WELCOME TO RESCUE BAPTIST CHURCH
Sunday Morning, April 17, 2016
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SCHEDULED MEETINGS
Sunday Morning Bible Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10:00 AM
Sunday Morning Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11:00 AM
Sunday Evening Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6:30 PM
Friday Night Bible Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7:30 PM
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OPENING HYMN
“Standing On The Promises” Page 271
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SCRIPTURE READING
Psalm 132
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OFFERTORY
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WORSHIP HYMN
“Trusting Jesus” Page 355
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SPECIAL MUSIC
To be announced.
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Message Title
“Trusting Jesus, That Is All”
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CLOSING HYMN
“It Is Well With My Soul” Page 493
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‘To die is gain’ (Philippians 1:21)
“Children of God, don’t be afraid of death and don’t weep for those who have died in the Lord. For us, ‘to die is gain’.
Death will bring us into the presence of many friends. Death takes the wife from the husband, the child from its mother, the father from his family, but we cheer ourselves with the prospect of glorious reunion (1Thess. 4:13 - 18). It is true, above all else, we shall see Christ and be with him, but it is also promised that we shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Yes, we shall know one another in heaven.
Death will bring an answer to our prayers. How often have you prayed that you might be delivered from your trials, temptations and troubles? We shall be delivered from them then. ‘God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes.’ How often have you prayed that you might be freed from sin? When this body is in the grave, ‘There shall be no more sin.’ Many, many times you have prayed that you might be more like Christ, in love, in purity, in conduct. When we have laid aside this robe of flesh, we shall awake in his likeness. We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
But most of all, ‘To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.’ This is our chief concern. This is our noblest ambition. This is the happiness and glory of heaven. This is heaven! We shall be with Christ, for ever with the Lord! ‘There cannot be heaven without Christ. He is the sum total of bliss; the fountain from which heaven flows, the element of which heaven is composed. Christ is heaven and heaven is Christ...Just to be with Christ is all the heaven a believer wants. The angels may be there or not, as they will, and the golden crowns and harps present or absent, as may be, but if I am to be where Jesus is, I will find angels in his eyes, and crowns in every lock of his hair; to me the golden streets shall be my fellowship with him, and the harpings of the harpers shall be the sound of his voice. Only to be near him, to be with him - this is all I want’ (C. H. Spurgeon). This is heaven: ‘To die is gain!’
Excerpt from Pastor Don Fortner’s devotional book, “Grace For Today”
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The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me (Ps. 138:8).
“Most manifestly the confidence which the Psalmist here expressed was a divine confidence. He did not say, ‘I have grace enough to perfect that which concerneth me--my faith is so steady that it will not stagger--my love is so warm that it will never grow cold--my resolution is so firm that nothing can move it’; no, his dependence was on the Lord alone. If we indulge in any confidence which is not grounded on the Rock of ages, our confidence is worse than a dream, it will fall upon us, and cover us with its ruins, to our sorrow and confusion. All that spins time will unravel, to the eternal confusion of all who are clothed therein. The Psalmist was wise, he rested upon nothing short of the Lord’s work. It is the Lord who has begun the good work within us; it is He who has carried it on; and if He does not finish it, it never will be complete. If there is one stitch in the celestial garment of our righteousness which we are to insert ourselves, then we are lost; but this is our confidence, the Lord who began will perfect. He HAS done it all, MUST do it all, and WILL do it all. Our confidence must not be in what we have done, nor in what we have resolved to do, but entirely in what THE LORD WILL DO. Unbelief insinuates--’You will never be able to stand. Look at the evil of your heart, you can never conquer sin; remember the sinful pleasures and temptations of the world that beset you, you will be certainly allured by them and led astray.’ Ah! yes, we should indeed perish if left to our own strength. If we had alone to navigate our frail vessels over so rough a sea, we might well give up the voyage in despair; but, thanks be to God, He will perfect that which concerneth us, and bring us to the desired haven. We can never be too confident when we confide in Him alone, and never too much concerned to HAVE SUCH A TRUST.”
C.H. Spurgeon
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
We will come to The Lord’s Table during our worship service this evening, God willing.
It is my sincere desire that more of our little church family would join us for our Friday Night Bible Studies. For those who cannot, or will not, copies of our Bible study notes are on the table in the church foyer. I do encourage you to take a copy home with you, praying that our Lord Jesus would bless His truths to your heart for His glory as you have the opportunity to read them.
