Sweet Message, Sour Service

1st Thessalonians 1:7-9 7 As a result, you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 For the Lord’s message rang out from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place that your faith in God has gone out. Therefore, we don’t need to say anything, 9 for they themselves report what kind of reception we had from you: how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God

Several years ago while Sarah and I were on vacation with another couple we decided to check out a restaurant that had a reputation for having one of the best chefs on the east coast. We had to wait over an hour on a weeknight to be seated, the staff was rude, the dining room was crowded with tables so close together that you elbowed your neighbor with every bite.

The food was as delicious as promised, obviously prepared by an expert in the kitchen but I hardly remember it. What I do remember was the bad experience I had with the people between me and the food. I left there not singing the praises of the chef but complaining about the actions of the staff.

The message of the Lord is good, it is sweet, it is the finest that there is prepared by the greatest that there is, but the actions of those who deliver it, the actions of the church who is tasked with carrying it, has an impact on how it is received and how it is remembered. Our message is true but our actions speak to the truth of our message in our lives. For better or worse, our reputation will have an impact for generations to come.

The church in Thessaloniki was one that was delivering the message of God with actions that reflected God.  This was a city at the crossroads where people of all kinds visited, worked and passed through.  This was a church that had an opportunity to share the message of hope with their words and show it with their actions and because of that people believed and further spread the message.

Paul received a good report on the message and activities of the Thessalonians.  What report would be written about us? Are there choices in our lives that cause people to overlook the truth we proclaim?  Are there actions in our churches, perhaps unintentional, that sour the sweetness of our message? 

To discover more, visit Oak Grove Baptist Church.

Photo by Joshua Ness on Unsplash

Taking Blessings For Granted

Psalm 103:1-21 My soul, praise Yahweh, and all that is within me, praise His holy name. 2 My soul, praise the Lord, and do not forget all His benefits.

How blessed do you think you are?

We thank God for the big things but yet don’t thank Him for the small things that add up to those big things! In fact, most Blessings are taken for granted. There is an old saying that the grass is always greener on the other side. I prefer another version, the grass is always greener over the septic tank! It reminds me that what may look good and inviting on the outside may hide something rotten on the inside.

Especially nowadays. We see people post their perfect family pictures on Instagram, tell their perfect life stories on Facebook and we envy them. We covet what they appear to have, and in doing so we forget that they are posting merely a single snapshot of one moment of their life - a life just as chaotic and busy as yours is.

We spend our time and energy chasing fool's gold and miss the real treasure God has placed before us.

The psalmist here is stopping and being very intentional. He is saying to his soul, don’t chase after the falsehoods, remember what God has done. Don’t let a single part of my life seek anything apart from God and His glory.

What price would you put on your blessings that we often take for granted? How much money would you take for these blessings, knowing you’d never have them again? How much money would it take for you to never again have enough to eat, or a place to sleep, or for your health? For how much money would you give up your church, your friends or your family? Think about it.

How many people in this country are facing illness or death?  How many in this country are facing starvation or - something I never thought I would have to type - facing trafficking?  What about outside of America?  If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, without fear of facing battle, imprisonment or torture, if you woke up knowing you would have a decent meal then you are better off than the majority of the world.

The fact is, if you live in the USA, no matter your current financial position, you are wealthier than 90% of the world at least.

What if you had to put a price tag on your other blessings?

I’ve read that the human body, with 2019 market prices on all our minerals and compounds, is worth about $4.50. (1) If you took this same body and sold it off for parts, how much would you be worth? How much are you willing to pay to repair it? How much are you are willing to pay, in the time of a tragedy to restore something you are currently blessed with? The average cost of a kidney transplant is fifty thousand dollars and a heart transplant is a quarter of a million dollars.

Think about that the next time you order those bacon burgers and a large shake from Krystals!

With the amount of time we take to be thankful for these things, one would think they are small blessings but they are not. They are truly large blessings being taken for granted everyday. I must make a choice to stop and be thankful for them. I must praise God with all that is within me because all that is good within me is a gift from Him.

This Thanksgiving, do not forget all His benefits!

To discover more, visit Oak Grove Baptist Church.

1. How Much Are The Elements in your Body Worth? https://www.thoughtco.com/worth-of-your-elements-3976054

Help My Unbelief...

Mark 9:22b-24 “...But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” Then Jesus said to him, “‘If You can’? Everything is possible to the one who believes.” Immediately the father of the boy cried out, “I do believe! Help my unbelief.”

As I write this short devotional I am also preparing for Easter Sunday, the wonderful time we set aside to celebrate and reflect on the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  As Christians, we are honestly called to remember this event every day, after all it is the basis of our faith, the power and hope of our renewed life.  But on Easter we set aside more time, celebrate a little louder, and make it a bit more of an emphasis.

Honestly that is how we often live our faith.  When we are met with challenges and special reminders we display our faith for all to see, but what do we do on the quiet days, when the silent struggles happen behind closed doors?  What do we do when we realize that we are being led by our doubt more than our faith?

In this passage from the Gospel of Mark a desperate Father has brought his son to the disciples to be

healed spiritually and physically, but they were not able to help him.  In desperation when he sees Jesus the man says "If you can do anything..."

If you can?  Have you ever had those moments with God?  I have.  Those times where I realize that everything has been crumbling around me while I have been telling God I can handle this. Those times where  God is saying "Let me help" and I halfheartedly reply, If you can....

These are the times when my faith has become rote religion.  It's not that I'm not praying it is that my prayers are hollow.  It isn't that I'm not reading the Bible it is that my eyes scan over the words without letting them penetrate my heart.  This is when I doubt if God can, If God cares, sometimes if even God is real.  How ironic is it that in these moments where I feel and know God is calling me closer to Him I doubt if He is even real! 

After being challenged by Jesus the man utters one of the most honest statements a human can speak: “I do believe! Help my unbelief.” It is that grasp to a wisp of faith, that first tentative step towards God and not away from Him that leads us back to a growing, stronger faith.  It is then that we realize that we can not have faith without God's help to have faith.  We turn towards Him and He helps us believe and trust and follow.

