Our Blog

Pastor's Points August 2018

Dear Church Family,
 I pray that you all are doing well and enjoying your summer!  This is such a great time to be with family and vacation together.  I hope in the middle of all that summer offers you have had some time to rest and recharge your batteries as well.  We all need time to relax, recharge, and rest.  It is essential for balance in our lives.  In the middle of all summer offers I have found God speaking to me strongly about one particular theme: Pride.

This theme has been resonating with me as we are making our way through the book of Matthew.  I have seen this theme repeatedly in the lives of the Scribes and Pharisees. Repeatedly they approach Jesus through the lens of their pride.  And the sad thing about this is that they do not recognize it.  They see themselves as pleasing to God.  But all the while they are blinded by their pride to the deep problem of sin that they have in their lives.  I cannot stand that they do this time and again, but as I think about it, are we not all susceptible to the very same things in our lives if we are not careful.  How easy is it for you to allow pride to well up in your life?  How easy is it for us to see the faults of others all the while ignoring our own faults, or convincing ourselves that we do not have any faults? But pride left unchecked in our lives will bring destruction.  It will tear down relationships, and it will sow discord between brothers and sisters in Christ quicker than anything. Listen to this quote from John Beveres’ book, The Bait of Satan: Living free from the trap of Offense…

“Pride keeps you from dealing with truth. It distorts your vision. You never change when you think everything is fine. Pride hardens your heart and dims the eyes of your understanding. It keeps you from the change of heart—repentance—that will set you free. (See 2 Timothy 2:24–26.) Pride causes you to view yourself as a victim. Your attitude becomes, “I was mistreated and misjudged; therefore, I am justified in my behavior.” Because you believe you are innocent and falsely accused, you hold back forgiveness. Though your true heart condition is hidden from you, it is not hidden from God. Just  because you were mistreated, you do not have permission to hold on to an offense. Two wrongs do not make a right!” 

It is so easy for us to be blinded by our pride.  It is so easy for us to justify sinful responses to others.  We see this playing out so plainly in the life of the Scribes and Pharisees.  But my prayer is that we not only see it in their lives, but that if it is in our lives that we detect it and deal with it in our lives as well.  God has so much good in store for us in the future as a church family!!  Let’s live together in such a way that we are sensitive to what is going on in our hearts.  Ask God to show you if any pride, or bitterness has taken root in your life.  If so, repent of it to Him, and seek to be in right relationships with those around you.  Let’s have as our goal going forward together that we want love to be the fruit that we are producing in our lives, so we can love one another and so that our love can be a testimony to a watching world.

 I love you and I love being your pastor!

Pastor's Points July 2018

Dear Church Family,
I pray you are enjoying your summer with your family and friends!  Summer time is an awesome time when we get to vacation, relax, and recharge ourselves.  Many of us have been on vacation and there are more going on vacation soon.  I encourage you to go and take advantage of that time to invest in yourselves and your families.  Whether you take a staycation, or you travel to some destination, make time to slow down long enough to    recharge your battery and invest in your family.

Often when summer comes churches find themselves in what is called a summer slump.  But that is not the case for our church and I am so thankful for that fact.  Even though many of us have been traveling on vacation, our year to date weekly worship average is at 529 which is right at a 10% increase over last year!  Also, our year to date  giving weekly average is $17,511.11 which is running right at 11% ahead of what our weekly need is for our church budget!  I am so thankful for God blessing us in these ways!  I am thankful that we have a church family that remains faithful even during a very busy summer!  Thank you for loving God and expressing it through your worship of Him and your giving to Him!  Please continue to be faithful because there is so much ministry to be done in and through our church family.

Also, just want to remind you that our three summer discipleship classes start on July 8^th.  There will be info in this newsletter to help you understand what classes are being offered.  Also, please know that if you have kids, they will participate in a fun and informative time designed just for them.  Get signed up and come as much as you can and continue to grow in the Lord!!

I am so optimistic about the future of Oakhill!  God has blessed us, is blessing us, and is going to continue to bless us!!  Like I have said many times in the past, “as God moves we need to move with Him.”  It is apparent that God is moving so I would ask you to join me in prayer to ask God to show us how it is that we need to move with Him.  We must pray and believe with our whole heart that God is going to use us to continue to share the Gospel with those around us.  And I am also convinced that we need to be a church that is marked by the clear and understandable   preaching of the Word of God.  The world does not need our opinions, they need the truth of God’s Word!!  Let’s keep our eyes on Jesus and desire with our whole hearts to be used for His glory here in Evansville and around the world!!

 I love you and I love being your pastor!