Sovereign Grace Missionary Baptist Church "Where The Truths Of God’s Word Have Been Taught For More Than Fifty-Three Years” 1217 Dillon Texarkana, Texas 75501 December 14, 2014 Newsletter Number 495 Brother Randy Johnson, Pastor Brother Ronnie Henderson, Song Director Pastor E-Mail: pastor@sgmbaptist.com Web Site: www.sgmbaptist.com

Our Prayer Request: 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, Johnnie Stephens, Alecia Stephens, and children, Frankie Baldridge and daughter, Buckie Thompson, Frank & Sonya Trusty, Frank & Dawana Reigel, Andrew Preston, Larry & Martha Mollette and Her Family, Larry Mollette II & Family, Kerry Pennington, Kim Poole, Danny & Nita Mollette, The Muncy Family, 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, Donna Johnson, James and Luann Reynolds, Timothy Fails, Nathan & Claire Fails, Jacob Ramsey, Jerry Hughes, Teresa Bookout, Pastor G. L. Burr, Melody Carr, Janie Capps, Imajo Tracy, Linda Hughes, Roy Lemmon, Rosie Tomlin, James and Lynn Tomlin, Pat Abercrombie, Donna Jones, Dale Trahan, Ricky and Margaret McCoy, Brother David O’Neal, James, Diane & Brooke Thomas, Gina Peel, Brother Kelley and Sister Hinson, Melissa Elliott, Megan Whitaker, Manual Seymour, Sr., Brother Jerry and Sister Jean Dodson, Mr. Hedges, Danny Hammond, Claire’s friend, 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.

A Though From Your Pastor: As Many As The Father Has Given The Son. John 17:2 - 3 “As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. (3.) And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” We would like to call you attention to the last part of verse 2 “…that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.” God has given Christ Jesus the power to give life not to the world, not to all in the world, but to AS MANY AS THOU HAST GIVEN HIM. My question is; who are these people? I know some people hate the doctrine of election, however, without it who are these people? Who was it the Father gave to the Son before creation? I know that the though of God actually electing a remnant or people is scary to a lot of folks but isn’t the bible full of God choosing His people? Did not God choose Israel as a nation and even call then “His son” as a nation? Did God not choose Jacob over Esau and loved the one and hated the other? Did not God choose Moses and so many others throughout the Old Testament? Did God not choose to use the Gentiles in the New Testament to build the churches and to support them throughout our time? Did God not choose the Apostles one by one? I know the first church that Jesus started in Jerusalem was made up of Jews but they soon changed to Gentile. God even goes as far to proclaim that He to set the membership in the churches as it pleases Him. 1 Corinthians 12:18 "But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him." God speaks of salvation as Him choosing and Him delivering instead of a creature’s choice and a creature delivering. No where, not one time in the scriptures is the creature told to make a choice, nor to decide whom they will follow Satan or God in being saved. I can show multiply scriptures where it plainly says that salvation is of God and not of the creature but I do not have enough paper to list them all. Again I ask who are these people that the Father gave to the Son? The Apostles, His disciples? Jesus said in verse 9 “I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.” Why did Jesus say He would not pray for the entire world’s population? Could it be that God did not choose everyone in the world to be His? Jesus said in verse 2 “As thou hast given him power over all flesh…” but that He would give eternal life to as many as He (the Father) has given Him (Christ). And then Jesus refused to pray for the rest of the world. If this is not election then what is it? Many Pastor’s will say “God sent me to this work, or God chose this church for me” I must ask why you, isn’t that election? Why do we pray to God to save a sinner? If God controls salvation then why aren’t all that you pray for saved? Can not the God who can turn the rivers where He wants them to go turn a sinner’s heart? People say that God can’t change man’s will, then my question is why are we praying to Him to save a lost sinner if there is nothing He can do. Why do preachers give Him credit for sending them to a church or for building a church? Paul wrote in Philippians 2:13 “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” Who, who works in us the WILL and TO DO His good pleasure? Why you, did God choose you, then that is election. People can fight election if they want, but the truth is God elects everything He wants and what God wants is what He chose. And I close with this thought; remember Jeremiah, Didn’t God choose him? Jeremiah 1:4 - 5 "Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying...Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations." Who chose Whom?

A Thought For The Week: They love it!"Man, who is vile and corrupt, who drinks up evil like water!" Job 15:16 The unconverted live in sin — they sin all the time. It is their trade — they work hard at it. They love it, and are greedy for iniquity. They "dig up evil." They "fill up their sin ALWAYS." They "ALWAYS resist the Holy Spirit." Never for an hour, do they love God supremely. Unregenerate men sin always — they do nothing but sin against God! All the unconverted do nothing but sin. If for a while they seem to reform — they soon return to their wickedness, as the dog to his vomit; or the sow that was washed, to her wallowing in the mire. Neither mercies, nor judgments, nor promises, nor threatenings, nor hopes, nor fears — without the grace of Christ — will or can ever cure the love of sin, or arrest the practice of sin. “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Romans 8:7 By William S. Plumer, From his "Sinners Saved by Unmerited Kindness"

Quotes for Your Week: “The greatest enemy to human souls is the self-righteous spirit which makes men look to themselves for salvation.” ______________________________________________ “Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom.” By Charles Spurgeon