Oak Hill Baptist Church

Receive every day as a gift from God

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “How to inhabit time”

Our Bible verse for today: “This is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:14 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Receive every day as a gift from God”

Over the next few days, I would like to share with you a few points from our New Year’s Day sermon at Oak Hill Baptist Church. If you would like to watch that sermon in its entirety, it’s available on the church website (oakhillbaptist.net). On the homepage just click on the “Listen/Watch” button.

I want to encourage you to resolve in 2023 to receive every day as a gift from God. How you begin each new day will determine to a large extent how that day unfolds for you. Every new day is a gift of life from God, and every new day will be an opportunity to experience God’s mercies and blessings. How you think about the day, and your expectations for it, will go a long way towards determining your attitude all throughout the day.

It is true that there’s a lot going on in the world and in our lives that can cause us to worry and to be anxious. But we can set the stage for a miserable day for ourselves by simply starting the day with a sour outlook and with the expectation of problems – or we can do the opposite.

I read a study one time that found that approximately 80% of the things we worry about never happen. Another 10% do happen, but end up happening good rather than bad. And of the 10% that we worry about, and which do happen and which are bad, they’re usually not as bad as we feared they would be. And yet, we worry about them. We allow those things to give us sour dispositions and negative expectations – often to the point that our sour disposition and negative expectations actually attract bad outcomes to us. It’s a basic law of human nature that we often attract to ourselves the things we expect to happen.

So, are God’s promises true or not? Lamentations 3:22-24 says, “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.” Is that true or not? Are God’s mercies new every morning? Does every day hold the potential for blessings? Well then, what’s your attitude going to be? Will you join with the Psalmist and declare, “This is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it”?

Now there’s a New Year’s resolution for you! I encourage you to resolve to receive every day of 2023 as a gift from God, and then determine that you will rejoice and be glad in it.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Are you hot, cold, or indifferent?

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “How to inhabit time”

Our Bible verse for today: “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot or cold, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth.” Revelation 3:15-16 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Are you hot, cold, or indifferent?”

This morning we will continue our thinking from the last two days regarding the problem of apathy in our churches and in the Christian community in the USA. Yesterday we learned that there’s a thick cloud of apathy that has settled upon Christianity in the USA. It’s evident in many ways including declining Biblical literacy among Christians, inconsistent church attendance and involvement, reduced financial giving, embracing immoral cultural standards, and much more. Especially alarming is the way so many Christians excuse themselves and rationalize their decisions. The word from Jesus, as we learned yesterday, is “Wake up!”

The day before that we considered Jesus’ hard and stark lesson from the Sermon on the Mount regarding pearls, pigs, and priorities. The point of that lesson was that we have to make good choices about how we spend our time. Many people and activities are not worthy of our time and resources. And even if something is good, it could still be taking us away from what is best.

Jesus hates apathy and indifference and rationalizing and excuse-making. Seriously, He detests it. Just read what He said in Revelation 3:15-16. The reason He used such strong language and stark illustrations, such as vomiting in this passage, or dogs and pigs in Matthew 7:6, or the stern command to “Wake up!” in Revelation 3:2, is precisely because once we have been lulled into apathy and we are essentially sleep-walking through our faith, we fool ourselves into believing that we have good reasons for our choices and that our choices make sense, at least in our case.

But even if the thing itself is good (extra sleep, working overtime, extra money in savings, recreational activities etc.), if the good things are consistently and repeatedly pulling us away from the best thing, then we have a problem.

I want to challenge each of us to consider if we are hot, cold, or indifferent. I’m asking us to critically examine the choices we’re making, the actions we’re taking (or not taking), and the ways in which we are spending our time and our resources. As was noted yesterday, talk is cheap. Actions tell the real story.

I know this is strong stuff, but the problem is critical. Apathy is a spiritual disease that’s killing our churches. Churches in America are struggling, and it’s our fault. How we Christians use our time matters very much, especially on Sunday mornings.

Today is Saturday. Tomorrow is Sunday. Will you be in church tomorrow? Not only do you need to be there for your own benefit, but your church needs you to be there.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Jesus says: “Wake up!”

