Bethany Baptist

Bro. Steve’s message was from 1 Samuel 15:1-23 titled Saul’s Disobedience. God gave King Saul a specific commandment in verse 3 concerning what he was to do after the defeat of the Amalekites. When Saul disobeyed, God sent the prophet Samuel to confront Saul about his sin. Like all of us, Saul did not enjoy facing up to his disobedience, and he made excuses and tried to pass the blame on others. Good intentions don’t justify bad actions. God requires complete obedience and God considered Saul’s disobedience as bad as witchcraft or idol worship. What pleases God is: Doing the will of God in the right way, at the right time, and with the right motive.

During evening service Bro. Steve spoke from 1 Corinthians 11:27-32. We are to examine ourselves and judge ourselves based on the Word of God. It is our duty to examine our relationship with God and with each other. We should do this at all times, but especially before partaking of the Lord’s Supper.

April birthdays: James Gray (4th); Jackie Neeley (14th), Henry Moore (14th), Billie Neeley (16th), Jerry Vines (19th), Ralph Wilson (25th). April Anniversary: Carl and Ellen Gray (29th).

Prayer List: Clayton Armstrong, Betty Biggs, James Bixler, Ellen Gray, Ophelia Griffin, Ernestine Hatch, Danny Jones, Larry Miller, Billie Neeley, Lilianna Thompson, Tim Wallace, and our June VBS.

See you Sunday!

Bethsalem Baptist

It was a wonderful day of singing and praising our Lord, with special music by Kim Hunt titled “You Were There,” a great job and beautiful song.

Special Music by celebration choir: “Jesus Built This Church on Love.”

Message: Nehemiah: Rebuilding & Leadership Nehemiah 1:1-11.

Evening Message: Courageous in Surrender Acts 6-7.

After our service we joined together and went and prayed together, surround the Thompson house for the Lord to work a miracle in Lilanna’s life.

Pray this week daily for Liliana Thompson, Charles & Gladys Bryant, Debra Mims, Jeanette Smitherman, Marshal and Hazel Greene, Jim Beck, Betty Gregory, Hunter Moore, Dewey Terrell. Vickie Knight, Katie Mims, Misty Kelley, Susan Thompson, Edward Moore. James Earl Johnson, Edward Moore, James Parker. Amy Mims, Katherine Cleckley, All our shut-ins.

Happy birthday this week to: Devin Mitchell, Jasmine Headley, Joe Wingard, Jubel Merrill, Hannah Horton, Eric Chavers, Betty Bennett, Hailey Edwards, Kacy Barrett.

Ladies: see Emily Edwards to sigh up for softball leagues.

Calvary Independent Baptist

We were blessed to have visitors for our Sunday services. We want to thank them for coming and invite them back to worship the Lord Jesus Christ with us during any of our services.

Bro. Matthew Brasher preached a message in the 10 a.m. worship service from Isaiah, Psalms and other scriptures on Christians working out their salvation. Salvation is an inward experience that should be shining outward through our lives that others might see our good works and glorify God. Bro. Oscar Mims preached in the evening service from Revelation 21 on the new things that God has prepared.

Jesus said that He would go and prepare a place, that place is revealed in Revelation chapter 21. Heaven sounds sweeter every day, are you ready for the day when you will stand physically in the presence of Almighty God?

Cedar Grove

We had a wonderful Easter Service, Bro. Clay Collins and the youth did a drama that was heartwarming and sad. It made you really do some soul searching and thinking about what Christ went through for us and that He is Risen. We are so proud of them for all the work that everyone did.

Bro. Alton Russell led the congregation in singing “I’ll Fly Away,” “Jesus is Coming Soon” and “Just a Closer Walk With Thee.”Bro. Tim Scott dismissed us to go to our classes.

The title of the lesson “The Parable of the Sower.” Matthew 13:3-11; 18-23. Bro. David Bullard dismissed us from Sunday school to worship service.

Happy birthday to Rosa Cleckler, Larry Patterson, Bro. Heath Vines, James Popwell, Krista Cleckley and Nick Popwell. We trust they all had wonderful birthdays and many more.

We had several prayer requests, the Burks family, Lilianna Thompson, several others, many spoken and unspoken requests.

Bro. Alton Russell led the congregation in singing “Just A little While,” “I Shall Not Be Moved” and “When the Saints Go Marching In.”

Bro. Jeff Carroll preached from the Gospel of John, 20:19-23 titled “What’s Next.” Sister Amelia Hubbard sang the invitation. The Potter and the Clay. The Altar filled.

We have to do a little boasting about one of our youth. Kip Cleckley is the 2012 Alabama High School Power lifting State Champion, 132 class. Lauren Wyatt placed fourth in her class of girls. We are very proud of them. They go to Thorsby School.

The beginning songs for the evening service were “I’ll Be Listening” Bro. Alton Russell and the Choir sang “God is Good” Sister Sandra Carroll and the Choir Sang “God Said Youíre Gonna Make Itî The Choir sang “I Am A Friend of God.” Jordan Harvley sang “Healer.”

