Sovereign Grace Missionary Baptist Church

Sovereign Grace Missionary Baptist Church
1217 Dillon Texarkana, Texas 75501
Celebrating 50 years as a Church of Jesus Christ
October 29, 1961 – October 29, 2011
April 10, 2011
Newsletter Number 313

Elder Randy Johnson, Pastor Bro. Ronnie Henderson, Song Director
Pastor E-Mail: sgmbcpastor@baptistsonline.org Web Site: www.baptistsonline.org/sgmbc

"Where The Truths Of God’s Word Are Still Taught"

You Were Asked To Pray For:

All of Our Military, Their Family’s & All the Civilian Workers in The Middle East, Zee Mink Fuller and Family, Her son’s Bryan Armstrong and Hunter Hackie, Daughter Shannon, and Brother Philip & Sondra Thornsberry, Virgil & Alice Hoskins, Grandchildren, and his daughters Liz Janis and Debbie Gray, Derrick & Alecia and sons Coty & Carson Clements, Frank Trusty, Bryndon Thomas, Frank & Dawana Reigel, Andrew Preston, Helen Maggard, Renee Jackson, Larry Mollette, Larry Mollette II & Family, Kirby Mollette, Kerry Pennington, Kim Butler, Danny & Nita Mollette, Verna Mae Allen, Wendell Henderson, Judy Dunn, Martha Gray, Joshua Kidd, Matthew Kidd, Kevin Henderson, Ronnie Henderson Jr. & Daughter Ashley, Lilly Stansord, Vickie Sims, Debbie Farmer, Terry Farmer, Morgan Murchison, Jim Stagner, Bro. & Mrs. Hammond, Don & Neil Hammond, Charles Hammond, Eric Hammond, Archie & Barbara Griffin & son Daniel, Bro. & Sister Bob Keller, Kathy Rosinbaum, Brenda Galusha and Jewel, Mary Ramsey, Donna Johnson, Fay Johnson, Luann Reynolds, Bro. & Sis. Curtis Pugh, Timothy and Nathan Fails, Jacob Ramsey, Jim & Linda Meier, Brother David & Sister Anne Shortt, Brother Manuel Seymour & Family, Letha Langford, Brother & Sister Kelley Hinson and Kelley Lee, Billy and Jo Hobbs, Jerry Hughes, Sister Nita Bookout, Justin Bookout, Pastor G. L. Burr, Melody Carr, Janie Capps, Gina Sullivan, Katie Norton, Imajo Tracy, Sister Jean Dodson and Family, Linda Hughes, Roy Lemmon, Marshall Risinger, Jack Johnson, Lee Mollette’s friend, Dale Barnes, and Bro. Sergey Mochalov and the Churches in Russia.

The Pastors Corner:

“Doubtful Disputations”
“Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.” Romans 14:1

As Christians we must all understand that arguing never accomplished anything! We must also understand that judging everyone on everything under the sun also never accomplished anything! The mentality of the natural man in all of us, even Christians, raises a level of competition within us and we must work to tame this competition. First, we must all recognize that we are not right about everything and therefore we must admit we could be wrong about some things. I have corrected my thinking on the scriptures much in my ministry and may even correct it more before I die or Jesus returns. The one single thing I want as a Christian and a teacher of Gods word is to be RIGHT even at the expense of knowing I have been wrong. My judgment before Jesus Christ will be harsher because I am a teacher of Gods word than it will be for the average church member so therefore you can see why I always seek to be RIGHT no matter what it cost me in this life. Secondly, we must tame our judgment of other Christians and realize that some Christians are simply weak in their faith. When we judge other Christians we must use much grace because Jesus said “Judge not, that ye be not judged. (2.) For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged…” Matthew 7:1 – 2 with what matter you judge others you also shall be judged in that same matter except not by man but by Jesus Christ. Now we must understand there is a certain level of judgment that church judges it membership by however she must also be merciful in her judgment if she wants to be judged with mercy. Sometimes Christians wants to judge other Christians about everything under the sun, about how they dress, how they walk, where they eat, how they live, how they talk or speak, or etc. but please remember we will be judged that same as we judge others, as harshly or as gentle. My way of life may differ from your way of life, but that doesn’t make me wrong and you right, no more than if I judged you in the same matter. Sometimes Christians have different manners in life; maybe one will not allow their female children swim with the male children and others may allow it, who is right and who is wrong, well they both are right because God doesn’t tell our children they cannot swim together. One Christian may choose other issues in life and another may not agree but that doesn’t make them wrong and you right. We sometimes expand the meaning of the scriptures to prove our point but fail to look in a mirror and see the same expanded scriptures condemn our own selves. Maybe it would do us all good to pray this prayer “Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.” Psalms 26:2

FORBIDDEN SCRIPTURES:

Try this test: Read the Bible verses below and then think back and try to remember the last time you heard a sermon taken from this text. Probably you never have. That is because these verses are among a sizeable number which contradict the beliefs of most modern preachers and churches. Because of this most preachers have never preached on these verses. Probably they have never dealt with them except to try to explain them away, assuring their hearers that they do not mean what they say. Think of it! Modern professing Christians who refuse to believe all that the Bible teaches while claiming to believe that the Bible is God’s Word. So, take the test. Read these verses and decide if you and your preacher and your church really do believe all that the Bible says. Perhaps you will decide that some changes need to be made – not in the Bible – but in your thinking and understanding. You may even want to ask your preacher about them! Here are some of the “Forbidden Scriptures” about salvation that most people refuse to believe.

“As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.” (Romans 9:13-18)

Perhaps you ought to read those verses again and let them sink in! Those who believe that salvation is offered to all men universally and that whether or not a person is saved is entirely up to him or her find their theory devastated by these verses. God saves whom He will when He wills to do so. Your eternal destiny is not a matter of your making a decision or exercising your will. Your destiny is completely in the hands of God! Will you believe God’s Word or will you follow the theories and ideas of men?

Will you humble yourself before the Sovereign God or do you dare to think that your deeds (believing, praying, going forward in a religious meeting, being immersed, speaking in tongues, etc.) will cause God to save you? Do you really believe that you can initiate you own salvation – that you can do something (works) that will result in your salvation? These verses say God is sovereign (uninfluenced by outside forces) even in the matter of salvation! You cannot bribe God!

Think about it: You cannot break your own heart over your sin and yet it is this broken-heartedness (called in the Bible “godly sorrow”) that works repentance. The Bible says exactly that in 2 Corinthians 7:10. There we read: “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.” Have you repented to salvation? Have you experienced that broken-heartedness that produced true repentance? Let no one (including yourself) give you a false assurance of salvation. Without the kind of repentance brought about by godly sorrow you have not experienced “repentance to salvation” regardless of your religious experiences. Jesus said, “…except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” May God be pleased to grant you repentance!

By Curtis Pugh Missionary to Poteau, Oklahoma

Bread-And-Cheese Faith! By Spurgeon:

“I will speak very broadly and plainly, and say we need a bread-and-cheese faith, that is to say-- a faith which believes that God who feeds the ravens will send us our daily bread; a faith which believes that the heavenly Father who clothes the lilies, will much more clothe his children; the faith that can believe God about the things that are actually around it, and that does not live in the region of fiction.”