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 31, 2017          

 Newsletter Number 651

Brother Randy Johnson, Pastor                   Brother James Thomas, 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.”

Please Join Us As We Pray For:

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 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, Gina, Brother Kelley and Sister Hinson, The Harris Family, Teresa Bookout, Little Titan Thomas (Trent and Tiffane Thomas child), James – Diane and Brooke Thomas, Jace Fails, Steve Sparks, Sister Ann McSwain, Elaine Sparks, James daughter’s mother-in-law, David Leman, Danny Hammond,  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.

A Thought From our Pastor:

The Seven Stars, Look Where They Are.

 “The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.” Revelation 1:20

We are always reminded in the scriptures of whom we are. We are sinners saved by grace, we are church members by the choosing and setting in place by God, and we serve by God’s grace. We come to a better understand over the years and appreciate it more as we grow in the wisdom of God. This is what the Apostille Paul was talking about when he wrote “But by the grace of God I am what I am…”1 Corinthians 15:10 I am so blessed to be a minister in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and more blessed to have been more so selected to be a Pastor of one of the Lord’s Churches. We sometimes speak of how church is to thank God for the Pastors, how the church should bless their Pastors, but what about the Pastors the churches? What a place in the church to be, her Pastor! Praise God for His wonderful gift to me and those like me. I love being a child of God, it is the most blessed of all His creation, and it will be the most exciting in the time called eternity. I think sometimes, what the future holds for us poor worthless sinners that God chose before the foundation of the world to save. Sometimes, I simply get lost in my thought, I love to wonder when the Lord might return and rapture us all out of this evil, God hating world. What a blessed thought! Then, we must return our thoughts to what is real right now, and that is continuing the work of God on this earth and in the churches. I am a Pastor, a man that God has set in this church to feed, love, care for, and to protect with everything I have and everything Christ gives me to do so. I pray that what I do is enough, and in the end Jesus Christ, the churches Head, the judge of all the lost and saved will say “job well done”! But I must be consistently reminded again, even with the fight I put into the work, “…by the grace of God I am what I am…” These seven churches in Revelations are not only seven local churches but also seven periods of time of the “church age”. The church age began when Jesus first called her out, brought her together, and spoke to her, and set her in Jerusalem. Her end will be when Jesus returns for the rapture. Through time she has been through many troublesome times, times where members were slaughtered for the cause of Christ, and until today which is the time of apostasy. But with every moment of this time, Jesus Christ has stood in the circle of the churches. Every time the church gathers, she gathers for one reason, to hear the message God has sent her through her Pastor. This is the reason that as Pastors we need never forget our commission “feed my sheep”. Feed them with the message that Jesus Christ has put in your heart, you are the mouth piece of Jesus Christ on this earth. As Pastors, we are the seven stars, messenger’s, Pastors to the local churches, and Jesus Christ, the one in the center of the churches, the one who holds us in His right hand has sent for this, so, very important work. As Pastors we will do what Jesus Christ wants, say what He wants, and do what he wants without fear of anyone in all creation, because He holds us all in His right hand. Personally, I cannot think of a more blessed place to be as the churches pulpit, nor a more blessed time to be than right here in the year of our Lord 2018! So, no matter what that time brings, Satan and the world brings to us, no matter the time of Apostasy is here, and the churches are small in number, I know Jesus Christ holds me in His right hand, there is no better place to be than that. So, Pastors, hold your head up, do your called and ordained work, and keep looking-up, our Head is coming soon. May God bless us all in 2018, and remember where you are and Who is holding you.        

A Puritan Prayer:

Hold me and never let me go!

O God of love,

Preserve . . .

  my understanding from error,

  my affections from love of idols,

  my lips from speaking deceit,

  my conduct from stain of vice,

  my character from appearance of evil;

that I may be

  harmless,

  blameless,

  rebukeless,

  exemplary,

  useful,

  light-giving,

  prudent,

  zealous for Your glory and the good

    of my fellow-men.

Cast Your cords of love around my heart, then hold me and never let me go!

Church News:

Happy Birthday to Sister Donna Johnson Tuesday January 02

Happy Birthday to Sister Sarah Henderson Wednesday January 03

Happy Birthday to Brother Ronnie Henderson Thursday January 04

Please have a Safe and Happy New Years, it is “2018”

1 Corinthians 15:42-44

“So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: (43) It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: (44) It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.”