Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “Sanctification”   Our Bible verse for today: “Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:19 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “God wants to do something new in your life”   I remember a time many years ago (in a different church than I am the pastor of now), we had a guest speaker on a Sunday morning. He preached a great message about how God wants to do something new in each of our lives. And He will do it, if we will just cooperate with Him and do our part. It was a lesson that I had taught numerous times and in various ways over a period of years in that same church.   After the service one of our members commented to me that the message really touched his heart and that he was going to make the changes the speaker suggested. Then he said, “Pastor, how come we’ve never been told this before? I would have made these changes sooner if somebody had told me this.” When he said that I was incredulous. I remember thinking “Dude! I’ve taught that same lesson here probably a hundred times! He teaches it once and now suddenly you get it and you’re all excited about it?” What that young man was expressing was the truth of the old saying that “When the student is ready, the teacher appears.”   The truths of God are always available and the promises of God are always operative. The problem isn’t if God is ready to teach you, but if you are ready to learn. God has new things He wants to teach you, new things He wants you to experience. They’re not new in the sense that God has just created them. In that respect they’re actually old – the truths and promises of God have existed for thousands of years since God spoke them in Scripture. But they’re new to you because you haven’t learned them yet.   In Isaiah 43:19 we’re reading about God speaking to the people of Israel. God had something new and better planned for them and if they were ready to go, He was ready to take them. The same is true in your life. God has new and better things planned for you in 2024. Spiritually there are things He wants to teach you and show you, and there are new experiences He wants you to have. The question is if you want them and if you will do your part to seek them out.   One of my favorite quotes about this comes from author Jim Peterson in his great book, “Lifestyle Discipleship.” Jim writes, “One of the greatest gifts God has given us is the infinite opportunity for spiritual growth. But however much we have matured, there is always more beyond. It is in this that we find the adventure of living. There will always be new, unexplored dimensions of His person beckoning to us. The possibilities go off the chart.”   This is what the process of sanctification accomplishes in our lives. It is God always leading us to something new, something better – a larger, deeper, expanded experience of Himself. Do you want that? Are you ready for it? Will you do your part to seek it? The fact is that God wants to do something new in your life.   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: “Sanctification”   Our Bible verse for today: “How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping your word. I have sought you with all my heart; don’t let me wander from your commands.” Psalm 119:9-10 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “You just do it”   How do you do your part in the process of sanctification? How do you place yourself daily in a position before the Holy Spirit whereby He has free access to your heart and mind and can therefore mold and shape you into the person God wants you to be? To borrow a phrase from the old Nike commercial, “Just do it.” That’s all, just do it. Make a plan, resolve to stick to it, and then do it.   Serious discipleship involves things like daily quiet time sitting before the Lord; prayer; Bible study; worship with your church family; serving in ministry activities; fellowship with other Christians; Scripture memorization; fasting; and more. There are dozens of ways to incorporate the practice of your faith into your daily life. We will consider more of them throughout this month.   The point is not so much how you pray, or which version of the Bible you use, or which church you are a member of, or whether you listen to traditional or contemporary Christian music, or any of the other numerous ways to practice your faith. What matters is that you just do it.   Take a moment and open your Bible to Psalm 119 and read verses 9-16. Be sure you don’t miss the tone of determined intentionality the writer expressed. He used phrases like “I will keep your word.” “I have sought you with all of my heart.” “I have treasured your word.” “With my lips I proclaim.” “I rejoice.” “I will mediate.” “I will think about your ways.” “I will delight in your statutes.” “I will not forget.”   Resolved. Determined. Intentional. This was a man with a plan and nothing was going to stop him from walking it out. He would be where he was supposed to be, doing what he was supposed do. He would get up in the morning to pray and study. If the church was gathering, he would be there. He would find opportunities to minister and to bless others in the name of the Lord. He would sing God’s praises.   This is how you do it. You make a plan, your resolve to stick with it, and then you just do it.   