Grace Baptist Church of Danville

July 8, 2012

Men who do not love, provide for, and protect their wives and families, no matter how physically appealing and materially successful, are brute beasts.

·      Bro. Frank Hall and Ron Wood will preach the gospel to you today.

·      I am preaching today for Rescue Baptist Church in Rescue, CA, where Bro. Gene Harman is pastor.

·      Pastor Todd Nibert, pastor of Todds Road Grace Church in Lexington, will be here Tuesday to preach the gospel to you.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  Rex Bartley-9^th

NURSERY DUTY THIS WEEK

Today: Vicci Rolley (AM) Celeste Peterson (PM)          Tuesday: Stephanie Wall

I Have Seen the Blessed Savior — Don Fortner

(Tune: Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus #84 — 87.87.D)

1.    I have seen the blessed Savior,

And I've heard His gracious voice

Look, my heart, upon no other.

By God's grace Christ is my choice.

Through His blood I am forgiven.

Christ is all my righteousness.

One with Him, an heir of heaven,

I look nowhere else for grace.

2.    In myself I have no merit.

Sin mars all I think and do.

Jesus Christ alone can save me.

All my hope, my Lord, is You!

I confess my sin and renounce

All my best performance too.

Christ, my all-sufficient Savior,

All I need I find in You.

3.    In the person of my Savior

I have found the way to God.

By His merits I have favor

And acceptance with my God.

For this matchless Pearl and Treasure

I now give my life away.

Take me, Master, do Your pleasure,

I bow to Your sov'reignty.

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The Psalms of Degrees

Psalms 120-134

What a great privilege it is to worship the triune God with his saints! How blessed we are to be gathered in the name of Christ in the house of God!

Psalm 84 expresses every believer’s attitude toward the house of God and the great privilege of gathering with the people of God to worship our Lord Jesus Christ.

“To the chief Musician upon Gittith.” — The word “Gittith” appears in the titles given to several of the psalms. It means “A stringed instrument.” It comes from a word that means “winepresses” and is translated that way in some ancient translations. This is a psalm that speaks of local churches, the assemblies of God’s saints in public worship, where Christ the true Vine causes his people to drink the sweet wine of his grace. “A Psalm for the sons of Korah.” — That is to say, a psalm for singers in the house of God, a psalm to be sung in the house of God.

“How amiable are thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah.”

      Psalms 120-134 form a section of the Psalms called “Psalms of Degrees,” or “Ascension Psalms.” These psalms were commonly chanted by the children of Israel in their pilgrimages to Jerusalem to observe the annual feasts required under the law. They were psalms of pilgrims going up to the house of God. Some suggest that the priests in Israel chanted one of these fifteen psalms on each of the fifteen steps ascending up to the temple on those holy days.

      These are psalms written and recorded by Divine inspiration to show us three things:

1.    The attitude of our Lord Jesus Christ as he made his pilgrimage through this world of woe as Jehovah’s righteous Servant. — Our Savior’s heart was set upon the glory of God, the will of God, and the house of God above.

2.    The attitude of God’s saints as we make our pilgrimage through this world to our Father’s house above. — May God give us grace to set our affection upon things above, to mind not earthly things, but heavenly things, to look not at the things which are seen, but at those things which are not seen, ever to set our hearts upon the glory of God, the will of God, and eternity!

3.    The attitude we ought to cultivate as we come to the house of God to worship him.

      As we scan these fifteen psalms, I want to specifically apply them in this way. I want to encourage you and to encourage myself to come to the house of God with the attitude reflected in these psalms.

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Ascending to the House of God

Psalms 120-134

Whenever we have the privilege of coming up out of this distressing world of darkness and woe to gather with God’s saints, worshipping in his house, at his footstool, before his throne, with his people, we ought to be filled with joyful hope and anticipation.

      When we come to the house of God in public worship, we come to a physical place, usually a building, a chapel, designated for worship. What a privilege! What a blessing! We ought to treat the physical building in which we meet as the house of God. — No, the building is not the house of God; but it is where the house of God meets with his people.

      If the Lord will allow us this hour to worship him, if we have indeed come into this place in the name of Christ, if we have (just two or three of us) come here in the name of Christ, gathered by his Spirit, trusting him, his blood, his righteousness, his intercession, his grace, his power, and his goodness, seeking his honor, his will, and his glory, to worship him, we have come into the house and temple of God. The Lord Jesus is in our midst (Matthew 18:20). The Holy Spirit is here (1 Timothy 3:15; 1 Corinthians 3:16-17).

Indeed, if we have come here to worship our God, if he grants us the privilege and honor of doing so, coming into this place, we have come to the very throne of God in heaven. Yes, there is a very real sense in which we gather around God’s throne in heaven every time we gather in God’s house to worship him (Hebrews 12:18-25).

      These Psalms of Degrees begin (Psalm 120) with the pilgrim in Zion leaving his home, leaving behind him a world of distress and woe, because he dwells among deceitful, self-serving men who are in constant strife with one another. In Psalm 134, as he returns from the house of God, going back to his home, going back to face a world that hates God, his soul is refreshed. He seems to be leaping and dancing in his soul, giving praise to God.

      Oh, may that be the case with each of us when we leave this place! As I prepare to preach the gospel, I try to bear in mind that I come here to preach to eternity bound men and women who live in a distressing world of woe. I want to send you away leaping and rejoicing, giving praise to God our Savior, for all his wonderful works of redemption and grace.

      That which relieved, comforted, and rejoiced the hearts of God’s saints in those ancient times was what they heard and saw in the house of God. And that which relieves, comforts, and rejoices the hearts of God’s saints today is exactly the same: — that which we hear and see in the house of God.

§  The Word — The Revelation of God

§  The Sacrifice — Christ

§  The Blessing — God’s Goodness and Grace in Christ (Numbers 6:24-27)

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The Grace Bulletin

July 1, 2012

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.

Television Broadcasts in Harrodsburg

Channel 6 - Sunday Afternoon 3:00 P.M.

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

Web Pages

http://www.DonFortner.com

http://www.FreegraceRadio.com

http://www.Grace-eBooks.com

Don Fortner

Listen to sermons at FreeGraceRadio.com