I will be in Rescue, CA next Sunday preaching in their annual conference with Don Fortner and Milton Howard. Brad Hardman will speak next Sunday AM and Gary Spreacker will take the PM. service. Please pray for these dear men.
Call to Worship
As on the cross of Christ I thought, It seemed I heard one cry,
"Is all this nothing in your eyes, You who this day pass by?"
“”Is not such suff’ring greater than,that which you’ve seen before?”
"And was there ever any man, Who grieved or suffered more?"
I looked again, and what I saw, I cannot fully tell;
It seemed within His very bones, There raged the fire of hell.
"What caused you grief?" I asked the man, What crimes could you have done?
"That God, Jehovah, struck you down, And left you all alone?"
His answer cut my heart like steel, And left me void of breath;
"'Tis for your sins this pain I feel, For you I go to death!"
Your soul, before my Father's throne, Could find no place to hide."
“This is the way God can be just, and you be justified.
Jehovah's mercies never fail, Each morning they are new;
Great is His faithfulness and love, Therefore, we're not consumed!
Jehovah God, in Christ the Son, Shall all my portion be,
My soul shall, therefore, wait for Him, And live eternally
(Tune: There Is a Fountain Filled With Blood, p. 222)
If Baptism Does Not Save, Why Is It Important?
Pastor Todd Nibert
Baptism is a ceremony, and nothing more. There is no saving efficacy in it nor is it a means through which grace is conveyed. But, that does not take away from its importance.
The marriage ceremony does not cause a man and woman to love one another. They love each other before they participated in the marriage ceremony. But if they refuse to participate in the marriage ceremony, and live together without it, they say by that, that they do not love one another enough to be totally committed to one another. This shows how important the marriage ceremony is. There is no true love without it.
Baptism is the same. It does not cause salvation. It speaks of a relationship that was already there before the ceremony. And that relationship was caused by what baptism depicts: Union with Christ. For someone to refuse Baptism is like someone who refuses the marriage covenant and ceremony. That person says by their actions, "I do not love Christ enough to commit to Him." Love like that is not love at all!
Yes, Baptism is important – "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved" (Mark 16:16).
- Pastor Todd Nibert
~~~ O ~~~
Having religion is one thing, but knowing and walking with Christ is different! Having religion – the world understands and tolerates. But free grace – the world neither understands, nor tolerates! Any two religious errors can walk together, and permit them both to exist! But the truth of God's grace cannot exist with error – for one always must go!
- Henry Mahan
~~~ O ~~~
Sometimes God calms the storm...And sometimes He lets the storm rage, and calms his child. - (Copied)
FOUNDATION STONES OF THE GOSPEL
From J.C. Ryle's "Expository Thoughts"
We must not be content with a vague general belief that Christ's sufferings on the cross were vicarious. We are intended to see this truth in every part of His passion. We may follow Him through from the bar of Pilate to the minute of His death and see Him at every step as our Mighty Substitute, our Representative, our Head, and our Surety, our Proxy – the Divine Friend who undertook to stand in our stead and, by the priceless merit of His sufferings, to purchase our redemption.
Was He Scourged? It was "through His stripes we might be healed."
Was He Condemned, Though Innocent? It was that we might be acquitted, though guilty.
Did He Wear A Crown Of Thorns? It was that we might wear the crown of glory.
Was He Stripped Of His Raiment? It was that we might be clothed in everlasting righteousness.
Was He Mocked And Reviled? It was that we might be honored and blessed.
Was He Reckoned A Malefactor And "Numbered Among The Transgressors"? It was that we might be reckoned innocent and justified from all sin.
Was He Declared "Unable To Save Himself"? It was that He might be able to save to the uttermost.
Did He Die At Last That Most Painful And Disgraceful Of Deaths? It was that we might live for evermore and be exalted to the highest glory.
Let us ponder these things well. They are worth remembering. The very key to peace is a right apprehension of the Vicarious Sufferings of Christ.
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