Oak Hill Baptist Church

Make the most of your life

Good morning everyone,

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

Our Bible verse for today: “In fact, when we were with you, this is what we commanded you: “If anyone isn’t willing to work, he should not eat.” For we hear there are some among you who are idle. They are not busy but busybodies. Now we command and exhort such people by the Lord Jesus Christ to work quietly and provide for themselves.” 2 Thessalonians 3:10-12 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Make the most of your life”

I love reading biographies about successful people. I find them inspiring and motivating. Recently some friends gave me the autobiography of Dr. Ming Wang. The title is “From Darkness to Sight”. Dr. Wang was raised in communist China during the dark days of the Cultural Revolution. He hated the oppression, the poverty, the lack of opportunity, and the utter hopelessness of it all. Finally, as a teenager, he escaped and made his way to America with only $50 in his pocket, a Chinese-English dictionary, and with a big American dream in his heart.

But success in America didn’t come easily. It required hard work, discipline, perseverance, and a determination to never, ever give-up. Long story short, in America Ming became a Christian, earned a PhD in laser physics from MIT, and an MD from Harvard Medical School. He became a world-renowned eye surgeon and a friend of high-ranking elected officials. He published eight books, he has written hundreds of articles, and he has recorded music with Dolly Parton.

Over and over again in his autobiography Dr. Wang comments on the amazing amount of freedom and opportunity available for everyone in the U.S.A. This is a sentiment I’ve heard expressed more times than I can count from those who have immigrated to America from other places around the world. America truly is the land of opportunity!

But contrast that attitude with the one evidenced by so many of our natural born citizens today. Ours is increasingly becoming an entitlement society. Rather than being excited by the vast array of opportunity all around us and being willing to work hard to achieve our dreams, our citizens are adopting an attitude of entitlement and expecting things to be handed to them for little or no effort on their parts. In short, the communistic/socialistic/Marxist nightmare that Dr. Wang risked his life to escape from, is looking more and more attractive to young Americans today. And immigrants like Dr. Wang stand amazed and confused, wondering why our people are unable to see the absurdity in their perspective. Why can they not see the opportunities all around them, and why are they not willing to do the hard work to achieve success?

In 2 Thessalonians 3:10-12 the Apostle Paul articulated the Biblical perspective regarding the work ethic we are to have and the productive lives we are to live. It’s a perspective that God repeats numerous times in both the Old and New Testaments. We are to take advantage of our opportunities, work hard, take care of ourselves and our loved ones, and honor God by doing so.

So, happy Monday! It’s the beginning of another glorious week filled with great opportunities. I encourage you to get out there and make the most of your life.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Savor the moments

Good morning everyone,

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

Our Bible verse for today: “This is the blessing that Moses, the man of God, gave the Israelites before his death.” Deuteronomy 33:1 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Savor the moments”

I love the scene in Deuteronomy chapter thirty-three. Moses is about to die but before he goes, he speaks words of blessing upon the people. The entire chapter is one long declaration of blessing.

This is significant because much of what we read in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy about the previous forty years of Moses’ life revolves around the challenges and difficulties he had to deal with as he led the people out of captivity, and then for forty years of wandering in the wilderness. Sometimes there were big victories and magnificent encounters with God, but many other times there were embarrassing failures and great frustrations.

But actually, what we read in the Bible is just a summary of the highlights, the main events that transpired over those years. For Moses, most of those forty years with God’s people would have been spent just living life in normal day-to-day activities – and much of it was surely good. There would have been births and birthdays, engagements and marriages, music and games, meals around the campfires, storytelling, jokes and pranks. Life. Just life. And in the end, when it was all said and done, Moses thought about those years, looked out upon his people, and he blessed them.

That sounds a lot like church life to me – especially church life lived-out over many years in a good church. There are ups and downs, good times and bad. But overall, it’s mostly good. We should savor and enjoy that time together.

This Sunday at Oak Hill Baptist we will have Sunday school, a worship service, three baptisms, a baptism party after the service, a gender reveal party in the afternoon, and an evening Bible study. You know, the stuff of normal church life. I’m looking forward to it and intend to savor every moment of it. I hope that will be true for you in your church as well.