In this encounter from Mark's Gospel the man's small faith was proven true when Jesus healed the boy.  So many times in my life God has proven Himself true when I turn to him with my little faith, no matter how often I have stumbled through moments of doubt and despair.

Resurrection Sunday is the ultimate proof of who Jesus is and what He can do.  It is a moment not for us to put on a show or act like our faith is never without doubts.  Maybe it has been a while since you turned toward Him, believe me He is still calling out to you. This is a time to come honestly before our living Savior and say “I do believe! Help my unbelief.”

To discover more, visit Oak Grove Baptist Church

Generous Wisdom

James 1:5-6 5 Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without criticizing, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith without doubting. For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind. 

The Old Testament tells us that when Solomon became king of Israel, he asked God not for wealth or power but for the wisdom to rule his people well. God answered his prayer with all he wanted and then some. Now we know that Solomon was far from perfect, he even made some dumb decisions later in life when he got away from God and His wisdom, but he is still remembered as among the wisest people ever.

It’s easy for us to look at Solomon and think this wisdom was a one time only deal, only for the new king and not for anyone else. However, if we look at James 1:5, we see something else entirely.

God not only wants all of us to have wisdom; He wants to be generous with His gift of wisdom. It is as if we have received this huge box from God and on the front, it says generous wisdom. We want to get into the box and see all that our Father has given us but we can’t figure out how to move the lid. We fail to notice the sign on the side that says “Ask to Open”. James tells us here that if we lack wisdom all we have to do is ask and that generous box will be open to us.

However, don't think this wisdom is like a magic lamp with a Genie inside, make a wish and be set

for life. As we see from the life of Solomon, God’s wisdom will only be available to us if we stay close to God and follow Him. It is a box that we open again and again by staying with God always. God’s wisdom for us is not the same as clairvoyance or massive knowledge. It is simply learning to see His will and His movements in the midst of the uncertainty of this world - and being smart enough to follow Him.

James tells us in verse six that we have to ask in faith without wavering. God is willing to give us wisdom, but we can't be wavering in faith not just during the asking but throughout. You can’t be thinking on Monday, “God give me wisdom to do your will” then on Tuesday, “God, never mind. I don’t trust you!”

If you don't believe in the wisdom of God you are not going to find it to be very wise. In fact, you will consider it to be foolishness. We see this throughout the Bible, from the rich young ruler walking away from what Jesus told him, to Paul speaking to the crowd in Athens. We want God’s wisdom but if it doesn’t line up with our preconceived knowledge then we simply don't accept it. That is why our minds must be made up before we ask. That is why we must have already made our choice. If we want God to be generous with His wisdom then we must be willing to choose God over the world.

To discover more, visit Oak Grove Baptist Church.

Covenant Love

Ephesians 5:28-30 28 In the same way, husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hates his own flesh but provides and cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, 30 since we are members of His body.

Throughout the Bible we read of God’s covenant love for us. This is how He relates to us - through covenants. Here, Paul is comparing the marriage between a husband and wife to the relationship between Jesus Christ and the church.  Specifically to husbands, He says that we are to love our wives with a sacrificial love, just as Christ sacrificed Himself for the church.  This echoes a theme throughout scriptures of how God loves us, a covenant love.  In other scripture passages, such as Malachi, marriage is also referred to as a covenant. If you look at the whole of scripture you begin to see that love is not just a feeling, or an obsession, or even a contract.  Love, especially between a man and a wife, is a covenant.

What do I mean when I say that? Well when you go back to the original language of the New Testament, ancient Greek, you see two terms used to describe an agreement. Suntheke is a contract. This is where each person gives something and each person receives something. If person A doesn’t live up to his end of the deal then person B can leave the agreement. However, the Bible almost exclusively uses the word diatheke, or covenant, which is an agreement where someone gives something to another person and expects nothing in return.

Now that doesn’t mean covenants are always unconditional. Remember God told Israel, if you keep my commands you will have this. However, the key difference is that those commands were given for their good. It is not that God needed them to keep His commands or even expected them to. He did not go into the covenant in order to get something out of it, He went into the covenant in order to give into it.

When we view marriage through the lens of the Gospel we will begin to correctly see it as a covenant love.  It is a love we pour into.  It is not a love that ignores fault or tolerates evil. It is a love that forgives, confronts with humility, and perseveres.  Husbands love your wives just as Christ loves His church.  That is not a light command.  That is a powerful directive. Husbands love your wives so that your marriage is a direct witness to the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

God's covenant love for us is unfailing and eternal.  It is not blind, it is honest, it is patient.  Is that how you see your love for your spouse?  Are you building a covenant with them that will last or simply writing a contract to be torn up when it has outlived it's usefulness.

Are you building a relationship with your loved one based on God's love for you?

To discover more, visit Oak Grove Baptist Church.

Be Careful What You Let In

Romans 6:12-14 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires. 13 And do not offer any parts of it to sin as weapons for unrighteousness. But as those who are alive from the dead, offer yourselves to God, and all the parts of yourselves to God as weapons for righteousness. 14 For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under law but under grace.
One of our small group lessons had a great illustration on the growth of sin. Have you ever heard of Kudzu? Have you ever tried to cut and clear land covered by Kudzu and keep it from coming back? It is not easy, is it?  Kudzu is known as the vine that ate the south, it is a nuisance, but it didn’t start out that way.

In the 1930s, the US government brought this vine in from Asia and paid farmers to plant kudzu to protect against soil erosion. But what started as a good thing grew out of control. The warm summers and mild winters caused it to flourish until by 2010, it had taken over seven million acres across the Southeast.  Likewise there are so many things that seem harmless, fun, or even helpful that do slow unseen damage to our lives. Before we know it, we have surrendered control to them and we start fighting for them against God in our life. (1)

Your life is a weapon of righteousness. By that I mean the way you live, the way you talk, the way you act is a weapon that is meant to show God’s grace, love and honor. It is meant to cut through the lies of this world with love and humility so that others see the mercy and grace of God. That is the last thing the devil wants the world to see. The devil would love to disarm any part of your testimony, to get a toehold in one part of your life so that he can try to tear down the rest of it.

Be careful what you let in.

