The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will. Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts. To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice. An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin.
Proverbs 21:1-4
Our Authority
Our authority is THE WORD OF GOD! We are God’s ministers; we preach God’s truth; we declare God’s gospel of free grace as revealed in the Word of God; and we have no time to debate and dispute with the worms of the dust concerning their thoughts and feelings about redemption and eternal life!
Our Lord declared, “All authority is given unto me in heaven and earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations,baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you into all the world and preach the gospel” (Mt. 28:18-20).
If men hear you, they hear Him who sent you. But if they despise you, it’s not you they despise but Christ and His word. If they reject you, shake the dust off your feet as a witness against them and go somewhere else and preach the gospel. Christ did not dispute with men; He preached to them.
Pastor Henry T. Mahan (bulletin 1983)
"If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious"
(1 Peter 2:3)
Absolutely no one will desire the sincere milk of God's Word (His Gospel) if they have never tasted that the Lord is gracious. This tasting must be a personal experience. Others can talk to us about God's grace in their lives; how, from their own experience, they have tasted that the Lord is gracious. But until our Lord is pleased to cause us to thirst and hunger after His righteousness, our taste buds will only hunger after the things of this world; after a righteousness of our own.
When the Holy Spirit strips us of our own filthy garments of self-righteousness, He will give us a true hunger for the righteousness of Jesus Christ. When our minds are enlightened to see that Christ is our righteousness, we have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Then will we desire the sincere milk of the Word (God's Gospel) that we may grow thereby. Pastor Gene Harmon
Peanut In A Boxcar
Evil is found in the best deeds and duties. As a matter of fact, everything is full of sin. All you and I ever do including prayer, preaching, and everything else, is full of sin from the top to the bottom. The best thing we ever did is worthy of hell’s heat. Quit talking about how good we are and start pleading to God for mercy. Your merit and mine put together wouldn’t fill up a thimble and would do nothing more than rattle like a peanut in a boxcar.
Pastor Scott Richardson
WHAT IS IT TO PREACH THE GOSPEL?
The Apostle Paul said, "For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!” (1 Cor. 9:16). What is it to preach the gospel? Is everybody preaching the gospel? Regrettably no! It would be great if all the churches everywhere did preach the gospel, but this certainly is not the case. Preaching the gospel involves telling the truth as it is revealed in the Holy Scriptures. Telling the truth about God, man, Jesus Christ, and salvation; let us take a closer look at those four things.
1).TELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT GOD!
God is not who we think He is, He is who He is as revealed in the scriptures. All men by nature have an incorrect and false notion about the true and living God. The God that is revealed in scripture is absolutely HOLY. "Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? For thou only art holy" (Rev. 15.4). God is also sovereign in all things (Psalm 135.6). Divine sovereignty simply means that God is God, beside Him there is none else. God is also immutable in all His attributes and actions (Mal. 3: 6). All that He is today, He has been, and ever will be (Heb. 13: 8). He is the eternal I AM (John 8: 24).
2).TELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT MAN!
Men don't like to hear the truth about God nor about themselves. But we must be faithful to God and His word. Man is the exact opposite of everything that God is. He is holy, we are unholy. He is omnipotent, we are impotent and frail. He is unchanging, we change all the time. The truth is, man is fallen, totally depraved, sinful in all thoughts, actions, and dead in sin (Rom. 3:9-19).
3).TELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT JESUS CHRIST!
Who is Jesus Christ? Fully and totally almighty God, and fully and totally a real man (I Tim 3:16). What did He accomplish? He is the God-Man Mediator sent of God to effectually and eternally redeem His people from all their sin (Heb. 9.12, Matt. 1:21). He did not fail to secure the eternal salvation of His blood-bought people (Isa. 42:4; John 19:30).
4).TELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT SALVATION!
Every aspect of salvation from the beginning in election (1Thes. 2:13); to the end in glorification (Rom. 8.30), is of the Lord and Him only. Salvation is all of grace not of works(Eph. 2:8-9)!
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