December 17, 2017
SOVEREIGN GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH
MEETING LOCATION
251 Green Lane
Ewing, NJ, 08368
Clay Curtis, pastor
Telephone: 615-513-4464
MAILING ADDRESS:
7 Birch Street
Pennington, NJ, 08538
Schedule of Services
Sunday 10: 15 AM Bible Class
Sunday 11:00 AM Morning Service
Thursday 7: 30 PM Midweek Service
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NURSERY
We have a nursery equipped with a
digital flat screen television broadcasting all services live, for children
four and under.
All
articles by the pastor unless otherwise noted.
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SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE WEBSITE: The videos are now listed as individual
sermons, as well as full services—click here.
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SUNDAY’S READING IN PROVERBS
Proverbs 10: 18: He that hideth
hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, is a
fool.
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A NOTE ABOUT SERMON NOTES
My charge from
Christ is to minister to you who God has entrusted to my care. I endeavor to do
so in every way God has provided. After preaching, I post my sermon notes on
our FreeGraceMedia website, along with articles from those notes. In addition,
I also email my sermon notes to the members of this congregation (as well as
many outside this congregation) who request them. Most in this congregation receive them but
many of our young people do not. I
strongly encourage you to do so. The sermon notes are good for everyone but
especially for you who are beginning to have an interest in the gospel. It is
good, after hearing the message, to study what you heard at home, looking up
the scripture references. At times when
I am preaching I say things not in my notes and skip things that are in my
notes. Therefore, by studying the notes as you listen again to the message you
get the full message. If you would like
to receive the sermon notes and/or weekly bulletins send a request to claymel@verizon.net and I will add you to the list to receive them weekly.
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LIFE FROM THE
TRUTH
“Of his own
will begat he us with the word of truth.” (James 1:18)
It is
impossible for a fleshly baby to be born from a seed that is not a fleshly
seed. That is, a baby can’t be born from
a sunflower seed. So it is with the
spiritual man. It is impossible for a
spiritual man to be born again from a message that does not tell the truth
about who God is, who man is, and who the Savior is. God will never use error to reveal Christ to
the heart. No one is saved and then
later on learns the truth of who Christ is.
A sinner is saved when we know who Christ truly is and we believe on
Him. We will know who Christ truly is
when He is formed in us in the new birth. Pastor
Frank Tate
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“Therefore as the church is subject
unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself
for it” -- Eph. 5:24-25
Paul speaks to wives and says,
"Submit yourselves to your husbands." This subjection is not
only in body but in heart and spirit. Wives should love their husbands, think
well of their husbands, speak respectfully of them, as well as respectfully to
them, take care of family matters according to the husband's will, imitate him
in that which is good, and bear patiently that which is not so agreeable. Paul
adds, "As unto the Lord." The Lord has designated authority in the
husband and commands obedience to and respect for that authority. To the
husbands the apostle simply says, "Love your wives." This is still
and always will be the key to any happy relationship! Because Christ loved us,
He gave Himself for us. Because we love Christ, His yoke is easy and His burden
is light. If a husband loves his wife, he will show affection for her, delight
in her, seek her happiness and contentment, speak kindly to her, conceal her
faults, and prefer her above his parents, children, and friends! You don't need
to go to a marriage counsellor to solve your differences; you need to go to the
cross and learn the meaning of LOVE. Pastor
Henry Mahan
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TWO WAYS TO FAIL IN PRAYER
James 4:2-3 tells us of two ways we fail in prayer.
First, we fail because we do not pray; “ye have not,
because ye ask not.” Prayer shows our dependence on God for all
we need and a lack of prayer shows a lack of dependence on God, as James points
out later in verses 13-16 when he warns us to not boast what we are going to do
tomorrow as if we owned tomorrow. A prayerless man is a faithless man. So let
us be much in prayer.
Second, we fail because we ask for the wrong reason; “ye ask amiss, that ye may
consume it upon your lusts.” We ask amiss when we seek our will
instead of God’s will, when we seek to fulfill our pleasures instead of God’s
good pleasure. The remedy? let us pray often and seek the Lord’s will in all
matters knowing our Heavenly Father knows best., “Casting all your care upon him; for He careth for you. Pastor John Chapman
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THE MOUNTAIN, HILLS AND TREES PREACH CHRIST
When a sinner is born again to newness of life, for the first time, we
behold Christ’s glory all around us—“the
mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the
trees of the field shall clap their hands.” (Is 55: 12)
We behold how “The heavens declare
the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.” (Ps 19: 1) When
you see the sun rise “as a bridegroom
coming out of his chamber” then you think of Christ Jesus the Sun of
Righteousness, the Bridgroom, and his church, his bride. (Ps 19: 5; Mal 4: 2; Eph
5: 24-32) As the day progresses you see the sun, “rejoice as a strong man to run a race; His going forth is from the end
of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it” (Ps 19: 5) then you are
reminded of Christ, the Strong Man, “who
for the joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set
down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb 12: 2) The rain and snow
producing the tender bud reminds us, “as
the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but
watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to
the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of
my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which
I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” (Is 55:
10-11) When you plant the little seed in your garden, you remember Christ’s
description of his great sacrifice for us, “Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it
abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” (Jn 12: 24) There
are too many to name: the cloud, the rainbow, the wind blowing where it will. These
are not things that just happened to glorify Christ after they were created.
No, these thing were created to glorify Christ—“all things were created by him and for him.” These things were
created so that all around his saints, we are made to see Christ’s glory, “the mountains and the hills shall break
forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their
hands.”
It makes you feel sorry for those who pass through this life rejecting
Christ, opposing themselves, forsaking their own mercy. They never behold Christ’s glory and peace
and joy. Sinner, don’t miss out! Believe
on Christ and you will behold the glory of Christ. The Lord Jesus said to
Martha, “if thou wouldest believe, thou
shouldest see the glory of God?” (Jn 11: 40)
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FORNICATION UNBECOMING A SAINT
Ephesians 5:3: But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness,
let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;
Why did the Holy Spirit move the
apostle to say fornication is unbecoming a saint? Obviously, these are sins. But these are sexual sins which lead to the
birth of illegitimate children of fornication. God calls Esau, who forfeited
the right of the firstborn for the temporary gratification of his flesh, not a
saint, but a fornicator (Heb 12: 16).
These sexual sins are unbecoming a saint because a saint is a firstborn
son, not of fornication, but by the lawful union between Christ our Husband and
his faithful bride, the church. Christ
makes his bride faithful to preach his word in truth. By the gospel of Christ, the
incorruptible seed, we are born again. (1 Pet 1: 23-24) We are made partakers
of Christ’s nature having escaped the corruption and lusts of being children of
fornication born of Adam (2 Pet 1: 4). So these sexual sins are unbecoming a
saint, not simply because they are sinful, but because we are firstborn sons
born and sanctified, not by fornication, but by a holy, lawful union of Husband
and wife, Christ and his bride.
Brethren, our motivation in everything is not law but Christ! If we were merely told to abstain from
fornication it would be the law of the ten commandments given at Mt. Sinai. But
having faith to behold how Christ has made us firstborn sons conceived from a
lawful marriage union through the preaching of the gospel this is a gracious command
for the honor of Christ. It is for the honor of our Everlasting Father that it
becomes us as saints to not once let these things be named upon us, either
spiritually or physically.