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Grace Baptist Church of Danville

December 28, 2013

 

The man who lives only to and for himself is of less worth than the manure in his barn. The man who lives to and for the glory of God and the service of others is of more worth than gold.

 

Daily Readings for the Week of December 28-January 4, 2015

Sunday                Revelation 11-13                                         Thursday       Genesis 1-3

            Monday                      Revelation 14-16                                         Friday             Genesis 4-8

            Tuesday                    Revelation 17-19                                         Saturday                    Genesis 9-11

            Wednesday  Revelation 20-22                                         Sunday                      Genesis 12-16

 

A Thought for the New Year

 

In his first inaugural address (January 20, 1981) President Ronald Reagan referred to a statement taken from a young soldier’s diary. He said, “Martin Treptow left his job in a small town barber shop in 1917 to go to France with the famed Rainbow Division. There, on the western front, he was killed trying to carry a message between battalions under heavy artillery fire. We are told that on his body was found a diary. On the flyleaf under the heading, ‘My Pledge,’ he had written these words: ‘America must win this war. Therefore, I will work, I will save, I will sacrifice, I will endure, I will fight cheerfully and do my utmost, as if the issue of the whole struggle depended on me alone.’

            When I heard President Reagan recite that soldier’s pledge, my heart immediately cried out to God, “O Lord God, give me grace to serve the cause of Christ in my day and to my dying breath with such complete consecration, sacrificing, enduring, and cheerfully working and doing my utmost to carry the message of the Gospel to the ends of the earth, for the salvation of your elect, the building of your kingdom, and the glory of my Savior, as if the whole work depended upon me alone.”

Oh, may the God of all grace give us grace to so devote ourselves, in the totality of our lives, to him, for Christ’s sake!

 

The Time is ShortJoseph Hoskins (1745-1788)

(Tune: #225 — I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say — CMD)

 

1.     The time is short! the season near, when death will us remove;

To leave our friends, however dear, and all we fondly love.

The time is short! Sinners beware, nor trifle time away;

The word of great salvation hear, while it is called to-day.

 

2.    The time is short! ye rebels, now to Christ the Lord submit;

To mercy's golden scepter bow, And fall at Jesus' feet.

The time is short! ye saints rejoice. —-The Lord will quickly come!

Soon shall you hear the Bridegroom's voice, to call you to your home.

 

3.    The time is short! it swiftly flies! — The hour is just at hand,

When we shall mount above the skies, and reach the wished-for land.

The time is short, the moment near, when we shall dwell above;

And be forever happy there, with Jesus, whom we love!

 

Grace, Love Communion

2 Corinthians 13:14

 

I cannot imagine a better way to end the year that is past and to begin the new, than by meditating upon “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost.

 

The Grace of Christ

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ” is the ground and foundation of all he has done and suffered for us. It was his grace that caused him to become our Surety in the covenant, caused him to assume our nature in his incarnation, caused him to live in obedience to God as our Representative, bringing in everlasting righteousness for us, and caused him to set his face like a flint from old eternity and made him willing to suffer the painful, shameful, ignominious death of the cross as our Substitute at Calvary. It is that same grace of Christ that inspires his advocacy and intercession for us in heaven and directs the rule of his throne in daily providence for our good. “Be with you all” — Yes, his grace is always with us; but we do not always have an awareness of his grace. Do we? Oh, how I pray that he will grant you all an abiding awareness of his boundless grace toward you. How I pray that he will do the same for your pastor. O Spirit of God, cause us to walk in the sunshine of our Savior’s grace, ever aware of his smiling face, knowing the security of his embrace!

 

The Love of God

The love of God” our Father, eternal, everlasting, free, underserved, and sovereign, the distinguishing love of God, immutable and indestructible, is forever ours! It is his love that chose us, his love that gave his Son for us, his love that called us, and his love that keeps us. “Could we with ink the oceans fill, and were the skies of parchment made, were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade, — To write the love of God above would drain the oceans dry! Nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky.” “Be with you all” — May it please our great God, whose infinite love is ever ours in Christ, cause us to ever live in the blessed awareness of his love; may it be shed abroad in our hearts by his Holy Spirit, that we may be rooted and grounded in love, comprehending its length and breadth, and depth and height, that we might be “filled with all the fulness of God!”

 

The Communion of the Holy Ghost

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God” our Father will be ours continually only as we enjoy “the communion of the Holy Ghost.” It is God the Holy Spirit who takes the things of Christ and shows them to us, giving us communion with our Father in our blessed Savior, and causing us to enjoy sweet communion with one another. “Be with you all” — O Holy Spirit, divine Comforter and Teacher, come, abide upon your people and grant us grace to walk and work together in sweet communion with our great, eternal, triune God in Christ and with one another all the days of our lives. Let nothing deprive us of the boundless blessedness of this benediction here pronounced by you upon us! Blessed as we have been and are in the united mercies of the triune God, let this blessedness evermore be ours in the constantly increasing experience of grace. Perfect that which you have begun in us, for Christ’s sake.

 

 

Happy Birthday!

Marilyn Sadler-31st       Sam Wall-1st     Laura Peterson-4th

Nursery Duty this Week

Today: Jenny Bartley (AM) — Diane Campbell (PM) — Tuesday: Stephanie Wall

Church Cleaning in January: Jim and Susan Grant

 

 

“The Manifold Wisdom of God”

The Fall of Man — (Genesis 3:1-7)

 

It was the fiend of hell, Satan, who instigated the fall. His aim was the destruction of man and the frustration of God’s purpose. And he has succeeded in destroying multitudes of men. But he has not frustrated the purpose of God. He has not destroyed one of God’s elect. And those he has destroyed will, in the end, aggravate his eternal misery.

 

Greater Happiness

What Satan did in tempting man to sin was exactly the opposite of what he intended to do. God overthrew his designs! When Satan caused the fall of our race in Adam, he gave God occasion to glorify himself in the redemption of fallen man. And he gave opportunity for God’s elect to enjoy greater happiness than they could have ever known otherwise.

      Satan sought to ruin manhood by the fall, but God turned the fall into an occasion for the exaltation of manhood.

      Satan tempted Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, promising them that if they did they would become like God. It was a lie in the devil’s mouth. But look what God has done in response to Satan’s work. Because of the fall, God became a man to crush the serpent’s head and save fallen men. The fall of Adam opened the way for the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Man has been united to God in the Person of his Son. Our fall in Adam opened the way for us to receive “the adoption of sons” in Christ. Now, by God’s free, saving grace, fallen sinners have been made like Christ. — “As he is so are we in this world!” And, in Christ, instead of becoming Satan’s slave, saved sinners are made to be Satan’s judges (1 Corinthians 6:3).

 

God Glorified

Satan sought to frustrate God’s purpose and rob him of his glory by the fall of man, but he was an instrument used by God to fulfil his purpose and get glory to himself. It was the purpose of God from eternity that his Son become a man to suffer and die for sinners. It was the purpose of God from eternity that his elect enjoy the nearest possible eternal union with him in heaven. It was the purpose of God from eternity to glorify himself in the redemption and salvation of fallen men.

      Though Satan refused to minister to those whom God had chosen to be the heirs of eternal salvation, God made him to serve the eternal good of his own elect “to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ” (Hebrews 1:14; Ephesians 1:8-12).

 

The Grace Bulletin

 

December 28, 2014

 

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

 

 

 

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