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Sovereign Grace
Missionary Baptist Church 1217 Dillon Dr. (Wake Village) Texarkana, Texas 75501 January 30, 2005 Elder Randy Johnson, Pastor Bro. Ronnie Henderson, Song Director Pastor E-Mail: sgmbcpastor@countrybaptist.org Web Site: www.countrybaptist.org/sgmbc |
| Please Pray For:
Virgil and Alice Hoskins & His Daughter Debbie Wenske & Great Grandson Coty, Ronnie & Sarah Henderson, Wendell & Hazel Henderson, Joe Henderson, Randy Henderson, Eddie & Lorain Murray, Larry & Linda Mollette, Donna Johnson, Vinson Hoskins, Rosa Graves, Danny Hammond, Bobby & Vickie Thompson and Family, Mrs. Thompson, Raymond Hammond, Fay Johnson, Brad Hensley, Sovereign Grace Baptist Church Mansfield, Ohio, Bro. Curtis & Sister Janet Pugh, Zee Mink and Family, Her son Bryan Armstrong and Sister – in - law Sondra Thornsberry, Bro. Kelly Hinson, Dianna Willis, Larry Mollette II, Danny & Nita Mollette (about moving here and getting a job), Charles & Debra Burton and Family, Tammie Hairston, Howard Flescher, Randi, And All of Our Military, Their Family’s & All the Civilian Workers in The Middle East. |
| A Thought For The
Week: "ALL THINGS ARE OF GOD" Romans 11:36 "For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom (God) be glory for ever." Here is a glorious and comforting truth to the believer, who is resting in the Lord Jesus Christ, all things are of God. This truth echoes throughout the pages of inspired scripture (Rom. 8:28; 2 Cor. 5:18) and declares that God is God, beside Him there is no other (Isa. 45:22). The Apostle clearly states that, "all things are of Him," God is the first cause and last end of all things (Isa.45:7). He also says that, "all things through Him," God in time executes His wise decrees to His own will and pleasure (Isa. 46: 9-12). Further he says that, "all things are to Him," our sovereign God is working all things to an eternal end that will glorify Himself. We can apply this three fold rule to many things, such as creation and providence, but lets us consider them in salvation. 1). ALL THINGS IN SALVATION ARE OF GOD! Salvation is of the Lord (Jonah 2:9). None but God could have devised such a way of salvation such as the gospel of Jesus Christ presents, wherein God can be just and the justifier of the ungodly (Rom. 3:26). God ordained the hour when the Saviour would come (Gal. 4:4). God ordained the hour when He would die as the believers substitute for sin (2 Cor. 5:21). God ordained the hour when Jesus Christ would be raised from the dead and exalted to glory (Rom. 4:25). 2). ALL THINGS IN SALVATION ARE THROUGH HIM! Salvation is a work given to Jesus Christ by the Father to accomplish. He did not fail to complete the task He was given (Isa. 42:4). He prayed and declared in John 17:4, "I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do." In the fulfillment and accomplishment of salvation man has no part in it. Carefully read this scripture: "When He had by Himself purged our sins, He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high" (Heb. 1:3). Every spiritual blessing we enjoy comes to us through Jesus Christ alone (Eph. 1:3). God apart from Christ is a consuming fire (Heb.12:29). 3). ALL THINGS IN SALVATION ARE TO HIM! What is the grand design of God in the salvation of His people? His glory! Our eternal God is wisely and rightly working all things to the honor and glory of Jesus Christ. "Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God" (Rom. 15:7). The motive of God to save His people from their sin is found in Himself, and that motive and purpose is His glory. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive, power, and riches, and wisdom and honour, and glory (Rev. 5:12). By: Tom Harding, Pastor Zebulon Baptist Church Pikeville, Ky. |
| News for the week: ...Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia says judges should be guided
only by what the Constitution actually says when it comes to deciding
religious cases. In early March, the Supreme Court will consider the
constitutionality of government displays of the Ten Commandments. Lower
courts have splintered over whether such exhibits in town squares and
courthouses violate "separation of church and state" -- words that never
appear in the Constitution. In a speech sponsored by the Ave Maria
School of Law, Scalia said, "The Constitution says what it says and does
not say what it does not say." Justice Scalia said it is wrong for
judges to think of the Constitution as a "living" document to be
interpreted differently in changing times. [AP] |
| What We Have Seen and
Heard: by C. H. Spurgeon "And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them." --Luke 2:20 What was the subject of their praise? They praised God for what they had heard--for the good tidings of great joy that a Saviour was born unto them. Let us copy them; let us also raise a song of thanksgiving that we have heard of Jesus and His salvation. They also praised God for what they had seen. There is the sweetest music--what we have experienced, what we have felt within, what we have made our own--"the things which we have made touching the King." It is not enough to hear about Jesus: mere hearing may tune the harp, but the fingers of living faith must create the music. If you have seen Jesus with the God-giving sight of faith, suffer no cobwebs to linger among the harpstrings, but loud to the praise of sovereign grace, awake your psaltery and harp. One point for which they praised God was the agreement between what they had heard and what they had seen. Observe the last sentence--"As it was told unto them." Have you not found the gospel to be in yourselves just what the Bible said it would be? Jesus said He would give you rest--have you not enjoyed the sweetest peace in Him? He said you should have joy, and comfort, and life through believing in Him--have you not received all these? Are not His ways ways of pleasantness, and His paths paths of peace? Surely you can say with the queen of Sheba, "The half has not been told me." I have found Christ more sweet than His servants ever said He was. I looked upon His likeness as they painted it, but it was a mere daub compared with Himself; for the King in His beauty outshines all imaginable loveliness. Surely what we have "seen" keeps pace with, nay, far exceeds, what we have "heard." Let us, then, glorify and praise God for a Saviour so precious, and so satisfying. |
| The study of the
Bible cannot save you! True salvation is not to be found through the mere reception of
any creed, however Mere 'head notion' is not the road to heaven. "You must be born again," means a great deal more than that you must believe certain dogmas. The study of the Bible cannot save you! Salvation lies in Jesus only! "You search the Scriptures because you believe they give you
eternal life. But the Scriptures The following is from Spurgeon's sermon, "Help for Seekers of the Light" #884. Is. 59:9. |