I want to leave you this morning with a quote from J.R.R. Tolkien. It’s one of my favorite scenes from the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. In the middle of a dangerous journey, Frodo and his traveling companions are enjoying a time of rest and renewal in the home of a friend:

“The future, for good or for ill, was not forgotten, but ceased to have power over the present. Health and hope grew strong in them, and they were content with each day as it came, taking pleasure in every meal, and in every word and song.”

I encourage you that as you gather with your church family tomorrow for sabbath-worship and for sabbath-rest, take pleasure in it all. Soak it in. Savor the moments.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Somebody, call the God Squad!

Good morning everyone,

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

Our Bible verse for today: “Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.” Philippians 2:4 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Somebody, call the God Squad!”

I heard a slang term the other day that I hadn’t heard before, “The God Squad”. It was used in a Christian rap song to describe a young man stumbling and falling to his knees under the weight of the burden he was bearing. In a hard-driving staccato rap voice the singer called out, “Somebody call the God Squad, we’ve got a man down!”

The “God Squad” is you and me. It’s us. We’re the ones who need to be ready to respond when “we’ve got a man down” That thought caused me to remember all the times the God Squad has responded to situations for me and my family. Like the time Linda had a massive stroke and she needed brain surgery to save her life. The God Squad was immediately all over that situation with prayer, phone calls, cards, gifts of money, meals, and even offers to do yard work.

Or the time I was leading a mission team into a remote section of the Amazon Jungle and Linda had a medical emergency here at home. The paramedics had to bust a door open even to get into the house to get to her. Again, the God Squad was instantly on the scene. They were at the house, and in the emergency room, and they repaired the door, and they watched out for Linda until I got home.

Or the time I received a phone call notifying me that our daughter Tracy was discovered to have terminal cancer and was quickly dying. I immediately flew to California, took her out of intensive care, put her on a plane and flew her home to Tennessee, where she died in our home just a week later. The God Squad was in that situation with us too. There were prayers, home visits, meals, gifts of money, and offers of all sorts of help.

Or, on a smaller but no less significant scale, there was the time last year when I was riding my Harley and the engine suddenly quit and would not restart. I was stranded on the side of the road. So, I called a good brother in Christ who immediately dropped everything, hitched up a trailer to his truck, and drove clear across the county to find me, load me up, and bring me and my busted motorcycle home.

As brothers and sisters in Christ we need to be there for each other, and sometimes, how we inhabit time, or how we live in the moment, means that we have to respond in the moment. It means that in that moment everything else stops and we go to the aid of a brother or sister in need.

Is that you? Are you a dependable member of the God Squad? When the call goes out, “Somebody call the God Squad, we’ve got a man down!”, will you be one of the first responders? I hope you will be because the fact is, we need to be able to depend on each other. Sometimes it’s you and sometimes it’s me who is “the man down”. We all need to know we can depend on our brothers and sisters in our times of need.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Two ears, one mouth

Good morning everyone,

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

Our Bible verse for today: “Then they sat on the ground with him seven days and nights, but no one spoke a word to him because they saw that his suffering was very intense.” Job 2:13 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Two ears, one mouth”

This morning I want to take us back to the prayer I quoted yesterday from the old nun. In it she asked the Lord to give her the patience to simply listen to others without feeling as if she needed to say something about everything, and without believing it was up to her to straighten everyone else out.

It has rightly been said that the good Lord gave us two ears and one mouth, so He must intend for us to listen twice as much as we talk. I believe that’s true, but I also believe it’s a challenge for many of us. Some of us are inclined to talk much more than we listen. And even when we do listen, we’re often only half-listening because as the other person is talking, half of our brain is listening to them and the other half is thinking about what we want to say next. Then, as soon as the other person pauses for a breath, we jump in with our thoughts and comments. Worse, if the conversation had up to this point been about them, our temptation is often to hijack it and make it about us now. We’re all sometimes guilty of this.

