Bethany Baptist
Bro. Steve’s sermon Sunday morning was taken from 1 Peter 1:1-5. In many scriptures (here, and in many of the Psalms) mention is made of “blessing the Lord.” God is pleased when we bless His name or praise Him. We should talk to God about God! Peter mentions several wonderful things for which we should bless God’s name: His great salvation; the living hope (confidence); the great inheritance waiting us; and the great power that keeps us. In this new year, let’s thank God and bless God for what we have in Him: His great salvation, keeping power and inheritance.
Sunday night, Bro. Steve continued in 1 Peter 1:6-9, “Faith on Trial.”
Prayer list: Betty Biggs, Carl Gray, Ellen Gray, Ophelia Griffin, Ernestine Hatch, Danny Jones, Lori Knight, Mary Knight, Larry Miller, Billie Neeley, Elzie and Gertie Sanders.
See you Sunday!

Bethsalem Baptist
Sunday our Celebration Choir sang “God and God Alone,” and Bro. Brad’s message was taken from Genesis 12 and 15.
Following Life Tracks on Sunday evening, Bro. Brad preached on reading the Bible for life (Nehemiah 8:1-12). Remember to learn, love and live the word.
Pray for Jeanette Smitherman, Ruby Jones, Louise Thomas, Charles Bryant, Lilianna Thompson, Tyler Harmon, Debra Mims, April Stange, Renee Wingard, Scott Bogard, Wendall Hand, Johnny Kelley, Marshall and Hazel Green, Tim Wright, Charles Payne, Keith Smith, Crystal Keith, Pamela Howell, Betty Gregory, McCoy Duren, Robert Ethridge, Landa Cook, Elzie Sanders’ family, Clyde Hughes, our missionaries, families who have lost loved ones, and our shut-ins.
Happy birthday this week to Shane Courtney, Bailee Nelson, Akram Salim, Destine Hodgman, Robert Bradberry, Tim Cox, Dawson Rohrbough, Lela Beadlecomb, Angela Fulmer, Jamie Chandler, Stephanie Gray, Kristal Gray, Cameron Hughes, Dylan Carroll, Sarah Griner, Scott Wesson, Josh Taylor, Cole Reeves, Emma Merrill and Deb Taylor.
Our student ministry will take part in the Smokey Mountain Bible Conference on Jan. 14-16.
Have a blessed week.

Cedar Grove
“Teach me thy way O Lord and lead me in a plain path” (Psalm 27:11).
“Glory To His Name” and “The Gloryland Way” were the first songs of the morning service.
We had several prayer requests: Sis. Ruby Neeley and her husband Eugene are having problems. Mr. Neeley is in the hospital at this writing and Ruby is having trouble with her eye. Remember them when you pray.
Happy birthday to Norma Muir and Tyler Booth. Happy anniversary to David and Wanda Bullard.
Bro. Jeff Carroll is preaching on faith. His text came from Mark 4:40-41 and Jude 1:3-9. He will continue on a series of sermons about faith.
We had a surprise speaker Sunday night, Bro. Tim Scott. Bro. Heath Vines had to be at the hospital with his grandfather, Eugene Neeley.
Bro. Tim’s sermon was “Abiding the Word” from John 15:1-7, 16:33. We love to hear Bro. Tim preach; we are so glad to have him and Sis. Debbie with us.
The Maharreys will be at Cedar Grove on Jan. 29 for the evening service. A love offering will be lifted.
Have a good week. God bless.

