Church News for Saturday, July 19

Published Friday, July 18, 2008

Lime Springs United Methodist Church

We continued our Bible study of Revelation during Sunday school. Bro. Shannon preached the morning message from John 10:7-11 on the importance in accepting Jesus Christ as our shepherd. Doing so will give us the opportunity to do more than just survive in this world. Allowing Christ to be our shepherd gives us abundant life. This abundant life comes about though the words of Psalms 23. As His sheep, we have our physical, spiritual and eternal needs met. This helps us to live, not just survive in this world. We observed Holy Communion at the end of the service.

Evening Bible study focused on 1 Corinthians 4-6.

Happy birthday to Mary Catherine Tollet, Rodger Harris and Judy Popwell.

We invite everyone to attend our weekly scheduled services: Sunday school at 9:30 a.m., Sunday worship at 11 a.m., Sunday Evening Bible Study at 5:30, Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting at 6:30.

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

Christ Independent Methodist Church

Today riding to church, I thought of the wonderful old hymn “There Shall be Showers of Blessing,” and thought that our showers the past few days would surely qualify. God is so good. When our land is dry and thirsty we become anxious, but God who notes the fall of a sparrow is aware of our needs at all times. In His own time, God will send the rain.

Today Dr. Mac Stinson took his scripture from 1 Samuel 1-3. Samuel is a master story of faith. It tells us that God loves us, and wants the best for us.

Samuel’s mother, Hannah, had no children before him. In her great need for a son, she promised God that if He gave her a son she would dedicate him to God.

In due time, Samuel was born to Hannah and at the appointed time, was carried to the temple. Samuel slept in a little bed beside the Ark of the Covenant in the temple. What a strange and lonely peace for a little boy to be all alone. How brave little Samuel was.

In due time, God spoke to Samuel what was expected of him. At first, Samuel did not recognize the voice of God, but once he did recognize who spoke to him, he did not hesitate. He answered the call and we follow him through the detailed accounts of the lives of Samuel, Saul and David. Do you believe that God has ever personally spoken to you?

God guided and used Samuel. God calls people to do great things. Samuel’s story is our story. If not called to do great deeds, we can do little deeds in a great way.

We ask you to join us in remembering the family of Marie Sammons who passed away last week.

Others on our prayer list are Dwight Sammons, Randall Miller, Mae Hunnicutt, Penny Davis and those facing surgery this week, Dr. Mac Stinson, Nancy Rogers, Royce Mae Carden Little and Ken Osborn, song evangelist who recently was in concert at CIMC.

Continue to be vigilant in praying for our military, their families, our country, our leaders, our church and ourselves.

Remember Vacation Bible School begins Sunday night on July 20 at 5, and runs through Thursday, July 24. Our theme for this year is Holyland Adventures.

We have prayer and Bible group each Wednesday night at 6:45. If you are new to this area, we invite you to join us. We are a small church, but we invite you to come and help us grow. If you are not new to the area, come visit us anyway. You will be welcomed by a friendly church family.

Bethsalem Baptist Church

Come and join us next Sunday night, July 20, for a church wide fellowship. Bring a favorite homemade ice cream. Hamburgers will be provided.

Youth Bible School will be this Wednesday through Friday at the church. Saturday the group will go to Cleve Mallory’s home for some lake fun at 10 a.m.

Our prayer list includes Lillian Johnson, Amy Hicks, Terry Collier, Sammy Dawson and all the sick and shut-ins.

Mount Bethel Baptist Church

We started our worship with singing a song of praise to our risen Lord, followed by prayer. On the front of our weekly bulletin it reads; Saved by Grace, When I stood condemned to death, He took my place... Loved and forgiven, back with the living I’m just a sinner saved by grace. Sometimes we forget we are only sinners and only through the grace of God we are saved.

Our Sunday school lesson for today was, Barnabas: Encouragement. Barnabas was a great man of encouragement. He knew how to approach new Christians. He showed concern for Christians who were in need. Barnabas was filled with the Holy Spirit and people cold see this in him. He was an encourager in every aspect of his service to God.

The morning sermon by Rev. Oneal Cleckler was taken from Philippians 2:14-18. Paul knew it would be hard to minister to the church because they were resisting his teachings. He tells them first to do things without complaining and disputing. There is no place for such conduct in a worship service. Brothers and sisters in Christ should worship in peace and harmony. Christians are the light of the world. Lead by example. Darkness cannot dispel light, but light can dispel darkness.

We would like to wish a happy birthday to Noreen Austin and Nathan Bland.

You are invited to join us for a time of celebration in our risen Lord. Sunday school is at 10 a.m. and morning worship is at 11. Discipleship Training begins at 5 p.m. and Sunday evening worship at 6.

Friendship Baptist Church

Seek God first. Nothing should go before God. Sin is sin no matter how big or small it is. We are to run the race with patience. Don’t try to outrun God. We must carry the church into the world to save people. Give God the glory for what He’s done for us.

