Lime Springs United Methodist Church
Our Sunday School lesson focused on Revelation 16 and Earth’s worst days.
Bro. Shannon brought the morning message from Luke 24:36-53 and Matthew 6:25-34. He related the story of how the disciples and followers of Christ reacted right after the Crucifixion of Jesus. Unsure of their future, they were consumed with fears of what tomorrow might bring upon them. However, Jesus appeared to them and assured them he was alive. He accomplished this by letting them touch him physically, eating food with them and sharing the scriptures with them. This reassurance was finalized with the promise of the Holy Spirit and his ascension to heaven. The end result was a complete change for his followers from fearing what tomorrow might bring, to thanking and praising God for what they had experienced that day.
When we come to a realization that we serve a living Savior, the same excitement will change our fears of an uncertain tomorrow to a time of giving thanks and praise for today!
Bro. Shannon reminded us knowing Jesus is alive and well is the greatest reason to give thanks this Thanksgiving Day. We closed our service by receiving Holy Communion and singing the hymn “Because He Lives.”
We enjoyed a covered dish lunch after the morning service.
Our evening Bible study focused on James 2:1-13.
Happy anniversary to Myra and Gene Parker and Kelli and Joel Huffstutler.
Our service times are as follows: Sunday School at 9:30 a.m.; Sunday morning worship at 11; evening Bible study at 5:30; and Wednesday night prayer meeting at 6:30.
For more information concerning Lime Springs, you may call 755-6356 or 217-5183.

The Church of God’s Word
Bro. Jimmy Langston opened our service with prayer.
If we are walking hand in hand with God, whatever we are going through God has allowed it to happen. He is with us. We need to get closer to the Lord; we need to be more about the Father’s business and not our own. We need to work on self and our relationship with the Father and pray for others.
If the Church is on fire for God and someone walks in bound down, then the Church should be able to recognize it (1 Samuel 9:1-21). If you have lost something today, seek God’s face and you might just receive something better.
Bro. Thurl Pearson and Sis. Marie Williams preached Sunday’s message. Rejecting the word of the Lord is rejecting the Lord God.
The closing prayer was led by Bro. Jimmy Langston.

Christ Independent Methodist Church
On this perfect Lord’s Day, Dr. Mac Stinson took his scripture reading from the Gospel of Luke. For several weeks now, we have traveled with Jesus through Galilee on his way to Jerusalem.
Now Jesus has been in the Holy City for several weeks as today’s events take place. The disciples are not prepared for events they find confronting Jesus. He has been arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, quickly tried, condemned to death on the cross where his disciples now find him. They are shocked to see him hanging on a cross between two criminals with a crowd of people gathered around him jeering and making fun by shouting that if he is indeed King of the Jews to come down from the cross of Calvary and save himself. But Jesus ignores their cruel behavior. One thief is impressed with the demeanor of Jesus and asks that he be remembered when Jesus is in Paradise. Thus, a thief on an adjoining cross was the first person Jesus personally admitted into Paradise. Then Jesus died on his own cross under a crude sign that read, “Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews.” Thus a babe born in a stable in Bethlehem the City of David grew to manhood and died in the Holy City of Jerusalem as a ransom for you and me about 2000 years ago. As we go into the Advent season and recall the “reason for the season,” let us pause to reflect on the babe in the manger and the man on Calvary’s cross and the debt we owe the twain.
Special prayer is requested for Kelly Parker, Jean Gilmore, Opal Miller, Wilma Ellison, Jeanette Frost, our military and their families, our country, church, community and each other. Also remember those who will be traveling this week.
We urge all church family members to be present next Sunday night, Nov. 28, for the Hanging of the Greens at 5 p.m. This is always a happy, fun time for children of all ages.
A group from CIMC will travel to the BJCC in December to attend the Gaither Christmas Concert in Birmingham. Before the concert, we will enjoy a meal together at a chosen restaurant.
Everyone needs a church family, especially at this season of the year. If you have not affiliated with any church as yet, I invite you to visit our church. We are a small church in church membership but great in spirit. The lessons taught and the sermons preached by Dr. Mac Stinson are second to none irrespective of numbers. Christmas is a great time to give yourself the gift of a church family.
Have a blessed week.

