Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Take care of yourself”   Our Bible verse for today: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)   Our thought for today: “Create the right conditions”   In our study of taking good care of ourselves we are now shifting our focus to mental, emotional, and spiritual health. We have an idea of some of the things we can do to take good care of ourselves physically, but how about mentally, emotionally, and spiritually? What does it mean and what does it take to nurture your soul and spirit and how do we do it?   To nurture something is to care of it and to create the conditions that promote growth and development. The word also suggests a sense of tender love as the thing is watched over and nudged along in the right direction. Parents nurture their children as they care of them. They create the right conditions to promote good growth and development, and they nudge them along in the right direction – all with a sense of tender love sustained over years and years. Gardeners do the same with their flowers, and that’s how we are to nurture ourselves mentally, emotionally, and spiritually – with tender love and care.   Doing so begins with first creating and maintaining the right conditions for such nurture to take place. There are certain conditions which help to promote good mental, emotional, and spiritual health, and there can also be conditions that work against it. We must be intentional about promoting the right conditions and avoiding the bad ones. We also must be intentional about avoiding, or at least limiting and controlling, the things that drain us. Instead, we should embrace those things which give life and fill us.   In Galatians 5:22-23 the Apostle Paul paints a verbal picture of what our goal is. The fruit of the Spirit describes the character traits and attributes the Holy Spirit is in the process of developing in us. Think of those attributes as flowers growing in the garden of your heart. The better the soil and the more nurture it is given, the bigger, brighter, and healthier those flowers will be. But for that to happen, the right conditions must exist. The Holy Spirit will do the work and produce the growth, but it is up to us to create the right conditions for that to happen. In the days to come we will think more about how to create the right conditions for nurture and growth to take place. For today, I encourage you to take some time sitting quietly and thinking about where you are mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. How healthy are you in those areas? How healthy would you like to be?   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: “Take care of yourself”   Our Bible verse for today: “May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.” Philippians 1:2 (NLT)   Our thought for today: “We all need a shot of spiritual joy”   Recently at Oak Hill Baptist Church we have begun a Wednesday evening Bible study of the book of Philippians. Philippians is known as “The Epistle (letter) of Joy.” It is filled with positive observations and lots of encouragement. It is by far the most upbeat and joy-inspiring of all the Apostle Paul’s letters in the Bible.   Philippians was written by the Apostle Paul to a church that he deeply loved. The Philippian Christians were special to Paul. Acts chapter 16 records how the Holy Spirit had led Paul to cross the Mediterranean Sea and to arrive in Philippi just in time to meet Lydia and some others on the banks of the river. Paul led Lydia to faith in Jesus, making her the first convert ever in all of Europe, and then others soon followed. This led to the founding of the very first Christian church in Europe.   Over the following decades, Paul stayed in touch with that church. He visited them on at least two additional occasions, and they in turn prayed for Paul, corresponded with him, supported him financially, and hosted Paul’s friends and ministry partners. The church in Philippi was healthy and robust, and they were special to Paul. Now, as Paul is an old man, incarcerated in Rome and certainly near the end of his life, he wrote this powerful letter of joy and encouragement to his dearly loved church family. For many reasons, Philippi was a tough place to be a Christian and Paul wanted to lift them up and encourage them. His wonderful little letter must certainly have accomplished that.   The world we live in today can be tough too. Beyond that, we all have our own difficult issues to contend with in our individual lives as well. Life can be hard and we can all use a shot in the arm of spirit-inspired joy. If you are close to Cumberland County, TN, I encourage you to consider joining us on Wednesday evenings at 6:00 as we dive deep into this letter of joy.   Another lesson we learn from this is that a good and healthy church is a blessing from God. The church in Philippi certainly was that for Paul, and that holds true for any good and healthy church, it is a blessing and an encouragement to those who attend.   I’m writing this on a Saturday morning. Tomorrow is Sunday. I encourage you to be present at the gathering of your church tomorrow. And if you don’t have one, then please join us, in-person or online. We can all use a good shot in the arm of spiritual 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

