Church News for Thursday, Oct. 8

Published Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Lime Springs United Methodist Church

Bro. Shannon brought the morning message from 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. He spoke on true repentance coming about as a result of a changed spiritual heart. The spiritual heart is composed of four parts: intellect, emotion, will and conscience. The way to change these parts was explained by Bro. Shannon.

Intellect changes as evidence or testimony is gathered. An example is given by Thomas and his ability to believe in the resurrection of Christ after he saw holes in the hands of Jesus.

Emotion changes when a person has faith in the evidence or testimony given. Again, Thomas could have come up with reasons (or excuses) for what he saw, but he decided to believe anyway.

The will is changed by motives produced by faith. For example, Thomas’ will changed from doubt to service.

Finally, conscience is changed when a person has faith that what he does is right. For example, when Thomas decided to follow Jesus after he saw the holes in his hands, his conscience was changed in a positive manner and he never doubted his decision again.

As the old saying goes, “He could sleep well at night.”

Bro. Shannon reminded us that all four of these parts must be changed when seeking true repentance. Only when all four are changed can a man’s whole spiritual heart be changed as well.

The service closed with the singing of “Just As I Am” and an altar call.

Our evening Bible study focused on Moses and the Exodus story.

Happy birthday to Josey Shannon and Angie Bates.

Happy anniversary to Angie and Kenny Bates.

Our service times are as follows: Sunday School at 9:30 a.m.; Sunday morning worship at 11; evening Bible study at 5:30; and Wednesday night prayer meeting at 6:30.

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

Christ Independent Methodist Church

Dr. Mac Stinson’s scripture reading Sunday was taken from Mark 9:38 and surrounding passages. The theme of his message was “Can’t We All Get Along?”

That’s not a moot question considering there are said to be 33,000 different church denominations in America. You may recall that question was first asked by a black man, Rodney King, in California some years back when he was being interrogated by law enforcement officers.

This simple question gave birth to a storm of similar questions based on the simple truth couched in those words.

Jesus was speaking similar words in Mark 9:40 when He was speaking to John and said, “For he that is not against us is on our side.”

When arrogance and bickering occur among people of differing religious doctrines, God must be disappointed, for He commands that we love one another and our neighbor as ourselves.

Special prayer is requested for Alicia Dobbs, daughter of Shirley Dobbs McAfee. Alicia is now a patient in St. Vincent Hospital in Birmingham.

We request traveling grace for church family members who are visiting the mountains to enjoy Mother Nature’s fall color display.

We were pleased to have several visitors with us Sunday. We invite you back as often as you can come. We hope you received a blessing.

There will be no Sunday night services Oct. 11.

Remember to continue bringing items for our food pantry. Also bring other non-perishable items like tissues, toothpaste, soap, etc.

Have a blessed week.

Rocky Mount United Methodist Church

Rocky Mount youth ministries, the 3G Network, will host a fall festival on Friday, Oct. 30.

The festival will begin at 7 p.m. and include a Truck-or-Treat event followed by a lock-in. Pickup time for everyone attending the lock-in will be 9 a.m. Oct. 31. Breakfast will be served for kids attending and their families.

The youth are selling 2010 calendars for $6 each and tickets for a $2 donation to win a handmade, king-size quilt. A drawing will be held Dec. 13, 2009 immediately following morning worship services.

For tickets and calendars, contact the church at 688-2204. If no answer, please leave a message.

Mt. Carmel No. 1 Baptist Church

“This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24).

It was so good to be in the house of the Lord Sunday, to be with our Christian brothers and sisters. We welcome all visitors and invite them back every chance they can come.

We welcomed our guest speaker for Sunday, Bro. Johnny Giles and his wife, Ruthie Jean. Bro. Johnny’s sermon was taken from John 3:16. Do you have that everlasting life?

Sunday evening’s sermon, “Where Two or Three Are Gathered,” was from Matthew 18:19-20.

We were blessed by a special song, “I Don’t Regret a Mile that I Traveled for My Lord.” If you know Johnny Giles, you will know this song is truly his life and testimony. He has climbed out of many hard valleys but still uses that beautiful voice to sing and preach praises to his Lord.

Sunday afternoon, adult choir practice will be held at 4.

A housewarming will be held for Pam Higgins on Saturday, Oct. 10 from 1-3 p.m. Contact Frances Higgins for direction.

We are praying that you will be involved in this life-changing project in 2009, Operation Christmas Child, the packing of shoebox gifs for children around the world.

Nursery workers for October are: Jan Franklin (Oct. 4), Linda Cummings (Oct. 11), Laura Jones (Oct. 18) and Missy Mandrell (Oct. 25).

Remember to pray for our pastor search committee. Continue to pray for those on our prayer list.

Tell someone about Jesus this week and we’ll see you in church Sunday.

Friendship Baptist Church

Bro. Gene’s message, “The Triumphal Entry,” was from Matthew 21:1-11 and Luke 23:12-24. On his way from Jericho, Jesus and the disciples neared Bethphage on the slope of the Mount of Olives just outside Jerusalem. Two disciples went into the village, as Jesus told them to bring back a donkey and its colt. Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the donkey, an unmistakable sign of his kingship.

Sunday evening, Bro. Gene’s message was from Matthew 22. We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind. This is the first greatest commandment. The second greatest commandment is to love our neighbor as ourselves.

Happy birthday to Fred Glover.

Prayer requests: Shane Payton, Roger Davis family, Phillip Jones, Josh Cleckley, Cody Thompson, Betty Parker family, Ken Messer, Kay Connell, Keith Adair, Austin Anderson, unspoken requests, travelers.

