, we can learn from the mistakes of others. That’s what Paul was writing about in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. He was reminding his readers of how the ancient Jews disobeyed God, didn’t trust Him to deliver the Promised Land into their hands, and how they suffered greatly as a result. Paul was urging his readers to learn from that bad example and to avoid making a similar mistake.

One of the greatest learning tools God has provided to us are the examples set for us by other people. God brings into our lives godly and faithful men and women who will serve as good examples for us. We should observe their good conduct, consider the benefits and rewards of living that way, and then emulate their examples. If their good conduct produced good results for them, then similar conduct on our part will likely produce similar results for us.

Likewise, we can learn important lessons from the bad examples set by others. If we see someone jump off a tall building, and we observe that they ended up looking a lot like a squished bug on the sidewalk, we can conclude that a similar choice on our part probably wouldn’t turn out any better for us. Of course we can also apply the same logic to virtually any other example. If robbing a bank landed the other person in jail then chances are good it would put us behind bars too. If a lifetime of smoking resulted in the other person dying from lung cancer, there’s a good chance we are at similar risk for developing that disease too if we also smoke.

One of the keys to successful living is to surround yourself with people who are already living the kind of life you would like to have, and to avoid people who don’t. The old adage that over time we become like those we associate with is very true. So find people who are making good choices and getting good results from those choices, and copy their example. Then watch closely the lives of those who are not doing well, carefully consider the poor choices that have gotten them into the situations they are in, and avoid similar conduct in your own life.

We can learn important life lessons by considering the examples of others.

God Bless,

Our theme for this month: “Mistakes”

Our Bible verse for today: “Where can I go to escape Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence?” Psalm 139:7 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “It’s a mistake to take the presence of God for granted.”

How often do you think about gravity? If you’re like most people then the answer is “Not very often.” And yet, gravity exists and if it didn’t, we would all float away into outer space. How about air? How often do you think about air? Again the answer is probably “Not often.” However if all of a sudden there wasn’t any air you’d sure think about it then, at least for the last sixty seconds of your life.

The reason we don’t often think about gravity or air is because they’re invisible to us and therefore we take them for granted. They are always present, and our very lives depend on that presence, but because we can’t actually see them they are usually far from our thoughts.

The presence of God can be like that too. He is always with us but because we can’t actually see Him He is often far from our thoughts – to the point that we take His presence for granted. That’s a mistake. While being numb to the presence of gravity or air is really of little consequence, being numb to the presence of God is tragic.

Nicholas Herman was a Carmelite monk who lived in France in the mid to late 1600’s. He’s better known to modern Christians as “Brother Lawrence”. In his famous book “The Practice of the Presence of God” he describes how it was that he learned to develop an ongoing awareness of God’s presence at all times. Although he spent his days in the monastery’s kitchen preparing meals and washing pots and pans, Lawrence wrote that God’s presence with him there in that kitchen was usually more spiritually profound than anything he ever experienced during his most devoted times of prayer in the chapel.

Brother Lawrence’s relationship with the Lord was so personal, so real, and so obvious for everyone to see, that it became legendary even in his own day. People from all over Europe flocked to that monastery to spend time with him and to receive counsel from him about how they too could develop that kind of deep and real awareness of God’s presence with them. For more than three hundred years since then, his book has been one of the best selling Christians books of all time.

That awareness of God’s presence is also what King David was writing about in Psalm 139. This Psalm is well worth some extra devotional meditation for anyone who wants to become more aware of the ongoing presence of God.

God’s presence is real and we can train ourselves to remain aware of His presence. Psalm 139 and Brother Lawrence’s book will both help us to do that. It’s a mistake to ever take His presence for granted.

God Bless,

Our theme for this month: “Mistakes”

Our Bible verse for today: “The Lord sent all His servants the prophets to you time and time again, but you have not obeyed or even paid attention. He announced, ‘Turn, each of you, from your evil way of life and from your evil deeds; But you would not obey Me.” Jeremiah 25:4-5; 7 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “It is a big mistake for people who know better to rebel against God.”

If you’ve read the book of Jeremiah then you know it’s basically fifty-two chapters of God saying to the Israelites, “I’m running out of patience with you! In a minute you’re going to get it!” But the Israelites didn’t listen and so, they got it. The next book of the Bible, Lamentations, tells that story. It’s essentially a record of the Jews in a Godly time out after having been spanked real good.

