October 14, 2012
SOVEREIGN GRACE BAPTIST
CHURCH
LOCATION
Rocky Hill Firehouse, 2nd
Floor
150 Washington Street
Rocky Hill, New Jersey, 08553
Telephone: 615-513-4464
Schedule of Services
Sunday 10: 15 AM Bible Class
Sunday 11:00 AM Morning Service
Thursday 7: 30 PM Midweek Service
Order of service, announcements, etc, are in
attachment. All articles in the bulletin
are by the pastor unless otherwise noted.
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Any earthly relationship or thing that causes us to compromise or neglect the gospel
of the full atonement Christ accomplished for his elect has taken preeminence
in our heart over Christ. (Mt 10: 38-39)
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I am not sure just how
long after the Lord had called out that one thief on the cross that he fell
asleep and had a glorious reception in Heaven. I do know this: the majority of
his life was spent in sin and degradation! The amazing thing is this: one
minute of grace will far outreach a whole lifetime of corruption! Five minutes
before death (or not much more than this), this man was a gracious recipient of
the free sovereign grace of God in Christ Jesus. Do we linger until death to
call upon the Redeemer? Do we wait until the last hour to speak His wonderful
name? Absolutely not, yet this case most certainly shows us that Grace is free,
Grace is unmerited, Grace is divine and Grace is supernatural! Bless His
wonderful name that it is so and will always be so; all to the glory and praise
of His great name. Pastor
Drew Dietz
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THE
DIFFERENCE IS LOVE
It matters little to you if someone
speaks lies to you about someone else’s father.
But let them speak against your own father and it is a different matter
altogether. You love him. Before
God quickened and called me, I had learned the doctrine of grace. I enjoyed debating doctrine with others. Yet, it was not offensive to me when a person
claimed Christ died for all men or if they exalted man’s will over God’s will. I had no love for God. In all other matters of my daily life truth
was truth and lies were lies, as John says, “no lie is of the truth.” But when
it came to spiritual matters, I thought truth was relative because I was under
the delusion of my deceitful heart which convinced me that all men were worshipping
the same God, regardless if one person’s doctrine set forth a god entirely
different from the God of the scriptures.
I had never experienced the power of the Holy Spirit teaching me the
Truth in the heart so I did not understand what the Lord meant when he said
“they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” But after the Spirit of God gave me a new
heart then the love of my Redeemer for me filled my heart with love for
him. From then on I could no longer remain
indifferent to false doctrines because now they are speaking of the one that I love. Some claim to believe the truth, who say they
do not speak the truth openly out of love for those who disagree. But there is no love apart from “speaking THE
TRUTH in love.” If you were about to drink from a cup that I knew was full of
poison yet when I told you the truth you argued that it was not poison, would I
love you if I set aside the truth so we could get along as I watched you drink
the poison? Intentionally setting aside of the truth is not love or faith it is
the “deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they
received not the LOVE OF THE TRUTH, that they might be saved. And for this
cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That
they all might be damned who BELIEVED NOT THE TRUTH, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
The love of Christ constrains believers to lay down our life—that life that would
rather not suffer the rejection of men. (Mt 16: 21-25) But we do so, declaring the truth because by
that same means the love of Christ, in truth, convinced us to trust Christ. If
God creates a new heart in those who hear us then shall they be filled with
this love which persuades us that “greater love hath no man than this, that a
man lay down his life for his friends.” Then—and only then—will they begin to
understand, the difference is love.
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HE NEVER CHANGES
Hebrews 13:8 : Jesus
Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and forever.
I am so thankful that as I grow older and things change, inside and out, that
there is one who never changes.
1. His love never
changes with time, for he loved me with an everlasting love that knows no
change.
2. His power never
changes. He is just as able to keep me from falling today as when I first
began.
3. His Word never
changes: “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that
he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and
shall he not make it good?” (Numbers 23:19) Has he not magnified his
word above his name?
4. His election of me
shall never change. He will never cast off those whom he has chosen, for they
will never do anything that he did not know about and has not already taken
care of.
5. The Power of His
Blood shall never change. It still cleanses from all sin. No matter how deep
the stain has gone, his blood washes it away.
6. His Sacrifice will
never change; it will never lose its effectiveness because it is always fresh
in the midst of the Throne of God: “And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of
the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb
as it had been slain,…” (Revelation 5:6) We have a living sacrifice
standing in the midst of the Throne of God.
When we rise out of our
beds in the morning and go through our changes, just remember that there is one
who remains the same yesterday, today and forever: The Rock Christ Jesus.
John
Chapman is pastor of Ashland Grace Church, Ashland, KY