Dear fellow follower of Jesus,

Are we disciples, or do we just claim to be disciples?  Better yet, assuming we are one, are we the disciple we claim to be?  It’s deja vu (“all over again”, in the words of Lorenzo P. Berra); and this may be the only time I’ll ever use a French term in a news-letter article.  Yes, the first two sentences above were the same first two sentences as my most recent article.  Please go back and read it if you haven’t yet.  Reading it is imperative because it defines “disciple”, and if we’re ever going to answer these questions honestly, we must understand what a true follower of Jesus is.

Are you a disciple of Jesus?

Really?

If you’re wrestling around with your answer to this question, PLEASE come see me.  We want everyone to know Jesus as their Lord, and we want everyone to know that they know that they know that they know Jesus.  We want everyone struggling with this question to experience the assurance of salvation we find in I John.

Now, I shall assume everyone still reading claims to be a follower of Jesus.  At the same time, I shall assume that none of us are the follower we claim to be.  We can all stand to look more like Jesus than we do today.  Praise God we all look a bit more like Jesus that we did “yesterday”; but by His grace, we can all look a bit more like Jesus “tomorrow” than we do today.

Sunday, May 05, 2024, you likely heard the most passionate and brilliant and stirring sermon you’ve ever heard (I know, I can be more humble tomorrow, and every day there after, than I am today).  In that sermon, from the Great Commission (Matthew 28:11-20), I said that if we aren’t making disciples, we aren’t really being disciples at all.  So, since you claim to be “in line”, with Jesus as our “line leader”, who else are you working to get to join the “line” along with us?

Last summer, I preached a sermon series [that literally came out of a box from the North American Mission Board] entitled “Who’s Your One?”, during which I challenged us all to find ONE person who is near to us and far from God.  Who is your ONE, and what are you doing to point this person toward a relationship with Jesus?  By praying for our ONE, and living with intentionality as we have a relationship with them, we will naturally live on mission all day, every day.  We will naturally think evangelistically as we go through our mundane tasks and chores.  By praying for our ONE, God will open our eyes to see others, at the grocery store, or in our family, or at the bank, who may not know Jesus.  By living, intentionally pointing our ONE toward Jesus, a side effect will be that we naturally point every one toward Jesus.  By loving and serving our ONE, earning their trust, equipping ourselves to have [potentially awkward] conversations about spiritual things, and treating them with profound hospitality, will begin to treat all our neighbors with the same intention.

In that “Who’s Your One?” sermon series, I gave you three challenges.  I reissued those challenges on May 05.  I remind you of those challenges again here.  1) Invite a family into your home, where someone in your family shares his/her story.  This can be a new neighbor; this could even be a family within our church family that you don’t yet know well.  If not directly evangelistic, this could simply be an exercise in hospitality, and a willful attempt to “grease the skids” taking relationships to the next level.

2) Invite someone to share a one-on-one meal, where you share your testimony.  We have tools to strengthen your ability and comfort level in sharing your personal testimony.  Come see me and I will give these to you.  It could be a full-blown meal; it could be a drink at Oma’s.  Sit down, one-on-one with someone who you believe may not know Jesus, and have the courage to converse about [potentially awkward] spiritual things.  It could be your ONE, it could be a “guinea pig” that’s less intimidating than your ONE.  If you don’t have a relationship like this with someone who is [probably, you believe] lost, then you need to build this kind of relationship with someone unchurched.

3) Invite someone to church, to worship alongside you.  DO NOT invite someone that is part of another church family.  We don’t poach sheep from other flocks.  Do invite someone that fallen out of a church family (perhaps our own church family).  Do invite someone for whom church would be an alien experience, a co-worker perhaps, or even someone in your family.  If you think our church family isn’t welcoming enough, or if you fear that our church might not be gracious toward your ONE [or any other neighbor of yours], come see me.  We need your insights as we work to improve our first impressions.  Whether you can commit to serving on such a team, we need your wisdom, your heart, and your input.

So, are you like me?  Have your toes been thoroughly stepped on by these challenges?  Do you feel convicted that you aren’t living on mission very well?  Do you struggle to identify your ONE?  Do you go, and make no efforts to make disciples?  Are you not the disciple you claim to be?

Welcome to the club.  Let’s do better.  Aren’t we thankful for the grace of God?  Don’t we want others to experience this grace too?  We have a Good News worth proclaiming; now let’s get to proclaiming it!

That sinners be converted, and Thy name glorified,
--A.J.

Dear fellow disciple of Jesus,

Are we disciples, or do we just claim to be disciples?  Better yet, assuming we are one, are we the disciple we claim to be?  Before we can ponder these questions: what is a disciple?  A disciple, put simply, is a follower.  Dare I say, we’re all disciples of someone, or perhaps, something; but disciples of Jesus are those who follow Him.  I’m not talking about the Disciples (note the capital D); there were twelve of those, and that number is fixed in the New Testament.  That Testament calls us to all be [lower-case D] disciples of Jesus.  So, what does it mean to follow Jesus?

