Grace Baptist Church of Danville
October 31, 2010
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FaceBook and MySpace may be fine websites, useful places for others to communicate with many friends at once; but Gospel preachers demean themselves, their office, and the Gospel of God in the use of such, lowering themselves and the Gospel to trivia. — Brethren, stay in your studies. Pray, study, and preach the Word. If you will do so with faithfulness, you will have no time for the pursuit of trivia.
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I Saw One Hanging on a Tree — John Newton
(Tune: #342 — Must Jesus Bear the Cross Alone? — CM)
In evil long I took delight,
Unawed by shame or fear,
‘Til a new object struck my sight,
And stopped my wild career.
I saw One hanging on a tree,
In agonies and blood,
Who fixed His languid eyes on me,
As near His cross I stood.
Sure never till my latest breath
Can I forget that look;
It seemed to charge me with His death,
Though not a word He spoke.
My conscience felt and owned the guilt,
And plunged me in despair;
I saw my sins His blood had spilt,
And helped to nail Him there.
A second look He gave, which said,
“I freely all forgive;
This blood is for thy ransom paid;
I die that thou may'st live.”
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William Tiptaft’s Last Hour
At twenty-five past one in the morning, August 17, 1864, God’s faithful servant, William Tiptaft, was called to glory. With several of his friends and members of the church he pastored standing around his bed, he said, “What a mercy! My last moments are my best. I shall soon be landed and join the happy throng, and it is free grace, free grace! Free-will sentiments will not do to die with. It is free grace that will stand forever. Thy love is better than wine. Praise God! Praise God! Grace shall have all the praise.”
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“If you put a dog into a sheepfold, the sheep will be sure to huddle together in a corner of the fold.” — William Tiptaft
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“We need to have old fashioned prayer meetings.”
Since before I started pastoring, I heard many assert that we need to return to old fashioned “prayer meetings.” Many have the idea that we need to gang up on God, twist his arm, and get him to do something. Multitudes point to the “great revivals” of the past, which began with people agreeing to meet for prayer. The numbers grew at the meetings; and, as the numbers grew, the intensity of prayer grew, until “heaven was conquered. God answered prayer; and revival broke out!”
I cannot imagine anyone in the New Testament or the Old, except the worshippers of Baal (1 Kings 18:26-30), engaging in the kind of “prayer meetings” I have seen in Baptist churches. In the New Testament, when men and women met for prayer, they met to worship God, praying, reading the Word, singing God’s praise, and breaking bread at the Lord’s Table. I read nowhere of the churches breaking up into small groups with everyone praying audibly, either at once or in succession.
We have four prayer meetings every week, after the order of the New Testament. Three times every Sunday and once each Tuesday, we gather in this place to worship God our Savior. Those who want excitement, displays of emotionalism, and religious entertainment will have to find it elsewhere. In this place we meet together for God’s honor, the ingathering of his elect, and the comfort and edification of his saints. The means he has ordained for the accomplishment of these things is prayer, Gospel preaching, the reading of Holy Scripture, singing his praises, and the observance of the Gospel ordinances of believer’s baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
With Habakkuk, we cry continually, “O Lord, revive thy work!” And we are fully assured that if the Lord God sends revival to his church, it will be by the blessing of his Spirit upon the use of the means he has ordained, not by religious tom-foolery.
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Sound Doctrine
“Speak thou the things which become sound doctrine.” (Titus 2:1)
There are but two forms of religion in the world. One is true. The other is false. One is saving. The other is damning. Those two forms of religion are free-grace and free-will. Free-grace declares that salvation is the work of God alone. Free-will declares that salvation is, at least in part, the work of man. Free-grace declares that salvation is conditioned upon the obedience of Christ alone as the sinner’s Substitute. Free-will declares that salvation is ultimately and finally conditioned upon the obedience of the sinner himself.
Any doctrine that makes salvation, eternal life, acceptance with God, and the reward of the heavenly inheritance to be dependent upon, or determined by you, at any point or in any measure, is contrary to sound doctrine. To receive, believe, or embrace such doctrine is damning to your soul (Read Galatians 5:1-4).
Here are five points of Divine truth by which all doctrine must be examined. Anything that is contrary to, or in any measure diminishes these five points of sound doctrine must be rejected as heresy.
TOTAL DEPRAVITY —- All men by nature are both sinful and helpless, because all are spiritually dead (Matthew 15:19; Romans 5:12; Ephesians 2:1-4).
UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION — God, from eternity, chose a people in Christ whom he determined to save, without consideration of anything in them or anything that might be done by them (John 15:16; 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14; Romans 8:28-30; 9:13-24; Ephesians 1:3-6; 2 Timothy 1:9-10).
LIMITED ATONEMENT — Christ died for and redeemed his elect only. The benefits of Christ’s death are limited to the elect; and his death effectually secures their salvation (Isaiah 53:8-11; John 10:11, 15; Hebrews 9:12).
IRRESISTIBLE GRACE — God the Holy Spirit calls sinners from spiritual death to spiritual life in Christ by the power of his grace, which cannot be successfully resisted (Psalms 65:4; 110:3; John 6:63; Ephesians 2:8-9).
PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS — Every sinner chosen by God in election, redeemed by Christ at Calvary, and called by the Spirit in grace shall persevere in grace unto eternal glory, because they are all preserved and kept by grace (John 10:27-30; Jeremiah 32:38-40).
If any man preaches anything contrary to these things, he is a false prophet and a deceiver of men’s souls. Let him be damned. That is not a conclusion I have reached. That is the conclusion the Apostle Paul reached by divine inspiration. You will find it written in Galatians 1:6-8.
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The Grace Bulletin
October 31, 2010
Grace Baptist Church of Danville
2734 Old Stanford Road-Danville, Kentucky 40422-9438
Telephone (859) 236-8235 - E-Mail don@donfortner.com
Donald S. Fortner, Pastor
Schedule of Regular Services
Sunday
10:00 A.M. Bible Classes
10:30 A.M. Morning Worship Service
6:30 P.M. Evening Worship Service
Tuesday
7:30 P.M. Mid-Week Worship Service
Television Broadcasts in Danville
Channel 6 - Sunday Morning 8:00 A.M.
Channel 6 - Wednesday Evening 6:00 P.M.
Channel 6 - Friday Evening 7:00 P.M.
Television Broadcasts in Harrodsburg
Channel 6 - Sunday Afternoon 3:00 P.M.
Channel 6 - Friday Evening 6:00 P.M.
Web Pages
http://www.DonFortner.com
http://www.FreegraceRadio.com
http://www.Grace-eBooks.com
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