Sovereign Grace Baptist Church

Free Grace Media

Of Princeton, New Jersey

 

AuthorClay Curtis
TitleWeekly Bulletin 4-16-2017
Bible TextPsalm 18:4-19
Date15-Apr-2017
Article Type Bulletin
PDF Format pdf
Word Format doc
Audio HI-FI Listen: Suffering With Christ (32 kbps)  /  [go to notes]
Audio CD Quality Listen: Suffering With Christ (128 kbps)  /  [go to notes]
 

April 16, 2017

SOVEREIGN GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH

 

MEETING LOCATION

251 Green Lane

Ewing, NJ, 08368

Clay Curtis, pastor

Telephone: 615-513-4464

 

MAILING ADDRESS:

7 Birch Street

Pennington, NJ, 08538

 

Schedule of Services

Sunday 10: 15 AM Bible Class

Sunday 11:00 AM Morning Service

Thursday 7: 30 PM Midweek Service

 

Services Broadcast Live @ www.FreeGraceMedia.com/live

 

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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.  

All articles by the pastor unless otherwise noted.

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE WEBSITE: watch videos of our full services—click here.

 

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SUNDAY’S READING IN PROVERBS


Proverbs 5: 15: Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well. 16: Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets. 17: Let them be only thine own, and not strangers’ with thee. 18: Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. 19: Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love. 20: And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger? 21: For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings. 22: His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins. 23: He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.

 

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HELPERS OF YOUR FAITH AND JOY
Pastor Tom Harding

Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand - 2 Cor. 1:24.

True ministers of the gospel can neither give faith or joy nor sustain it; faith is the gift of God (Eph. 2:8-9). True ministers of the gospel do not seek dominion over a believer's faith. 

     However, in preaching the gospel of Christ, when blessed by the power of the Holy Spirit, believers do grow in faith and in the knowledge of Christ through the preaching of the truth (1 Peter 2:2; 2 Peter 3:18).

     We are but helpers, or means and instruments, which God has ordained to preach the gospel and to instruct believers in the Word that they might grow in faith (Rom. 10:17) and to cause His people to rejoice in Christ Jesus; faith and joy go and grow together (Rom. 5:1-2). As we grow in faith we also grow in joy (Phil.3:3). My prayer is this, Lord enable me to be a faithful helper of your faith and joy in Christ, not a hindrance.


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THE SAVOR OF CHRIST
Pastor Don Bell


II Cor. 2:14:
Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. 15  For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: 16  To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?

 

The apostle gave thanks unto God because as he preached Christ, God always made him to triumph and made manifest the savor (spread abroad the knowledge of Christ) as the savor of a sacrifice. This savor is unto God a sweet savor of Christ in them that are saved. The preaching of Christ is a savor of life and death, and as Christ is preached, he is life to them who believe, receive, bow to, and rejoice in Him as their only plea and righteousness before God.

 

     But even as Christ is preached, He is a savor unto death in them that perish - to them who won't believe, won't receive, won't bow to, and don't rejoice in Christ. They feel they don't need the savor of a sacrifice before the holiness and justice of God.

 

      When the gospel is preached, there are two things always taking place (even though most are unaware of it); some are being prepared for glory, others are being hardened. Some are being brought to the light; some are left sitting in darkness. Some see Christ and His glory; others see no beauty about Him. Some who hear the gospel have their hearts made tender towards sin; others have their hearts hardened in sin. No wonder we say, "Who is sufficient for these things"?

 

     The question we should all be asking is, "How is the preaching of the gospel affecting me.”                                                                                      

 

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At Jericho the sound of the trumpet did two things, it struck fear in the hearts of the enemy and gave victory to the Lord’s people. That is the two effects of the gospel trumpet, “To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life.” (2 Cor 2: 16)

 

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TO WORSHIP GOD IN THE SPIRIT
Pastor Don Fortner

To worship God in the spirit is to worship without the use of idolatrous images and rituals. It is a heart worship of the living God. Yet, it is much more than that. It is worshipping God in the power of and under the influence of the Holy Spirit. True worship is born in the heart by the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit speaks to us through the Word of God, revealing Christ in us; and He causes us to worship God. It is the Spirit of Christ in the heart that produces all characteristics of true worship: humility, faith, repentance, submission, adoration, and obedience to God.

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SUFFERING WITH CHRIST
Psalm 18: 4-19

This is spoken by Christ Jesus to God from the cross. This was the day God delivered our Redeemer from all his enemies as Christ made his people more than conquerors in him.

 

Great Suffering

As the high priest presented the spotless lamb to have the sins of his particular people laid on that lamb, Christ our High Priest presented himself as the spotless Lamb of God and had the sin of his elect laid on him. When Christ was made sin and made a curse he suffered. At the hands of men he suffered. As Christ was separated from God in justice he suffered. Christ says, “the sorrows of death compassed me”, “the floods of ungodly men made me afraid”, “the sorrows of hell compassed me about”, “the snares of death prevented me [were before me]” According to these four metaphors, Christ was bound like a malefactor for execution, flooded like a shipwrecked mariner, bayed by hounds of hell like an animal and captured in a net like a trembling bird.   We see why we are told to “consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest we become weary and faint in our minds; we have not resisted unto blood.”Our affliction is light and for a moment” compared to Christ’s.

 

God Hears

Christ says, “In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God.” Even unto the death of the cross, as the sin-bearing representative and substitute of his people, Christ faithfully looked nowhere but to the LORD his God. This is why scripture says the righteousness of God is manifest by the faith of Christ and not by our faithfulness. Here is our assurance of God’s faithfulness toward all who come to God in Christ alone, “and he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.”

 

Christ our Foundation

When Christ finished redemption, God removed the foundations that could be removed—“the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken.” Christ took away the first covenant of works and established the second everlasting covenant of grace for his people.  Christ conquered our enemies, “he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.”  God declared Christ our Foundation, “Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O LORD,…He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.”

 

God’s Faithfulness to Us in Christ

In Christ’s suffering we see the faithfulness of God to his child for the sake of Christ. When God brings us to cast our care on Christ then God hears us in Christ even as God heard Christ. He sets us upon Christ our foundation, establishes his everlasting covenant of grace in our hearts, and scatters our enemies.