Our Blog

Spiritual Development July 2018

                                                      Wisdom for Relationships

One of sin’s greatest rebellions is our repeated refusal to listen and submit to the wisdom of God revealed on every page of his Word. Dr. Paul Tripp offers the following insight regarding how we can flourish in relationships by submitting to the wisdom of God’s Word.

As I listened to them argue, blame, and graphically recount one another’s wrongs, all colored with hurt and anger, a sad thought gripped me. The vast majority of what they needed to hear in order for their relationship to be what God intended for it to be was clearly written in the Bible that they both said they believed. Their marriage was the sad casualty of their street-level unwillingness to listen to God’s wisdom and seek the grace he offered to live with one another in light of it.

Consider one passage loaded with essential relational wisdom: “[Live together] with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:2–3). Think about these wise guidelines for relationships:

1. “with all humility . . . ” Pride always destroys a relationship. It causes you to feel more entitled and to be more demanding than serving and giving. It drives you to insist on control. It makes you have to be right. It forces others to submit to your lordship. Pride is an anti-relational way of having a relationship. Humility is the godly way.

2. “and gentleness . . . ” Treating a person with gentleness makes him or her want to move near you. Responding with gentleness teaches another person that he or she is safe in your care. It is an essential relational bond.

3. “with patience . . . ” You cannot have a healthy communion with another flawed human being without being willing to wait. If you demand to have things your way and in your time, you are so busy loving yourself that you have little time left to love the other person.

4. “bearing with one another in love . . . ” Love requires that you be willing to be forbearing, that is, willing to suffer. Why? Because you are in a relationship with a less-than-perfect person, living together in a fallen world. Both you and that person often fail.

5. “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit . . . ” Love means unity is more important to you than being right, having your way, and getting what you want. Love rejoices in the fact that God’s Spirit in both of you gives you a wonderful platform for unity.

6. “in the bond of peace.” Love means committing to make peace, not war.

There simply are no more-important relational commitments that you could cite. The husband and wife I mentioned above held this wisdom in their hands, but did not listen. Do you?

Kids Happenings July 2018

“Everybody say Yes to VBS”!  As I write this article, we are in full motion with vacation bible school.  We currently have 181 children registered and 80 volunteers each evening.  During the day our summer camp kids get to experience VBS as well. There are over 100 children and 20 leaders during the day. All of the children (and adults) are having a blast. All smiles, the sweet giggles and loud laughter from the children make my heart melt.  I love their excitement and I am  overjoyed by the teens and adults that are pouring their time and talents into ALL of the children and their families.  We have a very special church that I and my family consider ourselves extremely blessed to be a part of.

I would like to thank all of the volunteers that have helped to make this years vacation bible school happen.  God gave our church an opportunity to share the gospel to the children in our church and community and we have embraced it! Along with sharing the gospel we have added some fun and exciting additions to the evening. Live Music and Dance Parties!! Yep, we have a full band, worship team, and some pretty interesting... dance moves by some of our pastors and leaders. I can’t wait to see what God has instore for the rest of the week.  I’m looking forward to sharing with you again in my article next month.

To add to the nature of investing into a child's spiritual walk… Kids Camp will be here before you know it.  If you have a child entering 3rd - 6th grade, PLEASE consider allowing them to attend. We have five extremely responsible and wonderful adults that are ready to invest into your child.  Crossings Ministry is a top notch facility with experienced staff and student missionaries that are ready to share the gospel and invest into the children.  Go to www.gocrossings.org for more information about the camp.  We would love to have your child spend the week with us at Kids Camp. For now, know that Oakhill Baptist Church is Geared Up and ready. It is Game On when it comes to sharing the gospel with our children and families. 

• July 1st 6:00 pm - Fireworks Celebration - Free!  Hot dogs, chips, drinks and ice cream provided by the church.   Inflatables & games.  Fireworks at dark.  Bring lawn chairs and pop-up tents.  Invite your friends! 
• Starting July 8th (Sunday evenings 6-7:30m) - “Life Lessons for Kids” - While parents take part in discipleship classes, kids will also have bible lessons, games and activities.
• July 18th all day - Burdette Park Swimming - discounted $5 admission tickets available at the Welcome Desk.
• July 26th-29th Kids Camp @ Crossing Cedermore for upcoming 3rd - 6th grade. Payment due by July 8th.
• August 5th - Promotion Sunday - All children will promote up into their new grade appropriate class.

I pray your children are able to take part in these awesome opportunities to have fun and more importantly grow in their relationship with Christ.

Thank you for allowing me to love on your little ones!