Sovereign Grace Missionary Baptist Church
"Where The Truths Of God’s Word Have Been Taught For
More Than Fifty-Six Years”
1217 Dillon Texarkana, Texas 75501
March 04, 2018
Newsletter Number 660
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, 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, Sister
Ann McSwain, Elaine Sparks, James daughter’s mother-in-law, Danny Hammond, Jim
and Linda Meier, Ronnie Elam, Bonnie From Ohio, Brother Dan Sullivan the work
in Thailand, Brother Raul and the work in Romania, Bro. Sergey Mochalov and the
Churches in Russia.
From Our Pastor:
A Door Was Opened In Heaven!
“After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in
heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking
with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be
hereafter.” Revelation 4:1
Oh, what a blessing this must have been for our dear brother
John. We have waited all of our Christian life for Jesus to come and to see Our
Father, Jesus, and etc., I pray almost every day for Jesus to come. What a true
blessing it will be to hear the sound of the “last Trump” and for Jesus to send
his angels to lead us to the cloud. I want to see my dear Saviour so much that
it makes me jealous when a dear brother or sister goes home. I know when
Stephen was about to give-up the ghost a door to heaven was opened and Stephen
saw Jesus. “But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into
heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,
(56) And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on
the right hand of God.” Acts 7:55 – 56 what a blessing! It would be worth the
stoning just to see Jesus, but here God rolled back heavens door and Stephen
received a true blessing before he died. Heaven has opened up many times in the
bible, but I pray someday soon it opens up and Jesus calls us all home.
However, the difference for brother John is that he was taken from the body and
stood before the Lord to see things that would happen after the rapture. And
John saw a lot of things, he saw the seven sealed book of wrath, he saw
Armageddon, he also saw the wedding feast, and Jesus binding Satan and ruling the
world in the millennium period, he saw the destruction of every single soul on
the earth, John also was blessed to see the earth melted and made new, sin
free, and the new Jerusalem descending from heaven. Oh, yes, our dear brother
saw all these things and more before being delivered back into his old sinful
body, it seems like a disappointment to be brought back. But beloved, this same
Jesus these two men saw we shall also see soon. We will have an eternity to
look at, and to see our blessed Lord Jesus. This old world is sinful, and sin
filled, there is noting here for us, oh how we need to see Jesus! Jesus said in
Luke 21:26 - 28 “Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after
those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be
shaken. (27) And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with
power and great glory. (28) And when these things begin to come to pass, then
look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.” Lord, we
are looking! Here is a hint, lets look at Matthew 24:36 - 37 “But of that day
and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. (37)
But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”
The hint here is “But as the days of Noe were” the days of Noah was filled with
unbelief, sinfulness, and laughing and mocking God’s people. It is these things
today that should give us hope that the true coming of the Lord does indeed
draw nigh. So beloved, keep expecting the Lord to return, keep praying for the
Lords return, but for sure keep looking up, because one of these days
Christians will look-up and ascend up in a new glorified body. Yes, when I read
about brother John being summonsed up to the Throne of God, I do indeed wonder
what that day will be like. John gave us a good glimpse at our new awaiting
home, but they are so much more to look see.
BAD THINGS DO HAPPEN
By Elder Curtis Pugh
Bad things do happen to all of us. But they do not happen
outside of God's plan. Knowing this is the first step in a child of God dealing
with these things. God says, speaking of diseases and even plagues, “...shall
there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?” (Amos 3:6). God is not
the cause of moral evil although for good and wise reasons He allows it. But in
the above quotation physical evils are said to be His work.
We reason, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” But
our reasoning is flawed. Our question is based upon a wrong premise. People are
sinners and sin has consequences. Bad things happen because of sin.
Bad things happen first of all as a consequence of the sin
of Adam, our first father. Romans 5:12 says, “Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for
that all have sinned.” It is not personal sin that is meant by the phrase “for
that all have sinned.” All sinned in Adam. The consequences of Adam's sin is
death. While the ultimate cause of death is Adam's sin, diseases, accidents,
murders, etc., etc. - bad things - are all the means by which death comes.
Bad things do something to lost people, but nothing for
them. On the other hand, God uses the sufferings of His children to accomplish
things in them and with them. First: He uses bad things to chasten or correct
His children. Hebrews 12:6-8 explains this: “For whom the Lord loveth he
chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening,
God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father
chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers,
then are ye bastards, and not sons.”
Second: God accomplishes something through the suffering of
His children. Colossians 1:24 says: “Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you,
and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for
his body’s sake, which is the church.” Paul rejoiced in his sufferings which he
said “fill up that which is behind” or lacking in Christ's sufferings. There is
nothing lacking in Christ's expiatory suffering – the suffering He endured to
save His people. But Christians can have a part in His exemplary sufferings.
Peter wrote: “For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye
shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it
patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were ye called:
because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should
follow his steps,” (1 Peter 2:20-21). Suffering patiently glorifies God and is
a testimony to those around us. We can, like Christ, be an example to others.
We can show them God's sustaining grace as we go through our sufferings.
Church News.
Happy Anniversary to Brother Larry & Sister Martha
Mollette Sunday March 04
Happy Birthday to Brother Ronnie Henderson Jr Monday March
05
Happy Birthday to Sister Alice Hoskins Thursday March 08
Happy Birthday to Brother James Thomas Wednesday March
07
