Church News for Aug. 2

Published Friday, August 1, 2008

Lime Springs United Methodist Church

We continued our study of Revelation during Sunday School.

Bro. Shannon preached the morning message from Galatians 3:6-18 on the blessing of Abraham. Abraham was blessed over 40 times because of his faith, which God counted for righteousness.

When we accept Jesus Christ by faith, we too become righteous before God. As heirs of Abraham, we are able to enjoy spiritual blessings. The problem is we often fail to sow spiritual seeds, therefore, we are not able to reap spiritual fruit.

Using Galatians 5:22, Bro. Shannon reminded us that if we wish to be loved, then we must love; if we wish to receive joy, we must have joy in our lives; etc. By sowing spiritual seeds, we may enjoy the blessings of Abraham.

Our evening Bible study focused on 1 Corinthians 9-10.

We invite everyone to attend our weekly scheduled services: Sunday School at 9:45 a.m.; Sunday morning worship at 11; Sunday evening Bible study at 5:30; and Wednesday night prayer meeting at 6:30.

For more information concerning Lime Springs, please call 755-6356 or 755-4950.

Pates Chapel Baptist Church

Our 95th anniversary along with old timey day will be celebrated Sept. 14. Our church was established Sept. 18, 1913. Charter members were J.A. Cleckler, Pearl Cleckler, T.A. Caton, Rebecca Caton, Madison Hubbard, Joycie Hubbard, Lucy Robinson and Maud Robinson, G.W. Nasworthy and Isom Pate.

Please note the correction from last week’s church news. The name Manuel Robinson was changed to Maud Robinson. She was the daughter-in-law of Lucy Robinson.

If you are a descendent of these, please add your name to sign-up sheet in hall or call church office. If you have old pictures, especially folks in wagons or buggies, please bring them to Ronald Maddox. He will scan them in and see that they are returned to you. Let us all make this a great day. Some old time singing and fun things are being planned.

First Baptist Church of Lomax

Our pastor, the Rev. Harold M. Clements, and Sunday School director Gilbert Green invite you to join us for Sunday School at 10 a.m., Discipleship Training at 6 p.m. and Wednesday night Bible study at 6.

Please pray this week for our sick people, the lost people, missionaries, those in the military, and the leaders of our country.

Faith carries the light of truth which eliminates the shadow of doubt.

Come join us.

Mount Bethel Baptist Church

Sunday’s services started by lifting our voices in a song of praise for the One who gave his life for us, followed by prayer. Then we went into our Bible study classes.

The Rev. Oneal Cleckler’s morning message was taken from John 6:1-12. Jesus feeds the 5,000 in this passage.

God is a great provider for those who have needs. A large multitude had followed Jesus, numbering in the thousands. Jesus had gone up on the mountain with his disciples, and when he turned around he saw the multitude of people. He asked Phillip where they could buy bread for so many. Phillip said two hundred penny worth would not feed all of the people.

Andrew spoke and said there is a lad here, and he has five barley loaves and two small fish. Jesus blessed the food and all people were fed with 12 baskets of food left over. We must have faith in God that he will provide.

Sunday evening, Bro. Cleckler preached from Psalms 96:1-9. The redeemed will sing a new song. The new song will be to honor God’s strength, beauty and majesty.

When we come to worship, we are to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice. A thankful offering is offered to God. When we enter into a spiritual worship, it is truly beautiful to God.

All things are from God, and we should acknowledge it with honoring him. We should get to the point where we fall down and tremble at his power and glory.

Happy birthday this week to Rachel Marcus, Brandi Blow and Ethel Burnett. Happy anniversary to Oneil and Francis Cleckler and Randy and Pam Connell.

Visitors are invited to join us for worship and fellowship. Sunday School is at 10 a.m.; morning worship at 11; Discipleship Training at 5 p.m. and evening worship at 6.

Calvary’s Hill Church of God

“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13).

Praise God for a wonderful day this past Sunday.

