Sovereign Grace Missionary Baptist Church "Where The Truths Of God’s Word Have Been Taught For More Than Fifty-Two Years” 1217 Dillon Texarkana, Texas 75501 June 29, 2014 Newsletter Number 471 Brother Randy Johnson, Pastor Brother Ronnie Henderson, Song Director Pastor E-Mail: pastor@sgmbaptist.com Web Site: ww.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, Helen Maggard, Johnnie Stephens, Alecia Stephens, and children, Junior Baldridge, Frankie Baldridge and daughter, Buckie Thompson, Frank & Sonya Trusty, Frank & Dawana Reigel, Andrew Preston, Larry & Martha Mollette, Larry Mollette II & Family, Kerry Pennington, Kim Poole, Danny & Nita Mollette, The Muncy Family, Robert Riggs, 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, Fay Johnson, James and Luann Reynolds, Timothy Fails, Nathan & Claire Fails, Jacob Ramsey, Jerry Hughes, Teresa Bookout, Pastor G. L. Burr, Melody Carr, Janie Capps, Imajo Tracy, Linda Hughes, Roy Lemmon, Rosie Tomlin, Pat Abercrombie, Donna Jones, Dale Trahan, Ricky and Margaret McCoy, Brother David O’Neal, James & Diane Thomas, Gina Peel, James and Lynn Tomlin, Brother Kelley and Sister Hinson, Megan Whitaker, Manual Seymour, Sr., Brother Jerry and Sister Jean Dodson, 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 Pastor Johnson: It is better to suffer for the Lord than to profit in this world.“For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.” 1 Peter 3:17 This is something a lot of Christians have a problem coping with, suffering is good. Most people and a lot of Christians don’t understand why believers are not always profitable. Well the truth of the matter is that they do, but the rewards are not always in this world. The scriptures are very clear that Christians and even the best of Christians suffer in this world. People fail to remember that Christ suffered in this flesh and not just in His death but His entire earthly life was full of sorrow. Isaiah 53:3 "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not." Christ was not sent to profit in this world but rather to suffer shame for our shame. Matthew 8:20 "And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." Jesus Christ came from riches to rags in order to suffer His entire life for us. He never had peace; they were searching for Him even at His birth. Believers, let us not be dismayed when life on this earth seems difficult and hard. God never promised us earthly riches nor did He promise profit at all in this world. It is because our rewards are set up in glory and not this world. Christians are also people of sorrow in this life, but be assured that while we suffer like Christ in this world; we will also glory with Him in eternity. 2 Timothy 2:12 "If we suffer, we shall also reign with him..." We will have only soul and spirit when we die and when the rapture come we shall have a glorified body to be a tri-fold once again. Believer there is only one more thing we will carry into heaven from this earth, and that will be the worthy works we have done for the Lord during our earthy stay. We will carry no other treasures from this earth. Our rewards are built in heaven and in heaven we will receive them. Matthew 6:19 - 21 "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: (20.) But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: (21.) For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." If you are a Christian and it seems like your troubles are as bad as or even worse than that of a lost person, that’s ok God said it would be. Matthew 5:45 "That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." Now, what if we suffer for righteous sake, why if we suffer for doing right? Well, the Lord said it is better, that’s right it is better to suffer for doing the right thing. Jesus Christ suffered unjustly, that’s right Pilate said of Christ in Luke 23:4 "Then said Pilate to the chief priests and to the people, I find no fault in this man." But He still was crucified. We do not know God’s blessed will for us, unless God manifest it to us; however it is God’s will for us to suffer in this life, even for doing right. God has a purpose for everything, and we would be well served as Christians to worry less about our suffering and more about serving God. God blesses us believers every second of everyday, we just most of the time do not know how his blessing are coming. Beloved, it is better to suffer than to have riches in this world, if it is for the Lord. We all need to be more like John and Peter. Acts 5:41 "And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name." They counted it joy that they worthy to suffer for the Lord. I pray to God that I too am worthy to suffer for the Lord.

A Thought From Former Pastor Oscar Mink: True Churches And Their Worship Houses "Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire: and all our pleasant things are laid waste." Isaiah 64:11 While true churches cannot go the route of extravagance in erecting their meeting places, they should not be guilty of the other extreme either. There is an area between the two extremes wherein adequate and comely church buildings may be built without creating a financial hardship for the members. What true churches need to keep in mind is that no church building be it ever so humble or magnificent can serve as a substitute for the inward beauty which the redeemed soul is to be adorned with. The beauty and physical comforts of the church house serve to make the worshippers feel good, but that in itself is not enough, for many commercial and public buildings provide the same or better. The deception to avoid is, when people feel good they are prone to think they are good. Many a poor deluded soul has pointed toward their palatial church home, and said, “The Lord is really blessing us.” The Lord blesses truth wherever it is preached regardless of The circumstances under which it is preached, but to have the power to have a suitable building to worship in, and not exercise that power may tend to circumscribe the blessing. A beautiful, comfortable, and adequate building while affording a good feeling for the assembly can only enhance the worship service when it is kept in mind from whence these blessings have come, for what purpose they are granted, and when the heart is filled with gratitude to God for giving them. When this state of worship is achieved the service is lifted up in spirit beyond the beautiful surroundings of the carnal building to the celestial and incomparable grandeur of the palace of the King Eternal. Then too, the church needs to keep in mind that its primary work is not the construction of church buildings, but the building up of the spiritual house of God is the chief work of the Lord’s churches. We are not to build expensive edifices at the expense of missionary work, on the other hand no church should let their building become so dilapidated as to bring a reproach on the church, and thereby impair its effectiveness in its own community.

These days of sin and temptation, by John Fawcett: I daily search for Jesus in my retired devotions. There I tell Him all my heart—in secret groans and cries. He knows what my sighs mean, and what are my fears, and my painful sorrows. There I blush before Him—for my secret sins, and pour out the tear of penitential sorrow. There I utter my bitter complaints—of the disorderly passions I daily feel within me. I lament over the vanity of my thoughts, and spread before His eyes—all my soul's sores and diseases. I lay myself low in the dust at His feet, and tell Him with humble confusion of face—how much I have done to dishonor Him, how unworthy I am of His notice, and yet how I long for communion with Him. O when shall these days of sin and temptation, these tedious seasons of absence and distance from my God and Savior—have an end? I breathe out from time to time, the most earnest desires after Him, and after the endearing sensations of His love.