In Romans 6, Paul shows us that sin is an invader and our mortal bodies are the battleground on which it is fighting.  We have a choice to make.  Do we let our Creator, the Rightful King who loves us and died for us rein in our lives or do we let this invader, sin, reign instead?  Paul helps us see that sin is not just an isolated thing we do, it is an active, growing power. 

You know I’ve never seen Kudzu grow. I have seen where it has grown and overtaken, but I’ve never watched the vines spread. It just seems like it is this size one day, manageable, but I wake up a few days later and it had grown to something so big I might as well not even try to fight it. Sin is the same way. It may look still and unmoving but it is not. It is growing and devouring.

The goal of sin is to wreck your life by attempting to dethrone God in your life.  It then can turn you into a weapon against those you love.  Sin must be in control and it must destroy.  Our job is to not let sin rule even one part of our life, to not let him even get a toehold. If sin does enter in we must be honest enough to go before God and ask Him to clear it out - we can not do it on our own.   We must strive to live a life that is used as a weapon of good - loving, helping others, and not a life under control of the one who only wants to destroy and kill.

Living under grace is pure freedom but it is not freedom from responsibilities. We must not only consider how our actions, addictions, and choices affect us, but how they affect others. Are your actions glorifying Christ or are they pointing your friends and family to seek answers in the world instead of in Christ?

What are you doing with this new life in Christ this morning? Who will be controlling you today?

To discover more, visit Oak Grove Baptist Church.

1. Bible Studies For Life https://blog.lifeway.com/biblestudiesforlife/extra-ideas-for-adults-engaging-culture-in-an-ever-changing-world-session-4/

Out Of The Boat, Into The Storm

Matthew 14: 28-31  28 “Lord, if it's You,” Peter answered Him, “command me to come to You on the water.” 29 “Come!” He said. And climbing out of the boat, Peter started walking on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the strength of the wind, a he was afraid. And beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Immediately Jesus reached out His hand, caught hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

Why was Peter able to write such stirring and encouraging words later in his life when facing trials and persecution? Because his faith had already been tested and prepared long before.

We've all heard the encounter where Jesus walked on water, may have even seen illustrations of it, in fact we've heard it so much we often overlook some of the details.  This was no calm stroll on still water near the shore.  This was Jesus strolling out into a storm tossed, wind blown sea.  This was a boat full of disciples who had been rowing against the storm for hours, being blown off course and exhausted from the exertion.  They were tired, they were frightened, they were being forced to go the wrong way by forces larger than them.

Then comes Jesus and at first they are even more afraid to see Him!  But then good old Peter calls out and asks Jesus to command him to get out of the boat and step into the storm.

I've seen many illustrations of this incident where Peter is depicted as timidly hanging on to the boat and barely putting a toe in the water. I don't think that rings true. Look at the biblical description of Peter and you see that he was anything but timid. He was bold and brash. This was the same man who famously boasted that he would never leave Christ, never deny Him even if everyone else did and even if it meant his own death! Of course we know how that worked out.

Remember it is Peter who initiated this encounter by asking the Lord to command Him to come out on the water. I picture Peter confidently getting out of the boat and striding on the waves for a step or two... until he realizes how big the storm is. How high the waves are and how strong the winds are.
In my mind how it plays out is that Peter sees Jesus unflappable in the storm and thinks I can do that, as long as I am following Jesus the wind and waves won't touch me and he steps on out.  But then he gets out there and even though he is walking on water, even though he is not sinking and is safely doing the impossible, he still feels the wind and the waves. He is still getting wet and feels the pressure from the wind, the water crashing against his legs and then he gets scarred.

This isn't what he was expecting! Now we finally get our first cry out to God in this story “Lord, save me!” and it is not an expression of faith in God it as an expression of a lack of faith in God. He did not trust Jesus to bring Him safely to Him. That is why Jesus responded: “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” We sometimes think that following Jesus through the storm means we will never get wet, but more often than not it simply means we will make it through to the other side. That is what happens to Peter here. He was perfectly safe as long he stayed focus on Jesus but the moment he pulled his eyes off of Jesus he began to sink. 

Before we are too tough on our friend Peter remember this: at least he stepped out of the boat! There were eleven other men in the boat who were too frightened to even do that!  Peter put that little faith he had into action and even though he struggled, even though he failed this time, his faith was built stronger. He would have more stumbles, take a few more falls but each time his faith grew a little more so that when the real trials and storms came, when God placed him as a leader of the church during some of it's darkest days, he and his faith were ready. His eyes would be focused squarely on Jesus and he would lead others through the storm and to Christ.

We are all frightened by the storms that swirl around us, that push us off course, but you can not allow yourself to be frozen by your fear.  You will never be strong enough to face the storms of life unless you are willing to take your faith and step out of the boat, into the storm, and towards Jesus.

To discover more, visit Oak Grove Baptist Church.

Transformed In A Culture Of Conformity

Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

It amazes me how a culture that prides itself on individuality, one that preaches the motto “You be you and I'll be me” truly stresses conformity. From our government to Hollywood we are taught that we can think what we want to think, as long as those thoughts line up with theirs. This pressure to conform comes in many ways, some more subtle than others. Perhaps it is the talking head on the news channel telling you that disagreeing is treason or maybe it is simply a coworker who keeps reminding you which people are worth something to society and which are not. The danger of this worldly conformity is that it blinds us to the beauty of God working all around us.

The one thing all of these influences have in common, no matter their source, is that they each believe their view is the right view and you must agree with them. I know the irony of typing that statement about the world is that many people will accuse Christians of the same thing. However, there is an important difference. I am not trying to convince you that my views and thoughts are the right views and thoughts. As a Christian I myself must first yield to a higher authority than me. I must yield to God - to His thoughts and His ways.

That is why the bible tells us to not be conformed to this age, to our societies teachings or influence, but rather be transformed by the renewing of our mind. How do we do this? By looking to God’s word first, by seeking out time with God first, and by training yourself in the spiritual discipline of hearing His still, small voice - the voice of truth.

One of my hobbies is magic, sleight of hand and illusion. One of the things I love about magic is it proves the lie that seeing is believing. With skillful manipulation, I can make you see many things that are not true. However, the Bible shows us that the opposite is true - believing is seeing. God does not have to prove Himself to us or put on a show for us. In fact, it is the utmost of human pride to believe that God has to show us anything! But the amazing thing is that when we believe and trust in Him we will begin to see Him at work not only in our life but in the lives of those around us. Our belief opens our eyes to the truth. Our faith is made sight.

