November 15, 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
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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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ANNOUNCEMENT
No mid-week service Thanksgiving Day, Thurs, Nov 26.
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SUCH A TIME AS THIS
If we have truly forsaken all for Christ then one way we lose our life is by speaking God’s word in truth for God’s glory whenever we have opportunity rather than trying to save our life by being silent. Mordecai said to Esther, “If thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4: 14) Mordecai was a man who believed God. He reminded Esther that if she held her peace God would still use someone else to deliver his people but her and her father’s house would be destroyed.
Either God’s grace will make us willing to lay down our lives for Christ by whom, both, ourselves and all Christ’s people shall be saved or Christ will use someone else to declare the truth and save his people. Christ said, “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.” (Lu 9: 24) When we have opportunity to speak the gospel but we keep our mouths shut simply for the sake of avoiding persecution for Christ’s sake, may we be reminded “who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
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“It is the way of love to desire to make itself known.”—Charles Spurgeon
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NEVER AFFLICTED ALONE
Any child of God suffering affliction can take comfort from the truth that no child of God suffers affliction alone. “In all their affliction he was afflicted” (Is. 63:9). When a child of God suffers affliction, Christ our Savior suffers affliction with us. He personally feels the affliction of His people because believers are the body of Christ. This is why the Lord said to Saul “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou ME?” (Acts 9:4). Our great High Priest is touched with the feeling of our infirmity (Heb 4:15) so He not only comforts, but He sympathizes with us in our affliction and delivers us from it. God said “I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them” (Acts 7:34).
This passage is also translated “In all their affliction, there was no affliction.” Trials never come accidentally. Trials are always sent by the purpose of God. Trials are also never sent to punish God’s children. A believer’s sin has already been punished in Christ our Substitute so trials are always sent for our good and our learning. Any trial that increases faith in Christ is for our good, no matter how painful the trial may be at the time. This is what enabled the apostle Paul to say “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor 4:17). Frank Tate, pastor Hurricane Road Grace Church, Ashland, KY
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ROYAL APPARAEL
Esther 5: 1: Now it came to pass on the third day, that Esther put on her royal apparel, and stood in the inner court of the king’s house, over against the king’s house: and the king sat upon his royal throne in the royal house, over against the gate of the house. 2: And it was so, when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained favour in his sight: and the king held out to Esther the golden sceptre that was in his hand. So Esther drew near, and touched the top of the sceptre.
Every sinner, naked in ourselves, who approaches God’s throne of grace in the royal apparel of Christ’s righteousness shall be received and preserved by God for the sake of Christ our King. None ever perished confessing his sin and seeking God’s forgiveness at the footstool of mercy. God is faithful to his promises and just to his Son “to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” (Heb 4: 16)
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GOD RULES EVEN THE SMALLEST DETAILS
Esther 6: 1: On that night could not the king sleep,…
God rules all from the greatest events to even numbering the very hairs of our head for the exaltation of Christ and his people in Christ (Mt 10: 30; Pro 21: 1) Therefore, we can be sure that even insomnia is by God’s hand.
Mordecai was a child of grace that God was preserving for Christ’s sake. Haman was the enemy of God who had built gallows for the purpose of hanging Mordecai. So on this particular night, God gave the king insomnia.
Therefore, the king commanded they bring him something to read that he might fall asleep. They brought him the book of records of the chronicles. As the king read, he found that Mordecai had thwarted an assassination attempt on his life. Yet nothing had been done to honor Mordecai. (Est 6: 1-3) At the exact time the king’s heart was moved to honor Mordecai, God moved Haman to enter the king’s chamber. Believer, read this passage and rest in God’s preserving hand of grace.
Esther 6: 4: And the king said, Who is in the court? Now Haman was come into the outward court of the king’s house, to speak unto the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him. 5: And the king’s servants said unto him, Behold, Haman standeth in the court. And the king said, Let him come in. 6: So Haman came in. And the king said unto him, What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour? Now Haman thought in his heart, To whom would the king delight to do honour more than to myself? 7: And Haman answered the king, For the man whom the king delighteth to honour, 8: Let the royal apparel be brought which the king useth to wear, and the horse that the king rideth upon, and the crown royal which is set upon his head: 9: And let this apparel and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes, that they may array the man withal whom the king delighteth to honour, and bring him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaim before him, Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honour. 10: Then the king said to Haman, Make haste, and take the apparel and the horse, as thou hast said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, that sitteth at the king’s gate: let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken. 11: Then took Haman the apparel and the horse, and arrayed Mordecai, and brought him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaimed before him, Thus shall it be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour.
We can be sure “thus shall it be done” unto Christ Jesus whom God “delighteth to honour.” And for those resting in Christ “thus shall it be done” for the sake of Christ. Believer, next time you lay wide awake unable to sleep, think on that and find rest for your soul!