April 27, 2008
Sunday 10:00am WLEX TV Channel 18

It is requested that children under the age of five stay in our nursery
so there will be no distractions during the preaching of the Gospel.

Hail, mighty Jesus! How divine
Is Thy victorious sword
The stoutest rebel must resign
At Thy commanding word.

Deep are the wounds Thy arrows give
They pierce the hardest heart
Thy smiles of grace the slain revive
And with Thee give a part.

Still gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh
Ride with majestic sway
Go forth, sweet Prince, triumphantly
And make Thy foes obey.

And when Thy victories are complete
When all the chosen race
Shall round the throne of glory meet
They’ll sing Thy conquering grace.

O may my blood-washed soul be found
Among that favored band!
And I, with them, Thy praise will sound
Throughout Immanuel’s land.

(Tune: “O for a Thousand Tongues” p. 46)

*****

Birthdays
28th – Jim Murphy 30th – Carole Pruitt
30th – Linda Rutledge 1st – Bob Pruitt 2nd – Geraldine Bigelow
2nd – Mitchell Bryan 2nd – Gretta Daniel


“A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident.” - Proverbs 14:16

Peter said in II Peter 1:8, “If these things be in you and abound (these things are mentioned in vs. 5-7 – faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity),they make you that ye shall be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Conversely, if these things are not in us, we are barren and unfruitful in the knowledge of Christ. If these things are not in me, my faith is in theory only. A theoretical faith believes God is sovereign, yet always worries. When I say I believe in forgiveness but hold a grudge; when I say I believe in grace but yet hold people to the law; when I say I am content with Christ and yet I am continually coveting and craving the things of this world; when I say I believe I am the chief of sinners, yet I am easily offended; if I say I believe the doctrines of grace, yet can tolerate that which in contrary to them, then my faith is in theory only. I am barren and unfruitful in the knowledge of Christ. My faith is not that faith of which the Lord Jesus is the author and the finisher.

*****


When I was on chemo-therapy, I took the liberty to change some medications that I was on without notifying my doctor. The change in medicines had an adverse effect. I was plunged headlong into depression and despair. All I could see was blackness and darkness. Everything seemed hopeless. I was even questioning the existence of God. If He did exist I had no assurance that I knew Him. During that time I knew that the only way I could be saved was if Christ did everything in my salvation. I could not even come up with the faith. Perhaps that is the purest my faith has even been.


*****

Here are we too prone to think highly of our knowledge; but when we arrive in yonder world of light, to see Him as He is, we shall be ashamed of the highest conceptions we had of Him, and of our most labored attempts to express them, while we were imprisoned in this distant land. Then we shall say with the queen of Sheba, “Behold the half, the thousandth part, was not told us!” In the meantime, He is pleased to accept our imperfect stammerings, to assist our feeble inquiries, and does not disdain (as He justly might) to hear us take His name upon our polluted lips! - John Newton

WHY WE PREACH ELECTION
We preach sovereign election not only because it is revealed in God’s Word, exhibiting man’s total depravity and inability, but because it exalts a sovereign God in His Trinity of Persons. It reveals the magnitude of His kingdom and defines who are the objects of the Father’s everlasting love, the travail of the Redeemer’s soul, and the objects of the Spirit’s concern and care. Within election’s hallowed bounds the whole seed royal of heaven are found by a seeking Saviour and a searching Spirit. – Thomas Bradbury


*****

No amount of morality and reformation of life; or repentance and sorrow for sin, no decision and dedication; nor church membership and observance of the ordinances; nor a head knowledge of, and a consent to the doctrines of grace; can replace or assist in that which is still requisite to salvation and eternal life. It is still written, “Ye must be born again.” That birth is by the sovereign purpose, will, grace, and good pleasure of God! - Pastor Charles Pennington


*****


Every departure from the doctrine of election in any degree has been a departure from THE GOSPEL; for such departure always involves the introduction of some obligation on man’s part to make a contribution to his own salvation - a contribution he simply cannot make.
- Copied