The Wake-Up Call

Jimmy Easter and Ty White were celebrating birthdays, and Jimmy and Jeanette Easter were celebrating their wedding anniversary as we gathered to worship Sunday morning at Mill Creek Baptist Church.

Special prayers were requested for Kirsten Crosby, Braylen, Dell and Eileen Hawkins and Esta Lee Turner. Janet Chaney shared a praise.

Janet Chaney shared information on the Annie Armstrong Easter offering that we will be collecting during the month and told us that three out of four people in North America do not know Jesus Christ.

Janet also gave the devotional, "The Atheist and the Bear." She told a story about the atheist who denied Christ for years and then asked for His help when he was threatened by the bear. Although the atheist knew he was a sinner, knew God existed and could do anything, he missed the opportunity to repent. He could have changed his life if he would have accepted Christ and changed his faith. God did come when the atheist called, but he didn't make the right decision.

Rick Lett and Tyrel Lett served as offertory ushers and Becky Johnson and Karen Gardner led the congregational hymns including "Glory-land Way" and "Do Lord" with a special hymn from Karen.

Our pastor, Brother Mark Hall, brought us God's message, "The Wake-Up Call," and read scripture from Romans 13:11-14. He began by asking if we ever had an important appointment and had plenty of time to make it but got busy and time got away from us. It is like hitting the snooze on the alarm in the morning. In Romans, Paul tells the church to wake up because Jesus is coming.

Brother Mark told us, "America is in a moral free fall. Is that how you want Him to find you? Do you ever wake up and think,'"Oh, my gosh. I am late'? There are three ways to be late spiritually.

"First, it is late in the age, the age of grace. Second, it is late in our lives. We don't know how much time we have, but we do know we have less time today than we did yesterday. Third, it is getting late in the day of opportunity. We have an opportunity to get our work done. It is our work to seek those who are lost so they can be saved. Time is short, and there are a lot of people who need to hear about Jesus Christ and be saved."

Jesus tells us in John 9:4 "I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work."

Brother Mark continued by telling us that there are three things we need to do.

"First, we need to wake up. As Christians, we need to warn people that time is short. The time is late. We need to wake up and make the message clear. Jesus is the only answer. If we don't, who will? Who do you know that you need to tell Jesus about?"

Romans 13:11 says "And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed."

"Second," Brother Mark told us, "We need to clean up. In Romans 13:12-13, Paul gave us six examples we need to clean up. When we identify ourselves as Christians, we are immediately held to a higher moral standard."

"And third," Brother Mark told us, "we need to get dressed up. We need to do this by putting on Jesus Christ as our Lord. We need to put Him on as our Master, our Savior and our Messiah. Paul tells us we need to get rid of the old clothes and clothe ourselves with Jesus Christ. We need to stop trying harder and start trusting more.

"The more you trust, the easier it is. Do people recognize you in your work clothes? Do they recognize you in your dress clothes? When you become a Christian and put on Jesus Christ, He becomes a part of who you are. The more you trust affects how you act and react, your patience, kindness, how considerate, forgiving and understanding you are. It is not a matter of making yourself do it; it just comes natural when you put on Jesus Christ. The old ways aren't a part of you anymore. He becomes who you are. You don't react the same way to those people who are hard to deal with. By the way you live, you reveal that Jesus Christ is Lord of all or He is not Lord at all."

In closing, Brother Mark asked two questions.

"If you knew Jesus Christ was coming this year, would it cause you to change the use of your time? How do you know He isn't? Would you do things differently or change anything? Change doesn't have to be hard when we put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't try harder. Just trust more."

Our hymn of invitation was "Shelter From the Storms," and Doug Cory gave the benediction.

We invite you to worship with us on Sunday mornings at 11 a.m. and hear God's Word. Sunday school begins at 10 a.m. and everyone is welcome. Mill Creek Baptist Church sits on the bank of Mill Creek 3.5 miles east of Noel, just off Highway 90.