Sovereign Grace Missionary Baptist Church

1217 Dillon Texarkana, Texas 75501
September 13, 2009

Elder Randy Johnson, Pastor                                   Bro. Ronnie Henderson, Song Director  
Pastor E-Mail: sgmbcpastor@baptistsonline.org             Web Site: www.baptistsonline.org/sgmbc

"Where The Truths Of God’s Word Are Still Taught"

You Were Asked To Pray For:

 

All of Our Military, Their Family’s & All the Civilian Workers in The Middle East, Zee Mink Fuller and Family, Her son’s Bryan Armstrong and Hunter Hackie, Daughter Shannon, and Brother Philip & Sondra Thornsberry, Virgil & Alice Hoskins and his daughters Liz Janis and Debbie Gray, Frank & Dawana Reigel, Andrew Preston, Helen Maggard, Renee Jackson, LarryMollette, Larry Mollette II & Family, Linda Mollette, Kirby Mollette, Kerry Pennington, Kim Butler, Danny & Nita Mollette, Verna Mae Allen, Wendell Henderson, Judy Dunn, Joshua Kidd, Matthew Kidd, Ronnie Henderson Jr, Donnie Henderson, Kevin Henderson, Ricky Henderson, Rosalie Graves, Terry Hanson, Jim Stagner, Bro. & Mrs. Hammond, Don Hammond, Archie & Barbara Griffin & son Daniel, Larry Platt, Bro. & Sister Bob Keller, Wanda Fowler, Kathy Rosinbaum, Brenda Galusha and Jewel, Mary Ramsey, Donna Johnson, Fay Johnson, Bobby Walker, Luann Reynolds, Bro. & Sis. Curtis Pugh, Timothy and Nathan Fails, Jacob Ramsey, Jim & Linda Meier, Brother David & Sister Anne Shortt, Brother Manuel Seymour & Family, Doris Hammock, Letha Langford, Leacho Tittle, Brother & Sister Kelley Hinson and Wesley, Brother & Sister Frank James, Billy and Jo Hobbs, Jerry Hughes, Nita Bookout’s Niece, Pastor G. L. Burr, Alicia Lightsey, Melody Carr, Betty, Tommy Walker, Gina, and Bro. Sergey Mochalov and the Churches in Russia.

A Thought For The Week:

 

Treasure in earthen vessels
"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels." 2 Corinthians 4:7

 

Do not be surprised if you feel that in yourself you are but an earthen vessel—if you are made deeply and daily sensible of your frail body.

Do not be surprised . . .

  if your clay house is often tottering;

  if sickness sometimes assails your mortal tabernacle;

  if in your flesh there dwells no good thing;

  if your soul often cleaves to the dust; and

  if you are unable to retain a sweet sense of God's goodness and love.

Do not be surprised nor startled . . .

  at the corruptions of your depraved nature;

  at the depth of sin in your carnal mind;

  at the vile abominations which lurk and work in your deceitful and desperately wicked heart.

Bear in mind that it is the will of God that this heavenly treasure which makes you rich for eternity, should be lodged in an earthen vessel.

We have ever to feel our native weakness—and that without Christ we can do nothing—that we maybe clothed with humility, and feel ourselves the chief of sinners, and less than the least of all saints.

We thus learn to prize the heights, breadths, lengths, and depths of the love of Christ, who stooped so low to raise us up so high!

 

By J. C. Philpot

Happy Anniversary:

Virgil & Alice Hoskins September 19th

A Thought From C. H. Spurgeon:

The Dew Of Heaven
"His heavens shall drop down dew" Deut. 33:28

What the dew in the East is to the world of nature, that is the influence of the Spirit in the realm of grace. How greatly do I need it! Without the Spirit of God I am a dry and withered thing. I droop, I fade, I die. How sweetly does this dew refresh me! When once favored with it I feel happy, lively, vigorous, elevated. I want nothing more. The Holy Spirit brings me life, and all that life requires. All else without the dew of the Spirit is less than nothing to me: I hear, I read, I pray, I sing, I go to the table of communion, and I find no blessing there until the Holy Ghost visits me. But when He bedews me, every means of grace is sweet and profitable.
What a promise is this for me! "His heavens shall drop down dew." I shall be visited with grace. I shall not be left to my natural drought, or to the world's burning heat, or to the sirocco of Satanic temptation. Oh, that I may at this very hour feel the gentle, silent, saturating dew of the Lord! Why should I not? He who has made me to live as the grass lives in the meadow, will treat me as He treats the grass; He will refresh me from above. Grass cannot call for dew as I do. Surely, the Lord who visits the unpraying plant will answer to His pleading child.

A Though From Our Pastor:

Repentance and Faith
"Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ."  Acts 20:21

Paul was telling these folks that this was his main message, repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, as it should be with all Ministers today. These two words (repentance and faith) are two words that confuse a lot of folks in our time. We must understand repentance toward God is not salvation in itself, in other words repentance never saved one single soul, it is faith toward Jesus Christ that delivers salvation to the unworthy soul. The word repentance simply means “a turning around or a reversal” and there is nothing about a turning around or reversal that delivers salvation. Faith toward Jesus Christ is the point of salvation because it is faith in Him that can save; it is faith that His blood is strong enough to wash away all our sins. Since repentance is not the same as saving faith therefore it is not a saving factor. However when we look at the word repentance we do see a great significance to it. When Paul said “repentance toward God” we see that it is God who we owe repentance toward, it is God that we have so greatly sinned against and it is God that we must turn from the wickedness of this world and began to follow and worship. We have all offended God all of our life by living in iniquity and are guilty of crimes against Him. We repent toward God because it is He who can give a pardon for sin, since it is He who we have sinned against it is Him who we owe our repentance too.  True repentance can only exist once we have an understanding of our sins against God, just to acknowledge repentance is not repentance in itself. We must ask why is there repentance, and the answer must be “because I have sinned against God and want forgiveness”. The Lord tells us that a true worship of Him is a spiritual thing between God’s Spirit and your heart, John 4:24 and therefore repentance must be a spiritual thing between you and God whom you have sinned against. A simply acknowledgement of repentance in your mind or through your mouth is not enough, just as a simple acknowledgement of saving faith is not enough. It must be from the heart or it is not real to God and therefore there is no pardon of sin.

Repentance is not real unless there is a true turning from sin, Job 36:10 “He openeth also their ear to discipline, and commandeth that they return from iniquity.” What good is there in repentance if there is no turning from sin? Doesn’t the word by definition mean a turning around? It is our faith in Jesus Christ that makes repentance possible. The sinner on his own will never repent to God because the sinner has nothing inside of him to cause this repentance.