January 6^th - 2019

9:30 am -------------------------------------- The Houses of Israel – Exodus 12:3-30

10:00 am --------------------------The King & Saviour; David, part 6 – 1 Samuel 30

Wednesday: 7:00 pm

“Cause Thy Face To Shine Upon Us” -- “God be merciful to us, and bless us; and cause Thy face to shine upon us” -- Psalms 67:1

The apostles and early believers were despised by the religious Jews because of the gospel which they preached. It was not because they were covetous or proud men. They were persecuted because the gospel of God’s grace, which they preached, was offensive to human’s pride.

They preached (as I trust we do, also) that salvation, even for the most moral person on earth, is only possible because of the grace and mercy of God, given to us in Christ Jesus. These people of God knew nothing of free-will, decisionism, and giving God a chance. They knew only one way of salvation, that of God’s being gracious and showing sovereign mercy to sinners in Christ.

The gospel of grace and glory does not appear OCCASIONALY in their preaching and writings, nor was it a deeper truth or doctrine which they discussed PRIVATELY; it reigns, shines, and dominated all that they said, wrote, and did.

It is the ONLY THING that they preached!

To them, any word of human worthiness, works, or rights was totally wrong, and counted for nothing in the matter of acceptance before God. They addressed all men (even themselves) as guilty, condemned, and perishing justly unless God is pleased to come in mercy and lift the beggar from his dunghill, sanctify and justify him through Christ Jesus, and accept him in the Beloved. -- Henry Mahan

The following 2 articles from the Bethel Baptist Bulletin, John Chapman; deserve careful consideration.

One Sin the Soul's Ruin

There was but one crack in the lantern, and the wind has found it out and blown out the candle. How great a mischief one unguarded point of character may cause us! -- C. H. Spurgeon.

The Deadly Character of Secret Sin

Canon Wilberforce said that one day, while walking in the Isle of Skye, he saw a magnificent specimen of the golden eagle, soaring upward. He halted, and watched its flight. Soon he observed by its movements that something was wrong. Presently it began to fall, and soon lay dead at his feet. Eager to know the reason of its death, he hastily examined it, and found no trace of gunshot wound; but he found that it held in its talons a small weasel, which, in its flight, was drawn near its body, and had sucked the life blood from the eagle's breast. The same end befalls him who clings to some secret sin; sooner or later it will sap his life blood, and he falls. -- C. W. Bibb.

Let Us Give Ourselves To Prayer -- “I give myself unto prayer” – Psalm 109:4

David gave himself to prayer. The apostles, those extraordinary officers of the primitive church, gave themselves to prayer, and the ministry of the Word (Acts 6:7). There are times* in which Christians should give themselves to fasting and prayer (1Cor.7:5). If you belong to God, He will make you pray: and teach you with briers and thorns (trials), if you will not yield to more gentle methods. How sad is the reflection that riseth in the heart, under some heavy trial, “This is brought on me for my indulged distance and estrangement from God!” -- Robert Trail, Scotland – 1642-1716