As was noted in yesterday’s devotional, nothing else will make as big a difference in your life, nothing else will bring about as much positive and helpful change, as will the practice of serious discipleship. Your part in this process of sanctification – of being transformed into the person God wants you to be, is to be a serious disciple of Jesus. It’s not rocket science and it’s not especially difficult. You simply make a plan and then you stick to it. You just do 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: “Sanctification”   Our Bible verse for today: “How happy are those whose way is blameless, who walk according to the Lord’s instructions! Happy are those who keep his decrees and seek him with all their heart.” Psalm 119:1-2 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Be sure to do your part”   Have you made some New Years resolution for 2024? I hope you have. I’m a big fan of them. I think it’s a good and healthy practice to take stock of our lives at the end of the old year, honestly assess how we did, and then set some goals to accomplish meaningful things in the new year. Often those resolutions pertain to things like losing weight and exercising more; or perhaps they are financial goals; or educational; or maybe you will resolve to work less overtime and spend more time with your family. We should always be in the process of striving to change and grow and to improve in some area of life.   Will Foster preached a great New Years sermon about this last Sunday at Oak Hill Baptist Church. I encourage you to watch it by going to our YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville. The guidance Will offered regarding resolutions and goals pertained to something much more important than physical fitness and the bottom line in your bank account. He encouraged us to set goals and to have a plan for spiritual growth in 2024. In short, the sermon was about the process of sanctification and the personal responsibility of each follower of Jesus to engage in serious discipleship.   No change in your life will have a greater and more positive impact, or produce more important and meaningful results, than will intentional serious discipleship. This is your part in the process of sanctification. The Holy Spirit will produce the results, but you need to do your part by showing up. You must establish a pattern in your life whereby you intentionally and consistently place yourself in a position before the Holy Spirit so He has full access to your mind and heart, and He can therefore mold you and shape you into the person God wants you to be.   In Psalm 119:1-2 the psalmist wrote about the joy such a lifestyle produces. This is what the Apostle Paul was also referring to in Galatians 5:22-23 when he wrote that the fruit the Holy Spirit brings out in the lives of serious disciples is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Bigger biceps and a smaller waistline won’t do that for you. More money in your bank account won’t do it. It’s the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a serious disciple who produces that kind of inner peace and joy. No other goal you set or resolution you make for 2024 has the potential to change you in positive ways like the practice of serious discipleship will.   We will continue our thinking about this tomorrow by considering a little more of what the writer of this Psalm had to say about his own practice of discipleship.   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: “Sanctification”   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: “You have been, are being, and will be, sanctified”   To sanctify something means to set it apart as holy unto the Lord. It is removed from the ordinary, cleansed and purified, and then reserved to be used in such a way that is pleasing to God. In the Old Testament the implements of worship in the Temple were sanctified in that manner. They were special not ordinary. They were kept in a cleansed and purified condition. And they were used to bring honor and glory to God.   The people of God are sanctified in a similar manner. In the moment you placed your faith in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins you were removed from the realm of ordinary people and you became a child of God. At that time, you were washed in the blood of Jesus and you were therefore cleansed and purified from the stain of sin. You were then set aside to be used for God’s honor and glory. Therefore, your life should now be lived in such a way that it glorifies your Father in heaven. You have been sanctified.   But also, you are being sanctified. From the moment of your salvation the Holy Spirit went to work in your life to begin a process of transformation that slowly changes you from the person you were, into the person God has always wanted you to be. That is a process and it unfolds over a lifetime. As long as you are still breathing, you should also be changing and growing and progressively becoming more and more spiritually mature.   And finally, in the moment you arrive in heaven, the process of sanctification will be completed and you will then be the person you are going to be for all eternity. At that point the transformation will be complete and the changing and growing will be done.   Sanctification is a work of the Holy Spirit in our lives and only He can bring about the change. But we have a role to play in this too. The amount of transformation that takes place, and the pace of it, depends to a large degree on the effort we put into serious discipleship. We must want to change and grow, and we will need to consistently place ourselves in a position before the Holy Spirit whereby He is being given full access to our mind and heart so that transformation can take place.   That is what we will spend the rest of the month thinking about – there are things we need to do to cooperate with the Holy Spirit as He does His work in our lives.   