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Grace Baptist Church of Danville

December 18, 2016

He who is the Christ fully accomplished all that he came here to accomplish. When he had finished all that he came here to do, “with his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption” for God’s elect.

Daily Readings for the Week of December 18-25, 2016

Sunday Hebrews 11-12 Thursday 2 Peter 1-3

Monday Hebrews 13-James 2 Friday 1 John 1-5

Tuesday James 3-1 Peter 1 Saturday 2 John-Jude

Wednesday 1 Peter 2-5 Sunday Revelation 1-3

· We will have just one service here next Sunday. We will meet for our morning worship service at 10:30. We will have our regular mid-week worship service Tuesday night. — MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Happy Birthday! Celeste Peterson-19^th Evelyn Wang-21^st Martie Hellar-25^th

Nursery Duty This Week

Shante’ Birchum (AM) — Ruth Wall (PM) Tuesday: Elizabeth Peterson

Come, Let Us Go to Bethlehem – Don Fortner

(Tune: #95 While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks — CM)

1. Come, let us go to Bethlehem;

Let Wise men come, and see,

Our God incarnate, great I AM, —

O wondrous mystery!

2. Like sinners’ hearts, the crowded inn

Provided Him no place,

A stable’s manger – bed for Him,

Who comes to bring us grace!

3. Come, now, redeemed ones of the Lord,

Your songs and praises bring;

Let’s celebrate, with one accord,

The birth of Christ our King!

4. If angels, innocent, here sang

His praise with all their powers,

Much more, let ransomed sinners sing, —

Redemption full is ours!

“The Word was Made Flesh”

Pastor Henry Mahan

My friends, if you will carefully consider it, this is the most extraordinary fact ever declared in human language. God became a man and “took upon him the likeness of sinful flesh.” The Ancient of Days became an infant of days. The Son of the Most-High God became a man of sorrows. He made the world; but as a man, “he had no place to lay his head.” He who made the rivers asked a woman to give him a drink of water. He who cast out devils was tempted of the devil, and the author of life died and lay in a tomb.

“Jesus is the Christ”

“Mine ears hast thou opened.” (Psalm 40:6)

With these words, David shows us that the Messiah, the Christ, must be a man who is Jehovah’s voluntary servant (Exodus 21:1-6). The Lord Jesus Christ came into this world and performed his work as the voluntary Servant of his Father (Isaiah 42:1-4; 50:5-7; Hebrews 10:5-7; John 10:16-18; Luke 12:50).

Jehovah’s Equal

He who is Jehovah’s voluntary servant is Jehovah’s equal. All angels, men, creatures, devils, and events must serve God, because he is the Creator of all things. All rational beings are morally obligated to serve God, because we live upon his bounty. But Christ came to serve the Father voluntarily. He owed nothing and had nothing to gain, for he is himself Jehovah. That Man who is the Christ is himself God. He is “over all, God blessed forever” (Psalm 45:6-7; Romans 10:5).

Specific Mission

Jehovah’s Servant came into the world with a specific mission to accomplish (Matthew 1:21). Throughout the Old Testament Scriptures, Messiah was promised, looked for, and trusted as that One who would come to restore his fallen people to the everlasting favor of God by putting away their sins (Isaiah 61:1-3; Luke 4:18).

No Failure

Either Jesus of Nazareth has effectually redeemed and saved all God’s elect, or he is not the Christ. The Christ of Arminian, freewill, works religion is a false Christ. We know he is, because Messiah’s eternal glory and exaltation is dependent and conditioned upon the success of his redemptive, saving work (Psalm 2:7-8; 65:4; 110:3). The Prophet Isaiah declared, “He shall not fail” (Isaiah 42:4). And our blessed Savior said the same of himself (John 6:37-40 10:16-18). And God the Holy Spirit assures us that he did not fail (Hebrews 10:10-14).

When Isaiah wrote his prophecy, he was looking into the future and said, “He shall not fail!” Now we look back to the past and say, “He has not failed!” (John 17:2; 19:30). He has not failed to fulfil all the Old Testament Scriptures. He has not failed to bring in perfect, everlasting righteousness. He has not failed to redeem his people!

Particular Redemption

Any redemption other than particular, effectual redemption presents Christ as a failure to be pitied. To say that Christ suffered to redeem and save some who are finally lost in hell is to declare that, as both Noel Smith and Jerry Falwell put it, “Hell is a colossal trophy and monument to the failures of the Triune God to save the multitudes who are there.” But that cannot be. Our Lord Jesus Christ has not failed to bear our sins, and bear them away! The Christ of God has not failed to satisfy the infinite wrath and justice of God for our sins! Our mighty Savior has not failed to crush the Serpent’s head!

A Tribute to a Faithful Man

Missionary Cody Groover

1959-2016

When I first met Bro. Cody Groover he was just a teenager. I remember well when the Lord was pleased to save him, and when the Lord called him to the work to which he devoted his life, leaving a good job, selling his goods, and moving his wife and young children to Merida, Mexico. When I got word this morning (November 17, 2016) that the Lord had suddenly called him home, I was shocked, and immediately thought, “a great man is fallen this day in Israel” (2 Samuel 3:38); and he will be missed. And I thought of my friend as Paul did of his friend, Tychicus. — Bro. Cody Groover was truly “a beloved brother, and a faithful minister, and fellowservant in the Lord” (Colossians 4:7).

Beloved Brother

Cody is, to me and to many around the world, “a beloved brother.” It has been more than forty years since the Lord made Cody, his parents, and his brother and sisters a part of my life. What a blessed part of my life they have been! Laboring together, laughing together, and weeping together, we rejoiced in one another’s joys and bore one another’s burdens. I was often in his home and with his family, and he was often in my home and with my family. In all those years, a cross word never passed between us, or even sense of discomfort or regret.

Faithful Minister

Bro. Groover was “a faithful minister” to God’s elect, and “a faithful minister of the Lord.” He was Christ’s servant, and servant to his people. He was used of God to minister to pastors and churches in Mexico, primarily in the Yucatan and in Chiapas. Raised in Merida, the son of Missionary Walter Groover and his wife, Betty, Cody and his family returned to serve with his parents 22 years ago. Since then, the Lord has used him to raise up new gospel churches. He also took on the responsibilities of overseeing The Preachers’ School in Merida.

On my annual visits with the Groovers and the churches in the Yucatan, I always spent a day at The Preachers’ School. Every visit with men in the school, some I have known for forty years and others just beginning to preach, gave me great joy. The preachers have been well taught, have a clear understanding of Holy Scripture, and demonstrate great love and esteem for Bros. Walter and Cody Groover, expressing great gratitude to our God for sending them to Mexico to bring the gospel of God’s free and sovereign grace in Christ to them.

Fellowservant in the Lord

Bro. Cody Groover was truly a “fellowservant in the Lord.” He was both greatly humbled by and great rejoiced in the work the Lord God trusted to his hands. In all the years I knew him, since his first conversion, Cody Groover was a man of exemplary faithfulness and commitment. His doctrine has not altered in all those years so much as a hair’s breadth, but has only become stronger and clearer; and his commitment to the cause of Christ and his joy in the work the Lord trusted to his hands only increased year by year. He was truly “a beloved brother, and a faithful minister, and a fellowservant in the Lord.” As I said, he will be greatly missed.

The Grace Bulletin

December 18, 2016

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