Bro. Heath Vines sermon entitled “Dig Deeper” from Luke 6:46-49. From these verses we get that we need to Come, Hear, Do and Dig.

Several came to the altar and prayed. Bro. Jimmy Flowers dismissed in prayer.

Center Hill

We have several upcoming events:

There will be a bridal tea for Alicia Layton this coming Sunday from 1:30-3:30 at the home of Peggy Majors.There will be a baby brunch for Maegan Grier on Saturday, April 28 at 10 a.m. This will be held in the church fellowship hall. Our VBS will begin on Sunday night, June 3. We will have a meal at 6 p.m., and our VBS services will be each Sunday and Wednesday night beginning at 6:30 p.m. All are invited to attend. Another exciting event is our Ladies’ Luncheon on Saturday, May 12. Our speaker will be Jean Castille, wife of pro football player, Jeremiah Castille. All ladies are invited to attend.

Bro. Jeff continued his series of sermons on Revelations. Today’s service concentrated on the opening of the six seals. At this future time, God’s judgment will be unleashed on man. The Holy Spirit is taken out of the world. What a terrible time this will be for those left behind after the Rapture. The first seal is “conquest by deceit.” The anti-Christ rides the white horse. He has a bow in his hand, but no arrows. He will conquer by deceiving people. The second seal is concerning world war.

The horse mentioned in this scripture will be a red horse. This color represents bloodshed. When the third seal is opened, a black horse appeared, symbolizing famine. This worldwide famine is the result of war. The fourth horse was a pale color, literally yellowish-green, the color of a corpse. Death is the result of the first three seals.

The fifth seal is the cry of the martyrs. They are praying to God to avenge their deaths. This is probably the beginning of the Judgment. There is a worldwide earthquake when the sixth seal is opened. The sun will be blackened by the enormous amount of ashes in the air. People will try to run and hide. Then they will pray that the mountains collapse on them in order to escape the wrath of God.We have been living in a time of grace, but that will cease. A time of Judgment will fall upon the entire world.Unbelievers, no matter how strong, cannot stand against God’s wrath.Will you be present at this time? It could happen at any time, but Christians can take comfort in knowing that they will not be present during unleashing of God’s wrath.

Christ Independent Methodist

April 15 may be important to many of us as a high school prom, a first date, a family birthday or anniversary, but for those in the working class it is income tax day. It is a day we observe by taking notice, but it is not a special day we celebrate except to have it past!

Today was special for us because we always look forward to Dr. Mac Stinson’s inspiring message. His sermon title was “Victorious But Not Unscarred.” The scripture was taken from John 20:19-31.

Our prayer request: for the family of Kenneth Ray who passed away the past week.

Pray for: Carl Glass, our military, their families, our country, community, church, Israel, Christians worldwide, and pray for each other. Remember the family of Shea Simms as he is serving overseas.

Have a blessed week.

Jackson Chapel

Bro. Gary Fant got the morning worship service started off with “Leaning On The Everlasting Arms” and “When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder.” Bro. Dennis Smith and Glen Riley blessed us with “I Saw The Light,” and Bro Dennis blessed us with “Glory Road.”

Bro Dennis’ text came from Romans 7:14-25 and 8:1. If we as Christians are going to win the battle against Satan we’ve got to put on the whole armor of God from head to toe. God doesn’t give us armor for our back because God doesn’t want us to turn our backs on problems but instead he wants us to run straight into the problems and face them. God doesn’t give us a bridge around our problems but instead he gives us a bridge to go through these problems just to make us stronger Christians. We as Christians have got to recognize Satan before he gets to us because he will paint us a pretty picture and make us think that is something worth having. The service ended with several coming to pray and we want to thank God for what he is doing in our church because we had another soul saved.

Bro. Gary Fant got the evening service started off with “Send the Light,” “Revive Us Again” and “Footsteps of Jesus.” Olivia Hughes sang “Where Could I Go.” Bro Dennis’ text came from Daniel 4:28-33. We don’t need to be boastful and point our fingers up toward Heaven and tell God what we are going to do because he will show us who he really is. When we are blessed it is because God blesses us and just as sure as he blesses us he will take those blessings away from us so we need to praise God and be thankful for the way he blesses us. The service ended with people coming to pray.

Happy birthday to Nathan Burnett and Janet Castleberry.

Please remember these as you pray this week: Josh Williams, Eloise Cleckler, Pearlene Davenport, James and Marie Johnson, Juanita Wilkins, Mike Weber, Don Williams, Janet Castleberry, our service men and women, our lost loved ones and our children as they go to school because they are faced with so much peer pressure.

See you Sunday!

Mars Hill Baptist

We had a very good day Sunday. We had as our guest speaker Rev. Mark Lovett. Mark is one of our own, having grown up in the Mars Hill church. He used as his sermon Psalms 31:1-12. Here we have a prayer in time of trouble. David prayed to God for His mercy and justice, asking for forgiveness. David knew that the most miserable person is one who is out of fellowship with God. Forgiveness is necessary in our life. Lisa Lovett sang “I’d Rather Have Jesus.” It has been a long time since we have heard Lisa sing. Thank you for a beautiful song. Sunday night was with Bro. William preaching from John 15: 17, 27. This is where we find that the world hated Jesus without a cause. We cannot let things of the world stand between us and Jesus. Jessa Duren sang “Resurrection.” Beautifully done and we thank you Jessica.April 22 we will take an offering for Relay For Life April 27, be a “Life Saver” support Relay for Life, see Pam Pittman for More information May 27 will be our Homecoming, we will have more information on this later. What would your regrets be if today was your last day to live?

