Sovereign Grace Missionary Baptist Church "Where The Truths Of God’s Word Have Been Taught For More Than Fifty-Four Years” 1217 Dillon Texarkana, Texas 75501 June 26, 2016            Newsletter Number 572 Brother Randy Johnson, Pastor                   Brother Ronnie Henderson Sr., Song Leader Pastor E-Mail: pastor@sgmbaptist.com                       Web Site: www.sgmbaptist.com “A Church Believing And Standing On The Truth, As The Holy Spirit Has Taught It.”

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, Ted O'Bonion, Larry Mollette II & Family, Kerry Pennington, Kim Poole, Danny & Nita Mollette, The Muncy Family,  Wendell Henderson, Joshua Kidd, Matthew Kidd, Ronnie and Sarah Henderson, Cindy Lane, Ronnie Henderson Jr. & Children, Ricky Henderson and Family, Jacie Henderson, Velma Hammond, Charles, Don Hammond and Families, Vickie Adkins, Archie & Barbara Griffin, Donna Johnson, James and Luann Reynolds, Timothy Fails, Nathan Fails, Jacob Ramsey, Jerry Hughes, Pastor G. L. Burr, Melody Carr, Janie Capps, Linda Hughes, Rosie Tomlin, James and Lynn Tomlin, Pat Abercrombie, Donna Jones, Brandy Sullivan, Gina, Tammy Hairston and family, Brother Kelley and Sister Hinson, Manual Seymour, Sr, Dewayne Sewell, The Harris Family, Teresa Bookout, Little Titan Thomas (Trent and Tiffane Thomas child), James – Diane and Brooke Thomas, Jace Fails, Steve Sparks, Brother Harold & Ann McSwain, 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:   Lord, Mercy Please.  “Let thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according as we hope in thee.” Psalms 33:22   The prayer of the Psalmist here is for mercy. The word “mercy” here means – kindness – therefore the Psalmist is asking God for kindness, which neither the Psalmist nor we deserve. The Psalmist understood that it was God who delivered us from the eternal fires of hell and it is He whom we trust to be able to provide us with mercy. “Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our help and our shield.” V. 20 God is our help because without His loving gift of mercy, He never would have ever helped us in any area. God owes us nothing, people believe God functions at their command, but God is a Sovereign Being and reacts as He chooses. He owes us nothing, therefore He owes us no blessings or mercies. So we see the Psalmist clarified his request in verse 21 “For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name.” It is in Him that we have found blessings, the blessing of salvation, the blessing of love, the blessing of protection and all other blessings. Therefore, it is Him that we very often call upon for the continued blessings in our lives, called mercy. When we ask God for mercy we are asking for His kindness toward us in the daily happenings of life. As Christians in the Twenty- First Century we need to group together and request of the Lord for mercy because of the world we live in. We live on the edge, we live in uncertain times, we live in very troubled time. We live in times that Christians have not seen since the “dark ages” when Christians were being murdered by the millions, just because they would not recant Jesus Christ or follow another religion. While the Lord promised more than we know, it is Him that our full trust and faith must be in. No one else can help us; no one wants to help us. We are totally going to make it because of Gods mercy. With that being said, that’s what I do, I ask the Lord for mercy in uncertain times. Christian friends, I plead with you to join me to ask God for much mercy, because anything can happen at any time in these uncertain times. However, I have faith, I have pleasure in the God that I serve and will trust Him with my entire being that He has us in His blessed hands and nothing can harm us unless He allows it. The Psalmist also reminds us “But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee...For thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield." Psalms 5:11 - 12 Christians we have much to rejoice in because our entire existence is in the power of the Most High God. Therefore, let us be joyful because it is He who “dedendest” us. Boy, if that is not shouting ground I will never find it. This last part I really love “…wilt thou compass him as with a shield." The word “compass” means - to encircle – which means to form a full circle around us to make sure we are fully protected by our Saviour Jesus Christ, and since He has all power that is wonderful protection. Therefore, beloved, lets rejoice in this wonderful blessing, but also let us continually request mercy from the Lord in these most uncertain times. "Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about...Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart." Psalms 32:10 – 11 Amen!

MARY'S SAVIOR:By Brother Curtis Pugh   Probably most of the things believed about Mary the mother of Jesus are based upon imagination rather than upon the Bible. Let us consider one thing about her that is clearly taught by the Bible: once Mary was a lost sinner, but the Lord saved her. We know this because Mary said so herself. She said, “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour,” (Luke 1:46-47). It is obvious, is it not? If a person has a savior they must have at one time or another been saved. For instance, if a man falls overboard and is about to drown and another person pulls him back into the boat, the one man was saved from drowning and the other person is his savior.   Mary was the natural child of her parents. Her genealogy is presented through her husband and her father. It goes all the way back to Adam proving that she was a human being and thus as a descendant of that first man was a sinner. She needed a Savior as do all lost sinners.   Every true child of God, that is, every lost sinner who has been born again by the Holy Spirit experiences the same thing that Mary experienced. She and all who know the salvation of the Lord have experienced the rejoicing of the inner man that comes with being born from above. They can all say with Mary, “my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.” Those who do not experience this joy have never been born again!   Every child of God ought to say with Mary, “my soul doth magnify the Lord.” But, alas, there are some who will only share a part of the credit for their salvation with God. They magnify themselves by claiming that they initiated their own salvation. They are like the man overboard who, once rescued, says I sure am glad that I held on tight to you and pulled myself back into the boat with your help – when in reality they were helpless and were pulled in by the other person.   “I came to Christ,” they say, thinking they did it themselves. While Christ said,  “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day,” (John 6:44). They refuse to “magnify the Lord,” but rather attribute at least a part of their salvation to themselves. They did not need to be saved. They only needed a little help. They helped save themselves and so they are a co-savior with Christ, only sharing a part of the glory for their salvation with Him. Their attitude is “we did it.”   There was none of that in Mary's confession! She said, “my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour”! What do you say? “Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!” (Psalm 107:8).

Noteworthy: Happy Birthday Pastor Randy Johnson Monday June 27th

1 Corinthians 2:10 – 11 "But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God...For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.”