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “How to inhabit time”

Our Bible verse for today: “Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of God.” Revelation 3:2 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Jesus says: “Wake up!””

Are you becoming apathetic in the practice of your faith? I’m willing to bet most of you just answered, “No, I am not apathetic about the practice of my Christian faith.” Okay, but wait. Let me ask a few more questions. Do you find yourself making excuses for not praying and reading the Bible enough? Do you skip church fairly frequently so you can participate in recreational activities, family events, or because you just felt like sleeping in? Do you give little to the church but spend a lot on creature comforts, recreational activities, fast food, and things like that?

In short, are you in the habit of making excuses for not doing what you know you should do, and for not being where you know you should be?

Every year in January the magazine Christianity Today publishes their annual “Book Awards” edition. In it they rate the best books of the previous year, by category, and give awards for the best four in every genre. They also choose one book as “The book of the year”. The book of the year for 2022 was “Overcoming Apathy” by Uche Anizor.

The book addresses what many Christian leaders consider to be the number one malady in the Christian community in the USA today – apathy. A deep sense of apathy and indifference is becoming an increasing problem in society in general, and it is impacting the Church as well. Christians just don’t care as much as they used to. Oh, they would never admit it. They would protest and insist they do care. But words are cheap, it’s actions that tell the true story.

And the true story is alarming. The church in the USA is becoming increasingly inept and ineffective. Church attendance is at an all-time low; Bible literacy among Christians continues to decline; and believers increasingly accept and practice immoral cultural standards. Consequently, the Church in our country is slowly withering away.

The words of Revelation 3:2 were spoken by Jesus to apathetic Christians in an apathetic church in that day, but they pertain to all Christians in all church in all ages. We don’t become apathetic overnight, but slowly over an extended period of time. And eventually it comes to the point where we are essentially sleep-walking through our faith. To that Jesus demands, “Wake up!” “Your faith is slipping away from you.” Your churches are dying and you don’t even realize it!”

That’s true of Christians and churches today, and it’s really about choices. It’s about how we decide to spend our time. We often make poor choices with respect to the practice of our faith and then we make excuses and rationalize our choices. One of our favorite ways of rationalizing our excuses is to pat ourselves on the back for doing other things we consider to be good in instead. “I may miss church a lot but at least I read my Bible and pray.” “I may not give financially very much or very often, but I do pass out bulletins on Sunday morning.” You get the idea.

Apathy is a spiritual disease that is spreading across our land and infecting millions of Christians, many of whom are convinced they are actually faithfully engaged, but they’re not. Instead, increasingly, they’re missing in action, they’re uninvolved, and they’re making excuses. As a result, our churches are withering away. The command from Jesus to us is, “Wake up!”

We’ll think more about this tomorrow.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Of pearls, pigs, and priorities

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “How to inhabit time”

Our Bible verse for today: “Don’t give what is holy to dogs or toss your pearls before pigs, or they will trample them under their feet, turn, and tear you to pieces.” Matthew 7:6 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Of pearls, pigs, and priorities.”

Sometimes life requires us to make difficult choices. We can’t do everything, all the time, for everyone. We only have so much time, emotional energy, and resources. Priorities have to be set and choices have to be made. The Bible is filled with stark contrasts and sometimes strong language, all designed to move us to make the hard choices and to do the hard things. This is one of those lessons.

Right up front let me point out that the terms “dogs” and “pigs” used in this illustration were Jesus’ words not mine. He used them in the Sermon on the Mount to make a critical point. Dogs in His day were vicious mongrels who attacked and injured other animals and sometimes people. Pigs were unclean animals that were filthy and disgusting. Pearls were precious and valuable, and therefore should not be treated with contempt and simply tossed into the mud with the pigs.

Jesus applied this analogy to enemies who hate God’s people and who will harm them if they can. The pearls and holy things Jesus referred to are all the precious resources (including your time) which God has entrusted to His people. The terms dogs and pigs, when applied to people, sounds harsh and unkind but Jesus had a critical point to make and an important lesson to teach, and He wanted to be sure we didn’t miss it.

