Sovereign Grace Missionary Baptist Church "Where The Truths Of God’s Word Have Been Taught For More Than Fifty-Five Years” 1217 Dillon Texarkana, Texas 75501 December 04, 2016            Newsletter Number 597 Brother Randy Johnson, Pastor                   Brother Ronnie Henderson Sr., Song Leader Pastor E-Mail: pastor@sgmbaptist.com                                          Web Site: www.sgmbaptist.com “A Church Seeking To Please God In Prayer, Song, Preaching, And Worship.”

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, Tyrell Loyd, Bonnie, Ted O'Bonion, Larry Mollette II & Family, Kerry Adcock, Kim Poole, Danny & Nita Mollette, The Muncy Family, Mary Mollette, Wendell Henderson, 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, 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, The Morris Family, Teresa Bookout, Little Titan Thomas (Trent and Tiffane Thomas child), James – Diane and Brooke Thomas, Jace Fails, Steve Sparks, Sister Ann McSwain, Brother Archie and Barbra Griffin, Brother Curtis Pugh, Brother Dan Sullivan – his mother and the work in Thailand, Brother Raul and the work in Romania, Bro. Sergey Mochalov and the Churches in Russia.

A Thought From our Pastor:   Only God Can Save A Lost Sinner"It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. (64.) But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. (65.) And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father." John 6:63 – 65   This battle in life is growing older by the day. When Paul said “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:” 2 Timothy 4:7 What a fight he must have fought. We are so blessed to live in the Twenty-First Century where we have the complete word of God, but the fight is still hard. With Arminianism blooming like wild flowers these days it certainly makes life hard for Sovereign Grace Churches and their Pastors. It is hard to fight Satan and his theories and lies. Sometimes I have to wonder how the Sovereign Grace of God made it all the way to the Twenty-First Century. You look over at the Arminian churches and see all the wonderful things they have, all the young people whom they are bleaching their young minds with Arminian lies, and it just breaks your heart. It is sad to bring your children up in a right thinking church, a good Sovereign Grace Church only to see them enticed by the bait of Satan’s lies and tools of trickery. The next thing you know they have forgotten all the good truth they were taught for years, and believing and spreading Arminianism. If only they were working that hard for God! However, it may be, we are still here. We may be small, but God is still being honored and blessed in His little church of truth. I still preach the truth about salvation, even if it is only a small group of saved people. My job as a Pastor is to preach the gospel, it is God’s job to allow people to hear it and be saved. While the people of Arminianism are falsely leading people in the wrong direction with their lies, the truth about salvation can still be heard right here in this small Sovereign Grace Baptist Church. As the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 9:16 “For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of…” because my preaching is nothing except God use it for His glory. We use no lies, we tell no false stories, we do not disrespect God by shouting “He cannot change your will”, we ask for no decisions, turning over a new leaf, or etc. We simply preach the gospel of the bible and if anyone’s life is to be changed by it, then God will change it. Understanding this make preaching the gospel a blessing, because you never know how God will use it. As a Pastor of the Lords church, preaching the gospel is my job, Paul went on to warn us Pastors in 1 Corinthians 9:16 “…for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!” Oh! How sad for those who preach anything other than the truth about how God still saves sinners. Remember this as John wrote in verse 65 “…I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father." Only God can cause repentance to a lost sinner, if you do anything to cause a sinner to falsely move, then before Jesus Christ you will stand guilty. Oh, lost sinner do not believe the false teachers of Arminianism, I plead with you. Find a Sovereign Grace Baptist Church, hear the Pastor and be truly led to the saving blood of Jesus Christ. Do not lose confidence Pastor, church, or believers, God still saves sinners. While the churches of heresy continue to grow, the truth is still in the little Sovereign Grace Baptist Churches. It is through our preaching that the world will come to repentance in Jesus Christ. God is still the Saviour and we are still His messengers. Romans 10:13 - 15 “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (14.) How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? (15.) And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”

GOD DOES NOT VALUE IGNORANCEBy Elder Curtis Pugh      Where the idea came from that God puts a premium on ignorance I do not know, but it exists. The idea that an individual is somehow more spiritual if they not know theology, do not know Bible terms, do not know the history of the Lord's churches or the history of the Harlot – this is just not true.    Ignorance is not a character flaw unless it is willful ignorance. To be ignorant just means to not know certain things. But to willfully or willingly remain ignorant when truth is available is a wicked thing. God's Word speaks against some who are “willingly ignorant” in their arguments that Christ is not going to return. The phrase is in 2 Peter 3:5 as follows:  “For this they willingly are ignorant of...”  The saying is, “None are so blind as they who will not see.” Those who will not to see truth have their understanding darkened. Their minds are hardened against God and His truth.    Paul wrote of this in Ephesians 4:17-18, saying, “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.”  Paul pronounced such willfully ignorant people whose hardened hearts blind them to the truth as being “alienated from the life of God” because of their ignorance. Those who harden themselves against God's truth are yet dead in their sins: lost. They are not God's children. It is one thing to be ignorant of certain truth, but it is quite another to willingly remain so by hardening one's heart against the truth.    The Bible speaks of another kind of ignorance. It speaks of the ignorance of the Gentiles in their pagan worship of false gods. They had their Fall festivals, their mid-winter solstice with its Madonna and child, their spring equinox with its resurrection theme. In the past God had overlooked these sins of the nations, but no longer. His words are these:  “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent,” (Acts 17:30). God no longer has patience with Gentile paganism: the same paganism that permeates so-called Christendom today.    It is a sad and astonishing thing to see professing Christians run after pagan holidays and celebrations, believing such things are Christian observances. Sadly, few there be that repent of such things and are willing to go against the tide of popular opinion and rid their homes and church buildings of the trappings of paganism. But is this not a fulfillment of prophecy? Does not God's Word say, “But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived,”  (2 Timothy 3:13). Amazingly, some say we are in a great end-time revival – and we are: an end time revival of paganism with almost total disregard for what God says in His Word.

Church Notices:   The church will observe The Lord’s Supper on December 25th at the 4:00 service.