Love Your Family in Christ

“Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing” (1 Peter 3:8-9).

1 Peter 3:8 says, “Love as brethren.” This would be to love all believers, to love as Christ loved us, to love without hypocrisy, to love, not in word only, but in both deed and truth, and to love continually; for true love never dies!

How will this love be expressed? In praying for one another, in forgiving one another, in sharing with one another both temporal and spiritual blessings, and in seeking out one another for fellowship and encouragement. Don’t wait for a brother to come to you; go to him.

Pastor Henry T. Mahan (bulletin 1986)

Redeemed In Christ

Here is a word from God that should brighten the day for you – "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree" (Gal. 3:13). When the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, hung upon the cross, he was made to be a curse, an object of Divine wrath and Judgment, so that we who believe might never endure the curse of God's wrath. He did not simply make it possible for us to be redeemed. He did not simply make us redeemable. The text says, "Christ Hath redeemed us from the curse of the law!" This redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ is the central theme of Holy Scripture, the foundation of our faith, and the only hope we have of eternal salvation. Pastor Don Bell

A MEMORY THAT FORGETS

One of the best things we can learn to cultivate is a memory that forgets. A memory that forgets all wrongs, all ill words, all ingratitude. If our Lord never remembers our sins against Him, let’s not remember any against us. Let’s remember to forget as well as forgive. “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” (Hebrews 8:12).

Pastor John Chapman

BELIEVING THE DOCTRINES OF GRACE

Does a person have to believe the doctrines of grace and the five points of Calvinism in order to be saved? No. A sinner must believe Christ alone in order to be saved. However, no regenerated person will ever argue against the doctrines of grace. When God saves a sinner, they know they are totally depraved so there is nothing they can do to earn or contribute to their salvation. When God saves a sinner, they know that God is sovereign in salvation. They know that salvation was not their choice of God, but God’s choice of them. When God saves a sinner, that sinner knows that Christ died for them on purpose. They know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Christ is the successful Savior. He did not die for the sins of every son of Adam, many of whom will perish in hell. When God saves a sinner, they know that the only reason they came to Christ was that the Holy Spirit drew them to Christ and gave them faith to believe Christ. And when God saves a sinner, that sinner knows that their perseverance depends on God’s keeping grace not their works. In short, when God saves a sinner, that sinner KNOWS that salvation is all of God’s grace and not by anything they do or don’t do.

Pastor Frank Tate

The Saints of God

“To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 1:7).