“If saved by imputed righteousness, we shall
greatly value imparted righteousness.” C. H. Spurgeon
Daily
Sunday Jeremiah
4-5 Thursday Jeremiah 15-17
Monday Jeremiah
6-8 Friday
Jeremiah 18-21
Tuesday Jeremiah 9-11 Saturday Jeremiah 22-24
Wednesday Jeremiah
12-14 Sunday Jeremiah 25-27
·
I am
scheduled to preach Wednesday through Friday for Buck Mountain Baptist Church in
·
We will
have our Quarterly Fellowship dinner today. There will be no service here tonight.
·
Conference Offering — If you wish to designate a gift for our
conference, please mark your check or offering envelope, “Conference.”
God’s Church, His Family on
Earth — Don Fortner
(Tune: #52 — Majestic Sweetness — CM)
1. God’s church, His family on earth,
Though by the world unknown,
Are people of a heav’nly birth,
And in our Savior one.
2. Our Father is the God above,
The Sovereign on His throne.
And Christ, our Brother-King, in love,
He claims us as His own!
3. Indwelt by God the Spirit we
Are one in faith and love,
And one with Christ eternally,
Our home — Heaven above!
4. Oh, let us keep the unity,
The blessed bond of peace,
A loving, caring family, —
All sinners saved by grace!
HERE’S SOMETHING TO CONSIDER
What kind of church would this church be, if every member were just like me?
In attendance, giving, and prayer, if each followed my example there?
If each were as cheerful or as sour as I am this very hour?
If all were as warm, as kind, as thoughtful, or as selfish and carelessly hurtful?
How long would the doors be open, if my example by all were taken?
13
“He Assayed to Join Himself to the
Disciples”
Acts
Church membership is the believer’s
fellowship and communion with Christ in his body. Many think little of church
membership. Many who claim to be believers are not identified with, or
committed to any local church. But in the New Testament men and women who
followed Christ, by one means or another, applied for and obtained membership
in local churches. They publicly identified themselves with and committed
themselves to the
Church membership is restricted to
believers only. A local church is a body of believers, voluntarily united
together in the name of Christ for the glory of Christ, the furtherance of the
gospel, the salvation of God’s elect and mutual edification. The fellowship of
believers in a local church is vital to their spiritual welfare. Our individual
spiritual growth in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ is, in
many ways, dependent upon our relationship to and fellowship with the body of
Christ. Believers need the fellowship of other believers. We all need
encouragement from others. We need the strength of our brethren. We need one
another. Basically, membership in a local church involves three things.
Commitment
Church membership is an openly avowed,
public commitment to the body of Christ (Phil. 2:1-4). It is like a marriage
ceremony. Without inward commitment the ceremony is nothing. But for a woman to
move in with a man who will not make a public commitment to her is an act of
desperation, or folly, or both. If we are committed to the family of believers
to which we belong, we enjoy their company, pray for their spiritual
well-being, give to meet the needs of the family, serve the family’s interest,
speak well of the family members and promote the family’s honor. Let each one
of us see that we live up to our professed commitment.
Communion
Church membership gives us the
privilege of communion and fellowship with the body of Christ. — “Behold,
how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity”
(Ps. 133:1). The fellowship of God’s people in public worship is most
delightful and blessed because in the fellowship of God’s saints we find
fellowship with Christ (Matt.
Care
Church membership is care for the body
of Christ (1 Cor.
14
Who should observe the Lord's Supper?
— 1
Corinthians 11:23-29
All true believers are to observe this
blessed ordinance regularly. It is the Lord's Table, and the Lord's Table is
open to all the Lord's children (Acts 20:1-2). The practice of restricting the
Lord's Supper to the members of a single local church, or denomination, or even
to those who meet certain requirements legislated by a church, is altogether
without foundation in the Word of God. Each believer is to examine himself, and
having examined himself, he is to eat the bread and drink the wine. It is not
the prerogative of the pastor, elders, deacons, or the church to examine those
who receive the Lord's Supper. Not only is the Lord's Table open to all the
Lord's children; but all his children are commanded by him to eat the bread and
drink the wine (Matt. 26: 26-27). This ordinance is no more optional than the
ordinance of baptism.
Many of God's children have been
taught to fear coming to the Lord's Table. Many seem to think they show great
reverence for the ordinance by not participating in it! This attitude is not
really reverence at all, but irreverence, for it is disobedience to the command
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Many refuse to receive the Lord's Supper because they
feel unworthy. But our worthiness is not in ourselves, but in Christ. We come
to the table not with personal perfection, but with personal faith. By eating
the bread and drinking the wine, we show our confidence in the finished work of
Christ to make us accepted in God's sight. In all things, our only worthiness
to approach and draw near to the holy God is Christ (Heb.
Clearly, there are some people who
should not be partakers of this ordinance. Paul gives strong warning to those
who might be so brazen as to come presumptuously to the Lord's Table to eat and
drink unworthily (1 Cor. 11:27-29). The question is: who is unworthy?
Unbelievers are unworthy to eat the Lord's Supper. Their unworthiness lies in
the fact that they do not discern the Lord's body; that is to say, they do not
know the meaning and value of Christ's incarnation, his righteous obedience to
God as our Representative and his sacrificial death as the sinner's Substitute,
because they have no faith in him.
However, every true believer may and
should come to the Lord's Table. I do not pretend to understand fully Paul's
statements about unworthy recipients of the supper in 1 Corinthians 11. But I
do know this: the Lord's Table is open to all the Lord's children. The practice
of excluding members of other churches from the table has neither precept nor
precedent in the New Testament. All God's children in this world are welcome to
sit with his saints in any place where they gather to observe the Lord's
Supper. Every time we eat the bread and drink the wine we are confronted with
our sin, comforted with a sense of blood-bought pardon, and cheered with the
hope of Christ's glorious second advent.
Paul makes it perfectly clear that the person receiving the Lord's Supper is responsible to examine himself (1 Cor. 11:28). Each person must examine him or herself. Are you a believer? Do you discern the Lord's body? Do you see the value of Christ's incarnation, life of obedience, and sin-atoning death? Do you rest your soul upon Christ by faith? If you do, this blessed gospel ordinance is for you, but if you refuse to trust the Son of God, you must not presume to take the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper.
15
Grace Bulletin
July
31, 2005
GRACE BAPTIST
CHURCH of DANVILLE
2734 Old Stanford Road-Danville, Kentucky 40422-9438
Telephone (859) 236-8235 - E-Mail don@donfortner.com
Donald S. Fortner, Pastor
Sunday
10:00 A.M. Bible Classes
10:30 A.M. Morning Worship Service
6:30 P.M. Evening Worship Service
Tuesday
7:30 P.M. Mid-Week Worship Service
Channel 6 - Sunday Morning 8:00 A.M.
Channel 6 - Wednesday Evening 6:00 P.M.
Channel 6 - Friday Evening 7:00 P.M.
http://www.donfortner.com
http://www.sovereign-grace/gracechurch.htm
http://www.freegrace.net/danville/default.asp