t                   oPastor John and wife Kathy  
 

 
 

Preaching God's Sovereign, Electing Grace   

RESCUE BAPTIST CHURCH


WELCOME TO RESCUE BAPTIST CHURCH 

Sunday Morning, March 11, 2018

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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

 

  “I Am His, And He Is Mine”                                            Page 490

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SCRIPTURE READING

 

    Psalm 75

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OFFERTORY

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WORSHIP HYMN

 

  “He Keeps Me Singing”                                                   Page 488

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SPECIAL MUSIC

 

    To be announced.

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Message Title

 

  “His Name Shall Be Called The Prince of Peace”

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CLOSING HYMN

 

  “It Is Well With My Soul”                                             Page 493

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The Effectual Preacher

  “The Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings” (Isaiah 61:1). “These words prophetically describe one great work of the Lord Jesus Christ: he was to come as a preacher.  Not only is the eternal Son of God the author of the gospel and the subject of the gospel, he is the only effectual preacher of the gospel.  He is ‘the messenger of the covenant’.  Through his incarnation and death, he created the gospel and it is he who effectually preaches the gospel.

     Christ proclaimed the gospel through the prophets of the Old Testament, in anticipation of his atoning sacrifice.  They were his mouthpieces.  It was he who went and preached to Noah’s disobedient generation, when the longsuffering of God waited while the ark was being prepared.  When those holy men of old ‘prophesied of the grace that should come’, it was ‘the Spirit of Christ within them’ testifying ‘beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow’.

    During his life upon the earth, our Lord proclaimed the gospel of the kingdom of God, of the love of the heavenly Father for his wayward child and of God’s anointed King.  It was Christ who condescended ‘to seek and save that which was lost’.   He went to the publicans and sinners, the dregs of society, and proclaimed God’s redeeming mercy.  Christ himself brought the good news of salvation to the Samaritans.

    After his resurrection, it was Christ who commanded his disciples in all ages to proclaim the gospel to every creature, promising the power of his presence.  It was Christ who poured out his Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, through the merits of his death and resurrection.  It was Christ who preached the gospel to Saul of Tarsus.  And every true preacher today speaks in Christ’s name.  Rather, Christ preaches through him as his ambassador.  Every true gospel preacher can say with Paul, ‘We pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.’

    We preach, but Christ alone preaches effectually.  He created the gospel, is the theme of the gospel, and in truth he is the one and only preacher of the gospel.  He applies the gospel irresistibly by the Holy Spirit.  When Christ preaches, salvation comes.”

 Pastor Don Fortner

 

O WHAT A WRETCHED THING THIS FLESH IS!

“O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

– Romans 7:24 - 25--

          “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.”

– Galatians 5:17--

       “Oh what a wretched thing this flesh is!  It is the residence of corruption, unbelief, hate, deceit, and every other evil known to man. Who would want such neighbors living next to them.  Yet, these vile tenants are not mere neighbors to the believer. No, they are much closer than mere neighbors: they occupy the same duplex.  The believer is of two natures joined into one person: flesh and spirit. Spiritually, he is a new man, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.  But he still possesses the same flesh he was born with, and the same ‘people’ live there.  These occupants of the fleshly side of our ‘duplex’ are not considerate at all, having no respect whatsoever for the occupants of the spiritual side of the duplex. No sooner does the spirit mow the grass and weed the flower bed than the flesh dumps a bag of stinking garbage on the lawn.  No sooner does the spirit sit down for an evening of quiet reflection and prayer than the flesh will throw a party, turning up the stereo of vile thoughts.  Neither side of the duplex will ever find full satisfaction, nor there be any compromise.  It will be a constant state of war for as long as the believer lives in this flesh.  No wonder Paul wrote, ‘O, wretched man that I am.’  Thanks to God through Christ, He shall someday throw out the occupants on the other side, knock down the wall that separates the two sides, and the fruit of the Spirit, the occupants of the believer's soul, shall reside in BOTH sides, in one harmonious household!”

Pastor Joe Terrell 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

  • Following this morning’s message, Jessica Lopez will give a public testimony of her faith in Jesus Christ by obeying her Lord’s command to get baptized.
  • Our monthly Music & Testimony Night is scheduled for this evening commencing at 6:30 pm.

******  Cleaning duty this week:  John and Kathy Reeves ******

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SUGGESTED BIBLE READINGS FOR THIS WEEK

Monday                          Wednesday                     Friday

Psalm 14                         Matthew 23                     2 Peter 3

Psalm 15                         Matthew 24                     1 John 1

Psalm 16                         Matthew 25                     1 John 2

Psalm 17                         Matthew 26                     1 John 3

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“Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect?”  Why would anyone deny the doctrine of election?  God sent His Son to redeem His chosen people.  God Himself has justified His elect (Rom. 8:32 - 33).  God sees no sin in His chosen people, His elect, those Jesus Christ laid down His life for (Heb. 8:12; 10:14 - 17).  “Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace (Rom. 11:5).  Instead of denying the doctrine of election, sinners should be doing what ever they can to make their calling and election sure (2 Peter 1:10).