Upcoming events: July 20, Swannee River Boys at 6 p.m.; July 21-25, Associational Children’s Camp; July 27, Janice Wyatt and Keith and Regeana Funderburk will be telling about their medical mission trip to Guatemala this past April.

Happy anniversary to Susan and Bill Davis and Steve and Laura Pate. Happy birthday to Cynthia Walters and Brittney Jones Hicks.

Prayer requests are for Karen Anderson, Betty Mims, E.J. Hayes family, Margaret Sansom, Sue Mims, Mrs. Fanning, Evie Pate, Carmen Thomas, Derek Griffin, Sonny Foster, Ernest Brand, Bill Garrett, Mattie Wilson and Nettie Mae and Fonzie Lee Minor.

Mt. Carmel No. 1

Praise God for the wonderful Vacation Bible School He gave us. We may be small in number, but God was surely with us. We had five boys and girls saved and baptized. Everyone enjoyed the trip to “Outrigger Island” and learning about God’s unshakeable truth.

Bro. Ricky spoke to us Sunday morning on Mark 2:1-12. Mark shows Jesus as the Son of God, worthy to be believed and followed. Jesus is still Lord.

Happy birthday to Jennifer Watley, Marlena Franklin, Roger Ellison and George Campbell.

Always keep the ones on our prayer list in your prayers. We have some that are home from the hospital that need our prayers. Minnie Mae Childress and Lora Lee Roper. Continue to pray for all the sick and shut-ins.

A bridal shower for Tabitha Parker, bride of Jeremy Bowman, will be Sunday, July 20 from 2 to 4 p.m.

Tabitha Parker and Jeremy Bowman will be united in marriage Saturday, July 26 at 2 p.m. at the church. All family and friends are invited.

Primetimers will meet August 9 at 6 p.m. in the fellowship hall.

Remember to join us in all our services at Mt. Carmel. Sunday school at 10 a.m., Worship at 11 a.m., Sunday night Bible study at 5, Praise and Worship at 6 p.m. and Wednesday night at 7.

You are always welcome.

Calvary’s Hill Church of God

“Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” Ephesians 6:11

Praise God for a wonderful day. Bro. Willard brought his message from Genesis 3:1-5 and from a newspaper article about snakes called “Dealing with uninvited guests” and told about how snakes will come into your yard and even your house at certain times. Satan does the same thing by catching us off guard and crawling into our lives, homes and churches. Although a snake isn’t necessarily looking for someone to bite, Satan wants to bite all he can, filling us with his venom. God, however, has our anti-venom, Jesus Christ. The image of a snake on a pole kept the Israelites from dying if they looked on it when a snake bit, just as Jesus being crucified keeps us from spending eternity in torment if we look to Him and are covered by His blood.

Sunday night, Bro. Willard brought his message from Philippians 1:6 and said how God has called us all to do something, especially be a witness. We shouldn’t be ashamed to tell others about God’s love and know that He will give us the words needed to witness and minister to others. We should never take credit for what God does, though, because it’s not for us, but what God does through us.

Josh Jones was released from the hospital July 9 and is doing good. He’s had three surgeries on his knee and has one more to go. Please continue to pray for him and also for our youth going to church camp. Pray for them to have a safe trip, and that God will touch their lives. Also pray for our leaders, military, pastors and the lost.

Vacation Bible School will be July 21 through 25 from 6 to 9 p.m. If you don’t have a home church, come join us at Calvary’s Hill. Sunday school starts at 10 a.m., worship service starts at 10:45 a.m., Sunday evening service at 5 and Wednesday night at 7. The church is located on AL Hwy 191, two miles outside of Jemison.

Jackson Chapel

“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up” (James 4:10).

Bro Dennis’ text came from 2 Corinthians 4:15-18 with a wonderful message on how we as Christians need to give God the glory for all things whether it be good or bad, because God allows us to go through things to get us to where he wants us to be. We need to remember that when bad things come our way, we don’t need to give up on God because he has never given up on us. The service ended with several coming to pray.

Sunday evening, Bro Dennis’ text came from Proverbs 18:10-14 and 19-24. If God blesses us, we should be more than willing to share it with others because there is always someone out there who is in need. If we don’t share our blessings with others, God will take those blessings away from us. We as Christians need to be humble in the sight of the Lord and be very careful about what we say because once it is said, there is no way we can take it back. Once we say something to hurt someone, it is very hard to gain that friendship back.

Happy birthday this week to Sis. Devaughn Welcher on July 14 and to Bro Hershell Rhodes on July 16.

Please remember these as you pray this week: Bro. Dennis Smith, Kathy Waites, Winston Cofer, James and Marie Johnson, Ann Chesser, Butch Evans, Lawana Martin, Terry Collier, Mary Childress, Cynthia Bean, our lost loved ones and our service men and women.