Do we follow Jesus across Galilee and through Judea?  In a metaphorical sense, yes.  Let’s read “Matthew”, “Mark”, “Luke”, and “John”.  Let’s see where He went, and what He did.  Let’s appreciate the people with whom Jesus came into contact.  By reading the words of the New Testament, and much of the Old, we have a clearer understanding of where Jesus went and what He did.  As we read and study scripture, we are seeing the steps of Jesus, and through the mysterious work of the Holy Spirit, we super-naturally follow in those steps of His.  Being “conformed into the image of Jesus” is the language the Apostle Paul uses.  As we are, we are more faithfully following Him.
 
Do we follow Jesus in the way we treat others?  Absolutely we do!  The Apostle Paul calls us to practice humility, and to put others’ needs ahead of our own (Philippians 2:3).  As he calls us to this action, this way to treat other people, he grounds this action in the actions of Jesus, claiming that He is the ultimate example/embodiment of humility.

Do we follow Jesus to Calvary’s cross?  Well, no…and yes.  Can we do for ourselves, or anyone else, what Jesus did for us?  Emphatically, NO!  Can we accomplish, or replicate, or extend God’s mercy beyond what Jesus did in about six hours that Friday two millennia ago?  We most certainly canNOT.  Can we follow Jesus’ example of self-less love?  Can we practice sacrifice for the benefit of others?  Yes, we can!  Again, rooting this call in Philippians 2, we know that Jesus’ work is an example for us to follow.  Knowing what we know from the beginning of this paragraph, how then can we do what Jesus did?  By the time we get down to verse 17 of Philippians 2, the Apostle Paul tells the church of Philippi (and us) that he is being poured out as a drink offering.  In other words, Paul’s personal sacrifice wasn’t sufficient for the atonement of sin, but it was a supplement to the atoning sacrifice.  As we see in Leviticus, a drink offering is a supplement to the sin offering.  We too, like Paul, can practice a self-less, loving service to others that is a supplement to Jesus’ work of salvation.

To be clear, not a soul is saved because of anything I have done, or am doing, or will do, or might do; souls are only saved because of what Jesus has done.  I however, can bring more souls to Him.  I can be salt and light, as Jesus calls disciples to be in His sermon upon the mount, as Matthew recorded.  I can be, as the Apostle Paul calls the Church to be, the hands and feet (or spleen) of the Body of Christ.  We, never as well as Jesus did, can give of ourselves.  We can lay down our lives, metaphorically or perhaps literally one day, in service of others.  We can give, and go, and teach, and bless, and pray for, and pray with, and feed, and clothe, and shelter others.  How willing are we to do these things?  How willing are we to practice sacrificial, self-less love?

We’ll pick up on this thought next month, but I send you back to the beginning of this article, and its first two questions.  Are we disciples, or do we just claim to be?  If, in fact, we are followers: are we the followers we claim to be?

Redeemed how I love to proclaim it, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
redeemed through His infinite mercy, His child (& forever) I am!
--A.J.

There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel’s veins,
and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day,
and there may I – though vile as he – wash all my sins away.

This precious old hymn has haunted me for a few weeks now.  I write this article the Tuesday evening before Resurrection Sunday.  In my preparation for Easter, over the past month, I have studied several passages of scripture.  Some I have preached, others I haven’t.  As I have pondered the resurrection, I’ve studied its nature, its implications, and its value in making the Good News good.  I hadn’t planned to preach about the criminal upon the cross next to Jesus’, until about a week ahead.  I knew that on Palm Sunday, I would look at the cross, but about ten days prior, the Holy Spirit drew me to Luke’s account and the two criminals between whom Jesus died.

For years now, Pastor Jim has gotten a kick out of me using the expression “bloody Sunday” to describe worship services where we sing multiple blood songs.  March 24 was one of those Sundays.  I have always wondered ‘what would a person who had never been to church think if they walked in today and heard us singing all these songs about blood?’  In wisdom, we’d do well to mention the significance of this metaphor as a beautiful picture of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus.  I don’t particularly want to bathe in Jesus’ blood; I certainly don’t want your blood on me.  This rather gross image is helpful for us to see more clearly what salvation is all about.  Jesus’ work, including losing blood, leading up to and during His time experiencing crucifixion, is a work of ugliness and shame.  Because of His own sinlessness, He was uniquely qualified to serve as a propitiating sacrifice, offering atonement to sinners.  For those of us that accept this atonement, God’s Word tells us that we are made clean from our own sin.  This “washing” is a beautiful picture.  We get an image of this “washing” in the practice of baptism, but to close our eyes and imagine a fountain of Jesus’ blood is a jarring thought.