When we seek Him first, when we shut out the clutter and noise of this world and let Him and His truth renew our mind then we will be transformed, renewed and able to see the work of God around us.

To discover more, visit Oak Grove Baptist Church.

Joy To The World?

1st Peter 1:6 -7 6 You rejoice in this, though now for a short time you have had to struggle in various trials 7 so that the genuineness of your faith — more valuable than gold, which perishes though refined by fire — may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

We sometimes get the wrong view of childlike faith.  Take Christmas for example.  We look back longingly for the simple time when we were kids and we knew that our gifts would be under the tree, our Christmas dinner would be on the table and we would have plenty of time for rejoicing and celebrating and playing.  Now as adults we know the worry of the budget to buy those gifts and the food.  We feel the press of the schedule that squeezes our hearts and minds back to work even while we are sitting with family and friends.

It is not that when we were younger we did not understand those pressures, it’s just that we trusted our parents to handle it for us.  Likewise, our faith today is not a blind one where we ignore the pressures and the problems we face, rather it is a childlike one that endures the difficulties while trusting our Heavenly Father to provide for us in His way and in His time. Christianity is not a religion of fake happiness until the real thing comes.  Christian joy is not a phony smile covering a crying heart.  It is the joy of a genuine faith in a genuine God who has made a genuine promise to you.

It is interesting in verse six how we have both joys - “rejoice” - and struggles at the same time.  The Christian life is not one of perfection or lack of troubles.

Do not beat yourself up if you do not feel joyful all the time.  Do not think you have failed as a Christian if you are not always bursting with joy.  Often, how we feel does not measure up to what we know.  If you have accepted Christ you know He is in your life and what He has done for you, but sometimes in the daily grind of life you take your eyes off of Him.  Sometimes you simply do not feel joyful.  That is okay, perfect joy will be realized when we are home with Him.  In the meantime, it takes keeping your eyes on Jesus to remain in His joy.

Far too often when we feel like we have no joy it is because we are looking for it anywhere and everywhere except the one place we can find it.  We seek out distractions instead of discipline.  We look to entertainment instead of enlightenment.  When you look to the world for joy instead of to Jesus you will find only a poor imitation, you will find only fools gold.

Fools gold is the fake yellowish crystal that tricked many miners into thinking they had struck it rich and had found what they were looking for.  However, this abundant rock was worthless.  It glittered and promised but it did not deliver.  Such is the promise of much this world has to offer.  But if you can keep your eyes on Jesus and actively seek out your joy in Him even in the midst of the trials and struggles of this world then you will find, as verse seven tells us, something more valuable than even real gold.  Something refined and pure that will last forever.

We realize that joy is not a burden for us when we realize that our joy is not found in this world and is not tied to our present circumstances.  We discover true joy when we realize that God is actively laying the foundation for our joy, not in passing but for eternity.

To discover more, visit Oak Grove Baptist Church.

Persistent Love

Psalm 46:6-7  6 Nations rage, kingdoms topple; the earth melts when He lifts His voice. 7 The Lord of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah

An unusual survey was done a few years ago, Participants in the survey were asked this question.......what 3-word sentence would you most like to hear or have said to you? The top three answers were 1. I love you.....2. I forgive you.......3. Supper is ready. (1)

We live in an ever changing world and we should not be surprised by that. God created a universe that is always in motion. We live on a planet that is spinning around its axis while flying around a sun that is itself soaring through a galaxy that is rapidly streaming through the expanse of the universe. Nothing stays the same for any length of time. Nothing, that is, except God.

Look at how the world is described in verse 6 - nations rage and kingdoms topple. Just when we think we are adjusted to what is going on this crazy world up and changes on us. We look at life on a global scale and we see how it is utter chaos and therefore we begin to doubt that God is still paying attention or that He even cares anymore.

But the Psalmist reminds us that even when it feels like the world is in chaos, God is with us and is our refuge. While the world and even all of creation may be in constant change, God is not a part of creation - He is the creator. God’s plan is the same today as it was before He made the first atom. Nothing has derailed it or thwarted it and nothing ever will. God’s character is the same today as it was when He came to Bethlehem, and His love is the same as it was when He went to the cross for you. God’s love is unchanging.

If you look up unchanging you will find many definitions, including eternal and permanent, but my favorite definition is persistent. God's love for us is persistent. It does not let us go. In the three word survey I mentioned everyone wanted to hear I love you, love is something we desire, and everyone needed to hear I forgive you, forgiveness is not something we desire unless we have done something that needs forgiving.

Here’s the kicker, we often fear that our need to hear I forgive you means we will never again hear I love you. The things I have done that require me to need forgiveness must cancel out the love you were willing to show me. But it doesn’t. You see God’s love is persistent even through our failings. Why is it important that His love is unchanging and persistent?

Because it is by His love that we live, it is by His love that we survive, it by His love that we have hope, peace and joy. We vastly underestimate the power of God’s love.

His love can transform your life. His love can open the doors for you to make it through trials. His love can save you and show you what this life is all about. His love is not a Christmas present you will ever outgrow or get bored of. It is not something you can get your fill of or run out of.

This Christmas realize that God’s love is more than seasonal. It is active, unchanging and it is eternal.

To discover more, visit Oak Grove Baptist Church

(1)Illustration given in a sermon by Matt Parker

Great Expectations

Psalm 5:3 At daybreak, Lord, You hear my voice; at daybreak I plead my case to You and watch expectantly.

There are many things to look at around Christmas time.  The lights, the trees, the plethora of movies and the over abundance of decorated cookies.  Of course, as Christians we want to focus on the nativity, on the very true story of the birth of Jesus to the virgin Mary so many years ago.  However, when we are looking at Christmas it is a good idea to look at more than just the manger scene, more than just the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes but to try to see the whole picture from every angle.

We have a tradition in the Christian faith that for centuries has sought to focus our eyes not just on Christmas but on the whole meaning behind it. It is called advent and it is a way at looking at Christmas with a sense of great expectation.

