February
13, 2022
Weekly
Schedule of Services
Sunday:
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10:15 AM
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Bible Class
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11:00 AM
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Morning Service
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Thursday:
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7:00 PM
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Mid-week Service
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Services
Broadcast Live @ www.FreeGraceMedia.com/live
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Web Address
Be sure to bookmark our website for daily
articles and audio messages:
www.FreeGraceMedia.com
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Weekly Meeting Location
and mailing address
251 Green Lane
Ewing, NJ, 08638
Clay Curtis, pastor
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Phone: 615-513-4464 | Email: clay@freegracemedia.com
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If you would like to receive this bulletin
sent weekly
to your email then send a note to the email
address above.
Articles
in this bulletin are by the pastor unless otherwise noted.
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Proverbs 17:23: A wicked man
taketh a gift out of the bosom to pervert the ways of judgment.
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FREE WILL OR PREDESTINATION
Free will is responsible for every evil in
the world. All sin is the result of free will. Free will is why the
first murder was committed. It is responsible for all war and has
produced every false religion. Free will is the doctrine of the
sovereignty of man. Predestination is the doctrine of the sovereignty of
God. If believed, it will abolish all race problems and rid of us all
tyranny and war. “Now therefore our God we thank Thee and praise Thy
glorious Name” (I Chron. 29:10-14).
–Scott Richardson
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Salvation is by grace so that
God gets all the glory. When false
preachers glorify the sinner’s will and the sinner’s choice, they are making
the sinner to be god. They are giving
the flesh room to glory. They are
breaking the very first commandment, “thou shalt worship no other god: for
the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God” (Ex 34:14). God gets the
glory for choosing us in Christ, “That no flesh shall glory in his presence.
But of him are ye in Christ Jesus,…” God gets the glory for making Christ
all unto us, “who of God is made unto us…” God gets the glory for being
all unto us, “Who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and
sanctification, and redemption.” Here is why, “That, according as it is
written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” (1 Cor 1:29-31).
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Sinners must seek Christ with all our heart in order to find
Christ. What is it to seek Christ? It is seeking Christ himself. It is seeking to find out who Christ is and
what Christ has accomplished, is accomplishing and shall accomplish.
The Lord Jesus is God
in human flesh. Did Christ accomplish
the work God the Father sent him to accomplish in saving his people from our
sins? Christ prayed to the Father, “I
have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me
to do” (Jn 17:4). The good news of the gospel is that Christ accomplished
eternal redemption for each child for whom our great Shepherd laid down his
life so that nothing can be added and nothing taken away. It is finished!
Seeking Christ is find
out where Christ is now and what Christ is doing now. God “hath put all
things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the
church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all” (Eph
1:22-23). If we seek and find Christ it
is because Christ first sought and found us.
And Christ is coming again to bring all his redeemed to glory with him. “So
Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for
him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (Heb 9:28).
Do not merely seek a system of doctrine;
seek Christ who is the Gospel! Do not merely seek an escape from hell; seek
Christ who is the believer’s heaven! Do not merely seek the blessings; seek
Christ the giver of every blessing! Do not merely seek a church; seek Christ
who is the Head of the church! Seek Christ alone! For “Neither is there salvation in any
other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we
must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
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Believer, every
hour every day in every cause seek Christ. He says “seek ye first the
kingdom of God, and his righteousness” (Mt 6:33). “Trust in him at all times; ye people,
pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah” (Ps 62:8).
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THE IMPORTANCE OF CONTEXT
Jeremiah 29:13: And ye shall seek me, and find me,
when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
Sinners must seek the Lord with all our
heart in order to find Christ. But if we
read this verse out of context it would make sinners think salvation is
entirely in our hands. Truth is, if God left us “dead in
trespasses and in sins” we would surely perish because God says, “There
is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God” (Eph 2:1;
Rom 3:11).
God says in this
passage that at the time God appointed, “I will perform my good word toward
you in causing you to return” (v10). The gospel is God declaring what the
LORD himself shall bring to pass. He
visits his children at the time God set and perform the works of salvation for
and in his elect. So it was when Christ visited his people and accomplished the
elect’s redemption so that Christ is our only Righteousness (Gal 4:4-5). At his appointed hour, our sovereign Head sends
his gospel, quickens and causes each redeemed child to return to the Lord,
making us willing to call upon him in the day of his power. (Ps 110:3) So it is in regeneration, so it is from the
beginning to the end of the life of God’s child.
All of salvation is according
to God’s eternal purpose. God said, “For I know the thoughts that I think
toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an
expected end” (v11).
Sinners must seek the Lord
with all our heart. But any time we do,
it is by God working grace in our hearts. God said, “Then shall ye call upon
me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall
seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I
will be found of you, saith the LORD…” (v12-13).
Do you see why context is so important? Taken out of context, our verse sounds
like it is all up to the sinner. But in context, God declares it is God who
shall make each of his children call on him with all our heart. This is how Christ shall be found of each
one. This is the difference between the
true gospel of grace and the false message of works. “Salvation is of the
LORD” (Jon 2:9).