From the day I decided to focus my preaching efforts upon the criminals in Luke’s narrative, the second stanza of “There Is a Fountain” simply would not get out of my mind.  I worked Sunday to make very clear how that “thief” was saved, but not because of anything he did or said.  He was saved, as we are saved, because he threw himself upon the mercy of Jesus.  The odds that these hardened criminals had committed murder are pretty good, and when we consider this, it makes sense that he deserved an eternity in hell paying for his own sin.  Before we think, however, that we are in any way better than him, let’s acknowledge that we too, deserve an eternity in hell paying for our sin too.  Aren’t you thankful that the merciful Jesus who said “verily I tell you, today you’ll be with me in paradise” to that criminal is the same Jesus who goes to prepare a place for us, pouring out the same mercy?  I am no less vile than that violent criminal who freely confessed that he deserved his crucifixion.  Just as he rejoiced to see that mercy in his day, may we experience the cleansing of that blood fountain, having our sin washed away!

I have spent the past month pondering my own sin and death.  If you’re like me, perhaps you have difficulty letting go of the shame and guilt of your own sin.  I am also increasingly aware that many of our neighbors struggle to come to faith and accept Jesus’ mercy because they somehow feel “not good enough”.  We live in a world of profound brokenness, with profoundly broken people, and we must hold fast to the Good News of salvation.  We must be the carriers of this News that our broken neighbors so desperately need us to be!  We must also be heartened by the truth that if that “thief” could be saved by Jesus, we can be too!  The message of the resurrection is this: sin and death has been conquered once and for all.  Isn’t it sweet to know that Jesus has put our sin to death, and given us eternal life in its place?  He experienced the shame so that we don’t have to.  He bore the wrath, so that our guilt might be expunged and we might be credited with His righteousness!  This truth is what makes the News good!  Do you know someone who needs this hope?  Are you carrying the Good News to them as God calls us to do?  Do you want other broken “thieves” to experience paradise along with us?  O sing hallelujah; our hope springs eternal!

When this poor lisping, stammering tongue lies silent in the grave,
then in a nobler, sweeter song, I’ll sing Thy power to save!!
--A.J.

Hosanna! blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord!

For those who were present for our Wednesday evening study on February 14, you may recall that our more liturgical brethren (brothers & sisters) commemorated Ash Wednesday that day.  I told those of you that evening that when I hear “lent” (you can’t hear the E), I remember to check the filter on the clothes dryer.  Those of you who were raised Catholic, or Lutheran, or Anglican/Methodist, or even some Presbyterians, you may be familiar with giving up something [a vice, or a luxury] for the lenten season.  Of course, the point isn’t so much to give up a thing, but to replace that thing with meditation/prayer.  As we spend time praying and meditating upon the Word of God, it’s as though we are taking a metaphorical Q-tip and clearing our “ears” of distractions such that we might better hear from God and allow Him to draw near to us, revealing Himself in new ways.  Why?  So that we can prepare our hearts for Easter.

Lent is supposed to reflect the forty days when Jesus fasted in the wilderness, during which Satan tempted Jesus.  Though there certainly is merit in fasting for an extended period of time, whether from food or some other thing, I’ve never really given up a luxury or a vice for a season to commemorate lent.  However, I do believe that it is a wonderful thing to have seasons of preparation.  Though certainly not as culturally pronounced as Christmas (which is probably a good thing), it’s a good thing to take time to prepare ourselves for Resurrection Sunday!

The Festival [or Feast] of the Resurrection, as it was called in the early Church was, and should be today, a time of profound celebration!  Of all the days we have a reason to party, it ought to be the day when King Jesus conquered sin and death!  Before we can rightly appreciate this victory, however, we must also appreciate the death and the sin our Lord defeated.  As we approach Resurrection Sunday, let’s all, together, allow God to prepare our hearts.

On Sunday mornings, we are going to hear about what the resurrection did, what it means for us, what the implications of it are, and how we can live because of it!  On Wednesday evenings, beginning February 28, we are going to take a look at the accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John to see what the Disciples saw in the week prior to Jesus’ resurrection.  (For those asking, we will return to our study of systematic theology in the summer.)  As we prepare corporately for Resurrection Sunday, let me also challenge us all to prepare ourselves privately.  Pray.  Ask God to show up.  Ask Him to strengthen your resolve to set aside distractions from your heart (internal) and life (external) so that you can be better focused upon Him.  Ask Him to reveal Himself to you, to your family, in new ways.  Praise Him for who He is.  Repent.  Thank Him for what He has done.  Ask Him to speak to you this year, about your sin, your death, and His victory.  As you pray, meditate upon His Word.  Read our Sunday passages; read our Wednesday evening passages.  Read something else; read anything in your bible!  As we pray for Him to speak, and as we read His Word, He'll speak.  Will we listen?

