Sovereign Grace Missionary Baptist Church
1217 Dillon Dr. (Wake Village) Texarkana, Texas 75501
November 28, 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, David & Lucille Wall and their Niece Vickie, Wendell & Hazel Henderson, Joe Henderson, Eddie & Lorain Murray, Larry & Linda Mollette, Donna Johnson, Virgil and Alice Hoskins & His Daughter Debbie Wenske, Vinson Hoskins, Rosa Graves, Danny Hammond, Bobby & Vickie Thompson and Family, Elder Davis, Raymond Hammond, Fay Johnson, Brad Hensley, Sovereign Grace Baptist Church Mansfield, Ohio, Bro. Curtis & Sister Janet Pugh, Randy Henderson, Larry Mollette II, Zee Mink and Family, Her son Bryan Armstrong and Sister – in - law Sondra Thornsberry, Bro. Kelly Hinson, And All of Our Military, Their Family’s & All the Civilian Workers in The Middle East.
High Aspirations:
By: C. H. Spurgeon

"Get thee up into the high mountain."
--Isaiah 40:9

Each believer should be thirsting for God, for the living God, and longing to climb the hill of the Lord, and see Him face to face. We ought not to rest content in the mists of the valley when the summit of Tabor awaits us. My soul thirsteth to drink deep of the cup which is reserved for those who reach the mountain's brow, and bathe their brows in heaven. How pure are the dews of the hills, how fresh is the mountain air, how rich the fare of the dwellers aloft, whose windows look into the New Jerusalem! Many saints are content to live like men in coal mines, who see not the sun; they eat dust like the serpent when they might taste the ambrosial meat of angels; they are content to wear the miner's garb when they might put on king's robes; tears mar their faces when they might anoint them with celestial oil. Satisfied I am that many a believer pines in a dungeon when he might walk on the palace roof, and view the goodly land and Lebanon.

Rouse thee, O believer, from thy low condition! Cast away thy sloth, thy lethargy, thy coldness, or whatever interferes with thy chaste and pure love to Christ, thy soul's Husband. Make Him the source, the centre, and the circumference of all thy soul's range of delight. What enchants thee into such folly as to remain in a pit when thou mayst sit on a throne? Live not in the lowlands of bondage now that mountain liberty is conferred upon thee. Rest no longer satisfied with thy dwarfish attainments, but press forward to things more sublime and heavenly. Aspire to a higher, a nobler, a fuller life. Upward to heaven! Nearer to God!

"When wilt Thou come unto me, Lord?
Oh come, my Lord most dear!
Come near, come nearer, nearer still,
I'm blest when Thou art near."

News for the week:

...A recent report from UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute says college students who are religiously active experience less stress. Their report says that only twenty percent of students actively involved in reading scripture and attending worship services report higher levels of psychological stress in their lives. In contrast, over one-third of students who were religiously inactive reported notably higher levels of stress. Dr. Robert Rogan, a psychologist with the Christian Medical Association, says the finding is not surprising. "Certainly," Dr. Rogan says, "my opinion is very positive because it indicates that people of faith do better." He added that is something he notices every day in his work. Dr. Rogan noted that the positive characteristics that are outlined in the study -- about developing a meaningful philosophy, helping others with difficulty, et cetera -- the students who have a faith-based approach to life seem to cope better with life's situations. The study also showed that religiously inactive students were twice as likely to say they were frequently depressed as well. [Mary Rettig]
Source The Agape News Press

A Thought For The Week:

"Five devilisms!"

As regards sin in its workings, we may say there are five devilisms from which we need
to be saved . . .
1. The GUILT of sin.
2. The FILTH of sin.
3. The LOVE of sin.
4. The DOMINION of sin.
5. The PRACTICE of sin.

1. We need the application of Christ's precious blood to our conscience, to take away the guilt of sin.
2. We need the Spirit of Christ to sanctify and to wash the soul in the fountain, to cleanse
from the filth of sin.
3. We need the love of Christ shed abroad in our hearts, to take away the love of sin.
4. We need the power of Christ, to rescue us from the dominion of sin.
5. We need the grace of Christ, to preserve us from the practice of sin.

It is feeling sin in its various workings, which makes us value Christ! Strange mysterious way!
O, strange path! that to be exercised with sin, is the path to the Savior!
Very painful, very mysterious, very inexplicable --that the more you feel yourself a wretched,
miserable sinner; the more you long after Jesus, who is able to save you to the uttermost!
Thus, we shall find that we need all that Christ is. For we are no little sinners; and He is no little Savior!
We are great sinners!
He is a Savior--and a great one!
"He is able to save to the uttermost!" Hebrews 7:25
By: J. C. Philpot 1850
Grace burst forth spontaneously from the bosom of eternal love and rested not until it had removed every impediment and found its way to the sinner's side, swelling round him in full flow. Grace does away the distance between the sinner and God, which sin had created. Grace meets the sinner on the spot where he stands; grace approaches him just as he is. Grace does not wait till there is something to attract it nor till a good reason is found in the sinner for its flowing to him. ... It was free, sovereign grace when it first thought of the sinner; it was free grace when it found and laid hold of him; and it is free grace when it hands him up into glory.
By: Horatius Bonar