Salvation is of the LORD (Jonah 2:9).

The Father chose all that He purposed unto life in Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4) and predestinated them unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will (Eph. 1:5). The Lord Jesus came into this world to save all that the Father had given Him (Mt. 1:21) and according to the will of His Father, laid down His life for the sheep at Calvary (John 10:15). When it pleases God, everyone that was chosen in Christ and redeemed by His blood shall be powerfully called out of spiritual darkness by God’s Spirit (Jn. 6:37) through the preaching of the Gospel (Rom. 1:16) and shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time (1 Pet. 1:5). Eternal life is the gift of God, (John 10:28) and every regenerated vessel of God’s mercy knows that he did nothing to earn it, (Titus 3:5).

Pastor Marvin Stalnaker

What is a Good Hope?

God hath given us, “A good hope through grace” (2 Thessalonians 2:16).

Being conceived in sin, shapen in iniquity, and brought forth from the womb speaking lies, it is my hope that I shall be born again by the Spirit of God and the Word of God, given the very life of God through faith (1 Peter 1:23-25).

Being a sinner by choice and by practice, having offended God in thought, word, and deed, it is my hope that my sins shall be forgiven by the mercy of God and blotted out by the blood of Christ (1 John 1:7-9).

Having no righteousness nor merit of my own (for even my righteousnesses are as filthy rags in His sight), it is my hope of being clothed in the beauty of holiness and the righteousness of God accomplished by the obedience and merit of Christ (Phil. 3:7-9).

Being frail flesh and subject to temptation both within and without, from the flesh and the devil, it is my hope that, by the grace of God, I will continue in the faith of Christ, hold to my profession, and persevere to the end; being able to declare with Paul, “I have kept the faith.”

Being a dying man (for I shall go the way of all who have lived before; and, as it is appointed unto men once to die, I shall die), it is my hope that, in Christ, I shall have part in the first resurrection and that this mortal shall put on immortality and this corruptible, incorruption (Rev.21:6).

Having a desire to be with Christ and to be like Christ, it is my hope that I shall live eternally in His presence and be perfectly conformed to His blessed image (Rom. 8:28-30!

Pastor Henry T. Mahan (bulletin 1990)

ONLY ONE THING USEFUL
WHEN IT IS BROKEN

I cannot think of many things that are useful when they are broken. We are either forced to discard them or to try to have them repaired. You cannot drive a broken car. You cannot use a broken computer. A broken arm will not be of much service to you nor can you walk on a broken leg. I can only think of one thing that is very useful when it is broken, a broken and a contrite heart. When God in His infinite mercy is pleased to call us to Himself and reveal the gospel to us, He breaks the hard and stony heart of sin and gives us a heart of flesh to humbly approach the throne of grace (Ezek. 36:26). Consider the advantages of a broken heart!

1). A broken heart is acceptable and pleasing unto God! "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise" (Psalm 51:17).

2). It makes the soul a fit vessel for God to dwell in! "For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones" (Isaiah 57:15).

3). It draws the sinner close to his Lord and Saviour! "The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit" (Psalm 34:18).

4). It exposes the sheep to the sweet healing of the Shepherd! "I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick" (Ezek. 34:16).

5). It is the evidence of the work of the Holy Spirit within us! "And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they believe not on me; of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged" (John 16:8-10).