1. A book there is of God’s decrees, Which Christ our Savior holds; And every page of that great book Our mighty King unfolds. From north to south and east to west, He executes God’s will; And everything, both great and small, His purpose shall fulfill.
2. Within the pages of the book, Recorded by His pen; Are all appointments and decrees, For angels and for men. No one can look within the book, And learn our destiny; We do, however, know that God, Shall reign eternally.
3. What God has written in that book, Is perfect, just and fair; And so we lift our praise to Him, His glories to declare. Though all unworthy, we approach And bow before His throne; And ask, through Jesus Christ our Lord, That grace to us be shown.
TODAY’S SPEAKER: Eager Avenue Grace Church extends a warm welcome to Jim Byrd and his wife Nancy. Jim is pastor of First Baptist Church in Almont, Mi. He will conduct both the 10:00 am and 11:00 am services today. Pray for him as he delivers God's Word.
Fellowship Meal: There will be a fellowship meal immediately following the 11am service. All are invited to attend.
Television Broadcast: Our Reign of Grace Television program is being broadcast on WFXL Fox 31, Channel 4. The program will air every Sunday morning at 11 AM.
Radio Broadcast: Sunday morning at 9:30am on 98.7 FM –WISK. To hear sermons on your computer click on www.americusradio.com
Birthdays: Tammy Hall – April 13th , Kandice Drake- April 14th
SALVATION - AN EASY THING?
A man once told me, "getting saved is as easy as falling off a log." Salvation - an easy thing? Consider. It took the infinite wisdom of the Lord to design the salvation of sinners. While all of mankind would fall into a state of alienation from God in the fall of Adam, the Lord determined to rescue a remnant "according to the election of grace." Salvation required this divine choice because no sinner could ever be saved by their own righteousness, will, or works. The Trinity convened in holy council to "devise means that His banished ones be not expelled from Him" (2 Samuel 14:14). The work of satisfying divine justice for these had to be accomplished, sin had to be put away and righteousness had to be brought in. Salvation - an easy thing? It involved the eternal Son of God coming forth out of His Father’s bosom to accomplish the work of redemption. He had to take human nature into union with Himself, and in that nature live in perfection before the scrutiny of the law of God. Though His Incarnation and impeccable life were necessary, they were insufficient to secure salvation. The Savior of sinners, bearing responsibility for the eternal safety of those given to Him by the Father, had to lay down His life as the Substitute of the guilty. With the sins of all His people laid upon Him (Isaiah 53:6), He died in our stead and bore our sins away. He endured the just punishment for our transgressions by the sacrifice of Himself to answer the demands of offended law. He Who died for us, arose and ever lives as our Advocate to make intercession for us. In time, the Lord had to reveal Himself to our hearts using the Word of Truth. Because we were dead spiritually, we would never have any saving interest in the Lord Jesus Christ were it not for the Spirit of grace. He had to regenerate us and grant "repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 20:21). All along life’s journey, we must be preserved by the Lord and kept from falling. Someday, the Son of God will present us faultless before the throne of majesty and we will worship the Lord forevermore. Salvation - an easy thing? What a foolish thought.
--- Pastor Jim Byrd
“CHOSEN”
Let every believer in Christ think about this wonderful thing: the eternal God chose us! Before the world was, before we ever were born, before we ever had a fleshly existence, God chose us. Loving us, He chose us in the only way sinners could be chosen by a holy God, He chose us “in Christ.” “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:” (Ephesians 1:3-4)He chose us and blessed us with “all spiritual blessings.” He chose us for a peculiar people unto Himself. As we think about this and rejoice in it, we must remember something else also. God has not chosen us to ease or to a life in this world without difficulty, trials or tribulations. No, like the three Hebrews in Daniel 3, our lot is in the “furnace.” “Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.” (Isaiah 48:10)Our God chose us “in the furnace of affliction.” Is this not the path that Christ walked in and are we not “followers of the Lamb?” The Hebrew word “affliction” here is defined by these words: misery, depression, trouble. This world is a furnace which often brings us to experience these things and even the more so as we seek to bear a faithful witness to the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, the gospel of His free and sovereign grace. But like those Hebrew young men, there is One in this furnace with us, the One in whom we were chosen! He is God's first Elect and we are even now in Him. He is our security in this furnace and though the flames and smoke of adversity, persecution, illness, troubles are all around us, we will come out of this furnace without even the smell of smoke on our garments. Our garment is His righteousness which He has put on us! Like those men of old, the world looks on us and imagines that it has brought us to this furnace. May they see us comforted and safe. May they know our hope is in our God and that our strength is from Him. May the furnace prove a purifying fire for us, proving our faith to reveal that which is God's gift. May we know Christ's presence and His Word speak comfort to us. In the refining furnace let us hear His words again, “I have chosen you.. chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.” (2 Th. 2:13,14)
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