Cedar Grove Methodist Church

Announcements:

Pastor Jeff Carroll will be preaching Friday at Grace of God Ministries, Jamie Colter, and Broken Vessels will be in attendance with a start time of 5 p.m. Old Fashion Day is Sunday at 10 a.m. The Kempters Group will be singing with lunch to follow. On Dec. 13 the evening service Christmas Program begins at 5:30 p.m. with finger foods to follow.

Prayer concerns include our pastors, church family, our nation, those in hospitals and nursing homes, as well as any spoken and unspoken requests.

Pastor Jeff Carroll’s text was John 12: 20-36 “Walking in the Light.” Many times it is not just Jews that come to worship Jesus. Whoever may come to see Jesus.

There is only one light in the world that can lead you to heaven, and that is Jesus. Many people worship out of curiosity, or are concerned with what Jesus can do for them, and not what they can do for Jesus to bless others.

To have hope in Jesus is all we need to obey his commands. Jesus did something that was greater than all things, bringing forth much fruit by Jesus dying on the cross and being raised from the dead.

We need to serve one another rather than ourselves, and must serve others without expecting anything in return. The rewards are out of this world, being a servant. God expects us to do which is love him with all our heart, mind and soul so that where he is we may be also.

“Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? Father will you save me from this hour? But for this purpose I came to this hour, father glorify thy name. Then a voice from heaven said, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. The people thought an angel had spoken to Jesus, but he tells them this voice did not because of me but for your sake.

Now it is the judgment of this world, and now the ruler [Satan] of this world will be cast out. And if I am lifted up from the earth will draw all peoples to myself. We as Christians are not of this world. Therefore Satan has no control over us unless we give him that control.

Get bold in Jesus, as the greatest fear Satan ever faced was when the stone was rolled away and Jesus’ tomb was empty. He beat death, hell and the grave.

Satan cannot kill you if you are in Christ Jesus, and he has us covered. Everything we need is right here in the Bible and within the word of God. There are people out there that walk in darkness, and they do not know the light.

It is like the blind leading the blind, and you will both end up in the ditch. Why would you follow anything other than the light? The world has gotten so dark that it is becoming harder for people to see the light, but be not deceived.

There is no more important time than now for people needing to see the light. We have to remember even though the people saw Jesus perform miracles they still did not believe. If sin is controlling your life, then you are not saved and you need the light.

In closing, how bright is the light of Jesus in your life today? Seek the light while he is still to be found. Love all and God bless.

Bethany Baptist Church

First of all, we would like special prayer for our pastor, Bro. Aubry Wallace. He will be having a major surgery for an aneurysm Thursday, Nov. 12 around 1 p.m. Please pray that if it be God’s will, that the surgery will be successful and he will soon be back preaching God’s message of salvation.

We met Sunday at 10 a.m. and sang “There Shall be Showers of Blessing,” and had a devotion, “Jesus Institutes his Supper,” from Mark 14:22-25. These verses talked about the institution of the Lord’s Supper.

Jesus laid out a certain order for the partaking of his supper, which the order was insinuated long before the Lord’s Supper. Order was and is necessary in our worshipping the Lord in our churches.

Even though we may change some things, we cannot have disorder in our worship services. Everyone cannot do whatever they want while the pastor is preaching because others cannot understand what is being taught when they are distracted. Jesus expects order in the worship services, as well as when we observe the Lord’s Supper.

We were dismissed to Sunday School with a prayer and afterward sang “God of Our Fathers, Onward Christian Soldiers, America The Beautiful, and America.” The veterans were honored, and Bro. Aubry brought his message of “Becoming Fishers of Men,” Mark 1:16-20.

Jesus Christ on the shore of the Sea of Galilee was beginning the building of his church. One early morning by the Sea, Jesus walked and began his church. Jesus knew that the fishermen would be coming in early in the day. They had been fishing all night when Jesus called out to them.

The Holy Spirit calls men, women, boys, and girls to be saved and become fishers of men. Four of the fisherman left everything behind and followed Jesus. The lives of these men and the entire world were changed that day.

Jesus did not beg these men to come, he called and they came. The Holy Spirit pleads with us to be witnesses for Jesus after we have been saved. Jesus wants to do in our life the same as he did for those men.

We need not surrender to the call to preaching, but we can be witnesses to the lost. Some may we be preachers, some Sunday School teachers, and many may just come to hear the word and tell others about their salvation experience.

There are 5 F’s to make us successful as fishers of men. No.1 is that first we must be saved and follow Jesus, be close to him and conform to his examples. In order to get to Heaven, we must leave the world.

We will never be completely sinless, but we must try to live a life that will be blameless for others to see. Learn from Jesus and no one else. Every life matters to Jesus today and He wants everyone to be saved.

No. 2 is to finish the course on which the Lord takes us. We need to prepare for the business at hand. To be an effective fisher of men, we must be prepared, study the word of God so that we can lead others to Christ.

We closed morning services with a prayer and hymn “The Savior is Waiting.”

