Category: Article

Today is the deadline for your 2022 theme suggestions. As of Friday, we had four great suggestions but we’d love to have more. Please give your written ideas for a theme to Janice or me. Be sure to include your name and an associated scripture.

It’s hard to believe that Thanksgiving is this week! Don’t forget our annual devotional will be Tuesday night at 7:00 in lieu of our usual Wednesday night services. Christians have so much to be thankful for and Thursday will be a great opportunity to reflect on our blessings – not just a turkey feast.

The Bible is full of references about giving thanks. May I suggest these verses from Psalm 95 as we assemble for worship this morning:

Oh come, let us sing to the Lord!

Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.

Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving;

Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.

For the Lord is the great God,

And the great King above all gods.

In His hand are the deep places of the earth;

The heights of the hills are His also.

The sea is His, for He made it;

And His hands formed the dry land.

Oh come, let us worship and bow down;

Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.

For He is our God,

And we are the people of His pasture,

And the sheep of His hand.

            When we pause to give thanks, it is helpful to remember that “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:17; NKJV).

When Paul announced his plan to retire in April of next year, the elders announced that a search committee would be assembled to perform the task of reviewing candidates and making recommendations to the elders. Josh Cooper, Dan Holt, Matt Lanius, Bryan Lewis, Trampas McCracken, Scott Miller, Kip Nickell, and Jordan Pack were asked to serve, and they are diligently working to serve the Walter Hill congregation in finding our next minister.

Over the next 2-3 months, the elders will be inviting candidates recommended by the search committee to preach to the congregation and teach a combined adult Bible class on Sunday evening. I would also anticipate there being an opportunity for the congregation to meet those candidates invited to visit.

Kindly remember the search committee in your prayers. The elders also request your prayers that God’s will be done as we seek out the man who will serve Walter Hill as its next pulpit minister.

Changing thoughts, we have been asked about where certain families have gone in the last 18 months. With the pandemic, we all worshiped at home for a couple of months in the beginning, and then went to two services for many months where folks only saw half the congregation, depending on whether you attended the first or second service.

When we all came back together in May, not everyone came back. Some have not returned yet due to health concerns about the virus. Some families have moved out of the Murfreesboro area and are worshiping close to their new home. Others have identified with different congregations in the Murfreesboro area to worship with family members, e.g., children, grandchildren, aging parents.

The online directory is a resource to use to keep up with current members, but it is woefully out of date. Be looking in the coming weeks for announcements regarding the taking of new photos to update the directory.

Today is my happy day as DST ends. I know some of you are very sad, but you don’t have to weep as long as I do – it’ll be back on March 13, 2022! The main thing to remember is that Sunday evening services begin at 5:00 P.M. in the interim. We hope to see you this evening!

I wish there was a perfect English translation of God’s holy word but there isn’t – despite the claims of marketeers. A good example of a problematic text is 1 Corinthians 13:5 which should be reasonably clear. The NKJV reads thusly about agape love: “does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;” Notice the difference in the last phrase of this verse in the ESV: “or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;” All of us would probably have difficulty agreeing on any similarity between “thinking no evil” and “being resentful”.

 This short phrase in Greek consists of four words. The key word translated “thinks” in the NKJV is an accounting term or verb meaning to tally or keep an account. While I seldom make this statement about the NIV, it may offer the most literal and best translation of this short phrase: “It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.” It is impossible to desire the best for someone (demonstrate agape love) if we’re constantly keeping track of their faults. Likewise, we cannot obey our Lord’s command about forgiveness if we’re keeping the offender’s wrongs in a ledger.

Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven” (Matthew 18:21-22; NKJV).

Prayer is such a powerful blessing that is constantly extended to us.  However, sometimes we don’t know what to pray for, other times we notice that we say the same things over and over.  The beauty of living as a Christian is that each day is a new opportunity to grow and improve.  This certainly includes our prayer habits and patterns.  Let’s strive to improve the way we pray and think about praying for these three things (assuming we aren’t already praying for them).

1. Let’s begin to pray for unity!  Jesus prayed that His disciples might be one (John 17:21). 1 Corinthians 1:10 calls us to believe the same things.  Not only do we need to pray for the unity of Walter Hill but for the unity of the church around the world!

