September 7, 2008
Sunday 10:00am WLEX TV Channel 18
It is requested that all children under the age of five stay in our nursery
so there will be no distractions during the preaching of the Gospel.
Come, Thou Almighty Comforter
And bring upon Thy wing
Sweet consolation to each soul
That we may praise and sing.
We want to hear, we want to see
We want to know Christ more
We want sweet foretastes of His love
As we have had before.
And shall we come in vain to God?
O Lord, that cannot be
Thy promise stands engaged to come
And bless ev’n two or three.
Lord, give more love, more sincere faith
More confidence in Thee
Break of our legal chains, O God
And let our souls go free.
(Tune: “Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove” p. 158) < o:p>
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We will observe the Lord’s Table this evening.
It would be greatly appreciated if any of you ladies can meet tomorrow morning
at 9:00 to help clean up the area that is being renovated to ready it for
painting. (Bring rags, dusters, buckets, etc.)
0A
Birthdays
8th – Jimmie Ray Bailey 8th – Earnest Tucker
8th – Kyle Virgin 9th – Todd Nibert
“A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”
- Proverb 17:17
THE SPIRIT OF MEEKNESS
In Galatians 6:l, Paul speaks of restoring the brother who is overtaken by
some sin in the spirit of meekness. And what is the spirit of meekness? ....“Considering
thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” The man with the spirit of meekness
knows that if he is tempted in the same way the man who was overtaken was,
he would fall the same way. And this=2 0man with the spirit of meekness understands
that the only reason he has not been overtaken by the same sin is the restraining
grace of God. The man with the spirit of meekness cannot look down on his
brother with righteous indignation, but wants to restore him, mend him, place
the dislocated bone back into place. That brother’s sin is a burden
to him. We bear with one another in love, and so fulfill the law of Christ!
It is the spirit of meekness that fulfills the law of Christ.
*****
; We believe in the absolute predestination of God in all things! “He
worketh all things after the counsel of His own will” (Eph. 1:11). There
is nothing that happens by chance. But does this belief cause us to live in
a kind of stoic indifference and fatalism? Certainly not! Paul also said to
the Ephesians, after he told them about the absolute predestination of God,
Be very careful how you live – not as unwise, but as wise, making the
most of every opportunity, because the days are evil (Eph. 5:15-16). He said
the same thing to the Colossians in Colossians 4:5. Yes, we believe in the
absolute predestination of our God in all things. And we also believe that
we are commanded to and responsible to “make the most of every opportunity.”
If my belief in predestination makes me fatalistic and indifferent, I do not
believe=2 0in Biblical predestination.
*****
Scripture, not logic, is our rule of faith; and not one or two statements
taken out of their contexts, but the whole analogy of faith. Error is truth
perverted, truth distorted, truth out of proportion. To short-sighted human
reason there appears to be a clash between Divine justice and Divine mercy,
between God’s sovereignty a nd man’s responsibility, between law
and grace, between faith and good works; but he who is really taught of the
Spirit, is enabled to discern their perfect consistency.
- A. W. Pink
The rule of life for the believer is Christ, Himself, especially as He is
revealed at the cross. Nothing so thoroughly reveals the sinfulness of sin
as the cross. No doubt the law has a strong testimony of condemnation, but
it is at the cross that the law’s condemnation of sin was most clearly
displayed. The law engraved on tables of stone can teach the mind that this
or that is wrong, but the law engraved in the wounded flesh of the Holy One
strikes to the very core of a man’s being and reveals the utter sinfulness
of even his righteousness.
Furthermore, the Gospel law of love finds no greater revelation than our Lord’s
sacrificial death in behalf of His people, as it is written, “Greater
love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
With the mere word, “love,” on our lips, we may (and often do)
excuse ourselves from loving action. But at the sight of Calvary, every excuse
for self-service evaporates and we are both compelled and energized to truly
love one another.
It may seem trite to say it; but everything we nee d for this life and the
next – that is, how we should live this life and how we should obtain
the next – is found in Christ and Him crucified!
- Pastor Joe Terrell
*****
“A new heart also we I give you, and a new spirit will I put within
you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh
and I will give you an heart of flesh.”
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you.
A “new heart” and a “new spirit” are one and the same;
that is, a renewed one; renewed by the Spirit and grace of God; in which a
new principle of life is put; new light is infused; a new will, filled with
new purposes and resolutions; where new affections ar e placed, and new desires
are formed; and where there are new delights and joys, as well as new sorrows
and troubles; the same which in the New Testament is called the “new
man”, and the new creature (II Cor. 5:17; Eph. 4:24).
- John Gill