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Sovereign Grace Missionary Baptist Church September 25, 2004 Bro. Randy Johnson, Pastor Ronnie Henderson, Song Director Pastor E-Mail: sgmbcpastor@countrybaptist.org Web Site: www.countrybaptist.org/sgmbc |
| Please Pray For:
Ronnie & Sarah Henderson, Sister Wall, Wendell & Hazel Henderson, Joe Henderson, Eddie & Lorain Murray, Larry & Linda Mollette, Donna Johnson, Virgil Hoskins, Vinson Hoskins, Elder & Mrs. Harace Hammond, Rosa Graves, Shawn Brenda Tubbs, Justin & Holly Bookout, Gina & Bryan Thompson, Danny Hammond, Bobby Thompson and Family, Eld. Davis, Raymond Hammond, Fay Johnson, Brad Hensley, Sovereign Grace Baptist Church Mansfield, Ohio, And All of Our Military, Their Family’s & All the Civilian Workers in The Middle East. |
| A Thought For The Week: WHAT SHALL I SAY Joshua 7:8, 9 We rejoice in Christ Jesus and His accomplished work of redemption. By His substitutionary death, He finished the work the Father gave Him: secured the forgiveness of His people, made an end of our sins, made reconciliation for our iniquities and brought in everlasting righteousness (Daniel 9:24). Christ did not try to save sinners by His death; He did not die with the hope that somebody might add their faith to His work thereby making it effectual. He did not give His life a ransom as the down payment for our redemption. He paid all the debt we owed, and divine justice can demand no more. His sacrifice released us from all legal obligations. He canceled all charges against His chosen people! Christ satisfied infinite justice for it exacted from Him the infinite penalty demanded for sin - death! Our assurance of everlasting acceptance, therefore, lies in Him "Who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood" (Rev. 1:5). It is written that Christ "obtained eternal redemption for us "(Hebrews 9:12). You will never read in the Scriptures that His death was an effort or attempt to save all mankind. It is not recorded that Jesus did all He could to save sinners, and now we must add our faith to His redemptive work to make it effectual, yet that is what many preachers are saying. That would make faith, and not Christ, the ultimate Savior. That would make the sinner the determining factor in salvation, it would make him his own Savior! What an absurdity! What a God-dishonoring lie! It is the very height of human stupidity and arrogance to believe that the death of Jesus Christ availed nothing unless we add our faith to it. Surely God will not hold him guiltless who would try and steal the redemptive glory of Christ! What we do read in the Word of God is that "the good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep" (John 10:11), that He "loved the church and gave Himself for it" (Eph. 5:25). Be sure you understand the teachings of Scripture and what I am saying. Particular redemption is a particular truth of the Word of God – in fact – it is the gospel! Universal redemption is a universal lie, and it is a false gospel! Christ did not die for all mankind. He died "to save His people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). It is Christ and His particular, effectual redemption, which will be our song of praise in glory. "Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation...Worthy is the Lamb that was slain" (Rev. 5:9,12). By: Don Bell, Pastor Lantana Grace Church Crossville, Tenn. |
| News For The Week: ...In a September 19 nationwide broadcast, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay told evangelical Christians the fight to pass a constitutional marriage amendment eventually will succeed. In a taped address, the Republican congressman from Texas called marriage the "natural and spiritual bond between one man and one woman" and stated, "It may make time, but after years of attacks, marriage will be defended." Hundreds of churches took part in the third "Battle for Marriage" rally simulcast, which originated from First Baptist Church in Springdale, Arkansas, and was broadcast live nationwide via Christian radio and television. The rally speakers included such pro-family leaders as Focus on the Family's James Dobson, the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins, and Richard Land, president and CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. [Baptist Press] Source: Agape News press |
| C.H. Spurgeon's
"Who of God is made unto us wisdom." 1 Corinthians 1:30 Man's intellect seeks after rest, and by nature seeks it apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. Men of education are apt, even when converted, to look upon the simplicities of the cross of Christ with an eye too little reverent and loving. They are snared in the old net in which the Grecians were taken, and have a hankering to mix philosophy with revelation. The temptation with a man of refined thought and high education is to depart from the simple truth of Christ crucified, and to invent, as the term is, a more intellectual doctrine. This led the early Christian churches into Gnosticism, and bewitched them with all sorts of heresies. This is the root of Neology, and the other fine things which in days gone by were so fashionable in Germany, and are now so ensnaring to certain classes of divines. Whoever you are, good reader, and whatever your education may be, if you be the Lord's, be assured you will find no rest in philosophizing divinity. You may receive this dogma of one great thinker, or that dream of another profound reasoner, but what the chaff is to the wheat, that will these be to the pure word of God. All that reason, when best guided, can find out is but the A B C of truth, and even that lacks certainty, while in Christ Jesus there is treasured up all the fulness of wisdom and knowledge. All attempts on the part of Christians to be content with systems such as Unitarian and Broad-church thinkers would approve of, must fail; true heirs of heaven must come back to the grandly simple reality which makes the ploughboy's eye flash with joy, and glads the pious pauper's heart-"Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners." Jesus satisfies the most elevated intellect when He is believingly received, but apart from Him the mind of the regenerate discovers no rest. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge." "A good understanding have all they that do His commandments." |
| Trials Of Faith By:
Kathryn Parrish Trials often on me fall, Trials of faith - more precious than gold, Then fear not, my soul, nor be dismayed, For though your fondest dreams may fade, Lean not upon your own understanding, Be still, then, my soul, and stand the test,
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