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Grace Baptist Church of Danville

February 14, 2016

Within the rough shell of sorrow, we find a sweet kernel of grace.

Daily Readings for the Week of February 14-21, 2016

Sunday Numbers 8-10 Thursday Numbers 20-22

Monday Numbers 11-14 Friday Numbers 23-26

Tuesday Numbers 15-16 Saturday Numbers 27-29

Wednesday Numbers 17-19 Sunday Numbers 30-32

Happy Birthday! Jerry Sadler-20^th

Nursery Duty this Week

Gina Brice (AM) — Mindy Peterson (PM) — Tuesday: Celeste Peterson

All That Now Our Souls Distress—Don Fortner

(Tune: #352—Jesus, Lover of My Soul—77.77)

1. Every heir of endless bliss,

Passing through this wilderness,

Finds his journey, to the end,

Vexed with trouble and with sin.

This is God’s all-wise decree.

May He give us grace to see —

Thus He weans us from the earth’s

Vanity and empty mirth.

2. Pains and sorrows, sin and woes,

Satan’s roars and countless foes,

Every day our way oppose. Still,

God’s grace sufficient proves!

He is strong, faithful and true.

He will guide us safely through!

All that now our souls distress,

Will increase our endless bliss!

“The Gospel is very generally misunderstood by those who profess to believe. They view it as a scheme for making up their deficiencies through the merits of Christ; but this is “another gospel.” The Gospel of Christ is addressed to those who are far from righteousness; who are poor, and blind, and naked; who have no money to purchase salvation, no merit to recommend them to the favor of God. Christ came, not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. If we are not sinners, we have nothing to do with the Gospel; and if we are sinners, let us not reject the counsel of God against ourselves, by vainly supposing that anything about us gives us a peculiar claim to his layout, or by imagining that our sins are too great to be forgiven. The righteousness of God is altogether irrespective of our obedience. The thief upon the cross was saved by faith in Christ Jesus, and none shall enter heaven in any other way.” — James Haldane

“The Lord is Very Pitiful”

James 5:11

The horrible atheism of our depraved nature continually quarrels with the Most High; and when we are under God’s afflicting hand and his providence crosses our will, the evil of our nature becomes evident. When greatly distressed, we are far too apt to think ill of and to speak in rebellion against the Most High. I wish it were not so; but it is. Our hard speeches and suspicions betray a terrible lack of faith in and submission to our all-wise and ever-gracious God.

Goodness and Mercy

Looking back over my life, how I wish I could blot out every murmuring thought and take back every murmuring word. They were all unwarranted and ungodly. I have repented of the evil privately and do so now publicly. When I take survey of my life in this world, I see that the kindness of God has run all through it like a golden thread. Goodness and mercy have followed me all the days of my life, always pursuing me and chasing me into the arms of God, even when I have wickedly rebelled against him and his goodness and mercy.

Are you not compelled to confess the same, my brother, my sister? Even our apparent woes have been real blessings. I do not know for which we should bless God most — for our sorrows or for our joys. The best piece of furniture I have ever had in my house is the cross of affliction. Adversity is the richest field in all the farmland of life. We have never reaped such a harvest from any seed as from that which fell from our hands while tears were falling from our eyes. When we have gone forth weeping, bearing precious seed, we have invariably come again, rejoicing, bringing our sheaves with us. Truly the Lord has strengthened us “upon the bed of languishing” and made our beds in all our sicknesses (Psalm 41:3).

Very Pitiful

“O taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man that trusteth in him!” (Psalm 34:8) — “The Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting!” (Psalm 100:5) — “The Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy!”

Let every heaven born soul say, “He healeth all my diseases.” Let every tried believer say, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.” Let the aged saint bring the spoils of his experience and lay them down at the feet of the Lord our God who, up to now, has helped him. May God the Spirit graciously turn our eyes away from ourselves to God our Savior that we may ever be mindful of this blessed, sweet, comforting fact — “The Lord is very pitiful.”

The Apostle James, writing by divine inspiration, corrects our judgment of God and his providence, telling us to patiently endure unto the end of our days believing God. Oh, for grace to patiently endure every trial of faith, every crossing of my will, everything appointed by my heavenly Father for me, confidently trusting him!

Faith’s Counting

“Behold, we count them happy which endure.” (James 5:11)

Faith never calculates like reason. Faith’s counting is different. — “Behold, we count them happy which endure.” Faith counts those men and women happy who endure trials at the hand of God, knowing “that the trying of your faith worketh patience” (James 1:3, 12). Happy, blessed, honored, highly esteemed of God and his people are those who endure affliction and trouble with courage, constancy, and patience unto the end; for “he that endureth to the end shall be saved” (Matthew 10:22).

They are blessed, happy, and highly esteemed of God and beautiful in his eyes now. They are blessed, happy, and highly esteemed of God and beautiful in his eyes forever. The Spirit of God rests upon them. The grace of God is bestowed upon them. It is an honor done to them by God that they are counted worthy to suffer for Christ and with Christ; and they count it their honor. They who endure unto the end shall, in the end, be glorified together with Christ. “If we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him” (2 Timothy 2:12; Romans 8:16-18; 2 Corinthians 1:7; Philippians 1:29).

Whose Counting

This is faith’s way of counting. — “Behold, we count them happy which endure.” — The pity and tender mercy of God are to be seen in the happiness of those who are called to suffer. This arithmetic is only known to faith and must be learned of the Lord Jesus. — “We,” that is, the Church of God, count them happy who are counted worthy to suffer for Christ’s sake. We do not think those people are happy who chase happiness, wasting their lives in the revelry of death in unbelief. We do not count those to be happy who are fattened like the calves in the stall, but shall soon be brought to the slaughter. We sorrow because of them! We are not so foolish as to count those happy who spread themselves like a green bay tree, only to be the sooner laid low by the axe of doom!

God’s Teaching

We count those happy who endure because our Savior has taught us so to reckon. He says, “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in Heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”? Did he not say, “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted”? This is the verdict of God our Savior and the verdict of faith. Faith does not dispute the Master, but bows to him and learns of him. Those who endure the will of God are the happiest, most highly honored, most blessed people in this world. — “Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord!” (Psalm 94:12)

No Delusion

This counting is not a delusion, but it is a proper and true estimate of things. There is a happiness in affliction which none can know except those who have tasted that the Lord is gracious (Psalm 119:67, 71, 75). Rare gems glisten in the dark mines of adversity.

The Grace Bulletin

February 14, 2016

Grace Baptist Church of Danville

2734 Old Stanford Road-Danville, Kentucky 40422-9438

Telephone (859) 576-3400 — 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