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Take care of yourself”   Our Bible verse for today: “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “We need a holistic approach to staying healthy”   This morning, I have chosen to bring our attention back to the verse of Scripture we referred to in the beginning of our study about taking good care of ourselves, 1 Thessalonians 5:23. I do so because it so clearly highlights the truth that we must have a holistic approach to taking care of ourselves.   I hesitated to use that term “holistic” because in our day it is closely associated with things from the New Age movement, and therefore Christians tend to shun anything labeled as “holistic.” This is similar to how the Gay and Lesbian community has highjacked the rainbow symbol. It’s unfortunate because just as the rainbow is a symbol of something beautiful from God, the concept of “holism” is critical to our understanding of how to take full and proper care of our whole person.   To say that something is holistic is simply to say that the parts of the whole are interconnected and can only be fully understood in reference to the whole. We find holistic understanding being used when medical professionals consider the whole person, rather than just the presenting symptoms of an illness. They realize that what they’re seeing in terms of physical symptoms could very well have emotional and/or spiritual causes. The Greek philosopher Aristotle once observed that “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” That is certainly true with respect to the human person.   You are a whole person – body, soul, and spirit. You are physical, mental/emotional, and spiritual, and you must take proper care of all three of your parts. Since we have already spent some time thinking about the physical person, in the days to come we will turn our attention to mental/emotional, and spiritual health.   To be at our best we must have a holistic approach to health. We must take good care of our whole self.     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: “Take care of yourself”   Our Bible verse for today: “Dear friend, I pray that you are prospering in every way and are in good health, just as your whole life is going well.” 3 John 2 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Please don’t neglect this”   We don’t know who the Apostle John wrote the letter of 3 John to. The recipient was a “Dear friend” and John obviously wished the person well. He prayed the person would prosper in all ways – with good health and that their whole life was going well. That’s a nice prayer to pray for a friend and this morning, I pray that for you.   Good health is an important element for a life that is going well, and it’s why I have begun our study of taking care of ourselves by addressing physical health first. While it’s true that the real you and the real me is a spirit that will live forever in eternity, it’s also true that the physical body is the vessel God has provided for our spirit to reside in during the years we are on earth. The spirit is certainly the more important part of us, but it is the body that seems the most real to us. Therefore, it is the physical body that we can most easily relate to and which we most readily identify as being who we are.   It is also the condition of the physical body that will have the most direct impact on how we feel. Of course, spiritual and emotional health are huge factors too, but physical health plays the biggest role in how we feel. This is yet another reason for us to do all we can, to stay as healthy as we can, for as long as we can. And as we have learned, there are things we can and should be doing to help make sure that is the case.   A healthy diet and daily exercise are critical elements for good physical health. We should also be getting an annual physical, complete with full bloodwork. It’s also important to get all the recommended screenings we need such as a mammogram, colonoscopy, annual prostate exam, and to get them on time. In our age of medical science, most things can be treated if they are caught early enough.   Sickness and disease are simply a fact of life in this broken world we live in. It’s also true that our physical bodies are only designed to last so long and therefore, as we age, they will break down and eventually stop working altogether. But still, we have a responsibility to do what we can to take proper care of this temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). If we don’t take care of the body, we will experience health problems we would not have otherwise had. We will also be less effective as an instrument of ministry available for use by the Holy Spirit.   Please do not neglect this. You are loved and needed. Please take care of yourself.   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. You are receiving this email because you requested to be included in the Daily Devotional email reader group. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Take care of yourself”   Our Bible verse for today: “I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should.” 1 Corinthians 9:27 (NLT)   Our thought for today: “Moderation is the answer”   There is a curious and perplexing dichotomy that exists in our society regarding physical health. On the one hand, we are compulsively fixated on the idea of maintaining good health and youthful looks. Americans spend billions of dollars each year on a wide variety of diet plans, diet pills, weight loss programs, gym memberships, tummy tucks, face lifts, liposuction, surgical procedures, and more.   But despite that, we are a nation of unhealthy people. According to the Center for Disease Control, 74% of Americans meet the criteria of being overweight, and 43% are considered obese. Approximately 10% of the adult population has type-two diabetes (which is lifestyle related), and that number is steadily increasing (among children as well). Many of the physical, emotional, and spiritual ailments Americans suffer from can be traced to back to bad lifestyle choices.   Part of the problem is that our society has been progressively conditioned for conspicuous consumption of all sorts. The science of advertising relies heavily on psychological manipulation and it is very effective. Additionally, we now know that food manufacturers manipulate the chemical content of processed foods to make them addictive (similar to how cigarette manufacturers manipulate the nicotine content in cigarettes to make them more addictive).   But there are ways to combat this. Diet programs, gym memberships, and surgical procedures can all be helpful. But the simplest and most effective means of maintaining good physical health is discipline and moderation. Teach yourself to eat moderate amounts of reasonably healthy food and get some exercise every day. Exotic and complex diet schemes are seldom helpful in the long term and are often unhealthy themselves because they are not nutritionally balanced. And extreme exercise programs can be difficult to maintain.   