February 22, 2009
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.


HYMN OF THE DAY
Though troubles assail and dangers afright
Though friends should all fail and foes a ll unite
Yet one thing secures us whatever betide
The Scripture assures us, The Lord will provide!

The birds without barn or storehouse are fed
From them let us learn to trust for our bread
His saints what is fitting shall n’er be denied
So long as ‘tis written, The Lord will provide!

No strength of our own or goodness we claim
Yet since we have know the Saviour’s great name
In this our strong tower for safety we hide
The Lord is our power, The Lord will provide!

When life sinks apace and death is in view
The word of His grace shall comfort us through< /SPAN>
No fearing or doubting with Christ at our side
We hope to die shouting, The Lord will provide!

(Tune: “O Worship the King” p. 1)


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We extend our sympathies to the Grubb family on the recent death of their father-in-law and grandfather, Jim Terry.


Birthdays
22nd – Zachary Byrd 22nd – Evonne Kincer 24th – Nick Verenich
26th – Donna Meek 29th – Megan Shively


“If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place; for yielding pacifieth great offences.” - Ecclesiastes 10:4

STRIVING LAWFULLY
“And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully” (II Timothy 2:5).
=2 0If a man crosses the finish line, but has not obeyed the rules of the race, or did not stay on the proper course, he is disqualified. No short-cuts allowed.
Few preachers pay attention to this warning. In their thirst for success in the ministry, which they cover up by calling it seeking to win the lost, they take short-cuts. They do not obey the rules of the Gospel. They cut corners on Gospel Truth in order to make their message more likely to be received. They by-pass certain parts of the race to speed up the process. But they will find in the end that no one was truly saved through their ministry. Even more horrifying will it be when they find that they themselves were not saved!

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A doctrine is not true because I believe it or because you believe it; it is true only if God says it! I do not ask you whether you believe what I preach; perhaps you do not. But I ask you to search the Scriptures and determine whether these things be so. I am not afraid to submit my belief in God’s immutable sovereignty, man’s total fall and ruin, God’s elective grace. Christ’s effectual atonement, the Spirit’s INIVINCIBLE CALL, and the perseverance of the sheep TO THE WORD OF GOD!
& nbsp; - Pastor Henry Mahan

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The law demands strength from one that has none, and curses him if he cannot display it. The Gospel gives strength to one that has none, and blesses him in the exhibition of it. The law proposes life as the end of obedience, the Gospel gives life as the only proper ground of obedience. ; – C. H. Mackintosh


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Somebody says, “It is not Christ I doubt, but myself.” Nice try. But that is still nothing more than unbelief. Unbelief calls God a liar. That is nothing more than a pious way of20calling God a liar. Faith does not have to do with self anyway. It has to do with Christ.!

SERVING TWO MASTERS?
“I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.” -Romans 7:25
We know that no man can serve two masters. — “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). But isn’t that what Paul is saying that he does here? No, remember that Paul identifies two “I’s” in this context. “If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me (Rom 7:16-17)... the “I” that Paul says does the evil that the other “I” would not do, is the one that serves the law of sin. The “I” which he describes in vs. 17, is the one who serves the law of God. It is not one man serving two masters, but two “men,” the old man and the new man, each serving their own master. They just both happen to be me. One is born of the flesh, the other is born of the Spirit. “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:5-6). One is willing and able to watch with Christ, the other cannot watch for even one hour. “And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:40-41). Notice the words, “I, myself.” These two natures are not some foreign entities that possess our bodies and act out independently, using our members. They are me. When Paul says in verse 17, “it is no more I, but sin that dwelleth in me,” understand he is not excusing his sinfulness by claiming that sin acts independently of him. We are sin. In verse 16 he confesses, it is “I” that do the things that the other “I” would not. Paul either had two distinct natures, or he was a victim of advanced schizophrenia. But understand, the old nature is personified as “sin that dwelleth i n me,” but when it acts, it is “I myself” that is complicit in the act. Likewise, we know that the new man consists of “Christ in us” (Colossians 1:27), the “Spirit that dwelleth in us” (Romans 8:11), but understand that He does not possess us as a foreign entity, but becomes one with us in such a way that it is “I myself,” that loves, serves, worships and believes on Christ. The flesh can do none of these things, and so Paul says, “not I, but Christ that dwelleth in me” (Galatians 2:20). Christ did not ask Peter, “Does the Spirit love me?” Nor did Peter answer for someone else, but for himself. Yet, we know that it was not Peter’s flesh that loved Christ. The flesh only loves self, and never improves. We live unto God (Galatians 2:19), and we do love Him; yet it is not us (flesh), but it is Christ that dwelleth in us. All glory goes to Him without Whom we can do nothing (John 15:5), but through Whom, we can do all things (Philippians 4:13). - Pastor Chris Cunningham