CALL TO WORSHIP

(Tune – Majestic Sweetness – p. 52)

(Words by Pastor Gary Shepard)

O God into whose presence now,

We come as sinners low,

And trace all blessings to your throne,

Received by us below. (R)

O precious Christ whose blood alone,

Did put away our sin,

Whose righteous death there in our place,

Did our redemption win. (R)

Stir now our hearts to praise your Name,

And glory to you give.

Be this our purpose and our goal,

In all the days you give. (R)

Then raise us up when death has come,

To live with you above;

And with the people of your choice,

There sing your matchless love. (R)

TODAY’S SERVICES

MORNING WORSHIP – 11:00 a.m –

• CALL TO WORSHIP (above)

• HYMN – I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord - 188

• MESSAGE – The Necessity of Christ Lifted Up
  John 3:14; Numbers 21:4-9 | Mark Pannell

• CLOSING HYMN – The Church's One Foundation - 186
  

Birthdays: Kelley Sparks – Nov. 6^th | Alison Wages – Nov. 7^th
Sue Parker – Nov. 10^th

GRACE = God’s Righteousness At Christ’s Expense

“Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost” (Romans 15:13). Even as sinners saved by grace and true believers, while in this world we are subject to much trouble, pain, and sorrow. Unlike the false preachers of the false “health and wealth gospel,” our Lord was honest with us. He said, “in the world you shall have tribulation” (John 16:33). Where then is joy and peace of which He speaks? It is not in the experiences of the flesh and in this world. IT IS “IN BELIEVING,” and this believing is not merely believing something or anything. It is not wishful thinking, or even the “power of positive thinking.” It is, by the grace and power of God, believing God’s Word beginning with His Word of salvation by His grace in and by the Lord Jesus Christ! When Christ told His disciples of the trouble they would have in this world, He concluded with this – “but be of good cheer; I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD.” Our hope and joy is not in our power or ability to win the victory over sin (the flesh), Satan, or the world. Our hope and joy is Christ’s power and ability – “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). –Pastor Bill Parker

Due to Adam’s disobedience, I was judicially constituted by God to be a sinner. I became a sinner without doing anything myself, it was through the action of the representative of the human race (Romans 5:12). Due to Christ’s obedience unto death, even the death of the cross, I was judicially constituted by God to be righteous. He was the Representative of a chosen race. I was made unrighteous in the one, and I was made righteous in the Other. I am a sinner due to the disobedience of Adam; I am a saint due to the obedience of the last Adam. “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous” (Romans 5:19). —Pastor Jim Byrd

Prayer is not a way for believers to change God’s mind as if to persuade God to do or not do something, give or not give something. Prayer is the God-ordained way of bringing our wills into subjection to God’s sovereign will – “Thy will be done.” It is, therefore, a means through which God blesses us according to His will. God’s will and God’s promises are sure and certain to His people in Christ Jesus (2 Cor. 1:20). So the first thing to be concerned with in prayer is this – “Will a holy God accept our pitiful prayers?” God the Holy Spirit teaches us in God’s Word that the only prayers accepted by God are those from His children (saved by grace) who approach Him on the basis of the blood of Jesus Christ, the Great High Priest and one Mediator between God and men (Heb. 4:14-16).

“And God heard THEIR groaning, and God remembered HIS covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.” (Exodus 2:24)