Sovereign Grace Missionary Baptist Church

1217 Dillon Texarkana, Texas 75501
October 25, 2009

Elder Randy Johnson, Pastor                                   Bro. Ronnie Henderson, Song Director  
Pastor E-Mail: sgmbcpastor@baptistsonline.org             Web Site: www.baptistsonline.org/sgmbc

"Where The Truths Of God’s Word Are Still Taught"

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, Virgil & Alice Hoskins, Grandchildren, and his daughters Liz Janis and Debbie Gray, Alecia Clements, Bryndon Thomas, Frank & Dawana Reigel, Andrew Preston, Helen Maggard, Renee Jackson, Larry Mollette, Larry Mollette II & Family, Linda Mollette, Kirby Mollette, Kerry Pennington, Kim Butler, Danny & Nita Mollette, Verna Mae Allen, Wendell Henderson, Judy Dunn, Joshua Kidd, Matthew Kidd, Ronnie Henderson Jr, Donnie Henderson, Kevin Henderson, Ricky Henderson, Rosalie Graves, Terry Hanson, Jim Stagner, Bro. & Mrs. Hammond, Don Hammond, Archie & Barbara Griffin & son Daniel, Larry Platt, Bro. & Sister Bob Keller, Wanda Fowler, Kathy Rosinbaum, Brenda Galusha and Jewel, Mary Ramsey, Donna Johnson, Fay Johnson, Bobby Walker, Luann Reynolds, Bro. & Sis. Curtis Pugh, Timothy and Nathan Fails, Jacob Ramsey, Jim & Linda Meier, Brother David & Sister Anne Shortt, Brother Manuel Seymour & Family, Doris Hammock, Letha Langford, Leacho Tittle, Brother & Sister Kelley Hinson, Brother & Sister Frank James, Billy and Jo Hobbs, Jerry Hughes, Sister Nita Bookout and her Niece, Pastor G. L. Burr, Alicia Lightsey, Melody Carr, Betty, Gina, Janie Capps, Kathy Johnson, and Bro. Sergey Mochalov and the Churches in Russia.

A Though From Pastor Johnson:

We are His workmanship.
Ephesians 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

This is a very wonderful verse that is most often overshadowed by the two verses preceding it, and that is a shame. There are three wonderful points made in this one verse, (1.) For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, (2.) created in Christ Jesus unto good works, (3.) which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. All three of these points have a very glorious sovereign grace message to them that certainly should not be over looked but rather studied very deeply.

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus” The two main words here are “workmanship” – which means thing that is made, and “created” – which means the idea of the proprietorship of the manufacturer. With this being said we could read this part of verse 10 this way “for we are His creation and we were manufactured by God through the redemption of Jesus Christ His beloved Son. The reason so many today choose to over look or improperly define this verse is because it gives God all credit in mans salvation, and that is where it belongs. God is the very one who caused us to come to know Jesus Christ as our Saviour and therefore as believers we are His creation and not a creation of our own. We did not choose or cause our salvation to come about because the scripture is clear that we are manufactured Christians by the power of God in His dear Son. Also we need to recognize that the old creature was not recycled but rather we were made new in Christ Jesus. 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” God could not use the old nature because it was totally depraved therefore He blessed us with a new one created by Him just for us.

“Created in Christ Jesus unto good works,” God not only made us anew in Christ Jesus but also manufactured us unto good works or for a purpose. God saved us all for a purpose to be used at His pleasure. Please remember by being the manufacture we are His to do as He pleases. It reminds us of a fabricator who takes a sheet of metal and makes something wonderful that he may use for his own pleasure or sell it and make more, God certainly does not want to sell His creation but rather chooses to use them as He wills. I think this is a good example; God saved a sinner and calls him into the ministry and then chooses to call him to pastor a church, God has just manufactured a Christian and a pastor at His own pleasure. He man use another sinner that has been manufactured as a song leader, prayer warrior, or maybe a Deacon, but whatever he is he is a creation of God for His own will. Isaiah 43:21 “This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.” 

“Which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.  The word “ordained” means to fit up in advance or to prepare afore. The word afore allows us to understand this was all done before, but before what? John 15:16 “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.” We were created before the foundation of the world to be whatever God had chosen us to be. Only in due time was God’s will brought about and also by Him and not by our choosing. 

A Thought From C. H. Surgeon:

From Every Sin
"He shall save his people from their sins" Matt. 1:21

Lord, save me from my sins. By thy name of Jesus I am encouraged thus to pray. Save me from my past sins, that the habit of them may not hold me captive. Save me from my constitutional sins, that I may not be the slave of my own weaknesses. Save me from the sins which are continually under my eye that I may not lose my horror of them. Save me from secret sins; sins unperceived by me from my want of light. Save me from sudden and surprising sins: let me not be carried off my feet by a rush of temptation. Save me, Lord, from every sin. Let not any iniquity have dominion over me.

Thou alone canst do this. I cannot snap my own chains or slay my own enemies. Thou knowest temptation, for thou wast tempted. Thou knowest sin, for thou didst bear the weight of it. Thou knowest how to succor me in my hour of conflict; thou canst save me from sinning, and save me when I have sinned. It is promised in thy very name that thou wilt do this, and I pray thee let me this day verify the prophecy. Let me not give way to temper, or pride, or despondency, or any form of evil; but do thou save me unto holiness of life, that thy name of Jesus may be glorified in me abundantly.By Elder Oscar B. Mink, former Pastor of our church, now with our Lord.

Self  dies!

Self is the first citadel of the soul against which Grace directs its battery.
Self righteousness, Self trust, Self glorifying, must yield to the humbling, emptying power of the Spirit.
Self must be mortally wounded before Christ lives in us. The two sovereigns cannot reign at the same time and upon the same throne.
Self righteousness, Self glorifying, Self seeking, must fall when Christ enters triumphantly to set up His kingdom, to erect His throne, and to subjugate all the powers and faculties of the soul to His own holy and gracious supremacy.
Oh what vigilance it demands, lest this wretched Self in us obtain a partial, or even a momentary, ascendancy!
The two principles; Self and Grace, are in deadly antagonism the one to the other in the regenerate.
In proportion as Christ lives in us, Self dies!

From Winslow's "The Nature and Source of Spiritual Life"

The time change is next Sunday November 1. Please remember you’re clocks will fall back one hour.