Grace Baptist Church of Danville

December 7, 2008

 

When people delight in the preaching of works, they either have something evil they wish to hide or they trust in themselves that they are righteous.

 

Daily Readings for the Week of December 7-14

            Sunday                      Ephesians 6 – Phil. 2                      Thursday                   2 Thess. 1- 1 Timothy 1

            Monday                     Philippians 3-Colossians 1           Friday             1 Timothy 2-6

            Tuesday                    Colossians 2-4                                             Saturday                    2 Timothy 1-4

            Wednesday  1 Thessalonians 1-5                       Sunday                      Titus 1-Philemon

 

á      We extend our heartfelt sympathy to Pastor Mike Walker, his family and the Covenant of Grace Baptist Church in North Wilkesboro, NC. The lord Jesus came for Bro. WalkerÕs wife, Debbie, last Friday morning (November 28th) and took her to heaven.

á      We are delighted to have Pastor Peter Meney (Egglesburn Baptist Church, Eggleston, England) and Russell Smyth (Ballymony, Northern Ireland) in our services today. Bro. Meney will preach during our Bible Class hour this morning.

á      Following our worship service this morning we will have our Christmas Fellowship Dinner downstairs. There will be no service here tonight.

á      I plan to visit our missionaries Walter and Cody Groover in Merida, Mexico this week. Bro. Meney and I will preach for some of the churches in the Yucatan and spend a day with the pastors and preachers in the PreachersÕ School in Merida.

á      Bro. Ron Wood will preach the gospel to you Tuesday.

á      Open House at the Parsonage Next Sunday Evening. Service will begins at 5:30 P.M.

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Jesse Rice-9th Alexis Mason-10th LeAnn Duff-12th David Coleman-13th

 

NURSERY DUTY: Today: Regina Henson (AM) Tuesday: Ruth Wall

 

ÒGod is LoveÓ — Don Fortner

(Tune: The Doxology LM )

1.    The Lord of hosts, Who reigns above,

The self-existent ÒGod is love!Ó

His essence, attributes, and name,

Boundless, unchanging love proclaim!

 

2.    GodÕs love, its depth and height unknown,

Its breadth unmeasured (like His throne),

Its length no finite mind can reach, —

A theme no angelÕs tongue can teach!

 

3.    So let this theme our hearts employ

And give our souls unending joy,

While through our SaviorÕs blood we prove

This wondrous truth, that ÒGod is love!Ó

 

The Eternal Christ

 

ÒIn the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.Ó                          (John 1:1-5)

 

      JohnÕs Gospel is the Gospel of the eternal Christ. These five verses set before us the matchless sublimity of our Lord Jesus Christ in his eternal being and character. We do not have to guess what JohnÕs purpose was in writing. He tells us plainly in the last verse of chapter 20, — ÒThese are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.Ó His great aim in these 21 chapters is not merely to inform us of historical facts relating to the life of Christ on this earth. JohnÕs purpose is to show us the deity and eternal Godhead of that man who is known the world over as ÒJesus of Nazareth,Ó that we might trust him as God our Savior, and obtain eternal life in him.

 

The Creator of Time

 

Here the Apostle shows us our SaviorÕs relationship to time, to the Godhead, to creation and to men. Our Lord Jesus is not a mere creature of time. He is before all time and the Creator of time. Christ is eternal. John tells us Òin the beginning was the Word.Ó He did not begin to exist when the heavens and the earth were made. He was with the Father Òbefore the world wasÓ (John 17:5), possessing from the beginning all the glory that he now possesses as our successful Surety. He was already existing when matter was first created and before time began. He is Òbefore all thingsÓ (Colossians 1:17). He is eternal.

 

Our Eternal Savior

 

Christ, the Word, was continually in being with God, in perfect union, communion and being with God the Father and God the Spirit. In time he came to be with man; but in the beginning he was with God. The Lord Jesus Christ is God the eternal Son. He is our eternal Surety, Òthe Surety of a better covenant.Ó He is our eternal Sacrifice, ÒThe Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.Ó The Lord Jesus is our eternal Shepherd and our eternal Savior (2 Timothy 1:9-10; Ephesians 1:3-6).

 

An Eternal Union

 

I want you to get the sweet honey found in the honeycomb of our SaviorÕs glorious eternality. For as long as he has had being, we have had being in him. As soon as he stood forth in the beginning with God, as our Head and

 

Representative, we stood forth in him, as one with him in an eternal union of grace. We were in him as his seed (Psalm 22:30-31), and in him as his body (Psalm 139:14-18).

 

GodÕs elect are the members of ChristÕs mystical body, the church, from everlasting. All the members of his body were written in his book, the book of life, when as yet, as regards their actual physical existence, there was none of them. We were given to him in eternity, when he was constituted our covenant Head in the everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure. Thus, we became, in prospect of our SaviorÕs incarnation, Òmembers of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.Ó How tenderly our blessed Redeemer reminded his Father of these covenant transactions, when he said in his great intercessory prayer, ÒI pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in themÓ (John 17:9-10).

 

Being thus given to Christ, and constituted members of his mystical body, we can no more perish than Christ himself. He is our Head. He possesses all power. He is full of love. And he is all wisdom, replete with all mercy, grace and truth. He will never allow any of his members to fall out of his body, and be lost, and be separated from him forever. Will any man willingly allow his eye, or his hand, or his foot, or even the tip of his little finger to be cut off? If any member of our body perishes, if we lose an arm or a leg, it is because we have no ability to prevent it. But all power in heaven and in earth belongs to Christ. Therefore, not one member of his mystical body, Òthe fulness of him that filleth all in all,Ó can perish.

 

      We do not become members of his body when we believe. We were members of his body when he was Òin the beginning with God.Ó When we are quickened and made alive unto God savingly and experimentally, by the regenerating work of the Spirit, we are brought into the realization of this blessed eternal union with Christ; but the union was from everlasting.

 

 

 

 

ÒO beloved, what a wondrous stay and satisfaction to a distressed conscience doth this yield, — that Christ in all that he hath wrought for us is God's chosen servant, whom he loves and delights in, and delights in him for this very work, that he abased himself and gave himself for us, that he wrought God's work, because he wrought reconciliation for us! If we can believe in Christ, we see here what ground of comfort we have, that God loves and delights in us, as he doth in his own Son.Ó                                                                                                                              Richard Sibbes

 

 

Grace Bulletin

 

December 7, 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