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 November 06, 2011 Newsletter Number 341 Brother Randy Johnson, Pastor Brother Ronnie Henderson, Song Director Pastor E-Mail: sgmbcpastor@baptistsonline.org Web Site: www.baptistsonline.org/sgmbc "Where The Truths Of God’s Word Have Been Taught For More Than Fifty Years”

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, Sister Alice Hoskins, Joyce Gomez , Frank & Sonya Trusty, Bryndon Thomas, Frank & Dawana Reigel, Andrew Preston, Larry Mollette, Larry Mollette II & Family, Kerry Pennington, Kim Poole, Danny & Nita Mollette, Wendell Henderson, Judy Dunn, Martha Gray, Joshua Kidd, Matthew Kidd,, Ronnie Henderson Jr. & Son Kevin Henderson, Jim Stagner, Bro. & Mrs. Hammond, Don & Neil Hammond, Charles Hammond, Archie & Barbara Griffin & son Daniel, Bro. & Sister Bob Keller, Kathy Rosinbaum, Mary Ramsey, Donna Johnson, Fay Johnson, Luann Reynolds, Brother Curtis Pugh, Timothy and Nathan Fails, Jacob Ramsey, Jim & Linda Meier, Brother Manuel Seymour, 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, Linda Hughes, Roy Lemmon, Marshall Risinger & wife, Lee Mollette’s Daughter & Granddaughter Kristal, Dale Barnes, Keith Johnson, Tammy Hairston, Tommy Lee Walker, Lorene & David Rodden, Leon Wyckoff, Billy Smith, and Bro. Sergey Mochalov and the Churches in Russia.

The Pastors Corner: Rejoice!! Matthew 5:12 “Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” As we have just looked at persecution and the hatred against the Christian, we now turn another corner. The Lord tells us to rejoice and be exceeding glad because your sufferings on earth will carry a greater reward in heaven. Please let us understand something here; not all Christians have rewards waiting on them in heaven, only those who have earned them. Some believe (out of ignorance of Gods word) that all believers will be the same in heaven therefore “churches” and “Pastors” have tried to equalize everything involving Christians but it is not theirs to equalize; it is Gods. Jesus Christ will judge every Christian, it is He who will try our works by fire, and it is He who will give the rewards. Christians that have little works and believe little truth will receive little rewards if any at all. Everything a Christian believes and does in their life will account against or for there rewards in heaven. 1 Corinthians 3:15 “If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.” Those who do not worry about accomplishing works for God will find little once they are there. But on the other side of this thought are those who have worked for rewards, theirs will be great in heaven. Those that have suffered on earth will buy gain in heaven, and the greater the sacrifice the greater the reward and those that gave their life to the enemy for Gods sake will indeed gain the greatest rewards. God said “be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven” The words “be exceeding glad” actually means - properly to jump for joy – because your loss here on earth buys ten fold in heaven. You have rewards that are preserved in heaven for your eternal joy and no one can hurt them, steal them, nor will they corrode before you get to heaven, no they are reserved for you for your day of judgment. Remember what God said about Peter and John after their arrest “And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.” Acts 5:41 They were “exceeding glad” to be able to suffer for the Lord Jesus Christ even though their lives were threatened. Many over the years died; as many as fifty million just in the dark ages alone; but beloved think of what it must have been like when they opened their eye after death, oh how blessed they were to see Jesus Christ the very One they had just died for. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:17 - 18 “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; (18.) While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” “…for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” Beloved let us all remember no matter what sufferings we have on this earth not will ever suffer as Jesus Christ did, nor will we ever suffer as much as so many before us, therefore before we cry so much about how hard it is to be a Christian of truth let us reflect on the suffering of so many other believers before us who actually died for the Lords church and the biblical truths. 1 Thessalonians 2:14 – 16 “For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews: (15.) Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: (16.) Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.”

Wise Counsel for Preachers: The year was 1768. A twenty-eight year old preacher by the name of Augustus Toplady, who wrote many of our best hymns, including "Rock of Ages", spent the afternoon in London with Mr. Brewer — an older, veteran Gospel preacher, whom he greatly admired and from whom he learned much. This is what Mr. Brewer said to the young Toplady, as Toplady later recorded in his diary: I cannot conclude without reminding you, my young brother, of some things that may be of use to you in the course of your ministry: 1. Preach Christ crucified, and dwell chiefly on the blessings resulting from His righteousness, atonement, and intercession. 2. Avoid all needless controversies in the pulpit; except it be when your subject necessarily requires it; or when the truths of God are likely to suffer by your silence. 3. When you ascend the pulpit, leave your learning behind you. Endeavor to preach more to the hearts of your people — than to their heads. 4. Do not affect too much oratory. Seek rather to profit your hearers — than to be admired by them.

The Devil Is A Real Person. The devil is no myth--no dream--no vision--no fable--no allegory. It narrates the real conduct of a real person. It is no fictitious tale. It is not amusement for imaginative minds. It is no stage, on which imagination may blow bubbles. All is historic verity and unvarnished fact. Here are the doings of an actual living being. As God truly is--and Christ truly is--and the Holy Spirit truly is--and we truly are--just so the devil truly is. Works prove a workman. Acts show an agent. So real performances stamp a real devil. Reader! these are days in which proud reason sneers at ancient verities, and regards Bible-statements as materials for the construction of airy palaces of conceit. Be not deceived. As the Serpent beguiled Eve, so now he beguiles unstable minds. As he persuaded her to view him as a friendly counselor, so he persuades them to regard him as a shadowy semblance of some vague mystery. Listen not to such fond dreams. The Bible begins not with enigmas. It is not constructed to puzzle and perplex. Trifle not with the faithful statement but be assured, that there is no truth more tremendously true, than the existence of a personal devil. Watch then, and pray. He is always personally near; for he "walks about seeking whom he may devour." 1 Pet. 5:8. Bar the portals of your heart. He seeks to make that heart his personal home. He is the "spirit that now works in the children of disobedience." Eph. 2:2. By Henry Law from his article “The Serpent”

Church News: November 13th will be the churches next business meeting at 4:00.