                                                                                                            

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

When a chosen, blood-bought child of God experiences the miracle of the new birth, the old nature he comes into this world with doesn’t get any better.  IT CAN’T!  IT IS NOTHING BUT SIN!  When, under the preaching of His Glorious Gospel, God sends the Spirit of His Son into the child of His love, He makes us partakers of His divine nature (2 Peter 1:4).  That nature doesn’t get any better,  IT CAN’T!  IT’S PERFECT!  Those two natures are contrary to each other.  As long as true followers of Jesus Christ are in the flesh, that old nature will be at war with the new nature, causing us to do things that we shouldn’t do, trying to keep us from doing things we know we should do (Gal. 5:17; Rom. 7:18 - 20).  OH!  BLESSED PROMISE FROM GOD HIMSELF:  “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.  ...” (Rom. 7:24 - 25).

                                                                                                        Pastor

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 The First Message of the Cross

  “Almost everybody in America is a church member, but they don’t think that God will punish sin. They sleep well at night, because they don’t believe that God will punish sin. They don’t let their church membership interfere with their daily living, because they don’t believe that God will punish sin. Talk to them about Jesus dying on the cross and they are not interested, because they don’t believe that God will punish sin. And, of course, nobody will be interested in whether Christ did anything for him on the cross until he believes that God will punish sin. There is no use to apply a remedy to this generation; this generation does not need its sins forgiven, for they don’t think there is any punishment awaiting them. What they need to hear is the first message of that bloody cross of my Lord — God will punish sin!  Every time they nailed those nails into the flesh of the Son of God, every stroke of the hammer was saying, ‘God will punish sin!’  ‘God will punish sin!’  ‘God will punish sin!’

Evangelist Rolfe Barnard

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THE GREATEST BLESSING 

  “An old timer wrote: ‘My friend, you may think to live very well without Christ, but death will be unbearable without Him.  You are confident and secure at present, but death will destroy your confidence.  Your tree is fair and secure now, but when the wind comes, if your root is not in the Rock of Ages, down your tree must come forever.  You think these worldly pleasures and ways of the flesh are so good; but when your years increase and you reach the bottom of this poisoned bowl, they will be as bitter as wormwood; and worse than gall shall be the daintiest of your drinks.’

    When I read this, I gave thanks to our Lord for delivering us from THIS BODY OF DEATH through our Lord Jesus Christ, and old age and death are no longer to be feared but DESIRED; that death is no longer LOSS of life and joy, but GAIN of eternal life and glory.  While we mourn the temporary absence of our dear loved ones whom the Lord has been pleased to take to glory, we do not sorrow as those who have no hope; for we know, ‘Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His people’ (Psalms 116:15), and leaving this world and going to be with Christ is the GREATEST BLESSING of blessings!”

Pastor Henry Mahan

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  “If the speaker knows his heart at all, there are two things with which he is eminently and forever satisfied.  One is that he is satisfied with his salvation, which he has through faith in Christ.  He is satisfied with WHAT JESUS CHRIST DID AT CALVARY when He put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.  He is so satisfied that he would not add so much as the lift of his finger to what Jesus Christ did at Calvary as the ground of his acceptance with God.  The second thing with what he is satisfied is THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD IN HIS LIFE.  The way has not always been plain, nor has it always been pleasant; but we believe that God’s way with us has been profitable to us and to His glory.”

--C. D. Cole

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LET US NOT BE DISCOURAGED 

  “We preach the gospel of God’s sovereign, free grace in Christ Jesus the Lord; that salvation is in Christ alone, by grace alone, through faith alone, according to the word alone.  For the most part, the message is rejected, but do not be discouraged, it has ever been so!  Elijah thought he was the only one left who believed God; Isaiah wrote, ‘Who hath believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?’  When the Lord Himself preached in His hometown of Nazareth, the people marveled at His gracious words when He spoke of the blessings, but when He spoke of sovereign mercy, they tried to kill Him!  The Apostle Paul was accused of being a pestilent fellow, a mover of sedition, the ringleader of a sect and was imprisoned for preaching the gospel.  But remember, it is written: “The word of God is not bound’, ‘My word shall not fail’ and ‘This is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you’.”

Pastor Charles Pennington

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  “Either the Lord Jesus was made sin for us and our sins were transferred to him, or he did not really bear the consequences and effects of them. I mean by that, either he was made sin for us and our sins were transferred to him, or he did not bear the penalty of them.”

Pastor Don Fortner