December 19, 2010
Sundays 7:30 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
This promise is proclaimed
To all who trust in Christ
Christ Jesus keeps His saints secure
They cannot be condemned.
Though oft I sin, I know
And feel so very low
Nothing I say, or feel, or do
Will change my God, I know.
His Word can never be
Broken or changed at all
This sinner, justified by grace
From grace can never fall!
No sin can justice charge
Against my ransomed soul
When Jesus died, He paid my debt
Not part, but paid in whole.
(Tune: “I Love Thy Kingdom Lord” p. 188)
*****
There will be no services this Wednesday evening or next Sunday evening. Next
Sunday morning services will be as always.
Birthdays
19th – Amanda Carver 21st – Erik Charron
25th – Paul E. Daniel 25th – Joyce McSherry
“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth
to counsel is wise.” - Proverbs 12:15
David spoke twice in Psalm 42 of those who asked him “where is your
God?” “We certainly do not see Him acting on your behalf. You
could never tell that God is for you by what is seen.” Surely we have
asked ourselves the same question. But remember, “Our God is in the
heavens, He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased.” He was and is in
Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself. He is in every act of providence.
He is everywhere by omnipresence and He is always with His people by grace.
He “inhabits His people” and “the praises of His people.”
He is in “the still, small voice.” Wherever you have a sinner
crying for mercy, God is there. Wherever two or three are (what an insignificant
crowd), Christ promises His presence.
The people who say “Where is your God” are looking by sight. But
God’s people see by faith. “If thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest
see the glory of God” (John 11:40).
*****
DEPARTURE
“The time of my departure is at hand” (II Timothy 4:6). Paul spoke
of his death as a departure. The word means “an unloosing, a dissolving
into separate parts” (Vine Greek dictionary). When the believer dies,
he is set free. The holy nature and the evil nature, which are together here,
are finally separated. When my sinful nature is gone, I will truly be set
free. Is it any wonder Paul said, “To die is gain.” Truly, if
I am a believer, the day of death is better than the day of birth.
*****
GRACE AND HOLINESS
“By grace are ye saved.” Not merely exempt from the punishment
due to sin, but saved from sin! Yes, saved from the penalty of sin. But saved
from the power of sin also! “Sin shall not have dominion over you, for
you are not under law, but under grace.” If our view of grace merely
leaves us feeling o.k. with our sin, because salvation is by grace, we have
not understood grace. Grace is not exemption from holiness. It is the cause
of holiness. Where there is no holiness, there is no grace!
THE TWO NATURES
The more excellent a mere natural man is, the less of evil is he conscious
of possessing. Not so the child of God; for the more spiritually minded he
becomes, the more conscious he is of his imperfections, and of his utter inability
of himself of anything good before God. This is the only feature in the child
of God which has no natural imitation. There may be a natural faith in Christ,
a natural love for Christ, a natural following after Christ, and a natural
conviction of utter inability for anything good before God. This is entirely
and always the result of a spiritual nature previously given. The more a mere
natural man has of natural religious regard for the Lord Jesus, the more there
is of increased dissatisfaction with self…the natural man has no new
spiritual nature, with its spiritual principles, whereby to judge the natural,
and therefore the natural judging the natural, he is right well pleased. The
child of God, however, possesses a new spiritual nature, whereby, with its
spiritual principles, he can judge the natural that is in him. He only is
able to have a right understanding of the natural; and the more healthy the
manifestation of the spiritual nature, the more deep and vivid is the consciousness
of the evil of the mere natural.
- Author Unknown, 1899
*****
One of the main objectives 0f the ministry of the Gospel is to convince sinners
of their sin and misery without Christ. Men will not come to Christ Jesus
until they are so convinced. “The well do not need a physician.”
If you love your soul, seriously meditate upon this fact and do not allow
pride to rob you of the TROUBLING but PLEASANT realization that YOU ARE A
SINNER! Christ is the friend of sinners.
-Pastor Henry Mahan
*****
There is a magnificent simplicity and singularity in the Gospel. How merciful
is our God to take such wondrous things and bring them to a succinct point,
thereby making misunderstanding an impossibility. There is one way, one truth,
one life, one faith, one Lord, one baptism. A person cannot claim that he
does not understand, he can only admit that he does not believe. – Pastor
Tim James