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: “Sanctification”   Our Bible verse for today: “For I know the plans I have for you” – this is the Lord’s declaration – “plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. You will call to me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. I will be found by you …” (CSB)   Our thought for today: “God has a plan, do you?”   Welcome to 2024. You now have before you 365 brand new days in which God can and will continue His wonderful plan for your life. And here’s the thing: He does have a plan; it is a good plan; and much of it will probably surprise you. The fact is that things will happen in the new year that you are not anticipating and which you therefore are not planning for. Most of those things will probably seem good to you, others maybe not so much. You just don’t know, but God does.     So then, how do we prepare ourselves for the coming year, and how do we go forward into it with some degree of intentionality, purpose, and confidence? Many people (including me) make New Year’s resolutions to guide us and to keep us on track. These are usually things like losing weight, exercising more, paying off debt, completing some projects, and so on. Those things are good, and achieving them will make our lives better. We should have goals and plans because goals and plans keep us motivated and on track. As has often been said, “If you aim at nothing you will hit it every time.” In other words, if you have no goals and objectives, it doesn’t really matter how you spend your time. But if you want to achieve something helpful and meaningful, you will have to be intentional about it.   So, having a plan of our own is good. But what about God’s plan? And what about the truth that we can’t even conceive of, much less prepare for, some of what God has in store for us in the coming 365 days? I believe there is something we can and must do in order to prepare ourselves for whatever it is God has planned for us. And, incidentally, it is something we can make into a New Year’s resolution.   All this month we will explore the Biblical principle of “sanctification.” “Sanctification is a theological term that describes the process by which God progressively transforms us from who we were, into who He wants us to be. It is a process of spiritual growth that begins the moment we place our faith in Christ. It then continues throughout our lifetime and it is completed the moment we arrive in heaven. While the results of sanctification come about as a result of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we have a role to play in the process too. We have to engage in the practice of good discipleship.   If you are a Christian, and if you are doing your part by being intentional about practicing your faith and growing in your relationship with Christ, you are in the process of being sanctified and you are growing spiritually. And the more spiritually mature you are, the more prepared you will be for whatever comes your way as 2024 unfolds.   We will think more about this in the days and weeks to come. I look forward to learning and growing 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

Hello everyone,   New Year’s greetings to everyone in the daily devotional reader groups.   As we close 2023 and begin a new year, I want to take a moment to thank you for being a faithful reader of the daily devotional messages. Writing them is a joy and a blessing for me, but it would be a pointless exercise were it not for you, the faithful readers.   I also want to thank you for your patience over this last month as I have had to suspend writing the messages in order to grieve and process the death of my wife Linda, on November 30th, and the death of my oldest son Rick, on December 19th. This has been a tragic and difficult time for me and my family, but during this time the presence of God has sustained us. That has been true spiritually, in our minds and hearts, but also physically as the Spirit of God has worked through the people of God in real and tangible ways to minister to us. You have been the hands and feet of Christ to us during this painful time and we love you even more for it.     The daily devotional messages will resume tomorrow, January 1st. In the meantime, my family and I wish you and yours a happy and blessed New Year. From myself, son Tom, daughter-in-law Liz, grandson Oliver, son Adam, Tori the dog and Kevin the cat, our prayer for you echoes the words of Moses found in Numbers 6:24-26:   “May the Lord bless you and protect you; may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.”   God bless, Pastor Jim

Copyright © 2023 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Hello everyone,   This is a short Christmas greeting to all of you my friends and faithful readers of the daily devotional messages. I would like to wish you and your family a Merry Christmas as we celebrate the birth of our Lord. May you and yours be richly blessed.   I would also like to thank you for your prayers and heartfelt expressions of concern for me and my family as we grieve the unexpected loss of my wife Linda, on November 30th, and our oldest son Rick, on December 19th. These weeks have been an especially difficult time for us, but God’s people have rallied around us with love, support, prayers, and assistance. Your ministry to us has made this easier to bear. Thank you.   I will begin writing the daily devotional messages again on Monday January 1st. We will spend the month of January exploring the important Biblical principle of sanctification. I look forward to learning and growing along with you as we do.   Again, Merry Christmas!   God bless, Pastor Jim

