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Sovereign Grace Missionary Baptist
Church "Where the truths of
God’s word are taught" |
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You Were Asked To Pray For: |
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A Thought From C. H. Spurgeon: Precious Repentance
When we are accepted of the LORD and are standing
in the place of favor, and peace, and safety, then we are led to repent of
all our failures and miscarriages toward our gracious God. So precious is
repentance that we may call it a diamond of the first water,
and this is sweetly promised to the people of God as one most sanctifying
result of salvation. He who accepts repentance also gives repentance; and He
gives it not out of "the bitter box" but from among those
"wafers made with honey" on which He feeds His people. A sense of
blood-bought pardon and of undeserved mercy is the best means of dissolving a
heart of stone. Are we feeling hard? Let us think of covenant love, and then
we shall leave sin, lament sin, and loathe sin; yea, we shall loathe
ourselves for sinning against such infinite love. Let us come to God with
this promise of penitence and ask Him to help us to remember, and repent, and
regret, and return. Oh, that we could enjoy the meltings
of holy sorrow! What a relief would a flood of tears be! LORD, smite the
rock, or speak to the rock, and cause the waters to flow! |
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A Thought From Our Pastor: Feeding Absolute Truth. 1 Timothy 4:6 “If
thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in
the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.” Paul tells young Timothy to “put the brethren in
remembrance of these things” what things? The absolute truths are what
things. Paul believed there was only one message worth preaching to the
brethren and that was truth. Paul also said in verse 1a “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly,” the word “expressly” means "in
stated terms" or in “declared terms”. In other words what the Holy
Spirit is saying is absolute truth. The Holy Spirit said that man would leave
truth and preach a lie to the brethren “that in the latter times some shall
depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of
devils;” V 1b. “Doctrines of the Devil”, that is the other side of truth, or
a lie. There is only one truth and that is the truth of the Holy Spirit and
not of man. Man is a liar My beloved Brethren the only message is truth and
that truth comes from the Holy Spirit and from no other source. If we do not
“put the brethren in remembrance of these things” we have failed as Ministers
of the Holy Spirit and in turn have failed the brethren. We as Ministers are
responsible for this truth and if we allow the Devil to change our hearts
then we are no longer in truth but rather in a lie. If the truth has changed
then we are no longer “good minister of Jesus Christ” V 6. Sometimes we gauge
our success on our popularity or on the size of our congregations, however
the Lord said we are gauged on truth, 1 Timothy 5:17 “Let the elders that
rule well be counted worthy of double honour,
especially they who labour in the word and
doctrine.” There is no other gauge for us in this world. Leaving the truth
may seem wonderful because so few want to believe truth in these times but
the Holy Spirit warned us not to follow the Devil but rather to stay with
truth and I believe this is no matter who or how many want to hear it. Being
Pastor of a small church is not a bad thing because truth still exists and
the Holy Spirit is still accomplishing His work. So we are judged by the Holy
Spirit on truth and not the size of our congregations, maybe this is why the
Lord told us “…God hath tempered the body together,…” 1 Cor.
12:24 so we would seek His command and not to worry about our popularity or
the size of our congregations. |
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Thought for the week: The noblest ecclesiastical edifice As He was leaving the temple, one of His disciples
said to Him, "Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent
buildings!" "Do you see all these great buildings?"
replied Jesus. "Not one stone here will be left on another; every one
will be thrown down." Mark 13:1-2 We are naturally inclined to judge things by the
outward appearance, like children who value flowers more than grain. We are
too apt to suppose that where there is . . . a stately
ecclesiastical building; and a
magnificent ceremonial; and carved
stone; and
painted glass; and fine
music; and gorgeously dressed ministers, that there must be some
real religion. And yet there may be no true religion at all. It may be all form, and show, and appeal to the
senses! The ministers may perhaps be utterly ignorant of
the Gospel, and the worshipers may be dead in trespasses and sins. We need
not doubt that God sees no beauty in such a building as this. We need not
doubt the Parthenon had no glory in God's sight compared to the dens and
caves where the early Christians worshiped; or that the lowest room where
Christ is preached at this day, is more honorable in His eyes than St.
Peter's Cathedral at Let it be a settled principle in our religion,
however beautiful we make our churches, to regard pure doctrine and holy
practice as their principal ornaments. Without these two things, the noblest
ecclesiastical edifice is radically defective. It has no glory if God is not
there. With these two things, the humblest brick cottage
where the Gospel is preached, is lovely and
beautiful. It is consecrated by Christ's own presence and the Holy Spirit's
own blessing. J. C.
Ryle, "The Gospel of Mark" 1857 |