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.

Cedar Grove Methodist-Protestant Church

We thank you, Lord, for your many blessing this week. Many prayers have been answered, and we received several rain showers at different parts of the county, which we all need.

Sis. Ann Davenport led the congregation in singing in the absence of Bro. Steve Price for the beginning of the service. Bro. James Earl Davenport took over for the worship service.

Happy birthday to Kim Giles and Robin Bullard.

We welcomed Mr. and Mrs. Junior Mims Sunday morning, and we hope they enjoyed the service and will be back. Welcome to the other visitors also.

Stacy Wyatt and James Earl Davenport sang the special songs for the morning service. Both songs were beautiful.

Keep praying for Margaret Salter, Jason Patterson, Ellen Ruth Scott, Randall Cleckler’s baby and Butch Evans. Many names were called out, some with cancer, but the Lord knows all about it. Remember all our service men and women, our country, leaders and the lost in sin. Say a special prayer for Dianne and Larry Patterson, as their son Jason was in an accident in October. He has had one setback after another. At the present he is better, but they have to go to Montgomery hospital every day. Besides all the worry about him, the trips wear them out.

Bro. Jeff preached a good message entitled “Faithfulness.” He began in Revelations 2:8-11 and went to Matthew 25:14-30.

We were happy to have Gabby McDaniel with us. She is a very special little girl.

Bro. Heath Vines brought a very inspiring message entitled “Investing in Heaven.” His text came from Matthew 6:19-21 and 1-17.

We would love to have you come to Cedar Grove. The Morning service begins at 10, followed by evening service at 5:50 and Wednesday night service at 7.

Aug. 24 is homecoming. The service starts at 10:30 a.m. with Bro. Dennis Smith as guest speaker and Heirline as guest singers. The singing will begin at 1:30 p.m., preceded by lunch at noon. Bring a well-filled basket and expect good food, fellowship and singing.

For more information call 646-2390.

Oak Grove Church of God

Pastor Northcutt’s scripture text was Revelations 22:7-14, and his message was titled: “The Challenge.”

The book of Revelations is filled with the description of many ominous events that will take place but ends with an invitation and a prayer. Revelations is not intended as a book to depress the reader but to move the reader into a deep loving relationship with Jesus Christ so that the future is bright and not dark. Thus the challenge is clear, how do we get the message out...because failure to do so will leave a lot of people heading for a godless eternity. The book is not primarily the revelation of the future as much as it is the revelation of Jesus Christ. The purpose of Revelations is to reveal His person, His plans, His promise, His perfection and His desire to have as many of us join Him in eternity as possible. Our challenge then is to take His message to everyone and give them the opportunity to accept Christ and escape the godless eternity that is certain without Christ.

We would like to wish happy birthday to Kelley Taylor (July16), and happy anniversary to our pastor, Kenneth Northcutt and his wife, Myra Northcutt, who will celebrate their 15th year of marriage July 16.

Oak Grove Church is looking forward to our revival with the 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 in this revival!

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.

Walnut Creek United Methodist Church

Our little sweetheart Laura Handley announced her engagement to Justin Headley. May God bless this lovely couple.

Blessed with a full pew, Bro. Tony Hughes explained to the little ones Sunday that the church is a team and everyone does their job.

The altar flowers were placed by Lezi Martin to celebrate Brandon’s birthday. Our thanks to Tim and Debbie Popwell for the beautiful flowers they shared with us.

Bro. Tony recognized Jerry Tippett, Joan McGriff and Norma Popwell for sharing their music and song with us each Sunday.

We had lots of visitors; wish we could have seen them all. We did see Bro Tony’s daughter, Kelly Ray, and granddaughters Elizabeth, Emily and Julia. Elizabeth shared her birthday with us.

We truly heard God’s message from the heart of Bro Tony. The message was from Exodus; After Moses came down from the mountain, The Lord said “Tell all the Israelites to bring forth to me an offering, from all who are willing.” Stressing voluntary contributions, “Tell them you are to build a tabernacle.”

We must be making a difference so that God will be the One to lead our lives. What should we do? The number one thing is commitment to Jesus Christ; total commitment. Make a commitment to be a servant. Bro. Tony “called out” some of us who are “churchgoers” and do not attend to Bible study, Christian fellowship, being part of the Body of Christ and doing work in the church, whatever our talents might be. If we aren’t careful; if we remain only a ‘churchgoer,’ we lose site of our ministry. If we are a body of Christ, what should we expect?” Adversity, a great deal of adversity! But as a solid group of Christian people molded together and totally submit, we can make a difference.

If you are in doubt as to whether you are doing all you should do, while holding the Bible aloft, Bro. Tony said, “Consult the manual! For more instructions, consult the Maker!”

Are we making a difference? God is ready.

Please remember our good friend, Ray Enfinger, who will have surgery Thursday. Also remember Sara McPherson and Melinda Puckett.

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