The Venture Principle

Gene Gardner welcomed the congregation and opened our morning worship service with prayer. Special prayers were requested for John Tinsley, the Bobby Lett family, Steve Mason and Art Davidson. Susan Albertson gave praise to God and special thanks were expressed from Rick and Terry Lett for care and concern from the congregation. Bro. Mark read prayer requests that were dropped in the box at the fair booth as we took those names to keep in our own prayers. Tom Sharp asked God's blessing on all of the prayer requests. Tonya Brice was the winner of the Bible. We will have a watermelon feed and ice cream at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, July 27, at the church. Everyone is welcome.

With piano accompaniment from Becky Johnson, Karen Gardner led the congregation in singing hymns of praise and sang a special. Mitchell Lett asked God's blessing upon our tithes and offerings and he and Tyrel Lett served as offertory attendants.

Bro. Mark Hall began part two of the "Fortifying Your Faith" sermon series by telling us we live in a fallen world and we must fortify our faith. "We live with the prospect of sin and thus the consequences of sin with tragedy, diseases and things that can turn our world upside down in a minute. We never know what's around the corner. Fortify your faith today to help you through tomorrow in case the roof caves in. It doesn't matter how good you are if you don't have faith. Without faith, it is impossible to please God."

As Bro. Mark began Sunday's sermon "The Venture Principle," he told us we never have enough time and energy to do everything we want, but don't put your faith on the back burner. What we want should take a back burner to what God wants. "Noah built an ark on faith to save his household. How are you coming along with your ark? " Scripture reading was from Hebrews 11:6-7. "Noah didn't put the building of his ark on the back burner or the flood would have carried him away. Building the ark was a venture, not an adventure. When God speaks, do you listen to His will? Does God allow disobedience?"

Bro. Mark's sermon focused on four venture principles. First, Bro. Mark told us, "Begin to obey what you already know and your faith will grow. We have all been given a measure of faith. If you have an obedience problem, you have a problem with faith. Disobedience kills faith, but obedience builds faith."

Secondly, real obedience is not just being good. "We must seek God to know His will. If you are a child of His, He will make His will known to you."

Thirdly, selective obedience is not obedience at all. "Obedience means to give up your way and follow His."

And lastly, have a burning zeal to obey God. "When you have that burning zeal, God will speak to you."

Scripture reference was Romans 6:17-20. Bro. Mark asked, "How can we pray The Lord's Prayer and pray for God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven if we are not willing to start with ourselves and do His will in our life? Your faith is your responsibility. The Bible is speaking to you when you read it. No one else's faith will save your household but your own. You have to build your own ark for your household like Noah. Stop blaming others for your lack of faith. Would you venture to build an ark of faith to save your household? Last week we talked about the voice principle. First, you must listen and then venture to obey what God has for you to do."

In closing, Bro. Mark asked, "How is your ark going? Is it ready? Does your faith need fortifying? Have you heard His voice and then ventured to obey? If you have not heard God's voice lately, maybe you need to confess and repent of your sins."

After our hymn of invitation, Bob Obenshain gave the benediction.

We invite you to worship with us on Sunday mornings at 11 a.m. as God speaks to us through Bro. Mark's message. Sunday school begins at 10 a.m. and everyone is welcome. Mill Creek is located 3.5 miles east of Noel just off Highway 90 on Upper Mill Creek Road.