Bethany Baptist Church

Bethany Baptist Church met at 10 a.m. with a hymn, “Rescue the Perishing” and a devotion titled “Exhort One Another,” from Hebrews 3:12-13. This passage was written to saved, scripturally baptized church members. We need the fellowship of fellow Christians of like faith in order to stay close to the Lord. Once we quit going to church and start worshipping at home alone, we will slowly but surely grow slack in our witnessing and worshipping of God.

Following Sunday school, we began our worship service in song with “Bringing in the Sheaves,” “Where He Leads I’ll Follow,” “The Lights of Home” and “Amazing Grace.” Afterward, Bro. Aubry made the following announcement: Our Christmas cantata and service will be held on Dec. 15 at 11 a.m., followed by lunch in the fellowship hall. There will be no evening services.

After prayer and the morning offering, Bro. Aubry’s message was “You Can’t Go Home Again,” from Mark 6:1-6. In this passage, Jesus returns to his hometown of Nazareth, and as is common, goes to the synagogue to teach God’s word. His message was from Isaiah 61:12-13 as is recorded in Luke 4:16-21. After teaching, he closed the book, and sitting down, said, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” He had been rejected by his own people, but had returned to give them a second chance for salvation. Will we be willing to go to people who have offended us and ask them back or witness again to those who have already rejected Jesus?

The people who responded to Jesus were amazed at three areas of his ministry: 1) His words: no one had ever spoken as he did. 2) His wisdom: he was only a carpenter’s son, so how had he obtained so much wisdom. 3) His message: there is only one way to be saved, and that is through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Anyone not teaching the one and only plan of salvation is leading the lost in the wrong direction (the road to hell).

Many people of Nazareth couldn’t explain Jesus’ message, so they rejected him. Our unbelief or lack of understanding does not change Jesus from being who he is; neither does it excuse us from acting on the truth. Many things must be accepted by faith. We do not have to understand the entire Bible in order to be saved. If we do not accept the offer of salvation while the Holy Spirit is dealing with us, it is dangerous. Once we are convicted of the fact that we are lost, we must accept Jesus as our Savior. We may or may not have another chance.

After a prayer and closing hymn, “Come Thou Fount,” we were dismissed in prayer. Our pm services opened with a hymn, “At the Cross,” and a prayer. Bro. Aubry’s message, “The Reality of Death,” was from Hebrews 9:27.

Be prepared for death; it is coming to everyone! Only those who trust Jesus as their Savior will escape the spiritual death and eternal separation from God. After death comes The Judgment. For the saved, it will be the judgment seat of Christ, where we will be judged on what we have done for Christ after salvation, and we will be rewarded accordingly. For the unsaved, it will be the Great White Throne judgment, where they will be judged before being sent to hell for eternity. What will you choose: salvation and eternity with God, or reject him and spend eternity in a lake of fire, eternally separated from God with no hope of ever having a chance of escape? We closed the services until 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday night, ending with a prayer, the hymn “Will Jesus Find Us Watching” and a closing prayer.

Our prayer list includes: Bro. Aubry, and Shirley, our church, missionaries including Journey Mission in Calera, Elwyn and Grace Robinson, Billie Neeley, Jackie, Lisa Rodriguez, Henry and Myra Moore, Ellen Gray, John Rodriguez, Mary Knight and our young adults.

Calvary Independent Baptist Church

We want to thank everyone who attended services this weekend. Sunday morning’s service included a message titled “Having Thankfulness.” Bro. Kevin Shaw preached from Hebrews 13:15 about how we are so blessed in our everyday lives. He went to 1 Timothy 4:4-5 to show how blessed we are by God’s provision for the foods we eat today in contrast to how it was under the laws of the Old Testament. In Genesis 2, we are blessed by our spouses; in John 3:16, we are blessed by God sending his only begotten Son to be our Savior; and in Ephesians 2:8-9, we are blessed by the salvation God has given to us through his grace.

We hope you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior today and give him glory and praise for the blessings in your life.

Sunday night’s service included a message from Philippians 2:1-17 and 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 about members of the body of Christ and how we are to practice the humility we learn in Christ. We are to do all things without murmuring or disputing, and we are to esteem other members before ourselves. No one person in the body of Christ is of any more important than the other. We are to function as one body, doing the work that God has purposed in each of our individual lives. If we are saved, we have been born again of that incorruptible seed, as 1 Peter 1:23 talks about. If you have that incorruptible seed in you, then it should spring forth, bud and grow fruit and seed that will spread to other earthen vessels.

We hope that you have been born of that incorruptible seed and are seeing the will of God working in and through your life today. We want to invite you to be a part of our services this coming Sunday. Sunday school: 9 a.m., Children’s Church and adult worship service: 10 a.m., Sunday night services: 5:30 p.m. and Wednesday service: 6:30 p.m. We are located south of Clanton, just past Dollar General off U.S. 31 on Fulmer Drive. You can add prayer requests, check out our events calendar, download and listen to sermons or email our pastors at www.cibc-clanton.com, or if you need more information by phone, call Pastor Oscar Mims at (205) 755-9399.