Center Hill Baptist
“What is the most important thing in your life?” As Christians, we know what the answer is “supposed” to be. However, how often do we think about what a valuable treasure that we possess in our salvation?
Knowing Jesus is the most important treasure that God can give us.
Finding the kingdom of heaven is like finding the most perfect and incredible pearl. A pearl that is beyond value.
Likewise the kingdom of heaven is only for those who are willing to give up all and sacrifice everything to possess it. How willing are we to sacrifice all that we have? When we consider what God has in store for us, we cannot see or hear all that God has prepared for those who love Him. It will take an eternity for God to show us the treasures of love He has for us. Eternity — forever, plus a day, and a day, and a day and so on — that long for us to experience all God has in store for us. Are you prepared for this eternity?
Looking ahead, the Lottie Moon offering for foreign missions will be next Sunday. Then on Feb. 26, we will be participating in the On Missions Celebration. Several missionaries will be speaking during our regular worship times. It is not too early to plan for VBS (June).

Christ Independent Methodist
On this cloudy Sabbath, the second of our new year, the Lord gave us respite from the ruin in order to encourage attendance in his house of worship.
Our first congregational hymn was “Tell Me the Story of Jesus” followed by “O Come Let Us Adore Him.”
Dr. Mac Stinson took his scripture reading from Mark 1:4-11. His topic was “Baptism: Does It Mean Anything?”
This profound hypothetical question is one for each of us professing Christians to answer as individuals, if we believe that God sent his Son here on earth to serve as an example for how we all should live.
Could words be more explicit concerning the tradition of baptism? Jesus was not baptized because of his sin but as an example for us. If we accept that fact, can we ignore the importance of baptism? Jesus set the example for us.
Baptism is a powerful symbol for Christians. When you are baptized, you become a member of the family of Jesus Christ — all major religious orders accept the symbolism of baptism, but some denominations vary in the method used to administer this symbol. The amount of water used is not as important as the change that occurs in the human heart regardless of what method one chooses for baptism.
Our prayer list: Brenda Miller, Nina Headley, Mable Mitchell, Charlotte Verren, Dwight Sammons and Shea Simms serving in Kuwait. Pray for our county, church, community and each other, Christians worldwide and Israel, and our pastor Dr. Mac Stinson.
Have a blessed week.

Church of God’s Word
We had a glorious time with the Lord Sunday morning in our praise and worship. Pastor Ray brought the message from Romans 10:17, “So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.”
We come to church so we can grow stronger in faith so we can be able to stand firm against the enemy, and we also grow in strength from one another. If faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, how can they hear without a preacher? We are to have power over the enemy.
We are going into a new year, so we should be stronger in the Lord than we were last year. We do not fight against flesh and blood but against powers and principalities. We need to start doing what God wants us to do instead of what we want to do. We need to fall down on our face, cry out to God and find out how he wants us to handle a problem instead of us doing it our way.
When we are born again, people will see a change in us because when we are saved Jesus makes a change in us. And when someone calls us to pray for someone, all we need to know is the ones that we are to pray for; we don’t need to hear gossip about this that and the other. The Bible tells us that God’s word is true and every man’s word is a lie.
When we pray, we are to forgive so our heavenly Father will forgive us, but if we don’t forgive we are not forgiven.

Friendship Baptist
Bro. Ken’s (Daniel) message was from Acts 9 titled “A Turning Point.” Saul is converted on the road to Damascus. We are always a work in progress. We still learn each and every day. God wants to see us rise to a better level.
Sunday evening, Bro. Raymond Powell and Pam Jones sang “Sweet Chariot.” Bro. Ken’s message was from James 1:2, “A Promise for Testing Times.”
Prayer requests: Ressie Simmons family, JoAnn Lyles, James Staggs, Vivian Sanders Jones, Donald Scott and our youth trip.
Jan. 13-16: Youth trip to Gatlinburg, Tenn.
Jan. 21: Ladies day out and thrift store shopping. Be at the church at 8 a.m.
Jan. 22: Sanctity of Human Life Sunday; baby shower for Kimi Jones Moss
Jan. 26: Early bird VBS 2012 director’s clinic
Jan. 28: RA racer workshop at Mulberry Baptist Church from 8 a.m. until noon
Jan. 29: Men’s cake bake-off

