Your Walk Talks Louder Than Your Talk

Thursday, September 7, 2017

Fall flowers adorned the sanctuary and we were greeted by Jerry Abercrombie who welcomed our many visitors to Mill Creek Baptist Church Sunday morning. Jerry was also celebrating a birthday and special prayers were requested for Ashton Cory, Steve Holly, Doug Holly, Jim Collingsworth, John Adams, Mertie Harmon and Sequoya.

Linda Abercrombie gave the devotional "We" from II Corinthians 4:7-10. Sometimes trouble squeezes us too hard. That's when we find out what we are really made of inside. Our actions show if we have big problems or a big God. We must act the way we should, respect others and trust God when we become hard-pressed. The scripture says, "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed -- always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body."

Tyrel Lett and Rick Lett served as ushers and collected the offertory. With Becky Johnson at the piano, Jerry led the congregation in hymns of praise and we were blessed with special music from Joseph, Jessica, Sierra and Natalie Baker and Jerry Abercrombie. Joseph also shared scripture and a short message for us about having faith in God which helps us with our daily walk.

Brother Mark Hall began his message by reading Psalm 1:1 "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful." He also read I Corinthians 15:33 "Do not be deceived: evil company corrupts good habits." Brother Mark said, "The company you keep can determine where you go. As a Christian, don't stand in the way of someone getting saved by acting like the world."

Scripture for the message, "Words are Cheap," was taken from Mark 14:27 which says, "Then Jesus said to them, All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: 'I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.'" Brother Mark asked, "What if God could only use perfect people? All of us have messed up -- even Adam and Eve and others in the Bible. Perhaps sometimes we are reluctant to serve God in any capacity because none of us really feel worthy. Learning to cope with failure is a part of the Christian life or any other life. Don't think just because you surrender and follow God that you are still not going to have failure from time to time."

Brother Mark read Mark 14:27-31, and said, "Walk talks louder than talk. It is easy to talk Christian talk, but can you walk the Christian walk?" The scripture tells of Peter whose words were cheap when the rooster crowed. Brother Mark said, "Some want to hang around with Jesus during the day and run with the devil at night. If you are going to be a Christian, you better act like a Christian. It doesn't mean you are better than anyone, but you have something better then they have and that is faith in God but you have to act like it. Peter was one of the most Godly men, but if he could fall, don't think that you can't."

Peter thought he had failed so miserably that the Lord didn't want anything to do with him anymore and he couldn't serve him. Brother Mark asked, "How did Peter get to that point? First, he walked in the counsel of the ungodly. Second, he stood in the path of sinners. And third, he sat in the seat of the scornful. Don't ever put yourself on a pedestal like Peter did and say that you would never do anything like that." Brother Mark read I Peter 2:7-10 which tells us to keep our conduct honorable in all that we do. Brother Mark said, "Your talk talks and your walk talks but your walk talks louder than your talk talks. It is not enough just to come to church on Sunday morning. We have to get rooted. It is a dirty world out there. It is easy to sit in church with good people and be a faithful Christian, but it is hard out in the world with the ungodly. Make time each day for God and get rooted like the tree planted by the water so you don't end up in the fire with the devil's crowd.

The hymn of invitation was "Without Him" and Tom Sharp gave the benediction. We invite you to worship with us on Sunday mornings at 11 at Mill Creek Baptist Church. Everyone is welcome.

Religion on 09/07/2017