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Sovereign
Grace Missionary Baptist Church 1217 Dillon Texarkana, Texas 75501 Elder Randy Johnson, Pastor Bro.
Ronnie Henderson, Song Director "Where The Truths Of God’s Word Are Still
Taught" |
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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, Kirby Mollette, Kerry Pennington, Kim Butler, Danny
& Nita Mollette, Verna Mae Allen, Wendell Henderson, Judy Dunn, Joshua
Kidd, Matthew Kidd, Kevin Henderson, Jim Stagner,
Bro. & Mrs. Hammond, Don Hammond, Charles Hammond, Archie & Barbara
Griffin & son Daniel, Bro. & Sister Bob Keller, Wanda Fowler, Kathy Rosinbaum, Brenda Galusha and
Jewel, Mary Ramsey, Donna Johnson, Fay Johnson, 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, Brother
& Sister Kelley Hinson and Kelley Lee, Billy and Jo Hobbs, Jerry Hughes, Sister
Nita Bookout and her Niece, Pastor G. L. Burr, Alicia Lightsey,
Melody Carr, Betty, Janie Capps, Scott and Gina Syllivan
and Bro. Sergey Mochalov and the Churches in
Russia. |
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God's heart! O
God, I read Your heart in the cross, in the wounds, in the tears, in the
anguish, in the blood of Your Son Jesus. By Octavius
Winslow |
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A Thought From Pastor Johnson: What Worth Is The Law Of God If It Not A Part Of
Salvation. As we continue to crawl our way through the book of Romans on Wednesday
nights, we have found that Paul just continues to define the law and
salvation. Paul has from just about a 360 degree angle defined the uselessness
of the law when it comes to salvation. I simply cannot understand how anyone
can study the first seven chapters of Romans and still believe that works is
a part of salvation. Here in chapter seven Paul is asked a very important question, “…Is the
law sin…” and he answers “…God forbid…” Just because the law is not part of
salvation does not make it useless, worthless, or even unusable to the
Christian. And just because the law teaches us our sinfulness and our need of
a Saviour does not make it sin itself. Paul said “…for I had not known lust,
except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” Or
I would not have known I was a sinner before God had the law not told me. In
the book of Galatians chapter 3 Paul calls the law a schoolmaster to bring us
to Christ, and that is accomplished by making our sins known to us. I likened
this to driving down the Interstate where the Maximum speed limit is posted
and if you go over that posted speed then you have broken the law. However
what if there is no posted speed limit and you go over the state maximum
speed then are you still a law breaker, yes but unknowingly. Paul went on in
verse 11 “For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me…” did the
law “deceive” Paul, yes it did, the word “deceive” means to seduce wholly
that is the law made Paul a law breaker just as a posted speed limit would
make one a law breaker and when he recognized this he found the need for a
Saviour. While the law is not sin it does make us sinners, not because if we
do as it says then we are sinners but because we fail to do as it says. The
law of God does not work like we do, for example if a woman came to church
with a short and tight shirt and by that caused a man to look at here with
lust in his heart then he has sinned and she has sinned because she was
improperly dressed. However with the law of God while it does cause us to sin
it is not sin. Paul went on in verse 12 “Wherefore the law is holy, and the
commandment holy, and just, and good.” The law is holy because it is God’s
law and nothing of God is sinful. The law is in itself holy because God spoke
it, it is His words and His law. The law was never written to justify man but
to show us sinners. Paul told us in Romans 3:20 “Therefore by the deeds of
the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the
knowledge of sin.” It is our desire in the flesh to break laws in fact it has
been said “laws were made to be broken” however they were not. It is man
completive nature not to be told how to live and if the law says not to do
something then someone will do it, this is what Paul meant when he said “For
sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me…” verse 11 The law
brought the opportunity by its commandment to cause me to sin. Please do not expect justification by the law because was not written
for that reason, but the law serves a wonderful purpose in that, through it,
we have a full understanding how important Jesus Christ is to us. We know by
the law that we come up short of God’s standards and lean on Jesus Christ for
salvation the only person to ever live the law to its fullness. |
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A Thought For The Week: Cursed of
God The words “setteth light” are translated from
a Hebrew word which means “to disgrace, to dishonor, to despise, to lightly
esteem, to treat with contempt, and/or to treat shamefully.” We learn from this that when one despises
or treats shamefully his mother and/or father, he brings upon himself a curse
from God. It is not an option, nor is
it up for debate or self-reasoning; the offender will have God’s curse come
upon him. God leaves no room for excuses;
neither does He set any age limitations.
If one’s mother is 84 and he is 60 he is still under the command of
God to “honor thy father and thy mother.”
Age or adulthood does not erase the command of God. The Apostle Paul writes, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for
this is right.” (Eph. 6:1) The word
“Children” simply refers to one being an offspring; age is not a factor in
the word. There is also a qualifier given by Paul and that is “in the
Lord.” As long as the parent’s
instruction is compatible with the Word of God the offspring is obligated to
obey the parent. Now, if the parent
instructs the offspring to go contrary to the Word of God, the offspring is
obligated to obey God and not the parent.
For example, if the parent tells the child to steal an object, the
child is not required to obey the parent but is to obey God Who commands
“Thou shalt not steal.” One of the identifying marks of the last days given by the Apostle Paul
is that offspring will be “disobedient to parents.” This is a spirit of anti-God, that is to
say, one sign of the last days is that children will treat their parents
shamefully, bring dishonor upon them, despise them, and not obey them in the
Lord, which reveals their hatred of God and His Word. They in essence fight against the laws of
God. They will become lawless, doing what is right in their own eyes,
fulfilling their wicked imaginations and the desires of their own hearts in
rebellion against God. This revolt
against the commands of God brings upon them a horrid curse from God. By: M. J.
Seymour, Sr. |