The Biblical story of Job and his three friends is a legendary example of a suffering man having to endure the presence of three people who talked too much, about things they actually knew little about, and attempting to do so with a sense of authority that was misplaced. Consequently, they said a lot of dumb things that weren’t helpful.

But it didn’t start that way. In fact, they started out very well. In Job 2:13 (above), we find that when they first arrived, they simply sat in silence and supported their friend with their presence. This is what we call “the ministry of presence”. It’s not always necessary to say something. You can bless and support the person simply by being with them and empathically entering into their suffering with them. Job’s friends were doing well – until they started talking.

Sometimes one of the most helpful and considerate things we can do for someone is to simply listen to them – really, deeply, sincerely, listen. When you do so, you’re giving them the gift of your time and attention. A suffering or struggling person often just needed someone to listen. Talking can be therapeutic.

God did give us two ears and only one mouth. Most of us would be better off if we listened more and talked less.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

The wisdom of old age

Good morning everyone,

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

Our Bible verse for today: “The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: For learning wisdom and discipline; for understanding insightful sayings; for receiving prudent instruction in righteousness, justice and integrity …” Proverbs 1:2-3 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “The wisdom of old age”

One of the marks of a life lived well is that in old age a person has developed a lifetime of wisdom. Also, as the years have passed, a wise person has learned to settle down, relax a little, and hopefully more fully enjoy the gift of time God gives to us each day of our lives.

The books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes were written by Solomon, probably in his old age, and they reflect a lifetime of hard-earned wisdom. When it comes to our theme of how to inhabit time and to do it well, there’s a lot we can learn from older folks.

The other day I came across a very old prayer written by a Mother Superior (the senior nun in a convent). This appeared in her journal. It’s a reflection on the aging process and on the kind of old woman she hoped she was in the process of becoming. I love her insight into human nature and the aging process, and I especially enjoy the sly sense of self-deprecating humor she expresses:

“Lord, thou knowest better than I know myself that I am growing old, and will some day be old. Keep me from getting talkative, and particularly from the fatal habit of thinking I must say something on every subject and on every occasion.

Release me from craving to try to straighten out everybody’s affairs. Keep my mind free from the recital of endless details – give me wings to get to the point.

I ask for grace enough to listen to the tales of others’ pains. Help me to endure them with patience. But seal my lips on my own aches and pains – they are increasing and my love of rehearsing them is becoming sweeter as the years go by.

Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally it is possible that I may be mistaken. Keep me reasonably sweet; I do not want to be a saint – some of them are so hard to live with – but a sour old woman is one of the crowning works of the devil.

Make me thoughtful, but not moody; helpful, but not bossy. With my vast store of wisdom (said with tongue firmly in cheek), it seems a pity not to use it all – but thou knowest, Lord, that I want to have a few friends left at the end.”

And all God’s people said … “Amen!”

God bless,
Pastor Jim

A show about nothing

Good morning everyone,

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

Our Bible verse for today: “Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord and not for people.” Colossians 3:23 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “A show about nothing”

Paul’s word of encouragement found in Colossians 3:23 is a good one, and it is encouraging. It’s often applied to the work environment (we should give our best, and we should do so as a means of honoring and pleasing the Lord). But we should also bring that attitude to all the rest of life as well. We should be striving to excel in all areas of life and we should live that way as a means of honoring God.

Recently I’ve been reading, “Overcoming Apathy: Gospel Hope for Those Who Struggle to Care” by Uche Anizor. I’m reading it because apathy is a widespread problem in our nation, and also in our churches – and that apathetic approach to church life is killing the Church in the USA. The problem is simply that people are overwhelmed with life, overstimulated by all the noise and distractions, and overcommitted in many ways. Consequently, we become numb and we withdraw.

In one chapter, Anizor compares the lives of many Americans to the old television show Seinfeld. There was no plot to Seinfeld, and the characters had no real purpose in their lives. Much of the show took place in a bar and it largely consisted of the characters drinking, talking, and trading snarky barbs and cynical observations. It was, essentially, a show about nothing. Sadly, that illustration describes the lives of many Americans, and even some American Christians.

