May 11,
2014
SOVEREIGN GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH
LOCATION
Rocky Hill Firehouse, 2nd Floor
150 Washington Street
Rocky Hill, New Jersey, 08553
Clay Curtis, pastor
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
Be
sure to check the order of service, announcements, nursery schedule, etc., in the
attachment. All articles in the bulletin
are by the pastor unless otherwise noted.
So
that the preaching of the glory of Christ is the full focus of our attention,
for those attending with children 4 and under, we
have a nursery equipped with a digital flat screen television broadcasting all
services, with faithful ladies to care for the little ones.
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Isaiah 55:
1: Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters,
Thirst, as a feeling of the soul, in
a spiritual sense, is certainly indicative of divine life. It is as impossible,
spiritually viewed, for a man dead in sin to thirst after a living God, as for
a corpse in the graveyard to thirst after a draught of cold water from the
well. I know for myself that such a feeling as thirsting after God had no place
in my bosom until the Lord was pleased to quicken my soul into spiritual life.
I had heard of God by the hearing of the ear. I had seen him in creation, in
the starry sky, in the roaring sea, in the teeming earth; I had read of him in
the Bible; I had learnt his existence by education and tradition; and I had
some apprehensions of his holiness in my natural conscience; but as to any
spiritual thirsting after him, any earnest desire to fear him, know him,
believe in him, or love him,—no such experience or feeling, I can say for
myself, ever dwelt in my bosom. I loved the world too dearly to look to him who
made it, and myself too warmly and affectionately to seek him who would bid me
crucify and mortify it. A man, therefore, I am well convinced, must be made
alive unto God by spiritual regeneration before he can experience any such sensation
as is here conveyed by the figure "thirst," or know anything of the
Psalmist's feelings when he cried, "As the hart panteth after the
water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God,
for the living God" (Psalm 42:1, 2). Now wherever God has raised up in the
soul this spiritual thirst after himself, he certainly will answer that desire,
"the desire of the righteous shall be granted" (Prov. 10:24). His own invitation is, "Ho! every one
that thirsteth, come ye to the waters" (Isaiah 55:1); and Jesus himself
says with his own blessed lips, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me
and drink" (John 7:37). Nay, he opened his ministry by pronouncing a
blessing on such, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after
righteousness; for they shall be filled."
JC Philpot
*******
One Body
In the Epistle to the Hebrews we are
told concerning the saints above that “they without us cannot be made perfect.”
We are the lower limbs as it were of the body, but the body must have its
inferior as well as its superior members. It cannot be a perfect body should
the least part of it be destroyed. Hence it is declared that in the
dispensation of the fullness of time, he will gather together in one all things
in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth. The saints above
with all their bliss must wait for their resurrection until we also shall have
come out of great tribulation; like ourselves they are waiting for the adoption,
to wit, the redemption of the body. Until all who were predestinated to be conformed
to the image of the firstborn shall have been so conformed, the church cannot
be complete. We are linked to the glorified by bonds of indispensable
necessity. We think that we cannot do without them, and that is true; but they
also cannot do without us. “As the body is one and hath many members, and all
the members of that one body, being many are one body, so also is Christ.” How
closely this brings us together. Those for whom we sorrow cannot be far away,
since we are all “the body of Christ and members in particular.” If it be dark,
my hand knows that the head cannot be far off, nor can the foot be far removed:
eye, ear, foot, hand, head, are all comprised within the limits of one body;
and so if I cannot see my beloved friend, if I shall not again hear her voice
on earth, nor see her pleading tears, yet am I sure she is not far away, and
that the bond between us is by no means snapped, for we are members of our
Lord’s body, of which it is written, “not a bone of him shall be broken.”
Unknown
*******
Isaiah 55: 3: I will make
an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
Christian mourner, in the
divine promises you have an equal proprietorship. They are as much yours as
they were David's, of whose "sure mercies" you are the possessor.
These promises are exceedingly great and precious in their nature—they are
personal and particular in their application—they are absolute and infallible
in their fulfilment. Death may appear to be written upon the promise, and upon
all the means leading to its accomplishment, but there is a life in the promise
that cannot die. See how God wrote the sentence of death upon the promise, as in
the case of the age of Abraham—the sterility of Sarah—the abduction of Joseph—the
demand for Benjamin—the banishment of David; and yet, in all the instances, the
word upon which God caused those waiting souls to hope was made good to the
letter; and the promise that appeared dead rose again with a life, all the more
vigorous and glorious from its long and gloomy entombment. It is the believer's
mercy to know that he has to do with a Divine Promiser, whose faithfulness has
been proved, and with a promise whose power has been tested. There is not a
promise with which the Holy Spirit the Comforter seeks to support and console
you, but has passed through the crucible, and has been "tried as silver is
tried." "The word of the Lord is tried." And if it be a fearful
sin to doubt what God has declared, it is a tenfold aggravation of that sin not
to believe, when a thousand times over He has made good what He has promised,
and when a great cloud of witnesses testify that He has never once falsified
His word. Octavius Winslow
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Dressing for Worship
I am not about
to establish a dress code for our worship services; but I abhor the casual,
sometimes immodest attire that has become common in many places. In the house
of God, attending the worship of God in the assembly of his saints, we ought to
dress for worship, as people who take the worship of God seriously and come to
the house of God respectfully. I know everything today is geared toward casual
attire, because everything today is geared toward disrespect and utter
disregard for others. Let us, out of reverence for our God, respect for one
another, and the honor of the gospel of the grace of God, dress with some
dignity when we come to the house of God. Do not over-dress, calling attention
to yourself; and do not under-dress, showing a disregard for the worship of
God. In the house of God especially, let us all adorn ourselves in “modest
apparel.” Don Fortner