December 13, 2015

Sunday Worship

Radio WXCC 96.5 fm (internet wxccfm.com) 8:30 A.M.

Radio 98.1 fm; SuddenLink TV (channel 9) 10:30 A.M.

Bible Study 10:30 A.M.

Morning Service 11:15 A.M.

Wednesday Worship 7:00 P.M.

Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Jer. 23:5-6

The Righteousness of God

I longed to understand Paul’s letter to the Romans, but one expression stood in my way – “THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD.” I took it to mean that righteousness whereby God is righteous and deals righteously in punishing the unrighteous! Night and day I pondered until I grasped the truth that the righteousness of God is that righteousness whereby in Christ, by Christ and sheer mercy, God justifies us by faith. Thereupon, I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through the door to paradise. The whole of Scripture took on new meaning. Whereas “THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD” had filled me with fear, it became inexpressibly sweet in love.

Martin Luther (1483-1546)

WHO GETS THE GLORY?

If you wish to know if the gospel you are hearing preached is the Gospel of God, ask yourself this question, “Who gets the glory?” If you wish to know whether your religious experience is of the flesh or of the Lord, ask yourself the same thing, “Who gets the glory?” Also, examine all your gifts, works, and missionary efforts by the same rule, “Who gets the glory?” God will not share His glory! That which is of God, from God, and for God’s glory will be blessed with His presence and power “That no flesh should glory in His presence…that, according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” (I Cor.1:29-31)

Pastor Henry T. Mahan

IT'S AS IF I HEARD IT FOR THE FIRST TIME

Where one finds the preaching of the glorious Gospel of free grace in Christ, one also finds God's sheep eager to hear that Gospel. In due season, God Almighty makes His people willing to love that which they, by nature, formerly hated. There is a spiritual hunger, divinely imparted within them, that is only satisfied by the hearing of the Bread of Life Himself. There is a thirst for the living water that He alone gives. Amazingly, each time God's sheep hear the Gospel, it is as if it was the first time. There is a freshness in the sound of that blessed message. The sheep of God are not driven by rules, regulations, and threats, but are willingly constrained by the love of Him Who is their hope. God's people are doing exactly what they want to do, for they have been made willing in the day of His power.

PASTOR MARVIN STALNAKER

Sink or swim, I go to Him

When the seeking sinner sees sin in its true light (heinous), when he sees the world as it is (vanity), and when he sees Christ in His redemptive glory (eternal joy), he will be done with talking, reasoning, rationalizing and theorizing and he will flee to Christ. An old writer said, “Sink or swim, I go to Him!”

Pastor Henry T. Mahan

HIM AND THEM

That precious saving faith which unites the sinner to Christ, also unites the sinner to all of those who belong to Christ. To be one with him is to be one with them. Loving and serving Him has something to do with loving and serving them; likewise, loving and serving them has something to do with loving and serving Him (Matthew 25:31-46). Saving faith says that there is one Savior. Saving faith also says that there is only one household, one family, one body, one vine tree, etc. “I (Christ) am the vine, ye are the branches” (John 15:5). Maurice Montgomery (1939-2015)

GOD SPARED NOT

In 2 Peter 2:4-7; several times the word of the Lord says, “God spared not;” the righteous and holy judgment of God fell without any mixture of mercy on many. The angels that fell were judged and cast out. The rebels in Noah’s day were judged and with the flood of God’s wrath. The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were reduced to ashes for their sinful wickedness. But we also read of God’s mercy to some, Noah and his family were spared. The Lord delivered Lot.

The Lord knows how to justly deliver His people from the wrath to come without compromising His righteous character (2 Peter 2:9; 1 Thes. 1:9-10). The Lord our God justly delivers His elect from the wrath to come because He spared not the Lord Jesus Christ from the holy wrath of His anger against our sin (Isa. 53:10; Lam. 1:12; Zech. 13:7). Read this verse slowly; “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. (Romans 8:32-22).