Grace Baptist Church of Danville

November 16, 2008

“One breath of paradise will extinguish all the adverse winds of earth!” — A. W. Pink

Daily Readings for the Week of November 16-23

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY: Bob and Mary Lou Duff-19^th

Keep Silence all Created Things — Isaac Watts

(Tune: #228 — My Faith has Found a Resting Place — CMD)

1.    Keep silence all created things,

And wait your Maker’s nod;

My soul stands trembling while she sings

The honors of her God.

Life, death, and hell, and worlds unknown;

Hang on His firm decree;

He sits on no precarious throne,

Nor borrows leave to be.

2.    Chained to His throne a volume lies

With all the fates of men,

With every angel’s form and size

Drawn by th’ eternal pen.

His providence unfolds the book,

And makes His counsels shine;

Each opening leaf, and every stroke

Fulfills some bright design.

3.    Here He exalts neglected worms

To scepters and a crown;

Anon the following page He turns,

And treads the monarch down.

Not Gabriel asks the reason why,

Nor God the reason gives;

Nor dares the favorite angel pry

Between the folded leaves.

4.    My God, I would not long to see

My fate with curious eyes,

What gloomy lines are writ for me,

Or what bright scenes may rise.

In Thy fair book of life and grace

May I but find my name,

Recorded in some humble place

Beneath my Lord the Lamb!

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Grace Baptist Church — Taylor, Arkansas

Exemplary, Steadfast Faithfulness

            Grace Baptist Church in Taylor, AR is a small, rural congregation, known to only a few people outside their own community; but that congregation is one that has demonstrated exemplary, steadfast faithfulness in the cause of Christ. I hold them before our readers, urging all who find themselves in similar circumstances to follow their example.

            The Lord called their pastor, Bro. James Watson, home to Glory in 2003. Bro. Watson was a faithful pastor and one of my cherished friends. After his death, the assembly had no one gifted to teach and/or preach. But they continued to meet every Sunday morning. They had preachers in as often as they could, about every other month. I went to preach to them as often as I could, without neglecting other responsibilities.

When they could not get a preacher in for their service, after reading the Scriptures, prayer, and singing God’s praise, they watched a video of one of our services here. They continued to meet, Sunday after Sunday, to worship together as a body of believers, usually very few; but those few sheep were hungry both for the Word of God and for the fellowship of their brethren. Several of them drove more than an hour each way; but I never heard one mention the distance, the cost, or the time.

            Not a few suggested that they should all move to a place where the Lord has established a gospel church. Some seriously considered doing so. But the thing they all wanted and earnestly prayed the Lord would grant them was a pastor. A few months ago, Bro. Darvin Pruitt went down to preach for them. The Lord immediately knitted their hearts to him and his to them. Last week Darvin and Cathy moved to Taylor.

            Let me tell you what I expect. — I fully expect our God to greatly bless his own work in that place and from that place around the world. He has sworn, “Them that honour me I will honour” (1 Samuel 2:30).

            Many who read these lines live in a place where the Lord has not yet been pleased to establish a gospel ministry. There are some who live near you who love the gospel; but you make no effort to establish a gospel church where you are. I urge you, wherever two or three can be found who believe the gospel, gather regularly in the name of Christ to worship him and hear his Word. Who knows what the Lord may be pleased to do?

This I do know. —The one thing the Lord requires of you and me is faithfulness (1 Corinthians 4:2); and our great and gracious God always honors that faithfulness that honors him.

8

“Command Ye Me”

“Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.” (Isaiah 45:11)

Nothing can give a higher proof of the love of God than what the scriptures reveal concerning him. He opened a way of access to himself, when man by sin had lost the way; and in his dear Son he has made every provision for bringing us nigh by his blood. The throne of grace he hath opened for their approach; the assurance he hath given of accepting them in the Beloved; the very tender and kind expressions which issue from the throne; and the answers which have been given to thousands, and are continually given to thousands who come there; yea, the promises with which they are surrounded, that before they call, he will answer, and while they are speaking, he will hear: all these are full of endearments, to show forth the love of God in Jesus Christ to all his people. But still, if possible, beyond all these, this portion from the writings of the prophet is most wonderful, and is confirmed by Jehovah’s own saying, “Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.”

What! doth the Lord indeed allow himself to be commanded? Hath he thrown, as it were, the reins of government into the hands of his people; and, if the object of their petition be for his glory and their welfare, may they command him? My soul! What an astonishing, what an unparalleled instance of condescension is this!

But are there any instances upon record of the kind? Yes! When Jacob wrestled with God in prayer, he boldly told the Lord, that he would not let him go without a blessing: and the blessing he had. And God himself, a thousand years after, noted it down by the prophet, that “by his strength, he had power with God” (Genesis 32:26, 28. Hosea 12:3-4). When Joshua was pursuing the enemies of God and of his Christ, he bade the sun stand still; and it did so (Joshua x10:12-14). When the Lord Jesus went with the disciples to Emmaus, and they constrained him to abide, he was entreated of them and went in with them (Luke 24:29). And who shall say, what instances of wonder, grace, and love, in a thousand and ten thousand cases, both public and private, in the history of the church and the Lord’s people, have been accomplished, of the same kind, and are every day going on in their experiences? My soul! Look at Moses, stopping the Lord’s hand, when coming forth to destroy Israel (Exodus 32:9-14). Look how Elias shut up and again opened the windows of heaven by the prevalency of prayer; and read the apostle’s comment upon it (1 Kings 17:1; James 5:16-18). And when thou hast duly pondered the wonderful subject, say, what is there thy God and Father can or will deny thee, when thou comest to him in the name, and blood, and intercession of his dear and ever blessed Son? Read the inscription on his cross, in connection with this blessed scripture of the prophet, and then say, with the apostle: “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32).                                                                                         — Robert Hawker

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Grace Bulletin

November 16, 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