Bro. Willard Scott read from Matthew 4:23-25 and only preached for a few minutes when the Holy Spirit took over, touching hearts and bringing several back who had strayed. Bro. Willard told them Satan would try to make them doubt what God did for them, and if Satan tried to bring up their past, they knew his future and who wins in the end.

We had Vacation Bible School June 21-25, and Sunday night there was a slideshow and songs, led by Crystal Littleton, to show what had been happening all week.

The them of the Bible School was “Power Lab,” and each night the children were taught on how Jesus gives us power to do different things. Monday night was being thankful, Tuesday night was helping others, Wednesday night was being brave, Thursday night was living forever, and Friday night was telling others about God.

After church, plates of whipped cream, nuts and chocolate syrup were smeared on the faces of Michelle Ward, Crystal Littleton and Wayne Littleton because the children gave over $200 in offerings during Bible School. A big “thank you” goes out to Michelle Ward for organizing Bible School and getting all of the materials and helpers that were needed. Also, thank you to all the helpers.

We praise God for Joe Chandler and Ricky Thomas being well enough to be back in church. Continue to pray for their healing as well as for our leaders, military, pastors and the lost.

Sunday, Aug. 3 will be pastor appreciation day, with Bro. James Stance preaching. Morning service will start at 10:30 with singing, preaching, food and fellowship. There will be no Sunday night service. If you don’t have a home church, come join us. We’re located on Alabama Highway 191, two miles outside Jemison.

Mt. Carmel No. 1

Our Lord’s day of worship was a great day. Homecoming at Mt. Carmel started with congregation singing and some specials by our home people: Brittany Ray, Chad Foshee, Donald Liveoak Singers, Hannah Grace Childress, Bro. Ricky and Belda, and the Gospel Aires Quartet.

Bro. Mike Lawrence’s sermon, “The Big If,” was taken from 2 Chronicles 7:12-14. Our nation needs three things: humbleness, prayer, and to turn from their wicked ways. Obedience, compromise, praying to God and seeking his help are musts in our lives today.

Our hearts were made sad this past Saturday as we learned of the passing of our dear friend and sister in Christ, Mrs. Leatrice Liveoak. She will be missed by all at our church and in our community. Our prayers are with her family and friends.

We are very thankful for all the visitors who celebrated our homecoming with us. Our special guests were Hank Erwin, Tom Powers and their wives. A great lunch was enjoyed by all. Thanks to all who took part and helped make the day a success.

The Prime-Timers’ meeting will be Aug. 9.

Please keep our church and church family in your prayers, all the prayer requests, spoken and unspoken and military persons. Pray for spiritual growth in our church and all churches. Remember to pray fro the program our church is working on, “A Vision for Mt. Carmel.”

Come join us in our worship services: Sunday School, 10 a.m.; morning worship, 11; Sunday night Bible study, 5 p.m.; Wednesday night, 7. Bro. Ricky Coburn is pastor, and Bro. John Dennis is minister of music.

Jackson Chapel

Bro. Dennis’ text Sunday morning came from Ephesians 6:10-18, and he brought a wonderful message about how we as Christians can carry on a conversation with Satan, which is one of the worst things we can do because if we are not careful, he will drag us back into doing worldly things. We need to make up our minds that we are not going to quit fighting this battle because our rewards at the end will be worth all the fighting that it took to get to the end. We as Christians also need to remember that when we face trying times, we need to have the faith that God will bring us out a winner at the end. The service ended with several coming to pray, and the Holy Spirit was present in a mighty way.

Sunday evening, Bro. Dennis’ text came from John 4:1-14 with a message entitled “Going to the Well.” We as Christians should always open our eyes to sinners because we will be the only Bible that some people will ever read. There are people all over this world who have needs and have God right there beside them and will not ask God for help.

Why in the world do people let all these things bring them down when God says in his word to cast all our cares on him?

The service ended with everyone gathering around to pray that God would keep our church in one mind and one accord and that God would keep his hand on our families and our pastor and his wife.

Happy birthday this week to Glen Riley and Horace Wyatt.