Perhaps you can take a lesson from our liturgical brethren, and give up something specific in your home, or in your life as you prepare yourself.  As I challenge you to prepare your heart, be encouraged.  As we press in to a closer relationship with God, He will naturally reveal His own holiness.  We will naturally be made aware that we are unholy.  As He speaks, if we are listening, He’ll reveal new areas of sin we didn’t even know were there.  As we repent of these, the Holy Spirit is sanctifying us, and we are growing in spiritual maturity.  As He speaks more, if we are listening, we’ll become acutely aware of our sins, and we’ll become acutely aware of what we deserve: death…separation…eternal death…eternal separation…separation from God…hell.

As we allow Him to prepare our hearts, our church will be learning just what, exactly, Jesus did go through as He passed around the cup saying “this is my blood”, as He prayed [for us] in the garden, as He pleaded “let this cup pass from me” with the Father, as He was arrested, as He stood “trial”, as He was beaten and mocked and beaten some more, as He was sentenced, as He was crucified, and as He died.  Again, as I challenge us to prepare our hearts, be encouraged!  Don’t we feel encouraged yet?

Well in reading the past two paragraphs, assuming we have properly pondered the words, we aren’t naturally encouraged.  In fact, we’re probably quite discouraged.  Good.  Now we have come to grips with sin and with death.  Read these paragraphs over and over between now and Resurrection Sunday.  Why?  Because if we are ever going to appreciate the resurrection, we must appreciate what – exactly – He defeated: sin, and death; our sin, and our death!  Are you encouraged yet?  Are you ready to party?  No, you’re not.  I’m not either, but if we take days ahead to sit in these truths (no, not read them in twenty minutes, but ponder them for a half-hour, or a full hour, every day), over the next several weeks, we’ll have stewed in the richness of the mercy of Jesus.  Then, perhaps, we’ll really be ready to party!  Prepare our hearts.  Where’s your Q-tip?

O sing hallelujah! our hope springs eternal o sing hallelujah!
Now, and ever, we confess:
Christ our hope, in life, and death!
--A.J.

Greetings sinners!

I write to you on Tuesday, 30 January, 2024, and I want to tell you a bit of a story from this-past Sunday.  Some of you may have been aware of some of the pieces of this story, but others of you may not have a clue!  In doing so, I want us all to remember that our mission statement as a church family is: helping broken people find healing in Christ.  Are you a sinner?  Only you can answer that question, but if your answer is “no”, you’re either a liar, or you have some mental health issues.  Have you experienced a healing in your life?  If you have repented of your sin, and have accepted His grace, and are heading to heaven, I know that your answer should emphatically be “yes!”  Now, given your answers to these two questions, don’t you want others to experience the work of the Healer in their lives too?

At some point before or during the Sunday School hour, a men appeared on our campus.  He had amputations of both legs, and from what I could see, both seemed to be above the knee.  This fellow was sitting in a mechanized wheel-chair.  Apparently, the battery of his chair was running very low.  Two of our men (an active Deacon and an inactive Deacon) brought our guest in through the Sanctuary and into an empty class room, so that he could plug in and charge his chair.  By the time I was able to get my supplies together for the worship service and up toward the Sanctuary from the Office, he had been given a cup of hot coffee, multiple bottles of water, and some random snack foods (what appeared to be a pack of chips and a MoonPie left over from Hope Kitchen).

The time-line was a bit unclear, but our guest told me that he had been discharged from a hospital in Winston-Salem (perhaps two weeks ago), and was unable to redeem his hospital-issued bus pass because of his wheel-chair.  At some point, (perhaps a couple of days before our encounter) a man from Walnut Cove gave our guest a ride from Forsyth County, to Walnut Cove, but – apparently – he dropped our guest off around Fowler Park.  He told me that he was homeless, and didn’t have anywhere to go.

He said to me that he had visited East Stokes Outreach Ministry, but that they wouldn’t help him.  You and I know how stellar East Stokes is, and if they EVER turn away ANYone, it’s for good reason; so that was a red flag for me.  I told our guest that Stokes County has no shelter or facility to accommodate homeless people, but that we could carry him back to Winston-Salem, where he would have options of places to stay.  By this point in the morning, it was about 10:55 and I had to get into the Choir Room, but I told our guest that he was more than welcome to worship with us, that he had options of places where he could “park”, and that I’d be glad to assist him after the worship service.  I prayed with him, and left him in capable hands.

At this point, allow me commend several of our men.  I am so thankful for David Burroughs (who has extensive experience in our “special ministry projects”), Brad Cheek (who graciously welcomed our guest that day), Mark Moore, and Randy Wood.  I think more folks had a hand in this situation, but I’m not sure who or how many more.  Anyway, when I broke away, Fireman Cheek told me that he had some first responder friends on the way to provide medical transport.  Lo and behold, by the end of the worship service, our guest was already gone!

I had been waiting for a parade of first responders, our men, and an electric wheel-chair to come through the Sanctuary Sunday morning, but that never happened, so far as I knew.  By the time I collected the rest of the story, I learned that this guest of ours isn’t homeless, he’s had multiple run-ins with law enforcement, substance abuse was suspected, he refused our offers to transport him to Winston-Salem, and his wheel-chair and telephone were fully charged by the time he left.  Before you think “I told you so” (as I did), let me leave you with a few thoughts.