This isn’t about pearls and pigs. It’s about being smart and making good choices. In the “Experiencing God Study Bible”, with respect to this parable, Henry Blackaby asks us to consider, “Are you giving God’s precious treasures to people who despise and demean them?” The application is that we are not to waste our time on people and activities that aren’t worthy of it. Your time is a little piece of your life. When you give people your time, you are giving them a piece of your life. That’s a precious treasure. It’s a gift from God. Is the recipient worthy of such a gift? Will they appreciate it? Or, will it be wasted? Even Jesus turned away from people and places where His time and effort wasn’t welcome or appreciated.

Satan is a leech, a bloodsucker. He will suck the life right out of you if you let him, and he will do it by bringing into your life people and activities who meet the criteria of Jesus’ analogy of dogs and pigs. According to Jesus, they are unholy and unworthy because they will take advantage of you, manipulate you, and harm you if given the chance. The point of the parable is that we have to be smart when it comes to making choices about which people and activities we will give our time, attention, and resources to.

We do, of course, need to err on the side of grace. We do need to be kind, compassionate, and merciful. And we do need to give people a chance. But we are not to be naïve either. We are not (as Jesus said) to toss our pearls before pigs.

This is a hard lesson. It sounds harsh. But it’s also reality. Not everyone is equally deserving of your time, attention, and resources. Choices have to be made – and Jesus calls us to be smart about it.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Sometimes it’s a child who shows us the way

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “How to inhabit time”

Our Bible verse for today: “… and a child will lead them.” Isaiah 11:6 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Sometimes it’s a child who shows us the way”

For all my years as a Pastor I have always had the habit of praying on Friday mornings, by name, for every member, attender, and recent visitor in our church. I use the pictorial directory, and I also refer to a written list for those I don’t have a picture of. I think about the person, consider any special needs in their life, and then I pray for them.

This past Sunday (New Years Day), in children’s church, the children made a list of their New Years resolutions. Then they brought them to me after the worship service and asked if, when I prayed for them, would I pray that God would help them to keep their resolutions? I was touched and honored. And of course, I will pray for those issues for them.

The lists were cute and contain the kinds of things you would expect from young children – obey my parents, be nice to my brother or sister, do better in school, and, admirably (considering the age we live in), spend less time on my cell phone.

Isaiah 11:6 is about the Christ-child not about your child. And yet, it is true that often children lead us as adults to be aware of important things we might be missing. In this case, the children understand the importance of having goals for personal improvement, and writing them down. Not to mention the importance of asking other people to pray for you to achieve your goals.

Have you begun the New Year with a list of goals and objectives? I mean things to accomplish or ways to improve? If not, I encourage you to do so. Too often we end up wandering willy-nilly through our days, just shuffling along without giving a lot of thought to where we’re headed, what we’re accomplishing, and how we’re using our time. The old saying “Aim at nothing and you’ll hit it every time” is really true. If you’re attempting nothing, you’ll accomplish nothing.

We humans thrive when our lives have clear purpose and good structure. I encourage you to prayerfully set some goals for achievement and improvement in 2023. And, if you would like me to pray for those things for you, just send them to me. I’ll gladly include your list of resolutions right along with the lists from the children.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Don’t waste your time

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “How to inhabit time”

Our Bible verse for today: “Teach us to number our days carefully so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts.” Psalm 90:12 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Don’t waste your time”

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2023. If you were at Oak Hill Baptist Church for the New Year Day service, or if you watched online, then you know that the sermon was about how to make the most of the time God will give us in 2023. The moments of our lives are a gift from God – every moment of every day. It’s all grace. It’s all a gift.

In front of you there are 12 new months, 52 new weeks, 365 new days, 8,760 new hours, 525,000 new minutes, and 31,536,000 new seconds. How will you use them? Will they pass you by in a blur as you rush through life from one activity to another? Will you waste your time dwelling on the past and worrying about the future? Will you do things of consequence that make a difference for you and for others?

I confess upfront that I borrowed the title for this month’s theme. It comes from a book I read last year with the same title, “How to inhabit time: Understanding the past, facing the future, living faithfully now.”, by James K.A. Smith. Smith is a professor of philosophy at Calvin University, and as a philosopher, he tends to spend a lot of time thinking about things like “how to inhabit time”. His book is insightful and thought-provoking, and I’ll refer to it from-time-to-time throughout the month. We need to understanding how to live fully and live well.

