February 15, 2015
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
Sermons on Video @ www.youtube.com
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NURSERY
We have
a nursery equipped with a digital flat screen television broadcasting all
services live, for children four and under.
Check the announcements.
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All articles in the bulletin are by the
pastor unless otherwise noted.
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Concerning our trials, Robert Hawker
said, “God lets believers see what mere feathers we are in the wind of
temptation, if the LORD for a moment withdraws the arm of his strength, by
which our faith is upheld.”
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HOPE OF HIS CALLING
Ephesians 1: 18:…that ye may know what
is the hope of his calling.
Believers have a good hope because of who called us—“the
hope of HIS calling.” This is not the invitation of “Pontius Pilot preaching”
where they say good things but then turn our Savior over to the will of the
people. This is the effectual, internal call of God’s sovereign, irresistible
power and grace.
Believers gather to hear the gospel—“For whatsoever things were written
aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort
of the scriptures might have hope.” (Rom 15: 4)
Believers need to know what our hope is because our heavenly Father says—“Sanctify
the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man
that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.” (1
Pet 3: 15)
Our hope is God our Savior, Jesus Christ—“Let
Israel hope in the LORD: for with the LORD there is mercy, and with him is
plenteous redemption.” (Ps 130: 7); “Blessed is the man that trusteth in the
LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.” (Jer 17: 7; Ps 38:15; 1 Pet 1:21;
1 Tim 1:1)
This hope of glory begins when Christ is formed in our inward man--“Christ
in you, the hope of glory.” (Col 1: 27); “By whom also we have access by faith
into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”
(Rom 5: 2)
Christ is the hope of the gospel, who grounds us and settles us through
the preaching of the gospel till that day he presents us holy and unblameable
to God--[Christ shall] present you holy and unblameable and
unreproveable in his sight: If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled,
and be not moved away from the hope
of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every
creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister; (Col 1:
22-23)
Therefore, by God’s grace, we patiently wait for the hope of
righteousness by faith—“For we are saved by hope: but hope that is
seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we
hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.” (Rom 8: 24-25); “For we through the Spirit wait for
the hope of righteousness by faith.” (Gal 5: 5)
As we hope in God’s mercy we have the assurance of knowing that God
continually watches us to protect and preserve us—“Behold,
the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in
his mercy; To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. Our
soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our help and our shield. For our heart
shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name. Let thy mercy,
O LORD, be upon us, according as we hope in thee.” (Ps 33: 18-22; Lam 3: 21-26)
Our hope—our inheritance, even Christ himself—is reserved especially for
us in heaven—“the hope which is laid up for you in heaven.” (Col 1:
5); “Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten
us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To
an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved
in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto
salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Pet 1: 3-5)
There is no guarantee in the carnal, vain hopes of temporal life. But the believer has God’s full guarantee of
eternal life. This is not presumption. It
is confidence in God’s word—“In hope of eternal life, which God,
that cannot lie, promised before the world began.” (Titus 1: 2); “That by two
immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a
strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set
before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast,
and which entereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us
entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of
Melchisedec.” (Heb 6: 18-20)
The hope of God’s calling is the hope of resurrection and eternal life with
and by Christ Jesus—“But I would not have you to be ignorant,
brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others
which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so
them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto
you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the
coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord
himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then
we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in
the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thess 4: 13-18; Heb 9: 28; 1
Cor 15: 22-26)
“Now
the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may
abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” (Rom 15: 13)
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God the Father found in his Son a fit
person to be our Redeemer and trusted the whole affair of redemption to him
(Ephesians 1:12-13). The Lord Jesus Christ is the only one who could honor and
magnify the law, the only one who could glorify the triune God and save guilty
sinners by the sacrifice of himself. And he did it! Don Fortner, pastor of Grace Baptist Church of Danville, KY
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As the Lord
brings to your memory those who are going through times of trial and suffering,
remember them in prayer. Call them on the phone or take the time to visit them,
you’ll both be blessed…”Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father
is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep
himself unspotted from the world” (James 1:27). Marvin Stalnaker, pastor of Katy Baptist Church, Fairmont, WV