|
The Country Baptist Church Newsletter May 18, 2008 Pastor: Bro. Harace Hammond Pastor E-Mail: cbcpastor@toast.net Web Site: www.countrybaptist.org "The Voice Of The Country Church" |
| You Were Asked To
Pray For: Larry Platt, Bro. Archie & Barbara Griffin, Waylon & Pat Abercrombie with their daughter and son, Randy & Donna Johnson, Loyce Smith, Junior Potts, Roberta Bruce and family, Barbara Fails, Jim & Linda Meier, Dina and The Boys, Troy Wiler, Bro. Sergey Mochalov and the Churches in Russia, Kathy Rosinbaum, Don & Wynell Hammond, Brenda Galusha, Baby Tucker Walker, Helen Stone, Bro. & Mrs. Pinson, Wanda Malone, Leta Ellis, Chet Reagan, Sidney Strawn, Amanda Tomlin, Brother Keith & Susie Kennison, Helen Rowe, Kimberlee McCool, Brother David and Anne Shortt, Jewell Mathis, Justin Horne, Janette Sims; Richard Swan, Jean and Cheryl, Letha Langford, David Ellis and family, Beatrice and Virgil Young, Gwen Davis, Allison Rodgers Clay, Angela Hutson, Tiffany and Shannon Lemmon, Bob Ellis, The Malone Family, Elaine Woodall, Reese Carrington, Cody, and all of our Troops and their Families. |
| A Thought From C. H.
Spurgeon:
"I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will
break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron"
Isaiah 45:2 This was for Cyrus; but it is evermore the heritage of all the LORD's own spiritual servants. Only let us go forward by faith, and our way will be cleared for us. Crooks and turns of human craft and satanic subtlety shall be straightened for us; we shall not need to track their devious windings. The gates of brass shall be broken, and the iron bars which fastened them shall be cut asunder. We shall not need the battering ram nor the crowbar: the LORD Himself will do the impossible for us, and the unexpected shall be a fact. Let us not sit down in coward fear. Let us press onward in the path
of duty, for the LORD hath said it: "I will go before thee." Ours not to
reason why; ours but to dare and dash forward. It is the LORD's work,
and He will enable us to do it: all impediments must yield before Him.
Hath He not said, "I will break in pieces the gates of brass"? What can
hinder His purpose or balk His decrees? Those who serve God have
infinite resources. The way is clear to faith though barred to human
strength. When Jehovah says, "I will," as He does twice in this promise,
we dare not doubt. |
| Happy Birthday and
Anniversary: Jeremiah May 20th |
| A Thought For The
Week: It Is The Blood That Is The Basis For Our
Redemption People who claim to be Christians sometimes hug their children to their bosoms and say, "I love you best in the world." Wives put their arms around their husbands, and husbands their wives, and say, "Honey, I love you better than anything." Listen, beloved, that isn’t right. Christ has bought us, and to Him and Him alone belongs the best love of our hearts, for He has redeemed us. "For as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold . . . but with the precious BLOOD of CHRIST, as a lamb without spot or blemish."—1 Peter 1:18, 19. There are three words used in the New Testament for redemption; Agorazo, which means to buy in the forum, or market-place. The second word is Exagorazo, which means to buy out of the market-place, and set free. We were being auctioned off in the market-place as slaves to sin, but Jesus, by His Blood, bought us and forever set us free. The third word used is Lutroo which means to pay the price and set free. Jesus paid the price and set us free, therefore we are now bond servants of the Master. He has the right to command and demand of me the best love of my heart. Here in 1 Peter 1:18, 19 the Apostle Peter was talking to saved Jews, and they understood that under the law, men who were sold into slavery, if they could, would save enough money to redeem themselves from their masters. So he raises the question, how they were redeemed from sin, and tells them it was not with such corruptible things as silver and gold, but with the precious BLOOD of Christ. It was the BLOOD, he said, that redeemed. Preachers, if you ever get up to preach and you suddenly forget
everything you ever knew, if you can remember just one thing, it is the
BLOOD that makes everything right. It is the BLOOD that saves. It is the
BLOOD that redeems. If you never preach but one sermon in your whole
life, let it be the blood of Jesus. Exalt the blood of Christ. |
| How befilthying a
thing it is: "Unto Him who loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood!" Revelation 1:5 We are all loathsome to God, before we are washed pure in the blood of Christ! By nature, we are all in a filthy and cursed condition. We are a lump of clay and sin mingled together. Sin not only blinds us—but defiles us. It is called filthiness (James 1:21). And to show how befilthying a thing it is, it is compared . . . to a plague of the heart (1 Kings 8:38), to corruption (Deuteronomy 32:5), to vomit (2 Peter 2:22), to a menstrual cloth (Isaiah 30:22). If all the evils in the world were put together and their quintessence strained out—they could not make a thing so black and polluted as sin is! A sinner is a devil in a man's shape! When Moses' rod was turned into a serpent—he fled from it. If God would open men's eyes and show them their deformities and damnable spots—they would fly from themselves, as from serpents! When grace comes—it washes off this hellish filth!It turns ravens into swans. It makes those who are as black as hell—to become as white as snow! "Christ gave Himself for us to redeem us from allwickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are His very own." Christ shed His blood—to wash off our filth. The cross was both an altar and a laver. Jesus died not only to save us from wrath (1 Thes. 1:10)—but to save us from sin! (Matthew 1:21). Out of his side came water which signifies our cleansing—as well as blood which signifies our justifying (1 John 5:6). By Thomas Watson |