Bethsalem Baptist Church
Our morning service began with the baptism of Regan Crawford and Lisha Merrell. The Celebration Choir sang “God So Loved” as their special music.
The message by pastor Bro. Brad Eubank was “Be Firm In His Word” from 2 Timothy 3. We ended our service by celebrating the Lord’s Supper.
We had Lee Woodfin to join our church by letter. It was a great day in spirit and fellowship with our church family.
Sunday evening we had our Thanksgiving supper and testimonies. It was a great time together. There will be no Wednesday night services, and we hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving.
Pray this week for Ralph Smith, Nate Jones, Katrina Thrasher, Caleb Mims, Kacy Barrett, William Jacks, Glenda Mims, Pettus Smith, Cathy Patton, Rita Brasher, Don Knight Sr., Billy Ray Mims, James Smith, Jessie Easterling, Vickie Knight, Brent Jackson, Renee Taylor, Hershel Blalock, Mary Ann McGee, Mary Bellman, James Harris, James Smith, Talon Hunter, Cody Carroll, Myra and Pete Burnett and Hunter Moore.
Happy birthday this week to Logan Pack, Hollan Horton, Robin Wells, Betty McGee, Joshua Thrasher, Emma Shepherd, Tammy Edwards, Rebecca Gilliland and Makenzie Blalock.
Have a blessed week and tell someone about Jesus. God is so good all the time. When was the last time it cost you to follow Jesus?
Come worship with us at Bethsalem.

Walnut Creek United Methodist Church
Our call to worship Sunday was “Let’s Just Praise the Lord.”
Prayer is requested for Bill Erkus (heart surgery), Gene Lowery, Gail Nettles’ mother, Ray and Myrtice Enfinger; Jerry, Gene and Don Gilliland, who had procedures this week; Peggy Cleckler, Marilyn Popwell and Lavada Attaway.
It was great to see our visitors this week and all the babies. Also, those who have been away in school were back with us this week.
Our scripture and message came from Psalm 9:11: “Sing praises to the Lord, enthroned in Zion; proclaim the nations what he has done.” We need to sing songs of praise and remember the goodness of God each and every day.
When we praise God, three things happen: We acknowledge the presence of Almighty God. There is nowhere we could go that the presence of God would not be with us. We recognize the love of God, and we confirm our relationship with God as we live our lives in abundance. Are you living your life abundantly?
Our special music was “Come, Ye Thankful People.”
Our Communion and meditation followed, and our prayer of intercession and sharing of the bread and the cup.
We closed our service with “The Old Rugged Cross.”

Samaria Baptist Church
Sunday was a beautiful day to be found in the house of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Special music was “Shepherd’s Point of View” by Diane Fisher. Our sermon title was “Reasons to Rejoice” from 1 Peter 1:1-9.
Our prayer concerns today are Kennley Williams, James Milford, James Smitherman, Ray Hardee, I.W. Harris (Ray’s brother). Our praise is for the safekeeping of Chase Brown from the accident he had last week.  It is so wonderful to come together in prayer for the needs of our brothers and sisters.  We offered special healing prayer for Walter Hudgins, and we believe that God hears us.  All Jesus’ children have a new life.  Jesus saves when we humbly come to His altar for cleansing, forgiveness, and salvation.  He never turns us away, when we seek Him.  He is able to keep us when we come to Him.  Jesus obeyed God the Father, by coming to die for our sins.  Without God’s mercy and love, none of us would be able to come to Him.
Jesus gave life to Lazarus, even after he was dead four days.  When we pass from this life, we won’t die, but continue to live eternally.  We rejoice in Jesus because of His work and His kindness.  To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
Just as our homes must have repair, our bodies get sick, have diseases, and fail us.  We look forward to a time when every aspect of life will be perfection.  In heaven we will have all the wonders that God has promised us. We will never get tired, or bored in heaven.  No sorrow can accost us there.  Our inheritance is incorruptible, and when God is ready, our time will come. Jonah had to be convinced by a whale to obey God. David strayed away, and sinned, costing him his earthly throne. God forgave them, and used them. He is prepared to do the same if not greater in order to prepare us for His service.
We know that David committed sins that cost him greatly as he sinned against God and man.  He was forgiven, but still lost his earthly throne. Jonah had to be convinced by a whale to conform to the will of God in his life.
Allow Christ to be in charge this Thanksgiving season.  May you and your family be truly blessed, and please know that you are always welcome to worship with us at Samaria.
Our Sunday evening service “Blessedness of God’s Service” continued to place emphasis on what wonders we can do when we make ourselves available to a God of wonder and glory.  Jesus said, I am come that you might have life, and have it more abundantly. Jesus is sufficient for all our needs.  His death paid it all.  Sin’s grip can be an awful assault on a person’s life. We are always thankful for the love of God. He is the way, the truth and the life. We learn this by coming to Him.
God bless you all, and let the power of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ lift you up, this day.

