Author: janicevance

            Fifty years ago, if you’d said to me, “Let’s do lunch,” I’d have asked you what you meant. Today I would respond, “Let me know when.” We have attached a new meaning to the action verb “do” and we understand it. Interestingly, the Bible tells us many things to do – actions to take – and many act as if the meaning has changed although it hasn’t. Bible commands under the New Testament are as valid today as when they were set forth in the first century. For example, the actions of believing and being baptized are still conditions for salvation (Mark 16:16).

            We know we are saved by God’s grace through faith – and “not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). But don’t omit the next verse: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Titus 3:1-8 affirm that those who have been saved by God’s grace should be careful to maintain good works.) We must be doers of the word and not hearers only (James 1:22)!

            What are these good works that we were created anew to do? Jesus gave a good list in the judgment scene recorded in Matthew 25:31-46 – providing for the needs of our fellowman. He adds another good work to the list in the next chapter with the woman anointing His head with oil (Matthew 26:6-13). We might conclude that giving glory to the Son of God or worship is a good work – and it is something we’re commanded to do!

            “Good works” surely encompasses anything our Lord commands or expects us to do as His redeemed. And it surely includes our treatment of one another (James 2:14-17). May we always do unto others as we would have them do unto us (Matthew 7:12). But, more importantly, may we do like the wise man and do what Jesus taught (Matthew 7:24-27)!

A Walter Hill Welcome

As our family has been transitioning to Murfreesboro over the last few weeks, Paul’s commendation to the churches at Galatia has been on my mind. He said, “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Gal. 6:9-10).

The members of Walter Hill have not grown weary of doing good. Many of you have taken opportunities to live this verse out, going above and beyond in demonstrating the principles Paul outlines. Despite the difficulties that come with any move, you have made our family feel so welcome and at home. To those who have opened up their home to us and those who have taken us out for a meal, thank you. To those who have sent cards of welcome, messages of encouragement and offers to help with our boys or our housing, thank you. To the individual or family who anonymously paid for our lunch a couple weeks ago, thank you. To each of you who have repeated your names for us (please keep doing that!) and reminded us of what you do or how you are related, thank you.

I want you to know how grateful the Morton family is for our Walter Hill Welcome! You all have helped to make this transition as smooth as it can be. We look forward to working with all of you for the glory of God.

Seven suggestions to help welcome Justin as our new minister:

1. Pray for Justin, Miranda, and the boys. I suggest making a commitment to pray daily for Justin throughout the duration of his ministry. Once the “honeymoon period” is over and the daily grind of ministry begins, praying will strengthen Justin and his family and will fortify your bond with them.
2. Send them a welcome note or email. Just offer a brief note, introducing yourself and/or family, and offering a heartfelt welcome.
3. Mention your name on your first several encounters with them. Give them the opportunity to learn your name and, over time, to learn a part of your life story.
4.  Embrace the uniqueness of Justin. Justin has a distinct personality, a unique set of spiritual gifts and a diverse set of experiences. When the Spirit leads a church to a new minister, the Spirit seldom leads a church to a person just like the previous minister. To compare Justin to any other is to disrespect the Spirit’s role in guiding us to Justin in the first place.
5. Be attentive to caring for Justin’s family during the transition and afterward. While we are excited about welcoming Justin, keep in mind that he and his family are going to be dealing with grief of departure even as they are trying to embrace the excitement of a new beginning.
6.  Speak positively about Justin publicly and privately. One of the ways we bring out the best in our ministers is to speak well of them.
7. Involve Justin, Miranda, and the boys. Do not be afraid to treat Justin and his family like any other member; involve them, have them for dinner. Remember Justin and his family have struggles and needs just like you.

Walter Hill is such a blessed congregation. We are confident the Lord will continue to bless Walter Hill as we remain faithful to Him. The future is bright! This is an especially exciting Sunday as Justin begins preaching full time. This is a day we have been anticipating for some time and have prayed about as we searched for and selected Justin to be our new minister. In many ways this is a day of new beginnings.

