Kenneth White and Dot Harner were celebrating birthdays, and Wayne Johnson opened our Sunday morning worship service with prayer at Mill Creek Baptist Church. Special prayers were requested for Darrell Spillers, Janice's grandchildren and Tammy. Wayne shared thank you notes from Derek Drake and the Edens and Jeannette Easter shared a praise.
Linda Abercrombie thanked those who worked at the church booth at the fair and gave away Bibles. Sue Ames of Noel won the large print reference Bible. Linda shared the devotional, "A Merry Heart," with scripture from Proverbs 17:22, which says, "A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones." She talked about psychodrama-moments when emotions fly and people react. We should keep our emotions in check and avoid chain reactions of instability. Humor acts as an emotional stabilizer. Things don't look half as bad in retrospect and we can sometimes step back and become able to laugh at ourselves. Don't let doom and gloom break our spirits in our lives or others.
Becky Johnson and Karen Gardner led the congregational hymns, and we were blessed with special music from Susan Corry, who quoted John 14:2 and sang "Sweet By and By," and Jerry Abercrombie, who sang an old Al Brumley song. Tyrel Lett asked God's blessing upon our offertory, and he and Mitchell Lett served as ushers.
Brother Mark Hall brought us God's message, "Birthmarks of the Believer," with scripture from 1 John 2:3-10. Brother Mark told us Christians should be easy to recognize by their birthmarks. "Some people just look more holy than others. They look holy because they are doing the scripture. Heaven-born means heaven-bound."
Brother Mark told us there are three things the true believer must do.
"First, the true believer submits to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Keeping His commandments is submission." He talked about the story of Paul and Silas in Acts 16 where Paul said you have to believe and your house will be saved. "We must keep His commandments in our lives to guard our hearts. We won't be perfect in the world, but we must guard those commandments. They set our course in life, but we will stumble. Christians aren't sinless, but you will sin less if you guard His commandments in your heart."
Second, Brother Mark told us the true believer seeks the lifestyle of Jesus Christ. 1 John 2:6 says, "He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked." Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. A true believer lives like Jesus.
Third, a true believer shares the love of Jesus Christ, which is the most outstanding birthmark of a believer. John 13:34 says, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another." Brother Mark also referred to John 2:9-10. He told us the biggest sign of a healthy church is "when others see us fellowshipping. They know we love one another. Jesus didn't love us because we are lovely. He just loves us. That is the way we should be. Love is perfected when we can love like Jesus loves. Jesus doesn't pick at little things to like us. We should have a non-judgmental love. One that we don't have to justify. Jesus loves us just because. We are to be the same way with others. If you are saved, it will show up. We are not saved by keeping His commandments, walking like Jesus or loving one another. Those things all come natural if you are saved. We don't do them to be saved. We do them because we are saved. Do you have the birthmarks of the believer? Do you trust Jesus Christ and keep His commandments?"
Our hymn of invitation was "I Have Decided to Follow Jesus," and Rick Lett gave the benediction.
We will observe the Lord's Supper next Sunday. We will have a back-to-school clothes giveaway on Saturday, Aug. 13, on Main Street in Noel, and we will celebrate Homecoming on Sunday, Aug. 21, with dinner in the fellowship hall and music from the Gould family.
We invite you to worship with us at Mill Creek Baptist Church located 3.5 miles east of Noel just off Highway 90. Everyone is welcome.
Religion on 07/28/2016