First, I am so thankful for the actions of our men.  I’m even more thankful for the heart of our men.  Our guest, was just that: a guest; and he was treated as such.  We worked very hard to make accommodation for his handicap, while not embarrassing him.  We were welcoming and gracious toward him.  In hearing his story at face value, we worked to meet an immediate physical need by providing food and drink.  We actively worked to get him into a shelter, where he could be cared for, and we had multiple plans for how to get him there.  Our guest was indeed treated with gracious hospitality, respect, and dignity.  At the same time, most of these men serve on our Security Team, and were actively making sure that our church family, especially our children, were kept safe.  Perhaps miraculously, this situation was not a distraction from your ability to worship either!

Second, though I personally only had about eight minutes with this man, he informed me that, when living in Winston-Salem, he had attended Calvary Baptist Church, and had been baptized by Dr. C. Mark Corts.  Many of us know that name, and though I never knew Dr. Corts personally, I know his son, and many more of his disciples from Calvary.  Only God knows if our guest had a genuine conversion experience, but I know that Dr. Corts once (at least) wrote about the significance of being willing to smell like sheep.  If we claim to want to help broken people, are we willing to get our hands metaphorically, or literally, dirty?  Do we look down our noses?  Do we help from a begrudging sense of pity?  Do we only serve broken people when it’s convenient?  Are we even willing to acknowledge and appreciate brokenness that may not be readily visible on the surface?

Third, have we forgotten our own brokenness, sinners?  Have we forgotten that there, except for God’s grace, goes me?  I am reminded of Luke 15:4-7, where Jesus teaches us that He is a Good Shepherd, willing to leave the 99 to chase after the 1 lost sheep.  Jesus is chasing after our guest; and I am convinced that He used our church to be His hands as He chases.  I pray that we might have another opportunity to serve this guest again one day.  I pray that he might be put on Jesus’ shoulders, and joyfully carried back to the rest of the flock.  The Healer chased after me when I was broken.  Aren’t you glad the Healer chased after you too?  Don’t you want other broken people to experience the work of the Healer?

With my life laid down, I’m surrendered now; I give You everything.
Your goodness is running after, it’s running after me!
--A.J.

Happy second quarter dear friends!

As we wrap up our five-part mini-series, walking through our values, we now come to the fact that We Value Encouragement.  Some of you know that my preferred receiving Love Language is that of “words of affirmation”.  Nothing puts a pep in my step quite like a heart-felt “atta boy!”  Hebrews 3; Hebrews 10; and I Thessalonians 5 are but three of the passages of the New Testament where Christians are instructed to “encourage one another”.  This is one of the great effects of practicing biblical fellowship.  Whether it’s receiving a kind word, or a note in the mail, or seeing your hard work pay off, I think all of us appreciate receiving encouragement.

If it’s good to receive encouragement, let’s consider how we might better give encouragement to others.  As I mentioned above, God’s Word tells us to encourage “one another” as brothers/sisters in Christ.  What a blessing it would be if we had a habit of encouraging non-believers too.  If we were sources of encouragement to those waiting on our table, or checking us out at the grocery store, or fixing our cars, don’t you think Walnut Cove would be a brighter place?  Wouldn’t it be a great service to our neighbors if we actively worked to lift the spirits of those who are working for us?  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we were known as a church that encourages one another and encourages our neighbors?

The Oxford English Dictionary defines “encouragement” as a noun that means: the action of giving someone confidence or hope.  For us as believers, we know that our confidence lies in the truth that Jesus loves us so much that He laid down His life to pay for our sins.  We also know that our hope lies in the truth that His own resurrection gives us a preview of our own resurrection, glorified body, and eternal life in the presence of God.  Boy, if we want to talk about confidence and hope, that is a real confidence and hope!!

We live in a broken world.  I need not waste any more ink proving that point!  Many days, I stand in need of confidence and hope.  Don’t you?  Do you reckon that we rub shoulders with folks daily that might need a bit of confidence and hope too?  Are you encouraged?  I am.  I’m also convicted that I need to be a brighter light and saltier salt; I need to be a greater source of encouragement.  I need to better encourage fellow Christian brethren.  I also need to better encourage my lost neighbors.  They need confidence and hope, perhaps even more than I do!

Who can you encourage this week?  Who can you pull aside and give an “atta boy”, or a note via e-mail or text message?  How can you be a blessing to someone that might be struggling to have confidence and hope?  I think it’s a pretty safe assumption that you value receiving encouragement, as I do.  Do you value giving it to others too?  Does our church value encouragement as well as we say we do?

Sometimes I feel discouraged, and think my work’s in vain,
but then the Holy Spirit revives my soul again.
There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole;
there is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin-sick soul.

--A.J.