The verse above is from Psalm five.  In this psalm, David talks about how the unrighteous can not even enter into God’s presence yet by God’s faithful love David can cry out to Him and eagerly await God’s appearing. He knows there is no hope, no love, no joy, and no peace apart from God. He knows God is going to work great and mighty things and he watches for Him expectantly.

That is advent. Advent is the season leading up to Christmas where we stop and refocus on more than the trappings of Christmas but on the larger story that it is a part of. The story of our awesome God, His amazing grace, and His redeeming love. This isn't a program or a structured bible study. It isn’t a devotional or a to-do list. It is simply a chance to encourage within each of us a frame of mind that allows the Holy Spirit to refresh us. An opportunity to realize that we can lay aside our business and our stress and let Jesus Christ revive us this season.

If you go back and read the Old Testament you see time and time again examples of individuals crying out to God or watching expectantly, like David, for what God is going to do. They may not have known the specifics or the details but they believed firmly that God was going to make things right. They had faith that God was going to come and fix what we had broken.

The Old Testament Saints were saved by grace through the faith that they had in God’s future act of mercy. As we approach this advent season, remember that they had faith in someone who was coming, we have faith in that same someone who has already come and will come again.

God the Father, through Jesus His Son, gives us grace that goes beyond your current circumstance or this world’s current crazy situation but instead carries us into eternity. You see the miracle of Christmas is not just hope for now, it is hope forever more. It is a hope not just in our future but in His future.

In Advent, we put ourselves in the shoes of those people awaiting the coming of Christ so many years ago. But truthfully we should always be doing the same thing today. Whereas the people long ago were awaiting their Messiah to come and walk among them, we are awaiting our King to come and take us home.  We celebrate the hope that this Christmas brings, hope that we can experience today, and every day, but let us also keep our eyes forward to the hope that is to come when He returns for us.

Like a child waiting for his gift on Christmas day, let us wait for our coming King with great expectation.

To discover more, visit Oak Grove Baptist Church

The Distraction Of The Season

Luke 10:41-42 41 The Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has made the right choice, and it will not be taken away from her.”

In this well known encounter told in Luke, chapter ten, Jesus and His disciples have dropped in on Mary and Martha, two sisters who were friends and followers of Jesus. Martha is busying herself being the perfect hostess. In her day the women were expected to wait on the guests and they were judged by how well they did so. For a respected, important guest they were not not only expected to wait on them but to wow them with hospitality. Meanwhile, her sister Mary was sitting along with the disciples, at Jesus’ feet, listening intently to what He had to say. Because of this Martha is frustrated. Why should she be doing all the work! She asks Jesus to tell Mary to get up and give her a hand!

The response of Jesus went past the superficial and the cultural expectations of the day, past that present situation and straight to the heart of Martha. In verse 41, He says: “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things ...” We know that in this passage Martha is aggravated by what she sees as her sister’s distraction, but Jesus seems to go deeper here. He says that Martha worries about many things. The scripture doesn’t tell us exactly what Martha was worried about, but you get the sense that she worried a lot and not always about the things that mattered.

What gets you worried and upset? Very often we get worried, upset and distracted by the wrong things in this life. I love decorating for Christmas and seeing the tree all lit up. I love even more watching the children’s face light up when they see the decorations all in place. But it is possible to take it too far. I’m not talking about putting up so many lights that Watts Bar has to start up another nuclear reactor! I’m talking about when decorating becomes a competition, either with your neighbors or against an unreachable standard you see on Instagram. Very often people mistake photo-shopped pictures of perfect decorations, meals or outfits as reality and then stress when they look in the mirror and don't see the same thing or they look around their house and see a tree with moldy handmade Christmas ornaments from their kid's kindergarten instead of a professionally dressed tree.

Wrong distractions take our eyes off of Jesus and onto things that are either sins, problems, or simply worthless. When you get distracted by these things you are elevating them in your life and giving them a place of honor. You are saying they are more important to you than God.

It easy to get distracted and stressed during the silly season. Sometimes it is worry over problems - many of which you won’t even remember having next year, a few of which are serious but none are bigger or more important than God. Even worse is when you look at your problems and say, God, I can’t worship you now, I have too many problems. That’s like saying you can’t go to the doctor because you are sick or you can’t go to the dentist because you have a toothache! You are denying yourself the cure and the relief when you focus on the problem more than on God!

Jesus gives us the answer in verse 42 when He says Mary has made the right choice. What was her choice? Sitting at the feet of Jesus and focusing on Him.

Let me ask you; do you want to stand before God one day and say decorations are more important than you? Do you want to stand before your creator and say my image is more important than you? Do you want to stand before your Savior and see those nail-scarred hands and say my sin was more important than you? When you let these things distract you from God then that is what you are doing. What have you given a place of honor in your life that is distracting you from God?

To discover more, visit Oak Grove Baptist Church

More To Thanksgiving Than Food

John 6:24-26  24 When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor His disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. 25 When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “ Rabbi, when did You get here?” 26 Jesus answered, “ I assure you: You are looking for Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled.

This incident takes place right after Jesus had fed the 5,000. Afterward, Jesus sneaks away from the crowd and crosses the Sea of Galilee, on foot by the way, but the people find Him and follow Him across the water by boat the next day. The crowd is all like Teacher we’re so glad we found you! We’ve been looking everywhere for you! And Jesus, who knows their hearts and our hearts perfectly, stops them cold and tells them; You didn’t come here for the teaching. You didn’t come here for Me. The only reason you sought me out was to get some more of the free food!

The people that followed Jesus across the lake weren't really looking for what He was teaching – they were there for the food! Imagine having the opportunity to sit at the foot of Christ and hear the secrets of eternal life being spoken by the Word Himself and instead just asking for a meal! They took a blessed opportunity and made it all about food!

Happy Thanksgiving. Folks! I can imagine what y’all are thinking. Oh, no this isn't what I wanted to

read on Thanksgiving! You’ve moved beyond stepping on my toes, now you’re stepping on my full belly!  Years ago worked for LifeWay Christian Resources I came in for my first day of training and was greeted with a delicious barbecue dinner and a time of fellowship with my new coworkers. Before we even began working we had food - I knew I was working for a Baptist organization!

