GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH of DANVILLE
November 21, 2010
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Growing old and dying is the very best and most wonderful thing that could happen to God’s saints. How blessed it is to see your children and your children’s children prospering in body and soul by the blessing of God and then, having served your generation for the glory of God, like Jacob of old, to gather your feet up into your bed, peacefully and willingly yield up the ghost and be gathered unto your people! Who could wish for more?
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• I am preaching today for GRACE BIBLE CHURCH in San Leandro, CA, where Bro. Jesse Gistand is pastor. Bro. Ron Wood will preach the gospel to you today. The Lord willing, I will preach to you Tuesday night from Habakkuk 2:14.
• We welcome Nancy Harris, who has confessed her faith in Christ in believer’s baptism, into the fellowship of our assembly.
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Thanksgiving To Our God — Don Fortner
(Tune: #39 — This Is My Father’s World — SMD)
1. Thanksgiving to our God! — We bring with hearts of praise,
For all the wonders You have done, for mercy, love and grace!
You, from our mothers’ womb, have carried us along,
And promised through old age that You will not forsake Your own!
2. Thanksgiving to our God! — The mighty Three in One,
The Father, and the Spirit, and Christ Jesus, God the Son!
The Triune God we praise for all His works of grace;
Chosen, redeemed, and called, we are trophies of sov’reign grace!
3. Thanksgiving to our God! With hearts and voices too,
As ransomed sinners saved by grace, we give our God His due!
While in this world we live, let us live for our God,
And may our dying breath express thanksgiving to our God!
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Happy Thanksgiving!
“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18)
As we gather with our families this week, let us each encourage genuine thanksgiving to the Lord our God for all his boundless free grace in Christ Jesus. In our society, numerous holidays and festivals are celebrated. Without question, some are of questionable origin and others have their roots in paganism and idolatry. As believers, we are forbidden to observe any holy days. We are not even to observe a sabbath day (Colossians 2:16). We do not worship God on special days, or one day in seven. We worship our God every day! And we certainly must not participate in the religious practices of pagans. However, so long as we place no religious or spiritual significance on these things, I see nothing more in the observance of special holidays than Paul saw in eating meats offered to idols (1 Corinthians 8). Do not allow anyone to bring you into bondage either way. You are perfectly free to observe these days, or not to observe them, as you see fit. For my part, I am in favor of observing any day that encourages families to get together and promotes good will among men.
Thanksgiving Day is distinct from all other holidays. This is distinctly an American holiday. The fourth Thursday of November is set aside as a national Day of Thanksgiving to the Lord our God for all the blessings of his providence and grace toward us through the Lord Jesus Christ.
On Thanksgiving Day we acknowledge God’s sovereign dominion over all the affairs of providence (Romans 8:28; 11:36). We acknowledge that “all things are of God.” We give thanks to him for bountiful harvests, because he sends the sunshine and the rain. We thank him for peace and prosperity, because he makes peace and creates evil. We thank him for life and health, because they are his gifts. We also thank him when the barns are empty, the nation is at war, the economy is ruined, and death is at hand, because he who is our God is too wise to err, too strong to fail, and too good to do wrong. His will is best. So we give thanks to him “in everything.”
On Thanksgiving Day we acknowledge and give thanks to our God for his bountiful, saving grace in Christ. When you gather with your families Thursday, do not fail to give thanks to God for “his unspeakable gift,” the Lord Jesus Christ and his great salvation. Make mention of his electing love, redeeming blood, regenerating power, justifying grace, forgiving mercy, and covenant faithfulness. Let us acknowledge to him and to all who will hear us that we are what we are by the grace of God. If we are saved, he saved us. If we are righteous, he made us righteous. If we are sanctified, he sanctified us. If we persevere in faith, we are kept by his power.
I plan to spend Thanksgiving Day with my family: my wife, my daughter, my son-in-law, my grand children, and, perhaps, some family friends. If you get a chance to stop by, do so. But wherever you spend Thanksgiving Day, — give thanks to God! And I trust you will have a Happy Thanksgiving.
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Is it really true?
It is written, “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” It seems too good to be true; but it really is. God, who cannot lie, declares it. Your heart may be as black as hell, your sins may be as loathsome as an open sewer, you may have often rejected the gospel of Christ, but all who call upon the Lord Christ in true, submissive faith are immediately and eternally saved! Sinner, catch that promise. If you will from your heart call upon Christ, he will save you!
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Laying Aside the Old Tent
2 Corinthians 5: 1-4
Pastor Darvin Pruitt — Grace Baptist Church — Taylor, Arkansas
In preparing a funeral message for Amos Stamper I was reminded of something that happened to my wife and me about 25 years ago. We were preparing to leave our home in Louisiana and move to our new home in Kentucky. Being able to afford only one moving van we began the process of weeding out things we no longer needed. Going through my storage building I ran across my old tent. The very sight of it caused memories to flood my mind. Our first outing at the lake with our two year old daughter where the tent filled up with water from a storm, a fishing trip up on the arctic watershed in Canada, and the tent drying in the yard and our children pretending to be camping. As I anxiously pulled the tent out into the light I discovered that it was full of mildew, and there were rotted holes in the roof and sides, the screen flap over the door had crumbled, and it had become a home for spiders and mice. As I sat there sadly looking at the old tent in ruins my wife patted me on the head and said, “All is not lost, you still have your memories.” Suddenly it occurred to me that it was not the old tent that gave me such pleasure but what had taken place within it.
Beloved, every tent (body) of Adams’ sons is destined to ruin. “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it was thou taken: For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” (Genesis 3: 19) But in the eternal purpose of God and by his sovereign grace he has done a marvelous work in these vessels of clay. He has put within us the glorious treasure of Christ. Within these earthen vessels of clay he abides with us and creates within us a good hope through grace. We are saved if we keep in memory what has been preached unto us, unless we have believed in vain. (1 Corinthians 15: 2). What believers have that no one else in this world can have is an experiential work of God within. “Christ in you the hope of glory.” And they know what other men can never know, “that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” (2 Corinthians 5: 1) When the old tent lies in ruin, God will take what he has put within and preserve it forever with him.
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THE GRACE BULLETIN
November 21, 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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