Central Grace Church
3596 Franklin Street Rocky Mount, Virginia
Website: www.centralgracechurch.com Email: centralgracechurch@gmail.com
May 16th 2021
9:30 am ---- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- --- Who is Your Master? – Luke 16:13-18
10:00 am --------------------------------------------------------The Lord Waiting at a Well – John 4
Wednesday: 7:00 pm ---- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- --- Love – 1 Corinthians 13
Lord willing, I will be preaching this Friday and Saturday for Bethel Baptist Church, Spring Lake, NC, John Chapman, pastor. Service times are Friday 7:30 pm; Saturday 11:00 am. Lunch served afterward.
Listen to live audio of services on: www.mixlr.com/centralgracechurch
Listen to: WYTI Radio – Rocky Mount, VA - 8:00 AM – Sundays -- 1570 AM / 104.5 FM,
Look Beyond Yourselves
Dear believers, brethren in Christ, forget yourselves altogether: look beyond yourselves. Look back as far as you can into eternity, and hear Jehovah by an act of grace proclaiming your pardon, choosing you, in spite of everything in yourself, as an object of His mercy. He waited not to pardon you, til He saw you beginning to melt at the thought of His mercy and love, or to repent at the thought of your sins. He pardons like a God. He loved you while you were still in your sins, and set His heart to deliver you. He loves you now, and He will deliver you. He loved you long before the foundations of the world were laid, and He will love you on. Had it depended in the slightest degree on you, where had you been now? Not saved! He loved us just because He loved us. He shewed us mercy because He will have mercy.
-- William Burns, Scotland, 1815-1816
DOGS – by David Eddmenson
Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. -- Matthew 15:25-27
My wife and I have a little dog. We love that little dog. That little dog serves no real purpose in life, she only desires to be the object of our affection. She begs for food. Sometimes she has to be cleaned up after. She is totally dependent on us and without our constant care, she will die. She is somewhat a liability. Yet in spite of her liabilities, she brings us great joy. She is always glad to see us when we return from being away. She loves us dearly and desires to be with us every hour. We go to great lengths to make sure every need of our dog is provided. We see to it that she is treated with compassion and tender care. Regardless of all her endearing qualities, at the end of the day, she is still a dog. She still acts like a dog. I think she enjoys being a dog. Many dogs in this world do not fare so well as our dog does. From my perspective, being OUR dog is a wonderful privilege. I have seen other dogs that do not fare as well as our dog. It seems that the quality of a dog’s life depends on who their master is.
I rejoice greatly that I, the dog that I am, belong to that Master who constantly sees to it that I have all I need and yet much more. My Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, requires only one thing from me in return. What does He require of me? Nothing but my love, adoration and worship of Him. How wonderful and life sustaining it is to constantly eat of the crumbs that fall from His table. Child of God, I like being my Master’s dog! Don’t you?
But Mary
“But Mary stood without at the sepulcher weeping…” (John 20:11).
‘But Mary’; where are the disciples? Ah, they have gone home, they seeing no one in the tomb, left and are now far away (vs. 10).’ But Mary’: can we not wait a little longer at the place where they lay Our Redeemer, seeking and stirring ourselves? Can we not stay after the message is preached to glean a little more in fellowship with our united brethren? Can we not spend a little more time waiting for our Lord to meet with us in our closet and commune with Him there? Surely if we do, in the end, we will receive Joy unspeakable, as our sister did (vs. 16)! Let us linger with Him when times are difficult or trials bear upon us mightily, can we not draw more honey from the Rock Christ in such times, simply wait there, perhaps weeping with our broken hearts? An old proverb says: “Love feels no Load”. Indeed, she was heavy laden but her love for the Saviour was not burdensome, no; I can hear her say as in Songs of Solomon, as she speaks to the angels: “Saw ye Him whom my soul loveth?”(SoS 3:3). Oh, brethren let us stay where He issues many a blessing to His people; the church of the living God. May God give us grace to hear when He calls us by name (vs. 16), and look for a joyful reunion with our beloved Elder Brother. Don’t rush off, don’t be in such a hurry to reenter the world, but rather stay a little longer, wait; I say wait upon the Lord.
-- Drew Dietz
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