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Pastor's Point - November 2023

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Dear Church Family,

I love November because it comes with a ready reminder to us that we have so much to be thankful for! All we must do is slow down long enough to consider all that God has blessed us with. But there lies the problem. We are so busy doing life, facing challenges, and obsessing on the details of life, that we do not slow down to consider all that we have to be thankful for.

Whether it be our health, finances, children, spouse, friends, or career, God is always at work providing and blessing us with so many things that we do not deserve. He is so good to us!! He cares, loves, and provides for us in ways that are for our good and we need to remember to give Him glory. 

In the month of November, we will have our Thanksgiving Fellowship again this year which gives us a perfect opportunity to enjoy fellowship together and to thank God for all that He has done in our lives individually, and corporately as a church.

On November 19th we will gather at 5:00 that evening to come together as a church family and enjoy time together eating, praising, and thanking God for all that comes from His hand. During part of our time together we will hear a few testimonies about how God is working, providing, and blessing in a few people’s lives. This will be a time of encouragement and hope for us all as we hear of God’s faithfulness in life even in the hardest of times. 

Also, that night we will be updating our church family about some exciting and encouraging news as it relates to our building campaign which impacts both our South and North Campuses. We will celebrate what God has done so far in this campaign and share opportunities for the future to those who are newer to our church family as we enter the last year of our One Family, One Mission building campaign pledge in 2024.

As I conclude I want to say a big thank you to those who took the time to encourage your pastors during the month of October for pastor appreciation. I know that I love being your pastor and your kind words and thoughtful expressions of generosity were most appreciated. Oakhill truly is a loving, supportive church family and I thank God for you all!

One last thing, make sure to warmly welcome Paul Willett, our new Pastor of Discipleship and Missions, and Alex Kilgore, our new Student Ministries Director, as they have officially joined our church staff. Your kind words and expressions of support will help them to get off on the right foot in ministry as they give themselves to our church for
God’s glory!! I pray you have a blessed November and remember to count your blessings as you live your life to the fullest for the glory of our great God!

I love you and I love being your pastor!

Posted by Alan Scott with
in Kids, Newsletter, Missions

Spare Change - November 2023

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Recently I was studying Daniel 3, the story of Nebuchadnezzar’s golden idol.  The heroes of this story are three Jewish young men: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  These three young men stand up to enormous religious persecution and refuse to worship the king's idol.  This story inspires courageous faith in Christians.  We are challenged to stand up for what we know to be right according to God’s Word in the face of worldly pressures.

This story is full of application, especially if you study a little about these three young men in Daniel Chapter 1.  In these verses you will realize that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were exiles from Judah.  God used Babylon to punish His people for their idolatry.  In doing so they conquered Judah and exiled numerous people.  As a part of this exile, the King selected many young men to come and be trained in Babylon so they could serve in his kingdom.  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were not the only ones taken from Judah.  You have heard about Daniel, but there were others. 

This is interesting because in Chapter 1 they experience their first test.  They were expected to eat the king’s food.  This food did not conform to the food laws that God had given His people.  It would be a sin to eat this food.  Of all the Jews there only Daniel and the three young men stood up for their faith.  In this situation God blessed them and they succeeded in gaining favor with their captors.

Again, they are tested in Chapter 3 when they are told they must bow down to the king’s idol.  Daniel is not present in this situation, presumably he is handling matters
elsewhere for the king.  We know from other examples that he would not bow down to the idol.  He would have stood up for his faith just like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did; however, one must ask the question, “were Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego the only Jews present?”  Doubtless there were others, but for fear of death they chose sin. 

I am sure the peer pressure for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego would have been enormous.  Just three men standing in a sea of idol worshippers.  They probably felt alone and afraid.  I am sure the other Jews looked at them as if they were crazy.  Many of them probably rationalized their sin because all they had to do was bow down. They could bow their knees without bowing their hearts…right?!

Jesus was clear in Luke 9:26, “For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”  Denying Jesus in any form, even bodily, is still sin.  What the other Jews did on that day, in the Plain of Dura in Babylon by worshiping the idol, was sin. What Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did was stand up for their faith.  They are clearly the example we should be looking at in this story. 

What happens when we face peer pressure to sin? Do we have the same courageous faith to look our friends, family, or coworkers in the eye and say I will not deny my God?  Are you prepared to stand alone?  Every Christian is called to have courageous faith even if we are threatened with persecution.  The world will try to attack you in many ways.  They will threaten your family, job, and personal well-being. Friends and family might ostracize you; they might even threaten you with death.  What will you say in those moments?  You need to decide now what you will do.  Our Lord, Jesus, gave everything for us, we must be willing to stand up for Him!

“For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”
Luke 9:24-26

Posted by Bryan Gotcher with

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