Please remember these as you pray this week: Kathy Waites, James and Marie Johnson, Oliver Evans, Hannah Burt, Jessica Jones, Juanita Wyatt’s sister Glenda, Jenson Porter, Billy Burnett, J.E. Burnett, the Zander Wilson family, Evan McCullough, Linda Varden, the Jason Ledbetter family, Todd Chambers, Melba Adams, Bro. Dennis Smith, Juanita Wilkins, Pat Johnson, and Daniel and Rose Moore.

We are located at 4020 Yellowleaf Road in Clanton. Our service times are as follows: Sunday School at 10, morning worship at 11, evening worship at 6, and Wednesday night prayer meeting and Bible study at 7. We also have Kid’s Club on Wednesday nights at 7 for grades 1-6.

Christ Independent Methodist Church

Our church family was so delighted to welcome our pastor, Dr. Mac Stinson, back to his pulpit Sunday. He recently underwent foot surgery and is still under orders to stay off his feet as much as possible.

Dr. Stinson used Matthew 13:43-52 for his scripture reading, emphasizing the parable of the hidden treasure and the parable of the pearls.

In the first parable, Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to a treasure that a man found hidden in a field. He sold all he had and brought the field. The second parable tells of a man who found a pearl of great value, so he sold all he had and bought the pearl.

What would we sell all of our possessions for? Probably the life of a sick child. The list would probably be short. God loves us like we love our children. The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. Central to our religion is that Christ gave us the gift of salvation. The love of Christ should reign in every heart.

Pray for the family of Royce Mae Carden Little, the family of Farris Lee Blackmon, Randall Miller, Penny Davis, Mark Bean, Kent Osborne, BeeBee and Dwight Sammons. Also, remember to pray for our country and our leaders each night at 8.

Our VBS ended Sunday night with parents’ night. First, the children and adult leaders presented their program culminating in points emphasized during the week and collecting craft projects. Refreshments were served. We praise Laurel Lee Adams for making it happen.

Our pulpit was filled Sunday night by Dr. Mike Weldon, president of the Independent

Association of Methodist Church, from Mississippi. We always feel blessed when he can be with us and preach for us.

Dr. Stinson and Glenda will again lead a group of interested people on an 11-day visit to Israel and other points of interest in March. The group will fly to Egypt and visit the Museum in Cairo and the Great Pyramid at Giza, then board a cruise ship and continue to cruise visiting Turkey, Greece and Israel. There will be more details as time passes. If interested, please call Dr. Mac Stinson at (205) 669-6498 or (205) 835-6498.

Have a blessed week.

Bethsalem Baptist Church

Our special message Sunday was from James 4:13-17. The message was entitled “Is God In Your Picture?”

Another soul was born into the kingdom: Haley Hines.

The evening sermon was based on 1 Samuel 22, the story of David and the cave.

Our service ended with observance of the Lord’s Supper.

Prayer list: Lillian Johnson, Annetta LeCroy, Jared Duncan, Amy Hicks, Terry Collier, Sammy Dawson, all the sick and shut-ins.

Wednesday night is mission night for men and women. Choir practice will be held for all children.

Remember, the youth are leaving for the Atlanta Braves game and Six Flags.

Everyone have a blessed week. Remember God is so good, and share Jesus with someone this week.

Oak Grove Church of God

Pastor Northcutt’s scripture text: Revelations 19:1-9. His message title: “The Celebration.”

We all know that the Church in Bible scriptures is referred to as the “Bride of Christ” and some great day that marriage will take place. This will be a celebration like none you have ever witnessed or been a part of! This event will take place when Christ returns to gather God’s people home. All the sacrifices you make today to live that Christian life and have that personal relationship with Christ will pay huge dividends. Don’t be afraid to prepare for the day of the Lord’s coming...for sometimes in the near future you will be glad you did. We today suffer many injustices because of Satan’s evil influences in the world which we live in but on that great day Satan’s power will be destroyed. Those of us who have received Christ will receive all the rewards that Christ has promised, including eternal life with Christ. For those who reject the Savior they are on their own...a terrible place to be in eternity.