We Baptist's do love to eat. Now do not get me wrong. I love food, food is important, we need it to live and I always look especially forward to the delicious meals on Thanksgiving day, but there is more to Thanksgiving than food, football, and parades. We should give thanks for everything we are blessed with but there must be a priority to our thanksgiving.

We should be more thankful for the people gathered around our table than the food sitting on our table.

In the Lord’s prayer, Jesus teaches us to ask that God will Give us this day our daily bread. He is talking about our daily needs, those things we need to make it through the day. Those things we too often take for granted. When it is there we never think of it. When it is gone we worry about it without end. Why are we more thankful for it when it is returned than before it is lost in the first place?

Have you noticed that here in John six after the crowd is miraculously fed, there is no mention of a thank you? Jesus gives thanks to the Father, of course, but does the crowd thank Jesus after the meal? If they did it was not recorded and so we have this image of the crowd eating their full and waking up the next morning looking for their free breakfast and only realize they need to seek out Jesus when their stomachs are hungry.

What can you learn from this crowd? Here are two lessons I see for us:

1. Don’t wait for something to be lost before you are thankful for it. One of the fastest ways to lose God’s providence in our life is to treat it as something we deserve rather than as a gracious gift.

2. Seek out God for God. The blessings are not the reason we seek out a relationship with God. It is not let’s get the blessings of heaven and oh yeah God is thrown in as a bonus. Love the giver of gifts more than the gifts themselves. That will help you to see that Thanksgiving is more than food.

Enjoy this day with your family, eat a lot, watch the parades and the games, have some fun!  Just make sure you also take some time to reflect and be truly thankful to God for that which can not be measured and doesn't have a price tag.  Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

To discover more, visit Oak Grove Baptist Church

Be Generous With Your Prayers

Ephesians 6:18 Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert in this with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints.

Hopefully, if you’ve been reading these devotions, you are becoming aware of the necessity and power of prayer in our lives and how that power is not limited to only those who are close to us. We pray to an infinite God with an infinite reach and when we join our prayers with those of Christians around the world God answers in places and within people we will not see or know until we are home in heaven. We know and are thankful that the effectiveness of our prayers do not lie in our ability to pray but in the power of the One we pray too, but we must be willing to offer up those prayers.

In Ephesians, chapter six, Paul tells us to put on the armor of God so we can be ready for the spiritual battle we all face in a world full of hate, temptation and brokenness. He closes this passage with a plea for us to pray at all times for all the saints (believers in Christ). Paul understood full well that none of us can make it through this world without prayer and that the most helpful attitude we can have is to be generous with our prayers.

My five year old daughter Katie went through a time where she wanted to give away everything, all of her toys and clothes. At first, I was happy to see such a generous spirit but when I asked her why she was doing it she said: “I know if I give away what I have you will buy me something new!” I had to explain to her the limits of her father’s wallet! However, for our Father in Heaven, this is exactly true. He blesses us with great things so we can use them wisely to help others. If we are good stewards and give according to His will then He will ensure our needs are met.

That is why it strikes me as odd that the one blessed gift we never have to worry about running out of
is the one we sometimes are so stingy with - Prayer. We often treat prayer as if it is something that is limited, something we have to save for. “I’d pray for this small need but what if I have a bigger need later on?”

What is worse is when we treat our prayer for others the same way. I once had a man tell me that his neighbor had asked him to pray for his children who were not living in God’s will. The man refused, saying he would not pray for them until they were living in God's will. I asked him, how could they live in God’s will without someone praying for them? The truth is we all need prayer, that is why Paul encourages us here to be generous in our prayers for others. Not just for him, but for all the saints.

Maybe you have a list of people you pray for regularly. It might have people from you church, your children, maybe your neighbors - depending on how well you know them and, let’s be honest, whether or not you like them. It is wonderful to have a list to remind you of those you know are in need of prayer, but don’t be afraid to go beyond your list. Pray for our leaders, whether you voted for them or not, pray for those who annoy you, pray for the girl who handed you lunch out the drive-thru window, the guy who took your favorite parking spot. When you are trying to figure out who needs prayer, it may be better to ask who doesn’t need prayer!

This week, try to think beyond your prayer list. Who are the people you encounter in your life that you can take a moment to pray for? Who are the “forgotten saints” in your life that you can spend more time praying for? This week, be generous in your prayers.

To discover more, visit Oak Grove Baptist Church

You Can't Always Get What You Want...

Luke 18:1-8
1 He then told them a parable on the need for them to pray always and not become discouraged: 2 “There was a judge in a certain town who didn’t fear God or respect man. 3 And a widow in that town kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’4 “For a while he was unwilling, but later he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps pestering me, I will give her justice, so she doesn’t wear me out by her persistent coming.’”6 Then the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 Will not God grant justice to His elect who cry out to Him day and night?Will He delay to help them? 8 I tell you that He will swiftly grant them justice. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find that faith on earth?”

Prayer is a blessed gift, it is the way we make it through the good times and the bad times in our life. As we’ve talked about before, prayer is more than a wish list. It is not the same as your shopping cart on Amazon, it is a conversation with the all mighty, sovereign, God of the universe. It is a time where we get to know Him better and where He helps us to grow to be more like His Son.

Here, Jesus is telling a parable, or using a story to illustrate a deeper truth. In this parable we have two characters; a judge and a widow. Normally you would expect the judge to represent God in this story since that was literally the job description given for a judge in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, however this was not a good judge. He did not respect man or God. Instead he serves as a contrast to God, a reminder of how good our God is, and how He hears our petitions.

The main point here is not the character of the uncaring judge it is the character of the widow, it is her persistence. In this story she had nowhere else to turn, no other resort, her only choice was to cry out to this uncaring judge. She knew he would not respond quickly, she knew she had no guarantee of being heard, and yet she did not give up, she did not lose hope. She continued to cry out believing her persistence would be rewarded.