2. Let’s pray that knowledge may increase!  There is a great need for all of us to have knowledge of God, His church, and of His Word.  This is essential to our growth as Christians.  We know this because Paul so often prayed that Christians would increase in knowledge (Colossians 1:9).

3. Finally, we need to heed the words of Jesus and pray that there will be workers sent for the harvest!  Jesus says that “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:37 ESV).  True workers of the Lord will not only share the Gospel but also work to increase the knowledge of Christians and to bring unity in the Lord’s church.

All three of these things should be important to us because they are important to Jesus.  We must not only add these to our prayers but also strive to bring about unity, increase our knowledge, and be a worker for the Lord.

I want to continue this week with another lesson from King Josiah. He became the king of Judah at the age of eight and ruled in Jerusalem for 31 years (2 Kings 22:1). What a breath of fresh air after the evil reigns of his father and grandfather.

Josiah was a good king. As we observed in our article last week, Josiah repaired the temple, restored true worship, and destroyed all vestiges of idolatrous worship in Judah and Samaria. Listen to this summary in 2 Kings 23:25 – “Now before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses; nor after him did any arise like him.” What a tribute to King Josiah!

I wish his story ended like this, but the good king suffered an ignominious death. He needlessly died in a battle with King Necho of Egypt at Megiddo. The Egyptian king was on his way to fight at Carchemish according to 2 Chronicles 35:20-21. However, King Josiah was determined to do battle with the Egyptian king. For the king who had put so much trust in God’s word, Josiah didn’t seek God’s guidance for this battle. Instead, he chose to ignore Necho’s claim that God commanded his hasty movement. The Egyptian king even warned Josiah not to meddle with God.

Sadly, we read this statement in 2 Chronicles 35:22 – “Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself so that he might fight with him, and did not heed the words of Necho from the mouth of God. So he came to fight in the Valley of Megiddo.” The next verse records how archers fatally shot Josiah. While King Josiah is known for his goodness, he could have done so much more had he lived. The lesson we should learn is that we should seek God’s guidance for everything we face in life. If Josiah had only confirmed God’s message!

Reading the books of I and II Kings is depressing as they begin with the death of King David and end with Judah in captivity. One of the bright spots in these books is the story of young Josiah who became king of Judah when he was eight years old. Here was a young boy whose father and grandfather were evil. Yet he did not follow in their footsteps. In fact, some three hundred years before Josiah appeared on earth’s stage, his birth was prophesied by a man of God to evil King Jeroboam of the northern kingdom of Israel (1 Kings 13:1-2).

With his ancestry, I’ve always wondered who influenced Josiah to do right in the sight of the Lord – to walk in all the ways of his father David (2 Kings 22:2). We need to encourage our children with the story of young Josiah – they are never too young to have a righteous influence on others.

But the lesson I want us to gain from this article occurs when Josiah gives instructions to repair the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. Josiah was in his 18^th year as king in Jerusalem when this repair work began. In the process, the high priest Hilkiah found the Book of the Law. Shaphan the scribe read this book to Josiah who then tore his royal clothes in sorrow because Judah had failed to obey the words of the book. Oh, that we would have a similar reverence for God’s word! To make a long story short, Josiah instituted a series of reforms to restore true worship. One of the first things on the docket was to observe the Passover. Take time to read about it in 2 Chronicles 35:1-19. He also removed the idolatrous places in Judah and Samaria – the latter as foretold by the man of God to King Jeroboam. Josiah is a great example that anyone can do what’s right with a little encouragement!  

As everyone should know by now, Paul announced his retirement plans for next year. It is a sad but happy time. It is sad because Paul will retire after 25 years of service to the congregation. He is and has been a staple of each of our lives, like a nice cup of coffee or a warm blanket, very comforting. It is a happy time because Paul will get to enjoy some extra time with Gail and the family and do some sightseeing of God’s glorious work. Walter Hill is blessed with biblical, sound lessons from the pulpit and in class. Paul being our minister for such an extended period has created stability and the elders have been able to have complete confidence in his soundness.

With the announcement comes anxiety. This is to be expected. Change is never easy. To help ease the anxiety, Paul has agreed to stay on as an associate minister. This announcement has begun a series of events that will ensure our next minister is found, has a solid understanding of the scriptures, and meets other criteria set by the elders. A search committee has been formed and is very active. These men were chosen as to create a cross section of the congregation: some older; some younger, some have been here awhile, and some are more recent members. Each man brings a unique perspective to the committee.