Now we as a part of the Church are enjoying our engagement with Christ, the bridegroom, but that great wedding celebration is coming when we will be united with Christ forever. John says there will be a great marriage supper, and he says,...”Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb.” This will be the wedding celebration of all times...don’t be left out, the invitation was given to John in John 3:16...whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. You have already received the invitation...have you responded yet so that you will be there? It is a tragic thing to see how hard the sinful heart can be. It is so foolish to trade a few years of independent sinful pleasures and miss heaven, it would indeed be a foolish trade.

We would like to wish happy birthday to Lacy Mims (Aug. 1).

Oak Grove Church is looking forward to our revival with Rev. Stanley Owensby in August. He will be with us Aug. 17-20, and with God’s blessing this revival will continue beyond these dates. Make your plans to join us in this revival and pray with us that many sinners will be saved.

We are so blessed of God at Oak Grove and we are continuing to see new people come into our services. We thank God for them and want them to know that we love

them and they are always welcome.

If you do not have a church home we invite you to come worship God with us and be a part of our church family at Oak Grove. Service times are: Sunday School at 10 a.m., worship service at 10:45, Sunday evening service at 5:30 and Wednesday night service at 7. We also have children’s church each Sunday.

Our church is easy to find. When you leave Clanton heading south on US 31 turn left at Peach Park and follow the signs to Oak Grove Church of God.

Bethany Baptist Church

We were glad to have visitors in our service Sunday morning.

Sunday night in our continued study of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20), and Bro. Aubry brought a message on the fourth commandment: “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8-11). He entitled his sermon, “Sunday Is Still a Holy Day.” It is interesting to know that this is the only one of the Ten Commandments not quoted in the New Testament. After the resurrection of Christ, the saved ones began coming together for worship on the first day of the week (Sunday). Sunday is our Lord’s Day, and it should be honored as a day of rest and a day of coming together in the house of God with other believers for worship of the Lord. We are reminded in Hebrews 10:25: “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”

Upcoming events:

• Aug. 2 there will be a church-wide outing to a Biscuits baseball game.

• Aug. 10 is election of officers and teachers.

Prayer list: Lillian Burkhalter, Lela Mae Courtney, Amos and Mildred Crawford, Paul Griffin, Rosalind Griffin, Doug Mims, Billie Neeley, Ricky Paschall.

See you Sunday.

Walnut Creek United Methodist Church

What a busy week, even by Bro Tony’s standards, but he handled everything well. He did the usual masterful job of bringing the message Sunday.

The beautiful flowers were placed by Linda Stewart to celebrate her son, Max’s birthday.

Allen Popwell came to the altar as the church prayed a special prayer for his cousin, Jessica Jones, who is critical from a very bad automobile accident Wednesday night.

During our time with the children, Bro. Tony assured them, “God loves you, the church is a family and sticks together.”

Continue to pray for Jessica Jones, the family of Jack Thompson, Myrtis Enfinger, Glenda Powell, Johnny Mims and DeWayne Maddox.

Our scripture came from Matthew 13:34, better known as the parable of the seed, weed and mustard seed. The parables, like all scripture, the more we study it, the more refreshed and challenged we become.

Jesus said “If you will listen, you will hear,” as He went about reconciling the world unto himself, and exposing to the world what God was like and what the Kingdom will be like. He spoke many times in parables.

Bro Tony reminded us that, “We can apply that to our lives as we go out into the world to witness, planting that small seed. We have that responsibility to the Body of Christ.”

God has something for us to do. Remember, while we may think of that day as a “wasted” day, it could be like a cool drink of water in the service of God.

Here are a few blessings we can praise God for:

Mary Joyce says she can see so much better after her cataract surgery (we forgot to ask her what she thought Jerry looked like now!)

Miss Lavada is still on cloud nine since “her boys” came to see her Saturday. It was icing on the cake was when the little ones came up and gave her a hug Sunday. She is a very proud lady indeed.

We would like to add that we would like to ask ‘travel graces’ for Bennie Handley while on vacation in Maine.

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