Greetings brethren,

As we continue to consider what we value, I’d like for us to think together through the statement that “we value service”.  “Serve”, in Latin is “minister to”.  So, a “minister” is a “servant”, and the equivalent Greek term is “deacon”.  Do only deacons serve?  If not, whom do WE ALL serve?  When the first “deacons” were called (though that specific term isn’t used in the passage) in Acts 6, they were making sure that all the ladies within the church were treated fairly in the distribution of food.  So, does service/ministry involve caring for one another within the church family?  Galatians 5:13 gives us reason to answer undoubtedly “yes!”

Assuming that service/ministry isn’t limited to just deacons, it would be equally foolish to think that followers of Jesus are only called to serve one another.  Allow me to gently challenge each and every one of us to be involved in active service in some capacity.  I believe that God doesn’t just expect all disciples to serve, He expects all disciples to be serving one another AND lost people.  Are we serving our neighbors who may not yet know Jesus as their Lord?

If you are currently on a committee, or have a “job” around our church in some capacity, thank you for your willingness to work for the good of our church family.  However, please do not let this be the long and short of your service.  As you think of the way(s) you are currently serving, consider how someone might be reached with the Good News of Jesus as a result of your service.  How are souls being saved and broken people introduced to the Healer through your service?  Hope Kitchen puts us on the stoop of over a hundred homes around Walnut Cove every month.  These are people experiencing direct physical need, most of whom have no church home.  Many of us volunteer through East Stokes Outreach Ministry.  Those slinging canned goods around the pantry are directly supporting the people sitting across the table from hurting people, sharing the love of Jesus and praying with the clients.

Just this week, we are sitting down with about 70 guardians (about every way that word is defined) of children who will receive gifts through our Baptist Association’s Toy Store.  Every person who has adopted a child, or shopped for toys, or wrapped a box, or loaded a bicycle into a compact car, or prepared food for the clients, or called 53 people in one night to make appointments, or vetted applications… stands right behind the greeter who opens the door and ends up hugging a lady and crying together.

As with our “Who’s Your One” emphasis, the challenge as been to identify someone near to us that may be far from God.  So, who are near to us as a church family and far from God.  Who are the lost and downtrodden?  Who is most dramatically experiencing brokenness in our own back yard?  Is Walnut Cove a better place because we’re here?  Whose lives are we brightening?  As you labor in service, ponder who is encountering the message of Jesus, directly or not, as a result of your efforts.

During this chaotic season, we will be running 100 miles per hour in 1,000 different directions.  It will be very easy to charge on in our agenda, but let me challenge us all to slow down and consider whose day we can brighten with the love of Jesus.  Once all the decor us put away, and all the parties are over, we will be left with a child in a manger, a Messiah, who became human so that we might have salvation from sin.  That is the Christmas gift we have received.  Who is being handed this gift this year, as a result of your efforts?

As with joyful steps they sped to that lowly manger bed,
there to bend the knee before Him whom heaven and earth adore;
so may we will willing feet, ever seek Thy mercy seat!
--A.J.

Hello friends!

Regardless of which point in the month you’re reading this, over the recent several weeks, our church has shared the joy of welcoming Mrs. Amber Hutchens, her husband James, and their daughters Cindy & Catherine to our family of faith!  She is our new Minister of Music & Worship.  Note, that these two terms are not synonyms.  Often times we think of worship as something we do when we sing in “big church”.  Yes, Amber will serve (Latin: minister) as she directs songs.  Yes, Amber will take an increasing role in planning and coordinating our worship services.  No, “music” and “worship” are not interchangeable terms.

Music is a valuable part of worship.  Prayer is a valuable part of worship too.  The reading of God’s Word is an equally valuable part of worship.  Fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ is a valuable part of worship.  Observing the ordinances (baptism & the Lord’s Supper) properly is valuable as a part of worship.  Finally, giving is a valuable part of worship.  All of these elements are found in the Church in the New Testament, and should be found within the First Baptist Church of Walnut Cove too.

Among our five values (through which I preached a year (or so) ago), we would all agree that we – as a church family – value worship.  Since 2015 (except for 15 CoViD-19 months), I’m sure our Choir has gotten extremely tired of hearing me say this: we aren’t here to put on a show, or impress anyone, or “perform” for anybody but the Lord.  When we lift high our voices, declaring biblical truths to one another, we sing TO God.  When we give or pray, or go to the Table to remember, we do so to God.  When we dive into His Word and meditate upon its rich truths, we do so in order to more completely give our hearts, souls, minds, and strength TO God.  Is God pleased with how well we’re doing these things?

Two paragraphs ago, I mentioned the contributing parts to healthy within the Church … corporately.  Yes, we worship together as a church family, but if we let it stop there, we will find ourselves in a bad place indeed.  Corporate worship is a precious thing; it’s a vital thing for the over-all health of our church, but worship is much, much more than just a thing we do at 11:00 on Sundays!

