August 16, 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
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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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Never judge anything impossible for God simply because you do not understand how God can do it. “Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the POWER of God.” (Mt 22: 29) “The things that are impossible with men are possible with God.” (Luke 18: 27)
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"Who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption."—I Cor. i. 30.
What a sweet subject for my morning meditation is here! Who is it, my soul, is made of God to thee these precious things but Jesus? And mark how they are made so. I am a poor ignorant creature, grossly ignorant by reason of the fall. I knew not my lost estate, much less the way of recovery. Here Jesus became to me wisdom. By his illuminating the darkness of my mind, he led me to see my ruin and my misery. But this would never have brought me out of it; for though I saw my lost estate, yet still I had no consciousness by what means I could be recovered. Here again Jesus came to my aid, and taught me, that as I needed righteousness, he would be my righteousness, and undertake for me to God. But even after this was done, I felt my soul still the subject of sin; and how to subdue a single sin I knew not. Here Jesus came again, and gave me to see, that as he was wisdom to cure my ignorance, and righteousness to answer for my guilt, so he would be my sanctification also; purging, as well as pardoning and renewing, by his Spirit, my poor nature, when he had removed the guilt of it. Still I sighed for complete deliverance, and to make my happiness sure; and therefore Jesus came again, that by his full redemption from all the evils of the fall, I might be made free; and therefore he became the whole together—"wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption." And to stamp and seal the whole with the impression of God my Father, all that Jesus did, he did by God's gracious appointment; for he was made of God to me all these, that all my glorying might be in the Lord. See to it, my soul, then, that this be all thy glory. From Robert Hawker’s “Morning and Evening Portions”
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CHRIST OUR WISDOM
1 Corinthians 1:30
Christ is Wisdom. Christ is Understanding. He gives wisdom and understanding; but the Holy Ghost tells us much more than that. He tells us that the Mediator-man Christ Jesus is Wisdom and is Understanding (Pro 8:12-14). If Christ is Wisdom and Understanding, as he asserts, then there is no wisdom and no understanding anywhere except in him. Furthermore, if Christ is Wisdom and Understanding, then all who are in him and have him possess wisdom and understanding.
Though we are foolish creatures by nature, by virtue of our union with him, Christ is made of God unto us Wisdom. He is the one who gives us wisdom and understanding in all things spiritual. He is the shining light that dispels darkness in our souls. Christ is our Wisdom objectively, too. I mean by that that our highest wisdom is knowing him. Under the personification of Wisdom, our Savior says, “He that findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain the favour of the Lord” (Proverbs 8:35).
Christ is the Head of his body the church; and as all the wisdom of the body is in its head, so all our wisdom is in him. The Lord Jesus acted for us as our Wisdom representatively, speaking for us in the everlasting covenant of grace and peace; and he is our Advocate with the Father, still pleading our cause and interceding for us in heaven.
It is by Christ Jesus that the triune God is made known and revealed to man. He is the embodiment of God, the embodiment of Wisdom, the Word, the Revealer of God. As all the fulness of the Godhead dwells in him, so all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are his. By him alone, they are made known to men. — “No man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him” (Luke 10:22).
And this union with Christ makes the heaven-born soul truly wise, because when Christ is formed within, we are given the mind of Christ and know all things (1 Corinthians 2:14-16). All true spiritual knowledge is derived from Christ; and it is only those who are taught of him who are made wise unto salvation. Christ is our Wisdom within to direct our paths, guide us in his way, and order our steps day by day. Don Fortner, pastor of Grace Baptist Church, Danville, KY
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Romans 11: 33: O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! 34: For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? 35: Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? 36: For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
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SELF-ESTEEM & SELF-EXALTATION
"That no flesh should glory in his presence. . . He that glorieth let him glory in the Lord.” 1 Cor 1:29, 31
In order that we should glory in the Lord, it is absolutely necessary that we should cease to glory in SELF. By nature, we are all prone to glory in self through those cursed principles of self-esteem and self-exaltation. Nothing but the mighty power of God can put down these cursed principles. We are prone to this pride, and it is strengthened and matured in a fallen sinner's heart.
It is the work of the Spirit in the sinner's conscience—to pour contempt on all the pride of man—to open up the depth of the fall—to bring to light all his hidden corruptions—to unbosom and lay bare all the evils of his heart—to upturn the deep corruptions of his fallen nature before his astonished eyes—that he may learn with true humility of soul, brokenness of heart, and contrition of spirit before God—to loathe and abhor himself in dust and ashes, as a monster of iniquity.
If a man has not been taught by the strong hand of God in his soul to abhor, loathe, and cry out against himself as one of the vilest wretches that crawls on God's earth—he has never learned to glory in the Lord Jesus Christ. When the Lord Jesus Christ reveals to his soul a sense of His love, and unfolds a sight of His glory before his astonished eyes, he is brought to look out of himself, and from all he has—to the Lord Jesus Christ! JC Philpot
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1 Corinthians 2: 1: And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God--“The testimony of God” is the gospel, the witness of God concerning his Son, Jesus Christ. Christ said, “The Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me.” (Jn 5: 37) Imagine the pride for a sinner to think his words are better than preaching God’s word. “The law [the word] of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.” (Ps 19: 7)
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1 Corinthians 2: 2: For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.--Christ and him crucified is the one message God’s preachers and people are determined to preach and hear because Christ and him crucified is all the counsel of God. It was the preaching of Christ and him crucified that Paul referred to when he told the Ephesians, “I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.” (Acts 20: 27) When God reveals Christ and him crucified in our hearts then we know all the counsel of God.
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