November 11, 2012

In the Old Testament Scriptures every time we see idolatry prevailing, Sodomy also prevailed. The Holy Spirit lays the blame for the repugnant evil of Sodomy at the doorstep of idolatrous, freewill/works religion (Romans 1:18-27). When man is elevated as though he were God, when the works of God are attributed to the will, works, and worth of man, when man is worshipped as though he were God, as in all freewill/works religion, antichrist is present, God’s judgment is evident, and Sodomy runs rampant (2 Thessalonians 2:1-17), even as we see it in this reprobate age. — “But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

·      Bro. Frank Hall is preaching today for Millsite Baptist Church in Cottageville, WV.

·      I am preaching today for Grace Baptist Church in Taylor, AR, where Bro. Darvin Pruitt is pastor. You are privileged to have our friend, Bro. Mike Walker, pastor of Covenant of Grace Baptist Church in North Wilkesboro, NC here to preach the Gospel to you today.

·      Sunday - November 25^th — We will have our Thanksgiving/Christmas Holiday Fellowship Dinner together following our morning worship service.

NURSERY DUTY THIS WEEK

Today: Shante’ Birchum (AM) /Vicci Rolley (PM)     Tuesday: Mindy Peterson

Our Father’s in Control! — Don Fortner

(Tune: #497 — When I Can Read My Title Clear — CM)

1.    Who dares dispute Jehovah’s right

To universal rule?

This is our comfort and delight —

Our Father’s in control!

2.    Rejoice, rejoice, our Father reigns;

Heav’n, earth, and hell, shall know

That what His sov’reign will ordains

No pow’r can overthrow.

3.    All worlds obey our .Father’s nod,

And His decrees fulfil;

The arm of Israel’s cov’nant God,

Performs His sov’reign will.

4.    Then all is well, though man complains

In unbelief and pride,

Since God our Father ever reigns,

Beneath His wings we’ll hide!

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Total Depravity

“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”

(Romans 5:12)

The Word of God teaches us that all mankind, since the fall of Adam, are born in a lost condition of spiritual death and depravity. The doctrine of original sin is the doctrine that the whole human race sinned in Adam, who was by God’s arrangement the federal head and representative of the entire human race. Total depravity is the result of original sin. Men and women are not born innocent, or placed on a probationary status until they reach some imaginary “age of accountability.” We were all born in a state of total depravity. That means…

We were all born sinners.

Sin is not something we learn. It is what we are. At heart, at the very core of our being, we are sinners. No mother ever had to teach her children how to lie, cheat, covet, or steal. These evil things come from within (Mark 7:21-23). The natural heart is enmity against God. It can never be made willingly subject to God (Romans 8:7). Man by nature is a lost rebel, conceived in sin, shaped in iniquity, and straying from God from the womb, ever speaking lies (Psalms 51:5; 58:3). Because we are all born sinners…

We were all born under the curse of the law (Ephesians 2:3).

“The wages of sin is death!” Born in spiritual death, under the sentence of physical death, and condemned to eternal death in hell, every son and daughter of Adam is born a child of wrath, without Christ, without God, having no hope.

We were all born in a state of spiritual death.

When Adam sinned in the garden, he did not die physically, or eternally, but he did die spiritually. And we all died in him. That means that men and women by nature have no link to God, no spiritual knowledge, no spiritual ability (John 3:3-7). Until a person is born again by the power and grace of God, he cannot even see, much less enter into the kingdom of God.

Salvation must be the work of God alone (Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5).

Fallen man can do nothing good (Roman 3:10-19). He cannot will himself into a new creature! He must be made righteous. He must be made a new creature. The only way he can be made righteous and made a new creature is for God to do it. — “So then, it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy!”

5

Unconditional Election

“But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14)

According to Holy Scripture, the very first work of God’s grace in saving His people was that of election. No doctrine in the Bible is more delightful and comforting than the doctrine of election. This is not a doctrine taught in a few isolated passages of Scripture. It is taught prominently throughout the Word of God.

The doctrine of election, simply stated, is the teaching that God chose some of Adam’s race to be the objects of His grace and predestinated them unto eternal salvation in Christ before the world began.

Does the Bible teach this doctrine? Yes, of course, it does! It is impossible to read the Book of God and miss the doctrine of election (Psalm 65:4; Matthew 20:28; John 15:16; Romans 8:28-30; 9:11-13; 11:5; Ephesians 1:3-6; 1 Thessalonians 1:4; 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14; 1 Peter 1:2). What do these passages of Scripture teach about God’s electing grace? — At least these five things…

1. Election is in Christ. — We were chosen in Him, chosen to be like Him, and accepted in Him before the world began. All grace is in Christ. All that God does for sinners is in Christ.

2. Election is unconditional. — God did not choose us because He “foreknew” that we would do good! He chose us because He loved us with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3), even though He “foreknew” what sinners we would be!

3. Election is unto salvation. — Election is not salvation, but there could be no salvation without it. We could never be saved had God not chosen to save us.

4. Election took place before the worlds were made. — The Lamb’s Book of Life is not being written in time. Every name that shall be found in that book when the world has been destroyed was written there before God created the universe.

5. Election is the fountain head of all grace. — Read the first chapter of Ephesians carefully. Every blessing of grace from adoption to redemption, to forgiveness, to regeneration, to the resurrection of the body, to the inheritance of the saints in glory, flows freely to chosen sinners “according as” God has chosen them in Christ!

The doctrine of election declares, “Salvation is of the Lord!” It is not the will of man in time that is the determining factor in salvation, but the will of God in eternity. He declares, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy!”

6

The Grace Bulletin

November 11, 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 7:45 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