January 17, 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
Blessed are the poor in spirit
Who their sinful nature see
They are taught they have no merit
To the Saviour they all flee.

Self-renouncing, grace admiring
Made unto salvation wise
Sovereign love their hearts rejoicing
From His cross their hopes arise.

Those who find themselves polluted
Feel their hearts so prone to sin
They shall have by God imputed
Righteousness so pure and clean.

At His throne their hearts confessing
Praise our God of sovereign grace
Weeping, loving, praising, blessing
On His head the crown they place.

(Tune: “Jesus Calls us” p. 374)

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I, along with several of our men, will be leaving for Mexico in the morning to visit the missionaries. Pray for us that the Lord will bless our trip. Don Fortner will preach this Wednesday evening.


Birthdays
17th – Bernita Singleton 18th – Kristina Verenich
23rd – Wanda Nevels 19th – Amanda DuFour


“Hated stirreth up stife: but love covereth all sins.”
- Proverbs 10:12
WORSE THAN AN INFIDEL
“If any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.”
In the context, Paul was speaking of the church providing for destitute widows. He said their children should take care of them. And if a man shirks his responsibility to provide for his mother, aunt, children, or anyone in his house, by that action he has denied the faith and is worse than an infidel. This one who claims to be a follower of Christ denies the faith. Not by embracing false doctrine. But by his life. And in doing so, he is worse, more evil than the man who makes no profession of faith. While our character and conduct have nothing to do with our justification before God, our character and conduct have everything to do with the reality of our relationship with God. It would be better to not believe than to have a faith that does not effect my actions.

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9-11
This is a date we cannot forget. When America was attacked. I cannot forget the feeling of watching those airplanes crash into the towers, murdering thousands of innocent people. There were at least two beneficial things that came out of that tragic event. (1) Our false sense of security was taken away. (2) We were made to do what was necessary to secure our security.
There is another 9-11 that does the same thing spiritually, when God is pleased to bless it. Romans 9:11 – “For the children, being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him that calleth.” If we believe that our salvation is dependent upon something from us, this strips away that false notion, and the fake sense of security that arises from it. When this is understood it causes us to cry out to God for mercy for Christ’s sake.

*****

Free grace no more makes a person want to sin than health makes a person want to get sick again. The notion of sovereign grace giving people a license to sin is the foolish excuse of Pharisees who are not willing to give up their own righteousness. God forbid such talk!
- Pastor Paul Mahan

EARNESTLY CONTEND FOR THE FAITH ONCE DELIVERED
Jude tells us, “It was needful for me to write to you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered unto the saints.” The reason it is needful is that Jude knows that our flesh will find 1001 reasons not to. We don’t want to be perceived as argumentative or contentious. We grow weary of conflict. We do not want to appear to always be negative. Need I go on? These thoughts have crossed all of our minds. That is why Jude knew we needed to be encouraged in this. He knew that Satan would not grow weary in this battle. Satan will continually seek to chip away at “The faith once delivered.”
The faith was delivered to the Saints, as a mailman delivers a letter. The content of the faith is in all the pages of the Bible. None of it can be left out! It was “once delivered.” That means there is a perpetual validity to this message. No addition, subtractions, or modifications are needed. And we are commanded to earnestly contend for it. If you love somebody, you will speak in their defense if they are slandered. We love the object of “the Faith”, the Lord Jesus Christ, and cannot bear when people say that which is derogatory to Him!


*****


Believing God, we cannot compromise! If we truly believe God, we will serve Him with confidence and peace, simply trusting His total sovereignty, power, wisdom, and grace. The fear of man shall not be a threat to us; the favor of man shall not be a motive to us. The circumstances of the hour shall not pressure us, and the desire for results shall not alter our message nor cause us to employ the devised methods of others. If we believe God, we will simply perform our responsibilities faithfully and wait on the Lord to perform His work according to His own will. – Pastor Don Fortner


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Holiness is not something we do for God, but something God does for us by His grace. – Pastor Don Fortner