Jackson Chapel
“Enter into his gates with Thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him and bless his name” (Psalm 100:4).
Dewayne Castleberry got the Sunday School hour started off with a good lesson entitled “Fruit of the Spirit.”  Bro Gary Fant got the morning worship service started off with “Sweet By and By” and “The Eastern Gate.”  Bro. Dennis blessed us with a beautiful song entitled “Help Is On The Way.”  Bro Dennis’ text came from Romans 14:1-10. We as Christians need to offer encouragement to our fellow Christians because we never know what someone is going through.  We also need to be very careful about judging people as we were not put on this earth to judge others because there is only one person that judges us and that is Jesus Christ.  We need to be careful about saying that we have got all we need from Jesus because there is always room for us to grow in our faith.  If we don’t read our Bibles the way that we should we will never know what God has to offer us and we will never be where God wants us to be.  The service ended with several coming to pray.
Bro Gary Fant got the evening worship service started off with “O The Glory Did Roll,” “Heaven’s Jubilee” and “I Am Blessed.”  Bro Dennis Smith and Wanda Chadwick blessed us with “Life’s Railway to Heaven” and “My Redeemer Lives.”  Bro Dennis’ text came from Exodus 17:1-7 and Numbers 20:1-12 — There are things in this life that we as Christians face that will aggravate us to the point that it will hinder our relationship with Jesus Christ, and it will also cause us to be disobedient to God.  We have got to be very careful when things go wrong in our lives because we tend to want to look up and blame God, but he loves us. When things get rough and rocky in our lives, we need to remember that God is always with us.  We as Christians also need to be careful and not let the frustrations of this life get us down because that will cause us to miss out on some of the greatest blessings that God has for us.
Happy birthday to Jean Mayfield and Shaina McKinley.
Please remember these as you pray this week: Herschel and Marie Rhodes, Marie Johnson, Janie Smitherman, Betty Mims, Myrtle Cleckler, Gertrude Speigner, the Margie Waites family, our lost loved ones and our service men and women.
We are located at 4020 Yellowleaf Road in Clanton.  Our service times are as follows: Sunday School at 10, morning worship at 11, evening worship at 6, and Wednesday night prayer meeting and Bible study at 7.  We also have Kid’s Club on Wednesday nights at 7 for grades 1-6.

Cedar Grove
What an exciting day, Pastor Appreciation Day, Thanksgiving dinner and Old-Fashioned Day all rolled into one.
Happy birthday to Joey McGuire, Alton Russell, Rachel Hubbard, Freda Vines and Dawson Jones. Happy anniversary to Nick and Gayla Popwell, Sam and Missy Price and Frankie and Norma Muir.
Brother Steve led the congregation in singing several songs, the choir sung also and Sister Amelia blessed us by singing “ How Great Thou God” and Brother Alton led us in “God Is Good All The Time.”
Brother Shannon Bullard spoke about Brother Heath as a pastor, about what a good job he is doing at the church. He and Sister Freda went up and were given a gift from the church.
Brother Alton Russell spoke about Brother Jeff, how he has been such a good pastor, and presented him and Sister Sandra a gift from the church. We really appreciate all of them. You know, behind every good man is a good woman.
Brother Jeff’s sermon was about “Thanksgiving.” His text came from 1 Chronicles 16:7-15.
Everyone that participated in the old-fashioned dress looked right at home, especially the men in their overalls. Brother Jeff said he was very comfortable and so did several others. I think we should go back to wearing bonnets and hats; some of us would have to sit on the back pew depending on the hat size. We closed the service in prayer and went to the fellowship hall for a bountiful meal.
We welcome all our visitors and hope you will come again.
With all the fun things going on we still gave God all the praise for his blessing, and remembered the ones that desperately need prayer — Kenneth Robinson, Brother Steve’s mother, Dollie Price, all the sick and shut-ins, the military, leaders of our country and our church.
There was no evening service. Wednesday at 7 p.m. Brother Jeff will be teaching in the book of Romans. Come on out and join us, we would love to have you.
Next Sunday night will be our fourth Sunday night singing. Bring a song to sing or just come and listen to everyone else. The service starts at 5:30 and is over at 7 or 7:30. For more information, call 646-2390.

