Calvary Independent Baptist Church

Sunday morning’s service included a message from Romans about thanking God for his amazing grace. We looked at verses from Romans 3 and 4 about being saved from the penalty of sin. We looked at verses from Romans 6 about being saved daily from the power of sin, and Romans 8 about one day in the future being saved from the presence of sin.

We hope that you are saved and have found hope and help through a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Sunday night’s service included a message from Acts 19:1-18 titled “What Salvation Has Given Us and Where Salvation Has Taken Us.” We looked at the work of the Holy Ghost and how some disciples did not even know who he was. If any man has not the Spirit of God, he is not of his.

There are many imitators who imitate having the power of God in their lives as some men in Acts 19 did. Having the power of Christ in your life is living a crucified life for the purpose and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We are planning to have a booth set up in the park in Thorsby for the Autism Walk this Saturday. We would like to invite you to come out and help support Autism Awareness.

If you are looking for a church to visit this Sunday, we would love to see you at Calvary. For service times and events, check us out on Facebook and Twitter, or visit our website at www.cibc-clanton.com.

Submitted by Oscar Mims

Mars Hill Baptist Church

Is your life complete? Do you have everything you need? Do you need to build a bigger garage or house to hold all you have accumulated in this life on earth? Well, if you do, here is a news flash for you: You can’t take it with you. I’ve never seen a hearse pulling a loading van behind it to bury all your wealth with you. We all came into this world with nothing, and we will all leave with nothing except the treasures we have laid away in heaven.

You might ask what you can store in heaven. If we only treasure what we have on earth, then we can store nothing, but if we place our lives in the hands of a complete Savior, Jesus Christ, the One who gave his all for us, we have riches beyond any that can compare with what we have on earth: life eternal, love everlasting, peace, joy, no tears, no pain, no sorrow. What on earth can compare with that? Nothing, my friend, nothing at all.

Bro. William Short’s message this week was taken from Revelations 1:5-8: “And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and has made us kings and priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever! Amen. Behold, he is coming with clouds, and every eye will see him, even they who pierced him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of him. Even so! Amen. ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,’ says the Lord, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’”

Jesus Christ is all we need, a complete Savior. There is nothing we need to take away, and nothing we need to add. He died for me and you. He arose from the dead on the third day for me and you. He lives for me and you. He is the past, present and future.

Scripture says that every eye will see his return, even those who have not been saved, those who nailed his precious body to the cruel cross, those who never went to church or believed and those who did attend church and knew the Bibles but still did not believe the written word of God.

If you know the written word, but don’t believe, it will do you no good on the day of the Lord’s triumphant return. There are those precious souls who did not understand every written word, but who believed every word of God, and to them it was more precious than gold. Which category do you want to be in?

God speaks to the hearts of men through his written word, and through the words preached by men called of God. Open up your heart and listen for the truth. Be smart enough to give your heart to Jesus, and on the day of his return, you will have nothing to fear and nothing to mourn about, but will be welcomed with open arms into the gates of heaven. What a day that will be.

There is no better time than now to give your life to Jesus. He is returning, and it’s closer than we think. Be ready; stay prayed up and watching the skies my friend.

It’s Relay For Life time, and we will celebrate next weekend at Minooka Park. Events will be held April 24-26. We will not have service at Mars Hill Church on Sunday, April 26, but will worship at the park. Services will be held on Sunday at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Please join us as we celebrate Jesus and our cancer survivors.

Please continue to pray for our church, our pastor, the sick, the lost, the hurting, our children, our schools, our military, our missionaries, our country, and our government, and especially for the peace of Israel, the apple of God’s eye.

God is good, all the time! Amen.

Submitted by Danny L.