Devotional for Monday January 27th

Good Morning Everyone,
 
Our theme for this month: “Change”
 
Our Bible verse for today: “Lord, Your word is forever; it is firmly fixed in heaven.” Psalm 119:89 (HCSB)
 
Our thought for today: “The Bible provides us with eternal truth that never changes.”
 
One thing a study of history teaches us is that the world is an ever-changing place. Nations rise and nations fall; leaders and celebrities are celebrated for a short time, and then they die and are gone; cultural trends and societal norms change; and technology – my goodness it seems to change almost daily.
 
Everything about life and the world we live in is in a constant state of change. Nothing stays the same – ever. That includes our concepts of right and wrong. Things that used to be taboo in generations past, are now commonly accepted as being normal. Also, we are now frequently told that there really is no objective standard of truth. More and more the truth of any situation is in the eye of the beholder, and so what is true for you may not be true for me. Therefore keep your opinions to yourself.
 
The problem with that kind of thinking of course, is that it leads to chaos. It leads to everyone doing what is right in their own eyes. It also opens the door for all sorts of aberrations of behavior. When there is no unchanging standard of truth upon which everything else is measured, progressive thinking runs amuck and there’s almost no end to the social carnage.
 
Back in the 70’s there was a cult movie entitled “Soylent Green”. It was about a futuristic world where most of the people on the planet substituted on a food source known as “Soylent Green”, which was distributed to the masses of people by the One World Government.  The other curiosity about this futuristic society was that at a certain age all citizens were required to turn themselves in to a government euthanasia clinic. You see, in an effort at population control, the government found it necessary to limit the allowable life span to 70 years old. At that point, for the good of the rest of society, you were to turn yourself in and your life would be humanely ended. At the end of the movie we discovered that Soylent Green, the food source for the masses, was being made out of the bodies of those who had obediently turned themselves in to the euthanasia centers for the good of society. It was a gross and disgusting movie but it sort of makes my point. Left to ourselves, with no objective standard of truth to govern us, there is no end to the twisted thinking we are capable of and the immoral aberrations society will embrace.
 
To have a “Biblical world view” means that we accept the Bible as God’s acceptable standard for all human conduct. It applies to all people, in all places, at all times. And it never changes. As “people of the Book” we evaluate all the rest of life, and everything in the world around us, through the lens of what the Bible teaches. We consider everyone and everything based upon how it compares to what God says in the Bible.
 
In the Bible not only does God reveal to us the truth He wants us to have about Himself, eternity, the spiritual realm, etc, but He also provides us the guidance we need in order to be protected from ourselves. As the movie Soylent Green so effectively illustrated, left to ourselves, our thinking and our conduct will degenerate to an ugly and unimaginable degree.
 
The Bible provides us with truth that never changes. All we need to do is read it, obey it, and then use it as the lens through which we see and evaluate all the rest of life.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
 
 

Devotional for Saturday and Sunday January 25-26

Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Change”
Our Bible verse for today: “Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” James 1:27 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “We should spend more time helping others.”
 
I read the results of a survey the other day published in a Christian magazine which reported that when asked what kind of career people would want if money didn’t matter, 42 percent of Americans answered that they would want to do something that helps others. Specific professions mentioned were nurse, social worker, human rights worker, philanthropist, and teacher.
 
The survey was directed at Americans in general, not specifically at Christians, but I suspect that if it were just Christians who were included then the percentage of those desiring to spend more time helping others would be much higher.
 
I find those results encouraging and to be consistent with what I believe to be true of most Christians. There’s something about helping others that we find personally satisfying and deeply rewarding. It’s also Biblical. James 1:27 is just one of the numerous passages in both the Old and New Testaments where God calls His people to intentionally and frequently help others in need.
 
However, although many people do have a deep desire to do more of those kinds of things, for a variety of reasons they don’t. I think the primary reason is that they just get so caught-up in the busyness of life that their good intentions never seem to translate into actions. Also, for many Christians, their churches are so internally focused on their worship services, Sunday school classes, fellowship events, and other internal activities, that there is little or no large-group humanitarian ministry taking place outside the physical walls of the church buildings.
 