Floyd Baptist Church
What a glorious day to be in the Father’s house. Sunday morning our church family gathered for a baptism service for Tanner and Elizabeth Mims. Bro. Mike brought a message from Romans 6:1–14 on “The Meaning of Baptism.” It is important that Christians understand what baptism means and the commitment it signifies today. Through baptism we signify our connection with Jesus Christ, our Savior. Just as He died, entered the grave and was raised again, believers signify our part in Him through baptism. When we accept Christ as Savior, we become one with Him just as a husband and wife become one at the marriage altar. We also show the commitment that we have made to live for Jesus and exemplify Him in our life daily.
Sunday evening we shared our Thanksgiving meal together. We appreciate everyone coming as we were able to enjoy fellowship with one another. All of us should be thankful to live in a country, while not perfect, allows us the freedoms we enjoy. We are thankful to our Lord for our salvation that He provided by giving His life and becoming our sacrifice. We also need to remember the men and women of our military and their families who sacrifice to keep our freedoms. I have heard it said that only two people have ever willingly given their life for us, Jesus Christ and the American Soldier, Jesus died to make us free and our soldiers have died to keep us free! Pray for our military personnel who won’t be with their families this holiday season so that we can be!
If you would like information on our Angel Food ministry, which provides food at greatly reduced prices, call Bro. Mike at 205-294-1577.
If you are looking for a God-loving, Bible-believing, Bible-teaching church where you will be loved, join us for Sunday School at 9:45 a.m., Discipleship Training at 5 p.m., worship at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. and Wednesday night Bible study and prayer at 7 p.m.

Mars Hill Baptist Church
What beautiful days to serve and praise the Lord. Soon winter will be here and we will wish we had this sunshine and warm afternoons.
We have some who have had deaths in their family, some sick, some hurt, some having surgery. Please always pray for people in need. We don’t really give this a thought until it’s us who is sick or hurt. We tend to use God like a spare tire, we only use Him when we need Him.
What is Thanksgiving? The dictionary says “Fourth Thursday in November observed as a legal holiday for giving thanks for divine goodness.” I once tried to count my blessings and could not do it, can you? We are to share our blessings with others, not keep them hidden and hoard them. I once told a man “you are so blessed by God to have all that you have.” At this point he told me that he had worked hard, earned everything he had, that he had never cheated anyone in his entire life, and he had always tried to do what was right.
Yes, my good man, you have done all this, but God granted you the health and wisdom to do what you have done.
The choir’s gift to the church this year is “O Holy Night.”
We need you at Mars Hill where we do not have a watered-down ministry. We have God’s word in all classes and sermons. The Rev. Terry Harris is our pastor. Our Sunday School meets at 10 a.m. with regular services at 11 a.m., and the Children’s Church is during this time. It is hard to tell who enjoys Children’s Church more, the children or their leaders. Sunday night we have Discipleship Training at 5 and regular services at 6. Wednesday night Bible Study is at 7.
Who will pray for you this week?

Bethany Baptist Church
Memory Verse: “O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever” (Psalm 136:1).
Bro. Aubry’s message was based on Ephesians 5:20: “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  We are thankful for the salvation He has given us.  For the peace that comes from knowing Him (John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you…”; for His power, for the price He paid for us to have eternal life, and its permanence:  John 10:28 says, “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”
As we celebrate our national day of Thanksgiving, let’s take time to remember many of the wonderful things we should give thanks for God for.
Prayer list:  Lillian Burkhalter, Sherry Cooper, Jean DeLoach, Ashley Friday, Jack Friday, Ernestine Hatch, Gloria Headley, Mary Knight, our military, Nell Mims, Billie Neeley, Pvt. Josh Peppers, Jesse Wallace, Pastor Wallace; revival in America.
See you Sunday!

Mt. Springs Church
Sunday morning was filled with sunshine, and the glory of the Lord shone all around.  The congregation began the service by worshipping the Lord with singing the hymns “Joy Unspeakable” and “Oh, I Want To See Him.” We had an attendance of 85.  Special music, “On the Other Side of Grace” was sung by Kellie Bice, just before Brother Don’s message.
The text was Deuteronomy 26: 1-11.  He talked about the first Thanksgiving when the Israelites gave thanks for their deliverance from slavery.  We should be thankful for deliverance from  sin, deliverance to our Godly inheritance, and deliverance from the things (i.e., Sickness, hunger, poverty, grief) we don’t have because he has either kept them from us or helped us through them.  During this Thanksgiving season and other times as well, we should re-live the experience of our deliverance, recognize where our blessings come from, and rejoice in the blessings that God gives.  We should be filled with gratitude for the life God has given us.
Sunday evening the house was filled with people for our community Thanksgiving service.  Brother Heath Vines, associate pastor from Cedar Grove Church, brought us a wonderful message from I Thessalonians reminding us that to be in “God’s Will’, we must be continually thankful for what He has given.   After the message everyone enjoyed a fellowship supper.  Happy Thanksgiving to all and we hope to see you in church next week.