Bethany Baptist Church

We enjoyed having several visitors in our service and invite them to come again.

The special, sung by the ladies in our choir, was “I Call Him Lord,” accompanied by Lori Knight.

Bro. Steve’s message about death was taken from 1 Samuel 26. David was being pursued by King Saul, and at one point, had a perfect opportunity to kill him. He was even urged to do so by one of his men. David refused, knowing that he should not “stretch forth his hand against the Lord’s anointed” He added, “the Lord shall smite him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall descend into battle, and perish.” Bro. Steve pointed out four views of death: intentional death, providential death, natural death and accidental death. We are all going to die; we just don’t know when. Are you ready? Have you received the Lord as your savior?

We are thankful for Sunday morning’s visitors returning Sunday night. Also, we enjoyed having Justin and Sherry Gray from Prattville, Bro. Paul Armstrong’s family and our missionary from Journey Mission in Calera, with us.

Valley experiences often follow mountaintop experiences. Such was the case of Elijah after his amazing experience on Mount Carmel in 1 Kings 19. Elijah became extremely depressed and thought he was the only prophet left. But God got Elijah out of his depression. He gave him physical refreshing (rest and food), emotional release (when Elijah talked with God) and spiritual restoration. God sent Elijah to work alongside him. He assigned Elijah more duties; and assured him that he was not the only prophet left. God was not finished with Elijah. The Apostle Paul gives encouragement in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 that our afflictions are temporary and light in comparison to eternal rewards.

A wedding reception for Michelle Rodriguez and Glenn Vines will be held in the fellowship building at our church at 6 p.m. on May 18. Family and friends are invited to attend.

Prayer list: Betty Biggs, James Bixler, Doris and Verdie Glenn, Billie Neeley, Elzie Sanders, Travis Swift and Glenda Wallace.

See you Sunday!

Jackson Chapel Church

Bro. Horace Wyatt got the morning service started off with “Heavenly Sunlight” and “He Keeps Me Singing.” Bro. Dennis blessed us with a wonderful song titled “My Home.”

Bro. Dennis’ text came from Jude 1:5-7. Christians still have time to witness to the lost and dying world, but we’ve got a judgment day coming and when that day comes, we will be out of time. We don’t know when that day will be, so what we need to do is prepare for that day today. We also need to know that Jesus Christ loves us and it is not his will that we spend our eternity in hell. It is sad to say, but the decisions we make in this life will send us to either heaven or hell. Satan wants us to turn our backs on Jesus Christ and spend eternity in an everlasting hell.

The service ended with several coming to pray.

Bro. Horace Wyatt got the evening service started off with “Jesus Hold My Hand,” “Amazing Grace” and “At Calvary.” Bro. Dennis blessed us with a beautiful song titled “He Didn’t Throw the Clay Away.”

Bro. Dennis’ text came from John 6:35-51. We as Christians look to anything in this world to make us happy. If we’re not careful, those things will lead us to a way that Satan would love for us to go, and that is down the worldly road, which will eventually lead to destruction. We have to stay rooted and grounded in the word of Jesus Christ. This will give us joy beyond measure and happiness like we’ve never known. We just need to get it made up in our minds that we want what Jesus Christ has to offer. We have to keep it in our minds that Jesus Christ is the one we need to turn to when things don’t go the way we think they should go.

Please remember these as you pray this week: Gail Fant, the Rhodes family, Marie Johnson, Bro. George Williams, Teddy Chadwick, the Reverend Pate Hughins, Jean Mayfield’s sister, Eloise, Patricia Porter, the Wright family, Amy Solis’ brother and dad, Carolyn Mewburn, Stacy Mitchell, Larry Williams, our upcoming graduates, Calvin Martin, Margo Gibson’s family, our lost loved ones and our service men and women.