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 May 31, 2015 Newsletter Number 518 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, Doris Hammock, 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 Fails, Jacob Ramsey, Jerry Hughes, Pastor G. L. Burr, Melody Carr, Janie Capps, Imajo Tracy, Linda Hughes, Roy Lemmon, Rosie Tomlin, James and Lynn Tomlin, Pat Abercrombie, Donna Jones, James, Diane & Brooke Thomas, Trent and Tiffane Thomas, Gina Peel, Brother Kelley and Sister Hinson, Megan Whitaker, Tammy Hairston and family, Manual Seymour, Sr., Brother Jerry and Sister Jean Dodson, James Hedges, 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 Thought From Our Pastor:: God’s Correcting Tool!“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:” 2 Timothy 3:16 I am sometimes amazed when some visitors visit our church and compliments the sermon and how it was delivered, some will say “I wished my pastor taught like that” or “I wished my pastor preached that way”. And I must say the compliments are nice but why don’t they come back? It makes me wonder if it is the style or something in the deliverance they like. But most those who do return, often fail to return because as soon as they hear another sermon all of a sudden their opinion has changed, all of a sudden they are not as in love as they thought. I think people are accustomed in most places of worship of enjoying the speaker and not so much the message. Folks, the speaker is nothing; because a sermon is not the delivery is in the subject manner of the sermon. Or maybe they love the sermon as long as it has no hurting subject manner. So maybe if I would stop preaching the meat of the word, the doctrine of the word, then maybe people would be more in love with our services, but then, what would be the reason we call ourselves a CHURCH? We are a church because we worship God; we worship her head the Lord Jesus Christ, and not the pastor. A sermon is not a sermon from God until the speaker is irrelevant to the sermon. The bible cannot be cut so that a sermon does not tell a lost sinner they are going to hell, or that their ways of living will cause God to chasten them. A sermon is not a sermon until the truths of the bible are elevated to the top of the sermon. If a pastor is not preaching the doctrine of the bible then he is not preaching. If preachers are not upsetting people who may not be serving the Lord and the church then he is not preaching. There is a lot to preach about on the loving subjects of the bible, but there is also a lot not being preached on the harsh subjects. It is when these people hear these truths that I go from a good preacher to a devil in their minds. Folks, the bible was written for our learning DOCTRINE, for our REPROOF and CORRECTION in living life, and for our INSTRUCTION in life. Preaching is not about the preacher but about the message, if someone likes me or any other preacher for any other reason than we are preaching the truths of the bible, then they like us for the wrong reason.

A Though For Your Bible Study: HOW FAR, AMERICA? (Part four the Conclusion ) “How Far, America?” Not how far will wicked men go, but how far will God allow wicked men to go in moral filth and doctrinal evils? Probably farther than you or I would allow! But certainly they will go no farther than God has planned for them to go! We can be absolutely confident that God is not concerned with time: rather He is concerned with His elect for we read that the restoration of national Israel will follow that time when, “the fulness of the Gentiles be come in,” (Romans 11:25). In other words, God shall turn again to little Israel when His elect from among the Gentiles are regenerated and sanctified to the point He has predetermined. Then God will be acting in a different manner toward these United States. Two things here: (1) sometimes folk will say that this last phrase quoted means that “when the last elect Gentile is saved... etc.,” Our reply is this: God did not take you to heaven immediately after your were converted so what makes you so sure that God may not leave His last saved elect Gentile here on earth for a while after they are born again? May He not leave them here awhile to witness to the world and to experience that sanctification needed by each of His sheep? (2) In turning to Israel God shall bring to pass the “time of Jacob's trouble,” (Jeremiah 30:5) which has absolutely nothing to do with Christ's congregations. From the Book of Revelation we see that all the evidence points to the fact that when God's end-time judgment upon this world begins, His congregations (made up of principally Gentile peoples) will be with Him and not on the earth at all. Always keep in mind the God-given outline of the Book of Revelation found in chapter one, verse nineteen. Matthew chapter twenty-four is a record of our Lord's prophecy regarding the end of this age and the tribulation to follow. His counsel to the disciples was as follows: “...Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows,” (Matthew 24:4-8). The Lord's words in this passage indicate that the danger to the saints of God at this time is twofold: (1) being deceived: the Lord said, “Take heed that no man deceive you,” and (2) “be not troubled.” These two dangers – being led astray and being alarmed or frightened – are the dangers of our time. Radio and TV preachers as well as some “big time pastors” and some not so big ones are busy at this very moment leading people astray. Some of them gain followers and make huge amounts of money off the alarm felt by most people – i.e., the notion that America is heading in the wrong direction and that things cannot continue long in this direction without catastrophic national or even worldwide consequences. Recently at least one governor, Jindal of Louisiana, has warned of the possibility of a “rebellion” and of a “hostile takeover of Washington, D.C., to preserve the American Dream for our children and grandchildren," (quote from Gov. Bobby Jindal's keynote address at a recent Faith and Freedom Coalition event). But, lulled to sleepiness if not outright sleep by our toys, treasures and pleasures, we Americans for the most part are only vaguely uneasy about our Social Security, Medicare, and 401Ks. Will some of us live to see such events as Governor Jindal speaks? Possibly. Some would even say probably. In light of these things, the Words of the Holy Ghost to Timothy are appropriate: “But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them,” (2 Timothy 3:14). These words follow those quoted above regarding the proliferation of evil men and deceivers in these days of apostasy. What shall we who believe in the absolute sovereignty of God in all things do? What shall we do who hold to “mother-church daughter-church succession?” “Continue thou!” Stay with the Word of God! Believe God's Book and practice accordingly! What better advice can be given? Do not jump overboard when it seems the old ship of Zion is about to be overwhelmed and the seas of apostasy and opposition are tossing her about. Do not panic! Let us remain faithful to Christ and to the system of doctrine taught in the Bible! In that we shall not err. God has not changed, does not change, and will not change: why should we? You can view the full article online at: http://gracebbc.dyndns.org:81/HowFarAmerica-Pugh.html By Curtis Pugh Missionary to Poteau, Oklahoma