"All knowledge without the knowledge of Jesus will avail nothing. You are a poor, dark, miserable, bewildered, deluded creature if you do not know Christ Jesus." - William Tiptaft

* The Lord willing, Bro. Daniel Parks and his wife, Sandy, will be here Tuesday night. Bro. Parks is a long time friend of this congregation and a faithful servant of our God, serving as a missionary in St. Croix. He will bring the message Tuesday evening.

Is God My Father? - Don Fortner
(Tune: #355 - From Every Stormu Wind that Blows - LM)

1. What wondrous names Jehovah bears,
And every form of kindness wears!
But none so much my heart expands,
As when He as my Father stands.

2. Is God my Father? - He'll instruct,
And all my child-like steps conduct;
And when I sin, I must expect,
He'll with a Father's rod correct.

3. Is God my Father? - All my care
I'll bring to him and leave it there;
His wisdom and His grace I'll trust,
When sorrows bow me in the dust.

4. Is God my Father! - Then His love
Is fixed on me (Eternal love!);
And, since He owns me as His child,
I cannot from Him be exiled.

5. God, as my Father, has engaged
To give me heav'n, when I'm of age.
To this, my portion, I shall come: -
My Father's dwelling is my home.

All Things for Your Sakes

"Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place." (2 Corinthians 2:14)

If you are a believer, if you are a child of God, if you trust the Lord Jesus Christ alone as your Lord and Savior, this statement is true of you; and I want you to know it. If you are not a believer, if you do not trust the Son of God, it will do you no good to claim God's promises to his children. But if you are the Lord's, the promise is yours. Hear it and rejoice in it. - "All things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God."

All Things for Your Sakes

"All things are for your sakes." - Carry that blessed promise just as far as your heart's imagination will allow you. I assure you, your widest, highest thoughts are indescribably less than God's infinite promise! Psalms 57:2 says the same thing. - "I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me." What a God, what a Savior we have! He "performeth all things for us!" Imagine that! Can you get hold of that? He "performeth all things for us!" Whatever has been, is now, or shall be hereafter is for my sake and for your sake! I don't know about you, but that will sail my little boat and keep it afloat in the stormy seas of life.

All Things Work Together

Take a brief glance at Romans 8:28. Here the Holy Spirit teaches us that all things work together for the spiritual and eternal good of God's elect. - "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." Listen to every word of the text. Roll each one over in your heart's meditation again and again. - "We" - We who are chosen, redeemed, called, and born of God. - "We know" - By the testimony of Holy Scripture, the teaching of the Holy Spirit, and the experience of grace. - "We know that all things" - All things bad and good, all things adverse and prosperous, all things past, present, and future, all things in heaven, earth, and hell. - "All things work together" - Not independently, but together, like meshed gears in a huge piece of machinery. - "For good" - Temporal good, spiritual good, and eternal good. - "To them that love God" - The promise is to those who love the Lord God, the only true and living God, as he is revealed in Christ. - "To them who are the called" - Those who love God are those who have been effectually called by the Holy Spirit to life and faith in Christ. All men by nature hate God; but those who are the called have been given a new nature, and they love him. - "According to his purpose." - We do not have to guess what those words mean. Paul explains the purpose of God in the next verses. If you want to know what the purpose of God is, you need only to read Romans 8:28-31.

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?"

No one and nothing in heaven, earth, or hell can be against us with success, if God be for us!

All Things Yours

All things are for the sake of God's elect; and all things work together for the good of God's elect. In 1 Corinthians 3:21 we are told, "All things are yours." Again, I say, if you are a believer, if you trust the Lord Jesus Christ, this is God's word to you, to you personally, and to all believers collectively: - "All things are yours!"

All things spiritual are yours. All grace is yours. All the blessings of God's infinite mercy, goodness, grace, and love are yours. All the privileges of grace are yours. All the servants of God and all their labors are yours.

All things temporal are yours to use and enjoy for the glory of God and one another's good.

All things heavenly are yours. All the angels of God, the throne of God, God our Father, the Son of God, and the Spirit of God, all are yours, if you are Christ's.

All things eternal are yours, too. All the glory of heaven, which the Father has given to Christ as our Mediator, Christ has given to us, according to John 17:22. Listen to the Son of God as he speaks to the Father for us. - "And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one." All the glory of the all-glorious Son of God is the free gift of his grace to every believer!

Take these three gospel facts with you through the days of your sojourn. They will enable you to laugh at Satan's rage and cope with a frowning world. "All things are for your sakes." - "All things work together for good" to God's elect. - "All things are yours!"

"Whatever little differences may be amongst God's people, they will be sure to cleave close together in prison and in heaven" - William Tiptaft