Much like the turn of the new year, new beginnings generate a lot of momentum and excitement. We need to recognize this and make sure we make the most of this opportunity. Sometimes we need a reset or refocus on who we need to be as the Lord’s people. Times of transition and new beginnings can provide us with opportunities to refocus. While Justin, Miranda, and the boys are coming to work, we must not forget they are here to work with us and alongside us.

Maybe this new beginning needs to be a time where we look at our service in the Lord’s church. Perhaps we ask ourselves, “How can I improve as a worker for Lord?” It’s often easy to neglect responsibilities we are uncomfortable with, maybe it’s time we expand our horizons and step out of our comfort zones.

Maybe it’s time to volunteer to teach a class, even if it’s just one class, or maybe it’s time to write a card of encouragement to someone. Maybe it’s time to begin inviting others to church or having Bible studies with the lost.

Let’s all challenge ourselves as we enter this new beginning to grow as workers in the Lord’s Kingdom.

            After repeatedly doing something for twenty-five years, it’s hard to stop! That’s how I feel as I write this article. I’ll still write one once a month, but Justin will bear most of the responsibility. I have mixed emotions as I step away from full-time work. However, I know it is time to let a younger, more energetic man step up to the plate.

            It’s hard to believe I’ve been here this long and yet it seems as if I started yesterday. You have welcomed Gail and me into your lives and made us a part of the Walter Hill family. We love and appreciate you more than words can ever express. There have been few rough spots along the way. In fact, there have been so few that I can’t even remember them.

            I am thankful for the opportunity to continue serving in a part-time position. That’s where I have had so many mixed emotions. I never read about gospel preachers retiring in the New Testament. I think like old soldiers, we don’t die – we simply fade away! I hope to do just that at Walter Hill – very slowly! In the meantime, I’ll walk with each of you down life’s pathway as we strive for heaven.

            I’m not ready to cite the apostle Paul’s valedictory address from 2 Timothy 4:6-8. However, we would all do well to heed the Lord’s guidance of Joshua 1:6-9 in a 21^st century setting: “Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

This time of year is so busy! Everyone I have talked to has mentioned the busyness of this season. Graduation parties, ball games, and weddings are beginning to fill our calendars. It feels like the month of May is the busiest month of the year. While busyness tries to take over, it’s important to remember to give our attention and time to the most important areas. Even in the busyness, we must make sure we are spending time in prayer, reading the Bible, and with the Lord’s people.

Prayer is our way of including God in the busyness of life. We should never leave Him out of our plans. We need to be sure to bring God with us by talking to Him often and everywhere, even at the ballpark (1 Thess. 5:17).

We must also make sure we continue to mediate on God’s Word letting it guide us through the busyness. Throughout my life this has been easy for me to neglect. If this is true for you as well, let me encourage you to keep working at it, making it a priority. The simple decision to make God’s Word a priority can make a big difference. Check out Psalm 119 for motivation.

As life gets busy, it can be easy to neglect our church family. So, let’s be intentional and decide to make our church family a priority. One way we can do this is by adding VBS, camp, the gospel meeting, and all other summer actives to our personal calendars, right now, deciding they are the priority over everything else.

Life is crazy and if we are going to survive the craziness, we need the Lord’s help. Luckily, we have a God who listens, inspired Words to guide, and a loving church family. Let’s not neglect any of these assets.

Happy Mother’s Day!

In Proverbs chapter 31, King Lemuel’s mother offers her son some very wise advice.   Paraphrasing, she warns him of sexual immorality, to not drink, to judge righteously and stand up for the poor and needy.   Then she spends the rest of the chapter telling the King what to look for in a virtuous wife.   Often, we focus on the latter part of the chapter, but the beginning of the chapter shows just how much the King’s mother loves him.   The King is her son, she carried and gave birth to him, and she made promises and commitments to care for him.  Some translations imply that he was the answer to her prayers.   She certainly wants what is best for him.

Scripture often talks of a mother’s love, and in other verses in Proverbs it talks about how painful it is when a mother’s child is foolish or rebellious.    That should give us some insight as to how much our Heavenly Father loves us!   After all, he gave us life, wants what is best for us, and has made us promises that he will keep!

