Bethany Baptist Church

We opened service with the song “I Will Serve Thee” followed by a devotion titled “A Good Reason Not to Fear” from 1 John 4:4.

This is a good verse for today. The world is full of wickedness, but this is nothing new. Elijah thought he was the only godly person left on earth, but God let him know that there were more. Noah and his family were the only godly people at the time of the flood.

Is it worse now than ever before? It is truly bad, but we can live in fear or we can trust God. “He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world.”

God is all-powerful. Satan is the most powerful in this world, but God is greater that Satan. If we truly trust God, why do we let our fears overcome us? We shouldn’t be afraid, regardless of how bad the situation may be.

Keep all this in mind: Things can and will get worse as the Bible says, but we know that in the end we who are saved will be victorious. We need to portray our trust as we live each day to show the world how great our God is.

We had a prayer and sang “The Longer I Serve Him,” “Come and Dine,” “He Looked Beyond My Fault and Saw My Need” and “Mansion Over the Hilltop.”

Bro. Aubry took prayer requests and made the announcements, then delivered the message “Being Angry, One Angry Man” from 1 Samuel 25:2-15.

Anger affects everyone. In these verses we see that although this was about David, the words of God still apply to us today. God gave us a glimpse of why he called David “a man after God’s heart.” David was given several chances to kill King Saul, but instead of killing his enemy, he practiced exceptional grace and wisdom.

This passage finds David in another state of mind. He was angry. If anger is controlling our lives, we have a problem. Things sometimes happen and we get so angry that we will do and say things that we would not otherwise do or say. Anger can cause destruction when is it isn’t controlled. Anger, like fire will soon die out, but only after leaving a path of destruction.

Ephesians 4:26, Psalm 36:8, Proverbs 14:29, 19:11 and Matthew 5:22 are some of the verses that tell us to control our tempers. Anger can cause us to walk away from God.

A look at David’s anger:

(1) Consider David’s anger: He is always fighting the rebels in wildernesses. In this passage, his men have served as a protective shield for the shears of Nabal. David asked Nabal to do the right thing and help them out with provisions, but Nabal was an ungrateful man. The Bible says he was churlish, evil and hard to get along with. King David wanted to kill Nabal and was going to have 600 men go after him. Once spoken, angry words cannot be retrieved.

(2) We should control our tempers—not for our sake, but for the glory of God. Although Nabal had done wrong in not giving David the items he wanted, David was foolish in not controlling his anger. It is up to us to control our anger. David went insane because Nabal insulted him. Rather than taking matters into our own hands, we need to let God handle the things that cause us to become angry.

Anger will cause us to say and do things we would not ordinarily do, and it will make a fool of us. God wants everyone to be born again and serve him in a local church.

More than anyone, Jesus had the right to be angry, but he willingly gave his life so that we could have eternal life.

Be saved today.

Services closed with a prayer and a hymn “Softly and Tenderly.”

Evening services began with “Lord I’m Coming Home,” followed by the conclusion of the morning message on anger.

In 1 Samuel 25:12-35, David’s anger was controlled and confronted when Abigal, wife of Nabal came to David after she heard of his plan to kill her husband and his servants. She asked if he would consider not killing Nabal.

Abigail was a godly woman who lived with an ungodly man. She took the necessary steps to correct the foolish deeds of her husband as she set out to change David’s mind. Even though her husband was evil, she saved his life. She admited to David that he had been wronged, but still pleaded for her husband’s life. David took the provisions that Abigal had brought and spared the life of Nabal.

In verses 32-43, we see how David’s anger is conquered. David’s heart was opened, and he saw that the Lord had sent Abigal to him so he would know of his sin in being so angry.

If David had taken matters into his own hands, he would not have been victorious in the end. Only God has the right to exact vengeance.

Do not seek to get even with one who has sinned against you; God will take care of the situation. Recompense to no man evil for evil. Treat your enemies with kindness and goodness (Romans 12:17-21).

It’s possible that Nabal had a stroke when Abigal told him of the things that had occurred. He lived like a stone for 10 days before he died. God took care of David’s problem; then David asked for Abigal to become his wife and she accepted. David probably got everything Nabal owned because he controlled and conquered his anger.

When we think we have been wronged, ask God to take care of the situation. We closed the service with a prayer and the song “Pass Me Not.”

Our prayer list includes our church, Bro. Aubry, Shirley, Grace, Jackie, Jean D., Debbie, Frankie, Jeanette, and her entire family, J.C., Mary K., Evelyn K., Chris K., Bro. Greg Bixler, Jenny H., Colyn, Barbara W., Vikii, Helen, Glenda, missions and missionaries, Journey in Calera, Bro. Paul Armstrong and family, and the unsaved.

Announcements:

Aug. 19: Men’s and ladies meetings at 4:30 p.m.

Aug. 30: The fifth Sunday fellowship meal will follow the morning service. We will not have evening services.

