Grace Baptist Church of Danville

Danville, Kentucky

 

April 13, 2008

 

 

I have observed that you can always count on do-nothings to criticize what others do; but you can never count on them for anything else.

 

 

Daily Readings for the Week of April 13-20

                        Sunday                      1 Kings 4-6                           Thursday                   1 Kings 13-14

                        Monday                     1 Kings 7-8                           Friday             1 Kings 15-17

                        Tuesday                    1 kings 9-10                          Saturday                    1 Kings 18-19

                        Wednesday  1 kings 11-12                                   Sunday                      1 Kings 20-21

 

·      I am preaching this morning for Shiloh Baptist Church in Huntersville, NC, where Bro. Ralph Dale is pastor. Tonight I will preach for El-shaddai Baptist Church in North Wilkesboro, NC, where Bro. Mike Walker is pastor. Bro. Darvin Pruitt is preaching today for FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH in Almont, MI, where Bro. Jim Byrd is pastor. Bro. Ron Wood will preach the gospel to you today.

 

 

Glory to the Triune God — Don Fortner

(Tune: #123 — In the Cross of Christ I Glory — 87.87)

 

1.    Glory to our God and Father,

Who in free and sov’reign grace,

Chose us in His loving favor,

For His everlasting praise!

 

2.    Glory to the Son, our Savior,

God the Son, the Word made flesh!

He to save us (Blessed Savior!),

Died for us the cursed death!

 

3.    Glory give to God the Spirit,

By Whose grace we now believe,

Showing us our Savior’s merit,

By which we all grace receive.

 

 

“You must know that you are never to separate in your thoughts God from Christ. Always as you look upon Christ, so look upon God; or as you look upon God, look upon him no otherwise than as he is in Christ, not as if there were another God besides what Christ is; for there is no such thing.” — Tobias Crisp

 

 

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The Blessedness of It

 

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1)

 

Without question, there are deep mysteries here that no man can comprehend and no language can explain. How can there be a plurality in unity and a unity in plurality, three persons in the Trinity and one God in essence? — How Christ can be at the same time in the Father and with the Father? — These are matters far beyond our feeble understanding. Blessed are they who are content simply to believe the revelation of God. As one old writer put it, “It is rashness to search too far into it. It is piety to believe it. It is life eternal to know it. And we can never have a full comprehension of it, till we come to enjoy it.”

 

I cannot explain all that is contained in this one sentence; but I can and do rejoice in this blessedness found in this declaration of God the Holy Spirit. — “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

 

Eternal Life

 

Our Savior said, “This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3). Christ the Word, who is our God, is eternal life.

 

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.” (1 John 1:1-3)

 

Christ, the Word of Life, Christ who is life essential, swallowed up death in victory, and “brought life and immortality to light by the gospel” (2 Timothy 1:10). — “Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son.” Union being the ground of communion, all that is theirs is ours. This made Moses cry out, “Happy art thou, O Israel” (Deuteronomy 33:29).

 

“The life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us” (v. 2). Christ is Eternal Life! In 1st John 1:5 the Apostle declares that this is the message God sent him to declare to us: — “God is light, and in him is no

 

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darkness at all.” In this context John is not simply telling us of God’s transcendent excellence and purity. He is telling us what the message is that God’s servants are sent to proclaim. He is talking about the revelation of God, whom no man has seen or can see, apart from Christ, the Word, who is both God himself and the Light of life, in and by whom God is revealed. God the Holy Spirit has given us “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” by the gospel (2 Corinthians 4:6). Oh, may “the Spirit of the living God” write these things, “not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of our heart,” for Christ’s sake, that we may know him who is Eternal Life, and that we may forever walk together in sweet fellowship with one another, and truly in fellowship “with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ,” that our joy may be full!

 

Our Unity

 

Nothing revealed in Holy Scripture more forcibly inspires unity among true believers than the revelation of the Trinity. This is not some abstract point of theological speculation, or some profitless point of doctrinal refinement. This is a subject so far above our comprehension that it should inspire our deepest reverence and humility, as well as the most circumspect consecration and unity.

 

In baptism believers publicly avow their consecration to God (Romans 6:4-6). Being baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, we publicly declare our consecration and commitment to obey the will of the Father, live for the glory of the Son and submit to the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

 

Let every thought about the holy Trinity stimulate in us a desire that we may be one, even as God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are one. Happy are they who experience that unity and communion with one another in the Lord Jesus for which he prayed in John 17:20-22. We live in anticipation of its perfection. James Pendleton asked…

 

“Who can think of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit as one — one in nature, one in love, one in purpose — and not hope for the day when the intercessory prayer of Christ will be answered in the union of all his followers?”

 

All true believers should earnestly devote themselves, as the sons and daughters of the triune God, to unity. Oh, that God’s saints on earth might truly be one in purpose, seeking the glory of God, — one in labor, serving the cause of Christ, — and one in the love of Christ (Philippians 2:2-5). As the children of God in this world, for Christ’s sake (Ephesians 4:32-5:1), for his glory, let us learn by the grace of God to be patient with one another, — to highly esteem one another, — to forgive one another, — to be forbearing with one another, and — to give deference to one another. Soon, we shall be one in glory (John 17:22; Ephesians 4:1-6).

 

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Grace Bulletin

 

April 20, 2008

 

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

 

Schedule of Regular Services

 

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

 

 

Television Broadcasts in Danville

 

Channel 6 - Sunday Morning 8:00 A.M.

Channel 6 - Wednesday Evening 6:00 P.M.

Channel 6 - Friday Evening 7:00 P.M.

 

Web Pages

http://www.donfortner.com

http://www.freegraceradio.com

http://www.sovereign-grace.com/gracechurch.htm

 

 

 

 

Don Fortner

 

 

Listen to sermons at FreeGraceRadio.com