February 3^rd. 2019

9:30 am -------------------------------------------------A Gospel to Die For – Philippians 1:12-20

10:00 am -------------------------------------------Two Sons Born to Greatness – Luke 1:15&32

Note: The following article has been in our bulletin and others several times over the years. It bears reading and re-reading, so much more in these very last of the last days. O’ how this fits our day! John Newton, the author, was a preacher and pastor from England, born in 1725, died in 1807. He is only known by this generation as the hymn writer of "Amazing Grace."

When God is Displeased with a People

When God is exceedingly displeased with a people, it is not necessary, in order to their punishment, that He should bury them alive by an earthquake, or destroy them by lightening. If He only leaves them to themselves, withdraws His blessings from their counsels, and His restraint from their passions, their ruin follows of course, according to the necessary order and connection of causes and effects…..

If God gives up a people to the way of their own hearts, they will, they must, perish! When a general corruption of morals takes place, when private interest extinguishes all sense of public virtue, when a profligate (shamelessly immoral) and venal (open to bribery) spirit has infected every rank and order of the state, when presumptuous security and dissipation (amusement) increase as danger approaches, when, after repeated disappointments, contempt for God, and vain confidence in imagined resources of their own, grow bolder and stronger, then there is reason to fear that the sentence has already gone forth, and that the execution of it is at hand. -- John Newton, 1725-1807

“Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.” (Ephesians 6:24)

What is it to love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity? It is to love Him in the truth of who He is - God manifest in the flesh! It is to love Him in His sovereignty, power and control over all things, especially us. It is to love Him for having mercy on whom He will, and being gracious to whomever He is pleased to be gracious to. It is to love His will, even when it is contrary to our own. It is to love Him for saving sinners such as we are. It is to love Him for taking all of the judgment and suffering for our sin against God upon Himself in order to redeem us from the wrath to come. It is to love Him for starting the work and finishing every bit of it. It is to love Him because He first loved us! All who have received the gift of saving grace will love the Lord Jesus Christ in absolute sincerity! -- Gabriel Stalnaker

God’s Goodness That Leads to Repentance – by David Eddmenson

Preaching or Meddling

True preaching strikes at the heart of the hearer. When Paul spoke to Felix and his wife Drusilla, he spoke of righteousness, temperance and judgment. When John the Baptist spoke to Herod, he told him it was not lawful for him to have his brother’s wife. Were they preaching or meddling? If we are to be honest with men and women, we must strike at their hearts, we must take the word of God and apply it to sinners where they live, which is in their hearts, “out of the heart proceed evil thoughts…”