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, Lee & 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, Donna Jones, Brandy Sullivan, Gina, Brother Kelley and Sister Hinson, Manual Seymour, Sr, 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, Brandy’s Mother, Elaine Sparks, James daughter’s mother-in-law, Rick McCloskey’s brother, David Leman, Brother Curtis Pugh, Brother Dan Sullivan the work in Thailand, Brother Raul and the work in Romania, Bro. Sergey Mochalov and the Churches in Russia.
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A Thought From our Pastor:
Proof God Only Teaches Truth.Luke 9:44-45 “Let these sayings sink down into your ears: for the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men…But they understood not this saying, and it was hid from them, that they perceived it not: and they feared to ask him of that saying.”
This passage of scripture is an eye opening scripture. We have to sometimes wonder why men who study the same bible, sometimes in the same churches, simply cannot agree on the scriptures. I believe by this passage of scripture it is because God gives us the understanding that only He wants us to understand. There is a great difference between a Christian who knows bible truth and refuses to teach it than one who simply cannot understand it. I believe it is impossible for a Believer to extend beyond the limits that God has allowed them to have. “But we will not boast of things without our measure, but according to the measure of the rule which God hath distributed to us, a measure to reach even unto you.” 2 Corinthians 10:13 I believe doctrinal truth is elected just as salvation is, it is by God’s grace and giving love. We never have a reason to boast about our knowledge or understanding of the scriptures, likewise a believer with understanding should not criticize another one for their lack. Jesus told these wonderful dedicated servants that His death was soon and they understood not, why not, “…it was hid from them, that they perceived it not…” God did not bless them with that knowledge. I always wondered why these men did not attend the crucifixion of Jesus. If they understood (while it may have been painful) they would have gloried in His death. We do, as sad as it is to visit the scriptures on the crucifixion we understand how glorious His death was. And then the tomb, why were they not there on the resurrection morning? Jesus had just told these men that He was going to Jerusalem to die and God did not give them the knowledge to understand. These men who lived, slept, eat, preached, and suffered with Jesus, these men who followed Him at any cost, these men who heard Him preach, saw Him heal, and loved Him more than life, understood not. Why not? Because God did not show it to them. Beloved, please understand we only get what God gives us in every area of life. Two great Ministers, two great writes of commentaries, two men that had great knowledge of the scriptures, but neither John Gill nor Charles Haddon Spurgeon understood the truth about the church, neither where Baptist, why not? And not just them but millions of others never understood select truths about the scriptures, why not? We study the same bible, from like-minded pastors and teachers, why is it some get it and some do not? I believe because if God does not show and teach it to us it is impossible to understand. Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:6-7 “One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all…But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.” We all serve one single God, who is above all, but only gives each of us the measure of grace He has given us in Christ. I believe we cannot surpass this measure of knowledge no more than we can pass our bounds of life. If one person lives to be 90 and another lives 2 years it was God who ordained it, just like He limits our understanding. Therefore, beloved, let us not be so hard on those who do not understand, if they are saved and have little knowledge of the scriptures and you have a lot, thank God for what He has blessed you with and pray for those that is without. I believe some believers are simply too hard on others that disagree with them. If two people are saved then that have a great fellowship in Christ, why fight and dislike over doctrine. Just think about it!!
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From One Preacher to AnotherBy Don Fortner
“He that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.” (Proverbs 12:15)
In another place the Spirit of God admonishes us to “Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end” (Pro. 19:20). More than thirty years ago Pastor Henry Mahan and I were preaching together in a Bible conference in Appomattox, VA. I was a very young man, preaching with him and several other men of much age and experience. Each day we were there, Bro. Mahan came by my room for a visit. Each time, he gave me a word of wise counsel about preaching. I can almost recall his exact words. I have rehearsed them countless times over the years. They have, I hope, shaped my preaching.
Bro. Mahan’s first word of wisdom to me was “Preach the Gospel.” He urged me to preach like Richard Baxter, “as a dying man to dying men.” From that day to this, it has been my determination every time I preach to do so with the conscious awareness that I am preaching to eternity bound sinners, who must soon stand before God in judgment. — Let no sermon ever be preached that does not clearly show sinners how God saves sinners by his grace, urging them to seek his mercy in Christ.
Next, my wise counsellor urged me, “Don’t try to preach to preachers. Find a man in the congregation who looks like he may have been digging ditches his whole life, who looks like his heart is broken and heavy, who needs comfort and encouragement.” That is exactly what God himself demands of those who speak for him (Isa. 40:1-2). — Every gospel sermon is a message of consolation to God’s elect, urging them to look away from themselves and their woes to Christ and his fulness of grace.
The third wise word of counsel Bro. Mahan gave me that week was, “Bro. Fortner, find something in that Book that speaks to you, that you need. If you need it and it speaks to you, chances are somebody else will need it and it will speak to them. If you don’t need it, nobody else does.” In other words, it is utter vanity to stand in the pulpit answering questions no one is asking. — Gospel preaching is not defending points of doctrine, but declaring the boundless mercy and grace of God in Christ.
I pray that God will never allow me to forget these words of wise counsel. I think hell must roar with laughter when preachers stand in the pulpit and try to untie theological knots no one is aware of and argue debates no one cares about. Until I find a message more glorious than Christ crucified, more needful than free grace, more delightful than infinite mercy, more comforting than absolute forgiveness, more assuring than perfect righteousness, more compelling than redeeming blood, more hopeful than heavenly glory, and more joyful than the infinite, immutable love of God in Christ, I am determined to preach nothing else, but Jesus Christ and him crucified. — “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”
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