SOVEREIGNTY AND WORSHIP

Is it necessary for us to preach God’s sovereignty in all things? Absolutely it is! If we would preach the truth, we must declare God’s sovereignty. We must also preach God’s sovereignty because no one will ever truly worship until we worship at the feet of the Sovereign, knowing that we are in His hand to do with us as He pleases. The leper in Matthew 8 came and worshiped the Lord, not because the Lord healed him, but because the Lord is sovereign and could heal him if the Lord willed to do so. The Syrophenician woman in Matthew 15 worshiped the Lord when she met His sovereignty in election. Oh that the Lord would grant us this spirit of worship today. God is to be worshiped for who He is, not what He has done for us. This is why Job said “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.” (Job 13:15)

. Saving faith is not based upon one’s feelings but upon God’s faithfulness. It is able to embrace and rejoice in the promises of God. It needs no evidence or proof, only a word from the living God; being “fully persuaded that what God has promised, He is able also to perform” (Romans 4:21); and realizing that the only difference between God’s faithful promise and its perfect fulfillment is just a bit of time….His appointed time!

Pastor Maurice Montgomery

IF BAPTISM DOES NOT SAVE, WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

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

RIGHTEOUSNESS RECEIVED

God's righteousness is received by trusting in His Son. It is not a righteousness which we earn but a righteousness which we receive as a gift. The means of receiving it is faith, which is a gift of God. (Ephesians 2:8 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:") God imputes that righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ to every person who trusts in His Son. Therefore, as far as God is concerned, that person who believes in His Son is perfect in that He has imputed to him the righteousness of the Lord Jesus. This is what salvation really is. It is not just escaping hell's heat and going to heaven. It is being made perfect in the eyes and presence of God through faith in His Son, Who lived a perfect life and died a substitutionary death. He alone bore the penalty of our sins; therefore, we will not bear it.