Mountain Springs Church

On Sunday morning, Bro. Kenneth Moates led the congregation in the hymns “The Glory Land Way,” “I Would Not Be Denied,” “At Calvary” and “I’m Gettin’ Ready to Leave This World.”

Trey Coker brought our morning devotion from Mark 4:15 and Matthew 15:30-31. As soon as you sit down from testifying, preaching or singing for the Lord, the devil makes you feel like you did something wrong. He’s always on you for something, but what a friend we have in Jesus! The devil may come at you pretty quickly, but Jesus arrives just as quickly.

After Sunday school, Bro. Wayne Barnett sang “We Are Those Children.”

Bro. Heath Vines preached from Genesis 12:1-5. You can’t claim a promise you know nothing about. God desires to fulfill his promises to us (2 Corinthians 1:20). People will let you down, but God never breaks a promise to us.

We may not be faithful, but God is. His blessings are dependent upon us being obedient to him. You can’t live like the devil and still have the promises of God on your life. God delights in our obedience.

In the Bible, Abram did two things to get the promises of Gog: He separated himself from uncleanliness, and he submitted himself to the will of God. So to receive the promises of God, we should be obedient, separate ourselves from any unclean thing and submit to the will of God.

Sunday night, the congregation sang “I’ll Be Satisfied,” “I Love My Savior Too” and “Where the Soul Never Dies.”

Bro. Kenneth Moates led the testimony service and brought a devotion from Ephesians 6:11. We are going to be in a battle. Keep fighting because we have a cause to fight for. Just keep praying.

Ricky Cleckler sang “Still Go Free.”

Bro. Heath Vines brought his Sunday night sermon form Psalm 118:24. We have something to rejoice over. The devil tries to get us to focus on the negative things in our lives, but we still have a reason for joy. (Psalm 30:5).

We can’t do anything about what we did yesterday but ask for forgiveness and move on. We do have today, though—and we can start today. Don’t waste your time worrying about tomorrow; the only thing that can impact tomorrow is prayer.

God has our past and our future; he’s already there. We should only be concerned with today (Philippians 3:13-14). Today is the day of salvation.

God longs for us to rejoice in him. If God gives us another day, we will rejoice and be glad in it. What are you doing with the days God has given you?

The Perrys will sing at Mountain Springs on May 31 starting at 9:45 a.m.

Vacation Bible School will be held June 1-5 from 6 until 8:30 p.m. each evening. The theme is “Growing in Grace: A Barnyard View.” A hotdog supper will follow commencement on June 5.

Submitted by Savannah Parrish

Bethany Baptist Church

Service opened with the song “Let Others See Jesus in You.” We then had a devotion titled “Members One of Another” from Romans 12:1-5.

We begin this passage with a plea from Paul to put aside our desire for the world and begin following God, to be a living sacrifice. We should count our blessings daily from day to day and year to year, and we will realize how much we need to be a living sacrifice for God.

Be transformed, not conformed to this world. After this we need to work together as a church body, beginning in our local church and working together with churches of like faith and order to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ to the lost world.

Verse 3 tells us to be humble. We are not more important than others. As the human body has many parts, each with its own purpose, so the local church is one body made up of different members each with a different job to do. We need to work in unity with each other to do the work God wants us to do.

Only when we sacrifice and put away the things of the world will we do the will of God’s well.

Following a prayer and Sunday School, we sang “My Country ‘Tis of Thee,” “Without Him,’ “In My Heart There Rings a Melody” and “America the Beautiful.” Our offertory hymn was a recording of the Army Chorus singing “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”

Bro. Aubry brought the message from Revelation 7:9-14. The book of Revelation contains the words of Jesus Christ to John the apostle. The letters in chapters 2 and 3 are written to the angel, or pastors, of the seven churches of Asia. After the revelation, God grants John a glimpse of the things that come to pass near the end of this age.

Chapter 7 is a parenthetical passage which was placed there by God to allow us a glimpse of Almighty God during the tribulation period. In the beginning of this chapter, we see the Lord redeem 144,000 Jewish men. They are then sent out to the world to do the work of the churches. The saved have already been raptured, and only lost people and young children are left on the earth. Those who are left will have a chance to be saved during the tribulation.

These Jewish witnesses will consist of 12,000 from each of the tribes of Israel. It is in God’s heart and plan to save people from hell. John 6:37 says that every person who turns to Jesus Christ by faith can and will be saved. It is not God’s will that anyone should perish and go to hell.

Who are the people about whom John is speaking when he says that a multitude of people will be saved, a multitude which no man can number? In the book of Jonah, we see that a multitude of people were saved by the Jonah’s preaching. The entire city as a whole repented and turned to God. In the exodus from Egypt, all the Jews who applied the blood of a perfect lamb to the doorpost and lentils were saved from the Egyptians. More people than this will be saved from hell during the tribulation.

Something we notice about this multitude is that they come from every nation, kindred, people and tongue; they are all Gentiles.

The first eight verses of chapter 7 were written for the Jews, and the remainder of the chapter is concerning Gentiles. We judge people according to many standards: race, social status, etc., but Jesus sees no color or social status. The gospel message is not a Baptist message. Being Baptist does not ensure you a place in heaven. Regardless of your denominational beliefs, if you have trusted Jesus as your Savior, you will go to heaven when you die.

There is only one way to heaven: confession, repentance and asking Jesus into your heart. Do this and you will be eternally saved. If you do not know you are saved, then you are not saved. Be saved today.

We closed the services with a prayer and a hymn, “Take Time to Be Holy.”

On Sunday evening, we sang “Onward Christian Soldiers.” Bro. Aubry then continued the message about the multitude that will be saved during the tribulation period. He began with the 144,000 Jews who were saved to preach the gospel to the lost world.

All things that happen in the future are known only to God. Only God knows who will be saved, although each person makes his or her own choice. The Church will not play a role during the tribulation period, because it will have been raptured. Revelation 4:4, 7:14 tells us the Church will be saved from the tribulation. The people in previous verses and all those previously saved will be clothed in white garments.

1 John 1:7: “Walk in light of the blood of Jesus Christ; by his blood he has saved us.” Our sins have been washed as white as snow. We are no longer lost, but are reconciled to God. Now we are ambassadors to Christ, representing Christ.

Don’t rejoice in the fact that you led someone to Christ, but rejoice because your name is written in heaven. We need to praise God so much more than we do because of what he and his Son have done for us. There is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.

In Revelation 7:9, we see the redeemed saints have palm branches in their hands, which is a sign of victory. Christ died once for all. He is coming back; be prepared!

Evening services closed with a prayer and the hymn “Blest be the Tie That Binds.”

Our prayer list includes our church, Bro. Aubry, Shirley, Mrs. Grace, Billie, Jackie, missionaries and missions, Journey in Calera, Ashley Kelley family, Lisa R. Jenny H., Colyn, Barbara W., Debbie, R. Allen D., Vikii, Helen, Glenda, Mary K., Wanda and many more, but most of all, the unsaved.

Submitted by Jane Vines