Samaria Baptist Church

What an awesome God we serve! For those who braved the rainy conditions, blessings abounded. Prayers requested again or little Harper Coker and for the Don Fisher family. Happy Birthday to Darrell Willis, Drusilla Hudgins and Charlotte Smitherman.

Our choir special was “Blessed Assurance” and Stacy Wyatt blessed us as pianist, singing a beautiful song titled “Saved.”

Bro. Shane preached today from the book of Daniel. His message was “Can God Deliver You?” In Daniel 6, we find that Daniel was in charge of all the presidents, as proclaimed by King Darius. Their task was to protect the king and his reign. The other presidents and princes were jealous of Daniel and tried to undermine his leadership. They could find no fault in Daniel, so they commenced to create something. Daniel’s faith in God would never falter, so the jealous group wrote a rule stating that to worship anyone but King Darius for 30 days would result in being cast into the lion’s den.

Daniel gave no heed to the rule. He continued to pray and worship God three times a day just as he had been. He opened his windows to allow anyone to see and hear him. The other group ran to King Darius with this breach of the law, and as much as Darius wanted to help Daniel, it became obvious that his hands were tied. Daniel was put into the lion’s den. King Darius told Daniel, “Thy God will deliver thee.” The king fasted through the night. In the morning, he went to the lion’s den and inquired of Daniel and whether his God had been able to sustain him. Daniel answered that his God has taken care of him. Angels had closed the lions’ mouths, and Daniel came out of the den without harm.

Our God will never let us down. We need to trust him and claim the grace and mercy God offers to us. No matter what we face or must endure, he will provide for all our needs, but we must maintain a faith such as Daniel had. In the face of Satan, who roams the earth seeking to destroy, we must hold fast and believe that Satan’s fate is sealed and his time is short.

To God be the glory! Please join us at Samaria, and you will be blessed by the Holy Spirit of a living God.

Rocky Mount UMC

Sunday’s scripture lesson came from Acts 8:26-40. This passage, like most of them, can easily relate to each of us. After an angel directed Phillip to a particular part of a particular road, Phillip saw a chariot and heard someone reading aloud. We learn that the person reading is a eunuch from Ethiopia who had been to Jerusalem to worship and was now on his trip back home. The eunuch is reading from the words of Isaiah. Like many of us, he was confused by what he was reading and when Phillip asked him if he understood what he was reading, he admitted that he did not. Phillip obviously did an excellent job of translating and relaying the good news of Jesus Christ because the eunuch wanted to be baptized. Now, here is part of the clincher: they were on a desert road where water would be so very scarce. But, these men found water for the baptism! When you read from your Bible and do not understand the words, do you do your research and find out the meaning of the words? Just like the eunuch, you can have the wonderful news of Jesus laid out for you in simple terms. Quite simply, God’s grace is absolutely free! Ask and you shall receive.

Rocky Mount has several opportunities for you to join us and have the Bible shared with you. We have an excellent Sunday school opportunity, where we are breaking the Bible down into easy to understand language. Currently, we are in the book of Isaiah. We also have our worship service each and every Sunday morning as well as Bible study on Sunday evenings. Come join us; our doors and our hearts are always open for you.