t                   oPastor John and wife Kathy  
 

 
 

Preaching God's Sovereign, Electing Grace   

 

RESCUE BAPTIST CHURCH

Sunday May 3, 2020

Psalm 93: 1-5

The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved. Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting. The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves. The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea. Thy testimonies are very sure: holiness becometh thine house, O LORD, forever. 

WELCOME TO RESCUE BAPTIST CHURCH

Sunday May 3, 2020

SCHEDULED MEETINGS

Sunday Morning Bible Study   10:00 AM  Simon Peter an Apsotle of Christ

Sunday Morning Worship    11:00 AM

Friday Night Bible Study        7:30 PM

_________________________ ________________________

OPENING HYMN

Come Thou Almighty King   page 267

_________________________ ________________________

SCRIPTURE READING

PSALMS 29

_________________________ ________________________

OFFERTORY

_________________________ ________________________

WORSHIP HYMN

I Am His and He Is Mine   page 490

_________________________ ________________________

MESSAGE

Not of This World

_________________________ ________________________

CLOSING HYMN

The Way of The Cross Leads Home   page 471

SUGGESTED SCRIPTURE READING FOR THE WEEK

Sunday 2Cor 4-5     Monday Ex 17-20     Tuesday 2Sam 5-9

Wednesday Ps 51-53     Thursday Job 35-36

                     Friday Jer 27-31            Saturday Mark 15-16
 

“The everlasting covenant” (Hebrews 13:20 - 21).

   We delight and take comfort in the fact that the Lord our God has established for us a covenant ordered in all things and sure.  Its blessings upon the Israel of God, the church of Christ, are innumerable (Jer. 31:31-34; Heb. 8: 10; 10: 16-17).  In our text, the apostle Paul tells us four things about the covenant of God's grace.

1.     Jesus Christ is the central figure in this covenant.  The covenant of, grace is an eternal agreement between the three persons of the sacred Trinity for the salvation of God's elect.  But at the heart and foundation of the covenant is 'our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep'.  According to the Father's command, the great Shepherd agreed to die for his sheep and assumed the responsibility of bringing them all safe to heaven. Because of Christ's covenant engagements on our behalf, the Lord God says of his elect, 'Deliver him from going down into the pit, for I have found a ransom!'  God the Father says of his Son, 'I have laid help upon one that is mighty!'

2.     This covenant was sealed and ratified by the blood of Christ (Heb. 9:15-17).  Having fulfilled everything agreed upon in the covenant, the Son of God sealed it with his blood.  Now the covenant has the force of a will or testament. The inheritance of the crucified Christ must be given to his redeemed, believing people.

3.     This is a covenant that cannot be broken.  It is everlasting, and therefore immutable. All who were given to Christ were redeemed by Christ, will come to Christ and will be raised again at the last day!  God promised it.  He swore by his holy name that he would do it!  And it will be done!

4.     God has so arranged things in the covenant of grace that he       will get all the glory of it.  His glory he will not share with another.  He must have the glory exclusively.  He must have the glory eternally.  Let us give him the glory now.  'Not unto us, not unto us, O Lord, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and thy truth's sake!'

                                                                                                                                               Pastor Don Fortner

Who is your God?

  “A god who does not have to perform all the work in salvation is a man-made god made to make man god.  The man who esteems himself as only partly helpless always worships a god who partly saves.  So long as the natural heart is that god, a man has not the necessary revelation to begin to comprehend the divine attributes which his god lacks.

    The glory of God is holiness.  He is complete.  He does not need man.  Man adds nothing to his glory nor can man diminish his glory.  God is the beginning.  All things are made by him and for him.  Holy God is satisfied with nothing but what he creates in perfect holiness.  Therefore God alone puts away a man's sin; God alone creates new life in a man; God alone defends and shields a man; God alone ordains and strengthens a man to perform the works he has foreordained; God alone draws the spirit of a man out of his dead flesh; God alone creates glorified flesh after the grave so that the body and spirit of a man are perfected in righteous to live eternally with the righteous God.

     A god who in part depends upon man is no greater than the man who created him.  Only when we begin to behold the God who purposed and successfully reveals his glory through the fall and salvation of creatures opposed to him have, we truly begun to behold the preeminent Wisdom who is the great I AM.

    ‘Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist’ (Colossians 1: 12 -17.)”

