August 30, 2009
Sundays 11:00 am Channel 36 WTVQ
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
Compared with Christ, in all beside
No comeliness I see
The one thing needful, dearest Lord
Is to be one with Thee.

The sense of Thy redeeming love
Into my soul convey
Thyself bestow, for Thee alone
My All-in all, I pray.

Less than Thyself will not suffice
My comfort to restore
More than Thyself I can not crave
And Thou cans’t give no more.

Loved of my God, for Him again
With love intense I’d burn
Chosen of Thee ere time began
I’d choose Thee in return.

(“Come Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove” p, 158)

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Birthdays
30th – Abigail Holthaus 1st – Wanda Frye 1st – Loretta Shearer
5th – Luke Coffey 5th – Shari Greenleaf


The Grace Baptist Church in Danville will have their Bible Conference this weekend.
Friday 7:00pm – Bruce Crabtree & John Chapman
Saturday 10:00am – Maurice Montgomery & David Eddmenson Saturday 6:00pm – Gene Harmon & Darvin Pruitt
Sunday 10:00am – Tom Harding & Rupert Rivenbark

9 CIn the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride: but the lips of the wise shall preserve them.” - Proverb 14:3
When Joseph’s brothers sold him as a slave to a caravan heading down to Egypt and took his coat and dipped it in blood to present it to his father to cover up their actions, it was an act of cruelty. They did what they wanted to do and were completely responsible for their actions. But hear the words of Joseph… “It was not you that sent me hither, but God” (Genesis 45:8). He also said, “Ye thought evil against me: but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass as it is this day, to save much people alive” (Genesis 50:20).
Oh, the evil things that we have done! And they are all our fault. Woe to the man that lays the fault of His sin upon the sovereignty of God. It is only when our sin is all our fault that we are a candidate for mercy. Otherwise mercy is an entitlement. But what a glorious God! Joseph did not say, “God allowed you to send me hither as part of His permissive will.” No, He said, “It was not you who sent me hither, but God.” God is the cause behind all, and He brings good out of evil. “All things work together for good to them who love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.”

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THE SUM AND SUBSTANCE OF RELIGION
There are some, I know, who would fain believe that to think and preach so much about Christ is no true religion, that it would be better if I spoke more about plain, practical duties, that it does not signify so much what we think about Christ. But, I trust they are so few that I shall say nothing to them. Plain, practical duties are very well; but they cannot put away sin, nor give men new hearts, nor save souls. All of that is Christ’s office. Christ is the mainspring and subject of all Scripture. Christ, we read, is the Bishop of souls, the Author and Finisher of faith, the Bread of life, the Captain of Salvation, the Cornerstone, the Door, the Mediator, the Prince of life, the Prince of peace, the Rock, the Shepherd, the Sun of Righteousness, the Light of the world; and surely then, I may fairly tell you that to think rightly of Jesus Christ is the sum and substance o f religion. – J. C. Ryle

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It is very dangerous to quiet conscience with anything but the blood of Christ. It is fatal being at peace until Christ speaks peace. Nothing can truly pacify the conscience but that which pacifies God, and that is the blood of Christ (Hebrews 9:14). – Pastor Henry Mahan

WHY PREACH ELECTION?
I have often heard this question asked: Why preach election? Here are four reasons why I preach God’s eternal and unconditional election of a people in Christ, unto salvation.
1. God has declared it in His Word (II Timothy 3:16). Since God said it, it is both true and necessary. I do not have authority to omit this truth but rather am obligated to proclaim it. I do not shun to decl are it and must not keep back anything profitable (Acts 20:20 & 27).
2. It gives all the glory to God in the salvation of a sinner from beginning to end. Our conformity to Christ and ultimate glorification is inseparable linked to, and begins with our election in Him from eternity. It is all His doing (Ephesians 1:3-4; Romans 8:28-30; II Thessalonians 2:13-14).
3. It is a most comfortable doctrine to the saints. All whom He chose, he has blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ. Nothing needful or necessary has been withheld (Colossians 2:8-9).
4. It shuts me up to God’s sovereign grace and mer cy in Christ and excludes boasting. It kills our ideas of salvation by personal merit, works or will and causes us to seek Christ, Who is the salvation of God (I Corinthians 1:30-31). – Pastor Charles Pennington


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“JACOB HAVE I LOVED, BUT ESAU HAVE I HATED”
Romans 9:13
You will sometime hear those who deny the wrath of God and preach the universal love of God for all men declare that what this verse in Romans 9:13 really says is, “God loves Jacob and He loves Esau LESS.” Now, I ask you, how does our infinite, Almighty, perfect God do anything LESS than perfectly? Is He at times LESS RIGHTEOUS? LESS HOLY? LESS JUST? Our comfort in Christ is that He who loves His sheep HAS always loved them, WILL always love them and loves then AS He loves Christ Jesus, His only begotten Son (John 17:23). And to those who were told to depart from His presence, He said, “I NEVER knew you.8 0 Malachi 3:6 declares “I am THE LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” Our comfort is that HIS LOVE IN CHRIST is without degrees or changes, as is His wrath upon those outside of the Ark – Christ Jesus! - Pastor Henry Mahan