The Fear of the Lord

One fire puts out another. Nothing so effectively kills the fear of man as a genuine abundance of the FEAR OF THE LORD! When the fear of men would tempt a servant of God to compromise or take the offense from the cross, the fear of the Lord gives him EVEN GREATER BOLDNESS.

Lovest Thou Me?

This is the point on which a man’s relationship with God hinges. As simple as the question may sound, it is most searching. If a man has no love for Christ, he has no faith. If a man truly loves Christ, all is right; if not, all is wrong.

Pastor Henry T. Mahan (bulletin articles 1985)

Sovereign Mercy and Grace

“And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.” (Exodus 33:19).

Had God not loved a particular people; and had God not been gracious to a particular people and shown mercy to a particular people, not one soul would have ever been saved. We would have never chosen Him had He not chosen us. We would have never loved Him had He not loved us. We would have rejected His mercy and grace had it not been irresistible. Thank God for His sovereignty in all these things toward us. Pastor Gabe Stalnaker

PROGRESSIVE SANCTIFICATION

The idea of progressive sanctification (when a person acts more and more holy and sins less and less as they get older) is an idea made up by legalists who are trying to keep people under the law not under grace. The idea of progressive sanctification is nowhere to be found in the Word of God. Don’t confuse growing in grace for growing in holiness. A believer does grow in love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness and faith. There are differing degrees of all of those fruits of the Spirit. But there are no degrees of holiness. We are either holy or unholy. There is no middle ground. The believer is not made holy by our works. Christ IS our holiness. “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (I Cor. 1:30). If you would see your holiness, don’t look to your works, look to Christ who is our holiness. If Christ is our sanctification, we are holy!

Pastor Frank Tate

News

The Gospel is good news. If something is news that means it happened recently. If it is old news, it is not news at all. If the Gospel is not preached as news, it is not preached at all. Martin Luther said he preached Christ as if He died yesterday, rose today, and is coming again tomorrow. If I do not hear the Gospel as good news, one of two things are true. (1) I was not hearing the Gospel in the first place. Why, even to present the facts of the Gospel in an academic way is not really preaching the Gospel at all! (2) I am not hearing as a sinner. The Gospel only comes as good news to sinners. When I hear the Gospel as a sinner, every time I hear it, it is like the first time I ever heard it! The old, old story is always new. When it is not new, it is no longer the old, old story. Pastor Todd Nibert

To Be With Christ Is Paradise

“And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, to day shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

These are the recorded words that our Lord Jesus Christ spoke to this dying thief moments before he died. The Lord assured him and every believer who dies in faith; they will be with the Lord forever in paradise. Where is paradise? To be with the Lord! Wherever He is that will be paradise, eternal glory and eternal rest with HIM forever and ever (2 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:21; Rev. 14:13).

This dying, believing and repentant thief rejoiced in that day in the salvation of his soul; in the forgiveness of all his sins (Eph. 1:7) and righteousness imputed to him by free grace (Rom. 3:24; 4:6) He is right now seated in glory in the Lord Jesus Christ and still rejoicing in Him (Eph. 2:4-6). He is still singing the eternal song of redemption; “Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. (Rev. 1:5-6).