But none of us wants our lives to be “a show about nothing”. Our lives should have meaning and purpose. We want to do more than just survive – we want to thrive. And that’s why it’s so important that we learn how to properly inhabit the time God has given to us, and to do so according to Biblical principles.

Personally, I’ve learned much by researching and writing this series about how to better inhabit time, and evidently you as readers have found it helpful as well because you have provided me with a lot of positive feedback. (Thank you. Feedback is always appreciated and helpful).

There’s much more we can learn from the Bible about this topic, and it is a vitally important subject, so I’ve decided to continue the theme into February. What a shame it would be if any of our lives ended up having been “a show about nothing”. Let’s make sure it isn’t.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Can they see it in your face?

Good morning everyone,

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

Our Bible verse for today: “After he came out, he (Moses) would tell the Israelites what he had been commanded, and the Israelites would see that Moses’s face was radiant.” Exodus 34:34-35 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Can they see it in your face?”

Our premise this month has been that if we learn how to inhabit time, that is, if we learn how to properly use our time and how to think rightly about the time God has gifted us with, our lives will be deeper, richer, fuller, and much more satisfying. An important part of that discussion has revolved around sabbath-keeping. As we have learned, God commanded that His people observe a sabbath day for the dual purposes of resting and worshipping. And we have learned that when we do so, it helps to restore healthy balance to our lives.

I love the scene found in Exodus chapter thirty-four where we read of Moses going into the tent of meeting to spend time with the Lord. When he comes out from the presence of the Lord his face is radiant and glowing. The people could see that Moses had been with God. The experience of it literally radiated out of him. Moses then told the people what God said to him.

Today is Monday, yesterday was Sunday. Did you gather with your church family for worship and fellowship? Was it good? Did you encounter God and did you walk away from the worship, the fellowship, and the time with God, refreshed, renewed, and spiritually rejuvenated? And does it show?

If your church is healthy and if your own heart is right, then your time in “the tent of meeting” (your church), should leave you glowing and radiant, and it should carry over into the rest of the week.

It was obvious to everyone that Moses had been with God, and he was eager to tell them about it. Hopefully the same is true of us. When you go to the tent of meeting you will experience God. Soak in every minute of it, enjoy it, let it impact you deeply, then, like Moses, go share your experience with others. They should be able to see it in your face and hear it in your words, and you should be different because you were with God.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Happier than a camel on Wednesday

Good morning everyone,

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

Our Bible verse for today: “I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.” Psalm 122:2 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Happier than a camel on Wednesday”

Some of you may remember the commercial from the GEICO insurance company a few years ago. It featured a happy talking camel walking through an office building on a Wednesday. At one point the camel encounters a stressed and unhappy office worker and he says to him, “Hey Carl, do you know what day it is? Do ya? Do ya? Huh? Huh? Come on, say it, “It’s hump day!”

Wednesday is often referred to as “hump day” because it’s the midpoint of the traditional Monday-Friday workweek. Once you get over the hump of Wednesday, it’s all downhill to the weekend. The reason the camel loves hump day is because, well, the camel has a hump. So technically hump day is his day. And therefore, presumably, camels are especially happy on Wednesdays.

Monday-Friday workers tend to love hump day because it leads them to their favorite time of the week, the weekend. As a Pastor I’m not a Monday through Friday worker, because by necessity my schedule has to be more fluid than that. But I am a big fan of hump day – and for the same reason – I love the weekend. Saturday is frequently a day of recreation for me and Sunday is the Lord’s Day. It’s the day of the week when I get to be with my church family as we gather for worship and fellowship.

King David saw it that way too. That’s what he was describing in Psalm 122:1. He loved going to the house of God with the people of God, and he looked forward to it. Was he happier than a camel on Wednesday? Maybe. They had lots of camels in those days, and in Psalm 122:1 David sure does seem to be pretty happy, and for the right reason – he was headed to church! Is that how you think about going to church? Is Sunday the best day of the week for you? I hope it is.

