ANNOUNCEMENTS
No
service Thursday. Our conference begins Friday. A meal is scheduled at 5:30pm
Friday and service begins at 7pm. Saturday and Sunday services begin at 10:15am
with a meal after each service. John and Darvin are both scheduled to preach in
each service.
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Proverbs 16:21: The wise in heart shall be called
prudent: and the sweetness of the lips increaseth learning.
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In another’s righteousness we stand, and by another’s righteousness we are
justified. All accusations against us, founded upon our unrighteousness, we
answer by pointing to the perfection of the righteousness which covers us from
head to foot, in virtue of which we are unassailable by law as well as shielded
from wrath.
“Thy work alone, O Christ,
Can ease this weight of sin;
Thy blood alone, O Lamb of God,
Can give me peace within.
Thy love to me, O God,
Not mine, O Lord, to Thee,
Can rid me of this dark unrest,
And set my spirit free.”
–Horatious Bonar
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By
grace you have been saved. -Ephesians 2.5
I have known this
doctrine for just about as long as I have known anything. Yet even now, I feel
I scarcely grasp the wonder of it. In fact, it is safe to say that the many
years that have passed since I first learned this blessed truth have, in some
ways, made it even more difficult to believe. This may seem strange, for should
we not expect that passing years would produce a stronger confidence in the
grace of God?
But what the passing years have shown me
is that I am no better now than when I started. And that makes me feel as
though I am worse now than when I started, for is it not reasonable to assume
that many years of living in grace would produce a better person? Yes, it is reasonable to assume that, and
many do assume that and even press the point in their preaching. But, in truth,
the very concept of grace addresses us as those who have nothing—NOTHING—to
commend ourselves to God: not when we begin our journey of grace, not at any
point in our journey, nor even at the end of it.
But there is one thing that has most
definitely grown since I first learned of God’s grace: I have grown in the
realization of my utter dependence on God’s grace. Every year convinces me more
of the truth that if this business of salvation is not entirely of God’s grace,
I SHALL NOT BE SAVED!
Whatever else “growing in grace” may mean, it must mean this: a person
grows in his dependence on the grace of God. If my growth in grace has any
other manifestations, I am unaware of them. As my years fly by, sin abounds.
But thanks be to God, where sin abounded, grace abounded more!
–Joe
Terrell
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I have not the shadow of a shade
of a ghost of a confidence as to my ultimate salvation except in Jesus Christ
alone. And one reason why I dare not have any confidence except in him, is that
I do not know anything I ever did, or ever thought, or ever was, in which I
could confide; so I am driven to trust in him, and in him alone. I lie at the
foot of his cross because I cannot stand upright; I must do that, for, like
Luther, I can do no other. If I search myself and my whole life over and over
again, I cannot see anything but what I call a filthy rag, and I fling it all
away; good works and bad works—so far as mine are concerned, are not worth the
trouble of sorting out; so I tie them all up in one bundle, and pitch them
overboard, and just cling to the ever-blessed lifebuoy of the merits of Jesus
Christ, my Lord and Savior.
–Charles
Spurgeon
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Wisdom is good with an inheritance: and by it there is
profit to them that see the sun. For
wisdom is a defence, and money is a defence: but the
excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have
it. Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he
hath made crooked? In the day of
prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath set
the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after
him. All things have I seen in
the days of my vanity: there is a just man that perisheth in his
righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life
in his wickedness. Be not righteous over
much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself? Be not over much wicked, neither be thou
foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time? It is good that thou shouldest take
hold of this; yea, also from this withdraw not thine hand: for he that feareth
God shall come forth of them all. Wisdom
strengtheneth the wise more than ten mighty men which are in the
city. For there is not a just man
upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.
Also take no heed unto all words that are spoken; lest thou hear thy
servant curse thee: For oftentimes also
thine own heart knoweth that thou thyself likewise hast cursed others.
–Solomon (Ecclesiastes 7:11-22)
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Ruth
4: 1: Then went Boaz up to the gate…
The gate was the
narrow public entrance to the city where judgment was settled publicly (Deut
16: 18-20; 17:5). Boaz, the near
kinsmen, went up to the gate and redeemed the one he loved before ten elders
who judged in righteousness. Our Kinsmen
Redeemer went up publicly before all on the cross pouring out his life’s blood
under the law and redeemed his bride in righteousness (Acts 26: 26). Christ crucified is the straight gate, the
only Way, a sinner may enter the city of God (2 Cor 5:21; Gal 3:13; Mt 7:13).