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Grace Baptist Church of Danville

March 29, 2015

 

The world did not see Christ in Christ and did not see holiness in the Holy One, but crucified him as a vile and wicked man. Don’t ever imagine that the world will see Christ or holiness in you.

 

 

Daily Readings for the Week of March 29-April 5, 2015

Sunday                1 Samuel 18-20                                           Thursday       2 Samuel 1-3

            Monday                      1 Samuel 21-24                                           Friday             2 Samuel 4-6

            Tuesday                    1 Samuel 25-27                                           Saturday                    2 Samuel 7-10

            Wednesday 1 Samuel 28-31                                           Sunday                      2 Samuel 11-12

 

 

Nursery Duty this Week

Today:Vicci Rolley  (AM)  — Debbie Bartley (PM)  — Tuesday: Ruth Wall

 

O What a Paradox I Feel! Don Fortner & Darius Blake

(Tune: #361 — Sweet Hour of Prayer — LM)

 

 

1.    Two armies war within my soul, both flesh and spirit seek control.

Both grace and sin resolved to reign, this daily war within maintain.

Grace fills my soul with heav’nly joys! But sin my happiness annoys.

Though sin’s resolv’d to hold me fast, grace shall prevail o’er sin at last.

 

2.    Grace bids me seek the Lord in prayer, though sin would drive me to despair.

Sin drags me downward to the earth, while grace uplifts my heavenly birth!

Grace fills my soul with heav’nly joys! But sin my happiness annoys.

Though sin’s resolv’d to hold me fast, grace shall prevail o’er sin at last.

 

3.    The spirit truly loves The Lord, His house His people, and His Word;

But still my heart with sin is tried. The flesh will never step aside.

Grace fills my soul with heav’nly joys! But sin my happiness annoys.

Though sin’s resolv’d to hold me fast, grace shall prevail o’er sin at last.

 

4.    O what a paradox I feel, a heart of flesh, a heart of steel.

In love with sin, with sin at war. Myself I love, myself abhor!

Grace fills my soul with heav’nly joys! But sin my happiness annoys.

Though sin’s resolv’d to hold me fast, grace shall prevail o’er sin at last.

 

I am greatly grieved when I see those who were once faithful in public worship, by degrees, absenting themselves from the assembly of the saints. I am grieved for them because I know what their absence indicates about them, what their absence says to those they influence, and what distress their absence causes the saints of God who care deeply for their souls.

 

—————————œ

 

“That God is able in his mercy, grace, and wisdom to make a way for our sins to be laid on a substitute and the guilty sinner to go free is the greatest glory of his nature that he has seen fit to reveal. — ‘O the depths of the riches, both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God; how unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!’”                                                                                                                          — Pastor Henry Mahan

 

Paul’s Determination

1 Corinthians 2:1-5

 

Paul was a preacher with one subject — Jesus Christ and him crucified. He was determined always, in every place, to preach the glorious Person and the accomplished redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ. Substitutionary redemption by the Son of God was the one theme this faithful servant of God was determined to proclaim. He said I will boast of him whom others despise.

 

God’s Message

Christ crucified is God’s message. Christ crucified is the message of Holy Scripture. Christ crucified is the sum of the gospel, and all the riches of it. Paul was so taken up with Christ that nothing sweeter could drop from his lips or pen. Christ crucified seems to have utterly consumed his mind. He used the name “Jesus" 235 times in his epistles.

      May God give me grace to follow Paul’s example, the example God holds before us in his Word for preachers to follow. Christ crucified is the one thing you need and the one thing I am determined to preach. I know nothing of religious traditions or philosophical wisdom. Whether among the rich and well educated, or the poor and illiterate, I am determined to know nothing but Christ crucified.

 

No Show

This man so greatly used of God in his day had another determination, a determination of equal importance. He was determined to preach Christ crucified with the utmost simplicity. Paul was determined not to preach the gospel using “excellency of speech or of wisdom…with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.”

      The apostle Paul was perfectly capable of adorning his discourses with pompous language, flowers of rhetoric, eloquence of oratory, and impressive words of human wisdom. He was a man of remarkable learning and ability. But he made it his determination to preach Christ with simplicity. Christ crucified does not need to be dressed up in impressive words.

      The use of impressive speech has only one real purpose. Men use impressive speech to impress other men. Our preaching may be precisely orthodox, but if our language and manner of speech is designed to impress and win applause, we nullify our message. We do not want our hearers to remember the way we preach, but what we preach. We do not want people to remember our words, but our message. We do not want those who hear us to remember our names, but the Savior’s name. If that is our desire, let every man who speaks in the name of God preach the gospel of God with utter simplicity.

 

Divine Power

We must preach Christ crucified, or we do not preach the Word of God. We must preach Christ with bold, unadorned simplicity, lest our hearers follows us instead of following Christ. This is and must be the preacher’s determination, “That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

 

“The Love of Christ Constraineth Us”

2 Corinthians 5:14

 

It has been my practice to never scold the people of God and upbraid them about church attendance, giving, witnessing, etc. My reason for this practice is simply this:— That which is done to please me, or out of any legal fear, or to satisfy the opinions of others is just as well left undone.

      I refuse to threaten or promise anything to get men and women to perform religious works. If the love of Christ does not constrain and motivate you to be faithful to Christ, nothing done would be of any value anyway. But I am greatly concerned for people who profess faith in Christ and profess to love him, who do not demonstrate faithfulness regarding him.

      Can I know the love of Christ, that love which constrained him to leave the glory and bliss of heaven, take upon himself my nature, assume my sin and guilt, and sacrifice himself for my eternal redemption; can I know that love and not be constrained to faithfulness toward him? It is not possible!

      It is impossible for me to imagine a man or woman who has experienced the saving grace of God neglecting the worship and service of Christ for any reason. If you can give me a reason for such neglect, please do.

      I am a man totally indebted to the grace of God. Where would I be, what would I be today, if God had left me to myself? I shudder to think of it! My heart is bound hand and foot to Christ, because of his amazing love. What shall I refuse to do for him who has done so much for me? What shall I refuse to suffer for him who has suffered so much for me? What shall I refuse to give to him who has given so much for me? Truly, his love demands my heart, my soul, my all.

      In tenderness and out of great concern for your souls, I urge you, my friends, not to allow anything to distract you from the worship and service of Christ. Is there no desire in your heart to be in his house, to fellowship with his saints, to hear his Word, to sing his praise, and to worship him? Will you allow anything to keep you from Christ? If anything can keep me from Christ, I am afraid I simply do not yet know Christ.

 

“The Love of Christ Constraineth Us”

2 Corinthians 5:14

John Gill

 

The love of Christ constraineth us,” or containeth us; holds and keeps us in our station and duty, as soldiers are held and kept together under a banner, or ensign displayed; to which the church refers, when she says, “his banner over me was love” (Song of Solomon 2:4). Nothing more effectually keeps ministers or other believers, in the work and service of their Lord, or more strongly obliges and constrains them to a cheerful discharge of their duty to him and one another, than his love displayed in his covenant engagements, in his assumption of human nature, and particularly in his dying for them, which is the instance given in the text.

 

The Grace Bulletin

 

March 29, 2015

 

Grace Baptist Church of Danville

2734 Old Stanford Road-Danville, Kentucky 40422-9438

Telephone (859) 576-3400 — 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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