Corinth Baptist Church

We had an awesome time at VBS last week. If you weren’t there, you really missed out. A big thank you goes to Jack’s, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut and Mullins Decorating for their donations. It really meant a lot to our small church. We also wish to thank all those who helped by teaching, volunteering and decorating.

As we have all seen, last week was an eventful week for America. Some people are happy, some are mad and some are disgusted. As one meme eloquently put it: “My Facebook feed looks like a war broke out between the Confederates and a Skittles factory.”

In case you missed it, the “rebel” flag has come under fire for its use as a symbol of hatred through the years. People are protesting throughout the South, saying it is their right to have that flag, as it stands for everything their forefathers fought for; however, 90 percent of those protesting do not even realize that the flag in question isn’t even the actual flag of the Confederacy.

The flag that is normally flown is the battle flag. The actual flag of the Confederacy was the “Stars and Bars,” but it looked so similar to the American flag that the South had to come up with something to take into battle that would not confuse the troops.

No matter what flag of the Confederacy you want to use, one thing is for sure: If people cared half as much about other human beings as they do about a piece of cloth, the world would be a much better place.

The other controversy is the Supreme Court ruling making same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states. My mouth stayed agape most of the day reading comments from “Christians” over the whole kerfuffle. Wow! Things weren’t very loving once that ruling was handed down.

Many people are worried that with this the law, churches that stand firm against same-sex marriage will be persecuted; however, everyone is still protected under the first amendment. The popular radio station KLOVE even reported on this. Here is the excerpt: “Finally, it must be emphasized that religions, and those who adhere to religious doctrines, may continue to advocate with utmost sincere conviction that by divine precepts same-sex marriage should not be condoned. The First Amendment ensures that religious organizations and persons are given proper protection as they seek to teach the principles that are so fulfilling and so central to their lives and faiths, and to their own deep aspirations to continue the family structure they have long revered.” (The entire document will be posted the church’s Facebook page).

No matter what the court says, or what the laws of man say, there is one law that is above them all. As Jesus stated in John 13:34-35 ” A new commandment I give unto you: That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

In reading that, we should all strive to achieve it. We are America. We are one nation under God, indivisible! All this nonsense over a flag and what two consenting adults do in private should not divide us.

You don’t have to approve of everything others do. We all sin, and we all have our own opinions of what is right and wrong; however, one thing remains: If you believe that Jesus is God’s Son, and that he died on the cross and rose again to save you from your sins, you will be saved—everything else is between you and God.

Until next time, may God bless you and keep you. We hope to see you soon.

Submitted by K.J. Bowen

Bethany Baptist Church

The morning service opened with “Have Faith in God” followed by a devotion titled “God’s Command for Kings” from Deuteronomy 17:14-20.

This passage gives God’s instruction for choosing a king and for the king about how to rule. These instructions were written about 450 years before Israel had a king. God was Israel’s king, but the nation of Israel wanted to be like other nations; they wanted a king they could see, one to sit on a throne.

God knew they would want a king, so he laid out rules for choosing one. The rules to the king begin with Verse 18. Maybe the king wrote these so he would remember, or perhaps someone wrote them for him. He was to read this all the days of his life so he would know how to rule. We should do the same with God’s Word so we will have godly wisdom to know how to apply the Bible to our lives. We must do more than just read the Bible; we should study God’s Word daily.

After being dismissed with a prayer, and after Sunday school, we sang “America the Beautiful,” “My Country ‘Tis of Thee,” “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” and “The Star Spangled Banner.”

We were blessed to have our pastor Bro. Aubry and his wife Shirley back with us after being away for three Sundays.

Bro. Aubry made the announcements and brought the morning message “Where to Go in Times Like These” from Luke 15:21-28.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. He never changes, and God’s Word never changes, regardless of what man may think. We all have needs that only God can meet. In the midst of all our problems, we have God to whom we can turn during the daily cares of life.

Problems in our lives do not go away, but God will give us the grace we need to deal with those problems. The Canaanite woman in these verses did not ask for the whole loaf of bread, but only for a crumb. God holds the key to the needs of our lives. A crumb from the Master’s hand is more than enough.

We see two things in the above passage:

(1) The woman in this passage had a daughter that was possessed by the devil. Many times we need tough love when it comes to our children, and God has to practice tough love with his children. This woman cried out after God because she could not control her daughter.

(2) We must preach the gospel of Jesus Christ so that others may hear. How can lost people be saved without hearing the Word of God?

We need forgiveness, even after salvation. Regardless of what we face, God can take care of it. He will not do things unless we ask.

In Matthew 11:28, Jesus invites us to come to him: “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

1 Peter 5:7 tells us to cast all our cares upon him because he cares for us, and Hebrews 4:15 tells us that we have a high priest who is not human; our high priest is in heaven, and we can pray directly to him.

“Let us come boldly to the throne of Grace” (Hebrews 4:16). Come to Jesus.

We closed the morning service with a prayer and the hymn “Softly and Tenderly.”

Choir practice was held at 4:30 p.m., followed by evening worship, in which we sang “Send the Light.”

After a prayer, Bro. Aubry gave a report on the National American Baptist Association’s annual meeting which was held in Springfield, Ill. The theme of this year’s meeting was to exalt the Lord in worship, exalt him in all we do and enlarge our vision. What is our vision for Bethany Baptist Church? “Without a vision, the people perish.”

Bro. Aubry reported on the mission fields in the United States and other countries. We have many missionaries on salary and many on designated funds. New missionaries were approved for these. Many professed salvation, and some were baptized.

Also in the meeting was a proposed addition to our doctrinal statement. This came about because of all that has happened in our country recently, especially this year. Doctrinal Statement No. 22 states that marriage is the union between a man and a woman. The statement was approved by 100 percent of the churches of the American Baptist Association. The scriptures for this statement are Genesis 2:21-24, Matthew 19:4-9, Mark 10:6-9, 1 Corinthians 7:2-4 and Ephesians 5:22-31.

In the American Baptist Association, each church, regardless of size, has three votes in a meeting. This prevents a large church from making decisions for all the churches in the association.

We closed with a prayer and a hymn.

Our prayer list includes, our church, Bro. Aubry, Shirley, Jackie, Billie, Grace, Lisa R., Jenny H., Colyn, Barbara T. W., Debbie R., Frankie R. and their families, Jeannette, R. Allen D., Vikii, Helen, Glenda, Mary K., the families who have lost loved ones due to death, but most of all the unsaved.

Submitted by Jane Vines