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GOSPEL PREACHING
ONLINE December 31,
2006 An old preacher addressed
a few believers who had confessed the Lord in baptism and said to them, “My
dear brethren, you have today professedly put on the Lord Jesus Christ. God
help you to be circumspect in your walk and conversation. The church will
watch you, the world will watch you, your doubting friends will watch you,
and enemies of the truth will watch you. God help you to watch yourselves, to
look to him to keep you, to support you, and to succor you.” Pastor Henry Mahan Daily
Readings for the Week of December 31-January 7 Sunday Revelation
20-22 Monday Genesis
1-3 Tuesday Genesis
4-8 Wednesday Genesis 9-11 Thursday Genesis
12-16 Friday Genesis
17-19 Saturday Genesis
20-23 Sunday Genesis
24-25 ·
We will have some refreshments and a time of
fellowship after our service tonight. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Sammy Wall-1st
Clare Hellar-4th Laura Peterson-4th
Bob Poncer-5th HAPPY
ANNIVESARY: Merle and Charlotte Hart-10th CHURCH CLEANING
IN JANUARY: Joyce Montgomery NURSERY DUTY
THIS WEEK Today: Jayalita McCormack (AM) Laura Peterson (PM) Tuesday: Shelby Fortner Another Year is
Gone (Tune: #290 — Be Still, My Soul
— 10 10.10 10 10.10) 1. Another
year of our brief lives is gone, And countless
are the wonders we have known; How oft’
we’ve seen God’s blessings rich and rare, Proceeding
from our Father’s love and care! Him we adore.
— His goodness we confess, His
providence, all wise, now let us bless. 2. Our
trials how oft we’ve viewed with fearful eyes, While mercies
great by us have been despised! Ashamed we
bow, and knock at Mercy’s door, Confess our
sin, and plead Your grace the more! Father, Your
grace, Your mercies rich and rare, Should flood
our souls and conquer every fear. 3. Oh,
lift our hearts to Christ exalted high; As the new
year begins, Savior, supply Our souls
with grace, each day by faith to see, Your mercies
new, Your love and grace so free! Oh, give us
grace, each day by faith to see, Your mercies
new, Your love and grace so free! Happy New Year! 13 Witnessing Pastor Henry Mahan “Go
home to thy friends and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for
thee” (Mark 5:19). The Lord had shown
great mercy to this poor sinner, setting him free from demons and from sin.
Now He tells him to go home to his family and friends and be the Lord’s
witness. Do not go home and begin to preach. Do not go home and take up the
great doctrines of grace and expound them. Do not go home and strive to bring
everyone to your views and beliefs. Do not go home and condemn all who do not
see what you see. Go home and tell them what great things the Lord has done
for you! Not what great things you have read or heard, but what great things
you have experienced! This
is the way to begin our witnessing. There never is a more interesting story
than the story a person has experienced, lived, and felt. If you would really
interest others and get their attention, tell them what great things the Lord
has done in you and for you! Notice, the
Lord said, “Tell them what great things the Lord hath done.” It is a story of free grace. Not what we did, willed,
or gave, but what He did for us by his own free, sovereign, and undeserved
love. We will not convince them nor change them any more than another man
could convert us. But the Lord, who did great things for us, can do great
things for them if He is so pleased. And He is pleased to use the faithful
witness of those who go and tell “how great things the Lord hath done for
thee.” ————————————————— “Thou Hast dealt
well with Thy Servant, O Lord” Psalm 119:65 Let every redeemed sinner
serving God with a willing heart acknowledge the Lord’s unfailing goodness to
him. Truly, he has dealt well with all his servants, according to his Word.
In addition to the immeasurable riches of his grace to us in Christ, our
great God has constantly loaded our days with goodness in providence! He
promised, “There shall no evil happen to the just.” And no evil has ever befallen one of God’s
elect. Much that we experience appears to be evil at the time. We may, in our
unbelief, even look upon it as evil. But God has proved himself faithful.
Looking back upon the things we thought were most evil at the time we
experienced them, we now can say, “I thank God that happened. I praise him
for that experience. By that which I thought was evil good has come to me and
good has come to a brother here and a sister there.” It
is good to acknowledge the goodness of our God when we see it; but it is far better
and far more honoring to him to acknowledge the goodness of his providence
when nothing good can be seen, except by the eye of faith. When I can look up
to my Father with tears burning my cheeks and sorrow crushing my heart and
say with confident faith, “Thou hast dealt well with thy servant,” then I will have proved the reality of my faith.
