Bethany Baptist Church

We opened services with the hymn “Brethren, We Have Met to Worship,” followed by Sunday school. Afterward we sang, “The Lily of the Valley,” “The Old Rugged Cross,” “Blessed Redeemer” and “I Saw the Cross of Jesus.”

Bro. Aubry made these announcements: On Easter Sunday we will have morning services only and regular services with special music, followed by a breakfast lunch in the fellowship hall.

The Central Alabama Associational Meeting will be held at Journey Baptist in Calera.

The message from John 14:1-6 was titled “Biblical Facts about Heaven. It is important for the child of God to remember that this world is not our home, we are just passing through. No one knows all there is to know about heaven. Learn to rejoice in what Jesus is doing for us, preparing an eternal home for us in heaven.

Heaven is a place prepared for the saved. Revelation 21 tells us that heaven is large enough for all of the saved. It is a perpetual city that will always be there. It is a perfect city and only the saved will be residing there. Our name must be in the Lamb’s Book of Life (Revelation 21:4). God will wipe away all tears from our eyes after the judgment seat of Christ, so there will be no tears in heaven, no pain and no death! Because there will be no sin in heaven, there will be perfect peace (Revelation 7:17).

Finally there will be perfect service. Only those washed in the blood of the Lamb will be there.

How to get to heaven: Realize you are a sinner doomed for eternal hell fire. Repent of your sins and trust Jesus to save you. He is the only way.

We closed with the hymn “Only Trust Him” and a prayer.

In the evening service, we sang “In the Sweet By and By” and had our monthly business meeting. Bro. Aubry brought the evening message titled “Getting the Clay Out of the Way” from Mark 2:1-12.

In these verses, we see a man who was paralyzed. His four friends wanted to get him to Jesus for healing. There were so many people at the house that they could not get through the door. They went up on the roof and removed enough clay roof tiles for an opening large enough to get the man down to Jesus. Jesus healed the man because of the faith of his friends. To what extent would we go to get a lost person to come to know Jesus as their savior? Clay in the Bible represents flesh, of which ours must be broken in order to experience salvation. When we get the clay out of our lives, our life for Jesus will pick up. Do we want to be a vessel of honor for Jesus Christ?

We dismissed with “Only Trust Him” and a prayer.

Our prayer list includes: Our church, Bro. Aubry, Shirley, Billie, Jackie, Elwyn, Grace, Jeanette, J.C., Colyn, and Sherry Cooper, Journey, Lori, John Rodriguez, Phyllis, Glenda Wallace, Larry, Lisa Rodriguez and the missionaries.

Calvary Independent Baptist Church

The children did a great job with their Easter program in the morning service. It was followed by a message titled “Will We Be Found Sitting?”

We looked at 1 Corinthians 11:23-34 and 1 Samuel 16:11 where Samuel was looking for a king. Was he out of luck? Samuel was waiting on David to return and would not sit until David’s return. Are we waiting for the shepherd? Are we willing to stand? Sometimes we get so comfortable just sitting on the premises rather than standing on the promises that we can have in Christ.

After the message, we had communion service focusing on discerning the body and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We hope you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal savior and will tarry until he comes.

Sunday night’s service included a message about the veil being rent. Bro. Kevin Shaw used scriptures from Matthew 27, Exodus 26;33, Leviticus 16, Hebrews 9 and Romans 8 to show how important the veil was in the Old Testament compared to how much more important Jesus Christ is in the new. Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. But that sacrifice has been offered once for all, and we have forgiveness of sin today through the one High Priest, the one mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. We hope you have heard the gospel of your salvation and are fully trusting in Christ’s death, burial and resurrection for forgiveness of sins today. We want to invite you to join with us for sunrise service this Sunday morning at 6 a.m. and also to take part in our regular services.