For us – all of us – we must worship individually.  I define “worship” this way: a RESPONSE to who God is and what God has done.  Has God done anything in the life of our church family?  Of course!  Has He done anything in your life personally?  Has He moved in your household?  Has He answered your prayer?  Has He saved your soul from the eternity you deserve?  Our very lives should be lived as a response to these things.

Let’s assume for a moment, something I know to be false.  Let’s assume God has never done anything for you personally.  “I am that I AM” He says to Moses from the burning bush.  Creator of the universe, He is (according to Genesis 1).  Holy and righteous and just He is.  Omnipotent and omniscient and omnipresent He is.  Merciful and compassionate and loving He is.  Good, good Father, He is.  So whether or not He’s ever done anything to you or for you, don’t you reckon He is still worthy of our worship, simply because of who He is?  Is He worthy of our praise in music?  Sure.  Is He worthy of our obedience?  Is He worthy of us witnessing faithfully?  Is He worthy of our hearts, all day, every day?  Is worship just something we do at 11:00 on Sundays?  Is responding to God, in humility, in obedience, in faithfulness something you do every day?  Is God pleased with how well I’m doing it?

Is He worthy, is He worthy
of all blessing and honor and glory?
Is He worthy of this?  He is.
--A.J.

Happy new year church!

Last fall, I unveiled our mission statement: helping broken people find healing in Christ!  In the process, I articulated (I did not come up with; you have valued them for years) our values.  Last month, I reminded you of how we value teaching.  This month, allow me to remind you that we value fellowship.  I love you.  I value you.  You love one another.  You value one another.  I have been here for fourteen years; some of you have been here twice as long; others of you have been here for over half a century.  Some of us have only been around since the corona virus pandemic.  Whether you have experienced brotherhood (or sisterhood) with someone across the Sanctuary for seven decades, or seven months, you understand the importance of having high-quality friends here in this church family.

Fellowship is a sweet and beautiful thing.  We have laughed together on trips to the Dan’l Boone Inn; we have sweated alongside one another on a mission trip; we have attended conferences and retreats together.  We’ve hidden Easter eggs together; we’ve painted V.B.S. back drops on corrugated cardboard; we’ve set up and taken down tables and chairs for special events; we’ve stirred the chicken stew pot.  We’ve sat around the table studying God’s Word together; we’ve shared how it applied within our own lives; we’ve gone to the altar together and prayed over one another, and these are just the times where we’ve had fellowship around corporate or group events!  Many of you have shared vacation, your kids have played on the same sports teams, you invite one another over for dinner parties, or get together for coffee just to catch up.  We have laughed, swapped stories, poked fun, broken bread, and taxied one another’s children…together.  Fellowship is friendship; it’s comradery; it’s also about working together toward a common mission.  In doing so, we brighten each other’s life!

Fellowship most notable in the good times we share, but fellowship is most necessary in the bad times.  The Greek word κοινωνια is found throughout the New Testament, and it’s this word that typically gets translated into the English “fellowship”.  This Greek word (transliterated “koinonia”) has the image of shouldering a load together.  When we think of a team of people, or oxen, or any other group pulling or lifting or carrying a load, we can usually think of the ability to work, the whole, being greater than the sum of its parts.  This picture of shouldering a load together helps us see more clearly what biblical fellowship entails.  Bearing burdens together is what makes fellowship most necessary.
 
We all go through bad times, but some of us have gone through exceptionally terrible times.  Some of us have been abandoned by our spouse, or perhaps worse yet, have our spouse stray into infidelity.  When a family is ripped apart in divorce, that is a terrible time.  Others of us have lost loved ones; some of us have gone through the most unnatural of events and buried a child.  Some of us have lost loved ones at their own hand.  Most of us can’t even imagine this tidal wave of grief that just crashes across the lives of these friends.  We have had people in the past, and we have people today, that feel like they are going to drown in a flood of grief.

Some of us have had people steal from us, others have received zero return on an investment.  Some have had businesses fail, others have had mountains of debt and file bankruptcy.  It’s great to have someone mail us a much needed check to help us pay a bill; it’s even better to have someone put their hand on our shoulder, pray with us and give us a word of encouragement.  Some of us have opened our homes, served a hot meal, and walked a single mother through the Financial Peace program, helping her to make a budget, and stood by her for months and years as she has struggled to stick to it.

Some of our saintly widows have visited the home of a grieving mother, not to say anything, but simply to hold a hand and offer a hug.  One of these precious ladies pulled me aside years ago, just to offer home as a place of refuge if a wife and her children were unsafe.  How many of us are thinking even now of a hug, or a hand on our shoulder, or a word of empathy from someone that we knew had walked our road before us?  This is fellowship.  This is carrying burdens with and for someone, so that they won’t have to do so alone.  Just this year, I have had multiple people take me to lunch, not because I was hungry, but because I needed to vent.  The smallest act of encouragement can be more of a blessing to a brother or sister in Christ, than we’ll ever know.  Who has helped you shoulder your load?  Whose burdens have you helped to bear?

