CALL TO WORSHIP

(Tune – Love Divine – p. 2)

Let us sing the King Messiah,

King of righteousness and peace;

Hail Him, all ye ransomed people,

Never let His praises cease.

How transcendent are Thy glories,

Fairer than the sons of men;

While Thy blessed intercession

Brings us back to God again.

Majesty combined with meekness,

Righteousness and peace unite;

Look, my soul, be still and wonder,

Grant us, Lord, Thy glorious light.

Blest are all that touch Thy sceptre,

Blest are all that know Thy name;

Grace hath put us in the number

Of the Saviour's family.

TODAY’S SERVICES – Messages by Pastor Bill Parker

BIBLE CLASS – 10:00 a.m. –

The Tragedy of Judgment Without Christ – Matthew 7:21-23

MORNING WORSHIP – 11:00 a.m –

• OPENING – 2 Timothy 1:8-12

• CALL TO WORSHIP (above)

• HYMN – Blessed Assurance – p. 255

• READING – 1 John 4:10-21

• MESSAGE – Assurance in Union with Christ – 1 John 4:12-21

• CLOSING HYMN – I Am Thine, O Lord – p. 314

MID-WEEK BIBLE STUDY – WEDNESDAY – 6:30 P.M.

Birthdays: Reid Jackson – Feb. 28^th

THE GREAT BLESSING OF TRUE WORSHIP

We should never take for granted the great blessing, privilege, and the opportunities we are given to be able to worship the true and living God in spirit and in truth. Millions are seeking to worship God this morning but fail to do so. Why? It is for this reason – To worship God acceptably we as sinners saved by God’s grace must be found IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST as our Surety, Substitute, and Intercessor (1 Pet. 2:1-5). When we meet to worship together what do we do? We pray, but our prayers are imperfect. Our prayers, no matter how sincere and self-effacing, can only be accepted with God based upon the merits of Christ, our Great High Priest (Heb. 4:14-16). We sing hymns, but no hymn, no matter how truthful or beautifully and joyously sung, can be pleasing unto God except as it arises unto Him through the intercessory work of our righteous Redeemer (1 John 2:1-2). We hear preaching, but preached messages (no matter how eloquent, entertaining, emotional, or well-illustrated) can honor the true and living God except as they are founded upon His Word (the Bible) and lead sinners to no hope of salvation and all blessings thereof in and by the Lord Jesus Christ and based on His righteousness imputed (Heb. 10:19-25). True worship is an act of God-given faith in Christ. True worship is the heart-felt cry of a sinner seeking mercy from the God of all mercy and who gives mercy at the Mercy-seat, Christ Jesus. Without Christ all worship is in vain. Without Christ all worship is idolatry. Without Christ worship is not a blessing but a curse.

–Pastor Bill Parker

When we worship God, we do not add anything to Him. He is self-existent, self-contained, and complete within Himself. When we worship God, we only attribute unto God and acknowledge what He already is within Himself, and we recognize and rejoice in that which already belongs to Him in His glory as revealed in the Person and redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

God without man remains God, over all, blessed forever. He is the glorious God, whether man acknowledges that truth or not. But MAN WITHOUT GOD is nothing, he is vanity, he is useless except to be fuel for the flames of hell. –Pastor Jim Byrd

Remember, sinner, it is not THY HOLD of Christ that saves thee – it is Christ; it is not THY JOY in Christ that saves thee – it is Christ; it is NOT EVEN FAITH in Christ (though that is the instrument) – it is Christ’s blood and merits. Therefore, look not to thy hope, but to Christ, the source of thy hope; look not to thy faith, but to Christ, the author and finisher of thy faith.

–Copied

Some people have the false idea that weak believers are those who have yet to come to know and believe the blessed Gospel of God’s free and sovereign grace in Christ. They think a weak believer is one who is still depending upon his own will and/or works either to save, preserve, or make him fit and prepared for heaven. But this cannot be proven by the Word of God which shows us from Genesis to Revelation what the Apostle Paul was inspired by God the Holy Spirit to write in the following – “For He saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy” (Romans 9:15-16). Do any of you suppose that God would say something else to His people other than what He said to Moses? GOD FORBID! --Copied

Ask yourself – What am I building on so as to be able to stand before the Lord God? If you are ignorant of this, I pray the blessed Spirit to convince you that there is no other foundation for any man to lay, but that which God has laid, which is Christ Jesus (1 Cor. 3:11). May He give you faith and repentance so as you may be led to have a total reliance on the righteousness, blood, and intercession of Christ for the pardon of your sins.

—Augustus Toplady