Dear Church Religious Web Banner Haggai 1:1-14

We saw God move in amazing ways in 2018. God allowed one staff member to transition to the pastorate. God brought us a new Youth Minister and his wife, Bro. Brady and Lalah. Marriages have begun, and older marriages have been renewed. We’ve had new members join and become actively engaged. We’ve done some outreach events that have allowed us to share the gospel with individuals that might never step inside a church. VBS and VBS family night allowed many families to see how loving and kind you are as a church. The Trunk or Treat, movie nights, and Fall Trade Day all connected community individuals with our church. More than 40 gospel presentations were given at Fall Trade Day. We had a great Wild Game Dinner in 2018, seeing Men invite men who normally don’t engage in church activities. We conducted an intense evangelism training that I pray you are still practicing and honing! From that training, many shared their faith! We licensed two young ministers to the gospel ministry, Bro. Tyler Chisolm and Bro. Tyler Golden. We witnessed two adult salvations and baptisms in 2018. We started Celebrate Recovery here at Oak Hill and we’re excited to announce that it will begin again in February. The drama ministry of Oak Hill had a packed hillside performance declaring Christ as King of all! We’ve grieved the loss of dear saints from our faith family and will continue to walk with these families.

 

Where is Oak Hill headed in 2019 and how do we gage success? Proverbs 29:18 tells us “Where there is no vision the people are unrestrained, but happy is he who keeps the law.” Success is disciples making disciples. We don’t desire to be a mega-church, but a mighty church for the Kingdom of God and the Great Commission.

 

I believe Haggai’s prophetic words will give us direction for 2019. Remember the setting. The people of Israel are in captivity by the Babylonians. A select group is allowed to go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the destroyed temple. God wants this and shows this to Haggai. Many are more concerned with their wellbeing, their prosperity, than the furtherance of the Kingdom of God, but God’s glory will always be more important.
 
We Must Value Commitment Over Convenience vv.3-5
 
Are you as committed to Christ’s Kingdom as you are your own desires? We want our children to have the best education, play on the best sports teams, yet when it comes to a Christ-Centered commitment, we act as though God doesn’t exist. It’s practical atheism. Haggai was challenging the people of God to rebuild the eternal instead of worrying more about the temporal. It will take the rebuilding of the temple of our hearts for commitment to rule over convenience.
 
The Stones of Rebuilding Are:
  • Faith– Do you believe Christ is more valuable than the things of this world?
  • Prayer– Pray expecting God to do God sized things this New Year!
  • Evangelism & Discipleship– If you know God has saved you, share knowing He can save others.
  • Involvement– Take every opportunity to hear God’s Word, to serve, to pour out. Let’s move from convenience to commitment. We will never do anything great for the Kingdom until we see that Jesus is ultimately more valuable than our convenience. We must be committed to Christ! Bro.
 
Brady will share a brief vision for the youth ministry in 2019.
 
We Must Choose Obedience vv.7-11
 
God is serious about our obedience. He blesses obedience. Repentance calls for action. We have a responsibility to leave a legacy of Christ to the next generations. Let me explain the emphasis behind the survey. We’ve had families that have asked about a Wednesday night meal. We do wonderful things on Wednesdays. I wanted to make sure the church wanted this before we investigated the logistics of it. The response was that you do in fact want this to happen. We will be asking you to possibly serve. Why? We do not want to end up like the Israelites here in this passage that were more concerned with their homes than the growth of God’s Kingdom. We want our children to know Christ! Also like the Israelites referred to in the book of Judges 2:10 “And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.”
 
We have to raise children in Christ. Changes will have to be made. The message will never change, the method will. Sears had an opportunity to be a front runner in the beginning of the internet era, yet chose to remain unmoved in their traditional catalog. Some economist believe this was the beginning of the end for Sears.
 
I’m not suggesting that we make changes for change sake, we must listen and be obedient to the Lord. Generations are at stake, families being involved in every facet of our ministry here is a great thing. We must be obedient to His will.
 
We Must Take Action vv.12-14
 
Why did they obey and take action? They heard the Lord, had a healthy fear of Him, and this led them to repentance.
 
This year must be a year of action! James 1:22 tells us to “…be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”
 
How can we take action in 2019 to glorify God at Oak Hill Baptist Church?
  • I’ll answer that after we hear the building committee’s report.
  1. Pray– Pray about this building, pray about your commitment. We cannot build physically unless we are being built spiritually in Christ. I challenge you to reframe from making an opinion about this building until you’ve adequately placed your face before the throne of God and searched His will. Jesus tells us that what is impossible with man is possible with God.
 
  1. Do– Do what the Lord tells you to do. Go on a mission trip, go share the gospel, disciple a new Christian, serve here, be more involved. Disciple someone to take your position. Give money to build a new building. Know that what is impossible with man is possible with God.
 
Many years ago on July 29th, 1911, there was a group of people who said, “Jesus and his mission will be first.” But here’s what happens: When churches get “settled,” they experience convenience over commitment. It happens in the life-cycle of every church. Within a generation, they move from mission to maintenance. They go from being reliant upon God for the mission to being comfortable in the institution. So for 2019, I’m asking the people of Oak Hill Baptist Church to have the same ambitious spirit of those of our forefathers in 1911 and say, “Jesus and his mission will be first.” Let’s go from maintaining to on mission for Christ.
 

Mark your calendar for Sunday July 28th, 2019 for a homecoming!