In order to push back against that trend, at Oak Hill Baptist our model of ministry revolves around humanitarian ministry activities – most of which take place outside the church facilities. There’s never a time in our church life when we are not in the middle of preparing for the next act of helping some person or some group. By providing that structure and creating those opportunities, we have made it easy for our folks to be involved in a very active and meaningful expression of their faith by means of helping others. And in the process, they’re doing things that deep in their heart they want to be doing anyway.
 
If you live here in Crossville, TN and your church is not currently involved in those kinds of activities, then we invite you to participate in some of what we are doing. We’re not going to try to steal you away from your own church, we don’t do that. But we are happy to include people from other churches in our humanitarian relief projects. Here’s a few that are coming up:
 
On Saturday February 15th we will take the teenage girls who live in the Tennessee Baptist Children’s Home to see a performance of the musical “Grease” at the Cumberland County Playhouse. Afterwards we will treat them to dinner at Ryan’s restaurant. These are at-risk girls who have been removed from dangerous and highly dysfunctional homes. We have found that fun fellowship with a loving church family in a relaxed social setting makes a profound impact in their lives and is good ministry.
 
On Sunday March 2nd we will prepare and serve the evening meal at the Bread of Life Rescue mission. We will also conduct an evangelistic service before dinner.
 
And on April 4-5 we will go on a short mission trip to eastern Kentucky to bring food and clothes to some of the poorest who live in a remote region of coal mining country. We work in partnership with a small church in the region which has a heart for helping meet the needs of some of the most impoverished people in their community.
 
These are the kinds of things most Christians really want to be involved in anyway, and it is what God calls for in the Bible. Many well-intentioned Christians simply need to have a structured opportunity made available for them. That being the case, we would be happy for you to join with us – no strings attached.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
 

Devotional for Friday January 24th

Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Change”
Our Bible verse for today: “Yet Lord, You are our Father, we are the clay, and You are our potter; we are all the work of Your hands.” Isaiah 64:8 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Sometimes we don’t need to change.”
 
Most of what we’ve considered so far this month involves bringing about some kind of change in our lives. While it’s true of all of us that there are plenty of things in each of our lives that do need to change, some things don’t.
The other day I read a magazine article written by Thom Rainer, the President of LifeWay Christian Resources. I’ve met Thom several times. He’s a nice man, warm and friendly, easy to be with. What surprised me about the article was the topic of it and what Thom confessed to in it. He wrote:
 
“Some people are surprised when, as CEO of a large company, I confess to being an introvert. Admittedly, it’s an odd combination. I’m required to be out front leading and speaking every week when, honestly, I’d rather be alone.”
Thom went on to explain that it’s not that he doesn’t like people – he does, it’s just that being with people, especially for an extended period of time, is emotionally and physically draining and he needs to therefore withdraw from time to time to recharge his emotional batteries. He also went on to explain that there’s nothing wrong with being an introvert, just as there’s nothing wrong with being an extrovert – it’s just how God has wired us. But it is important for us to recognize which type we are, and to realize that there are strengths and weaknesses associated with each personality type. (By the way, the population tends to be divided almost equally between introverts and extroverts).
 
Extroverts thrive on being with people, it energizes them. Introverts draw strength and energy in quiet solitude. Extroverts tend to be balls of fire and good at casual conversation, but they sometimes have way too much going on and they often don’t stick with a task long enough to see it through to completion. Introverts are thoughtful and tend to be good planners, but they can also sometimes seem distant and hard to connect with.
 
I can relate to Thom because I too am an introvert – very much so. Given the choice between attending a social event or spending the night at home with a good book, the book wins probably seven out of ten times. It’s not that I don’t like people – I do, I love them, but they wear me out too. Being with people for long periods of time is draining; and the longer the encounter goes on the harder it gets.
 
