CALL TO WORSHIP

(Tune: How Firm A Foundation)

Thy mercy, my God, is the theme of my song,

The joy of my heart & the boast of my ton­gue;

Thy grace, so free, from the 1st to the last,

Has won my affections and bound my soul fast.

Thy mercy in Jesus has saved me from hell;

Its glories to sing & its wonders to tell;

Twas Christ my Redeemer who hung on the tree,

That opened the fountain of mercy for me.

Great Father of mercies, Thy goodness I own,

And the covenant love of Thy crucified Son;

All praise to Thy Spirit; His calling Di­vine,

Makes wisdom & pardon & righteousness mine.

Secure in Christ Jesus, no power can shake;

The foundation is laid, & it never can break;

With God justified, our salvation to bless,

In the Lord Jesus Christ our Righteous­ness.

Bible Study: "Christ, Our Covenant: II" - II Samuel 7:12-17

Today's Speaker: Brother Winston Pannell will conduct the 11:00 am service today. Pray for him as he delivers God's word.

Television Broadcast: Beginning Feb. 7^th. at 11am on Fox 31, channel 4, Eager Avenue Grace Church will begin airing our first television program.

Birthdays: Brent Cox - Jan. 30^th. , Jeremy McKenzie - Jan. 31^st.

Molly Fuller - Jan. 31^st.

WHY SHOULD WE PREACH CHRIST'S RIGHTEOUSNESS?

When people ask me why I preach the righteousness of Christ so much, I answer it is because God must be glorified, Christ must be exalted, all boasting must be excluded in ourselves, and we must be encouraged to persevere and obey with the absolute certainties of God's grace. Nothing else will accomplish all this but the preaching of Christ and His righteousness as the only ground of the whole of salvation. The main issue in salvation is the glory of God. The main issue in the glory of God is the righteousness of Christ by which God is enabled to be both a just God and a Savior. This is God's redemptive glory (Isa. 45:21-22), and this is where Christ is exalted and given the pre-eminence as Lord of all (2 Cor. 4:6).
Whenever we preach or teach any subject from the Bible, this message of grace is the very thing God the Holy Spirit uses to empower the truth for the salvation of sinners and the edification of God's people. Without it, the message simply blends in with the rest of false religion in its moral pep talks and psychological babbling (Matt. 5:13-16). Without this message of grace, Christ and His righteousness as the only ground of salvation, the salt loses its savor and is good for nothing but to be cast out. Think about this seriously. There are many other things in the Bible we need to hear, learn, and practice, but all things in the Bible are to be preached in light of this Gospel (Rom. 1:16-17). Without this, there is no Gospel.

by BILL PARKER

Psalm 125:1 "They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth forever."

The righteous (they that trust in the Lord) cannot be removed. They abide forever because they are shut up to Christ. He has rendered all the obedience they owed Gods law, he has satisfied all the law they transgressed, he has suffered all the wrath they earned, he has died the death they deserved, he has paid the ransom they could not and he provided for them a robe of righteousness that, imputed to them, secures them in an unchangeable standing of justification before God.

Winston Pannell

Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:13)

What will satisfy a soul born again? We have a satisfaction, and that satisfaction is Christ. If we are born again of the Spirit of God, no provision will satisfy us but the Bread of eternal life, which comes down from heaven. Christ is the provision of the Father's house, and this provision alone will satisfy a heaven-born soul.

If you and I are born again of God we cannot be satisfied with the world and things of the world; and if you and I are born of God we are not, nor can be, satisfied in or of ourselves. I firmly believe from my own experience, that the longer a heaven-born child of God lives here, the more dissatisfied he will be with himself; the more he will sink in his own esteem; loathe and abhor himself, and repent, in his soul-feeling, in the dust before the Lord. On the other hand, if we are born again we shall feel a growing need of a precious Christ, of His glorious Person as the God-man and Mediator. We need Him as our covenant Head, and to feed upon Him as the mystery of godliness, God-man in the flesh, and we adore Him. We see Him fulfil the law of ten commands; we rejoice in His righteousness, and hunger and thirst after it. We also see Him in His blood-shedding; we see the work is finished, and our soul feeds upon a finished and complete salvation, all of grace, from first to last.

O, there is that in Christ that satiates the soul that is born of God. He is all and in all. It is of importance for you and me and every child of God to learn that He is our Saviour and Redeemer. We read in the prophecy by Ezekiel about a newborn babe being cast into the open field. O! How helpless it is! It can do nothing for itself; it must have all done for it. (Ezek. 16) Now, if you are born again of God, you are yourself as helpless as regards saving yourself, and washing yourself from your sins, and clothing yourself in the robe of righteousness, and justifying yourself in a spiritual point of view, as that little child was. If we are born again we are like the babe cast out, helpless and crying, bewailing our condition, knowing that no man can help us. But when the Lord passes by, He spreads His skirt over us, and feeds and nourishes us with the Bread of heaven, and gives us all that we stand in need of. Heaven-born souls can do nothing for themselves. Christ and Christ alone is all and in all. Amen.