CALL TO WORSHIP

THE SHEPHERD AND HIS SHEEP

Tune to "This Is My Father’s World" SM/DOUBLE
Words by Jim Byrd

1. I was a poor, lost sheep,
I wandered from the fold;
A rebel to the Lord of hosts,
My heart was hard and cold.
But God in cov’nant love,
Before time had begun;
Ordained that I would be His child,
And chose me in His Son.

2. The Father sent my Lord,
To save this wayward lamb;
In love He came to rescue me,
Saved by His death I am.
Behold God’s Sacrifice;
He gave His life for me;
His blood poured out for all my sin,
Saves for eternity.

3. The time of love arrived,
The Shepherd sought His sheep;
He brought me to believe His Name,
And o’er my sin to weep.
This sheep no longer roams,
By Christ I have been found;
And now the gospel of His grace,
Is such a precious sound.

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

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.

Radio Broadcast: Sunday morning at 10:30 am on Mix 107.7 FM

Web Sites: Visit our web sites at: Reign of Grace: www.rofgrace.com

Sermon Audio: www.Sermonaudio.com\reignofgrace

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/reignofgrace

Radio: http://www.mix1077albany.com/

Birthdays: Melissa Riggins – May 22^nd

GUARDIAN ANGELS

"Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?"
(Hebrews 1:14)
My soul, art thou an heir of salvation? By reason of this heirship, behold thy high dignity! Angels, who are high in intellect, disembodied spirits, and who excel in wisdom and in power, are servants in thine Emmanuel’s kingdom, to minister unto thee, and to all thy brethren in Jesus who are heirs of salvation. Oh! couldest thou see how they watch over thee, how they guard thee from a thousand evils; didst thou but know how eternally safe thou art amidst a host of foes, which come against thee; then, like the prophet’s servant, thou wouldest frequently see, by the eye of faith, "the mountain around thee full of horses and chariots of fire" (2 Kings 6: 17). And who shall say to what extent their ministry is exercised? If a single angel destroyed seventy thousand in the host of Israel at the command of God, (2 Samuel 24:15-16) and a hundred and fourscore and five thousand of the Assyrians which came forth against Israel, (2 Kings 19:35) what may not the child of God hope for, who is an heir of salvation, from the perpetual ministry of these ministering spirits? Oh! thou dear Lord, cause thine holy angels thus, by night and day, to take their stand, and watch over my defenseless hours! And, yet more than this, my adored Redeemer! Come Thou, and bless me with the unceasing visits of Thy love, and say to me, as to Thy church of old: "Fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness" (Isaiah　41:10).

--- Robert Hawker

The Conscience Purged

When the Holy Spirit shows us the necessity, the beauty and the sufficiency of the death of Christ, we repent of our own foolish works of self-righteousness, we forsake every other way of seeking to please God, we look to Christ and His substitutionary death as the only ground of our acceptance with God and our conscience rests in the quiet assurance that Christ has satisfied God on our behalf and saved us in a way that glorifies God in all His holy character. Thus the "blood" purges our consciences of every false hope, of natural self-righteousness, and all fear and doubt!

--- Pastor Gary Shepherd

In Christ

The decree of Election stands upon an unchangeable foundation, to wit, that Rock of ages, "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). As the first Adam was the foundation stone in the decree of creation, so the last Adam, even Jesus, is the foundation stone in the decree of election. God hath blessed us in Him, yea, and we shall be blessed. He hath chosen us in Him, pardoned us in Him, sealed us in Him, built us up and completed us in Him; "According to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began" (2 Timothy 1:9). All those acts of grace are said to be in Christ, who hath blest us in Christ (Ephesians 1:3), chosen us in Him (Ephesians 1:4), pardoned us, "in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins" (Ephesians 1:7), "in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed" (Ephesians 1:13), "rooted and built up in Him" (Colossians 2:7): and ye are "complete in Him" (Colossians 2:10).

--- Christopher Ness (1621-1705)