April 26, 2015
SOVEREIGN GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH
LOCATION
Rocky Hill Firehouse, 2nd Floor
150 Washington Street
Rocky Hill, New Jersey, 08553
Clay Curtis, pastor
Telephone: 615-513-4464
Schedule of Services
Sunday 10: 15 AM Bible Class
Sunday 11:00 AM Morning Service
Thursday 7: 30 PM Midweek Service
Full Service Live & on Video on YouTube.
Search by pastor’s name.
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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. Check the announcements.
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All articles in the bulletin are by the pastor unless otherwise noted.
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SANCTIFY YOURSELVES AND THE HOUSE
2 Chronicles 29:5: And said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the LORD God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place.
In reverence for God, King Hezekiah commanded the priests to make themselves presentable in reverence toward God, in reverence toward the Lord’s house and to carry forth everything that was disrespectful out of that holy place. Believers truly sanctify the Lord God in our hearts with the highest reverence. Therefore, we sanctify the house of the LORD each time we gather to hear the gospel of our Redeemer. (1 Pet 3: 15) We must never regard this time as common. It is not! God has sanctified the preaching of the gospel as the time to honor and glorify his Son! Knowing God gave his very best to clothe us in the wedding garment of Christ our Righteousness, the heart of the believer is to come before him with our best in every way.
If I put forth my best on Sunday but not for the mid-week service then I reverence a day; if I put forth my best when a visiting preacher is present but not at other times then I reverence a man; if I put forth my best to be seen of others then I reverence men; but if I consistently put forth my best because the constraint of my Savior’s love makes me want Christ to have my first, my best, and my all then I reverence my Lord and my Savior. Every young person and unbeliever should see an example of reverence in everything we do, especially when we gather to hear the gospel. This is especially true for the men who stand in the pulpit and the mothers who are leading the young ladies. And we should teach them why we reverence the worship of the Lord.
If we have a question about what is our best remember when Israel gave second-rate offerings, God said, “Offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? Saith the LORD of hosts.” (Mal 1: 8) Where Christ gathers us, the King of glory promises to be here in our very midst! So what would be acceptable to an earthly governor to whom we desired to show the highest respect? Then each, and every time, that we gather in the Lord’s house to hear how God saved us by giving his only begotten Son, we ought to show a thousand times more reverence to the ever-present Son of God who suffered the fire of justice that we might freely enjoy this great privilege!
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EFFECTUAL CALLING
Isaiah 52: 1: Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city…
It is God alone who effectually calls his child to spiritual life in regeneration, commanding, “Awake, awake.” But if we are dead in sins why would God call on us to awake? How can a dead man awake? In the valley of dry bones, God said, “I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live.” (Eze 37: 3-6) The man with the withered hand could not stretch forth his hand until Christ gave the effectual command, “And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.” (Mk 3: 5) Christ is our Strength to do what God calls us to do. Notice he commands, “put on thy strength, O Zion.” Sinners have no strength in ourselves. (Rom 5:6) The strength of Christ’s people is Christ. (Phil 4:13) We have life inwardly only when Christ the Life has entered within us by the Holy Spirit. Only when Christ the Word has spoken in power in our inward man do we hear the word of God’s call. An embryo has life when the seed gives life. Likewise, when the Incorruptible Seed enters, there is Life and the Lord’s call is always effectual. (1 Pet 1: 23-25) Many deny the truth of the necessity the Lord’s effectual call. But they will not deny it if they experience it because the Lord promises, “Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak: behold, it is I.” (Is 52: 6)
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Wonder what God might do if we spent more time teaching our children the scriptures? I am sure Christ is the subject God speaks of when he says, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (Pro 22: 6) It is certain, if God saves our child, Christ will be the only Way he will never depart from! Then what better subject could we teach them?
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EXCEEDING GREATNESS OF HIS POWER: LOVE AND GRACE
Ephesians 1: 19: And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,…
We considered the exceeding greatness of the power of God’s holiness and faithfulness which demanded Christ be raised and we in him. Now we consider the exceeding greatness of the power of God’s love and grace which God showed us in raising Christ from the dead.
We know the love of God was manifest in sending his Son to lay down his life that God’s elect might live. But the apostle Paul also said, Christ was “raised again for justification.” (Rom 4: 25) What exceeding great love and grace to usward who believe! By raising our victorious Redeemer, God the Father testified to all for whom Christ died that Christ was legally discharged, acquitted, and justified, and all his people in him. In Christ’s resurrection, we see by Christ being received into glory, our sins have been fully taken care of. God has made us complete in Christ and has forgiven us all our sins, accepting us in Christ at his right hand.
Furthermore, by raising Christ, God made Christ the Head in all things to his church, which is his body the fullness of him. By his resurrection from the dead God "declared Christ to be the Son of God with power." (Rom. 1:4.) Christ has all power and is filling all in all his people. When God works grace in our hearts to behold our risen Savior, it is by Christ that we “do believe in God that raised him from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.” (1 Pet 1: 21)
Brethren, when Paul spoke of wanting us to know the “exceeding greatness of the power of his resurrection” it is not simply the sheer power of God but the power of all the perfections of God working mightily in harmony in Christ’s finished work! The grave could not hold Christ because of the power of the multitude of God’s perfections all glorified in Christ’s sacrifice. The exceeding great and mighty power of his resurrection is God’s glory and our eternal life. He is Jesus Christ, the glory of God as well as the Resurrection and the Life of usward who believe!
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