Sovereign Grace Missionary BaptistChurch 1217 Dillon Texarkana, Texas 75501 November 03, 2013 Newsletter Number 439 Brother Randy Johnson, Pastor Brother Ronnie Henderson, Song Director Pastor E-Mail: pastor@sgmbaptist.com Web Site: www.sgmbaptist.com "Where The Truths Of God’s Word Have Been Taught For More Than Fifty Years”

You Were Asked To 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, 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, 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, Mary Ramsey, Donna Johnson, Fay Johnson, James and Luann Reynolds, Timothy and Nathan Fails, Jacob Ramsey, Jerry Hughes, Sister Nita Bookout, Teresa Bookout, Pastor G. L. Burr, Melody Carr, Janie Capps, Imajo Tracy, Linda Hughes, Roy Lemmon, Rosie Tomlin, Lee Mollette’s Daughter & Granddaughter Kristal, Pat Abercrombie, Barbara Brewer, Donna Jones, Dale and Linda Trahan, Ricky and Margaret McCoy, Brother David O’Neal, Tommy Walker and family, Diane Thomas, Gina Peel, James and Lynn Tomlin, Brother Kelley and Sister Hinson, Robert, Megan Whitaker, Manual Seymour, Sr. Sister Jean Dodson, Brother Steve McCool and the work in Canada, 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.

From Our Pastor: What is hell like?"And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; (23.) And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom." Luke 16:22 -23 Abraham's bosom is (I believe) a section of hell where God had set aside from the punishment side with maybe a separation gulf or something keeping the ones in hell from coming over. I believe this is where Jesus went when He died, and He ministered to the saints in Abraham's bosom. However we want our focus on the rich man and hell. Notice “he lift up his eyes” meaning I think when he arrived after passing from this life to the next, in other words he saw hell for the first time. When it says the rich man was being in torments it means he was in torture. It may be politically incorrect to mention the word “torture” but not with God because He doesn’t care what the liberals have to say about anything. God does as He pleases and no one has a right to question Him. When the rich man opened his eyes in hell he was in pure torture and knew where he was. It was so horrible there that he wanted his brothers warned not to come there but only God could change their hearts. Lost people don’t understand anything about hell or the torture that is there. One day when it is to late they will all find out just how horrible of a place it truly is. God said the road to hell is wide and the reason for this is because there will be so many there. Psalms 9:17 "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God." Don’t over define the word “wicked” it means the morally wrong of those that have broken God’s law. But God also said many nations will also be there and that is because so many nations disobey God and forget who God is. I pray to God that understanding about Jesus Christ would come to the lost but that is only something God can do. We preach the gospel and preach it like there is not tomorrow but it will affect none except those that God allows it too. Hell is filling fuller and fuller with each passing day and nothing can be done because none will believe on Jesus Christ as their Saviour. God said in John 3:18 "He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." That those that believe not will not be condemned but are already. This is an urgent cry that if you have not trusted the blood of Jesus to cleanse all your sins then please do or you to will be in eternal damnation because you are already condemned. The cry of the rich man has been spoken once again but few will ever hear and the rest will join him in eternal torment. I have so much to thank God for but none more for than the salvation God has given to me. I will never feel the pains of the eternal lake of fire and brimstone but will rather enjoy the blessedness of eternity with Jesus Christ. I will end with this question and answer. Acts 16:30 - 31 "And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? (31.) And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house."

For Our Weekly Meditation: No Darkness At AllIt is written: The Apostle John wrote, “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with an-other, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” (I Jn. 1:5-7) It blesses the heart to know that we serve the God of the light and not the god of the darkness. There is something about being in the light that gives warmth and peace to the innermost heart. Knowing the blood of Jesus has cleansed even all the hidden dark crevasses of guilt and shame and replaced the darkness with the light of His pres-ence gives an indescribable release of freedom and peace. It makes one want to dance barefoot upon the green pastures of His love and in the shining light of His grace. It makes one want to pause life and smell the sweetness of the tulips! Please understand, a true believer having the birth of the new crea-ture within is not just a figure of speech. There is a new creation born out of the sacrificial blood of the Lamb and is awakened in the light of the Eternal, a new life made partaker of God’s divine nature. One who is born of God lives in the light and by the light. It is not a choice or a decision. It is a natural existence for the new spirit creature. He lives, breathes, and exists in the Light because of Who he is, a child of God. The new creature is not comfortable with the darkness; he is like a fish out of the water. He is alive in the light of His righteous-ness and abhors the sins of the god of the darkness. If one says he has fellowship with God, “saved, redeemed, born again, etc.,” and walks in the darkness of sin, the Word of God clearly states he is a liar and does not the truth. There are many pretenders in the world who have a false hope of salvation and eternal life. They have no fellowship with the God of the light. They love darkness be-cause their hearts and deeds are evil. There is no light in them, and the blood of Jesus Christ has not cleansed them, and they abide in the darkness. They love the darkness because they are of the darkness; if they were of the Light they would live of the Light. By Dr. M. J. Seymour, Sr.