The thing is – they knew better. These people had been trained in righteousness. They had been raised in church and they knew God’s standards. Beyond that, they had been warned repeatedly. What we learn from their example is that it’s a big mistake for people who know better to rebel against God. He is very patient, and He will give us lots of chances to correct our behavior, but once He runs out of patience with us look out! The most powerful force in the universe is about to deliver some discipline you’re not going to soon forget.

We often talk about how the “nation” of Israel disobeyed God, and it’s true, the “nation” did disobey Him. But in order for the “nation” to have disobeyed Him it had to mean that “individuals” were disobeying Him. Therefore when we read that the nation was punished, what it really means is individuals were punished. Lots of the them. All of them.

It’s bad enough when an individual who knows better rebels against God and ends up suffering the consequences of their rebellion. But when you have lots of individuals rebelling, an entire nation of them, the magnitude of the Godly discipline becomes historic in scope and we end up with something like what we read about in Lamentations.

As I consider the history of the Jews, and I then observe the rapid downward slide we see occurring in our own society, I shudder to think about where our country is headed, of what lies ahead for us. It can’t be good. Is there a “Lamentations” in our own future? I think there could be.

But let’s not forget that as was the case with the nation of Israel, in order for the nation to be in rebellion the individuals who make up that nation have to be in rebellion. And although you and I as individuals may not be able to influence the entire course of the nation, we can be faithful and righteous in our own behavior. If enough of us do that, then the nation will no longer be in rebellion to God. People often say something like, “I’m only one individual. What can I do?” The answer is, “You can do your part.” And if enough of us do that, there will be an exponential ripple effect throughout society.

The history of the nation of Israel didn’t have to include the story that’s told in Lamentations. That only happened because enough individual Israelites allowed it to happen. But their story doesn’t have to be our story – and the solution begins with you and me. It’s a big mistake for people who know better to rebel against God. You and I know better. So let’s be the ones who obey Him instead.

God Bless,

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Mistakes”

Our Bible verse for today: “Therefore, dear friends, since you know this in advance, be on your guard, so that you are not led away by the error of lawless people and fall from your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 3:17-18 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “Don’t make the mistake of being influenced by ungodly people.”

As I write this it is early Monday morning. If you’re a practicing Christian then in all likelihood yesterday you were safely surrounded by your church family. It was probably a joyful, encouraging, and nurturing time and chances are the influences you were exposed to were positive and they made you a better person. But where will you be today? What kind of people will you be around on your job, at school, in the store? What kind of language will the conversations consist of? Will the business dealings be honest? Will people be treating others with kindness and respect?

The world can often be a harsh place, and the influences we’re exposed to out there are frequently bad. As Peter alludes to in the passage above, we know this in advance. It shouldn’t catch us by surprise that the world is like that and that we will find ourselves confronted with negativism, dishonesty, profanity, unkindness, and much more. So we have to be ready for it. We must have taken the steps in advance so that our faith is strong, our convictions are firm, and our knowledge of the Bible is such that we can immediately recognize right from wrong, good from evil – and then act accordingly.

If we’re not properly prepared to face the world we will quickly discover how easy it is to get steam rolled by peer pressure and swept along with the cultural tide. Many Christians make the mistake of being naive about what they are going to be faced with each day out there in the world and they don’t prepare themselves for it.

It is essential that we protect ourselves by being strong in the Lord. Don’t make the mistake of allowing yourself to be influenced by ungodly people.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

 

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Mistakes”

Our Bible verse for today: “What are your sacrifices to Me?” asks the Lord. I have had enough of burnt offerings and rams and the fat of well-fed cattle; I have no desire for the blood of bulls, lambs, or male goats. When you come to appear before Me, who requires this from you – this trampling of My courts? Stop bringing useless offerings. Your incense is detestable to Me. New Moons and Sabbaths, and the calling of solemn assemblies – I cannot stand iniquity with a festival. I hate your New Moons and prescribed festivals. They have become a burden to Me; I am tired of putting up with them. When you lift your hands in prayer, I will refuse to look at you; even if you offer countless prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.” Isaiah 1:11-15 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “God hates empty religion.”