Now the big question, what can I do to help? Pray, Pray, Pray. Pray for the search committee, they have a daunting task. Pray for the elders, we are in uncharted territory at Walter Hill. Pray for us as the local church, that we maintain unity throughout this process.

On a final note, if you know someone who you consider sound in doctrine and is looking for a great place to minister, have them send their resume to:  jobs@walterhillchurch.com May God bless us during this process.

            The wise man Solomon wrote a great truth in Ecclesiastes 12:12 as follows: “And further, my son, be admonished by these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh” (NKJV). I don’t know how many books are published around the world each year but it must be phenomenal – covering almost any subject you can imagine. Personally, I set a goal of reading 35 books this year and it appears I’ll reach that goal this week. And I know some of you have read even more.

            I’ve learned a lot from these books but I’m not sure any of them will help me get to heaven. We all need a lot of help to reach that eternal home with our Savior. The prophet warns us in Isaiah 10:23 – “O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself;

It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps” (NKJV). The psalmist knew whom or what to follow when he wrote, “Your word is a lamp to my feet

And a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105; NKJV).

            While secular books may entertain us, challenge us, and educate us, only God’s word can direct our steps to the eternal home He has prepared for His saints. Jesus fervently prayed to His Father on the night of His betrayal for all of His disciples. While there are so many wonderful things in His beautiful prayer, notice John17:17 – “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth” (NKJV). It is God’s word – truth – that sets God’s people apart – that is able to make us holy – to make us saints.            Jesus drove this point home in John 8:32 with these words: “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (NKJV). I encourage everyone to read wholesome literature but not to the neglect of the truth!

            As announced by the elders last Sunday morning, I plan to semi-retire at the beginning of April and fill the role of associate minister. If things go as planned, this will give me 25 years as the first full-time minister at Walter Hill. Depending on when the new pulpit minister can move into this role, I may have to stay on just a little longer. Of course, it may take a few weeks for the search committee to get organized before the search begins in earnest. I hope you’ll begin praying now for this committee and our elders for the right man (and his family) to be found.

            I am reminded of the congregation whose members were suffering from a severe drought and they decided to have an old-fashioned prayer meeting – asking God for rain. The congregation turned out in force to pray for an end to the drought; however, no one brought an umbrella. While we immediately see the irony (and humor) in this, it is backed by a Biblical example.

            Do you remember how Herod threw Peter in prison after killing the apostle James, the brother of John? It is recorded in Acts 12 and verse 5 reveals that the church was constantly praying to God for him. After an angel of the Lord set Peter free from prison, he came to the home of Mary, John Mark’s mother, where many of the church were gathered praying. The young girl Rhoda recognized Peter when he knocked at the gate but, in her excitement, failed to let him in. Instead, she ran to tell those praying. They thought Rhoda was not quite right and told her it was Peter’s angel. Peter’s persistent knocking finally got him admitted to the house with the realization that their prayers had been answered.

            As the search begins, let’s pray positively that God will guide the elders and committee to find the right man for the job!

            Attendance numbers have always fascinated me. Even as a child, I would look at the attendance boards during services and try to make mental comparisons from one week to the next. Perhaps this was my way of staying awake during my dad’s sermons! And I continue to have an interest in these figures because they can sometimes be symptomatic of the congregation’s health much like a thermometer is used to determine if a patient has a fever.

            Since resuming Wednesday evening Bible study on April 14^th of this year, we have averaged 127 in attendance. (I omitted VBS from these numbers to prevent skewing.) During this same period (with VBS omitted), we averaged 144 on Sunday evenings. With the resurgence of COVID cases, our attendance at both services has dipped slightly – and that is to be expected.

Overall, our Sunday evening attendance is about what we should expect but we can probably do a little better. On the other hand, since we are having our Bible classes on Sunday evening, I would expect our Wednesday evening numbers to be very similar. I know it is difficult for some to attend evening services when it’s dark or when the COVID threat is raised. But we need to ask ourselves why we are not coming on Wednesday evenings (or Sunday evenings). Let’s make sure it is not because of apathy or that other activities are taking precedence. These opportunities may be the piece (or peace) missing in our life!

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

For they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6; NKJV).