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 June 14, 2015 Newsletter Number 520 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 Tiffanie 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, Jude Birch, 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.

Church News: The Church will have our June business meeting this afternoon at 4:00. Happy Birthday to Sister Nita Mollette Wednesday June 17th

A Thought From Our Pastor: Speaking To Please God. “But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.” 1 Thessalonians 2:4 Is your pastor speaking to please God? The next question must be does your pastor speak of a sovereign God? Does he expound on how God has chosen a remnant and has given them to Jesus Christ before the world began? Does he speak on how God has foreordained, called, and justified the lost, all on his own? Does your pastor tell you that God calls sinners and none can come unless God does call them? Does your pastor speak about the Holy Spirit doing this calling? Does your pastor give God all the glory and expects none in return? If your pastor is not adhering to these truths he is preaching to please man and not God. He has either never learned the truth about God or he refuses to teach the truth. There is only one truth and that is that God is SOVEREIGN and needs nothing or no one to accomplish His blessed will. He does not need you to make a decision for Christ; He does not need you to do anything to be saved because the truth is salvation is of the Lord and only of Him. It is God who changes the leopard’s spots and the Ethiopian skin color. It is he who can do as he please with His own creation, leaving us no right to ask “what doest thou”. It is men like many pastors who refuse to hear or to preach the truth as it is written because the truth has been changed into a lie, and the lie is more pleasing to the carnal ear. "Who changed the truth of God into a lie..." Romans 1:25. These men would rather preach how a sinner who is at enmity with God, who’s heart has been shut-up by Satan and cannot be changed on their own, who has NO ability to make a decision for Christ, and would rather worship a rock rather than a Sovereign God. This is what Paul called worshiping the creature rather than God. "and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator...". Romans 1:25 If your pastor does not preach on the sovereignty of God then he is preaching to please man rather than God. He is preaching to please your heart and not Gods. He is more worried what you think of him than God does. A preacher of truth will put his faith in the Gospel, he will allow the gospel to work its way and he will allow the gospel to bring the sinners to Christ. God says it will: is He wrong or right? Paul said in Romans 1:16 "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." If the gospel is the power of God then how much does God need us? It is only our job as pastors to preach it to the world and to leave everything else to God and His power. If your pastor is not leaving salvation in the hands of God then he is not preaching to please God. A pastor who deserves praise are those who preach truth, and those who are preaching truth is preaching about how God is sovereign. How God elects, how he predestinates, how He calls, how He saves, how He concludes everything on His own, how He builds the church, and how He supplies the churches. The sovereignty of God means that everything is in Gods hands and we can do nothing on our own. However, listen to your pastor and hear how he never gives God credit for much of anything and he will not tell sinners that their eternal destiny is in the sovereign hands of God. The rivers are turned by the power of God and so is the sinner’s heart. Go ahead and listen to your pastor and teachers and see if what they preach is truth and if it is not, then you do not have to settle for less than the truth. Truth is the only way to worship God. John 4:24 “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” Don’t ever, and I mean ever let any man tell you that God cannot change a man’s will, that is the most anti-sovereign God quote out there and it is a total lie!

A Though For Your Bible Study: Comfort for Suffering Saints!"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son!" Romans 8:28-29 The sovereignty of God is a comfort for suffering saints, acting to remove anxiety. How sweet must the following considerations be to a distressed believer! 1. There most certainly exists an almighty, all-wise and infinitely gracious God (Hebrews 11:6). 2. His love for His elect people is immutable; He never repents of it nor withdraws it (Jeremiah 31:3). 3. Whatever comes to pass in time, is the result of His sovereign will from everlasting (1 Corinthians 8:6). 4. Consequently my afflictions are a part of His sovereign will, and are all ordered in number, weight, and measure (Psalm 22:24). 5. The very hairs of my head (every one) are counted by Him; nor can a single hair fall to the ground but in consequence of His wise determination (Luke 12:7). 6. Hence my afflictions and distresses are not the result of chance, accident, or a fortuitous combination of circumstances (Psalm 56:8). 7. They are the providential accomplishment of God's eternal purpose (Romans 8:28), and are designed to answer some wise and gracious ends (James 5:10-11). 8. Nor shall my affliction continue a moment longer than God sees fit (2 Corinthians 7:6-7). 9. He who brought the affliction to me — has promised to support me under it and to carry me through it (Psalm 34:15-17). 10. All shall, most assuredly, work together for His glory and my good. 11. Therefore, "Shall I not drink from the cup of suffering the Father has given me?" (John 18:11). However keenly afflictions might wound us on their first access — yet, under the impression of such animating views, we should quickly come to ourselves again, and the arrows of affliction, would, in great measure lose their sharpness. Christians need nothing but absolute resignation to God's wise and gracious Providence, to render them perfectly happy in every possible circumstance. And absolute resignation can only flow from an absolute belief of, and an absolute acquiescence in, God's absolute Providence, founded on His absolute predestination (1 Thessalonians 1:2-4). By Jerome Zanchius, 1516-1590