Thankfully our hope does not rest in an uncaring judge but in our loving God.  Still, we must be persistent in our prayers. I was once asked by a lady if her constant prayers showed a lack of faith. She said “If I pray once and leave it then that shows I have a true faith but if I keep praying then it shows I don't trust God to answer my first prayer.” I led her to this parable and explained to her that it is by asking repeatedly and hopefully that we show we have true faith. That we are willing to not give up on a need.  Of course her response was “Why? Why must I pray persistently, why won't God just give me what I want now?”

Maybe He wants us to think through what we are asking first, maybe we are asking for something that He knows will not be good for us or will be better for us at a later time. Maybe He knows that we need to be prepared for whatever we are asking by spending more time with Him first.

You see even though God does want us to come to Him with our needs, and yes He is gracious and generous to supply them, our needs are not the mot important part of prayer. Prayer is first and foremost about God changing us rather than getting God to change His mind. Prayer is where we learn who God truly is and how He created us to be.  It is the time spent with Him that we truly need.

To discover more, visit Oak Grove Baptist Church

I Surrender All

Luke 22:39-42 39 He went out and made His way as usual to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed Him. 40 When He reached the place, He told them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” 41 Then He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and began to pray, 42 “Father, if You are willing, take this cup away from Me —nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done.”

A few weeks back we looked at a verse in 1st John. 1st John 5:14 Now this is the confidence we have before Him: Whenever we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.  I wrote about how amazing it is that the wonderful, all powerful God of the universe hears us when we pray and how we can approach Him with confidence. However, there is a caveat John includes here: “Whenever we ask anything according to His will.”

“Prayer presents us with a conundrum. I come to God with what I want, but at the same time, I must submit my will to what God wants. What if my desires and God’s plans don’t fit with each other? ~ Chris Talton

How do I respond when my desires are not met by my Heavenly Father?  Do I grumble, complain, become disobedient?  My five year old knows it is better for her to eat her veggies before she can have dessert but that doesn't mean she is very willing when I tell her that!  Her response to not having her desire met reflects her lack of maturity.  Does my response to My Heavenly Father show the same? 

Here in Luke 22, we find Jesus on the night He was arrested before the crucifixion.  He is in the Garden of Gethsemane and He knows full well what is coming.  He loves humanity He wants humanity to be saved but the fully man part of the Man God knows what that will take, and He understandably desires to not go through it. So He expresses His desire.  God the Son asks God the Father if there is any way He doesn't have to go through this.  Still He prays ... nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done.”  It is a striking prayer of submission that serves as a model for our walk with God. How can I develop the discipline to truly surrender my desires, my all, to God's will. 

Notice what it says before this in verse 39, He went out and made His way as usual ... This time of prayer is not described as something unusual for Jesus, yes the content is unique to this situation, but the fact that He regularly prayed is not.  The Gospels often tell us time and time again that Jesus spent time alone praying. He submitted to God the Father daily in the small things which equipped Him to surrender in the big things. 

Too often we are like Peter and say, don’t worry Lord, when the chips are down you can count on me. I will do exactly what you say when it counts. Then when we face the big decision to follow or not, we fail. When we face big temptation, we crumble. We do not realize that it is every second and every decision that counts. It is easier to submit to God on the big decisions in life when you have already built up the practice of submitting to Him on the small choices we make every day.

When I was looking up definitions of surrender I came across two interesting ones: Surrender: (1) Having no resistance, and (2) accepting reality. Think about that for a moment, when we surrender our desires to God we are not only saying I will stop resisting your Holy Spirit in my life but we are also admitting that what God desires is far better than what we desire. That is the reality of all creation.

Have you ever seen the Christian flag? Many churches have them in their sanctuary or flying outside the building. This is a non-political flag that is intended to represent all Christians around the world, regardless of denomination. It is a cross on a white flag of surrender. Are you surrendering to the cross today, more importantly, are you surrendering to the Man who hung on the cross today?

Jesus was always in full submission and surrender to the Father, we, on the other hand, are sinful people. We sing the great old hymn "I Surrender All" when we mean I surrender some. We hold onto our selfish desires, pray for those desires to be met, and then complain to God when He in His wisdom says He’s not giving us that.

When you bring your desires to God or come to a crossroads of decision, are you honestly praying “Father, Your will be done.”

To discover more, visit Oak Grove Baptist Church

What Is Praise?

Psalm 111: 1 & 9
1 Hallelujah! I will praise the Lord with all my heart in the assembly of the upright and in the congregation.
9 He has sent redemption to His people. He has ordained His covenant forever. His name is holy and awe-inspiring.

What is praise?  Why do we do it?  What do we even have to praise God for?  Praise isn’t something that is limited to just the good times when we like what God is doing. It is even more powerful when we praise Him in the dark times. Those times when we may not understand what is going on but we trust Him fully and believe in His will.

That is why we praise Him not just at Christmas or at Easter for the biggest miracles of all but everyday, even during the smallest intervention or darkest moments. Every day we should be thankful for what God has done and we should praise Him not only for what He has done but for who He is.

We hear the phrase Praise the Lord so many times that it has become common, a throw away. So common in fact we abbreviate it to just PTL because, you know “Praise The Lord” is just too long to say in our busy schedule. We throw the term around so much without any actual praise attached to it that I wonder if we really understand why we praise God or even what praise is.

The Christians author CS Lewis described praise this way: “I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed.”

In other words, we do not praise God because he needs to hear the praise, we praise God because doing so completes the love, the desire that we have for him. According to the Holman Bible Dictionary, our word praise comes from a Latin word meaning “value” or “price.” Thus, to give praise to God is to proclaim His merit or worth. It is one of humanity’s many responses to God’s revelation of Himself.

Many of the Old Testament praises we are familiar with were written by David and many of them were written in dark times when he was on the run, betrayed or had made a foolish choice. Yet David still praised God.  David praises God for many things he had - protection, blessings, etc, but he also praised God for things he had not yet received but trusted God for.  In verse nine he praises Him for His redemption.  We too live in a world that is often harsh and unforgiving and we too have received many gifts from God.  There is one gift that He has freely given to all if we will only accept it, redemption through His Son Jesus Christ.  The very redemption David and the other Old Testament writers were praising God in anticipation of we can praise Him for receiving today.

What more reason do we need to praise God! God sent his son to die for us! Jesus chose to come to earth and take upon himself the punishment that we deserved so that we could have a close, personal relationship with God yet again.