                                                                         Pastor Clay Curtis

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

·       A short commune service following this morning’s message

 

In Christ’s loving memory

 

Donald S Fortner

June 10, 1950 – April 29, 2020
 

Our condolences to the family

  “Suppose a man should say to you, ‘I will not open my store today because I do not know if God has decreed that I should sell my goods, or do not know if God has ordained anyone to buy from me." Suppose that he added, "I shall neither eat nor drink this month, for God has fixed the length of my life and I shall die at the appointed time.’   Would you not conclude that the man was either mentally ill or a total fool? EVEN SO, the man who declares, ‘There is no need to search the Scriptures, seek the Lord, nor strive to enter the kingdom of God; for if I am elected and ordained to life, I will be saved’, IS ALSO A FOOL!  It is true ‘the election of grace hath obtained’, and ‘as many as were ordained to eternal life believed’; but let me tell you, in the matter of seeking the Lord, repenting toward God, and believing on Christ, you have no more concern with the secret counsels and purposes of God than you have in the length or quality of your life on earth. DO WHAT GOD COMMANDS YOU TO DO; believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, reach out (like the weary woman) and touch the Lord, cry out for mercy like Bartimaeus of old, and THEN YOU SHALL KNOW YOUR ELECTION OF GOD. ‘God maketh rich and God maketh poor’; but the man who draws the paycheck is the man who goes faithfully to work; the man who enjoys eternal glory is the man who goes, believing, to Jesus Christ.”

                                                                    Pastor Henry Mahan

  “Are We Really Thankful in all things and for all things (1 Thess. 5:18; Eph. 5:20)?  Do we really thank God for our salvation?  For His Unspeakable Gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ, Who, by Himself, purged our sins; Who obtained eternal redemption for us, for His chosen people (Heb. 1:3; 9:12; John 17:1 - 3)?  Those who attribute any part of God’s salvation to the works of the flesh are not grateful to God for the salvation of their immortal soul.  Rather, they are patting themselves on their sinful backs and thanking themselves for what they have done.  Those who think they have lifted one of their polluted fingers to the perfect work of the Great Three-in-One in the salvation of His chosen, blood-bought people are only deceiving themselves.  They are still in their sins, and will die in their sins, unless God the Holy Spirit is pleased to raise them from their state of spiritual deadness, revealing Christ in them and to them (John 6:63; Eph. 2:1 - 9; Gal.1:15 - 16; Matt. 11:25 - 26).  Brethren, God’s name is Jealous and He will not share His glory with anyone or anything (Exodus 34:14; Isaiah 42:8; 1 Cor. 1:26 - 31).  The hope of every true believer is Christ and only Christ.  Our Lord Jesus said, “The Father loveth the Son, and hath given ALL THINGS into his hand.  He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him (John 3:35 - 36).  We MUST believe on Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God.  We MUST believe that He who suffered and died for His people is NOW on His sovereign throne in heaven.  We MUST believe that God the Father has put ALL THINGS into the hands of His Darling Son, that He has put ALL THINGS under His feet.  When God our Father gave us His Son, He gave us all things that pertain unto life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3).  Believing on Jesus Christ is the work of God (John 6:29).  Faith in Jesus Christ is God’s gift to His people (Eph. 2:8; Heb. 12:2).  Once again, Are We Really Thankful to God for ALL THINGS?  ‘He that spared not His own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us ALL THINGS?’  ‘For it pleased the Father that in him (in Christ) should all fulness dwell’ (Col. 1:19).  If we have Christ, WE HAVE EVERYTHING - WE HAVE IT ALL.  It is only fitting, then, that we show forth the praises of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9 - 10).”

                                                                        Pastor Gene Harmon

“If God be for us...”

--Romans 8:31— 

  “What a glorious thought!  Is it possible?  Can it be true that the eternal, omnipotent, all-wise, incomprehensible God, in the Trinity of his sacred persons, is for us?  Let that once be established as a fact, both of revelation and experience, and all fear must vanish from our hearts.  ‘If God be for us, who can be against us?’   Who can with success oppose those for whom the Almighty is engaged?

Now here is the glorious fact of the matter concerning those who love God and are the called according to his purpose: God is for us!  God is absolutely sovereign in all things.  He has dominion over all the universe (Ps. 115:3; Dan. 4:34-37; Isa. 4:5-7; Prov. 21:1; Rom. 11:36). 

    This God is for us in his sovereign, providence working all things together for our good (Rom. 8:28). Everything in the universe is being manipulated by God to accomplish good for his elect.  The wise man said, ‘There shall no evil happen unto the just’ (Prov. 12:21).  That is to say, nothing shall work against God’s elect.  There is no limitation to the promise.

    But that is not all, God is for us in his saving purpose (Rom. 8:29-30).  Notice that each verb is in the past tense.  According to God’s own purpose and decree, our salvation is an accomplished reality in Christ.  He knew us in electing love, predestinated us to be his sons, called us his own, justified us in his purpose and glorified us in Christ.  This is God’s purpose for all his elect, and his purpose will be done.