 Mt. Carmel No. 1

Our services this past Lord’s Day begin with a Sunday school lesson centered on the teaching of how Jesus lives in believers and how this fact is shown when spiritual fruit is produced in the life of the believer. This was followed with words of wisdom from Bro. Derrell to the children. He illustrated to them and explained how that sometimes a substitute product (such as artificial sweetener) seems to be the same as the real thing (pure sugar). He did this to teach them to be careful not to accept any substitute in life for Jesus, which is the Real Thing.

His morning message was “The Big IFs of a God-sent Revival.” Revival must come from the Lord. We must have the desire for revival before it can happen. IF the dishonest will confess up; the lukewarm will get fired up; God’s people will pray up; the depressed will look up; the true soldiers will stand up; the spiritually asleep will wake up; and the mad people will make up then it will be possible for revival to take place.

Sunday evening’s service was taken from Exodus 26:31-33 and Matthew 27:51. He titled it “The message of the Veil.” The study of the temple veil holds an amazing part in history. Each aspect of it was of great importance. The color of it, the kind of material to be used, the position of it in the temple and the purpose of it all had been specified by God.

On April 22 our revival will begin. On Sunday evening services will start at 5 p.m. with Discipleship Training followed by our revival message at 6 p.m. Monday through Friday services will begin at 7 p.m. We invite everyone to be a part of these services. Bro. Don Vanderslice will be guest preacher for the week.

A “Breakfast for Supper” is scheduled for pastors and deacons and wives on Friday, May 4. This will be at Thorsby First Baptist Church at 6:30 p.m. The Kempters will be presenting the special music. Please let Mrs. Sarah Scott know by April 22 if you plan to attend.

Our special prayer list this week includes Ryan Scott, Jacob Jones, Nolen Maudlin, the family of Billy Davenport, our revival and Vacation Bible School.

Mt. Springs

Services started Sunday with Bro. Ricky Cleckler leading the church in the following hymns: “Victory In Jesus,” “Jesus is Coming Soon,” “Camping In Canaanís Land,” and “Getting Ready to Leave this World.”

Bro. Roger Cleckler gave a devotion from Ephesians 4:14-16. We need to stick together and depend on each other. It takes all of us to get through life.

After Sunday school, Bro. Ricky Cleckler led the church in the hymns “Send the Light” and “I Feel Like Traveling On.” Kellie Bice sang “Who Touched Me” and did a wonderful job.

Bro. Don preached from 1 Kings 22:1-8. Be careful who you hang with because they will have a lasting affect on your life. Stay with what’s right. The Bible is still true. Be separate from the world in the way you live.

Sunday night’s services began with Bro. Ricky leading the church in the hymns, “Where the Milk and Honey Flows,” “He Set Me Free,” and “I Want to Know More About My Lord.”

Bro. Kenneth Moates gave a devotion from Psalms 34:15. God wants to watch over and take care of us. He loves us all the same.

We had a touching service tonight. The Lord moved in a mighty way. Bro. Don didn’t get to preach his message.

Samaria Baptist

Our prayer concerns list is quite lengthy, as we began our services today. Bro. Charles led us in prayer for the following needs, and we ask that you pray for them also. Harold Fraser; Buddy Wells, Rick Ousley; Norman Hand; Charlotte Smitherman; Ronald Coker; Lucille Johnson; Horace and Gayle Cleckler; and Walter Hudgins.Psalms 92 and Psalms 100 were the key scriptures for our message today. Heaven is the greatest thing to be thankful for. While we receive so many answered prayers here for our sick, or for other needs; we will not know until we get there that Heaven is the greatest blessing that we will be given. Jesus will welcome us there. We should always worship with joy and enthusiasm unto a God who made such amazing sacrifices for us to be able to enter Heaven. We become aware of His presence when we accept Him, and He never leaves us. He never grows weary in His care for us. We should never be slack in our gratitude to Christ Jesus. Salvation is the greatest thing in the world. We should go forth, making our lives a shining and glowing example for Jesus’ love and grace. We should have a vision. We cannot see ahead of us without a vision. God is in charge of all our tomorrows; and we should let Him have the reigns of our daily decisions. Paul said in Romans that all things work together for the good of those who love God, and for them who are called according to His purpose. God has a purpose for every life. Praising God should make us shout and sing to the best of our ability. Telling about the love and work of God in our lives should be a pleasure; not a chore. Let this mind be in you which is also in Christ Jesus; who thought it not robbery to be equal with God. At the name of Christ Jesus every knee shall bow. Please make arrangements in your life to be ready when He comes again. Looking at the world today, we see many signs of His coming soon. God bless you. Join us for worship at Samaria next Sunday.