October 4, 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
Where two or three with sweet accord
Obedient to their sovereign Lord
Meet to recount His acts of grace
And offer solemn prayer and praise.

There, says the Saviour, will I be
Amid this little company
To them unveil my smiling face
And shed my glories ‘round the place.

We meet at Thy command, dear Lord
Relying on Thy faithful Word
Now send Thy Spirit from above
Now fill our hearts with heavenly love.

For sinners, Lord, You came to bleed
And I’m a sinner, vile indeed!
Lord, I believe Thy grace is free
O, magnify Thy grace in me!

(Tune: “When I Survey” p. 118)


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We will observe the Lord’s Table this evening.


There will be a Bible Conference Oct. 16-18 at the College Grove Grace Church in College Grove, TN. Chris Cunningham is the Pastor. Speakers are Don Fortner, Paul Mahan, and Todd Nibert.

Birthdays
4th – Alex DuFour 4th- Don Williams
5th – Susan Sligh 9th – Bonnie Squires

“A wise son heareth his father’s instruction: but a scorner heareth not rebuke.” - Proverb 13:1


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Paul said, “And now abideth faith, hope, and charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity” (I Cor. 13:13). And these three correspond to the offices of the Christ. We have faith in His word as the Prophet of God. We have hope with regard to the future because He is our merciful and faithful High Priest. And we love Him being King so He can reign over us in our weakness and subdue our sins for us. Faith in the Prophet. Hope in the Priest. Love for the King.

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FIRST PRIORITY IS NOT ENOUGH
I have observed many who professed to know Christ and believe the Gospel of His grace, and yet they are unhappy and generally speaking miserable people. How can that be? I believe I know why. These people walk around with a dark cloud over their head because they are so taken up with the things of this world. They are always in a straight between Christ and the world, and feel bad because they fear they are not giving Christ their first priority. That is the problem. If Christ is merely your first priority, you have missed Him altogether. He is all to those who know Him, not merely their first priority. I once head someone say, “Most people have just enough religion to make them miserable.” That’s the problem. Most people have religion but they don’t have Christ.

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“These things write I unto you, that ye sin not.” - I John 2:1
Any understanding I have regarding any doctrine from the Word of God which leads me to excuse, accept, be indifferent toward, or even encourages me in the commission of sin, is a complete misunderstanding.
May we all be delivered from abusing the doctrine of God by using it as an excuse for sin. “These things write I unto you, that you sin not.” The doctrine of God is always “according to godliness” (I Timothy 6:3). If my understanding of any doctrine of God’s Word does not produce godliness, I have not understood or believed that doctrine at all.

IF SIN IS MISSING THE MARK….
I Corinthians 1:17-24; 2:2
A very loose definition of sin that was commonly passed around in conservative religious circles years ago was this: - “Sin is missing the mark. It is like shooting an arrow at a target and missing.” Granted, that is a very loose and terribly inadequate definition of sin. Yet, as far as it goes, it is correct. The mark at which we should aim is perfect conformity to the revelation of God in Holy Scripture. To miss that mark is sin.
Understanding that standard, if sin is missing the mark, then most of what passes for Gospel preaching and writing in our day is sin, nothing but sin. It is the corrupting of God’s covenant by the very men who are responsible to declare it (Malachi 2:8).
Without question, all that is preached and written declaring salvation to be determined by the will, works, or worth of the sinner is sin. It certainly misses the mark of God’s revelation that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Salvation is by the purpose of God the Father, the purchase of God the Son and the power of God the Spirit. Any doctrine contrary to these plainly revealed facts is damning heresy and sin (Ephesians 1:3-14; 2:1-9; Galatians 1:6-8; 5:2,4).
But Satan is a crafty foe. Even those who truly believe the Gospel of God’s free and sovereign grace in Christ may be caught in the devil’s snare. If he cannot get a man to deny the Gospel, he will do everything in his power to get him sidetracked and wrapped up in lesser issues, by which he hopes to keep even faithful men from being useful to the souls of men.
How many sermons I have heard and read by men who know the Gospel that contained no Gospel! Sermons about issues, morality, politics, abortion, divorce, marriage, economics, all that men call “practical living,” sermons by which the preacher vainly hopes to inspire and motivate people to godliness, - sermons without the Gospel are useless sermons, a waste of time and effort. In conception, in execution and in hearing,20all such preaching is sin.
All the preaching and writing that is done in the name of God which fails to instruct people in the Gospel of Christ and fails to direct the heart of sinners to Christ in faith, worship, adoration, love, commitment and praise is sin. It misses the mark of God’s revealed will (I Corinthians 1:17-24; 2:2). It is not the business of God’s servants to get citizens to vote conservatively, or to dictate dress codes for grown men and women, as if they were children in day school, or to persuade people of this or that ecclesiastical, or eschatological speculation. It is the business of Gospel preachers to preach the Gospel of Christ. As Moses lifted up the serpent on the pole, so we are to lift up Christ before men and say, “Look to Christ and live!” Anything less or more than this is missing the mark – Pastor Don Fortner