CALL TO WORSHIP

(Tune – I Love Thy Kingdom Lord – p. 188)

This promise is proclaimed,

To all who trust in Christ;

Christ Jesus keeps His saints secure,

They cannot be condemned.

Though oft I sin, I know,

And feel so very low;

Nothing I say, or feel, or do,

Will change my God, I know.

His Word can never be,

Broken or changed at all;

This sinner, justified by grace,

From grace can never fall!

No sin can justice charge,

Against my ransomed soul;

When Jesus died, He paid my debt,

Not part, but paid in whole.

TODAY’S SERVICES – Messages by Pastor Bill Parker

BIBLE CLASS – 10:00 a.m. –

The Righteousness of Faith – Romans 10:5-11

MORNING WORSHIP – 11:00 a.m –

• OPENING – Psalm 32:9-11

• CALL TO WORSHIP (above)

• HYMN – At the Cross – p. 129

• READING – Acts 8:26-39

• MESSAGE – The Silence of Our Suffering Savior – Isaiah 53:7-9

• CLOSING HYMN – When I Survey the Wondrous Cross – p. 118

Birthdays: Jason Renfroe – Sept. 30^th | Steven Brown – Oct. 5^th

THE LORD’S SUPPER

We will serve the Lord’s Supper following the messages this morning. All who believe the Gospel of God’s grace in Christ Jesus are commanded to partake of this blessed memorial ordinance in which we remember the glorious Person and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, His body and His blood which secured our salvation, eternal life, and final glory.

After the worship services, we will serve lunch in our fellowship hall. Everyone is invited to stay and share the meal with us.

Only the Spirit of God can tear down the strongholds and idols of men’s minds. He does this by the “sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.” Our responsibility is but to set forth the “word of truth of the Gospel.” When that is done, something happens like that which happened when the ark of the covenant was put in the temple of Dagon. When they came back the next day, the ark, without the help of man, stood whole, and the image of Dagon was fallen and broken. Oh, they set Dagon up again as men do their idols, but God brought him down again. We preach the Gospel and wait upon God to do the rest. He will bring down every idol and exalt Christ in the hearts of His people! —Pastor Gary Shepard

“Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall” (2 Peter 1:10).

What is the reason of many unbelievers’ tragic outcries against election? It is as follows. This doctrine lays the axe at the root of all our boasted moral excellence. This doctrine demolishes every claim of human pride as it leaves not the shadow of a difference between one man and another, why the Deity should regard and save this person rather than that person. But it teaches all who know and all who embrace it to rest in that memorable maxim, "Even so Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight" (Matt. 11:26), resolving the whole into divine grace and divine sovereignty. Without paying the least compliment to the learning, intelligence, or character of any who dare to arraign the divine conduct, it repels their insolence in the following manner, "Nay, but O man! Who art thou that repliest against God?" (Rom. 9:20). —Abraham Booth

We want to express our sincere sympathies and prayers to Carolyn Hayes upon the death of her sister, Nancy Mincy, who passed away last week in Perry, FL. May the Lord grant our sister, Carolyn, the comfort and peace only He can give His children in these times of loss and sadness.

“No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:44).

“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me. This He said, signifying what death He should die” (John 12:32-33).

“The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee” (Jer. 31:3).

None can really come to Christ Jesus by faith, unless the drawing power of the Holy Spirit is put forth as He empowers the Gospel truth to those whom He has powerfully and graciously worked in the new birth. The Holy Spirit, that gracious and blessed Teacher, through the Word of God, which He has written indelibly upon the new hearts of God’s people, acts upon the soul by His secret power and influence, puts “cords of love” and “bands of mercy” around the heart, and by the attractive influence that He puts forth, draws the soul to Jesus's feet. And in due time He reveals Christ as the chief among ten thousand and the altogether lovely one. As the Spirit reveals and manifests these precious things of Christ to the soul, He raises up a living faith whereby Jesus is sought unto, looked unto, laid hold of, and is brought into the heart with a divine power. He is there to be enshrined in its warmest and tenderest affections.

All through the believer’s Christian pilgrimage, this blessed Spirit goes on to deepen His work in the soul, and to discover unto him more and more of the suitability, beauty, and blessedness of the Lord Jesus, as He draws the soul more and more unto Him. There is no maintaining of the light, life, and power of God in our souls, except as we are daily coming unto Jesus as the living stone, and continually living upon Him as the bread of life.