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Grace Baptist Church of Danville

February 12, 2017

 

Fallen man is body and soul, spiritually dead. God the Holy Spirit does not regenerate the old man in the new birth. In the new birth, he makes fallen, spiritually dead sinners whole, putting a new nature in us, making us Òpartakers of the divine nature.Ó With Christ formed in us, we are made whole again — body, soul, and spirit.

 

Daily Readings for the Week of February 12-19, 2017

Sunday                Numbers 3-4                                                Thursday       Numbers 15-16

      Monday                Numbers 5-7                                                Friday             Numbers 17-19

      Tuesday              Numbers 8-10                                 Saturday                    Numbers 20-22

      Wednesday        Numbers 11-14                               Sunday                      Numbers 23-26

 

Happy Birthday!  Nancy Bailey-13th

 

Nursery Duty This Week

Stephanie Wilkerson (AM) — Debbie Bartley (PM) Tuesday: Ruth Wall

 

To Know the Love of Christ Don Fortner

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

 

1.    O Holy Spirit, let me know

The love of Christ to me.

Its soul-reviving power bestow.

And set my spirit free.

 

2.    I long to know its depth and height,

And see its breadth and length,

In ChristÕs redeeming love delight,

And governed by its strength.

 

3.    It is Your glory to reveal

The SaviorÕs wondrous love.

Oh, set upon my heart the seal

Of Christ, my SaviorÕs love!

 

4.    BlessÕd Comforter, this grace impart

And be my constant Guide.

Oh, let that love now flood my heart

Which made my Savior die!

 

ÒIt would be labor in vain to endeavor to cleanse the stream of a polluted fountain. No, the source must be changed, or the flow will be unaltered. Prune the crab as you please, it will not bring forth apples: nor will a thorn under the best cultivation produce figs. Regeneration is a change of nature, but it is by no means a natural change; it is supernatural in its origin, execution, and consequences. It must be wrought by a power from above, since there is neither will nor power to work it from below.Ó                                                          — C. H. Spurgeon

 

GodÕs Elect

Speckled, Spotted, and Brown

 

ÒI will pass through all thy flock to day, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and of such shall be my hire. So shall my righteousness answer for me.Ó (Genesis 30:32-33)

 

Reading these words which Jacob spoke to Laban, my heart is immediately reminded of my Savior. He has chosen for his flock only the speckled, spotted, and brown, takes them out of AdamÕs fallen race by election, redemption, and effectual calling, and thus enriches himself

 

ÒFor ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence.Ó (1Corinthians 1:26-29)

 

            O my soul, forever glory in the Lord, the God of all grace, who has taken one so utterly worthless and useless as me into his flock! The joy set before the Son of God, for which he endured the cross, despising the shame, was the everlasting salvation of his elect. Throughout the Book of God, he says, ÒOf such shall be my hire.Ó By the everlasting salvation of all his ransomed ones, he says, ÒSo shall my righteousness answer for me.Ó

            This is a wonder beyond imagination. I could not think it, let alone write it, were it not written out by the Spirit of God in the Book of God. — Saved sinners are the satisfaction of the crucified Christ! We who are enriched with life everlasting are the satisfaction of his soulÕs travail at Calvary! We are made of God to be Òthe fulness of him that filleth all in all,Ó the reward of his righteousness!

            By his obedience unto death, fulfilling all righteousness for his chosen, the Lord Jesus Christ earned, and shall have every sinner for whom he lived and died with him in glory.

 

 

 

ÒFaith in ChristÓ

Pastor Henry Mahan

Faith in Christ is not to work but to cease from our labor and to rest in him for all things. Faith in Christ is not to do anything, but to believe and own that all is done in him, by him, and is imputed to us so fully that we are rewarded as if we did it ourselves!

 

 

 

Peeled Rods

 

ÒJacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chesnut tree; and pilled white strakes in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods. And he set the rods which he had pilled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink. And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ringstraked, speckled, and spotted. And Jacob did separate the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ringstraked, and all the brown in the flock of Laban; and he put his own flocks by themselves, and put them not unto Laban's cattle.Ó (Genesis 30:37-40)

 

Jacob peeled the bark off from these trees, until the rods had white streaks in them. He, then, set the peeled rods before the cattle as they were breeding. He did this so that their offspring would be Òringstraked, speckled, and spotted.Ó Anyone who might have seen what Jacob did would have thought he was either a madman or a sorcerer. He was neither.

Jacob employed this very unlikely means of gathering the cattle he wanted from LabanÕs herds because the Lord God had told him to use this means. He acted in faith, obeying God and expecting God to perform the wondrous thing he had promised. And the Lord caused the herds to bring forth their offspring Òringstraked, speckled, and spottedÓ (Genesis 31:9-16).

There was nothing in the peeled rods that could, by any means, cause the cattle to produce such offspring. Yet, those rods were the means God had ordained to produce the result he purposed. In order to get these Òringstraked, speckled, and spottedÓ cattle, Jacob had to breed the herds of Laban before those peeled rods, just as Naaman was required to wash in the river Jordan, in order to his being cured of his leprosy.

            In all things, our God has ordained the means as well as the end. He has ordained the salvation of his elect. Every chosen, redeemed sinner must and shall be saved by GodÕs omnipotent, irresistible grace. And they will all be saved by the means he has ordained — the preaching of the gospel (Romans 10:17; James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:23-25). God chose his elect unto salvation through sanctification of the Spirit (the new birth) and belief of the truth (faith in Christ).

            GodÕs servants, gospel preachers, are as useless as JacobÕs peeled rods. They have no power to effect any change in the souls of spiritually dead sinners. Every true gospel preacher knows that is so. Yet, as Jacob put the rods before the cattle in faith, believing God, we preach the gospel believing God. And God, by the grace and power of the Holy Ghost, effectually calls chosen, redeemed sinners to life and faith in Christ (2 Thessalonians 2:14), causing all who trust his Son to be Òpartakers of his promise in Christ by the gospelÓ (Ephesians 3:6).

            God, give me grace to preach the gospel in faith, expecting your blessing upon the preached gospel, knowing that by your blessing, according to your promise, it is and shall be Òthe power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth!Ó

 

 

 

 

The Grace Bulletin

 

February 12, 2017

 

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

 

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