CALL TO WORSHIP
(Tune – This is My Father’s World – p. 39)

I bless the Christ of God, I rest on love divine,
And with unfaltering lip and heart, I call the Savior mine.
His cross dispels each doubt, I bury in His tomb,
Each thought of unbelief and fear,
Each lingering shade of gloom.

I praise the God of peace, I trust His truth and might,
He calls me His, I call Him mine, My God, my Joy, my Light.
In Him is only good, in me is only ill,
My ill but draws His goodness forth,
And me He loveth still.

‘Tis He Who saveth me, and freely pardon gives,
I love because He loveth me, I live because He lives.
My life with Him is hid, my death has passed away;
My clouds have melted into light,
My midnight into day.

TODAY’S SERVICES – Messages by Pastor Bill Parker
BIBLE CLASS – 10:00 a.m. –

The Loosing & Destruction of Satan – Revelation 20:7-10

MORNING WORSHIP – 11:00 a.m –

• OPENING – Ephesians 4:4-7
  CALL TO WORSHIP (above)
  HYMN – He Hideth My Soul – p. 258
  READING – Acts 8:26-40
  MESSAGE – BELIEVER’S BAPTISM (2) – Acts 2:37-42
  CLOSING HYMN – Hiding In Thee – p. 282

MID-WEEK BIBLE STUDY – WEDNESDAY – 6:30 P.M.
Preaching Christ in the End Times

Birthdays: Harold Riggins – Jan. 17^th | Jerry Wages – Jan. 17^th
Javon Jones – Jan. 18^th | Richman Margeson – Jan. 20^th

In the matter of trusting Christ for salvation, some proudly proclaim, “I trust a person, not in a work.” They think this evidences a level of spirituality and heart that sets them above others who believe the Gospel. But the Gospel is not only a revelation of Christ’s Person as Godman (God manifests in the flesh). It is also a revelation of His accomplished redemptive work on the cross to save His people from their sins. Christ (the Godman) was and is the Surety and Substitute of God’s elect. To save them He had to do the work of establishing righteousness for them by which God justified them and from which comes spiritual and eternal life for them. If the Lord Jesus had merely come to earth and lived in the glory of His Person without being “made sin” and going to the cross to die for His people, had He not died and arose from the grave, there would be no salvation for His people. This is why the apostle Paul wrote, “For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, AND Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). –Pastor Bill Parker

The apostle Paul wrote by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day” (2 Tim. 1:12). If a sinner has been born again by the Holy Spirit and has been given faith to believe, his faith is in the Lord Jesus Christ and Christ’s ability to save him completely. His faith is not in himself, nor in his works, and not even in his faith. It is in Christ. The truly saved sinner has committed his whole salvation to Christ who alone is “able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day,” which is the day of trouble throughout this life and the day of Judgment in the end. Our abilities are nothing. Christ’s ability is our whole salvation –

“Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25). –Pastor Bill Parker

If a sinner is to be saved forever, several things had to happen. Justice must be satisfied, divine law must be honored, sin must be destroyed, Satan must be defeated, the world must be overcome, death must be triumphed over, and God must be glorified. There is but One who can do these things – the Lord Jesus Christ! —Pastor Jim Byrd

THE BELIEVER’S SAFETY AND PRESERVATION

All true believers stand before God safe and secure as they stand before Him IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. For in Christ Jesus (washed in His blood and clothed in His righteousness), they are clear of all guilt that would condemn them and safe from all enemies who would destroy them. The psalmist prayed the prayer of faith – “Preserve me, O God: for in Thee do I put my trust” (Psalm 16:1). Consider the following Biblical truths that apply to all believers:

The believer is safe in Jesus. His sins are pardoned, his person is justified, he is accepted in Jesus, and to him there is no condemnation. To him Jesus is a strong tower into which he runs and is safe. To him God is a shield which defends him from every hostile weapon. God surrounds him as a wall of fire, bears him up on everlasting arms, and guides him by His strength to His holy habitation – “For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion: in the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me; He shall set me up upon a Rock” (Psalm 27:5). That Rock is Christ.

Every perfection of God is on his side, every purpose of God secures his salvation, every promise of God is made for his comfort and safety. He is in the hands of Christ, his name is engraved on the breast-plate of the Great High Priest, and his cause lies near to the heart of the Omnipotent One. Nothing that concerns him is left to chance, his times are in the Lord's hands, and God works all things together for his good. He will have everything that is really good, truly great, and eternally glorious! God is his Father, and He will defend His child. Jesus is his Bridegroom, and He will protect His Bride. If the power of God can preserve him, then he is safe; for he is kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. If the love of God can secure him, then he is safe; for God loves him with an everlasting love!