I will also draw from John Mark Comer’s excellent work “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry”, and from “Three Mile an Hour God” by Kosuke Kayama, who is in heaven now but in this lifetime, he was a respected and influential Japanese theologian and philosopher. Kayama taught that God walks with us through life at our speed (three miles an hour) and if we go too fast, He slows us down so we can appreciate and savor the moments of life.

The point is that life is too precious and too short to waste our time regretting the past, worrying about the future, or rushing through our days. We also want to be sure that our lives matter and that they make a difference. Let’s resolve that in 2023 we won’t waste our time but will instead, make the most of it.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

See Him and He will be found by you

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “The awesome reality of the presence of God”

Our Bible verse for today: “Where can I go to escape your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to heaven, you are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I live at the eastern horizon or settle at the western limits, even there your right hand will hold on to me.” Psalm 139:7-11 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Seek Him and He will be found by you”

I want to end this month where we began, by thinking about the omnipresence of God. He is everywhere, always. There is no place in all the universe where God is not. That was David’s point in Psalm 139:7-11 above. In your entire life there will never be a moment when you are not in the presence of God.

I also want to remind us of the great truth Henry Blackaby so thoroughly explored and unpacked in his Bible study, “Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God”, that God wants to be known by His people and God wants to be heard by us. Therefore, He goes to extraordinary lengths to reach out to us – through His creation; on the pages of the Bible; in the person of Jesus Christ; through the Holy Spirit living in the hearts of and working through the lives of the followers of Christ; and ten thousand times ten thousand other ways. God wants to be known by us and He wants to be heard by us, and He goes to great lengths to connect with us.

But I also want to remind us of the wonderful insight shared by the poet Elizabeth Barret Browning, “Earth’s crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God, but only he who sees takes off his shoes; the rest sit round and pluck blackberries.” God is there, do we see Him? Are we even looking?

This is the last day of 2022. Tomorrow we will begin a new year. First, I want to wish you and yours a happy and blessed 2023. Then, I want to challenge all of us to make 2023 a year of discovery when we are much more alert to the presence of God all around us. He has promised that if you seek Him, He will be found by you: “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 …” (Jeremiah 29:12-14).

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Is God too loud or not loud enough?

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “The awesome reality of the presence of God”

Our Bible verse for today: “… but don’t let God speak to us, or we will all die.” Exodus 20:19 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Is God too loud or not loud enough?

In the passage from Exodus chapter twenty which I cited above, Moses had just come down from the mountain after receiving the Ten Commandments from God. The Israelites had been standing in the valley, at the foot of the mountain, witnessing the thunder and lightning and the sound of the trumpets, and they saw the mountain surrounded by smoke as God communicated with Moses. And it scared them witless. So, when Moses came down from the mountain, the trembling people, knowing they were about to receive a message from God, said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen, but don’t let God speak to us, or we will die.”

In their defense, God was being a bit dramatic and showy. It would have scared me too. Likewise, earlier in Exodus when Moses encountered God at the burning bush, that too was one of those Ripley’s Believe it or Not moments – a real attention-getter.

Yet, as we know from Scripture and from personal experience, the overwhelming majority of the time God’s presence and His voice are much more subtle and discrete – sometimes to the point of being a whisper. So, does God speak too loudly or not loudly enough? Is His presence too obvious, or not obvious enough?

In her book “Teaching Stones to Talk”, author Annie Dillard makes the case that we prefer it when God is subtle and quiet. Too much of Him scares us. So, our tendency is to douse the burning bush, turn away from the mountain, and ask Moses (or the preacher) to speak to us on God’s behalf so we don’t have to deal with Him directly. And sadly, often, God complies with our request. He limits His communication and revelation to what we will accept and can handle.

