Mt. Carmel No. 1 Baptist Church

The last Sunday of the year was a great day for us at Mt. Carmel. We were thankful to have all that attended our services as well as all the other Sundays that God blessed us with this past year.

Most of all we are thankful that the Spirit of God was with us in a wonderful way.

Our services began with testimonies of prayers being answered and God blessing in lives of our members.

This was followed by a time of altar prayer for the many needs in our church family and community.

Libby Warren played the piano for our penny march.

This was the last Sunday this year that will be given to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. Beginning next Sunday, the offering will go to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering.

Thanks to all that have given to this offering.

Our special music was presented by Kaitlyn Burnett and Hylan Jackson who sang ‘Worth it All.’

Bro. Travis Burnett continued God’s message entitled “The Beginning” from Genesis 1.

What better way to start the new year than with the Lord. It does not matter how long you live or how many good deeds you do, a life without God is just a waste.

It is time to take an inventory to see where you are and where you are going. The most important part of eternity is the beginning.

Just like every building, in the beginning there must be a solid foundation on which to build in order for the building to stand. The foundation on which an eternal life is build is Jesus Christ.

The foundation carries the entire weight and Christ is the only one able to do that in life.

The biggest and heaviest burden that we carry is our own sin. Christ invites us to cast our cares upon him. He is able to handle them.

Having Christ as our foundation assures us that we have a foundation that is level and will not move.

Sunday evening we were blessed as Tori Mims, Mesha Mims and Kinslee Cummings sang “I want to be more like Jesus in my Heart.” They also accompanied Burnett who sang “Because He Lives.”

Bro. Travis continued the message from Genesis 1 using verses two and three. These verses tell us things happened in the creation story that are supernatural and only God can perform.

Just as the earth was without form and void, so is man without God. There is a place in the man that only God can fill.

There is not anything that can be purchased or performed that can fill that spot. There is nothing desirable about us until God enters into us. Without God’s salvation we are in darkness.

After salvation the Spirit of God begins to move within the life of the believer. The light then shines in that life dispelling all the darkness. That life is no longer void and without form.

Upcoming events include a wiener roast at the home of Freddy and Dorothy Bowman. It is especially for the children, but anyone is welcome to come. It will start around 5:30 p.m. on Thursday.

On January 10 Myron West, missionary to Uganda, will be speaking at Mt. Carmel. There will be no Sunday School that day. His presentation will begin at 10 a.m. and last until he is finished. Everyone is invited to come hear him give his testimony.

Myron is the son of Bro. Doug and Barbara West.

We are happy to report that baby Grant Franklin is home from the hospital. Please continue to remember him and his family in your prayers.

Also those in our church this week with special prayer needs are Leona Liveoak, Elladene Mims, Hilda Cary, Minnie Childress, Christy Lowery, George Campbell, Mary Dean Higgins, Jennifer Watley, Jacob Jones, Ruthie Jean Giles and Mary Maudlin.

The Mt. Carmel No. 1 Church family would like to wish all of you a Happy and Blessed New Year.

If you do not have a church home, we cordially invite you to come worship with us.

Bethany Baptist Church

Bethany Baptist met for our Sunday morning services and sang “The Way of the Cross Leads Home.”

A devotion was taken from I Corinthians 1:18-24 and was entitled “Godly Versus Human Wisdom.”

God’s plan of salvation and everything he does is foolishness to many in the world today.

Jesus Christ did come, not as a military king to save the Jews from physical problems, but as a baby who grew up to die on the cross so we could have eternal salvation.

God’s word does not fit into the Jewish religion and many other religious people today. People put faith and beliefs in lots of things, but not in Jesus.

Throughout life we follow God’s wisdom or man’s wisdom. Whose wisdom should we follow God who is perfect or man who is imperfect?

The answer is God! Many Jews and Greeks were saved, and today many are saved, regardless of what man teaches.

We were dismissed to Sunday School with a prayer after which we met and sang “Tis so Sweet to Trust in Jesus,” “When I See the Blood,” “I Know My Redeemer Liveth” and “Set My Soul Afire.”

Bro. Glenn Vines made the announcements which are January 10, 2016, men’s and ladies meeting at 4:30, business meeting at 5 p.m. at January 31, 2016 and the fifth Sunday fellowship with a meal after the morning services, with no p.m. service.

Bro. Aubry is still recuperating at home after his surgery, but plans to be back with us on Wednesday night if is the lord’s Will.

In his absence, Bro. Glenn Vines is filling in during the preaching time.

