WELCOME TO RESCUE BAPTIST CHURCH
Sunday Morning, December 20, 2015
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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
“Faith Is The Victory” Page 486
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SCRIPTURE READING
Psalm 119:113 - 128
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OFFERTORY
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WORSHIP HYMN
“Tis So Sweet To Trust In Jesus” Page 350
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SPECIAL MUSIC
To be announced.
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Message Title
“God‘s Gift Of Faith To His Elect”
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CLOSING HYMN
“My Faith Has Found a Resting Place” Page 405
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Saved by grace
--Ephesians 2:8 - 10--
“One of the great texts on salvation by the grace of God is Ephesians 2:8 - 10. The apostle Paul, writing under divine inspiration, says, ‘For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.’ In these three verses of Scripture Paul tells us how God saves sinners, why he save sinners the way he does and what the sure results of God’s saving grace is.
How does God save sinners? ‘By grace are ye saved through faith.’ Salvation, front start to finish, is the work of God’s free grace in Christ. Grace planned the way of salvation by the substitutionary sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace chose those who would be saved in eternal election. Grace brought the Lord Jesus Christ down from heaven to die in our place at Calvary. Grace calls sinners to Christ by irresistible power. Grace gives us life. Grace preserves us in life. And grace will present us holy and without blame before the presence of his glory in heaven. All the many blessings of grace in salvation come to all of God’s elect ‘through faith’. Faith is not our savior. Christ alone is the Savior of his people. But faith in Christ is essential to salvation. Each of God’s elect look to Christ in faith and receive salvation. Each of God’s elect look to Christ in faith and receive salvation from him. Faith is the channel through which salvation comes. ‘And that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.’ Paul is telling us that grace is the gift of God, salvation is the gift of God and faith is the gift of God. None of these things are to be attributed to us. We believe according to the working of God’s mighty power within us. Faith is not the work of the sinner. It is the work of God in the sinner.”
‘Grace For Today’, written by Pastor Don Fortner (Excerpt)
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Jesus Only
“Do not keep back from Christ under the idea that you must come to him in a disinterested frame, and from an unselfish motive. If you were right in this thing, who could be saved? You are to come as you are; with all your bad motives, whatever these may be. Take all your bad motives, add them to the number of your sins, and bring them all to the altar where the great sacrifice is lying. Go to the mercy seat. Tell the High Priest there, not what you desire to be, nor what you ought to be, but what you are. Tell him the honest truth as to your condition at this moment. Confess the impurity of your motives; all the evil that you feel or that you don't feel; your hard-heartedness, your blindness, your unteachableness. Confess everything without reserve. He wants you to come to Him exactly as you are, and not to cherish the vain thought that, by a little waiting, or working, or praying, you can make yourself fit, or persuade Him to make you fit.
‘But I am not satisfied with my faith’, you say. No truly. Nor are you ever likely to be so. At least I should hope not. If you wait for this before you take peace, you will wait till life is done. It would appear that you want to believe in your own faith, in order to obtain rest to your soul. The Bible does not say, ‘Being satisfied about our faith, we have peace with God’, but ‘Being justified by faith, we have peace with God’. and between these two things there is a wonderful difference. Satisfaction with Jesus and his work, not satisfaction with your own faith, is what God expects of you. ‘I am satisfied with Christ’, you say. Are you? Then you are a believing man; and what more do you wish? Is not satisfaction with Christ enough for you or for any sinner? Nay, and is not this the truest kind of faith? To be satisfied with Christ, is faith in Christ. To be satisfied with his blood, is faith in his blood. Do not bewilder yourself, or allow others to bewilder you. Be assured that the very essence of faith is being satisfied with Christ and his sin-bearing work; ask no more questions about faith, but go upon your way rejoicing, as one to whom Christ is all.”
--Horatius Bonar
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
Our monthly Music & Testimony Night is scheduled for this evening.
We will come to The Lord’s Table during our worship service this evening, Lord willing.
Our Friday Night Bible studies have been cancelled until after the holidays.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND A VERY HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON.
****** Cleaning duty this week: Gene & Judy Harmon ******
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SUGGESTED BIBLE READINGS FOR THIS WEEK
Monday Wednesday Friday
Exodus 26 Psalm 70 John 5
Exodus 27 Psalm 71 John 6
Exodus 28 Psalm 72 John 7
2 Corinthians 10 2 Corinthians 11 2 Corinthians 12
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Self-righteous, false religionists rest their eternal hope on their choice of a Jesus that doesn’t even remotely resemble the Christ of Holy Scripture. The Lord’s enlightened children rest their eternal hope on God who chose us in His Christ before the foundation of the world,. The same Jesus, Who, by the supreme sacrifice of Himself, obtained eternal redemption for us (Eph. 1:3 - 4; Heb. 9:12).