Upcoming events:

Oct. 11: World Hunger Sunday

Oct. 21: supper and business meeting

Oct. 24: youth hayride and cookout at the Glovers’

Oct. 31: children’s department trip to Tannehill Festival at noon. Cost is $12.

Mount Bethel Baptist Church

We had a great time of worship and fellowship with our Lord. It started with a song of praise followed by prayer. Then we went into our Bible study classes.

The Rev. Oneal Cleckler’s morning sermon, “The Judgment Seat,” was taken from Romans 14:9-12, 2 Corinthians 5:10, 2 Timothy 4:8, Luke 14:14.

The judgment seat is not for the sins we have committed. It is for the works we have done in the name of the Lord to build up his kingdom. For some of us it may be for things we should have done.

When He reads off the list, I wonder where we will stand. Will He say, “Child, well done”? The simplest thing we do to build up the kingdom, we may not even realize, but it will earn us a reward. We do not have to have rewards to get into heaven, but we do need them to serve in the kingdom. The rewards will determine where we will serve in heaven. We will stand before the One who gave His life for us. Christ will be our judge.

The evening message was a continuance from our morning message. Bro. Cleckler used scripture from 1 Corinthians 3:11-15, 9:27. This judgment does not determine if we go to heaven or hell. We will see how effective our service has been by the rewards we have gained. It is only what we have accomplished through God without thought of personal gain that will build up His kingdom. If we only give a cup of water in the name of Jesus, and if that is what He required us to do, we will be rewarded.

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.

Oak Grove Church of God

Bro. Northcutt took his text from Nehemiah 1: 2-11, and the title of his message was “It Takes Courage.”

All of us Christians very much seek God’s will in all aspects of our lives. This involves far more than merely knowing God’s will so the difficult aspect of God’s will is actually in doing His will. Actually doing God’s will involves us stepping out and taking a risk to do His will. We have to step outside of that “comfort zone” we so often like to reside in. All great accomplishments require some degree of risk to make them come to past. History is full of success stories that were only possible when someone was willing to take a risk. Columbus discovered then new world, America put a man on the moon, the Apostle Paul evangelized a large portion of the known world, but none of these would have happened without a willingness to take a risk. These were not reckless acts but were well thought out and calculated risk.

It takes courage to accomplish anything of great and lasting value. We can never accomplish anything for God if we don’t have the courage and take some risk. Many times the circumstance we are surrounded with will lead us into action. When a painful event takes place in our life we can react in one of two ways. We can become angry and blame God and feel like we have been cheated which will only lead to bitterness or we can become burdened and prayerful, which will lead us to take courage and take action to move beyond that pain. Nehemiah was in pain because of the plight of his people and the state of things in Jerusalem. He reacted to the bad news he received by sitting down and crying and mourning for several days and fasting. This state of brokenness caused him to take courage and pray earnestly to the God of heaven for His intervention to the plight of his people. He then took courage and allowed God to direct him in putting a plan in action to help his people and start the process of rebuilding Jerusalem.

The first step in accomplishing God’s will for our life will be a large dose of courage. Anyone who has ever accomplished great things for God has had to overcome their fears and move with courage...it takes guts to do God’s will.

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.

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.

Jackson Chapel

“Jesus said, if ye love me keep my commandments” (John 14:15).

Bro. Dennis’ text came from 2 Corinthians 4:7-9 with a message entitled “Failure.” We as Christians are not perfect and we will fail. We all strive to be the best Christians that we can be but we still fail from time to time. Satan wants us to throw our hands up and quit because he will try to convince us that we’re just a constant failure. We have an advocate with our heavenly father and he will help us overcome our failures. We do things that we know are not right and we have many regrets, but there is nothing that we can do about what has already happened. We can, however, learn from those regrets so we will not repeat them.

The service ended with people coming to pray, and I truly believe that God was working things out in some people’s lives, but most of all the Holy Sprit was present.

Sunday evening, Bro. Dennis’ text came from 1 John 3:1-10. When we get saved, we begin to put down the things of the world and pick up things of God. When we accept Jesus as our Savior, we will not want to do the things we used to do before we got saved. If we are saved and continue to do those things that we did before we got saved, then we need to do a self check-up of our salvation and it might be that we need to get saved.

Happy birthday this week to Janie Smitherman.

Please remember these as you pray this week — Bro. Dennis Smith, Billy Burnett, James and Marie Johnson, Gary and Gail Fant, Bro. Herschell and Sis. Marie Rhodes, Phillip Jones, Ashley Campbell, Devaughn Welcher, Janie Smitherman, Sidney Scott, Emily Isabell, the Hyde family, Leslie Smith, Sha Bruce and family, Paul Bryan, Betty Smith, Luke Smith, our lost loved ones and our service men and women.

Walnut Creek United Methodist Church

Sunday we observed World Communion Day at Walnut Creek.

We welcomed Kathy Kotke as a new member and wished a happy birthday to Shirley Henley, Bro. Tony Hughes and Jace Mims.

During children’s time, Diane reminded the children how important it is to have some quiet time and talk with the Lord.

Following our prayer of intercession, we shared the Bread and the Cup.

Bro Tony’s message of God’s word was from Philippians 4:1-7. As we heard that everything in this world is temporary, John Wesley came along during the time of massive, expensive church buildings and the common folks stayed away. Wesley wanted a church for everyone, and not one where the common folks would not feel welcome. Bro. Tony said it was important that we celebrate the peace of Christ as we celebrate Christ. This means we celebrate oneness, peace and salvation.

If you don’t have a regular church or would like to visit, we welcome you to worship with us at Walnut Creek.

Service times are as follows: Sunday School, 10 a.m.; morning worship, 11; evening services, 5:30; Wednesday — fellowship meal at 6 p.m. followed by youth and adult Bible study at 6:30 and choir practice at 7:15.

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