How very thankful we are for our mothers here at Walter Hill.    We have some virtuous women that do a fantastic job raising young men and ladies, and we have some very faithful men and women that are serving because of a mother’s influence.

This time of year gets very busy.     Looking back two years ago, maybe we should be thankful that it is busy again.   But, please take time this Sunday to honor your mother, whether it be a phone call, a visit, or a memory or good deed through which to honor her.

This weekend, the teens and I are away at “Reaching Rutherford”.  The goal of “Reaching Rutherford” is to equip our teenagers with the tools necessary to share the gospel.  It’s important when opportunities arise to share the good news that we are prepared to show what God’s Word says.

To equip our teens, we are focusing on nine verses we believe to be essential to defending and explaining the purpose of baptism and worshipping God with A cappella singing.  These are conversations we all need to be ready for, so I want to provide you with the nine verses we will be encouraging our teens to be familiar with.

The first verse is 2 Timothy 3:16, because it’s important for us all to remember God’s Word has the authority and final say in all we do.  The next three verses deal with A cappella worship; Colossians 3:16; Ephesians 5:19; Hebrews 13:15.  Each of these verses describe singing to God and one another or using the fruit of our lips to praise God.  Check out these and notice for yourself what they say about singing.

The next five verses all deal with the purpose of baptism.  These verses are Acts 2:38; Acts 22:16; Romans 6:1-5; John 3:5; 1 Peter 3:21.  Each of these passages show that baptism is essential for salvation.  They point to baptism as the moment of time we receive God’s grace.  I hope you can take some time to review these verses.  I hope you will ask yourself, “what do these verses show me about baptism?”

God’s Word must be the guide when discussing matters of salvation and God.  We cannot be motivated by being right, but by the desire God has for all people to be saved.

“JESUS CARES” 

On a recent trip down Highway 70 going into Waverly, I noticed that someone had mowed their lawn in a way to leave these words in taller grass.  With the recent disaster in Waverly, I hope this gives the residents that suffered so much loss great comfort as they pass by and see these words.  Seeing these words, I wondered how we show others that Jesus cares.

Has anyone told you they care about you today or this week?  Sometimes we let others know we care about them when they are struggling with health concerns or other things that are going on in their lives that cause concern.  But what about the days that seem so good where nothing is going wrong, shouldn’t we be letting each other know we care about them in these times as well?

Many of you are especially good at sending cards or messages by means of a text or other ways to let others know you are thinking about them.  Do we reassure each other that Jesus cares?   In John 19:26-27 Jesus showed He cared for His mother as He was dying on the cross.  At the death of Lazarus, Jesus wept showing His care and compassion.  In Mark 10: 13-16 we are told of His care of little children.

We can look at many more examples that show us how much Jesus cares.  He cared enough about us to give His life on the cross.  Consider the words of Jesus in John 14:27. “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

Wow, I’ve now been at Walter Hill for just over 3 years, and it has certainly been a great blessing. The last year and a half have been filled with even more blessings since Emily has been with me at Walter Hill regularly.  She is such a bright spot in the lives of our teens, especially our young ladies. I am so grateful for her.

We have both been so blessed by Paul and Gail. They have been huge encouragements to us since the beginning. I am so thankful Paul will be sticking around and for the guidance he will continue to provide as we work together. Emily and I are looking forward to the Morton’s arrival as well. We are confident they will be a blessing to Walter Hill and to us personally.

This weekend, we traveled up to our Alma mater, Freed-Hardeman, for “Making Music”, a show the students put on each April. We have been greatly anticipating getting away for the weekend. It’s sometimes just so nice to get away to rest.

The book of Hebrews reminds us of a rest, far superior to any rest we can experience at the nicest hotel. Heaven is going to be a great rest for all of God’s family to experience. Heaven will be a permeant rest from the heartaches of Earth, from the temptations we face, and the stress of life.

Yet, if we want to experience this rest, we must remember Hebrews 4:11 where we are encouraged to make every effort to enter the rest, so we don’t fall into a pattern of disobedience. This is a critical reminder for us. We must be obedient to the Word of God if we want to enter the heavenly rest!