Doing What's Right

Thursday, August 9, 2018

Marlene Gray was celebrating a birthday, and Doug Cory opened our service with prayer as we gathered to worship Sunday morning at Mill Creek Baptist Church. Special prayers were requested for Bill's family, Wayne Johnson, Dot's sister, Jimmy Easter, the Gurule family, unspoken and travel prayers. Janet shared a praise.

Janet Chaney shared a couple of devotionals, "Jesus Was A Carpenter" and "The Bridge." Scripture was from Matthew 13:55-57 and Mark 6:3. Jesus was his Father's apprentice not only as a carpenter but also for laying the groundwork for his Father's ministry. Jesus was a builder and a pro-claimer.

Congregational hymns included, "It Took A Miracle," and we were blessed with special music from the Corys' grandchildren as they sang, "Guard Your Heart." Karen Gardner sang, "The Lord's Prayer," with piano accompaniment from Becky Johnson. Rick Lett and Tyrel Lett served as ushers and collected the offering.

Our pastor, Brother Mark Hall, continued the sermon series on the relevance of the Old Testament with Sunday's message about Manasseh's father, Hezekiah, and the story of his life being extended. Scripture was from Isaiah 38:1-9. Hezekiah decided to worship God at the age of 25 and took the throne. The church doors were boarded up, but he took the locks off, cleaned and opened it up and the people came.

2 Kings 18:1-7, tells of Hezekiah's 29-year reign. Brother Mark told us, "He did what was right in the sight of the Lord and put his trust in Him. Hezekiah held fast to the Lord. That is what set him apart, but he did have problems. He talked when he should have been listening. The Bible doesn't hide the faults of the men in the Bible, and Isaiah 39 tells of Hezekiah's mistake. But the one thing that he had going for him was that he served a perfect God. He knew how to be humble, thankful and pray. Hezekiah not only went to the Lord in prayer when he needed something, but he also went back to prayer to thank Him. He had a loyal heart. A loyal heart makes people shine and be consistent. They are valuable to the kingdom of God. Is your consistency like blinking Christmas lights that go on and off, or is it consistent and steady? There is no difference in what we do in man's sight and God's sight because God sees everything. What would our world and country be like if we lived like God saw everything all the time, good and bad? God sees it all, all the time no matter whether it is good or bad or whether we think we are doing it in front of people or God."

Brother Mark told us that Hezekiah was set apart by his loyal heart and always doing what was right in God's eye. "Hezekiah's son, Manasseh, didn't do much good and went in the wrong direction, but God turned him around." Brother Mark read Isaiah 40:28-31 and told us that maybe because Manasseh saw his father's loyal heart, that helped turn him around. "Do people see that in you? Do they see you doing what is right in the sight of God? It is nice to leave your kids material things, but leaving them a spiritual legacy like Hezekiah did will be the most important thing to leave them. Hezekiah left his son a loyal heart to God. Do you have a spiritual legacy to leave?"

Our hymn of invitation was "The Savior is Waiting," and Wayne Holly gave the benediction.

Mill Creek Baptist Church will celebrate its 114th year of worship with Homecoming on Sunday, Aug. 19. Sunday school begins at 10 a.m. and worship service at 11 a.m., followed by lunch and special praise music by SpringStreet, a wonderful gospel bluegrass music group. Everyone is welcome.

Mill Creek Baptist Church is located three and one-half miles east of Noel, just off Highway 90. For information, call 417-475-7633 and leave a message.

Religion on 08/09/2018