“Christ Is All”

Colossians 3:11

What does it mean to say “Christ is all”? It means, Christ is the one and only thing needful in this life. Christ is ALL of our salvation. Christ is ALL of our forgiveness. Christ is ALL of our mercy and grace. Christ is ALL of our hope and peace. He is ALL of our righteousness. He is ALL of our redemption. when it comes to everything that a sinner needs - Christ is all!

Christ is all that the Father needs for our acceptance with Him. Christ is all that the law needs for our fulfillment of it. Christ is all that Justice needs to declare us holy before it. Christ is all that Judgement needs to declare our condemnation and punishment complete.

Christ is all that heaven needs for the JOY of it. Christ is all that His kingdom needs for the MAJESTY of it. Christ is all that the throne needs for the GLORY of it. Christ is all that His marriage union to His bride needs for the LOVE of it. For time and eternity, from this world to the world to come, Christ is (and will forever be) all! Thank God! Amen! Pastor Gabe Stalnaker

Brethren, Pray For Us (I Thessalonians 5:25)

When we elders stand behind this pulpit and open the Word to preach the gospel of Christ, I can think of nothing as important as these four words – “BRETHREN, PRAY FOR US.”

When we teachers stand before our classes and endeavor to teach the Word of God, you can render no greater service or help than – “BRETHREN, PRAY FOR US.”

When our missionaries depart from these shores to face the dangers and perils of foreign lands and to preach the Gospel in a hostile environment, I’m sure that there is one common request they all would leave with us – “BRETHREN, PRAY FOR US.”

Our young couples are starting their lives together, and the responsibility of raising children is upon them – “BRETHREN, PRAY FOR US.”

Some of us are growing older; the sands of time are almost out of the upper glass. We have a faith to keep, a witness to give, our God to glorify, and a death to die – “BRETHREN, PRAY FOR US.”

What did Samuel say? “Moreover, as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you” (I Sam. 12:23).

Pastor Henry T. Mahan (bulletin 1991)

“And she bound the scarlet line in the window” (Joshua. 2:21).

Rahab’s obedience to bind the line of scarlet thread in the window, that thread which pictured the Lord Jesus, the One who’s blood was shed for the redemption of His people, may have seemed to be a foolish or even a small and insignificant thing to everyone else in Jericho, but to Rahab, it was the token of life promised through the mouths of God’s servants. And likewise, to the unbelieving world who places all its hope in the flesh, “to worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh,” is seen to be a foolish, small, and insignificant thing…but to all who believe in the Lord Jesus, it is the confession of hope and life in Christ…life that is proclaimed through the mouths of God’s faithful servants. Pastor Marvin Stalnaker

UNDERSTANDING THE GOSPEL

“These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him” (John 12:16).

When the Lord is pleased to glorify and reveal Himself to us and in us, in the way of mercy and grace, then He also gives us an understanding of the gospel of Christ (1 John 5:20).

Consider these four things:

1). When we see the glory of His electing grace (Eph.1:3-6); then He gives us an understanding, that had Christ not chosen us we never would have believed and loved Him (2 Thes. 2:13).

2). When we see the glory of His atonement for our sin, how complete, how eternal, how full and how powerful it is, that our sin is put away forever (Heb. 9:26; 10:14-17); then He gives us an understanding to see and know the absolute necessity for Christ to put away our sin (1 John 1:7) and how futile and useless is our vain attempts to redeem ourselves by the deeds of the flesh or law, “By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified”(Rom. 3:19-24). We are redeemed by the blood of Christ alone (1 Peter 1:18-20).

3). When we see the glory of His salvation, taking the rebel and making him righteous in Christ, taking the ignorant and the foolish and making them new creatures in Christ, taking those dead in sin and giving them spiritual life (Eph. 2:1); then we understand the need of the new birth, regeneration and being reconciled to God in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17-21). “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see(understand) the kingdom of God ” (John 3:3-8).