Whatever my God has done or allowed to be done for me, with me, or to me, he
has done me good. The same is true of you. So let us, with glad hearts,
acknowledge now what we will acknowledge when all things are set in their
true light — “Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O LORD,
according unto thy Word.” 14 “Teach us to
Number Our Days” “So teach us
to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” (Psalms 90:12) How quickly the time passes!
How rapidly things in this world change! Here is a prayer I find in my heart
almost unceasingly. It is a prayer that weighs more heavily upon my soul with
every passing year. — “So teach me
to number my days, that I may apply my heart unto wisdom.” Of
all mathematical problems this is the most difficult. Men can number their
herds and their flocks. They can estimate the revenues of their farms and
businesses with relative ease. We can count our cash, balance our checkbooks,
and calculate what our retirement income should be. Yet,
mortal man foolishly imagines that he is immortal. Most are persuaded that
their days are infinite and innumerable. Therefore they do not number them.
We look at a strong young man, one who watches his diet, exercises regularly,
and seems to sparkle with life, and say, “He has a long life ahead of him.”
And we look at an old woman, weak, worn, wrinkled, and ever weary, and say,
“She will not be with us very long. Her days are few.” Thus, we imagine that
we can number the days of others, but few will number his own days. What
folly! It
is evident that the great thing needed to persuade us to prepare for eternity
is the persuasion of our own mortality and the brevity of our lives in this
world. We will not apply our hearts unto wisdom until we are brought to the
numbering of our days. Yet, the fact is, no one will number his days and
apply his heart unto wisdom until he is taught of God to do so. Thus Moses
prayed, “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto
wisdom.” As
we reflect upon the brevity of time, we ought to be persuaded to set our
thoughts upon things that are eternal. As we look into the grave, which must
soon be our bed, we ought to be humbled and made to know how frail we are.
But we are not wise. Only the grace of God will cause a mortal man to number
his days and apply his heart unto wisdom. Let this, then, be your prayer and
mine, as we stand here, at the close of the year and look forward toward the
dawn of the new year tomorrow. — “So teach us to number our days,
that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” A
sense of mortality ought to make us wise and cause us to apply our hearts
unto wisdom. Christ
is the Wisdom to which we must apply our hearts. He is that Wisdom that is “better
than rubies,” to which nothing that can
be desired may be compared (Pro. 8:11). He was made of God unto us Wisdom (1
Cor. 1:30) and stood as our Wisdom “from everlasting, from the
beginning, or ever the earth was” (Pro.
8:24). From old eternity his delights were with us, and are with us still
(Pro. 8:30-31; Heb. 13:8). O
my heart, make Christ your delight! Blessed Holy Spirit, graciously,
effectually, and constantly set my heart upon my Savior! Ever cause me to apply my heart to Christ, setting my
affection upon him who loved me and gave himself for me! Set my heart upon
his blood and righteousness, his love and mercy, his goodness and grace. Set
my heart upon his fullness and his forgiveness, upon his will and his glory.
Oh, set my heart upon Christ, upon heaven, upon eternity, that I might live
only unto him all the days of my life! 15 Grace Bulletin December 31, 2006 GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH of DANVILLE 2734 Old Stanford
Road-Danville, Kentucky 40422-9438 Telephone (859)
236-8235 - E-Mail don@donfortner.com Donald S.
Fortner, Pastor SCHEDULE OF REGULAR SERVICES
Sunday 10:00 A.M. Bible
Classes 10:30 A.M. Morning
Worship Service 6:30 P.M. Evening Worship Service Tuesday 7:30 P.M. Mid-Week
Worship Service Television Broadcasts
Danville
Channel 6 - Sunday
Morning 8:00 A.M. Channel 6 -
Wednesday Evening 6:00 P.M. Channel 6 - Friday
Evening 7:00 P.M. Web
Pages
http://www.donfortner.com http://www.sovereign-grace/gracechurch.htm http://www.freegrace.net/danville/default.asp Listen to sermons
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