December 20, 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
Revive Thy Work, O Lord
Create soul-thirst for Thee
And hung’ring for the Word of life
O may our spirits be!

Revive Thy Work, O Lord
Exalt Thy precious name
And by the Holy Ghost our love
For Thee and Thine inflame.

Revive Thy Work, O Lord
Give pow’r unto Thy word
And may its pure and sacred truth
In living faith be heard.

Revive Thy Work, O Lord
And give refreshing showers
The glory shall be all Thine own
The blessing, Lord be ours.

(Tune: “I Love Thy Kingdom” p.188)


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There will be no service this Wednesday evening (Dec. 23rd). The following week, we will change our Wednesday service to Thursday evening (New Years Eve).


Birthdays
21st – Erik Charron 25th – Paul E. Daniel 25th – Joyce McSherry
26th – Sherry Borders 26th – Jacob Murphy 26th – Paul Walmsley


“A brother offended is harder to be won then a strong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle.” – Proverbs 18:19
THE TEACHING OF GRACE
“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.”
- Titus 2:11-12
There are many things God’s grace teaches us. In Titus 2:11-12, God’s grace is said to teach us how to live in this present world. The implication is that if we are not living like this we obviously have not been taught by His grace, and we are living in rebellion.
And what does it teach us regarding living in this present world? That we are to deny (renounce)….ungodliness (the opposite of devotion to God), and worldly lusts (the desire of fallen human nature), and to live soberly (self-controlled, self-restraint, not controlled by the passions of the flesh), righteously (upright), and godly (well devout, a godward attitude) in this present world. Our prayer is that God by His grace will teach us how to live in this present world in a way that adorns the Gospel of His Son!


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If there was ever one who had the bare minimum of what was needed to be saved, it was the thief on the cross. But he also had the maximum. It is not like he just barely made it in. He had such a fullness of salvation in Christ that nothing could be added to it. Christ alone is our salvation.
Nothing more! Nothing less! Nothing else!


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To worship God in the Spirit is to worship without the use of idolatrous images and rituals. It is a heart worship of the living God. Yet, it is much more than that. It is worshipping God in the power of and under the influence of the Holy Spirit. True worship is born in the heart by the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit speaks to us through the Word of God, revealing Christ in us; and He causes us to worship God. It is the Spirit of Christ in the heart that produces all characteristics of true worship: humility, faith, repentance, submission, adoration, and obedience to God. – Pastor Don Fortner
THAT’S NOT FAIR!
We’ve all heard that phrase many times, and probably said it ourselves. When “bad” things happen to “good” people, when a less deserving employee gets a promotion, when a young child is stricken with a fatal cancer….our first instinct is to ask why? - That’s not right, that’s not fair!
Well, first of all, “It’s the Lord: let Him do what seemeth Him good” (I Samuel 3:18). Besides, “O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?” (Romans 9:20). Also, look at it this way – how did we treat Christ when He walked on this earth? God in the flesh, holy, without sin, perfect in all ways….yet, “He is despised and rejected of men…He was despised, and we esteemed Him not” (Isaiah 53:3). We slapped Him in the face, spit on Him, pressed a crown of thorns in His scalp, mocked Him, cursed Him, and drove nails in His hands and feet as we hung Him from a cross. How should we ever expect to be treated fair when we treated the Son of God in such a way?
I don’t know how to put this, except that isn’t it ironic that the only time Christ was every treated fairly on this earth is when He hung on that cross. He was made to be sin, and God treated Him fairly, found Him guilty, and killed Him. And now, every believer found in Christ, God treats fairly, accepting them as righteous and holy, sinless and perfect, receiving what is rightly due them – eternal life.
Our righteous Substitute was made sin, and justly and fairly condemned to death, so that chosen sinners are made holy, and justly and fairly granted eternal life. What a wise and fair Gospel our sovereign God has given us….. all for Christ’s sake. Simply trust Him.
-Brian DuFour