Good Morning everyone, Some of the readers of our daily devotional messages have asked for details regarding the funeral services for my wife Linda. Here is the schedule: The memorial service will be Tuesday December 5th at Oak Hill Baptist Church. 12:00-1:00 visitation 1:00 – Memorial service, with burial immediately following in the Oak Hill Cemetery. There will be refreshments in the Fellowship Hall following the burial. For those who would like to attend but cannot, the service can be viewed live on the Oak Hill Baptist Church YouTube channel beginning at 1:00 Central time. A link for that channel is provided below. God bless, Pastor Jim www.youtube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

Copyright © 2023 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: “Heaven”   Our Bible verse for today: “Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up 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 be also.” Matthew 6:19-21 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “The First National Bank of Heaven”   I once heard a story about a father who wanted to teach his children a lesson about properly determining the real value of things. They lived in a nice house that they all loved; it was filled with lots of nice furniture, clothes, and toys; and they had a couple of dependable family vehicles. They had a nice life filled with nice things, and they all enjoyed it very much.   One day the father and the children piled into the car and he drove to an old neighborhood filled with abandoned homes. They parked in front of one such home and the father had the children discuss the families that may have lived in the home over the years. They imagined how nice the home had probably been at one time and how happy the family was to have had it. Then they drove to an automobile junk yard and gazed at all the junked cars and trucks. Again, they speculated on how nice those vehicles had once been and how much the owners might have enjoyed them. Then they went to the county landfill and gazed out upon the mountains of trash and garbage and junk. They saw old couches, and washing machines, and broken toys, and countless other items that had at one time been nice and new but which were now broken junk.   Then the father taught his children Jesus’ lesson from Matthew 6:19-21. Overtime, all the things of this world will get old, they will deteriorate, and ultimately, they will be nothing but junk. Physical things don’t last. But God is eternal, and heaven is eternal, and people – as spirit-beings, are also eternal.   When Jesus told us to store up treasure for ourselves in heaven, He was talking about rewards in heaven that we will receive based on how we conducted ourselves in this lifetime. He was teaching that there are things we can do now that will reap eternal rewards for us then. Every time we take an action that blesses God or other people, and which therefore has eternal value, it is noted by God. And according to Jesus in this parable, there will be some eternal benefit for us then because of what we did now. What exactly will those eternal benefits look like? He didn’t say. He simply said that there would be some.   Essentially, Jesus was teaching that you have an eternal bank account in the First National Bank of Heaven. Every time you do something of eternal value in this lifetime, a deposit is made in your account in heaven. Interest will accrue and the day will come when you get to draw on those eternal rewards. Again, what form those treasures in heaven will take we don’t know. Jesus didn’t say. But we do know that He would not have taught this parable and He would not have used this illustration of treasure in heaven that is accruing on our behalf now, if it were not so.   All of your discipleship activities; all of your service to others; all of your generosity for the sake of the kingdom of God; it all matters. All of it is noted, all of it makes a difference, and all of it will be rewarded. You have an account in your name in the First National Bank of Heaven.   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 © 2023 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571

Hello everyone, Unfortunately, I am going to have to take a short break from writing these daily devotional messages. But it will be short, probably just a couple of weeks.  On Monday, November 27th my wife Linda was diagnosed with COVID, pneumonia, and pleurisy. On Tuesday she was admitted to the hospital. By Wednesday I was told the disease was so severe and had spread so quickly that the doctors doubted she would survive. Less than 12 hours later, at 12:58 a.m. on Thursday, November 30th, Linda left this world and went to heaven. I was at her side when she did.  Her death was sudden and unexpected but my family and I are okay, Linda had been in declining health for many years and we had all (Linda included) prepared ourselves spiritually and emotionally for this day. We already miss her terribly, but the Lord is providing strength and comfort for us, especially through His wonderful people, who have surrounded us with love and care.  Linda was my life partner for 47 years (since I was 22 years old.) Therefore, the days, weeks, and months ahead will be a time of big adjustments for me. I intend to take a little time off but I will quickly return to my ministry as the Pastor of Oak Hill Baptist, and to writing these daily devotional messages.  Before Linda got so sick on Monday, I had already written the final devotional in our series on heaven. I will send that to you this morning. (Of course, as I have been writing about this theme all month, I had no idea that the month would end with Linda being in heaven.)  Please be looking for the next series of devotional messages in just a few weeks. In the meantime, my family and I would appreciate your prayers.   God bless, Pastor Jim

Copyright © 2023 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571