So there it is – I’m out of the closet. My name is Jim and I’m an introvert. Not only that, but I’m an introvert in what is commonly assumed to be an extrovert’s profession. In our culture it’s assumed that a pastor needs to be an extrovert but, many of us aren’t. There are more introverted pastors than you might think.
 
Being an introvert isn’t a bad thing, it’s just how God wired me. And I don’t have to change, but I do have to understand my personality type and make necessary adjustments when the occasion calls for it. Sometimes an introvert has to venture out of his comfort zone and be an extrovert for a while because that’s what the situation calls for. Likewise, sometimes the extrovert needs to back it down a couple of notches and spend some time thinking and listening instead of talking.
 
My point in all this is that it’s ok to simply be who God created you to be. Don’t let the expectations of others force you into a mold you weren’t meant to fit. Sometimes it’s not necessary to change.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Devotional for Thursday January 23rd

Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Change”
Our Bible verse for today: “Luke, the dearly loved physician, and Demas greet you.” Colossians 4:14 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “We need to change how we think about mental illness.”
There’s little debate about the fact that Luke, the Apostle Paul’s traveling companion and partner in ministry, the author of the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts, was a medical doctor. The Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible says that there are around 400 medical references found in the books of Luke and Acts. Paul himself referred to Luke as “the dearly loved physician.” So that means that Paul had is own personal physician as part of his traveling ministry team.
But why? Few people in the history of Christianity have ever been endowed with more miracle-working power from the Holy Spirit than the Apostle Paul. If he was sick he could just heal himself, right? And surely he would be able to simply lay hands on any of his traveling companions who were sick and they too would have been healed simply by prayer. So why did God give Paul a medical doctor to travel with him?
The answer is because medical science, medical treatments, and medicine itself is a gift from God and such things are frequently used by God to minister to the physical needs of His people. Dr. Luke was an instrument of ministry in the hands of God, and his medical skills were used by God to provide treatment for Paul and others on his team.
Yesterday I read an article in the Southern Baptist magazine “Facts and Trends”. The LifeWay Research group (an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention) recently conducted a study about Christian attitudes regarding mental illness. The study revealed that 48% of Christians believe serious mental illness can be overcome entirely by means of prayer and Bible study.
Ed Stetzer, the President of LifeWay Research, worries that Christians fail to see mental illness as an illness. There seems to be a belief that mental illness is nothing more than a problem of thinking and perception, and that it can therefore be dealt with by means of a simple attitude adjustment. Pray enough, recite enough Bible verses, have a strong enough faith, and that ought to do the trick.
Well yes, sometimes mental illness can be cured in that way. Likewise, sometimes cancer is miraculously cured by God too – but usually not. Usually if there is going to be a cure, God sends it in some way other than a miracle. If you break your leg the correct thing to do is to go to the Emergency Room for treatment and when you do, nobody will accuse you have having weak faith in God. Likewise if you have cancer and choose to accept chemo therapy to treat it, few people will criticize you for doing so. Why then the stigma about using medical treatment and therapy to deal with a mental illness?
It’s true that in the Bible there are no examples of mental illness being treated with medicines and therapy. But there are also no Biblical examples of liver transplants, or of heart by-pass surgery, or dental implants. The reason is that such procedures didn’t exist in those days. But they do exist in our day, and we should thank God that they do. We’re fortunate to live in an age of history when medical science can provide us with treatments like that. Those treatments and procedures are a gift from God – His healing miracles in our day, and we should rejoice and be glad for it!
That’s also the case when it comes to treating mental illness. We should pray about mental illness every bit as much as we pray about cancer, and recovery from a stroke, and heart surgeries. But we should also accept the medical treatments that are available for such things.
Mental illness is an illness. And like any other illness, there are treatments for it. The fact is that we need to change how we think about mental illness.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Devotional for Wednesday January 22nd

Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Change”
Our Bible verse for today: “Your name will no longer be Abram, but your name will be Abraham, for I will make you the father of many nations.” Genesis 17:5 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Sometimes change is a symbol of something even greater.”
Have you ever known someone who changed their name? I’ve known several. I know a man whose life pretty much fell apart in his late 50’s. Once he got through it and entered into a new season of life, he started going by his middle name instead of by his first name – symbolizing to himself that he was a new man with a fresh vision for the rest of his life.
Sometimes the name change is ridiculous. A few years ago there was a professional athlete who legally changed his name to “Meta-World Peace.” At other times the change goes in the other direction from ridiculous to reasonable, such as when a young person matures and stops going by a silly nickname.
There are many other kinds of change that also symbolize something greater, something deeper than the obvious outward appearance. Take for example the young man who wears saggy pants, a backwards ball cap, and who has an intentionally sloppy appearance but who then suddenly starts dressing nicely. What does that change signify? It shows that he grew up, that he matured, that he became a man.
In Genesis 17:5 God changed Abram’s name to Abraham to signify the beginning of a God-given mission that would encompass the rest of Abraham’s life. The name change was highly symbolic of something much greater.
The truth is that God is in the business of changing people, and when a big God-directed change occurs, it will be symbolized by other changes that in themselves are less significant, but which point to the bigger and more significant change.
What changes is God bringing about in your life and in what manner will those changes show up, how will they be symbolized? You probably don’t need to change your name, but do you need to change your style of dress? Are you a Christian man who walks around with his pants below his butt? Or maybe you’re a young Christian woman whose clothes are too tight and too revealing. How about your lifestyle or the people you associate with, do they need to change?
Is there some obvious outward change that needs to occur in your life which will symbolize a deeper, more significant inward change that has occurred? Sometimes the observable outward change is a symbol of something greater, deeper and more significant.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Devotional for Tuesday January 21st

Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Change”
Our Bible verse for today: “Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith.” Hebrews 12:1-2 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Sometimes we just need to change our focus.”
If you’re like me then you probably have a tendency to focus on the events of life, especially the difficulties and the trials. Our minds tend to dwell on such things, thinking about them endlessly, worrying about them, chewing on them like a bull dog on a bone. We just can’t let it go.
What we fail to remember at such times is that Jesus is Sovereign over all the events of our lives and He has either caused the events directly and for a purpose, or by His permissive will He has chosen to allow it into our lives, for a season and for a reason. Since He is Sovereign over those events, and since He is also all-powerful and therefore has complete control over them, we need to change our focus from the event itself to the one who has control over the event. We need to shift our focus to Jesus and keep it there.
This morning, as I continue to try to help my family work through a difficult and painful situation that we have been dealing with for some time, I spent some time in Psalm 34. As I did, I was amazed to discover what a reassuring and helpful Psalm it is. Let me share a few of the verses with you:
“I sought the Lord, and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears.” verse 4
“Those who look to Him are radiant with joy; their faces will never be ashamed.” verse 5
“Taste and see that the Lord is good. How happy is the man who takes refuge in Him!” verse 8
“The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and delivers them from all their troubles.” verse 17
“The Lord is near the brokenhearted; He saves those crushed in spirit.” verse 18
“Many adversities come to the one who is righteous, but the Lord delivers him from them all.” verse 19
It’s true – sometimes we need to change our focus. We need to take it off of the events which are troubling us in life, and put it on the one who controls those events. We need to shift our focus to Jesus and keep it there.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Devotional for Monday January 20th

Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Change”
Our Bible verse for today: “As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for You, God. I thirst for God, the living God. When can I come and appear before God?” Psalm 42:1-2 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Wanting more of God is a good thing.”
Since we live in such a materialistic, consumer-oriented culture, many preachers, teachers, and writers in the Christian world preach, teach, and write about the importance for all of us to want less and to learn to be content with what we have. Lessons abound on the subject of nurturing a spirit of contentment and to stop lusting after more, bigger, better, houses, cars, careers, money, etc.
Well, when it comes to our culture’s insatiable desire for more and more material things, we as Christians do need to rein it in a bit and learn how to be satisfied with less instead of more. But spiritually the problem is exactly the opposite. Spiritually, Christians in America today tend to be satisfied with far too little. C.S. Lewis once described it with an analogy of children content to play in a mud puddle, uninterested in a vacation to the beach, because they have no concept of what a vacation at the beach would be like.
In our very busy, very noisy, very materialistic world, we have become content to play in the mud puddles of superficial spirituality because we have little understanding of what a deep and dynamic and intimate relationship with the living God of the universe would be like. It would be good for us to want less of the world and more of God. And once we do experience the depths, the riches, the majesty and wonder of our Awesome God, like the Psalmist in 42:1-2, we will want more and more of Him.
An ever-increasing and never-satisfied lust for the things of the world is a bad thing and needs to be resisted. A deep longing for more and more of God is a good thing and needs to be pursued. Ask God to change your “wanter” so you want more of Him and less of the world.
For an expanded teaching on this subject you can go to my web site at http://www.JimMersereauBooks.com, click on the tab “Free Articles” and download the articles “Room for the Singing of Angels”; “Ancient Wisdom for Modern Times”; and “What Makes a Woman Truly Beautiful?”.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Devotional for Saturday and Sunday January 18-19

Good Morning Everyone,
 
Our theme for this month: “Change”
 
Our Bible verse for today: “The Lord changed His mind about the terrible disaster He had threatened to bring on His people.” Exodus 32:14 (NLT)
 
Our thought for today: “Sometimes God changes His mind.”
 
Does it surprise you to learn that God sometimes changes His mind about things? He does. It’s a divine mystery and difficult for our human minds to comprehend but even though God is Omniscient (He knows everything before it even happens), and therefore He knew what He would do even before it came to pass, the Bible is clear that He still sometimes changes His mind based upon the prayers and actions of His people.
 
In the situation in Exodus chapter thirty-two, the people of Israel had sinned greatly by worshiping the Golden Calf. God was so mad at them that He decided to wipe out the entire nation, except for Moses, and then start all over again by raising up a new people for Himself. But Moses pleaded with Him to please spare the people and so, despite their great sin, in verse 14 we read that as a result of Moses’ plea God changed His mind and relented.
 
We read of a similar situation in Genesis chapter eighteen when Abraham pleaded and negotiated with God for the deliverance of the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham kept asking God to change His mind and to spare the cities if a certain number of righteous people could be found in them. Every time Abraham asked, God changed His mind and agreed to the conditions Abraham proposed. Unfortunately for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, despite the fact that Abraham kept lowering the number of righteous people needed to ensure deliverance, and despite the fact that God kept agreeing to it, none were found and the cities were destroyed. But the point is that God was willing to be persuaded to change His mind.
 
Those are just two Old Testament examples. There are many others in both the Old and New Testaments. God is willing to change His mind about things based upon the prayers and petitions of His people. Biblically are there any conditions that must first be met in order to get God to change His mind about something? Yes, there are. In James 4:3 we read:
 
“You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your evil desires.” (HCSB)
 
Also, in 1 John 5:14 the Apostle tells us, “Now this is the confidence we have before Him: Whenever we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked Him for.” (HCSB) 
 
So first, your motives for asking have to be right. But beyond that, if what you’re asking for falls within the realm of what God is willing to allow, He could be persuaded to change His mind and the situation could turn out differently than it would have if you had not prayed. The Biblical truth is that sometimes God does change His mind.
 
God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Devotional for Friday January 17th

Good Morning Everyone,
 
Our theme for this month: “Change”
 
Our Bible verse for today: “We have a priceless inheritance – an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.” 1 Peter 1:4 (NLT)
 
Our thought for today: “As a child of God you own something that does not change and will not decay.”
 
