Grace Baptist Church of Danville

June 1, 2008

 

It is sweet and good to rejoice in God’s mercies; but it is far sweeter and far better to rejoice in the God of mercies.

 

Daily Readings for the Week of June 1-8

                        Sunday                      Esther 2-4                                                     Thursday                   Job 8-11

                        Monday                     Esther 5-8                                                     Friday             Job 12-15

                        Tuesday                    Esther 9-Job 2                                                          Saturday                    Job 16-21

                        Wednesday  Job 3-7                                                                      Sunday                      Job 22-27

 

·      Lantana Grace Church, Crossville, TN will host its 25th Annual Bible Conference June 20-22. Scheduled preachers are: Clay Curtis, Bruce Crabtree, Greg Elmquist and Don Fortner. — Bro. Donnie Bell is the host pastor.

·      Bro. Dan Parks, pastor of Redeemer Baptist Church in Louisville, KY will be here tonight to preach the gospel to us.

·      We will have our Quarterly Fellowship Dinner together on Sunday, June 29th.

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Audrey Grace Hacker-2nd Oscar Bailey-6th Nathaniel Duff-6th

 

NURSERY DUTY THIS WEEK

Today: Jenny Bartley (AM) Cathy Pruitt (PM) Tuesday: Shelby Fortner

 

A Debtor to Mercy I Am! — Don Fortner

(Tune: How Tedious and Tasteless the Hours LMD)

1.    A debtor to mercy I am! Of covenant mercy I sing!

Through faith in my Savior, the Lamb, my praises to God I must bring.

God's mercy preceded my birth, and followed me all of my days;

Though I have no merit, nor worth, my whole life His mercy displays.

2.    When lost in rebellion and sin, God's mercy protected me then;

And since I have been born again in all things His mercy is seen!

My daily provisions, I know, come from my God's bountiful hand;

In happiness here, or in woe, my God will His mercy command!

3.    When sorrows and sins are no more, and I'm with my glorified King,

I will my God's mercy adore, forever and ever I'll sing —

A vessel of mercy I am! I'm saved by the mercy of God!

Rich mercy through Jesus, the Lamb, Who bought me with His precious blood!

 

THANK YOU” is altogether inadequate to express our deep gratitude to you (our church family, our readers and our friends around the world) who have shown such love, kindness and generosity to us during my recent illness. We have received literally hundreds of cards, letters and telephone calls, numerous thoughtful and generous gifts, and countless other expressions of tender care. We hope you know how very thankful we are to you and to our God for you. Your intercessions on our behalf before the throne of grace have prevailed with our heavenly Father. I am gaining strength daily. We give thanks to our God for your friendship and fellowship in Christ.

 

Don and Shelby Fortner

 

13

A Very Memorable Day

 

I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world.”

(John 17:15)

 

On May the 2nd, I was pretty low. I was too weak to read or pray aloud, so Shelby had been reading to me and leading us in prayer. It was Friday morning. I had been in the hospital for nearly a month. She opened Spurgeon’s “Morning and Evening” to the reading for that day, and read the following.

 

“’I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world’ (John 17:15). — It is a sweet and blessed event which will occur to all believers in God’s own time — the going home to be with Jesus. In a few more years the Lord’s soldiers, who are now fighting ‘the good fight of faith’ will have done with conflict, and have entered into the joy of their Lord. But although Christ prays that his people may eventually be with him where he is, he does not ask that they may be taken at once away from this world to heaven. He wishes them to stay here. Yet, how frequently does the wearied pilgrim put up the prayer, ‘O that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away and be at rest;’ but Christ does not pray like that. He leaves us in His Father’s hands, until, like shocks of corn fully ripe, we shall each be gathered into our Master’s garner. Jesus does not plead for our instant removal by death, for to abide in the flesh is needful for others if not profitable for ourselves. He asks that we may be kept from evil, but he never asks for us to be admitted to the inheritance in glory till we are of full age. Christians often want to die when they have any trouble. Ask them why, and they tell you, ‘Because we would be with the Lord.’ We fear it is not so much because they are longing to be with the Lord, as because they desire to get rid of their troubles; else they would feel the same wish to die at other times when not under the pressure of trial. They want to go home, not so much for the Savior’s company, as to be at rest. Now it is quite right to desire to depart if we can do it in the same spirit that Paul did, because to be with Christ is far better; but the wish to escape from trouble is a selfish one. Rather let your care and wish be to glorify God by your life here as long as he pleases, even though it be in the midst of toil, and conflict, and suffering, and leave him to say when ‘it is enough.’”

 

            As Shelby finished the reading, my heart was broken with sorrow and laughing with joy, sorrow because of my murmuring against my God and his good providence, and joy because of the assurance that the Spirit of God seemed to convey to my soul that I would not yet “die, but live and declare the works of the Lord.” May the Lord God grant his servant grace to devote himself entirely to the blessed work of preaching the gospel, for the glory of Christ.

 

14

“How Beautiful upon the Mountains”

Isaiah 52:7

 

            The prophet here pictures the church of God’s elect as a city in captivity, which begins to rejoice as it hears the sound of an army coming across the mountains to deliver it from the oppressor’s hands.

 

By nature, God’s elect are in captivity, held under the curse of the law, the bondage of sin and the dominion of Satan. God’s servants are an army of men, coming over the mountains, proclaiming deliverance by Christ. Those men and women who know their need of Christ highly esteem and value those men who proclaim the gospel of his grace. Speaking as the representative of God’s church, by divine inspiration, Isaiah declares that those who preach the gospel are men whose coming is desirable, delightful, and beautiful in the esteem of God’s elect.

 

            Obviously, Isaiah’s words do not apply to all who claim to be preachers and pretend to come in the name of the Lord. False prophets, preachers of free-will, works religion, are not desirable, but contemptible. They are not to be treated with respect, but with disdain.

 

The prophet tells us plainly who those men are whose feet are beautiful. They are men who bring good tidings. They bring good news from the heart of God to the hearts of needy sinners, declaring that righteousness is established and redemption is accomplished by Christ.

 

They publish peace. God’s servants do not tell men to make peace with God. They proclaim that peace has been made for all who believe (Isaiah 40:1-2).

 

They bring good tidings of good. God’s preachers constantly preach, not the possibility of salvation, but the full accomplishment of salvation by Christ.

 

They publish salvation. God’s servants do not tell men how to “get saved”, or how to “save themselves”. We proclaim to helpless, guilty sinners how that God saves sinners by the blood atonement, imputed righteousness and effectual power of his dear Son.

 

And God’s preachers say to Zion, “Thy God reigneth!” They declare in unmistakable terms the glorious, absolute and universal sovereignty of God in creation, providence, and grace.

 

            Any man who does not preach these things is not to be received or heard in God’s house (2 John 9-11). Any man who does preach these blessed gospel truths is to be heard and received by the church of God as the angel of God to his people.

 

            Blessed are those people to whom God gives such a man. He is truly a pastor after God’s own heart, one who feeds the souls of men with knowledge, a supernatural, God-given knowledge of Holy Scripture, and feeds them with understanding, a supernatural, God-given understanding of their souls’ needs.

 

15

 

 

Grace Bulletin

 

June 1, 2008

 

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 in 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.freegraceradio.com

http://www.sovereign-grace.com/gracechurch.htm

 

 

 

 

Don Fortner

 

 

Listen to sermons at FreeGraceRadio.com