****** Cleaning duty this week: Gene & Judy Harmon ******
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SUGGESTED BIBLE READINGS FOR THIS WEEK
Monday Wednesday Friday
Numbers 5 Psalm 115 Romans 1
Numbers 6 Psalm 116 Romans 2
Numbers 7 Psalm 117 Romans 3
Philemon Hebrews 1 Hebrews 2
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Professing Christians who are trusting in anything they have done to make them acceptable in God’s sight have not “.. ceased from their own works”. They are not resting in Jesus Christ (Heb. 4:10). God the Holy Spirit has not revealed the perfect redeeming work of Jesus Christ to them. When the sin-atoning blood of Christ our Saviour is revealed, it purges the believer’s conscience from dead works to serve Jesus Christ, Who is the true and living God (Heb. 9:14).
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Jesus Christ is not some puny landlord over a small apartment complex, waiting for prospecting tenants to pay a required price that would allow them to take up residence. OH, NO! Jesus Christ is Lord of heaven and earth, who holds all the keys to the mansions in heaven’s glory in His Sovereign Hands. By the supreme sacrifice of Himself, Jesus Christ has paid the price in full for all those who will reside in that eternal heavenly city, whose Builder and Maker is God. Under the preaching of His Glorious Gospel, He reveals these wonderful God-honoring truths to His chosen, blood-bought children, assuring us that nothing but His perfect redeeming work will give any hell-deserving sinner any real hope of dwelling with Jesus Christ in eternal glory.
Pastor
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UNCONDITIONAL PARDON
“There was a certain man that had committed treason against his king; but for as much as the king had compassion on him, he sent him, by the hand of a faithful messenger, a pardon under his own hand and seal. But in his country where this poor man dwelt there were also many that sought to trouble him by often putting him in mind of his treason and the law that was to be executed on the offender.
Now, which way should this man so honor his king, as by believing his handwriting, which was the pardon? Certainly he would honor him more by so doing, than to regard all the clamors of his enemies continually against him,.
Just thus it is here. Thou having committed treason against the King of heaven, he, through compassion for Christ’s sake, hath sent thee a pardon. But the devil, the law, and thy conscience, do continually seek to disturb thee, by bringing thy sin afresh into thy remembrance. But how wouldst thou honor thy King? Why, he that believeth the record God hath given of his Son ‘hath set to his seal that God is true. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son” (1 John 5:11 - 12).
And therefore, my brethren, seeing God our Father hath sent to us, damnable traitors, a pardon from heaven (even all the promises of the gospel), and also hath sealed the certainty of it with the heart-blood of his dear Son, let us not be daunted, though our enemies with terrible voices do bring our former life ever so often into our remembrance.”
--John Bunyon
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“We dare not hope to be accepted with God because of anything that is in us by nature, or may be infused into us by grace; we are accepted in the Beloved, and apart from Him we look not to be accepted. Even what the Holy ghost works in us does not furnish us with any merit which we can plead, for it is a gift of grace, and no part of our justifying righteousness. We rest upon Jesus Christ crucified (His imputed righteousness, atoning blood, and mediation alone), and not upon our faith, repentance, or prayers.”
--C. H. Spurgeon
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“Jesus Christ is no security against storms, but He is a perfect security in storms. He has never promised you an easy passage, only a safe landing. Peace rules the day when Christ rules the soul.”
--William Romaine
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TRUSTING GOD, NOT MEANS
“The Lord used ravens to feed Elijah, but Elijah never thought of trusting in the ravens. If we lean on instruments instead of the hand that uses them, we bring down a curse upon ourselves, for it is written, ‘Cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm and whose heart departeth from the Lord’ (Jer. 17:5).
--Brother Scott Richardson
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We Count Them Happy Which Endure (James 5:11)
We look back at the courage, faith and patience of these believers and call them blessed! They are happy now; the glory of God rests upon them. They felt honoured to be counted worthy to suffer for Christ’s sake. Now they are glorified in Him.
“You have heard (especially) of the patience of Job in the book that bears his name. Though he was severely tried in the loss of all temporal comforts, possessions and friends, he did not murmur against God or charge Him foolishly (Job 1:21,22). You have also seen the Lord’s purpose in all this and how He richly blessed Job, for the Lord is full of pity, tenderness and mercy. The Lord loves His children and all that He brings to pass in their lives is for their eternal good (Job 42:10; Ps.111:4).
-- From Pastor Henry Mahan’s Bible Commentaries
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GRACE IS NEVER WITHOUT EFFECT
“Grace is not merely doctrine, but an unstoppable force of God. It is never without effect! We are chosen by grace with the undeniable effect that we are His. We are redeemed by grace with the certain effect that we are free. We are called by grace with the inescapable effect that we come to Him. We are preserved by grace with the inevitable effect that we shall be with Him forever.”
Pastor Joe Terrell
