CALL TO WORSHIP
(Tune – Doxology)

The death of Jesus Christ, our Lord,
We celebrate with one accord;
It is our comfort in distress,
Our heart’s sweet joy and happiness.

He blotted out with His own blood
The judgment that against us stood;
He full atonement for us made,
And all our debt He fully paid.

That this is now and ever true
He gives an earnest ever new:
In this His holy supper here
We taste His love so sweet, so near.

Oh, blest is each believing guest
Who in this promise finds his rest;
For Jesus will in love abide
With those who do in Him confide.

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Today: Bible Classes – 10:00 a.m.; Morning Worship – 11:00 a.m.
Messages by Pastor Bill Parker

Television Broadcast: Reign of Grace Television
Sunday morning on WALB-TV @ 9 AM.

Live Streaming – 10:00 and 11:00 a.m. – Sermon Audio web site

Web Sites: Reign of Grace: www.rofgrace.com
Sermon Audio: www.Sermonaudio.com\reignofgrace

Birthdays: Molly Fuller - Jan 31st -- Rosa Jones - Feb. 4th

Hymns for service – “There Is a Fountain” – p. 222
“Break Thou the Bread of Life” – p. 176

ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR SERVICES TODAY

We will serve the Lord’s Supper today following our worship services. We invite all of you who truly believe and rest in the Lord Jesus Christ for all salvation to join us in this great memorial service given by our Lord to His church.

Following the Lord’s Supper Brother Tony Wages will confess his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ in believer’s baptism. We thank God for our brother Tony and for bringing him to faith in Christ and true repentance.

After all the worship services, we will meet in the fellowship hall for a covered-dish dinner and a time of gathering together. All of you are invited to join us.

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There is but one way to “run” the Christian race, and it is by “looking unto Jesus” (Hebrews 12:1-2). “Looking” implies turning the eyes of the soul away from all other things and focusing upon, studying, pondering, concentrating on and giving your full attention to the Lord Jesus Christ.

—Pastor Jim Byrd

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Often men and women in their rejection of what is plainly written in the word of God say, “God can’t do that!” The truth is in most cases the issue is over something God has already done. It’s too late unbelieving one! Nothing brings out the rebel in a sinner like hearing of what God did “before the foundation of the world.” The scriptures say that God “chose us in Him (Christ)” before the foundation of the world. He “predestinated (past tense) us to be conformed to the image of his Son.” He “hath saved us.” He “loved us and gave himself for us.” He “purposed” an eternal purpose of grace to those He chose. He gave them to Christ. He did all this and so much more “before the world began.” Why? To assure that He gets all the glory! To assure that we can’t mess it up! To assure us of rest when He saves us and makes us willing in the day of His power that our salvation is a finished, completed and eternal work for us. Then, we will rejoice in what God has done. Salvation is of the Lord.

– Pastor Gary Shepard

TWO OPPOSING TESTIMONIES

The Pharisee in Luke 18:11-12 proudly stated, “God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.” The publican in Luke 18:13 cried, “God be merciful [propitious] to me a sinner.” One, the testimony of the Pharisee, was the rantings of a self-righteous unbeliever. The other, the testimony of the publican, was the testimony of a sinner saved by grace through the Lord Jesus Christ. The Pharisee sought and thought he had found righteousness by what he imagined God had enabled him to be and do. The publican sought and found righteousness in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. The Lord said, “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted” (Luke 18:14).

The testimony of the publican is, in essence, the testimony of all true believers. The apostle Paul who lived in the first century wrote in Galatians 6:14, “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” And consider the testimony of Augustus Toplady who lived in the 1700’s. He is most famous for his well-known hymn, “Rock of Ages.” On December 31, 1767, he wrote in his private journal –

“Upon a review of the past year, I desire to confess that my unfaithfulness has been exceeding great; my sins still greater; God’s mercies greater than both. My short-comings and my mis-doings, my unbelief and want of love, would sink me into the lowest hell, was not Jesus my Righteousness and my Redeemer.”

This is the same as Paul’s testimony and is consistent with what God the Holy Spirit inspired him to write when he wrote, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief” (1 Tim. 1:15).