So, God does speak to us and show Himself to us through His creation. But instead of seeing it for ourselves, we need someone else to point it out to us. And He speaks to us through His inspired Word (the Bible). But instead of digging deeply into it for ourselves, we wait for the preacher to serve it up to us it on Sunday mornings in small, easily digestible portions. And God speaks to us through our interactions with other Holy Spirit-bearing Christians. But instead of being there at the gatherings of God’s people like we’re supposed to be (Hebrews 10:24-25), so God can speak to us through them, we skip church and consequently we miss God.

Does God speak too loudly or not loudly enough? I guess the answer depends on you. In Jeremiah 29:13-14 God says, “You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. I will be found by you …”

He will be found by you if you really want Him. The question is, how much of God do you want? Is He too loud for you, or not loud enough?

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Did you notice?

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “The awesome reality of the presence of God”

Our verse for today: “They are to make a sanctuary for me so that I may dwell among them.” Exodus 25:8 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Did you notice?”

I’m really loving my new study Bible for 2023. It’s “The Experiencing God Study Bible: Knowing and Doing the Will of God”. I intended to begin on January 1^st, but I was so eager to get at it that I’ve been into it for a month already.

Probably the most helpful feature of this study Bible is that every chapter begins with a sidebar entitled, “Prepare to meet God”. That sidebar then lists several key points you should be looking for as you read the chapter. Then at the end of every chapter there’s another sidebar entitled “Did you notice?”, which directs your attention back to some things you should have seen in the chapter. It’s deeply insightful and I find myself mulling over the points, taking notes, and journaling my thoughts about it.

In Exodus chapter twenty-five we’re reading God’s instructions to the Israelites about how they were to construct and furnish the temple. What’s notable is the extraordinary detail God gave outlining the conditions under which He would abide with and interact with His people. For them, it was complicated, limited, and restricted. It was still more revelation of the presence of God than had ever been given to any group of people at any other time in history up until then, but still, it was labor-intensive and limited.

It’s much easier for us today. For us God manifest His presence in nature (Romans 1:19-20); and through the Bible (Hebrews 4:12; 2 Timothy 3:16-17); and through the physical incarnation of Jesus (John 1:14, John 10:30, Colossians 2:9, Hebrews 4:14); and through the presence of His Holy Spirit living in the hearts of the followers of Christ (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

The truth is that God has gone to extraordinary lengths to be with us and to make Himself known to us. As we’ve been learning all month, God wants to be known and understood by His people. But do we notice? Are we paying attention? Do we see God when He shows Himself to us? Do we hear Him when He speaks? And if not, why not?

We’ll think more about this tomorrow but for this morning, as we’re considering the great truth that God is with us, and He shows Himself to us, and He speaks to us, I’ll challenge you with the same words Henry Blackaby repeats all throughout his study Bible, “Did you notice”?

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Do you leave blessings in your wake?

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “The awesome reality of the presence of God”

Our Bible verse for today: “Don’t neglect to do what is good and to share, for God is pleased with such sacrifices.” Hebrews 13:16 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Do you leave blessings in your wake?

I read a statement one time that immediately captured my attention, and my heart – to the point that I wrote it down and have kept it in my Bible for years. The writer was considering the fact that God has called His people to be a source of blessing to others in this hurting and bleeding world of ours. This has always been true. It has always been God’s plan that His people would show kindness and compassion to those who are hurting and in need – especially to the poor, the widows, the orphans, the marginalized in society, the grieving, and the distraught.

The statement read, “As I go through life, do I leave blessings in my wake? Do I leave a trail of gladness behind? Let it be said of me that, “He went about doing good and blessing people.”

Both the Old Testament and the New (but especially the New), are packed full of verses and passages in which God exhorts us be a source of kindness and compassion, hope and healing, to the hurting and needy. Here are just a few:

“Mankind, he has told each of you what is good and what it is the Lord requires of you: to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16

“Just as you want others to do for you, do the same for them.” Luke 6:31

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10

“Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith.” Galatians 6:9-10

“Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.” Philippians 2:4

Those are just a handful of examples; I could easily cite many more, but I think the point has been made. The presence of God is manifested in this world through the faithful blessings bestowed by His people, in His name. So, we will end today where we started: Do you leave blessings in your wake, a trail of gladness behind you? Are people better off because they encountered you? Will you be a blessing to someone today?

God bless,

Pastor Jim