Pastor Don Fortner will be with preaching for us on Thursday, Aug. 18. Next Sunday, Aug. 21, Brother John Chapman will be here to bring the gospel message. Bridgett and I will be on vacation for a few days.

Blessed is the man whose delight is in the Word of God (Psalm 1:1-2)

He delights to read the Word, to hear the Word preached, and to meditate upon the Word day and night. The Word of God is bread for the believer, giving strength to his faith and hope! Meditation is his very character, for he knows that “as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he!" After hearing an old saint quote the 23rd Psalm, a famous orator was asked to explain the difference in style. He replied, "I know the Psalm; he knows the SHEPHERD.”

Pastor Henry T. Mahan

The Truth And The Gospel

As we are called of God to preach the gospel, we must always remember that sinful man needs the Truth. But sinful man also needs the Gospel! Spiritually speaking, in the garden man died; that's the Truth. But in Christ man lives; that's the Gospel! As soon as we are born we enter this world ruined and lost; that's the Truth. But “Christ Jesus came into the world to seek and to save that which was lost;” that’s the Gospel! Every deed that we’ve ever done is a “filthy rag” that will only be rejected by God; that's the truth. But for thirty three and a half years every spotless deed that Christ did, He gave to us! And “we are accepted in Him;” that’s the Gospel!

The Truth cries (as the poet wrote): “Far, so very far from God, we could not farer be!”The Gospel cries: “But in the Person of His Son, we are as near as He!”

Pastor Gabe Stalnaker

An Hard Saying

"Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard (this), said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it" - (John 6:60) ?

The word “hard” here does not mean hard to understand. It means harsh, offensive, intolerable. This is still the way sinful man, without grace, finds the Gospel. Not difficult to understand, but difficult to swallow. Not confusing, but infuriating. You can't get mad about something you don't understand. The indictment upon mankind in Romans chapter one is not that they do not understand God's claims, but that they will not bow to them (Romans 1:21). This is the issue and always has been. Will you bow? Faith is a submission. It is a renouncing of self and a commitment of self to One Who heretofore has been our despised enemy. It is God breaking us of our "wild ass's colt" rebellion, and reconciling us to Himself, by Jesus Christ.

Pastor Chris Cunningham

THOU SHALT BE CALLED PETER

“And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, (Peter) which is by interpretation, a stone.” (John 1:42).

When the Lord Jesus Christ first met Simon, son of Jona, He gave him a new name. He was known from then on as Simon Peter. The Lord made Simon to know that all of his salvation rested upon Christ, the Rock of our salvation (Psalm 62:2; Matt. 16:18). We know the rest of the story; Simon Peter was called to be an Apostle of the Lord and made a great servant and preacher of the gospel.

I have come to understand that every believer who is irresistibly drawn to the Lord Jesus Christ and saved by His almighty grace has been given a new name in Christ (Rev. 2:17; 3:12; 14:1). My name given to me in my natural birth was Thomas. My name given to me in the new birth is Peter. You might say, “That is far-fetched.” I don’t think so!

Every believer has been taught the same lesson as Simon Peter that in salvation Christ is all the foundation we have to rest upon (Matt. 16:17; Isa. 28:16). Now read this scripture; “to whom coming, as unto a living stone (Christ), disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, Ye also, as lively stones (Peters), are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ” (1Peter 2:4-5). Every believer is not called to be an apostle of the Lord and preach great sermons as Simon Peter did, but all believers are made “lively stones” as we are fixed upon and fastened to Christ the Rock, Christ the true and living God (1 Thes. 1:9). What is true of the Head is true of the body of Christ (John 17:23). That just is so!

One more helpful thought. Simon Peter often times acted only in the character of the old Simon, the Adam fleshly and sinful nature, “that which is born of the flesh is flesh” (John 3:6). Simon Peter was often times plagued and cast down by his old sinful nature (Matt. 16:22; Luke 22:57). He was made to know that his salvation rested totally on Christ and not on him (Acts 15:11; 1 Peter 1:18-23).