Aren’t you thankful for fellowship during your hardest days, or seasons?  Aren’t you thankful for those who have come alongside you?  When you share dinner with those folks today, isn’t the meal just a little richer?  Aren’t the smiles a bit more genuine?  Aren’t the laughs even heartier?  Biblical fellowship is most necessary in the bad times.  When we have experienced the love of a friend in those bad times, it certainly makes the good times better, and the fellowship of joy that much sweeter!

We share our mutual woes, our mutual burdens bear;
and often for each other flows the sympathizing tear.
Blessed be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love;
the fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above!
--A.J.

Greetings and salutations again friends!

As I outlined this-past autumn, First Baptist Church values teaching.  Teaching is but one of five values I articulated in the sermon series when I unveiled our new mission statement.  As I said then, I haven’t concocted these values, or imagined them; I simply articulated that which we already value.  I know that many of you freely acknowledge that we value teaching; you value teaching personally, and you want our church to be known as a body where God’s Word is rightly divided!

From mid-May through the month of June, our mid-week Adult Bible Study went through a series about Abiding, Seeking, Applying, & Planting.  To put it simply, it was a bible study series about what it means to be a disciple, or Follower, of Jesus.  If we claim to be Jesus Followers, we must be about the business of seeing what God’s Word would have us see, and doing what God would have us do.  In doing so, we are applying scripture, and walking in obedience to it.

As I have mentioned in the past, including fairly recently, God “hard wires” us differently.  Many of us are feelers, sensing the presence of the Holy Spirit strongly, and worship is very much an emotional endeavor.  Many of us are thinkers, craving to learn new things and grow in the knowledge and understanding of biblical theology.  Our church needs both kinds of people, and one is no “more spiritual” than the other, but for those of you that are wired like me, an off-the-chart “thinker”, let me challenge us within the context of valuing high-quality teaching.

I have recently received criticisms of our spring A.S.A.P. study, emphasizing discipleship, evangelism, and missions.  To be fair, I know that white boards, Expo markers, and random visual graphical aids are not everyone cup of tea.  If, however, your irritation is with the content of our Jesus Follower emphasis, I have to wonder why?

I have recently been graciously encouraged to return to the “deep things of Jesus”.  This is good to do, because we must always strive to maintain balance in both explaining scripture and applying scripture.  When in seminary, my preaching professor told me that I was better in biblical explanation, weaker in biblical illustration, and fairly good at biblical application.  I love digging into the teachings of Jesus; I also love digging into the deep things of the Old Testament; I love to get down into the “weeds” and look the rich truths of God’s Word.  We cannot afford, however, to spend so much time studying each “tree” that we lose sight of the “forest”.  I follow a para-church ministry that works hard to “get the gospel right”.  This is good, and in my teaching, I’ll strive to also maintain balance between studying books/passages and studying systematic theology/doctrine, but if we “get the gospel right” without getting the Good News out to a lost and dying world, it isn’t really “right” at all!

As Braydon preached so eloquently during my vacation, we must be hearing the Word AND doing the Word.  We must learn the bible and understand its teaching, so that we can apply it to our lives, walk humbly in obedience, and share this great Good News with those that need to see, hear, and respond to it!  If we are being the Jesus Followers that He wants us to be [individually and corporately], He wants us to be constantly learning new things, mining the rich depths of God’s Word.  At the very same time, He wants these new things learned to spur us on to love and good works.  To borrow a metaphor from Simon Peter and the Apostle Paul, we need to grow in spiritual maturity and eat “solid food”, not just drink “milk” as spiritually immature babes.  While we grow to eat meat, we still drink milk.  To our “feeler” brethren, nothing in the world should move you more than reminders of the grace of Jesus.  Simple, but crucial essentials like forgiveness and mercy, God’s hatred of sin (our sin), and God’s love for us sinners, should move us like nothing else!

You value teaching; I value teaching!  I love getting to teach!  I am committed to maintain balance between digging into the “weeds” and keeping us aware of the 30,000-foot view of God’s Word.  I will work to study the Old and New Testaments, large passages and doctrinal themes.  I will also work to teach topical issues, applying God’s Word to our walk as believers, and giving us clarity as disciples within a broken world.  I will work to explain the text, and find points of application too.  I want to teach the thinkers and the feelers in our church, because all the different kinds of us need to have God’s Word in our hearts, minds, and souls!  I want God to control the microphone, molding us into disciples, who make disciples.  I want to teach new things in new ways.  I want to use Wednesday evenings to try new things, but above all, I want to be as faithful to the bible as I can be.  Do we hunger and thirst to walk with God daily?  Do we long to abide with Him, in His Word?  Do we look more like Jesus today than we did yesterday?  Do our lost neighbors see that too?  Do we value teaching as much as we say we do?

When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
the flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine!
--A.J.