Newspaper Page Text
thej enkinscountytimes .com
The Jenkins County Times
Friday, March 10, 2023 - Page 3
JCTimes 3-10-23.indd 3
3/9/2023 10:00:24 AM
Press,
Press, and
Press
By Rev. Jerlyn Smith-Hudson,
Special Contributor
for
The Times
Pastor of Bethel AME of Millen
Paul, a persecutor of Christians who had a Damascus Road conversion, became an Apostle of Jesus Christ and writer of a
large portion of the New Testament, encouraged believers in Philippians 3:13-14 KJV with these words, "Brethren, I count
not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto
those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus". The pressing
may be in different forms or situations for everyone and for wherever you find yourself in life, but we are encouraged to
press on in spite of. We are encouraged to forget those past hurts and disappointments that can hold us captive and to press!
The pressing may be uncomfortable and tiring, but press! We are pressing toward someone greater than our circumstances.
Someone greater than anything we will encounter!
Things, experiences, that cause me to "press" everyday:
1. Met a little girl in Children's Church at my home church, 2007-2009, who said she never heard the name Jesus and never
heard the Lord's Prayer prayed. The child was not a regular member and when I looked for her registration fomi to get a
better insight into her life, I didn't find one. She only attended that once and I looked for her the next day. I think of her often
and pray that she's found who Jesus is.
2. Met a young woman in Macon, GA who, as I was sharing from the Book of Matthew, cried the whole time. I thought I was
doing an awful job of sharing the Gospel. Afterwards, the woman came up to me and said "Jerlyn, I have not been in church
in over 20 years and had forgotten that God loved me." She thanked me. I thanked God and at that moment my viewpoint
regarding ministry changed.
3. A little boy that regularly rode the van to Children's Church was being especially unruly, and someone said to him that he
was "bad". His reply, "God still loves me." Tmth, from the mouth of babes!
4. We, Jenifer Eubanks, and I, were about 12-15 minutes off schedule picking kids up for Children's Church. At one stop, a
little girl got on and said "we were standing out there in that sun waiting on y'all. Y'all need to be on time." This helped me
to be conscious of others' time as they too, may be pressing.
Ministry is never about the getting or the glamor, it's about the press! It's not about the branding or publicity, it's about the
"pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus". Only what you do for Christ will last!
I HOPE HAVE
A &OOP TITLE
‘Has It Ever Occurred
to You That ^fbu
Might Be Wrong? 71
EXCITING WORSHIP
Oak Hill Baptist Church
3233 Oak Hilt Church Rd,
Ml ten, GA 30442
Download
Oak Hill
0SS0
Church |
APP
Today!
Joshua Johnson, Senior Pastor
wi , me m
rAV-M*?'
Words of
Encouragement
By Joshua Johnson, Special Contributor
for
The Times
Pastor Oak Hill
Baptist Church, Millen
“Table Time”
One of my favorite hymns is “Come Thou Fount of Every
Blessing”. The reason why I love this song is for some
phrases in the last verse, “Let Thy goodness like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to Thee. Prone to wander. Lord I
feel it, prone to leave the God I love.” I love those phrases
because they speak of my own heart!
What does it mean that my heart is prone to wander,
prone to leave the God that I love? Even though I love the
Lord God, even though He has saved me and has given me
eternal life, my old sin nature that still lives in me tempts
me to run away from Him for other things. In the book
of Deuteronomy, when God tells Moses that he is about
to die and Joshua is going to succeed him as the leader of
Israel, God also tells Moses a sad truth - that Israel would
turn away from God and suffer for it. In Deuteronomy
31:21 God says, “...I know what they are prone to do, even
before I bring them into the land, I swore to give them.”
God knew that their hearts were prone to wander before
they ever did it. God had delivered them from Egypt,
parted the Red Sea, led them through the wilderness while
supplying them with water from the rock and manna from
Heaven, given them His presence in a cloud by day and
pillar of fire by night, and blessed them with the leader
Moses, who spoke with God like a friend - and still Israel
would quickly wander away from the Lord God. Their sin
nature, just like mine, tempted them to turn away from the
Living God to other things.
Here is God’s grace in our wandering - the fetter! Charles
Spurgeon told a good story about a fettered horse: “Con
cerning a beautiful horse of his friend, which was feeding
in the pasture with a weight attached to its leg, a gentleman
once asked his friend, ‘Why do you tie down and restrain
such a noble animal?’ His friend answered him, ‘I would
much sooner confine him than lose him, for that horse is
given to leaping hedges.”
I’m the horse, and I’m given to leaping hedges. I am
prone to leap over the hedges and boundaries that God has
placed in my life. So, God in His grace and mercy places
a weight on my leg, a fetter to bind me close to Him. I
may not be able to run free, but I will experience a greater
freedom close to my Master, than far away from Him.
The last lines of “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”
are, “Here’s my heart. Lord, take and seal it, seal it for the
courts above.” Would you be willing to pray today and ad
mit that you are prone to wander away from the God you
love? Do you need to ask the Lord to, in His goodness and
for your good, bind your wandering heart to Him?
Help visitors find you! List your
church in the directory for six months
$60 or one year $120
Call: (912) 451-NEWS or 478-401-
5007 M-T-F
This section is a complimentary service
for Jenkins County and surrounding area
churches listed in the Church Directory. We
will run your church news for two weeks. Email
announcements to jenkinscountytimes@gmail.
com or drop them off at our office Tuesday,
Thurday or Friday at 425 Hwy 25 S., Millen,
GA.
Our deadline is noon on Fridays for the
following week
East Burke Baptist Church
Sunday Services 11am.
Pastor: Jordan Clayton
Hwy 24 Sardis, GA
Please call 706-526-1733 for
more information.
Millen Baptist Church
Come join us!!
Morning Worship
8:30AM & 11AM
Sunday School 10 am.
219 N. Gray St, Millen, GA
478-982-5411
Pastor Brad Asbury
pastorbradasbury@gmail.com
Oak Hill Baptist Church
Sunday School: 9 am.
Sunday Morning: 10 am.
Wednesday: 7 pm.
Choir practice - Bible Study
Youth Group -
Kids Mission Group
3233 Oak Hill Church Rd.,
Millen, GA 30442
Pastor: Joshua Johnson
478-982-1616
www.oakhillmillen.com
Trinity Episcopal Church
4401 Country Club Rd,
Statesboro, GA
Sunday Eucharist
8:15 a.m. and 10:30a m.
Father Charles Todd, Rector
Jonathan Murphy, Music Director.
912-489-4208
www facebook com/TrinityEpiscopalStatesboro
(C) 476-401-0495
f Lf 0 513 Cotton Ave
W M Millen, Go
BRINSON £ shona Brinson
ImomAtf/ity, m. ~
ihuimi tud« Iotcm Kayla Shuman
0 Auto Insurance
0 Home Insurance
0 Life Insurance
0 Health insurance
n. Commercial
gj Medicare
w insurance
Supplements
0 Title Bonds
0 AFLAC Products
@ www.brinsoninsurance.net
Scan with
Camera
11 Bill
■ Bonded Leather
- Genuine Leather
■ Cowhide
125 North Main Street, Sylvania, Georgia 3046
