Sovereign Grace Missionary BaptistChurch 1217 Dillon Texarkana, Texas 75501 December 22, 2013 Newsletter Number 444 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, Junior Baldridge, Frankie Baldridge and daughter, Buckie Thompson, Frank & Sonya Trusty, Frank & Dawana Reigel, Andrew Preston, Larry & Martha Mollette, Larry Mollette II & Family, Kerry Pennington, Kim Poole, Danny & Nita Mollette, Robert Riggs, Wendell Henderson, Judy Dunn, Martha Gray, Joshua Kidd, Matthew Kidd, Ronnie and Sarah Henderson, Ronnie Henderson Jr. & Children, Ricky Henderson and Family, Jacie Henderson, Velma 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, Teresa Bookout, Pastor G. L. Burr, Melody Carr, Janie Capps, Imajo Tracy, Linda Hughes, Roy Lemmon, Rosie Tomlin, Lee Mollette’s Daughter & Granddaughter Kristal, Pat Abercrombie, Barbara Brewer, Donna Jones, Dale and Linda Trahan, Ricky and Margaret McCoy, Brother David O’Neal, Tommy Walker and family, Diane Thomas, Gina Peel, James and Lynn Tomlin, Brother Kelley and Sister Hinson, Robert, Megan Whitaker, Manual Seymour, Sr. Brother Jerry and Sister Jean Dodson, Brother Steve and Kimberlee McCool, 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.

From Our Pastor: Don't Let Things Separate Our Love One For The Other. John 15:12 "This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you." As Christians we are to have the richest love one for the other, just as Christ loved us. What kind of love is that; well it is the kind of love that brought Him from glory to give His life for us. Sometimes Christians believe so much in their doctrine that we allow ourselves to get caught up in distastefulness of other believers and so much so that we cannot worship together. As Christians we must be tolerant of other Christians. We are not all the same, we differ in many ways. We must understand there is a human element to our belief and none of us are perfect. The Lord said to those who wanted to stone the adulteress woman "... He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." John 8:7 I add "let him that is perfect condemn all that are not like him" I have said this many times and will always say, because we find ourselves condemning other who are not just like we are. We will all stand before Jesus Christ in judgment and He will divide what is right and what is wrong, it is He that will correct us all and cause us to believe the absolute truth. Our duty to Him in this world is to love other believers no matter what. We are brothers and sister in Christ not judges of one another. We don't need to bring harm to ourselves by mocking or even disliking other Christians because of their belief. Christ Jesus gave us no "except" in His command to love one another and those that make that exception is in violation of the scriptures and the commandment of Christ. I hear this time of year Christians misbehaving because of the worldly holiday of Christmas. As with a lot of things we disagree on the holiday and allow it to bring harm to our relationship to others believers in Christ. Let us remember we are what we are by Gods grace and if God wanted your Christian friend to be like you then He would have made you colons of one another. While believers in Christ may disagree on the Christmas holiday does not make the other one bad and it does not allow one side or the other to condemn the other. I have always said that you as a Christian do with Christmas as you fill you must do, and to those who do not celebrate the holiday then do as you must. Christmas is a worldly holiday full of worldliness and little to none about Christ Jesus. I do not believe Christmas is a just celebration for a church of Jesus Christ. It was not a part of the Lords first church and is not a part of ours today. I believe a good study of the holiday will prove it is 1. pagan and 2. Catholic and we are neither at our church, we are Baptist and not Catholic. With this thought in mind it is a sin to condemn other believers for their thinking on the holiday. If we allow this holiday to separate us as Christians then we all do a disservice to Jesus Christ. I can think of far worst thing a Christian can do than to celebrate Christmas. We are not allowed to condemn, mock, talk about, laugh at, or etc, etc, etc, at other Christians over their belief of a worldly holiday. We are to love one another unconditionally as Christ has loved us. You will not find Him condemning, mocking, talking about, laughing at, or etc, etc, etc, you because you are a sinner and continue to be even though you are a Christian. He loves us so much He gave His own life for our sins, even when we were enemies with Him, He still loved us. Don't allow things come between us that are really meaningless in the big picture of things. All believers are Gods children and all are loved of the Lord no matter what.

For Our Weekly Meditation: That unclean donkey is yourself!"You must redeem the firstborn donkey with a lamb. But if you do not redeem it—you must kill the donkey by breaking its neck!" Exodus 34:20 Every firstborn creature must be the Lord's—but since the donkey was unclean, it could not be presented in sacrifice to Him. What then? Should it be allowed to go free from the universal law? By no means! God admits of no exceptions. The donkey is His due—but He will not accept it; He will not abate the claim—but yet He cannot be pleased with the unclean victim. No way of escape remained, but redemption—the donkey must be saved by the substitution of a lamb in its place; or if not redeemed, it must die! My soul, here is a lesson for you! That unclean donkey is yourself! You are justly the property of the Lord who made you and preserves you—but you are so sinful that God will not, cannot, accept you! It has come to this—the Lamb of God must stand in your stead—or you must die eternally! Let all the world know of your gratitude to that spotless Lamb who has died for you, and so redeemed you from the fatal curse of the law! Must it not sometimes have been a question with the Israelite, as to which should die—the donkey or the lamb? Would not the man pause to estimate and compare the values of these animals? Assuredly there was no comparison between the value of a sinful man—and the spotless Lord Jesus! Yet the Lamb dies—and man the donkey is spared! My soul, admire the boundless love of God to you! Vile worms are bought—with the blood of the holy Lamb of God! Dust and ashes are redeemed—with a price far above silver and gold! What a doom would have been mine—had not plenteous redemption been found! The breaking of the neck of the donkey was but a momentary penalty. But who shall measure the eternal wrath to come—to which no limit can be imagined! Inestimably dear is the glorious Lamb—who has redeemed me from such a doom! By Charles Spurgeon

A thought For The Week: "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen." Matthew 6:13