ZEBULON BAPTIST CHURCH
Weekly Bulletin
Sunday, May 11th, 2008

Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion: and unto thee shall the vow be performed. O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come. Iniquities prevail against me: as for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away. Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple. Psalm 65:1-4

ONLY GOD CAN REACH THE HEART
Men's hearts are spiritually hard. The world can win a man's heart; gold can win a man's heart; fame and popularity can win a man's heart; but there is not a minister living who can win a man's heart to God. We can reach the eye, the ear, and the head, but not the heart. Pastor Henry Mahan

MERCY'S ROYAL BATH
The royal bath of mercy, wherein black souls are washed white as the snow, was filled from the veins of our Lord Jesus Christ. No blood of martyrs mingled with that stream. No blood of noble confessors and heroes of the cross entered into the river of atonement. The banquet of mercy is served by one host, the Lord Jesus Christ, who prepared the feast, invites the guest, makes them willing to come, and gives them their robes of spotless righteousness-the wedding garment. C.H. Spurgeon

THE MERCY OF GOD
Christ did not bring the mercy of God to us. IT WAS THE MERCY OF GOD THAT BROUGHT CHRIST TO US! Christ is the channel of mercy, not the cause of mercy. The death of Christ makes it possible for God to righteously bestow covenant mercies on His people, justice having been fully satisfied by Christ the Surety. Mercy comes from God, but only through Jesus Christ. We have a concrete example of the mercy of God in the regeneration of Saul of Tarsus. He attributes his conversion to the mercy of God. He says that he was once a blasphemer, a persecutor, and injurious; "but I obtained mercy," says he, "because I did it ignorantly in unbelief" (I Tim. 1:13). This does not mean that ignorance and unbelief were the grounds of mercy, but the evidence that his salvation was an act of mercy. Paul was the chief of sinners, but he obtained mercy. There is no sinner too bad for mercy to save. Mercy implies that the sinner has nothing to say in his own defense. We understand the meaning of mercy when the defendant throws himself on the mercy of the court. That means that he is guilty and has nothing of merit to plead before the law. And this is exactly the condition of every man of us before the bar of divine justice. Mercy is our only hope. We may plead before our fellowman, but to ask God for justice (to ask God to give us what we deserve) is the same as asking for a room in the regions of the damned. C. D. Cole

ABOUNDING GRACE
His free, distinguishing grace is the bottom on which is fixed the rest of my poor, weary, tempted soul. On this, I ground my hope; oftentimes when unsupported by any other evidence, save only by the spirit of adoption received from Him. He hath chosen me out from everlasting, in whom to make known the inexhaustible riches of His free grace and long suffering. Though I am a stranger to others, and a wonder to myself, yet I know Him or rather am known of Him. When my dry, empty, barren soul is parched with thirst, He kindly bids me come to Him and drink my fill at the fountain head. In a word, He capacitates and empowers me to say with experimental evidence. "Where sin abounded, grace doth much more abound." Milford Hall Sr.

ALL OF GRACE
"And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work"( Romans 11:6).

According to the teaching of God the Holy Spirit throughout the scripture, salvation is all of God's grace, creature merit does not enter the picture. It is grace, all grace, nothing but grace from the first to the last. Grace and works can no more mix than fire and water. Just read these following verses and thank God for His amazing and sovereign grace revealed in Christ.

We are elected by grace, "Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace" (Rom. 11:5).

We are justified by grace, "Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Rom.3:24).

We are saved by grace, "But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they"(Acts 15:11).

We believe through grace, "And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him: who, when he was come, helped them much which had believed through grace"(Acts 18:27).

We are called by His grace; "But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace" (Gal.1:15).

We have forgiveness by His almighty grace, "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace" (Eph.1:7).

We have a good hope because of His grace, "Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace " (2 Thes.2:16).

Every believer can say with the apostle Paul, "But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me" (1Cor.15:10).

You can plainly see that every aspect of salvation, from A to Z is all of GRACE. It begins in grace, is carried on through grace, sustained by grace and in eternity we will be displayed as trophies of His grace (Eph.2:5-8). I can truly say as your pastor, "And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified" (Acts 20:32). If you ever see yourself as a sinner you will thank God for His sovereign, eternal and electing grace in Christ Jesus (1Cor.4:7). Pastor Tom Harding