Bethany Baptist Church

Service opened with the song “The Way of the Cross Leads Home,” and a devotion was given from Proverbs 1:7-9 titled “The Foundation of Wisdom.”

First we are going to look at the last half of these verses: “Be careful to whom we are listening.” If we are not listening to the true teachers of God’s Word, we can be led astray. We need to compare what we are hearing to the truths taught in the Bible. The basis of our sources of knowledge should be God’s Word. We should be careful about where we get our information. We have so many ways to obtain knowledge today, but the fear of the Lord should determine whether we have knowledge or wisdom (taking our knowledge and using God’s Word to apply it to our lives).

Science is an example of using knowledge without wisdom. Some scientists take God out of the equation and come up with their own ideas as to how everything came into being. Knowledge dies when we do, but wisdom will take us into eternity.

Stay true to God; distinguish what is true and to whom you should be listening.

After a prayer and Sunday School, we sang “The Way of the Cross Leads Home,” “If That Isn’t Love,” “What A Day That Will Be,’ and “How Beautiful Heaven Must Be.”

In the absence of Bro. Aubry, Bro. Glenn Vines brought a message titled “In the World but not of the World” from John 17:14-16.

The phrases “in the world” and “of the world” are separated by only two letters, but there is a world of difference between them. In verse 14, we see that the world hated the disciples because they were not following the world. We need to be in the world to do God’s work, regardless of how unpleasant the world may sometimes be. We cannot remove ourselves from society in order to witness to the lost world about Jesus Christ.

Keeping God’s Word to ourselves does nothing to help the lost of the world know how to be saved. If we are not careful, we will be selfish about God’s Word. Even though we study the Word, if we do not share it, what good does it serve?

Even though we do not need to take ourselves from the world, when feeling the call of God, a short period of time alone to meditate, pray and seek God’s will in our lives may be necessary. Matthew 28:18-20 tells us to go to the entire world to reach the lost souls. We should be careful and prepare ourselves for the task before us. We must be sure our heart is right and our relationship with God is where it should be. Without being prepared and without the right guide, we can accomplish nothing.

The world is full of temptations, and it has been since Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden. Sin is all around us, and we cannot hide from it, but we must not yield or give in to the temptations of the world. We may use the excuse “I can’t help it; I’m human,” but if we are living and walking with God as we should, we will know when we are being tempted, and we will be able to resist the temptation. Some scriptures to memorize to prevent yielding to temptation are James 1:27, 1 John 2:15 and James 4:4.

Even though we live in the world, we must keep ourselves separate from the world. We do not need to go out alone or we will fail. The Holy Spirit is always with us to guide us and say, “Don’t go there.” Do not go against the Holy Spirit, and avoid the places of the world in order to remain clean.

It would be easy to avoid dealing with the world, but that is selfish. We cannot spread the gospel if we are not in the world. God gave us his promise to never leave us alone.

We dismissed with a prayer and the hymn “Trust and Obey.”

In the evening service, Bro. Glenn brought a message about having a spiritual emergency plan: In life, we have emergency plans for the different emergencies that may occur. Without a plan, we would panic, but what about our spiritual lives?

We will have spiritual hardships, sickness, death and many more problems. If God is not in your life, you will have even more difficulties dealing with the problems. Even though those problems may be difficult, with God in our lives, we can get through.

The spiritual plan should include having verses of scriptures storied in your heart and mind. Study God’s Word to follow his teachings, and follow the Holy Spirit to know if there is trouble ahead. Be prepared so sin and hardships will not catch you off guard. Go to your place of comfort with God and identify with God. We can always call on God to get us through; call on him first. Psalm 84:17 tells us that God never leaves us; he is always there.

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

Our prayer list includes, our church, Bro. Aubry, Shirley, Billie, Jackie, Grace, Debbie, Frankie and their family, Jeanette, J.C., Mary K., R. Allen D., the Kelley family, Jenny H., Colyn, Barbara, Vikii, Helen, Glenda, Lisa, Nina M., Journey Baptist Mission and the missionary family, other missions and missionaries, and most of all the unsaved.

Announcements: On June 12, the AMD meeting will be held at Journey in Calera; afterward, we will meet at the church to decorate for VBS.

VBS for children ages 4-12 will be a one-day event held from 8:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. on June 17. Lunch will be served.

Submitted by Jane Vines

Samaria Baptist Church

Our hearts are heavy for the families of Linda Dennis and Jody Deavers. Prayers go out to the Dennis family for comfort in the loss of Ms. Linda. We also are praying for Dwayne Patterson, John Hill, Walter Hudgins, baby Elle and family, Patsy and Bobby Rhodes and family, Ms. Silas, Linda Silas and all our military members the world over.

Special music was from Lauren Wyatt, who sang “You Make Me beautiful,” a song that Lauren wrote.

We praise God for the graduate from North Carolina who was scheduled to make his valedictory speech, but instead, followed God’s call and led the group in the Lord’s Prayer. We are so thankful for our youth in America who still obey God and seek to do his will.

Daniel 5:13-31 was the text Bro. Shane used for Sunday’s message.

Daniel was summoned by King Belshazzar to interpret the writing on the wall. People of this day were worshipping silver and gold, and honoring false gods and idols. Daniel had the courage to tell the king what he knew the king wouldn’t want to hear. He gave him the explanation that silver, gold and material things cannot buy a person’s way into heaven.

God convicts us, and we know that he is speaking to our hearts, asking us to open the door and let him in. So often we turn away and say we will wait for another day. If we are already Christians, we sometimes don’t want to accept the new and greater responsibilities God has for us. He has something specific for each of us to do, and we must be willing to answer when he knocks on our heart’s door.

Daniel was truly a man of God. He had been promised all the wealth and power he could ever want, but he knew that God’s purpose for him was to make the king aware of what he needed to do to have peace and joy. He told them that happiness cannot be bought. Daniel instructed the king to humble himself before God. This of course, went against the nature of the power of the kingdom.

Jesus died to enable us to live forever. He left his Holy Spirit here to guide and direct us, as well as bless us, protect us and show us the will of our Savior.

Happy anniversary to Hank and Cherlyn Stoneback.

May this week be a blessed one for all who read this. Join us at Samaria for a blessing from Jesus.

Submitted by Diane Fisher