Bro. Glenn’s message was entitled “Resolutions,” and may any make New Year’s Resolutions each year to be better and make your life better or other physical things that we need to do for ourselves.

Most of the time the same resolutions are made each year. Spiritual resolutions should be made on a regular basis.

We need to evaluate ourselves and see what we can change in our lives to be a more effective witness for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Romans 12:1,2 teaches us that we are to be a living sacrifice for the Lord. In the Old Testament burnt offering was not about the death of the animal, but the heart of the man for who was offering the sacrifice.

We as saved people need to put aside our desires and wants to be obedient to God’s will in our life.

Do not just go through the motions of going to church, do not go just because we think should, if our heart is not right, it will do us no good. We must be holy, set apart from the world. We can live for the world, or for God.

James 1:2-4, teaches that we should be joyful when going through trials. That is something that we cannot comprehend.

To obtain patience we must go through trials. We may not be able to handle all our trials alone, but God is always there to carry us through. Our strength comes from facing trials.

Psalm 32:8 tells us that God, through the Holy Spirit will guide us, teach us through life. It is up to us to follow the Holy Spirit.

We are not robots, but have a free will to do whatever we want. Resolutions sound good, but if you are complacent in this life, we are not doing God’s will. Once we stray from God the path back to God is much harder.

Listen to God now, don’t put him off! Only we can reflect on our life to see where we need to improve. What better time than now to make a resolution to follow God, not ourselves.

We should search God’s Word so that we will know God’s will in our lives. We were dismissed with a prayer and a song, “Is Your All On The Altar.”

Night services began at 5 p.m. with a song “At Calvary,” followed by the message from Jude, 1-25.

Message was “Beware of False Teachers and Apostates.” Not all false teachers are apostates. There is one thing we should notice about this letter, the problem of false teachers came up while Jude was writing a letter about salvation, but the believer needed to be grounded in the truth.

This letter was written to all believers of that day and is important to us today. False teachers are those whom true that churches need to be careful.

We need to be on guard at all times, not just when things get tough. When things are going good, we tend to let our guard down. That is when we can and will let false teachers in our churches.

Jude is reminding the saved that they do not need to get complacent. God brought the Israelites to the Promised Land and only two of the spies thought they could go into the promised land.

That entire generation that rebelled had to die without seeing the Promised Land. Joshua and Caleb were the only two that were allowed into the land.

The Angels, some wanted to be above the others and be equal with God. Those angels followed Lucifer and were cast out of Heaven. Hell was created for Lucifer and his followers.

Sodom and Gomorrah were two very wicked cities, but lot still chose to dwell there because of the fertile land and the abundance of water for his camels.

Sodom and Gomorrah were not always wicked cities, but because of rebellion they were wiped out of existence.

When we rebel against God, we get God’s judgment. In verse 10 we see that those who are not believers in God, His word is a mystery.

Many take out scripture because they either do not understand a particular passage, or it doesn’t fit their lifestyle. Lots of religions have been started by man simply because they do not truly believe Jesus and the Bible.

Man does not like something, so he rebels and makes the Bible say what he wants it to say. Verse 11 talked about going the way of Cain who was jealous because God did not like his offering.

And Balaam, because a prophet out to make money. Man today have large congregations and are preaching for the money.

What is the priority of these men and their denominations. Korah in the extra power so he also rejected God and was swallowed up by the earth.

Jude is warning about people who have rejected God’s will and are doing things for their own glory. Do not let your guard down when it comes to God’s churches.

False teachers creep in unawares and slowly bring their false doctrine into the church.

The churches did not see this coming. Most false teaching is based on truth with a little false to begin with, but becoming more false than truth after awhile.

False teachers may look and sound good, but there is nothing there, no fruit, no substance.

Jude was probably written about 35 years after Jesus’ crucifixion, but false teaching was not new. They will flatter man with just enough truth to make them believe what they are telling.

God does not want us to live just anyway, outside the will of God. We do not know when the Lord will come again, but we must be ready, be on guard, don’t fall into false teachings.

Keep yourself close to God, don’t get complacent and let the false teachers take you away from the true word of God.

Study the Bible so you will know what the truth is when you are told something. Be careful about who you get to preach in your church or teach Sunday School.

We dismissed with a prayer. Our prayer list includes our church, missions and missionaries, Bro. Aubry and Shirley, Grace, Lisa R., Jenny H., Colyn, Barbara T. W., Debbie Roberson and her entire family, especially her husband and mother, Henry and Myra, Vikii, Helen, Charlotte K., Evelyn K., Harold T. and most of all the unsaved.