As I write this it’s the day before Easter. Tomorrow we will gather to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord. It will be a joyful time of celebration and renewal. So what does Isaiah 1:11-15 have to do with Easter?

The Jews in Isaiah’s time had become mostly just a “culturally” religious people. By that I mean that the practice of the Jewish faith had become a routine and somewhat monotonous part of daily life. Attending the services, saying the prayers, performing the rituals, it was all just what was expected of a good upstanding Jew. You did it because everybody else did and you would have stood out if you didn’t do it too. So everybody went to the synagogue, they lit the incense and they offered the sacrifices. And of course, their conversations were peppered with all the appropriate God-talk and religious clichés. 

And God hated it. It was detestable to Him. He essentially told them they could take their empty religion and just get on out of His temple. He had no use for it and it was worse than meaningless.

What they needed was genuine spiritual renewal of the heart. It’s what we need too. And that brings us to the subject of our annual Easter celebration. It’s more than just “High Attendance Sunday”. It’s more than just the one day of the year when Billy Bob wears a suit to church. And yes, it’s more than just the annual Easter egg hunt on the church lawn.

Now please don’t misunderstand me, those things are all ok. I’m in favor of high attendance – especially on Easter Sunday; and I think Billy Bob looks good in a suit; and the egg hunt is fun for the little kids; those things are ok in conjunction with Easter – but only in conjunction, not as the main point. You see, one of the most important aspects of an appropriate celebration of Easter is when it becomes for us a day of renewal.

Throughout the year, if we’re not careful, the practice of our worship services can become routine, mindless, and empty. We can become very much like the Jews of Isaiah’s day – just going through the motions. Easter helps to correct that. Although every worship service should be a celebration of the resurrection of our Lord, Easter Sunday is the day of the year when the resurrection is most prominently celebrated.

God hates empty religion. Our celebration of Easter helps to renew and freshen and revitalize our faith. Tomorrow may you be renewed as your worship the resurrected Lord.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Mistakes”

Our Bible verse for today: “Finally brothers, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable – if there is any moral excellence and if there is any praise – dwell on these things.” Philippians 4:8 (HCSB)

Our thought for today: “Don’t make the mistake of dwelling on bad thoughts.”

Philippians 4:4-13 is one of the greatest and most encouraging passages in the Bible. In verse four Paul emphatically calls for God’s people to “Rejoice!” He then urges us to display a gracious spirit that is evident and obvious to all. In verse six he gives us the prescription for dealing with fear and anxiety. There he tells us that rather than worrying about anything we should simply commit it to prayer and then trust the Lord. If we do that we will discover that the peace of the Lord floods our heart. In verses seven and eight he exhorts us to focus our minds on good, lovely, and pure things rather than dwelling on negative things and being pessimistic. He then moves on and in verses eleven and twelve he writes of how he has learned to be content and satisfied in whatever circumstances he happens to be in. And he sums it all up by declaring that he can do all things through Christ who strengthens him.

It’s a bright, cheerful, and excessively positive passage of Scripture written by an old man, incarcerated in a Roman prison, and probably facing execution. Amazing!

The mind set Paul models for us in Philippians 4:4-13 actually serves to illustrate by contrast a big mistake that many Christians make. In this situation we see that Paul was upbeat and positive, trusting in the Lord and singing His praises, even though he was going through some pretty tough times. Unfortunately many of us tend to do the exact opposite. When times are hard we tend to grumble and groan, we criticize and complain, we whine and whimper. All too often we indulge in self-pity as we feel very sorry for ourselves, and we want others to feel sorry for us too.

The approach Paul prescribes for Christians is to be intentional about praising the Lord. He says we should engage in extra prayer about the situation, make it a point to fill our mind with uplifting and encouraging thoughts (hymns and scripture work nicely), be content, and trust in the Lord. What will happen if you will approach your tough times like that? He tells us in verse seven, “And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

It’s a big mistake to allow ourselves to indulge in self-pity and to dwell on negative thoughts. Make it a point to follow Paul’s model in this passage. If you do, you’ll discover that you feel a lot better, those around you will be grateful and encouraged by your good example, and your problems will probably get resolved a lot faster than if you grouse and groan and wallow in self-pity.

God Bless,