Jackson Chapel
Bro Gary Fant got the morning worship service started off with “There Is Power in the Blood” and “The Unclouded Day,” and following the congregational singing Bro Gary Fant blessed us with “He’s Coming Back.”
Bro Dennis’ text came from 1 Kings 10:4-7 with a message entitled “Seeing Is Believing.” We as Christians become very curious when Jesus Christ shows up and turns a situation around that we’re going through in our lives and proves that he is God. When we as Christians see things God has done, that should make us want to believe that Jesus Christ really is who he says he is — but it really doesn’t, because people still want to live like the world during the week and for Jesus Christ on Sunday. All we as Christians have got to do is believe God is who he says he is according to his word. Jesus Christ does so much for us, and every day we are so busy in life that we don’t even take time to tell him thank you. But all we have to do is look around and see where Jesus brought us from to where we are today, and that is enough right for us to believe that Jesus Christ really is the Son of God.
The service ended with several coming to pray.
Sunday evening, Bro. Dennis’ text came from Matthew 15:21-28.
Happy birthday to Chris Burnett, Johnny Burnett and Shirley Burnett
Happy anniversary to Freddie and Jean Mayfield.
Please remember these as you pray this week — Horace Wyatt, James Smith, Sabrina Lett, Marie Rhodes, James and Marie Johnson, Amy Solis, Janice Williams, Kathy Waites, Roy Kelley, Betty Maddox, our lost loved ones and our servicemen and women.

Mt. Carmel No. 1
God is good to us and blesses us every day. It is our prayer that you experienced God’s presence and love while worshipping with us Sunday. We appreciate each one and especially our visitors that worshipped with us. We look forward to seeing you again our next service.
We enjoyed special music as sung by Lanelle and Tammie Jones, Charity Lockhart and Lillie Jones. God has blessed these with beautiful voices to praise him.
Bro. Derrell brought a great message entitled “3 Crosses of Calvary” taken from Luke 23: 32-33, 39-43. The cross reminds us of the price our Savior paid for us and should be preached 24/7. The cross has meaning; without the cross of Calvary we would not be here today.
Sunday night’s message was Psalm 116:1-9, “Why I Love the Lord.”
Prayer requests for this week include our youth as they go on their trip to the Smoky Mountain Student Conference Jan. 15-17.
Begin praying now for our church as we take part in the “On Mission Celebration” coming in Feb. 25-26. Prayer warriors, pray each day at noon and 4 p.m. for this celebration and the missionaries and their families. Don’t forget you are invited.
Calling all church members, friends and neighbors, come Saturday, Jan. 14 at 8 a.m., bring your prayer requests, enjoy a good breakfast and pray with us.
Please remember to pray for those on our prayer list. We see a prayer answered through Minnie Mae Childress, who was out of the hospital and in church this Sunday. A special prayer is requested for baby Jacob Jones and his family. God is still in the miracle business.

Mt. Springs
Services started Sunday, Jan. 8 with Bro. Wayne Barnett leading the church in the following hymns: “I’ll Fly Away,” “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms” and “Where the Soul Never Dies.”
After Sunday School, Bro. Wayne led the church in the hymns “Victory In Jesus” and “What a Friend.” Bro. Sam Ross sang “If You Knew Him” and “He’ll See You Through.” He blessed the church with two wonderful songs.
Bro. Don’s message came from Daniel 3:8-30. We have choices to do right or wrong every day. There are consequences to the bad choices we make.
We were so thankful to have Rick and Darlene Lowery back in church with us this Sunday. God has blessed them tremendously, and we are so grateful to have them apart of our church family again.
Sunday night’s services started with Bro. Wayne leading the church in the hymns “When We All Get to Heaven” and “Amazing Grace.” Sherri Williams sang, “Went a Little Farther” and touched the church with such a powerful song.
Bro. Don’s message came from Ephesians 4:11-16. Edification is not about you; it’s about building others and then the church will be stronger. Don’t build up yourself; build up the body of Christ. We tear down more than we build up because we use the gift that God has given us in the wrong ways.