Work-mongers take many names to cover their evil intent. Many even claim to believe the gospel of the grace of God; but if a man incessantly talks about works, motivating what he calls “good works” by the threats of punishment or promises of reward, his doctrine is works and he has departed from grace altogether (Galatians 5:1-4).

• I am scheduled to preach Friday (7:00 PM) and Saturday (6:00 PM) for SOVEREIGN GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH in Mercer County, where Bro. Bill Eldridge is pastor. — The Church meets at 4486 Bohon Rd., Harrodsburg, KY. — Telephone: 859-366-4479
• November 16th and 17th I am scheduled to preach for SAN DIEGO GRACE FELLOWSHIP, Jamul Professional Center, 13910 Lyons Valley Rd., Unit A, Jamul, CA. — Contact: Michael Smith — Telephone: 619-770-7115 — Email: mikarsmith@sbcglobal.net
• November 19th – 21st I am scheduled to preach for GRACE BIBLE CHURCH, San Leandro, CA, where Bro. Jesse Gistand is pastor. —Telephone: 510-886-9782 — Email: gbc@flash.net
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“Ye must be born again!” — Don Fortner

(Tune: #33 — Stand Up and Bless the Lord! — SM)

1. Cursed sons of Adam’s race,
Helpless and lost in sin,
O hear the God of sov’reign grace, —
“Ye must be born again!”

2. The works that you have wrought, —
All legal hopes are vain!
Your fastings, prayers, and alms are nought! —
“Ye must be born again!”

3. Oh, flee from Sinai’s hill
And trust the Savior slain:
You cannot do Jehovah’s will. —
“Ye must be born again!”

4. Would you God’s mercy gain,
Pardon and peace obtain?
Would you be whole? Would you be clean? —
“Ye must be born again!”
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“Growing the Church God’s Way”

“Hear the word of the LORD, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock.” (Jeremiah 31:10)

Recently I was invited to attend a conference for “Reformed Pastors and Church Workers.” The theme of the conference is to be “Growing the Church God’s Way.” The emphasis of all the planned lectures and activities is “growth” and “success.” Sadly, even those who call themselves “Reformed” and “Calvinistic” are, for the most part, completely obsessed with numbers, numeric growth, and success in the eyes of men. — In the Word of God that is never the case; and it is never the case with faithful men.

When I read that invitation, I immediately thought to myself, “The only thing we do in this matter of growing the church is to get out of the way and watch God work.” Indeed, that is exactly what the Lord God tells us to do. — “Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD” (Exodus 14:13) — “The battle is not yours, but God’s…Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD” (2 Chronicles 20:15, 17).

There is a people in this world called “the elect” and “the ransomed of the LORD.” These people are such a vast multitude that no man can number them; but they are a specific number. They are called “the elect” because they were chosen of God unto eternal life in Christ before the world began. These elect ones are called “the ransomed of the LORD” because they were redeemed by the precious blood of Christ and ransomed from the curse of the law by the sacrifice of God’s dear Son.

The Lord God assures us repeatedly in his Word that these chosen ones, “the ransomed of the LORD,” shall, at God’s own appointed time of love, return to him (Jeremiah 24:6-7; 30:10; 31:8; 46:27; Hosea 14:7). They were chosen, blessed, and accepted in Christ before the world began. They were scattered over all the earth by the hand of God through the sin and fall of our father, Adam. They were scattered among the nations that they might be gathered to God’s everlasting praise. These scattered sheep were gathered out of the world by the sin-atoning blood of the Great Shepherd when he laid down his life for them at Calvary, and carried with him into Glory in his resurrection from the dead. In the disposition of his wise and good providence, the Lord God is gathering his elect out of the world by the power of his grace in the blessed experience of that grace given to us in Christ Jesus before the world began.

What is our involvement in all this great work? — Nothing! This is God’s work alone. We preach the gospel to poor, needy sinners, lost, ruined, and dead in trespasses and in sins; and get out of the way. No tricks, no gimmicks, no altar calls are used; no psychological manipulation is employed to get people to make a profession of faith and join the church; being assured of God that “He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock.”

God grows his church, not man. He still adds to the church every day such as should be saved. All who swell the church rolls, as the result of human devices, are just wood, hay, and stubble, and will soon be burned.
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Market-Driven Christianity
Galatians 1:10

Religion in America is big business. Scads of money, powerful personalities, huge egos, pension plans, and positions of prominence, influence, and recognition are at stake in the business of religion, just as they are in any other business. There was a time when the concern of churches and preachers in this country was the glory of God and the truth of God. Today, like any business, the concern is for success.

Christianity today is market-driven. The goal of all marketing is to make both the buyer and the seller satisfied. Consequently, market-driven churches, in utter abandonment of God’s glory and God’s truth, in their insatiable quest for success and recognition, do whatever it takes to win customers and keep them. If you don’t like preaching, they will keep it to a minimal. If you want political correctness, they will give you female preachers. If you don’t like to be tied up at noon on Sundays, they will give you the option of an early service. If you don’t like organized, structured worship, they will give you non-traditional, or contemporary (anything goes) service. If you don’t want to be bothered at all on Sunday, they will give you a Saturday night service. Shoot, if you don’t want to be bothered with church at all, as long as you will give them a little money and let them use your name on their score cards, they will give you a call in prayer line and a dial-a-devotion!

Be warned! False doctrine and worldliness always go hand in hand. Worldliness usually leads the way. Many today, who are being persuaded to go along with practices in their churches that they know are wrong, all in the name of making Christianity appealing to men, forget that the modernism which ravaged virtually every protestant denomination fifty to seventy years ago did not begin with heretical doctrine, but with worldly, flesh pleasing methods of ministry. The early modernists did not aim at destroying biblical Christianity. They simply tried to make Christianity palatable to an unbelieving world. It cannot be done. When Christianity becomes acceptable to unregenerate people, it has ceased to be Christianity!
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