Whenever you read all of the beautiful praise of the Old Testament, all of David's glorious Psalms just remember we have what they were longing for! We have what that knew God would provide and were shouting in anticipation of – we have Jesus Christ!  That is why we praise.

To discover more, visit Oak Grove Baptist Church

Who Are You Talking To?

1st John 5:14 Now this is the confidence we have before Him: Whenever we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

Prayer is something we talk about, something we tell others to do and something that we know we need to do and for some reason it is something we assume everyone knows how to do. We lead someone to Christ and we ask them if they are ready to pray to accept Him as if they should just know what praying is. When new Christians face challenges we tell them to pray about it but do we stop to tell them how to pray?

The truth is there is a lot going on when we pray, not the least of which is that we are entering into the presence of our almighty God. I want you to notice what the Bible says in 1st John 5:14:  ... Whenever we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

Whoa! Stop the press - God hears us! Let that sink in for a moment. The amazing, wonderful God of the universe hears us when we pray!

Now I have never been asked to speak to a president or a ruler or anyone in authority anywhere but if I were, I would imagine that I would ponder what I was going to say and approach it in light of the weight my words would carry. That is if I am talking to a human leader. So why do I rush through my prayers with my heavenly Father? Why do I approach them haphazardly or, dare I say it, irresponsibly? Is it perhaps because I do not understand Who I am talking to?

Now don’t get me wrong, your prayers do not have to be planned out and God does not grade our prayers by our eloquence or formality. However that does not mean we should take these divine conversations lightly.

Prayer, so simple that a small child can do it beautifully, is so profound as to at times boggle our mind. It is when we join in prayer that the Holy Trinity allow us to join Him in intimate conversation. God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all involved in our prayer. We pray to God the Father through God the Son with the help of God the Holy Spirit. It is through our prayers that we Hear Him and He transforms us.

Why would the sovereign God of the universe listen to you or to me? We can not possibly tell Him anything He doesn't already know or point out a solution He did not see. It’s simple. He listens because He wants to; because He loves us. There is nothing we can add to or take away from God and yet He has decided in his sovereignty to use our prayers as the tool by which He works.

He not only listens to us but God gives more weight and respect to our prayers than we often do! Think about that for a moment - God who does not need our prayers considers them more important than we who could not do anything without them!

Do we truly understand who we are praying to?

To discover more, visit Oak Grove Baptist Church

Choosing To Rejoice

James 1:2 Consider it a great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials,

Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

We have all had moments in life where we thought we could not make it another second. Times where it seemed that God was so far away from us. You have heard me say before that when you don’t feel like praying to start off by praising and soon you will be praying like never before but we also know that is not always an easy thing for us to do. Is it even possible?

The Bible tells us to consider trials a joy, to praise God even when we are facing the darkest times of our life.  Is that really fair? Is it fair for God to expect us to praise Him when things are not easy, are not going well, or even going horribly, terribly wrong?

Yes, no matter what our current situation is, God is worthy of praise. Denying that fact will not make your situation easier, in fact when you deny that truth you are only making things harder on yourself. You are denying the One who can help you.

Part of the problem is we sometimes look at the Bible and think it is a perfect book about perfect people doing perfect things. Yes, it is a perfect book and the hero of the story is our perfect God and His perfect Son but the people in the Bible are not perfect. I’m talking about the ordinary, everyday people like Gideon, Peter, and Paul. God accomplished amazing things through them but they themselves were not perfect and did not always have everything go right or easy in their lives.

In other words, they knew problems, they knew the trap of worrying, and they knew the power of praise.

Hudson Taylor, a missionary to China once gave this excellent advice: "Let us give up our work, our plans, ourselves, our lives, our loved ones, our influence, our all, right into [God's] hand; and then, when we have given all over to Him, there will be nothing left for us to be troubled about."
Imagine that, if we give our all to God then we give him our worries and troubles as well.

Now no one is saying life is easy. No one is saying that we should ignore what is happening in our lives and wish it away. When the going gets tough the world tells us to bury our problems with distractions – like drugs, alcohol, work, etc. Despite what the world tells you, you still have to face the problems in your life but as a Christian, we can face them with faith.

I live in a real world, and I want a faith that deals with reality. Don’t you? I don’t want a faith that plays, "let’s pretend." I want a faith that can stand up to whatever the world has to give and still come out on top. The first thing we must realize is that whenever we face adversity we also face a choice. Do I respond with faith or do I wallow in despair? Do I put my trust in almighty God or do I put my trust in my own broken abilities? If you choose faith in God over faith in yourself then you will be able to choose to rejoice over despair.

To discover more, visit Oak Grove Baptist Church

Faith In Light Of The Facts

John 14:6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

As Christians we speak often of taking things on faith. It’s true that faith is a cornerstone of what we believe. There is a difference between faith and facts. For example it is a fact you are all staring at your devices, your eyeballs flickering across these words. It is also a fact that I have written this devotion, but it is only by faith that I believe that any of you are actually paying attention to these words I have typed!

Far too many times, though, we think that we must ignore facts to have faith. However, the truth is the facts of our world are explained and enhanced by our faith.  For example, look at what Jesus says in the gospel of John, chapter four verse six. John 14:6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

It is a fact upheld by both the Biblical & historical records, that Jesus Christ lived and died in first century Palestine. However it is by faith that I accept His statement that He is the way – the only way – the only truth and the only life. But here is where the crazy thing happens; I accept this statement by faith and then it is made a fact in my life through my relationship with Him.

Accepting Jesus Christ through faith, truly accepting Him, is not something you do and just walk away from it is a relationship that grows and develops. The faith that you have in Him is proven by the love He shows to you, and the work He does within you. Your faith becomes a fact in your life that changes your life.

The world around us asks “Does God Exist?” We know the answer to this question but we often shy away from proclaiming it or even addressing it. The world around us says there is no proof that God exists but by accepting Jesus through faith we become living proof that our living God is real.

When faith becomes a fact in your life, you begin to see how God is working around you, in you, and through you.  You know He is real not because someone has made a logical argument but because you have experienced Him, His wonderful love, and His amazing grace.

To discover more, visit Oak Grove Baptist Church