About The Jenkins County times. (Millen, Ga.) 2023-current | View Entire Issue (July 12, 2023)
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). HickiJiuMi r EXCITING WORSHIP ' Oak Hill Baptist Church 3233 Oak Hill Church Rd, Mi I ten, GA 30442 Down load Oak Hill Chu rch APR Today! c Joshua Johnson, Senior Pastor j §102; *.-3 SCAN #• *'» M E m wrm J j 2J 3 MTS What’s going on in your church? Homecoming? Celebrations? New Pastor? email us or call us at: thej enkinscountytimes@gmail. com 478-451-5007 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 thej enkinscountytimes@gmail.com or drop them otf at our office Tuesday, Thursday or Friday at 425 Hwy 25 S., Millen, GA. Our deadline is noon on Fridays for the following week. 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. CHECK OUT OUR Daily Specials ON Facebook (478)982-2390 537 East Winthrope Ave. Millen, Georgia 30442
