Mars Hill Baptist Church

It’s always a blessing to be in God’s house, and this Sunday was no different. If you don’t receive a blessing every time you go to church, maybe you just aren’t looking for one. Pray for your pastor and his message; pray that you will hear what you need to hear. People will let you down, but God never will. Pray for his will in your life. Encourage others around you; this world is in a mess, and God is the only answer.

This week Bro. William Short’s message came from Mark 8:33-38, but let’s back up to verse 27-29: Jesus asks his disciples who they think he is. Peter spoke up and answered him: “You are the Christ.” In the next verses, Jesus begins to teach them that he must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and scribes, be killed and raised again on the third day. And then good old Peter, the one who had already pronounced Jesus as the Christ, took him aside and began to rebuke him. Can you imagine anyone—much less Peter, a disciple—rebuking Jesus after all they had already seen him do? Would we be any different today? But what did Jesus do in verse 34? He rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” Yes, men will let you down. Peter walked daily with our Lord, he witnessed first-hand the miracles of Jesus, and still he didn’t fully understand the reason God came to earth as a man in the flesh. Peter denied him three times before the rooster crowed, but Jesus forgave him his sins.

Jesus called the people to him along with the disciples and said to them, “Whoever desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, and but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in the adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his father with the holy angels.”

Peter rightly answered Jesus with the statement “You are the Christ.” Does it matter to you who Jesus is? This is the question of the day. Does it really matter who Jesus is? Men are fickle, on fire for the Lord one day, cold and uncaring the next day; appearing to follow God one day, and then Satan the next day. If it doesn’t matter to you who Jesus is today, it will matter very much in the life to come! One day, every knee will bow and every man, woman and child will declare Jesus as King of kings and Lord of lords. If it didn’t matter who Jesus was in his day, he would not have suffered, bled and died for one and all. It’s a clear matter of life and death; yes, it matters who Jesus is. Choose life; choose Jesus.

No one is perfect; we are born into sin, in a fleshly body and roving eyes that want everything they see. Going to church doesn’t make us perfect and reading the Bible doesn’t make us a Christian. Only giving our hearts and lives to him will do that; repentance of sins is key. Have you taken up his cross? The cross was an ugly thing, used for death and destruction of men, but a thing of beauty for the Christian. Have you denied yourself anything? Are your treasures on earth where they will rot away, or are you laying up treasure in heaven? Have you given everything to Jesus or hording your soul, doing as you please?

Please, friend, don’t make our Lord ashamed to call us his own. And the very least thing we can do for Jesus is to show up for him by going to church, supporting your pastor and your church body. Jesus always shows up for us. Every time we pray, he is there, listening and interceding for us with the Father.

Are we a work of art for Jesus, or just a piece of work? Are there cracks in your pottery jar that have been painted over? You may have covered the cracks in your life from men, but they are still there and God sees them. Without repentance of sins, the cracks will only get bigger, wider and deeper, cutting you off from God. Don’t be ashamed to admit your sin; repent and get them under the blood. Don’t be ashamed of Jesus. Tell the next person you see what Jesus has done for you. Remember this: God doesn’t want weekend visits, he wants full custody. Be submissive to God so that he can use you for his glory. Amen.

Please continue to pray for our church, our pastor, the sick, the lost, the hurting, our children, our troops and our country. Please pray especially for the families that have lost loved ones this week. God alone can answer their questions and provide peace and comfort to hurting hearts. God is good, all the time. Amen.

Calvary Independent Baptist Church

We want to thank everyone who attended revival services last week. We also want to thank everyone for attending services this weekend.

Sunday morning’s service included a message from John 9:8-21 titled “A Change That Only God Can Make:” a change from the former character; a change for the better; a change to be desired; a change that will cause divisions; yet a change that brings devotion to Christ.

Ephesians 5:25 tells us how much Christ loves the church enough that he gave his life for it. If we are saved, we should be devoted to Christ and have put on the mind of Christ, and if so, how much should we love the church? We hope you are saved and living out a testimony devoted unto the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, faithfully serving him each day.

Sunday night services included a song service, a message on “Humbling Ourselves” and afterwards, a fellowship meal downstairs celebrating with the ones who had birthdays and anniversaries this month. Bro. Kevin Shaw brought the message from the books of James and John about not letting ourselves be lifted up on a pedestal or letting pride get into our lives. We should always humble ourselves before the Lord Jesus Christ in our prayer life, worship services and in praising him.

We hope that you are humbly serving the Lord Jesus Christ in your life. We want to invite you out to be a part of any of our services. You may also like to visit our website, where you can view our events calendar, add prayer request, send us email and listen to or download sermons at www.cibc-clanton.com For more information by phone, you can call Pastor Oscar Mims at 205-755-9399.