    Once more, God is for us in his substitutionary provision (v.32). In order that he might justly save us, according to his own purpose God spared not his own Son. Everything agreed upon in the covenant of grace Christ had to endure.  He was not spared the strict requirements of righteousness or the infinite wrath of justice.

 He was delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God to die as our Substitute.  Now, surely, this great and merciful God, who gave his own Son for us, will freely give us all things.  What then shall we fear?”

                                                                       Pastor Don Fortner

Sunday May 10, 2020

1 Corinthians 13:6-13

Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.  Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.  For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. 

 SCHEDULED MEETINGS

Sunday Morning Bible Study         10:00 AM Simon Peter an Apostle of Christ 

Sunday Morning Worship              11:00 AM

Friday Night Bible Study                  7:30 PM

 

OPENING HYMN

A Shelter In The Time Of Storm Page 353

_________________________ ________________________

SCRIPTURE READING

PSALMS 30

_________________________ ________________________

OFFERTORY

_________________________ ________________________

WORSHIP HYMN

Great Is Thy Faithfulness Page 43

_________________________ ________________________ 

MESSAGE

END TIMES

_________________________ ________________________

CLOSING HYMN

Amazing Grace Page 202 

SUGGESTED SCRIPTURE READING FOR THE WEEK

Sunday II Cor 6-8      Monday Exo 21-24      Tuesday II Sam 10-14

Wednesday Psalms 54-56     Thursday Job 37-38

                  Friday Jer 32-36                  Saturday Luke 1-2
 

'He abideth faithful'

(2 Timothy 2:13)

  “Meditate today upon the faithfulness of God.  It will be good medicine for your soul. ‘It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.  They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.  The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.  The Lord is good to them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him’ (Lam. 3:22-25).  Child of God, in great faithfulness to us, the Lord our God has loaded us with all the benefits of his grace and mercy.

    He chose us in eternal love.  Before the world began, God loved us and determined to save us.  He made for us a covenant.  Through Christ Jesus our Head and Representative, God bestowed upon us all the blessings of his grace (Eph. 1:3-6).

    In the fulness of time he redeemed us by the blood of Christ. ‘Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins’ (I John 4: 10).

    Then ‘According to his mercy he saved us’ (Titus 3:5). At the time appointed, God sent his Spirit to us.  He gave us life and faith in Christ. Yes, in Christ,

'There's pardon for transgressions past: It matters not how black their cast. And, Oh, my soul, with wonder view, For sins to come there's pardon too!’  

    Here is another great benefit of grace: the Lord Jesus Christ is continually making intercession for us.  The Son of God ever bears our names before the Father, pleading the merits of his own blood and righteousness for our eternal salvation.  We need never fear wrath and condemnation from God, because ‘We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins’ (I John 2:1-2).

    Now add to all of these things God's wise and adorable providence on our behalf.  God our Saviour so rules all things in providence that all things are benefits of grace to our souls!”

                                                                  Pastor Don Fortner

Sunday May 17, 2020

Isaiah 12:2

Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and      my song; he also is become my salvation.

SCHEDULED MEETINGS

Sunday Morning Bible Study       10:00 AM Simon Peter an Apostle of Christ

Sunday Morning Worship             11:00 AM

Friday Night Bible Study                  7:30 PM

_________________________ ________________________

OPENING HYMN

THERE IS A FOUNTAIN Page 196

_________________________ ________________________

SCRIPTURE READING

PSALMS 31

_________________________ ________________________

OFFERTORY

_________________________ ________________________

WORSHIP HYMN

WHAT A WONDEREFUL SAVIOUR Page 81

_________________________ ________________________

MESSAGE

SERVANTS OF JESUS CHRIST”

(part 1)

_________________________ ________________________

CLOSING HYMN

PRAISE HIM! PRAISE HIM! Page 106

SUGGESTED SCRIPTURE READING FOR THE WEEK

Sunday II Cor 9-10    Monday Exo 25-28

Tuesday II Sam 15-19      Wednesday Psalms 57-59

Thursday Job 39-40    Friday Jer 37-41    Saturday Luke 3-4
ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

Our church clean-up day is scheduled for June 20th 9 AM

_________________________________________________

FEAR NOT

Without a doubt a world-crisis is at hand, and everywhere men are alarmed. But God is not! He is never taken by surprise. It is no unexpected emergency which now confronts Him, for He is the One who “worketh all things after the counsel of His own will” (Ephesians 1v11). Hence, though the world is panic-stricken, the word to the believer is, “Fear not”! “All things” are subject to His immediate control: “all things” are moving in accord with His eternal purpose, and therefore, “all things” are “working together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” It must be so, for “of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things” (Romans 11v36). Yet how little is this realized today even by the people of God! Many suppose that He is little more than a far-distant Spectator, taking no immediate hand in the affairs of earth. It is true that man has a will, but so also has God. It is true that man is endowed with power, but God is all-powerful. It is true that, speaking generally, the material world is regulated by law, but behind that law is the law-Giver and law-Administrator. Man is but the creature. God is the Creator, and endless ages before man first saw the light “the mighty God” (Isaiah 9v6) existed, and ere the world was founded, made His plans; and being infinite in power and man only finite, His purpose and plan cannot be withstood or thwarted by the creatures of His own hands.