On her nightstand my wife has a three-part picture frame with pictures of me as a six month old baby on the left, as a eight year old boy in the middle, and as a thirty year old Navy Officer on the right. She says I was a cute baby, a good looking freckle-faced boy, and a handsome young officer. I’ve chosen to defer to her judgment on the issue.
 
But then I look in the mirror. At fifty-nine the picture isn’t so pretty. I’m mostly bald, have more hair in my nose and ears than on my head, there are wrinkles, my hair is turning gray, and there’s a good bit of sagging going on too. The years have taken their toll.
 
My house is suffering from the passage of time too. It is twenty-five now and things are starting to go. We’re in the process of replacing the ac/heating unit (again); recently we had an old pipe burst and the carpets had to come out; and eventually the roof will have to be replaced. And let’s not talk about my 1998 Ford F150 pick-up truck with over 210,000 miles on it. The old beast is still running, but the a/c is out and the odometer hasn’t worked in five years.
 
The point is that with the passage of time things change – and not always for the good. Physical things, whether they are bodies, houses, or trucks, decay and deteriorate with age. Also, jobs are lost, careers end, friends and loved ones die, technology changes and therefore devices must be replaced, and on it goes.
 
The lesson in all this? Just that the things of this world are temporary; they are in the process of decaying and passing away and they will soon be gone. So if we’re relying on them for our security or happiness, it’s just a matter of time before we will be mourning their loss.
 
But in 1 Peter 1:4 the Apostle tells us of an eternal inheritance, kept for us in heaven, that is pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. It is our heavenly home and our heavenly inheritance. It’s what Jesus was talking about in John 14:1-3 when He spoke about that special place He is preparing for those who belong to Him and it’s why, in Matthew 6:19-21, in the middle of His “Sermon on the Mount”, Jesus said:
 
“Don’t collect for yourselves treasure on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But collect for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be.” (HCSB)
 
What things in life do you value the most? What are you relying on? Where is your treasure and your heart? There is an inheritance for you that is eternal and that is untouched by change and decay. I encourage you to put your faith in your eternal inheritance.
 
God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Devotional for Thursday January 16th

Good Morning Everyone,
 
Our theme for this month: “Change”
 
Our Bible verse for today: “The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me. Lord, Your love is eternal; do not abandon the work of Your hands.” Psalm 138:8 (HCSB)
 
Our thought for today: “Change takes time.”
 
One of my favorite movies of all time is “The Karate Kid”. Daniel La Russo is the new kid in town. He’s a bit undersized and unsure of himself and predictably, the target of some local bullies (bullies who also happen to be students of a karate master who himself is a bully and who teaches the kids to be bullies too). Daniel is befriended by Mr. Miyagi, who is a wise and elderly Japanese man who also happens to be a quiet and unassuming karate master as well. Throughout the course of the movie, Mr. Miyagi teaches karate to Daniel and turns him into a level-headed but confident young man who is now able to defend himself against the bullies. Ultimately he even defeats the leader of the bullies in a karate match.
 
My favorite scene in the movie occurs at a point where young Daniel is impatient for results in his development and is voicing some frustration about it. The ever-wise Mr. Miyagi gives him a long slow look and says, “Patience grasshopper …” and he then goes on to teach Daniel an important lesson about the fact that development in anything worthwhile takes time, patience, and perseverance.
 
Sometimes I think I can hear Jesus saying that to me. “Patience grasshopper, your development will come. Just continue doing what you’re doing and give it time.” And like Daniel, the up and coming karate kid, I sigh and roll my eyes, and then get on with doing what I know I need to do.
 
Psalm 138:8 is actually and Old Testament version of Philippians 1:6 where Paul writes, “I am sure of this, that He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (HCSB)
 
The fact is that change takes time. God is at work in you and He is in the process of transforming you into the person He wants you to be, but great works take a long time to complete. The greater the work, the longer it takes. You are one of God’s greatest works, one of His masterpieces. Therefore His work in you, and the changes He is in the process of bringing about in you, take time.
 
Patience grasshopper … your development will come.
 
God Bless,
Pastor Jim