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 April 23, 2017            Newsletter Number 616 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, 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, 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: We live in a world of sinful excuses.“Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. (3) For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. (4) Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.” Psalms 51:2-4   We that are saved but the grace of God and thru the precious actions of Jesus Christ are so blessed, but we sometimes forget it. The Psalmist wrote by the gift of wisdom of the Holy Spirit “Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.” Oh beloved, if you are saved then God has forgiven your sins, every single one of them. They have been washed by the blood of Jesus Christ. We as Christians have been give the eternal gift of redemption. God has blessed us with a gift that so many will never experience. The vast majority of people on the earth will die and go to hell never knowing God as their Father and Jesus Christ as their Saviour and friend. But to us that know Jesus Christ as our Saviour will be the children of God for all eternity. However, with this being said, some real Christians simply refuse to follow their Saviour. Jesus said if you love Me than keep my commandments. John 14:15 But as so many believers in Jesus Christ apparently do not know these words or they simply ignore them. Folks, we need to understand the Satan works hard on us to keep us in sin. If we are not alert, if we are not watering feeding the spiritual person inside of us, then it will grow weak and sin will overtake us. We will become like the Israelites who simply could not do what God commanded over and over again. Fellow believer, following Christ Jesus is not an option but a command. I know we are all sinners and we will sin until we are with the Lord, but it is our responsibility to the God who saved us and the Saviour that died for us to obey and follow the scriptures, even though we will at times fail. But this is no excuse to defile the scriptures. I hear Christians all the time making excuses for their sins. I hear them make their excuses for not attending church. We now live in a world of excuses, please stop the excuses. People who disobey the scriptures and commandments of God are without excuse. If you do not attend church then you are disobeying God, if you do not attempt to serve God and our risen Saviour then that is your fault, and not one else’s. Please give this some thought, God gave His Beloved Son as a sacrifice to save your unworthy soul, and now you have a world of excuses not to serve the Lord, STOP IT! Beloved, Satan baits you in your life, he doesn’t want you to serve God, just stop and give it a little thought. Please just stop the world of excuses and serve the God that has blessed you with salvation. If you are not properly serving the Lord, then you might give this scripture some thought. “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” John 5:39 Has the Holy Spirit visited with you? Has He led you to Jesus Christ for Salvation? “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:” John 15:26 and if He has led you to salvation in Jesus Christ then why the excuses? Why are you not in church, and living your life for the Lord? Please remember these words of much wisdom, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.” John 15:16 This is not a few Christians; this is all Christians. Now, what was your excuse for not serving the Lord?

What is a successful ministry? By Elder Don Fortner   "Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful." 1 Corinthians 4:2      The desperate need of the hour is faithful men in the pulpits of our churches. We have an over-abundance of preachers. We do not need any more slick, polished, well-educated professionals in "the ministry". But we do, most desperately, need some faithful men — pastors after God's own heart, who feed His people with knowledge and understanding. Thank God, we have a few!    In this day of big business religion, when churches are measured not by their orthodoxy, but by the opinions of men; when a preacher's success is measured not by his faithfulness, but by the number of names added to the church roll — it might be wise to consider what a successful ministry is according to the measure of Holy Scripture.    According to the Word of God, those preachers and churches are successful who are faithful to the work to which God has called them. Never in the Old Testament or in the New was a prophet, apostle, or preacher measured by the opinions of men. God's servants never courted the favor of men, and were never favored by the majority of the people. The church of God has always been out of step with society. The servants of God have always been looked upon as peculiar, bigoted dogmatists, intolerant and incapable of compromise. But they were faithful — faithful to God, faithful to His truth, and faithful to the souls of men.    Do not be so foolish as to measure God's work by man's yardstick. Do not measure the success or failure of preachers and churches by men, by numbers, or by popular opinion. The only measure of success for churches and preachers is faithfulness. Those who faithfully seek and promote the glory of God, who faithfully proclaim the truth of God, and who faithfully serve the eternal interests of immortal souls are successful. Those who are not are failures. The one will stand the fire of judgment. The other will not.    The greatest blessing God can ever bestow upon any people in this world is to establish in their midst a faithful Gospel church with a faithful Gospel preacher as his messenger. "Tychicus . . . is a dear brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord." Colossians 4:7

1 John 5:13-16   “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God...And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:. And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him...If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.”