Doug and Susan Cory were celebrating an anniversary, and Angela Hamilton celebrated a birthday last week. Wayne Johnson opened our morning worship service with prayer at Mill Creek Baptist Church Sunday. Special prayers were requested for those traveling this week: Kenneth Crowder, Cynthia Ross and family, Rachel and Dana.
"Rough Edges" was the devotional given by Linda Abercrombie last week. She read Isaiah 42:16 and talked about having places in our lives that need to be smoothed out.
"We deal with the surface changes, but not with the underlying factors like low self-esteem, temper, laziness, negativity and being judgmental -- the twisted elements in our lives. We need to follow God's strategies for smoothing out our rough edges."
For Pastor Appreciation, we recognized our pastor, Brother Mark Hall, with cards and gifts. We are blessed to have him as our pastor to bring us God's message each Sunday. We also recognized Shelley, our pastor's wife, for the work she does in the church. We appreciate both of them.
We joined voices in singing hymns of praise, including "Wonderful Words of Life," led by Becky Johnson and Karen Gardner. We were blessed with a special hymn of inspiration, "Unspoken Request," from Jerry Abercrombie and "For Those Tears I Died" by Karen. Wayne and Jerry served as ushers and collected the offertory.
Brother Mark continued the sermon series "Places I Wouldn't Want To Be" and read Proverbs 6:16-19 about the six things the Lord hates.
"These six things the Lord hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart the devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies and one who sows discord among brethren."
Brother Mark told us one place you don't want to be is standing before God with any of these on your resumé.
A proud look is the one Brother Mark focused his Sunday morning message on.
"I don't know if there is anything that causes more grief, that destroys more relationships, wrecks more friendships, more families and more churches than pride. The prideful are tough people to reach with the gospel."
Psalms 101:5 says "Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy; the one who has a haughty look and a proud heart, him I will not endure."
Brother Mark told us, "A great problem in our churches is people who have sound doctrine, but not a sound attitude. The church is who we are, not where we attend. We get so proud of where we attend that we forget we are the church, not where we attend. It has been said that 'pride is your greatest enemy and conversely, humility is your greatest friend.' Pride can be demonic and satanic. Pride is continually comparing ourselves to other people -- what they have, how they live and what they have done. Humility is continually comparing ourselves to Jesus."
Brother Mark continued, "If you struggle with pride, compare yourself to Jesus. You may think you are smart and successful, but pride is all about 'me.' It is about what I want, what I need, how I feel, what I think or what I deserve. Humility is about Jesus. It is about other people.
"Humility is selfless. Pride is selfish. Pride is about your glory and humility is about the glory of Jesus. The point of pride is independence. Humility is about dependence.
"Sinners want to live independently of God, doing what they want. Humility is not about independence; it's about dependence. It is about acknowledging that we are the created and He is the creator. We are dependent on God for love, grace, compassion, mercy and forgiveness. So, the humble person gives love, grace, mercy, forgiveness and compassion.
"The trouble we have with humility is that it is not a prime commodity in the world. The world teaches pride. The trouble we have with humility is that we equate it with weakness. Two things we want in life is peace in our families and in our church family. If someone does something to offend you, you can let them have it or you can show them, love, mercy, compassion, grace and forgiveness. Which one of those takes more personal strength? Humility is self-controlled strength. It is not a weakness."
Brother Mark compared it to a wild-eyed cow that takes the whole herd with her when she breaks down the gate. God will deal with them.
Brother Mark told us, "Self-control and humility are not things that God gives us. Those are things we strive for and God rewards us for it." Proverbs 8:13 says, 'The fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate.' Proverbs 16:8 says, 'Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.' And Proverbs 29:23 says, 'A man's pride will bring him low, but the humble in spirit will retain honor.'"
Brother Mark continued by saying, "When we let pride take control of us knowing the Bible as Christians, we are saying that we know how to handle the situation better than God.
"That is a place you don't want to be. It is humility that allows us to see God has a claim on our life. It is humility that lets us say we are a sinner and need to be saved and that we are a mortal creature and God is the master of the universe." Proverbs 22:4 says 'By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor and life.'"
In closing, Brother Mark said, "Lay down pride and strive for humility. We would see more joy in our lives and our life would be so much richer with so much more joy. Pride not only hurts yourself, but those around you in time. Look back and think about the peacemakers in your family that were the glue that kept everyone together. James 4:6 says, 'But He gives more grace, Therefore He says; God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.'"
Brother Mark said, "I would rather be in the grace line than in the resistance line. We need God's grace all the time."
Our hymn of invitation was "I Need Thee Every Hour," and Tom Sharp gave the benediction.
We will be participating in the SWC Trunk or Treat Oct. 31.
Our Annual Community Thanksgiving Dinner will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 12, in the church fellowship hall. Everyone is invited.
We invite you to worship with us on Sunday mornings at Mill Creek Baptist Church. Sunday school begins at 10 a.m. and worship service at 11. Mill Creek is located 3.5 miles east of Noel, just off Highway 90.
Religion on 10/20/2016