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jenkinscountytimes.com
The Jenkins County Times
Wednesday, July 12, 2023 - Page 3
Pastor Bill Kent,
Memorial Baptist Church
Sylvania, GA
The Blood of
Jesus
When we eat steaks, hamburgers, drumsticks and wings,
we may forget how much hard work took place to get that
meat on our table. Slaughtering cows and chickens is not
easy. It takes a lot of time, strength and determination.
After the meat is carried on trucks to grocery stores, the
butchers also spend long hours cutting up meat. They lift
heavy boxes and carefully cut everything for the public and
hope they don't lose any fingers in the process.
As we read through the Bible, we see a red thread running
from beginning to end. After Adam and Eve sinned, they
needed to be restored to good standing with God. They
tried to redeem themselves by covering themselves with
leaves from trees but that was not enough. Instead, God
slayed some animals to put animal skins on Adam and
Eve for a proper covering. "Also for Adam and his wife
the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them,"
(Genesis 2:21). In the Old Testament, animal sacrifice
provided the way for sinful people to approach God.
Besides two of each kind of animal in the Ark, the Lord
instructed Noah to bring some extra animals for sacrifice
when the Lord provided deliverance from the worldwide
flood. Even though Noah was the best man of his generation,
he was still a sinner in need of cleansing. "But Noah found
grace in the eyes of the LORD," (Genesis 6:8). As soon as
Noah got out of the big boat on to dry ground, he built an
altar to worship God and present a sacrifice. "Then Noah
built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal
and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the
altar," " (Genesis 8:20).
Every Old Testament sacrifice was a preview and
preparation for the main event when Jesus shed his own
blood for us. In so doing, Jesus provided acceptance with
the Heavenly Father now and forever for all kinds of people
with his precious blood. In heaven, Jesus is worshipped
forevermore for dying for our redemption. "And they sang
a new song, saying: 'You are worthy to take the scroll, and
to open its seals; For You were slain, and have redeemed
us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and
people and nation,'" (Revelation 5:9).
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WELCOME
TO OUR
CHURCH
East Burke Baptist Church
Sunday Services 11 a.m.
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 a.m.
219 N. Gray St, Millen, GA
478-982-5411
Pastor Brad Asbury
pastorbradasbury@gmail. com
Millen Methodist Church
Morning Worship 11AM
Sunday School 10 a.m.
413 N. Gray St, Millen, GA
478-982-2664
Pastor John Drake
For questions about our services, please
email us @ millenmethodistchurch@gmail.com
Oak Hill Baptist Church
Sunday School: 9 a.m.
Sunday Morning: 10 a.m.
Wednesday: 7 p.m.
Choir practice - Bible Study
Youth Group - Kids Mission Group
3233 Oak Hill Church Rd., Millen, GA
Pastor: Joshua Johnson
478-982-1616
www.oakhillmillen.com
Scarboro Baptist Church
4204 Scarboro Church Loop
Millen, GA 30442
706-466-4494
Pastor: Perry Hearn
Sunday School: 10:00 a.m.
Sunday Worship: 11:00 a.m. & 6 p.m.
Wednesday Evening Service: 6:00 p.m.
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
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 T-Th-F
Words of
Encouragement
By Joshua Johnson,
Special Contributor
for
The Times
Pastor Oak Hill
Baptist Church, Millen
“The Twilight
Years”
Winston Churchill became Prime Minister of Great
Britain at the age of 65. His most significant life’s work, his
legacy, was done at retirement age. The Legend of Britain’s
“Bulldog” was made in his twilight years. Someone once
said, “I want my twilight years to be my highlight years”;
Churchill’s were. Will yours be?
There are three men in the Bible who had different
outcomes in their twilight years -Abraham, Isaac, and
Solomon. All three of these men started well, but their
stories ended differently. One man wore out in God’s
service, another rusted out in God’s service, and the final
man was thrown out of God’s service.
Our first example is Abraham. The beginning of
Abraham’s story is when God called him out of the land
of Ur to go to a land that God would show him - to trust
God in faith and leave for a land, sight unseen, destination
untold. Abraham went and even though he sinned at times,
he continued to walk with God in faith his whole life. At
the end of his life, in his twilight years, we see his greatest
work - when God told him to sacrifice his only son Isaac
on Mount Moriah, he was willing, and he made ready to
do it. Only at the last moment did God stay his hand and
provide a ram as a substitute for Isaac. So we find Abraham
in his twilight years, not only still walking in obedience but
exercising an even greater faith than he had at first. We can
say that Abraham wore out in service to God. He served
him to the end, “wearing his harness in the field, either at
the plow or in battle.”
Our second example is Isaac. Isaac was the son of God’s
promises, and he saw the great faith of His father, but Isaac
is a good example that you cannot live off of the faith of your
father, you must have your own personal faith. Isaac started
well and walked with God in obedience, but he disappears
from the biblical narrative for chapters, only to appear again
as a footnote saying he died. We cannot say that Isaac fell by
some great sin, only that he did not do anything else worthy
of being recorded in scripture in his twilight years. Isaac
rusted out in service to God - he stopped being usable, so
he was found unusable and rusted.
Our final example is Solomon. Solomon started well -
the son of David, names Jedidah (beloved of God) by God
Himself, and he inherited the unified kingdom of Israel,
which he grew even beyond his father’s reign. Solomon was
blessed with a great gift from God also, wisdom beyond
anyone who has ever lived, plus honor, riches, and power.
People traveled from all over the known world to heed
Solomon’s wisdom. Here is a principal worth noting - a
man can have the greatest wisdom in all the world and yet if
he refuses to apply it to his own life, he will lose in the end.
In the end, Solomon’s heart was turned away to other gods.
Solomon’s Achilles heel was women, he had 700 wives and
300 concubines, and most of them were foreign women
who worshipped other gods. This was in direct violation
of God’s law. God established marriage in Genesis 2 as
between one man and one woman. Then, God commanded
the Israelites not to marry foreign women who worshipped
other Gods.
Why did God allow Solomon to do this? God’s allowance
is not God’s approval, and Solomon reaped the bitter fruit
of his own sin. 1 Kings 11:4 says, “For when Solomon was
old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his
heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the
heart of David his father.” In Solomon’s twilight years, he
allowed his many wives to turn his heart away from God -
and he was not wholly true to God in the end. What a sad
footnote to a blessed life! In the end, Solomon was thrown
out, disqualified from service because of his sin.
What will your twilight years be like? Abraham wore out
in service to God, walking with God until the end. Isaac
rusted out in service to God because he stopped being
usable. Solomon was thrown out of service to God because
he chose to love lesser things.
John MacArthur told a story about his high school
relay team and their surprising upset in a race they were
winning. They had run a great race so far and were lengths
ahead of their opponents when the baton was passed to
their anchorman. The anchorman started out well and then
abruptly stopped running, walked over to the infield, and
sat down. The team rushed to him and gathered around
him, thinking he was hurt but to their shock, he was not!
When they asked him why he stopped running he said, “I
just decided I didn’t want to run anymore.” Hebrews 12:1-3
encourages us not to stop running, by fixing our eyes on
Jesus and considering His endurance. If we want our twilight
years to be our highlight years, we must keep running with
endurance, and wear out in the service of God.
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