November 29, 2009
Sundays 7:00 am Channel 27 WKYT
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
Sons we are through God’s election
Who in Jesus Christ believe
By eternal destination
Sovereign grace we here receive.

Pause, my soul, adore and wonder
Ask, O why such love to me?
Grace hath put me in the number
Of the Saviour’s family.

Every fallen soul, by sinning
Merits everlasting pain
But Thy love, without beginning
Has restored Thy sons again.

When my Saviour comes in judgment
Bright in majesty Divine
I will stand and with that great number
In Thy righteousness as mine.

(Tune: “Jesus Calls Us” p. 374)

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The Christmas party for the adults will be on Friday, December 18th at the Hartland Clubhouse.


There will be a luncheon for the ladies on Saturday, Dec. 5th in the fellowship hall so everyone can visit with Evelyn Wang who is visiting from Taiwan. The details and sign-up sheet are in the foyer.


Birthdays
30th – Isaac Steeves 30th – Mitch Steeves 2nd – Susan Holthaus
2nd – Kara Imes 3rd – Tom Brice 3rd – Kelly Byrd
4th – Jennifer Dent 5th – Andy Davis 5th – Shirley Rozeboom
“Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom.” - Proverbs 13:10

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LIMITING GOD
“How oft did they provoke Him in the wilderness, and grieve Him in the desert! Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.” – Psalms 78:40-41
We know that this does not mean that God’s purpose was thwarted by their sin. Whatever God decrees is so sure to take place that it is past tense before it takes place. But this does speak of God not doing things that He would have done if they had not been disobedient. This is similar to the scripture, “He could there do no mighty works, save that He laid His hands on a few sick folk. And He marveled because of their unbelief” (Mark 6:5-6). That does not mean He was unable to do what He intended to do because of their unbelief. But it does mean that there were mighty works He would have done, had they believed. Our unbelief and sin can and will restrain His blessings upon us. Oh, the blessings we miss out of because of our personal sin and unbelief. “He which seweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly: and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully” (II Cor. 9:6). There is a sense in which we get out of it what we put into it.

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When the Holy God and a ruined sinner meet on a blood-splattered platform, all is settled once and for all, settled in such a way as to perfectly honor and glorify God and eternally save the sinner. The only proper meeting place between God and man is the point where grace and righteousness meet and perfectly harmonize. Nothing but perfect righteousness could suit God, and nothing but perfect grace could suit the sinner. But where could that take place? Only in the cross. There it is that mercy and truth are met together, and there the believing sinner finds peace for the heart and conscience.
– Pastor Scott Richardson

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If any good come to us, it must be entirely on the ground of God’s grace freely given through the merits of Christ – not won by merit on our part. – C. H. Spurgeon
THE FUTILITY OF IDOLS
This is a true story about a 14 year old boy who lives with his family in a small house which is filled with idols, which are little images. They are in every corner of the small house. Every day candles are lit and placed in front of these idol figures made of clay and plaster. His father and mother are devoted worshippers of their idols. He and all his family believed that the idols have power.
One day a man came to this village preaching the good news about the only true God and His only begotten Son Jesus, who is the Savior of all those who believe in Him. His heart was opened to receive the good news of his salvation in Jesus Christ. He confessed his faith in Jesus Christ by obeying his Lord in being baptized in the name of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
The young boy tried to tell his family of his faith in Jesus Christ. His father was angry with him when he told his father that his idols had no power to save him. In his desperation to convince his father that the idols were dumb helpless dolls and should not be worshipped, he took a hammer and broke all the idol dolls except one. Then he laid the hammer beside the one that wasn’t broken.
When his father came home and saw his idols all broken in pieces he was enraged. He called all the family and began to ask who it was that had broken his idols. Everyone denied breaking them, except the young lad. Then his father asked him, “Did you do it?” The boy quickly replied, “The idol did it, and there is the hammer beside the idol that proves it!” His father said in anger, “Silly boy, the idol couldn’t do that, you know better than that.” Then the young lad said, “That is what I have been trying to tell you…that he has no power.”
- Missionary Walter Groover


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The doctrines of original sin, election, effectual calling, final perseverance, and all those great truths which are called Calvinism – though Calvin was not the author of them, but simply an able writer and preacher upon the subject – are, I believe, the essential doctrines of the Gospel that is in Jesus Christ. Now, I do not ask you whether you believe all this – it is possible you may not; but I believe you will before you enter Heaven. – C. H. Spurgeon