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Sovereign
Grace Missionary Baptist Church 1217 Dillon Texarkana, Texas 75501 Elder Randy Johnson, Pastor Bro.
Ronnie Henderson, Song Director "Where The Truths Of God’s Word Are Still
Taught" |
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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, Grandchildren, and his daughters Liz Janis and
Debbie Gray, Derrick & Alecia and sons Coty
& Carson Clements, Bryndon Thomas, Frank & Dawana Reigel, Andrew Preston, Helen Maggard,
Renee Jackson, Larry Mollette, Larry Mollette II & Family, Kirby
Mollette, Kerry Pennington, Kim Butler, Danny & Nita Mollette, Verna Mae
Allen, Wendell Henderson, Judy Dunn, Martha Gray, Joshua Kidd, Matthew Kidd,
Kevin Henderson, Ronnie Henderson Jr. & Daughter Ashley, Vickie Sims,
Debbie Farmer, Morgan Murchison, Jim Stagner, Bro.
& Mrs. Hammond, Don & Neil Hammond, Charles Hammond, Eric Hammond, Archie
& Barbara Griffin & son Daniel, Bro. & Sister Bob Keller, Kathy Rosinbaum, Brenda Galusha and
Jewel, Mary Ramsey, Donna Johnson, Fay Johnson, Luann Reynolds, Bro. &
Sis. Curtis Pugh, Timothy and Nathan Fails, Jacob Ramsey, Jim & Linda
Meier, Brother David & Sister Anne Shortt,
Brother Manuel Seymour & Family, Letha Langford, Brother & Sister Kelley
Hinson and Kelley Lee, Billy and Jo Hobbs, Jerry Hughes, Sister Nita Bookout,
Roger Bookout, Pastor G. L. Burr, Melody Carr, Janie Capps, Gina Sullivan,
Katie Norton, Imajo Tracy, Sister Jean Dodson and
Family, Helen Rowe, Linda Hughes, Michael Helm, Roy Lemmon, Marshall Risinger, Jason
Trout, and Bro. Sergey Mochalov and the Churches in
Russia. |
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TRYING TO IGNORE GOD: Please read carefully Rom. 1:21-32, then reconsider, in its context,
verse 28. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God
gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not
convenient; (Rom 1:28) As we read Romans 1:21-27, we are reminded that men unavoidably know of
God’s existence, simply by the things that are around them. It is pointed out
that great judgment is upon man both outwardly and inwardly because he does
not acknowledge God. Then in verse 27, there is a summarized description of
man’s horrible state of mind, and of God’s unparallel temporal judgment
visited upon him for this sin. He is given over to a reprobate mind. What
does that word mean? Strong defines it as unapproved, rejected, worthless, castaway. In my Word Perfect thesauruses, thirty-nine
synonyms are given. Remember this is a secular thesaurus. The first synonym
is degenerate, the second is delinquent, others include libertine,
profligate, abandoned, apostatize, corrupt, debauchee, wanton, wicked, and
wretch. These are not exactly the words you would use on a job application,
or want for your character reference in a court room. However, these are the
people we accommodate most whole heartedly in our society, invite into our
living rooms to entertain us, elect to our public offices, and produce in our
own families. God is not in all their thoughts, nor is He in ours, as He
ought to be. Whether you hate me for saying it or not, we are under this
judgment of God, from our homes, to our employment, to our society, and alas,
throughout our churches. Surely, it is because of His mercy that we are not
all consumed. I am ashamed to even speak of the wickedness in the world, and
in apostatized churches, while there is so much corruption in our own homes,
and "doctrinally sound" churches. How could this reprobation have fallen so generally upon us, and
covered us like a net encircling a fish? Well, I believe our text answers the
question clearly. "And even as they did not like to retain God in their
knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind,...")
When has our society, our homes, our government, our churches, had less taste
for God. I was thinking this morning, as I listened to the local weather and
heard the term "Turkey Day," how few times I have heard the term
Thanksgiving used anywhere in the last few days, compared to Turkey Day. I
expect the word Halloween has been used a hundred times more often, and at
least, that much more recognition has been given to the day. Isn’t that
strange? Not in this society! Thanksgiving implies that we owe gratitude to
God, and there is no taste for God in society, homes, government, or
churches, and let’s not talk much about the first three before we deal with
our churches. The lack of desire for the knowledge of God was the sin mentioned in
this verse. The knowledge of God is identified by the word Theology, and that
is a word for ridicule in most of our churches today. Social propriety,
church growth, personal success, errors being taught in other churches,
personal moral excellency, and on we could go, all
have great places in our pulpits today, and there is rightly a place for them,
but how little time is given to teaching the holy attributes of God, and how
little appetite there is for it! How shall people hunger for the knowledge of
a God they do not know, and how shall they know except they hear, and how
shall they hear without a preacher. Dear brethren, we will never make strong
Christians if our preaching majors on Christianity. It must major on Christ,
Jehovah incarnate. What a change it would make in our land if our people had
the vision of Isaiah! "In the year that king Uzziah
died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up..."
Let us think about it brethren, and speak up! Let us admonish those around us
to retain God in their knowledge. By Brother
Forrest Keener |
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A Covenant He Remembers: "He hath given meat unto them that fear him: he will ever be
mindful of his covenant" Ps. 111:5 Those who fear God need not fear want. Through all these long years the
Lord has always found meat for His own children, whether they have been in
the wilderness, or by the brook Cherith, or in
captivity, or in the midst of famine. Hitherto the Lord has given us day by
day our daily bread, and we doubt not that He will
continue to feed us till we want no more. As to the higher and greater blessings of the covenant of grace, He will
never cease to supply them as our case demands. He is mindful that He made
the covenant, and never acts as if He regretted it. He is mindful of it when
we provoke Him to destroy us. He is mindful to love us, keep us, and comfort
us, even as He engaged to do. He is mindful of every jot and tittle of His engagements, never suffering one of His
words to fall to the ground. We are sadly unmindful of our God, but He is graciously mindful of us.
He cannot forget His Son who is the Surety of the Covenant, nor His Holy
Spirit who actively carries out the covenant, nor
His own honor, which is bound up with the covenant. Hence the foundation of
God standeth sure, and no believer shall lose his
divine inheritance, which is his by a covenant of salt. |
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Food For Thought By Brother Manuel Seymour : The Apostle Paul wrote: “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good
pleasure.” The logic of the Scripture
is that if God is indeed working within the one professing to be saved then
his heart would be a willing heart for the things of God, and his life would
be a doing life according to the good pleasure of God. Professing without possessing is a common
thread; but a willing heart and an obedient faithfulness to the things of God
are manifestations of the uncommon work of God within. |