Pray for one Another

In 1 Thessalonians 5:25 the apostle makes a simple, yet all-important, request; “Brethren, pray for us.” There is no more important area of the believer’s life than prayer. We dare not set one duty against another but, in what way can one better serve another than to diligently, sincerely, and lovingly intercede for one another before the throne of grace?

Samuel considered it a sin NOT to pray for his friends. “Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you” (1 Sam. 12:23).

I know that public prayer is an important part of our worship; but the prayer and intercession I encourage here is that personal, secret, and Spirit-led prayer which springs from genuine love and concern for one another. From the pastor to the youngest member, let us love one another with a fervent love and pray for one another every day.

Pastor Henry T. Mahan (Bulletin 1983)

Liberty or Legalism

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1).

I can have liberty in Christ or I can have legalism by the law; but, I cannot have both. Law and Grace never mix. The salvation of the soul is not a mixture of Christ’s obedience and my obedience (so-called). If I do anything to help save my soul, then Christ is of no value to me; in fact, He becomes useless to me in salvation.

The word of God says, “If the Son shall therefore make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (Jn. 8:36). The word of God never says anything about the law making a person free. Why? Because the law never sets the guilty free. Only in Jesus Christ is a sinner set free, justified, and cleared of all charges by His obedience and the sacrifice of His death. In Christ alone is the sinner holy, just, and free from all condemnation.

However, if a man insists on clinging to both, he will find himself set in a slippery place, cast down into destruction (Ps. 73:18).

Pastor John Chapman

The Lord God may use a false prophet to preach the truth, as he did Balaam (Numbers 23:21-23), but he does not use the religious lies of false prophets to save his elect. It is the gospel of Christ that is the power of God unto salvation. God uses gospel truth to bring sinners to believe on him who is the Truth.

Pastor Don Fortner

Ruin, Redeemed and Regeneration

One preacher of the past has rightly said, “Every sermon should contain the three R’s, ruin by sin in Adam, redemption by the blood atonement of Christ and regeneration by the quickening power of the Holy Spirit.

We rejoice in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ (Phi. 3:3). It is indeed the message of God to guilty sinners how God can justly save His people from their sins through Christ’s redeeming blood to His own glory (Rom. 3:24-26; Rev. 1:5-6). The gospel of Christ Jesus declares that He came to save sinners (Matt. 9:10-13). If all men are not guilty and can work up or work out their own righteousness and salvation, there is no need for Christ to come in the flesh (John 1:14) and to establish a righteousness and die for sinners (Gal. 2:21). All men are totally depraved, guilty before God and unable to perform any righteous action or notion (Isa. 64:6; Rom. 3:9-12). To preach a gospel that denies total ruin is to deny the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ altogether (1John 1:7-9).

The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ declares that the Lord was absolutely successful in His priestly work (John 17:4-5). Christ died, not to make salvation a possibility for all sinners (Gal. 1:3-6), but rather to make complete atonement for the sins of His covenant people (Heb. 2:17; 9:12). Those for whom He died shall be saved in Christ (John 6:37; Eph.2: 4-10). To preach a gospel that denies the effectual and particular redeeming work of Jesus Christ is to deny the gospel of Christ altogether (Gal. 1:6-10).

The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ also declares that those for whom He died to justify (Rom. 5:6-9), shall be in due time irresistibly called with the preaching of the gospel (Rom. 10:11-17; 2Cor. 4:5-6; 1Thes. 1:4-7). This is not reformation and education of the old sin nature, but rather the revelation and exaltation of the glory of the person and work of Christ within us (John 16:9-15; Gal. 1:15-16; Phil. 1:6). This is the regenerating work of God the Holy Spirit making sinners new creatures in Christ, implanting within them a new sinless nature after the image of God (2Cor. 5:17; Eph. 4:24; Titus 3:5; 1Peter 1:23, 3:4; 2Peter 1:4; 1John 5:1). To preach a gospel that denies the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit is also denial of the gospel of Christ altogether (2Cor. 11:3, 13-15).