(Tune – When I Survey the Wondrous Cross – p. 118)
(Words written by Pastor Jim Byrd)
Ye saints now sing of sovereign love,
Unto our God who reigns above;
All glory to the Trinity,
Who loved us from eternity.
Sing of the Father’s choosing grace,
Sing of the Son who took our place;
Sing of the Spirit’s quick’ning might,
Sing praise to God with pure delight.
O may the Lord be magnified,
By all His chosen, ransomed bride;
His loving kindness let us tell,
God saved our souls from death and hell.
While on this earth exalt His name,
His gospel word with joy proclaim;
And when we rise to heights above,
Still let us sing of sovereign love.
TODAY’S SERVICES – Messages by Pastor Bill Parker
BIBLE CLASS – 10:00 a.m. –
True Children of God – Romans 8:12-16
MORNING WORSHIP – 11:00 a.m –
OPENING – James 1:17-18
CALL TO WORSHIP (above)
HYMN – Blessed Assurance – p. 255
READING – Romans 1:1-17
MESSAGE – Conviction That Drives Us to Christ – Heb. 4:12-16
CLOSING HYMN – He Hideth My Soul – p. 258
Birthdays: Lisa McMillan – May 14th | Mason Flynn – May 16th Nicki Jones – May 18th
Our sincere prayers and sympathies go out to the family and friends of Brother Walter Ross who passed away this past week.
I will be traveling this week to Ruston, LA, to preach at Grace Baptist Church where Richard Warmack is pastor. Brothers Jim Casey and Mark Pannell will preach here in my absence. Please pray for us as we prepare to preach the Gospel of God’s grace in Christ to God’s people.
ARE YOU LED BY THE SPIRIT?
"But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law" (Gal. 5:18). Many preachers and religious people in our day are saying they are "led by the Spirit." They use this as a reason for believing as they believe and doing as they do. But this one thing I know, the Spirit of God does not lead anyone contrary to the Word of God. What these people believe and do cannot be by the leadership of the Spirit of God because it is in direct opposition to the Scriptures. Our Lord said of the Holy Spirit that He would send, "Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will shew you things to come. He shall glorify Me: for He shall receive of Mine, and shall shew it unto you" (John 16:13,14). The Holy Spirit leads men to Christ! Since He glorifies Christ, those He leads glorify Christ. They are led by the Spirit to Christ through the truth. He reveals Christ in the hearts of God's elect by guiding them into all truth. "It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto Me" (John 6:45). Paul says that if we are led by the Spirit, we "are not under the law." The Holy Spirit leads men out from under the law by revealing Christ as the One who "hath redeemed us from the curse of the law." By the Gospel He shows us how that Christ's blood shed as the payment required for our having broken God's law satisfied all the claims of divine justice. He reveals the obedience of Christ as having established righteousness before the law on behalf of believers. He leads us from the ground of our trying to establish righteousness before God to faith in Christ and that righteousness which is by faith. "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh (our weakness), God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Rom. 8:3,4). We naturally, by our flesh, seek to justify ourselves but God's Spirit leads us to be justified by Christ. Led by the Spirit we know, "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth" (Rom.10:4). —Pastor Gary Shepard
“But by the grace of God I am what I am.” 1 Corinthians. 15:10
Christian! The only thing that makes you differ from the vilest being that pollutes the earth, or from the darkest fiend that gnaws his chains in hell, is the free grace of God! —Octavius Winslow
HOW CAN WE PLEASE GOD?
When the Lord began His earthly ministry at His baptism, God the Father spoke from heaven – “And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17). At the mount of transfiguration when the Lord revealed His glory to His disciples, the Father spoke again from heaven – “While He yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him” (Matt. 17:5). It is clear then that the pleasure of God is founded upon and finds its fulfillment in the glory of the Person and the finished work of Christ as the Surety, Substitute, and Redeemer of His people. As we are considered in ourselves as sinful and depraved, we CANNOT please God. But as we stand in Christ, washed in His blood and clothed in His righteousness imputed to us, and as we hear Him and receive Him by God-given faith, we can and do please God. God’s Word says, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him” (Heb. 11:6). We understand then that anything that we are or anything that we do that truly pleases the Lord, it is all due to the merits of Christ as our Lord and Savior. Our worship, our praise, our prayers, our efforts to follow the Lord, all have no merit before God. But as they are all cleansed by His blood and presented to God as accepted by Him, i.e. based on His righteousness alone, they please God. They serve to glorify God and exalt Christ. They are all a testimony to HIS goodness, grace, and power to save us, preserve us, and bring us to glory. They are not ways by which we earn God’s favor, but ways by which we glorify God in Christ because of His favor we have in and by Christ.
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