                                                              - A.W. Pink (written in 1930)

_________________________________________________

If 99% of salvation is by grace, then salvation is 100% by works. If any aspect of salvation is dependent upon man doing his part in order for God’s part to be fulfilled, then salvation is of man, and not of the Lord. Works and grace cannot be mixed. They are mutually exclusive. The belief that God loves all, Christ died for all, the Holy Spirit calls all, but salvation is dependent upon man’s acceptance or rejection of God’s offer of salvation is just as much salvation by works as believing you are saved by your law-keeping or baptism. It still leaves salvation ultimately dependent upon man and leaves him a ground for boasting.
But the fact of the matter is salvation is 100% by grace. Everybody who is saved by grace knows that. It is only those who do not know the grace of God that will leave any wiggle room for human works.

                                                                                 -Todd Nibert

Sunday May 24, 2020

ISAIAH 53:10 & 11

Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. 

 

SCHEDULED MEETINGS

Sunday Morning Bible Study     10:00 AM Simon Peter an Apostle of Christ

Sunday Morning Worship      11:00 AM

Friday Night Bible Study     7:30 PM

OPENING HYMN

IT TOOK A MIRACLE   page 524

_________________________ ________________________

SCRIPTURE READING

PSALMS 32

_________________________ ________________________

OFFERTORY

_________________________ _______________________

WORSHIP HYMN

WONDERFUL GRACE OF JESUS   page 198

_________________________ ________________________ 

MESSAGE

“Grace & Peace”

_______________________________________________

CLOSING HYMN

IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL   page 493

SUGGESTED SCRIPTURE READING FOR THE WEEK

Sunday II Cor 11-13      Monday Exo 29-32

Tuesday II Sam 20-24     Wednesday Psalms 60-62

Thursday Job 41-42     Friday Jer 42-46      Saturday Luke 5-6


THE GROUNDS OF SALVATION IS MERCY

  “In the year that king Ahaz died, the LORD sent Isaiah forth with the message of the destruction of all his enemies.  We find it in Isaiah 13 and 14.  But in Isaiah 14: 1 the LORD declares why he brings this judgment upon his enemies, ‘For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob.’

    The nation of Israel was typical and representative of the church and kingdom of God.  We who believe are the sons of Jacob, the Israel of God, the people of God’s covenant (Rom. 3:28, 29; Gal. 3:7 - 9; 6:15, 16; Philip. 3:3.)  Believers became God's children, not by our believing, but by the grace of God (Rom. 8:29 - 31; 9:7 -16; Gal. 4:6.)  Having chosen us in Christ in eternal election, as the objects of his mercy, God will never turn from us to do us good. ‘He will yet choose Israel.’ (Jer. 31:3; Isaiah 49:16 - 19.)  

    Therefore, in the midst of pronouncing this awful judgment upon the world, the LORD of covenant mercy tells us that the reason God's judgment shall come to pass is because the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel (v1.)  

    From start to finish, the salvation of every believer is due only to the mercy and grace of our sovereign God.”                 Pastor Clay Curtis

 

MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT (II COR. 12:9)

   “OUR LORD DECLARES, his graces is sufficient.  Although this verse is not a question, we must ask ourselves ‘Do I believe it?’

Is Gods grace able to get me through whatever trial, whatever temptation and whatever weakness I may be experiencing?  Is God’s grace all I need or must I also do something?  I believe this is the war that goes on between my flesh and my spirit that is spoken of in (II Cor.10:3).  Oh how often I think I can change the tide of something by my own doing.  Could Joseph do anything about his situation when his brothers sold him into slavery?  We do not know what he may have thought of at the time his brothers turned against him, but we do know what he thought in the end (Gen 50:20). His brothers thought evil against him but God meant it for good.  Our Lord JESUS is the good Sheppard: He leads us through the troubled waters.  We trust and believe, because HIS GRACE IS SUFFICIENT.  When we have fallen to our lowest weakness, when we see we can do nothing, when we feel there is nothing left to lean on, God’s grace shows us His strength. GOD’S GRACE IS SUFFICIENT. HIS STRENGTH IS MADE PERFECT IN MY WEAKNESS.”                                  John Reeves