January 3, 2010
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
I bless the Christ of God, I rest on love divine
And with unfaltering lip and heart, I call the Saviour mine
His cross dispels each doubt, I bury in His tomb
Each thought of unbelief and fear
Each lingering shade of gloom.
I praise the God of peace, I trust His truth and might
He calls me His, I call Him mine, My God, my Joy, my Light
In Him is only good, in me is only ill
My ill but draws His goodness forth
And me He loveth still.
‘Tis He Who saveth me, and freely pardon gives
I love because He loveth me, I live because he lives
My life with Him is hid, my death has passed away
My clouds have melted into light
My midnight into day.
(Tune: “This is My Father’s World” p. 39)
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As we look forward to this coming year, may we be enabled to love God in the
Trinity of His Persons more, love one another more, and love lost men more.
By the grace of God, that would make 2010 a blessed year.
Birthdays
3rd – Rachel Sullivan 5th – Mike Mohr 6th – Nathaniel Sligh
7th – Henry Lynn 8th – Nancy Benton 8th – Rachel Harries
8th – Thom Schuyler 9th – Emily Bryan 9th – Renee Culver
“Open rebuke is better than secret love. Faithful are the wounds of
a friend: but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” - Proverbs 27:5-6
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN KNOWLEDGE AND LOVE
“Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.” - I Corinthians 8:1
The knowledge that puffs up is correct information. Even correct information regarding the teaching of Scripture. It swells one with pride that he knows something others do not, which gives him some advantage over them. Paul goes on to say in the next verse, “If any man thinketh he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.” All that that person displays with their knowledge is that they do not have a true understanding. But love builds up. There is knowledge involved in love. You cannot love someone you know nothing about. But love has to do with a person, and not merely correct information. This is the love which is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. In verse 3, Paul says, “If any man love God, the same is known of Him.” This is what God recognizes. Love to His Person. Not knowledge that swells up, but love that builds up a man is humility, awe, reverence, and a desire to please Him. May we be delivered from that knowledge that makes us proud and arrogant, and be filled with the love that builds up.
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JUSTIFICATION
Some say that to speak of the eternal aspect of justification is blasphemous because (they say) it makes void the work of Christ on the cross. This is like saying our eternal election makes void the work of regeneration by the Holy Spirit in time. To limit justification (or salvation) to an event in time is to limit the eternal God and make Him to wait upon something to happen before He can save or justify. The work of Christ on the cross is not just an event in time, but an eternal work (Rev. 13:8, Heb. 9:12). In Hebrews 9:12, the word “eternal” redemption means “without beginning and end, that which always has been and always will be.” In the estimation of the immutable God we always have been, and always will be redeemed by Christ’s blood, and therefore just in His sight. May God keep us from arguing whether His work of justifying sinners is like a rope or a spear, and cause us to rejoice in the work itself. It is a work done altogether by Him for the sinner, and EVERYTHING He has done for us in time and eternity is done to the end that we might dwell with Him forever, faultless, unblameable and unreproveable in His sight. – Pastor Chris Cunningham
FACTS ABOUT THE TRUE ELECTION OF GRACE
“Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace (Romans 11:5). Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. For our Gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance” (I Thessalonians 1:4-5).
1. An election which does not lead a person to believe the Gospel, confess in his heart, confess Christ in baptism and identify whole heartedly with the Lord’s Church is not the election of grace.
2. An election which does not give a person a new birth, a new heart, a new nature to love Christ, to love one another and to live and express that love daily is not the election of grace.
3. An election which does not result in a new walk, a new attitude, a new spirit of unity and fellowship is not the election of grace.
4. An election which does not make a person generous toward others, liberal in his support of the Gospel ministry, liberal toward his house and other familiesand who has not learned that it is more blessed to give than to receive, is not the election of grace.
5. An election which does not (in time) produce these fruits of the Spirit, a growth in grace, and the knowledge of Christ; which delivers a person from a covetous spirit, the vanity of the flesh and the pride of self is not the election of grace.
There was a time when only God knew we were His elect!
There came a time when we knew that we were elected by God!
There comes a time when others know that we are His elect!
- Pastor Henry Mahan
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You don’t have to teach a drowning man what to say. We preach the Gospel and the Holy Ghost will be left to work in men’s hearts. There’s no pressure, no persuasion, and no psychology to get professions or joiners by decisions. The preacher will preach the Gospel; he will preach the Word of God and will leave people alone. They will leave them in the hands of the Holy Spirit. – Pastor Henry Mahan