Submitted by Jane Vines

Mars Hill Baptist Church

Do you ever have days, weeks, months, etc. when it seems that nothing ever goes your way, when you are the bug on the windshield? Did you know that when these days come, you have a Savior who is ready to take on the world for you, and that he can win your battles?

In the Old Testament, when people were still living under the law, God required a blood offering for the remission of sins. He still does, only our Lord Jesus Christ paid for the sins of the whole world when he gave his life on the cross of Calvary.

Jesus was the final blood offering required for the remission of our sins. Is there anyone else who can do this? No, my friend; Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Only through him and the shedding of his precious blood can our sins be made white as snow; only through him can we obtain mercy, when what we deserve is justice.

Bro. William Short’s message this week was taken from 2 Chronicles 29:20-24: “Then King Hezekiah rose early, gathered the rulers of the city, and went up to the house of the Lord. And they brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs and seven male goats for a sin offering for the kingdom, for the sanctuary and for Judah. Then he commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the Lord. So they killed the bulls, and the priests received the blood and sprinkled it on the altar. Likewise they killed the rams and sprinkled the blood on the altar. They also killed the lambs and sprinkled the blood on the altar. Then they brought out the male goats for the sin offering before the king and the assembly and they laid their hands on them. And the priests killed them, and they presented their blood on the altar as a sin offering to make atonement for all Israel, for the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering be made for all Israel.”

Well, I’m glad that no animal offering is required today; there would simply be none left to sacrifice! The sins of this world are great, and animals would be slaughtered on altars every day in every city, state and country—and some folks are outraged about the killing of a lion in Africa!

Just think what it would be like to live under the Old Testament law; we would all be bound for hell because no one can live a perfect life under the law. Thank God for Jesus. He gave only begotten Son for our sins and the sins of the whole world.

Why were seven of every animal required? Seven is the complete number of God. He made the world in seven days, there are seven days in our week, and in the book of Revelation, seven is an important number in the end times.

Numbers play an important role in the Bible. What is the number of sins in this world? You may think there are too many to count, but you would be wrong. If you want to itemize sins, you may never get them all into all the various categories.

People sin in different ways—lying, cheating, stealing, etc.—so place all the individual sins in a bucket and consider this: If you are lost, (in disbelief, not having a personal relationship with God and never repenting of your personal sins) this is the number one sin in your life.

You can’t go to heaven if you are lost. You might even say that if you are lost, there is no hope for you. This would be wrong also because Jesus can save you and me from any sin we confess and repent of. Most lost people don’t realize they are lost. It’s up to those of us who are saved to tell others of Jesus and his saving grace. You can’t piggyback someone else and sneak into heaven; neither your momma nor your daddy can get you there; the preacher can’t get you there—only Jesus.

Let’s look at sin No. 2: Back-sliding: If you are saved, compare your life now to the way it was the very day you received Jesus into your heart and soul. Are you as close to Jesus now as you were then, or have you dropped away and started finding excuses for not doing what you know to be right?

Each one of us writes our own story. What does your life story say about you? Are you glowing and growing for Jesus, or do you present an attitude of gloom and doom? This world doesn’t offer us much hope of a better tomorrow, but friend, Jesus is our tomorrow, our future and our eternity! Place all your hope and trust in him, for he is the only way out of the troubles of this life. Ask for forgiveness of your sins, repent and return to the Lord your God.

Sin No. 3: Unconfessed sin: Do we confess? Should we? Well, the only way to get forgiveness for sins is to confess them. Don’t think that someone else will confess your sins; they will talk about them, gossip about them and tell everyone they know, but they will not and cannot confess your sins for you.

Your relationship with God is between you and God, not you and the world. Get on your knees, confess your sins and be forgiven. Life is about choices; we are free to choose but we are not free of the consequences of those choices. Think about that.

The word “if” is a little, often-used word that has a big meaning: if we confess, if we ask Jesus into our hearts and souls, if we have that personal one-to-one relationship with Jesus. Don’t wait until it’s too late to ask Jesus to save you, and don’t count on a deathbed confession of faith in Jesus.

You can listen to every preacher this side of the Mississippi, join every church in the state and never miss a Sunday School service, and still die in your sins and go to hell. Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord of all—or not at all—and live for him, for he is life everlasting.

Announcements:

Please remember to bring your Operation Christmas Child shoebox items. The WMU is collecting different items each month to prepare for a packing party at a later date.

Baby dedication services will be held on Aug. 15 in the morning service. We are blessed to have so many beautiful babies.

Our senior messengers will be having a party on Aug. 8 in the fellowship hall. Ya’ll come and have a great time, because you just never know what these old folks are up to!

Please pray for our church, our pastor, the sick, the lost, the hurting, our children, teachers and schools, the military, our missionaries, our country and government and the peace of Israel.

God is good, all the time! Amen

Submitted by Danny L.