Sovereign Grace Missionary BaptistChurch 1217 Dillon Texarkana, Texas 75501 September 30, 2012 Newsletter Number 385 Brother Randy Johnson, Pastor Brother Ronnie Henderson, Song Director Pastor E-Mail: pastor@sgmbaptist.com Web Site: www.sgmbaptist.com "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, Frank & Sonya Trusty, Frank & Dawana Reigel, Andrew Preston, Larry Mollette, Larry Mollette II & Family, Kerry Pennington, Kim Poole, Danny & Nita Mollette, Deloris Davis , Wendell Henderson, Judy Dunn, Martha Gray, Joshua Kidd, Matthew Kidd, Ronnie Henderson Jr. & Children, Ricky Henderson and Family, Jacie Henderson, Bro. & Mrs. Hammond, Charles, Don Hammond and Families, Archie & Barbara Griffin, Bro. & Sister Bob Keller, Mary Ramsey, Donna Johnson, Fay Johnson, James and Luann Reynolds, Timothy and Nathan Fails, Jacob Ramsey, Jerry Hughes, Sister Nita Bookout, Pastor G. L. Burr, Melody Carr, Janie Capps, Imajo Tracy, Linda Hughes, Roy Lemmon, Rosie Tomlin, Lee Mollette’s Daughter & Granddaughter Kristal, Dale Barnes – Kathy Johnson and their mother, Pat and Waymon Abercrombie, Barbara Brewer, Donna Jones, Frank Roberts, Dale and Linda Trahan, Linda Mollette– Shawn and girls, Ricky and Margaret McCoy, Brother David O’Neal, Robert, Brother Curtis Pugh, Brother Dan Sullivan and the work in Thailand, Brother Raul and the work in Romania, and Bro. Sergey Mochalov and the Churches in Russia.

The Pastors Corner: Atonement: What Does It Mean? 2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (18.) And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; (19.) To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation." The English word “atonement” is mentioned in the New Testament only one time however the Greek word katallagē is mentioned four time; twice in Romans and twice in 2 Corinthians 5. katallagē means – to exchange that is, restoration to (the divine) favor. – The definition “restoration to (the divine) favor” means we are restored to the way God created man before the fall. It was after God had created man and woman on the sixth day that God not only said He was “pleased” but rather He was “very pleased”. Now that we know what the word “atonement” means lets look at how God “restores to (the divine) favor”. We find the actual word “atonement” in Romans 5:11 “And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.” Here we see that “atonement” or “restoring to (the divine) favor” is by Jesus Christ. This is the only way one can be atoned because only the blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse one from their sins; this make Him our atonement. The Jewish people just celebrated their holiday called “Rosh Hashanah” which is (to my understanding) their day of atonement. This is the day that they ask God to forgive their sins and to cleanse them. The only problem is that they have no Saviour; they have no redeemer as we have in Jesus Christ. However, as we look at the religions of the world we see no redeemer in any of them except in Christians (which is not a religion). What the Jewish people and other religions of the world need to consider is that God cannot just forgive sin. God has never just forgiven sin. There were in the Old Testament time sacrifices on alters but the last alter of sacrifice was the cross on Mt. Calvary where our redeemer paid a just price for all our sins and it is this just payment that God uses to count our sins as zero. God said "That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: (13.) But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ." Ephesians 2:12 – 13. If the Jewish people could just ask God for forgiveness and He was to grant it then God would be unjust Himself. The holiness and justice of God denies Him this ability. God is a God of law and when law is broken punishment must be delivered. The Holiness of God forbids such an oversight of sin and Justice demands vengeance or retribution for sin. Sometimes folks (especially those with little biblical knowledge) argue against limiting God but God is who He is. There are things God cannot do; He cannot lie, He cannot sin, He cannot go against His holiness, and etc. I believe to think that God could do any of these things is a sin in itself. A just and holy God demands laws to be obeyed or suffer the punishment for breaking them. There is a large difference between God just forgiving sin and God forgiving sin because a just payment was made by Christ Jesus. The Jewish people and other religious people believe that God will simply just forgive there sins; but if this was so then there would have been no need in Jesus Christ giving His life on the cross; and the scriptures conclude many times over that Jesus Christ died for our sins. Christ Jesus did not die in vain. "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him." 1 John 4:9 We want to conclude with this fact. God accepted the blood of Jesus Christ as a just payment for our sins and this makes Him our redeemer and our Atonement to be restored to a sinless being. God declared “…Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. (8.) Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." Romans 4:7 – 8. We are forgiven because our sins are covered.

For Our Weekly Meditation: The Need and Blessing of Church Attendance“And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works.” (Hebrews 10:24) 1.) You cannot have the proper consideration for your brothers and sisters in Christ, and be unfaithful to the church where they meet. 2.) You cannot provoke your brothers and sisters in Christ unto love, unless you are faithful to the church that Christ loved and died for. 3.) You cannot provoke good works unless your church work is good. When the super structure of your Christian life is flimsy, people will be suspicious of the foundation upon which it is built. The church is the pillar and ground of the truth. (I Timothy 3:15) “Love and good works” are the fruit of faithfulness to the Lord’s house, and apart from his path of obedience to Christ, love wanes and good works go wanting. Every part of the body is given to complement every other part of the body, and to become a hindrance rather than a help is to impair the efficiency of the whole body. The Lord’s church is His executive body on earth, and careless disregard of duty thereto creates an additional burden upon the already struggling brothers and sisters of the church. Every member is either a blessing or a burden to the church, and one sure way to be a blessing and have loving concern for our fellow pilgrims is to meet constantly with them at the Lord’s house. Then, shall the world around us know that we have been with one another, and that we all have been with Jesus. To habitually miss the services of the church is to abuse one of the greatest privileges we have, and it is to shirk in a shameful way our responsibility to Christ and His church which He so lovingly considered, worked and died for. Can we, or will we be so ungrateful as to reproach Him by failing to meet with Him and His faithful people at the appointed time? God forbid! “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” (Hebrews 10: 25) By Elder Oscar B. Mink this churches former Pastor and now with the Lord.

Notice: The next church business meeting will be on October 14 at 4pm. Please plan to attend. The next time change will be November 04, 2012 When Daylight savings time ends. Your clocks will fall back one hour.

Nota from Pastor Johnson:
Sorry; Some of you may not have noticed but the Jewish holiday for atonement
is Yom Kippur not Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah is their New Year when they
celebrate the creation of the world (as I understand it) sorry but
corrections have been made. These holidays are about a week apart and I just
looked at the wrong day.