Moderation is the best answer. It’s the kind of discipline Paul was alluding to in 1 Corinthians 9:27 (above). Maintain portion control and consume mostly healthy foods (an occasional sweet treat is okay). Then get some exercise every day. Over time that will get your weight back to where it should be and it will improve your physical health dramatically. Good physical health is two-thirds diet and one-third exercise.   So, eat well and exercise. Your physical health will improve and that will have a positive impact on your emotional and spiritual health as well.     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: “Take care of yourself”   Our Bible verse for today: “In those days Hezekiah became terminally ill … Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, “Please, Lord, remember how I have walked before you faithfully and wholeheartedly and have done what pleases you.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.” 2 Kings 20:1;2   Our thought for today: “Stay as healthy as you can as long as you can”   I once read a story about a wealthy man whose health was rapidly failing. He was only in his early sixties but he had multiple lifestyle related health problems. He had spent his life as a hard-charging businessman. His focus had been on growing his businesses and making lots of money. He worked long hours under great pressure and he neglected his health, as well as his most important relationships, including his family and God.   Consequently, he had been divorced twice, he had broken and distant relationships with his adult children, and he had no relationship with God. Also, the older he got the more health problems he faced, until they became cascading. Now here he was still a relatively young man, very wealthy, but in rapidly failing health, alone, and desolate. At one point he cried out to his doctor, “I would gladly trade all my wealth for restored health and more years of life.” But his great wealth couldn’t reverse the damage he had done to himself.   King Hezekiah’s story turned out a little better than that. As the king he was wealthy and privileged beyond the wildest dreams of the average person. But still, when his health failed all his wealth, accomplishments, and privileges counted for little. What he wanted was more years of life but his wealth and earthly power couldn’t buy it for him. Fortunately for him, God healed him and granted him fifteen additional years.   When it comes to taking good care of ourselves physically, sometimes people shrug and say, “What’s the point? I’m going to die anyway.” Well, yes, that’s true, eventually we will all die anyway. But our goal should be to stay as healthy as possible for as long as possible throughout every stage of life. Life is best when we are healthy enough to enjoy it.   As we age, our bodies begin to break down and fail. That’s just life. But at every stage of life there are things we can do to be as healthy as we can be at that age, and under the circumstances as they are. Tomorrow we will consider a simple and common-sense approach to staying as healthy as you can for as long as you can.   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: “Take care of yourself”   Our Bible verse for today: “Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought at a price. So glorify God with your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “A walking, talking, mobile temple of the Holy Spirit”   If we were to construct a list of the most important verses and passages in the New Testament, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 would certainly have to be in the top ten. In those verses the Apostle Paul reveals a truth that is essential for us to grasp. Your body is a physical temple of God’s Holy Spirit.   In the Old Testament the Spirit of God was present in the world in multiple ways. He was here in a general way in that God is everywhere all the time. He was also present in special ways for special people, such as Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah, and others. And He was present in the most Holy of Holies, the inner sanctum of the Temple. But on the Day of Pentecost, described in Acts 2:1-4, the Holy Spirit took up residence in the hearts of the followers of Jesus Christ, and that has continued to be true ever since.   When you placed your faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins, the Holy Spirit came to live in your heart. He is there now and He will be there right up until the moment your physical body dies and your spirit is released from it to go to heaven. That makes your physical body a walking, talking, mobile temple of God’s Holy Spirit.   That’s what Paul was describing in 1 Corinthians 6:19. He then went on and said “(therefore) you are not your own, for you were bought at a price.” Think about that. Your body is not your own. It belongs to Jesus. On the cross not only did He pay the price for your sins, but He paid the price for your physical body. He purchased your body to serve as a walking, talking, mobile temple of His Holy Spirit. “So, glorify God with your body.”   This is huge. This understanding should change everything about how we use our body, and about how we take care of it.  This is so important that before we proceed any further in our study of taking proper care of ourselves emotionally and spiritually, we are going to spend several days thinking deeply about why we must take proper care of this physical body of ours (which really belongs to Jesus now).   Your body is a physical temple of God’s Holy Spirit. Please take good care of it.   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: “Take care of yourself”   Our Bible verse for today: “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “We need a good balance”   We humans are amazing creations – unique, the highest form of God’s creation, truly amazing. God is three-in-one – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and He created us as three-in-one creatures as well – spirit, soul, and body.   Now, we know what the spirit is. God created you as a spirit who will exist for eternity. And we know what the body is. It is this physical thing made of skin and bones, muscles and ligaments and blood. But what about the soul? What is that? The Bible is clear that we do have a soul, but it is not clear what exactly the soul is. Some theologians believe the terms soul and spirit are interchangeable and refer to the same thing. A more common belief is that the soul is a mysterious force that unites body and spirit, it is the interface between the two and our mind and emotions are used by the soul for the body and spirit to interact.   