CALL TO WORSHIP

(Tune: “Tis so Sweet to Trust in Jesus”)

Great Jehovah, our salvation,

God of mercy and of grace;

Who sent Christ to save His nation,

His dear sheep from every race.

REFRAIN:

How we love Him, Christ our Savior,

He who reigns o’er all to bless

All His people with salvation;

Praise the Lord our righteousness.

There’s a peace that knows no ending

In the Savior’s loving arms;

With our precious Lord’s attending,

Keeping safe from all alarms.

We rejoice in our redemption

Earned by Christ, our Great High Priest,

He who reigns without exemption

Intercedes for us to plead.

Today’s Speaker: Brother Randy Wages will conduct the 11:00 am service today. Pray for him as he delivers God’s word.

Lord’s Table: We will observe the Lord’s Table at the conclusion of today’s service.

Television Broadcast: Our Reign of Grace Television program is being broadcast on WFXL Fox 31, Channel 4. The program will air every Sunday morning at 11 AM. Pray that God will use it for His glory.

Radio Broadcast: Sunday morning at 9:30am on 98.7 FM –WISK. To hear sermons on your computer click on www.americusradio.com

Web Sites: Visit our newly designed web site at: www.rofgrace.com Also visit us at: www.Sermonaudio.com\reignofgrace

Birthdays: Alison Silva – Nov. 7^th , Sue Parker – Nov. 10^th

A Double Blessing

And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. 2 Sam. 12:13

That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:7

Consider that if a king or ruler pardons a criminal, that such an action does not entitle the pardoned criminal to inherit the king’s estate, or his crown or his kingdom. But it does free him from punishment to which he otherwise would be subjected for he’s been pardoned – his guilt has been put away. But what if the king not only forgave or pardoned the criminal but legally adopted him so as to make him his son and an heir. What a double blessing! The adopted child is entitled to the life of the kingdom and the happiness that such an inheritance brings. So have the children of God adopted in Christ. Not only have their sins been put away, but they have His perfect righteousness imputed – the entire merit of His obedience unto death. And as such, theirs is the kingdom of God – an eternal, incorruptible, inheritance!

Randy Wages

"For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him cruci-fied" (1 Corinthians 2:2).

We preach the person of Christ and His work. Christ could not save us apart from His substitutionary work, and His death is only beneficial to us because of His glorious person. We do not preach Christ without His cross-death nor the cross-death without Christ. "We preach Christ crucified" (1 Corinthians 1:23).

--- Pastor Jim Byrd

Servants of Sin

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. – John 8:34

It is easy for all men and women by nature to place in the category of “servants of sin” all who are immoral, irreligious, and insincere. Such people whose lives and conduct are characterized by such sins are truly servants of sin. But Christ was speaking to moral, religious men who appeared righteous outwardly. It would be convenient for us to say simply that they were not sincere about their religion (and there probably were many of them who were not sincere), but, on the whole, the Pharisees were the most dedicated and most sincere. How could Christ say, then, that they were servants of sin? He was speaking of the sin that is common to all of us by nature and which deceives all of us by nature. Before God grants genuine God-given faith to a person as an object of His grace in Christ, that person is a servant of sin no matter what else may be said of him. He may be religious, sincere, dedicated, kind, humble (as the world sees it), charitable, but before salvation by God's grace in Christ, all of this is nothing more than "fruit unto death" (Rom. 7:5). Before we hear and believe God's Gospel, His declaration of eternal salvation and final glory conditioned on Christ alone, based on His righteousness alone, all we can do in religion and morality is try to establish a righteousness of our own (Rom. 10:1-3), and this is opposed to God's glory and Christ's pre-eminence in salvation. It is a denial of Christ and His Gospel. A servant of sin, then, is one who thinks that something other than the merits of Christ's obedience and death can in some way recommend him unto God. All unbelievers are servants of sin. Thank God He delivers His people from being servants of sin to being servants of righteousness (Rom. 6:17-18). A person who is by God's grace a servant of righteousness may have been just as moral and sincere before salvation as he is after salvation, but now his motive for being moral is different. Now, being a servant of righteousness, his motive is not legalism. His motive now is grace and gratitude – the assurance of all of salvation based on the righteousness of Christ according to God's grace and mercy.