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT
If Jesus Christ, by Himself, purged the sins of His people (Heb. 1:3; 10:14), those sins were forever removed from God’s sight when the Lamb of God laid down His life for His sheep. Under the preaching of His Gospel, God the Holy Spirit gives His enlightened children faith to believe that Jesus Christ ransomed us with His own precious blood, paying the redemption price in full for all our sins. So much so, that not one thing can be laid to the charge of God’s elect (Rom. 8:32 - 33).
Pastor
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“The difference between believing doctrine alone and believing on Christ, is the difference between reading a cookbook and eating. I know that you must hear of Christ in order to believe on Him, but by the grace of God, through faith in Him, may we taste and see that the Lord is good.”
Pastor Chris Cunningham
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THE BONDAGE OF THE WILL
“And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life” (John 5:40).
“The WILL of man is so affected, influenced and in bondage to sin that I wonder how anyone could ever refer to it as FREE. The Holy Scriptures are very explicit about the will of fallen and dead sinners. The will of the natural man is the same as the will of a dead man. It is non-existent.
Upon taking an inventory of my will, I see that I will not come to Christ that I might have life (John 5:40). I see that I will not have the God-man, Jesus Christ, to reign over me (Luke 19:14). I see that God had to make me WILLING in the day of His power and grace, before I would ever repent of my sin that was against Him only (Psalms 110:3; Psalms 51:4). Truly that WILL in which religious men and women are so proud, is but imaginary. Please allow me to reiterate. One who is dead in trespasses and sins can have NO WILL, especially one that is FREE. If the Lord WILLS, I WILL put my trust in a ‘WILL’, but it certainly will not be in my WILL! I trust in the sovereign WILL of God Almighty. I rejoice that He said, ‘I WILL have mercy on whom I WILL have mercy’ (Romans 9:15). Because of that promise, I have confidence and assurance that it is His will to have mercy on some. In Christ, I have great hope and assurance that He has had mercy upon me. I am eternally grateful that God was WILLING to save and that Christ was WILLING to die for UNWILLING wretches like you and me.”
Pastor David Eddmenson
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“.. as many as received him (Jesus Christ), to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12 - 13).
“Straying from Christ and his cross is the single greatest cause for all of the inconsistencies and errors in our thinking, speaking, writing, preaching, and living. If we plant the feet of our hearts firmly upon Christ and him crucified, our thinking, speaking, writing, preaching, and living will greatly improve.”
Pastor Frank Hall
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“Those who are so foolish as to allow ANYTHING IN THEIR LIFE to cause them to renounce their faith in Christ and neglect their duty and privileges as children of the living God will, like Esau, someday weep with bitter tears when it is beyond their power to recover what is lost. Guard against apostasy and fleshly appetites; guard against neglecting worship and daily communion with the Lord; guard against unwholesome companions and worldly social contacts; guard against covetousness and materialism lest you come, at last, to mourn bitterly your foolishness and wickedness.
We have entered A RACE. The prize goes to those who FINISH (Heb. 10:35-39). There will be difficult times, perhaps heavy trials; and along the way there will be tempting pastures of pleasure, which appeal to the flesh. We must go on! We may proceed rapidly or slowly; we may even stumble and fall; but, looking to Christ, we continue. I have a responsibility TO MY LORD and to the gospel of His grace. Neither the smiles nor the frowns of the world will cause me to surrender what I believe. I have a responsibility to the church, my brothers, my family, and to those whose lives I touch. By His grace, I must not allow anything to cause me to quit the race nor fail to see it through.
In 50 years of pastoring and preaching, I have seen many runners in this race. Those who finish and are crowned with glory are those who CONTINUE FAITHFUL! They lay aside the weights and sins which hinder; they look neither BACK to Egypt which they have left nor AROUND at others who profess to run, but only FORWARD to Christ, their goal. They do not always maintain the same pace, for sometimes the track is smooth and sometimes it is rocky or muddy; but they are always moving in the same direction. ‘I shall be satisfied when I awake with Thy likeness.’ “
Pastor Henry Mahan
