CALL TO WORSHIP

(Tune: "Send the Light")

There's a Savior sent to save His sheep from sin;

Christ is all; Christ is all.

He has come to ransom and to bring them in;

Christ is all; Christ is all.

REFRAIN: Christ is all, our only sacrifice,

He has paid our debt in full;

Christ is all, our pearl of greatest price,

All to Him of love we owe.

Let us sing His praises for His cleansing blood;

Christ is all; Christ is all.

He our Great High Priest in our place He stood;

Christ is all; Christ is all.

By almighty power He has set us free;

Christ is all; Christ is all.

For His righteousness is all our hope and plea;

Christ is all; Christ is all.

Today's Speaker: Brother Randy Wages will conduct the 11:00 am service today. Pray for him as he delivers God's word.

Lord's Table: We will observe the Lord's Table today.

Radio Broadcast: Sunday morning at 9:30am on 98.7 FM -WISK. You can also hear the sermons on your computer. Just click on http://www.americusradio.com/

Birthdays: Congratulations to Kelly and Bill Sparks. They are the proud parents of Jane Lattimore Sparks. She was born on Aug. 19^th. at 9:13am. She weighs 7 lbs. and 14 ozs. And is 20 ½ inches long. Both parents and daughter are doing fine.

"A Sure Reason to Celebrate the Resurrection"

In Romans 4:25, Paul describes the Lord Jesus Christ as one "... Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification," meaning because of our justification - because God was justly satisfied with that which Christ accomplished on behalf of all He represented. So imagining that even one person for whom Christ lived and died could possibly remain unjustified before God, ultimately perish and fail to experience the resurrection unto eternal life that He merited for them is in reality a denial of the efficacy of all He came to do and did accomplish in His life and death. To presume that anything which proceeds from you, the sinner, to have any causal role in determining whether you will live or die (eternally speaking) is to harbor a perception of the life and death of the Lord Jesus Christ that is inferior, subordinate, insignificant (even useless) relative to your self-assessment of the efficacy of your work (that which proceeds from you - your belief, your acceptance, your act of faith, etc.). That kind of faith is vain indeed and makes a mockery of that which Christ came to do and in fact, did accomplish - as evidenced by His resurrection. He got the job done! And as sure as the righteousness He established in satisfaction to the justice of God His Father demanded that He come out of that grave, it is likewise a certainty that all of those whose sins He bore (who were represented in His life and death), having the merit of His accomplishment graciously charged (or imputed) to their account at the cross of Calvary - they too shall live! Now that's something to celebrate!

Randy Wages - Eager Ave. Grace Church

"THE LOVE OF THE WORLD"

The sons of GOD are those that know they have no choice but to follow CHRIST. They testify with Peter, "LORD to whom shall we go, THOU hast the words of eternal life." (John 6:68) They declare with Job, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him:" (Job 13:15) They can no longer be satisfied with the praise of men nor delight themselves in the friendship of this world.

They testify that this world is not their home. Though the world is as appealing as ever to their flesh yet they are compelled to confess that they have here no continuing city. They find themselves to be strangers in the land of their nativity. They discover that their foes are often of their own household. (see Mat 10:36) They cannot escape from the grace of the GOD who has called them and cannot help but to rejoice in the LORD's words, "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." (John 6:37)

The language of the sons of GOD is at odds with the language of this world. The world says we ought to have better self esteem than to speak of ourselves as worms and depraved creatures. The world says that it is unhealthy psychologically to dwell upon our unworthiness and imperfections, but each time we are given a glimpse of HIS glory and the awful price that HE paid to secure our redemption we cannot help but weep at the thought of our own wretched condition and lament the fact that we have nothing to offer which is of any value.

The world tells us we need to be well rounded and involved in all sorts of pursuits and activities but the sons of GOD find their greatest delight in the pursuit of HIS knowledge even as Paul said, "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death." (Phi 3:7-10)

We have no fellowship with the "unfruitful works of darkness" and find no comfort nor help in any advice or counsel given by the men of this world regardless of their sincerity or religious distinctions. "Sir, we would see Jesus." (John 12:21)