Janice Mason and David Collingsworth were celebrating birthdays as we gathered to worship Sunday at Mill Creek Baptist Church. Gene Gardner opened our service with prayer and special prayers were requested for Bill Emanuel, Bill Ralston, Mona Lee Collingsworth, Frankie Garvin, Rhonda Renfrow, Alvie and Polly Ritter, Weston Allison, Natalie, Marilyn, Debbie, Connie and Rhonda's daughter. Darlene Mitchell thanked those who put up the flag pole.
Becky Johnson and Karen Gardner led the congregation in singing hymns of praise and we enjoyed special music from Bob Obenshain who sang "The King Is Coming" and Karen who sang "I Know Who Holds Tomorrow." Mitchell Lett asked God's blessing upon the offertory and he and Tyrel Lett served as ushers.
Bro. Mark Hall began Sunday's message by asking, "Who has floated Elk River?" And then told us when we do, everyone has one thing in common when we do it and that is that we are all going the in the same direction. Next week's message will focus on how a Christian can survive paddling upstream in today's world.
The text for Sunday's message was taken from Matthew 20:1-16 which tells the parable of the vineyard as Bro. Mark continued the sermon on the works of faith. Last weeks message was "How We Do It" and Sunday's sermon was entitled "Why We Do It." He began by saying, "Quit being a victim. We will never have victory if we are the victim. Faith is the victory." With help from Tom Sharp, Mitchell and Tyrel, Bro. Mark portrayed a skit of helping your neighbor. One helped their neighbor by praying for him and showing him the gospel. The other helped their neighbor with his chores and giving him things. "Which helped their neighbor the most? People remember and show more gratitude for things they see and touch because of the world we live in. We want immediate gratification. While helping your neighbor with chores, etc. is a good thing to do, the one that played an eternal part and made an eternal impact on his neighbor is the one who helped him the most by praying for and with him."
John 6 says don't labor for things that perish. Labor for things eternal. Bro. Mark said, "Feeding the hungry and helping our neighbors with physical things gives us the opportunity to help them with the spiritual." Bro. Mark quoted a friend who said, "What I do for service for the Lord I do for commitment to Him, not for reward." Serve God not for rewards, but out of love. Bro. Mark made reference to John 21:15-17 and 20-22 and said, "When you look at eternity, you love Jesus. When you look at this world, that's when you start doubting Jesus. That's why we do it. We are happy in love. If you do the works of Jesus for any other reason than loving Him, you did it for the wrong reason. That's why we do works of faith. "
Our hymn of invitation was "Where He Leads Me" and Wayne Johnson gave the benediction. We invite you to worship with us at Mill Creek Baptist Church. Sunday school begins at 10 a.m. and worship service at 11 a.m.
Everyone is always welcome.
Religion on 02/15/2015