Central Grace Church
3596 Franklin Street Rocky Mount, Virginia
Website: www.centralgracechurch.com Email: [email protected]
January 30th - 2022
9:30 am Bible Study
10:00 am Service ---- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- Messa ges by Cody Henson
Wednesday: 7:00 pm---------------------------- Christ, The Serpent of Brass – Numbers 21
Welcome back Cody Henson. We welcome brother Cody Hensen back to the pulpit today. For any visitors, brother Cody is from Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church, Kingsport, Tennessee; Gabe Stalnaker, pastor. I am preaching today for the San Diego Grace Fellowship, San Diego, California, Kevin Thacker, pastor. May the Lord bless His Word today.
God Became a Man -- "And the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld HIS GLORY, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." – John 1:14
My friends, if you will carefully consider it, this is the most extraordinary fact ever declared in human language. God became a man and “took upon Him the likeness of sinful flesh.” The Ancient of Days became an infant of days. The Son of the Most High God became a man of sorrows. He made the world; but as a man, “he had no place to lay His head.” He who made the rivers asked a woman to give Him a drink of water. He who cast out devils was tempted of the devil, and the author of life died and lay in a tomb. LISTEN TO THE POET:
“His fingers formed the bough which grew
the thorns that crowned His brow;
The nails which pierced His hands were mined
in secret places He designed;
He made the forest whence there sprung
the tree on which His body hung;
He died on a cross of wood,
yet He made the hill on which it stood;
The sun that hid from Him its face
by His own hand was hung in space;
The sky which darkened o’er His head
by Him above the world was spread;
The spear that shed His precious blood
was tempered in the fires of God;
The grave in which His form was laid
was hewn in rocks His hand had made.”
-- Henry Mahan
Blessed Appointments
When the Lord intercepted Paul on the road to Damascus, knocked him from his high horse to the ground, and spoke in saving power to him, He said, “Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointedfor thee to do” (Acts 22:11). What a blessing to know that everything that comes our way was already appointed by God. This same word is also translated, “Determined, ordained, and set.” What joy to know that nothing happens but that which our Heavenly Father has appointed. We will face difficult and heavy trials but knowing they were appointed by our Lord takes the sting out of them. He is too wise to err, too kind to be cruel, and “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to purpose.”—Todd Nibert
Buy The Truth -- “Buy the truth and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding” -- Proverbs 23:23
To buy the truth is to do whatever it takes, spend whatever it takes, go wherever you must, to hear and have the gospel. To sell the truth is to barter, trade or take something in exchange for the gospel. What will a man give in exchange for his soul? To buy wisdom, instruction and understanding is to spend whatever time, money or effort it costs to hear and feed upon the Word. Scripture says we reap what we sew. Whatever we invest in we will reap the fruit of it. Invest in fleshly things, reap flesh. Invest in spiritual things, reap spirit. We spend a great deal of time, money and effort trying to obtain and maintain earthly, temporary things. Shouldn’t we spend more on spiritual things, eternal things which fade not away. What does the gospel mean to you? If Christ is your life, if His gospel is your food, your joy and rejoicing . . . what are you willing to do, to forsake, to sacrifice in order to hear it? Think on this in light of death and eternity.