There is also debate about what happens to the soul at the time of death. Some believe that the soul ceases to exist at that point because the interface between the spirit and body is no longer needed. A more common understanding is that soul and spirit merge into a single eternal entity that will exist forever, and it is the soul that merges our human person with our eternal spirit.   What is clear right now though, is that as human beings we are three-in-one creatures. We have a physical body that serves as a vessel for our eternal spirit, and we have a soul that uses our mind and emotions. Those are the three parts of our being – physical, spiritual, and emotional/mental.   Not only are all three parts interrelated, but each impacts the others. Your spiritual health has an impact on your emotional and physical health. Your emotional health impacts you physically and spiritually. And likewise, your physical health affects you emotionally and spiritually. That being the case, it’s important for us to take care of ourselves in all three ways. It’s only when we have a healthy balance of physical, emotional, and spiritual health that we will be at our best.   This month we will explore the importance of taking care of ourselves physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We will also consider how each of those parts of us has a direct impact on the others. I’m looking forward to exploring this important subject with you.   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: “Renewed hope”   Our Bible verse for today: “I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God.” Ephesians 1:16-17 (NLT)   Our thought for today: “This is my prayer for you”   Today we will conclude our devotional thinking about discovering renewed hope when we are down and struggling. We have covered a lot of ground over these two months and I pray that you have found it helpful and encouraging. Tomorrow we will shift gears and begin a new theme for the month of June.   To conclude our time with this theme, I want to remind us that the starting place for gaining a sense of renewed hope is prayer. As we have learned throughout this study, God does use people and circumstances to encourage us and to give us hope, but prayer is fundamental and it is where we must begin. However, many times we don’t even know what to pray for or how to pray. In such cases one of the best methods of prayer is to simply pray the prayers recorded in the Bible right back to God. There are many prayers in the Bible regarding gaining a sense of renewed hope, especially in the Psalms. Make those prayers your prayers and simply pray them back to God.   In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, we find two of the greatest prayers any leader ever prayed for the people he cared about, and I want to share them both with you this morning. Taken together, this is my prayer for you as we close out our time thinking about finding renewed hope:   “I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. I pray that your hearts will be flooded with the light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called – his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms.” Ephesians 1:16-20   “I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fulness of life and power that comes from God.” Ephesians 3:16-20.   Thank you for reading these daily devotional messages. You are an encouragement to me.     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: “Renewed hope”   Our Bible verse for today: “Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.” Psalm 90:12 (NLT)   Our thought for today: “Life is short, live it well”   Having just turned seventy, I have recently begun my eighth decade on earth. On the one hand, seventy years seems like a long time and I feel like I have done a lot of living in that time. But on the other hand, I look back and I wonder where the years went. They seem to have flown by.   The truth is that even if we live 70, 80, or 90 years, it’s a relatively short time and our life will be over before we know it. But a life isn’t accurately measured just in terms of longevity, but in quality. The question isn’t simply how long you have lived but rather, what you have done with the time you had. Some people live a long time and basically just exist. They put in their time on earth, take up space, consume resources, and then they’re gone, having made little difference for good. Then there are others who live a shorter time but who have lived in such a way that their presence in this world made a notable difference and they left behind an inspiring legacy.   The lesson from Scripture is that life is short and we must resolve to live it well. We have limited time available to make a meaningful difference in this world. So, it’s foolish to waste the days of our lives doing things that don’t really matter, while leaving people and things that do matter unattended to.   You don’t have to find a cure for cancer, or be a famous movie star, or a millionaire. Just live each day by honoring Jesus and blessing others. Make a difference by making the lives of those you interact with every day a little better.     With respect to our theme of finding a sense of renewed hope – when you know you are living well and your life is making a positive difference in lots of little ways, you will have hope for each day. You will have a purpose for living.   Take a few minutes today to consider the ways in which your life makes a difference. If you are having trouble with this, please let me know and I will be happy to send you a copy of my little book “Your Life Matters.” It will help you to see that your life does matter and you can make a positive difference for good.   If you are living for Jesus and if you are honoring Him and blessing others in lots of little ways, your life is making a meaningful difference. Life is short, I encourage you to live it well.   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