We have practical jokers in our church, so I won’t be too surprised if there are camel-related pranks or jokes this Sunday. But I’ll settle for happy hearts and big smiles – just a bunch of joyful, smiling Christians, happier on Sunday than a camel on Wednesday.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Have we lost our balance?

Good morning everyone,

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

Our Bible verse for today: “Be very careful then how you live, not as unwise but as wise.” Ephesians 5:15 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Have we lost our balance? ”

Back in the mid-1980s the Japanese realized they had a social problem that had morphed into a major health crisis. Their culture placed such high value on hard work and high achievement that the Japanese people were literally working themselves to death. They were actually dropping dead at work. Lots of them. Tens of thousands a year. Others were dying early from health issues that were related to overworking, including hypertension and heart disease, along with suicide. They even coined a phrase to describe the crisis, “Karoshi” – death by overworking. Karoshi is still at crisis levels in Japan today. It’s a problem in our nation too. Many of us literally work ourselves to death.

But our society is also noted for going to the other extreme. We’re fanatical about leisure and recreation, to the point that many of us put as much effort into our play as we do into our work. How many times have you come home from a vacation feeling like you needed a vacation to rest from your vacation? For others their leisure involves little activity at all and therefore they’ve become sedentary, lazy, and dangerously out of shape.

Houston, we have a problem. We’ve lost our balance. We’re addicted to work, or to leisure, or to both. As Christians when we get caught-up in that it often results in neglecting God for the sake of work or play or both. This is why God has given us a Sabbath day. And this is why He has commanded us (fourth of the Ten Commandments) to observe it. We are to have a day each week to stop all the work and all the busyness, and to instead rest and worship. It’s not optional. God has commanded it.

But … we make excuses. We go here, we go there, we go everywhere instead of going to church. We work the extra hours, we do the other things, we make endless excuses, and we are busy, busy, busy – with everything except God and His people. As was noted in a previous devotional in this series, church attendance in America is at an all-time low, even among professing Christians.

In Ephesians 5:15 Paul cautioned us to be wise rather than unwise in how we live. Many of us are living unwisely because we’ve lost a healthy balance in life. The Sabbath was intended by God to help us restore the balance. Please stop sacrificing your Sabbath on the altar of other things. Today is Friday, Sunday is coming. You really do need that Sabbath day.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Get started, keep at it, don’t give up

Good morning everyone,

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

Our Bible verse for today: “Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up.” Galatians 6:9 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Get started, keep at it, don’t give up”

We often talk about the importance of perseverance in life and of not giving up. You’ll never accomplish anything if you’re a serial quitter. When England was faced with attack from an overwhelming Nazi military force in World War II Winston Churchill motivated the people when he declared, “Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in …”

Great advice. It was similar to the words spoken by Captain Richard Phillips when he was asked how he managed to his survive captivity by Somali pirates. He said, “Nothing is over until you give up.” He simply resolved that he was going to survive his ordeal and then he refused to give up.

But as important as perseverance is to accomplishing anything of significance, even more important is getting started at all. You can’t stick with it and finish it if you never even started it. And this is the problem so many of us face. We’re wishful thinkers. We have great aspirations regarding the things we intend to do, but then we come up with a dozen excuses to put it off another day, or week, or month, or year. “I’ll start going to the gym tomorrow, but this morning I’m going to sleep late and have donuts for breakfast.” “My life is a little busy right now, so I’ll start work on that college degree next semester.” “I really need to spend time with my friend, but I’ll do it another day.”

And on and on it goes. We kick the can down the road, put the thing off a little longer, and before we know it, time has passed, nothing was accomplished, and instead of being twenty pounds lighter, we’re now twenty pounds heavier; instead of spending quality time with the spouse today, we haven’t had a date night in months; instead of the car being clean and the oil changed, it’s a rolling dumpster on the verge of breaking down.

I think you see the problem. When it comes to using our time well it’s crucial that we get started, keep at it, and don’t give up. Be where you’re supposed to be, do what you’re supposed to do, and see it through to the end.

It’s true that nothing is over until you give up, but it’s even truer that it’s over before it has even started if you never get going to begin with.

God bless,
Pastor Jim