Sheri White, Wayne Johnson and Ashley White were celebrating birthdays as we gathered to worship Sunday morning at Mill Creek Baptist Church. Special prayers were requested for the Red Casey family, the Denny Reynolds family, Robert Skaggs and Doug Cory. Special appreciation was given to Jimmy Easter for the wonderful job he did building our church float for the Old Timer's Day parade. Thanks to the County Road crew for making the road passable to the church after the flood.
"Cumber" was the title of the devotional from Linda Abercrombie as she read I Corinthians 9:24-27. She talked about cumbersome things in our life that weigh us down as we run the spiritual race. We run races in life, but the prizes fade away. We need to run with a purpose and run straight toward the goal. We need to get rid of the things that weight us down and lighten our load so that we have purpose in every step as we run the spiritual race.
Blessed Assurance and Do Lord were congregational hymns led by Wayne Johnson and Jerry Abercrombie with Becky Johnson at the piano. Susan Cory sang Love Lifted Me and read Mark 9:27. Wayne sang Jesus is Coming Soon. Tyrel Lett asked the blessing over the offertory and he and Rick Lett served as ushers.
Our Pastor, Brother Mark Hall, read II Timothy 3:1 which says "But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come" and then brought us God's message "Living Christian in a Pagan World." Brother Mark began by telling us that it is easy to live Christian when we are good and safe in church on Sunday morning, but it gets hard out in the world on Monday morning with all of the world's noise. He told us that his Grandpa Hall always said that it took two things to be successful -- know your Bible and work hard. Brother Mark told us we live in perilous times. "The gospel is not meant to save civilization from wreckage. It is meant to save men, women and children from the wreckage that is civilization. This world won't last. There is a new world coming. Paul tells us we are not just here to survive, but to thrive and get ready for heaven and take as many with us as we can."
Brother Mark continued reading II Timothy 3:2-9 and told us "These are some of the issues we face today in perilous times including living for ourself alone as if Jesus never existed. It is selfish and it is called 'me-ism.' It is selfishness. Babies are all about themselves, but they grow out of it. We learn during life that to live with people we must give a little. When you get married, it is not about 'me' anymore. The more you love others, the less you think about yourself. The better we are at giving up our 'me' or 'self' attitude, the happier the family will be. When you love those people, there is something more important than you and that is peace and joy in the family. Give up the me-ism for peace in the family. You will get paid back tenfold."
Brother Mark told us that will not be true in perilous times. We are already seeing some of that in our families and churches. Lovers of money, people living for what they can grab, not for what they can give. We are here to worship God and love one another and use things. Today we ignore God, love things and use people. Money and property are never enough. It doesn't matter how rich you are or how poor you are. Rich people don't see themselves as rich, they see them selves as getting richer because they want more and more. There is nothing more we need that God can't give us. All we really need is the love of family, the love of God and the love of our church family. Lovers of money, boasters and the proud are strutting to hell because they think they are too good to be damned."
Brother Mark told us we are raising a generation that has no respect for authority and there is little evidence of family love anymore. The jails are filled with people who have no self-control. When we get outside of God's bubble, we see perilous times and lovers of pleasure instead of God. We don't call Sunday the Sabbath anymore. We call it the weekend. People are so laden with sin, they are sitting ducks for the devil. They talk about God, but they deny His power and we see no evidence of Godliness in their life or knowledge of the truth."
Brother Mark read II Timothy 3:2-17 and talked about how Paul tells us to live Christian in a Pagan world. First, get way from the people it talks about in verse five. Second, prepare for persecution as it talks about in verse 12. Third, get a hold of the truth as it tells us in verse 13. Brother Mark told us to know where we stand and for what we stand. "Knowing your Bible will help you with that. Don't trust anyone to read your Bible for you." Fourth, continue in what you have learned as it tells us in verse 14. Keep continuing to learn. And fifth, rest confidently in the word of God as it tells us in verses 14-17."
Brother Mark told us "to survive in perilous times, we need to be saturated by the word of God, motivated by the Spirit of God and activated in the work of God. If you aren't, nothing will change."
Our hymn of invitation was Lord, I'm Coming Home and Wayne gave the benediction. We then observed the Lord's Supper as Brother Mark read I Corinthians chapter 11 and Jerry and Rick passed the bread and cup.
We invite you to worship with us on Sunday mornings at 11 at Mill Creek Baptist Church. Everyone is welcome.
Religion on 05/11/2017