January 17, 2021
The Cure for Sin
Looking to one’s obedience to the law as a cure for sin, is like a cancer patient asking for more CAT scans and biopsies to cure their cancer. More of these tests will only aggravate the disease. So it is with the law. It is diagnostic not curative. Therefore, by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Rom. 3:20. For we had not known sin but by the law. The only cure for sin is the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that by the free grace of God. Moreover, the law entered that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: Rom. 5:20 We love Gods law, for it is holy, just, and good. However, the commandment cannot make one holy, justified, or good in the sight of God. That, Only the law of grace can accomplish. ~GE
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Accept or Except
The message of the free-will gospel is that you have to “accept” (to receive something offered) jesus in order for God to save you. The message of the true gospel of God’s free grace in Christ is; EXCEPT (with the exclusion of) The Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Ps. 127:1. EXCEPT A man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God Jn. 3:3. A man can receive nothing EXCEPT it be given him from heaven. Jn. 3:27. No man can come to me EXCEPT The Father which hath sent me draw him. Jn. 6:45. What sayeth the scriptures? There are many other EXCEPTS in the Bible. You will not find any ACCEPTS that determine one’s salvation. These words may sound similar to the natural ear, but to the ear of faith they stand in contrast to one another. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Rev. 2:28. ~GE
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Legalism is any doctrine which teaches justification, or sanctification by the law, or any attempt to bring the people of God under the bondage of the law. The children of God have no desire to break the law in any point. We love the law, and we love him who fulfilled the law for us. But we will not be brought again under the yoke of bondage. We are free-born children in Christ.
~Don Fortner
The Spirit Gives Life to the Message
God’s preachers do not go forth alone into the world to persuade sinners to believe, love, and come to Christ by their own logic, rhetoric, and power of persuasion. The Holy Spirit goes before them and with them to quicken, awaken, and give sinners eyes to see the beauties of Christ, ears to hear Him, and hearts to understand the gospel of grace and love the Redeemer (Ps. 110:3).
The bride has been chosen (2 Thess. 2:13), the servant will endure all things (2 Tim. 2:9-10), the bride will hear the voice of her beloved through the message of the servant (Jn. 10:23-30), and the bride will come (Jn. 6:37-40). ~Henry T. Mahan
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If I Am Not Saved
If I am not saved, it is not because I want to be saved and God refuses to save me. If I am not saved it is not because God did not elect me, Christ did not die for me, and the Holy Spirit did not give me life. If I am not saved it is because I do not want to be saved. That does not mean I do not want to be delivered from the punishment of hell. But it does mean I do not want to be saved God’s way on God’s terms. If I am saved, It is because the Lord made me willing. If I am saved, I am saved because God elected me, Christ died for me, and the Holy Spirit gave me life! But if I am not saved, I have no one to blame but myself. I do not want to be saved. Could anyone charge God with injustice because He did not give to somebody something they did not want? ~Todd Nibert
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As we start this New Year 2021 together let us always be mindful of our one great need, that need is the Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 10:42; Phil. 3:7-9); everything else is secondary, everything else must take a backseat to Him that is our all and in all (Col. 3:11). May God be pleased to keep us by His power (1 Peter 1:5), enrich us by His grace (Eph. 2:4), cause to seek the will of the Lord (Acts 21:14) and to trust Him at all times, God is a refuge for us (Psa. 62:5-8). ~Tom Harding
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Sunday’s Messages
1 The Necessity of Preaching Acts 8:31-35
- Baptism Acts 8:36-39
CALL TO WORSHIP
As on the cross of Christ I thought, It seemed I heard one cry,
"Is all this nothing in your eyes, You who this day pass by?"
"Is not such suff'ring greater than, That which you've seen before?"
"And was there ever any man, Who grieved or suffered more?"
I looked again, and what I saw, I cannot fully tell;
It seemed within His very bones, There raged the fire of hell. "What caused you grief?" I asked the man, What crimes could you have done?
"That God, Jehovah, struck you down, And left you all alone?"
His answer cut my heart like steel, And left me void of breath; "'Tis for your sins this pain I feel, For you I go to death!"
"Your soul, before my Father's throne, Could find no place to hide."
"This is the way God can be just, And you be justified."
Jehovah's mercies never fail, Each morning they are new;
Great is His faithfulness and love, Therefore, we're not consumed!
Jehovah God, in Christ the Son, Shall all my portion be,
My soul shall, therefore, wait for Him, And live eternally.
Tune: There Is a Fountain Filled With Blood, p. 222
Nursery
This Week 10:00 Tricia 10:45 LG
Next Week 10:00 Jill 10:45 Irene
Clean-Up Schedule
Week of Jan 17th Greg & Tricia
Jeff
Week of Jan 24th Ricardo & Gina
Reynaldo & Laura
Hugo & Zob
Birthdays
Jan 20 Trevor Fancher Jan 21 Lauren Charron
Jan 21 Tricia Elmquist Jan 23 David Murray