We met at 4 p.m. for our monthly men and ladies meetings, followed by choir practice at 4:30 p.m. At 5 p.m. we sang “Tell Me the Old, Old Story.”

Our monthly business meeting was held and Bro. Aubry completed the morning message on “Fishers of Men.” The 3rd “F” stood for find, which we need to look for the opportunity to talk to people about the condition of their soul.

To talk to someone about their salvation, first we need to talk about their interests, earn their trust, and you will be able to bring up the subject of Jesus. There is a right process in witnessing to the lost.

The verses in Romans, 5:12, 3:23, 6:23, 5:8, 10:9, 10:13, 5:1, 8:35-39 as well as John 3:16 is all people need to know in order to be saved.

We cannot save anyone ourselves, but we can point the person to Jesus Christ. Every saved person is a witness for Jesus Christ, be it good or bad, if we profess to be saved and are not living the life of a saved person. The world will never believe what we say about Jesus Christ.

No. 4 was fish. To be a soul winner you must find “fish” or lost people. Every place you go, there will be lost people.

Furnish was the fifth and final. We need to plant the seed of the gospel of Christ in the hearts of people. Without a seed, there will never be a harvest.

We closed services with a prayer and hymn. Our prayer list includes, our church, Bro. Aubry, Shirley, Grace, Bro. Hubert, Glenda Wallace’s family, Henry, Myra, Michelle, Barbara, Charlotte, Chris, Jenny, Colyn, Vicki, Helen, Debbie, Frankie and their family, Jeanette, J.C., missionaries and missions, especially Journey and her missionary pastor Bro. Paul. and his family. Most of all we need to pray for the unsaved, so that they will be saved.

We enjoyed having many of Bro. Aubry and Shirley’s family visiting with us. We welcome each and every one of you to visit with us at 9212 County Road 49 in Verbena. If you would like a ride to church, please call (205) 389-2970.

Friendship Baptist Church

We recognized our veteran’s by their flags. Our choir special was, “The King is Coming” with a solo part performed by Dusty Dutton.

Bro. (Daniel) Ken’s message was from Isaiah 26:1-6 and was titled “God Provides Protection.” Our strong hold, steadfast trust and sovereign protection praises in the land of Judah.

Bro. Dusty sang “The Lighhouse” while Bro. Ken’s message was from Job 1:6-12. His title was “God’s hedge of Protection.” God will never “play dirty” because he is our protector and he wants us to belong to him.

Schedule of Events:

Thursday – Basketball and exercise in the gym.

Saturday – We will leave the church at 7:30 a.m. for Homestead Hollow as well as Hayride at the Glover’s from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. for the children and 6 p.m. for youth and adults.

Nov. 17 – The sewing group meets at 10 a.m.

Nov. 19 – Mt. Cheaha State Park trip. See Bro. Ken if interested.

Nov. 22 – Harvest Fund

Nov. 24 – Mid-week Prayer Time with no Wednesday service.

Nov. 26 – Thanksgiving

Dec. 8 – Ladies annual PJ Christmas Party at Regeana’s from 6:15 p.m. until 9 p.m.

Dec. 20 – Christmas Canata: “Breath of Heaven” beginning at 10 a.m. and followed by Christmas lunch.

March 3-6 – Ladies Beach Trip

This week’s prayer Requests include Matthew Jones, Clinton Pairett, Anna Byars, Charlotte Smitherman, Earl Lowery, Brandi Dutton, Fay and Raymond Powell, Rachel Lowery, Sue Roberts, Betty Mims, Faye Honeycutt, and Pete Kirkpatrick.

Old Macedonia Baptist Church

“And in righteousness he doth judge and make war,” Revelations 19:11. The passage was included in the message brought to us.

It was a cool Sunday morning, but Pastor [Edward] Wilson was hotter than a firecracker lit on both ends as he praised the veterans who had put their lives in danger to protect our freedom.

He brought up David, Gideon, Sampson and Deborah from the Bible and implored that everyone stood up for church and not be a deserter to God!

The message was preceded by Sunday School, prayers requests and some wonderful singing with Sister Tiny Johnson and Rose Jones. They started things off with a toe-tapping rendition of “I’ve Never Been This Homesick Before.”

Cece Smitherman sang a touching “I Raise My Hands,” which was followed by a wonderful drama presentation by the youth of “Shout to the Lord.” The acrobatic performance for God delighted everyone!

Happy Birthday goes out to Sister Tiny and Bro. Mike McCary, and we want to give a wonderful welcome to all of our visitors.

Everyone is looking forward to the community Thanksgiving service scheduled for Nov. 22 at 5:30 p.m.

Folks, if you are looking for a home church or just a place to do some good old-fashioned worship of our Lord Jesus Christ, then we invite you “down on the river” to Old Macedonia.

As Pastor Edward says, most people do not know the Holy Spirit can buck dance with you!

Our service times are Sunday at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. as well as Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. Always remember that we have no promise of tomorrow, so today is the day for salvation.