April 19, 2020
SOVEREIGN GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH
MEETING LOCATION
251
Green Lane
Ewing,
NJ, 08368
Clay
Curtis, pastor
Telephone:
615-513-4464
Clay@FreeGraceMedia.com
MAILING ADDRESS:
7
Birch Street
Pennington,
NJ, 08538
Schedule of Services
Sunday
10: 15 AM Bible Class
Sunday
11:00 AM Morning Service
Thursday
7: 30 PM Midweek Service
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NURSERY
We
have a nursery equipped with a digital flat screen television broadcasting all
services live, for children four and under.
All articles by the pastor unless
otherwise noted.
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SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE WEBSITE: The
videos are now listed as individual sermons, as well as full services—click
here.
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
·
Until further
notice our online live broadcast begins each Sunday at 9am
·
No Friday night
bible classes until further notice.
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
· Until further notice our online live broadcast begins
each Sunday at 9am.
· No Friday night bible classes until further
notice.
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Proverbs 14:27: The fear of the LORD is
a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.
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SWIFT TO HEAR
One of the worst places a child of God can be is when he thinks that
everything preached, everything written, is directed at him personally. The devil has a heyday when that is the
case. It feeds our flesh. It makes us ignore the very thing we need
most—the word of God. Therefore, if I
find myself in that place let me ask myself a few questions about what is
preached and written. One, is it true
according to God’s word? Two, is it
preached and written in love with my best interest and the best interest of my
brethren at heart? If the answer to those
first two questions is yes then let me ask myself this third question, why am I
offended? Could it be that it is not my
brother who is preaching or writing to me but rather God? If so am I better off to disregard the word
or am I better off to hear and believe?
The devil is real foe. He would
like nothing better than for us to disregard the word of God. I wonder if the brethren thought it was merely
the apostle James writing to them or did they receive it as it is in truth the
word of Christ who says to us, “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every
man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: for the wrath of man
worketh not the righteousness of God” (Ja 1: 19-20).
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CHRIST’S LOVE FOR US
Our Lord Jesus Christ vowed to God in the
covenant of grace to love his bride everlastingly. When we trespassed in Adam, Christ loved us. When
we came forth speaking lies, Christ loved us. All the days of our rebellion,
Christ loved us. When we tried to resist his call, Christ loved us. Every day
since, though we sin against him, Christ loves us. No sinner redeemed by Christ’s precious blood
shall ever reach a point where God says, “You have sinned too much: no more
mercy, no more forgiveness for you.” He continues
to love us, continues to shower us in mercy, continues to forgive us without
limit for the sake of Christ. This is
one reason our merciful Lord Jesus teaches us to forgive one another without
limit (Mt 18: 21-35). It is one reason
Christ says, “If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will
also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your
Father forgive your trespasses” (Mt 6:14-15). Knowing how far our sins against God surpasses
the sins of others against us and knowing how God unceasingly showers us in mercy
and free forgiveness for Christ’s sake, nothing could be more reasonable. This is the love of Christ that constrains us
to love one another by rejoicing in mercy rather than judgment.
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LIFELOCK
“At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father,
and ye in me, and I in you.” John 14:20
Recently I received an advertisement from a
company called “LifeLock.” It is a company that provides security against
“identity theft.” Identity theft has undoubtedly become a real issue and
problem in today’s world. Crooks and thieves steal your identity and run up
debt in your name. As I read over that advertisement, I was thinking how the
Lord Jesus did that to His people in reverse. Without their permission, He
assumed the believer’s identity. He stepped into their personal business, the
business between them and God and He took their place. (1 Timothy 2:5) He took
control of their account and made it His own. He didn’t take control of their
identity to add debt like a thief does. NO! He took control of the believer’s
account in order to pay the debt of sin that they had accumulated. He took my
debt and paid it in full as a rich friend might do. O what a rich friend Christ
is. He is rich in love, mercy, grace and forgiveness. How many friends do you
have that would die to pay the debt you owe? Jesus paid it all, all to Him I
owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow. Now, I have His
perfect identity, and I am eternally life-locked to Him. Pastor David
Eddmenson
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WHEN A BROTHER DOESN’T ACT LIKE A BROTHER
Every child of God may pass through seasons where
our sin-nature overcomes us. Though never
without sin there are times when God permits our sin-nature to bring our inward
man into captivity in a more obvious way.
This captivity may involve some sin of immorality as king David was
allowed to commit. It may involve an
unforgiving, unmerciful spirit between brethren such as overcame Paul and
Barnabas when they disagreed over Mark. A
child of God may even go so far as to appear to deny the Lord as did the
apostle Peter. But whatever the case, if
we are truly a child of God, our great High Priest shall intercede for us so
that our faith fails not. Eventually,
God shall bring us to ourselves like the prodigal, so that we cry out to God
and turn from ourselves. This is one of
the ways that God continues to teach his child that we have no strength in
ourselves to overcome our sin-nature. By
this painful process God brings us to see a little more clearly how utterly
dependent we are upon the Spirit of God to keep us from doing the things we otherwise
would if left to ourselves. It is one of
the ways God grows us in the knowledge and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ so
that we rejoice in free justification and in God’s preserving hand.
Therefore, knowing that God works in this way, if we behold a brother overcome,
let us not doubt whether he be a child of God or not. Instead, let us be patient and wait on
God. If he is God’s child then he knows
he is wrong; God is at work in his conscious.
Therefore, let us not interfere by putting our hand to the work by being
unnecessarily harsh and judgmental. Instead,
let us go to God on his behalf. Let the
brother know that we are there for him, that we love him and that we want to
help bear his burden. As God opens the
door, point him to our great High Priest encouraging him to flee to Christ’s
throne of grace for help in his time of need.
We can be sure that if the brother be God’s elect, redeemed and regenerated
by everlasting love, then God shall break his heart and bring him to Christ’s
feet in time. Then not only will our
brother be thankful to God, he will also be thankful to us and love us with a
sweeter love. In the end we shall find
that it was not only for the profit of our brother but for ours as well. Once
again we shall all find that God’s grace is, indeed, sufficient.
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