Church News: The church will hold our monthly business meeting next Sunday November 10 at 4:00pm

The deadliest enemy of holiness? How can a Christian expect to be happy, if he takes to his bosom the deadliest enemy of holiness, the world? How can he expect that his soul will be filled with heavenly joys, when he is filling it with the groveling pleasures of this world? By Jared Waterbury

The God of peace

“Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.” Romans 15:33
Suggested Further Reading: Philippians 4:1-9
Let me briefly show you the appropriateness of this prayer. We indeed ought to have peace amongst ourselves. Joseph said to his brethren when they were going home to his father’s house, “See that ye fall not out by the way.” There was something extremely beautiful in that exhortation. You have all one father, you are of one family. Let men of two nations disagree; but you are of the seed of Israel; you are of one tribe and nation; your home is in one heaven. “See that ye fall not out by the way.” The way is rough; there are enemies to stop you. See that if you fall out when you get home, you do not fall out by the way. Keep together; stand by one another, defend each other’s character; manifest continual affection. The world hates you because you are not of the world. Oh! You must take care that you love one another. You are all going to the same house. You may disagree here, and not speak to one another, and be almost ashamed to sit at the same table, even at the sacrament; but you will all have to sit together in heaven. Therefore do not fall out by the way. Consider, again, the great mercies you have all shared together. You are all pardoned, you are all accepted, elected, justified, sanctified, and adopted. See that you fall not out when you have so many mercies. Joseph has filled your sacks, but if he has put some extra thing into Benjamin’s sack, do not quarrel with Benjamin about that, but rather rejoice because your sacks are full. You have all got enough, you are all secure, you have all been dismissed with a blessing.
For meditation: The God of love and peace will be seen to be present when his people live in peace with one another (2 Corinthians 13:11)
Sermon no. 49
3 November (Preached 4 November 1855)
C.H. Spurgeon

The exaltation of Christ

“Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:9-11
Suggested Further Reading: John 17:1-5
Look at him! Can your imagination picture him? Behold his transcendent glory! The majesty of kings is swallowed up; the pomp of empires dissolves like the white mist of the morning before the sun; the brightness of assembled armies is eclipsed. He in himself is brighter than the sun, more terrible than armies with banners. See him! See him! Oh! Hide your heads, you monarchs; put away your gaudy pageantry, you lords of this poor narrow earth! His kingdom knows no bounds; without a limit his vast empire stretches out itself. Above him all is his; beneath him many a step are angels, and they are his; and they cast their crowns before his feet. With them stand his elect and ransomed, and their crowns too are his. And here upon this lower earth stand his saints, and they are his, and they adore him; and under the earth, among the infernals, where devils growl their malice, even there is trembling and adoration; and where lost spirits, with wailing and gnashing of teeth for ever lament their being, even there, there is the acknowledgement of his Godhead, even though the confession helps to make the fire of their torments. In heaven, in earth, in hell, all knees bend before him, and every tongue confesses that he is God. If not now, yet in the time that is to come this shall be carried out, that every creature of God’s making shall acknowledge his Son to be “God over all, blessed for ever. Amen.” Oh! My soul anticipates that blessed day, when this whole earth shall bend its knee before its God willingly! I do believe there is a happy era coming, when there shall not be one knee unbent before my Lord and Master.
For meditation: For meditation: Those who refuse to acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ in this life (2 John 7) will be forced to acknowledge him in the next—but it will be too late to do them any good. Those who trust in him now will enjoy praising him for ever.
Sermon no. 101
2 November (1856)
C.H. Spurgeon

WHO made us to differ?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~


(James Smith, "The Pastor's Evening Visit")

"But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:" Galatians 1:15-16

Paul is speaking . . .
of being set apart from his mother's womb,
of being called by grace to be saved,
of Christ being revealed in him, and
of his being made a preacher and an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ
--and he traces up the whole to the good pleasure of God!

It pleased God to convert, consecrate, and crown the apostle with such eminent success. There was nothing in him to deserve it--nothing in him to move God to do it. God blessed Paul, just because He would--because it pleased Him to do it.

Just so in our case.
Do we differ from others?
Do we differ from our former selves?
Have we spiritual life?
Have we Christian graces?
Why were they conferred upon us--and not upon others?

WHO made us to differ? "For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?" 1 Corinthians 4:7

We can trace it to no cause--but the sovereign good pleasure of God!

He has mercy--on whom He will have mercy.

He has compassion--on whom He will have compassion.

"As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." Romans 9:13-15

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The security of the Church

“As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth even for ever.” Psalm 125:2
Suggested Further Reading: Jude 17-25
As the Church always has been preserved, the text assures us she always will be, henceforth even for ever. There is a nervous old woman here. Last Saturday night she read the newspaper, and she saw something about five or six clergymen going over to Rome: she laid down her spectacles, and she began crying, “Oh! The Church is in danger, the Church is in danger.” Ah! Put your spectacles on; that is all right; never mind about the loss of those fellows. Better gone; we did not want them; do not cry if fifty more follow them; do not be at all alarmed. Some church may be in danger, but God’s church is not. That is safe enough; that shall stand secure, even to the end. I remember with what alarm some of my friends received the tidings of the geological discoveries of modern times, which did not quite agree with their interpretation of the Mosaic history of the creation. They thought it an awful thing that science should discover something which seemed to contradict the Scriptures. Well, we lived over the geological difficulty, after all. And since then there have been different sets of philosophic infidels, who have risen up and made wonderful discoveries; and poor timid Christians have thought, “What a terrible thing! This surely will be the end of all true religion; when science can bring facts against us, how shall we be able to stand?” They just waited about another week, and suddenly found that science was not their enemy, but their friend, for the Truth, though tried in a furnace, like silver seven times, is ever a gainer by the trial. To those that hate the church, she shall ever be a thorn in your side! Oh! you that would batter her walls to pieces, know this, that she is impregnable.
For meditation: The enemies of the church build on an unsteady foundation of deliberately ignoring facts (2 Peter 3:5). The church is built on the immovable rock Christ Jesus (Matthew 16:18) and she shall not be moved (Psalm 46:5).
Sermon no. 161
1 November (1857)`
C.H. Spurgeon