CENTRAL BULLETIN

Central Grace Church

3596 Franklin Street Rocky Mount, Virginia

December 2^nd . 2018

9:30 am -------------------------------------------------Commending the Saints – Romans 16

10:00 am -----------------The King and His Covenant, David - Part 4 – 1 Samuel 18:1-16

Birthdays: December 9^th – Andrew Polk, 17^th – Wendy Bobbitt, 25^th – Earlene Sheesley, 27^th – Kathy Smith

29^th – Ron Fannin, 31^st – Polly Peters

Cleaning: Fannins, Next Week: Mahans / / / Nursery: Debra/Karen

Listen to live audio of services on: www.mixlr.com/centralgracechurch

Listen to: WYTI Radio – Rocky Mount, VA - 8:00 AM – Sundays -- 1570 AM / 104.5 FM,

Passing Through a Foreign Country– by Milton Howard

Have you ever lived out of this country? We lived in a foreign country for over 25 years. We lived there. Paid bills there. Had friends there. Had our children there. But all that time, our citizenship was here in this country. We knew that though we went through heartaches, trials, troubles, and conflicts, we were going to leave and come back to this country. It was not our home. Not legally nor emotionally.

We were bound by the laws of that country. But there were so many things that made us different. It was not hard to tell that we did not belong there. We were foreigners. We were in that country, but we were not of that country.

When it rained on that country, we got wet. When the sun shined, it shined on us. But we lived in a way that did not bring reproach on our home country. We lived there during the administrations of Presidents Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, and Bush, but we never talked against our president.

We did what we could to keep a low profile. When we went to town, we tried to dress in such a way that we did not stand out. We did not mix in the politics of the country. We did not try to persuade people to our way of thinking. We did what we thought was right, and left the rest alone. We left Mexico to the Mexicans.

So in this world believers are subject to the ups and downs of this world. We are sick just like the people of this world. We have tribulation just like all the rest. When there is no food we get hungry like the rest. In this world we submit to those in authority. We lead orderly and peaceable lives. We are simply passing through. Bless it in your travel, but do not yoke yourself with its affairs. You may wish all things were different, but remember you are in a foreign country. When possible we help those among whom we lived. We do what we can to point them to Christ, to point them to eternal life. You cannot make the world like Heaven, so do not make it a dwelling place for your soul.

Faith and Walk– by Charles Spurgeon

“If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” — Galatians 5:25

The two most important things in our holy religion are the life of faith and the walk of faith. He who shall rightly understand these is not far from being a master in experimental theology, for they are vital points to a Christian. You will never find true faith unattended by true godliness; on the other hand, you will never discover a truly holy life which has not for its root a living faith upon the righteousness of Christ. Woe unto those who seek after the one without the other! There are some who cultivate faith and forget holiness; these may be very high in orthodoxy, but they shall be very deep in condemnation, for they hold the truth in unrighteousness; and there are others who have strained after holiness of life, but have denied the faith, like the Pharisees of old, of whom the Master said, they were “whitewashed sepulchres.” We must have faith, for this is the foundation; we must have holiness of life, for this is the superstructure. Of what service is the mere foundation of a building to a man in the day of tempest? Can he hide himself therein? He wants a house to cover him, as well as a foundation for that house. Even so we need the superstructure of spiritual life if we would have comfort in the day of doubt. But seek not a holy life without faith, for that would be to erect a house which can afford no permanent shelter, because it has no foundation on a rock. Let faith and life be put together, and, like the two abutments of an arch, they will make our piety enduring. Like light and heat streaming from the same sun, they are alike full of blessing. Like the two pillars of the temple, they are for glory and for beauty. They are two streams from the fountain of grace; two lamps lit with holy fire; two olive trees watered by heavenly care. O Lord, give us this day life within, and it will reveal itself without to Thy glory.