April 6, 2014
SOVEREIGN GRACE BAPTIST
CHURCH
LOCATION
Rocky Hill Firehouse, 2nd
Floor
150 Washington Street
Rocky Hill, New Jersey, 08553
Clay Curtis, pastor
Telephone: 615-513-4464
Schedule of Services
Sunday 10: 15 AM Bible Class
Sunday 11:00 AM Morning Service
Thursday 7: 30 PM Midweek Service
Order of service, announcements, nursery schedule, etc.,
are in attachment. All articles in the
bulletin are by the pastor unless otherwise noted.
So that the preaching of the glory of Christ is the full
focus of our attention, for those attending with children 4 and under, we have a nursery equipped with a digital
flat screen television broadcasting all services, with faithful ladies to care
for the little ones.
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"And hath put
all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the
church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all." Ephesians
1:22, 23
In the mind of God, and as chosen in
Christ, the Church is a perfect body. It is, therefore, the fulness of Christ.
Just as our head and members, in their union with each other, form one perfect
harmonious body, so it is with Christ and the Church. As the natural head would
be incomplete without the body, as the body would be incomplete without the
head, so it is with Christ mystical, and his body, the Church. Each lacks the
other, and the union of both makes the whole complete. The Son of God, by
becoming incarnate, needed a body of which he should be the Head. Without it, he
would be as a bridegroom without the bride, a shepherd without the sheep, a
foundation without the building, a vine without the branches. He did not need
the Church as the Son of God, but he needed her as the Son of man. In her all
his love is complete, his work complete, his grace complete, his glory
complete; and when she is brought home to be forever with him in glory, then
all the purposes of God, all his eternal counsels of wisdom and grace, will be
complete. In this sense we may understand the expression, "the fulness of him
that filleth all in all." What a wonderful thought it is that he who, as
the Son of God, filleth all in all—filleth all places with his
omnipresence—should yet deign to have a relative fulness in his body the
Church! JC Philpot
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That precious saving faith which unites
the sinner to Christ, also unites the sinner to all of those who belong to
Christ. To be one with him is to be one
with them. Loving and serving Him has
something to do with loving and serving them; likewise, loving and serving them
has something to do with loving and serving Him (Matthew 25:31-46). Saving faith says that there is one
Savior. Saving faith also says that there
is only one household, one family, one body, one vine tree, etc. “I (Christ) am the vine, ye are the
branches”…(John 15:5). Maurice Montgomery
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Hebrews 9:26:…now once in the end of
the world hath [Christ] appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
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Many preachers and people claim to believe
salvation all of God’s Grace but they will tell you they don't "harp on
it". How does someone "harp" on the doctrine of Grace? To a man
who does not believe that salvation is by grace alone, preaching it one time
would be "harping on it". To a man who knows that all that he is,
has, or ever will be is by the grace of God, preaching it every service would
not be too much! "O, to grace how great a debtor, daily I'm constrained to
be." Donnie Bell
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“For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the
truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins” (Hebrews 10: 26-27).
These words have been wrongly made use of in order to prove that persons
who commit sin after baptism are lost or should be excluded from the
fellowship, and they have brought great distress to the honest heart that is
burdened with a sense of inward sin and realizes that ALL of our sins have a
degree of willfulness. THE TRUE SENSE OF THE WHOLE IS THIS: after men have
embraced and professed the truth of the gospel of Christ (and particularly the
great truth of this chapter—that Jesus Christ is the only High Priest, His
blood the only atonement, His sacrifice the end and fulfillment of all types) AND
YET AFTER ALL THIS, against all
evidences, light, and revelation, they willfully deny the sufficiency of Christ and the efficacy of
His sacrifice, there is no other sacrifice for sin—there is no other Savior!
There is no help for them, no hope, only a certain fearful judgment against
them eternally. There is no going back to the Mosaic ceremonies; so if you
willfully turn from Christ, there is no hope! (Acts 4:12; I Cor 3:11). Henry Mahan
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Daniel 4: 34: And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes
unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most
High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an
everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: 35: And
all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according
to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and
none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?
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Blessed Sentence of Death
2 Corinthians 1: 9: But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that
we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:
We have brethren who have received a sentence of physical death. Many have suffered severe trials. And all true believers have been given the
sentence of death in our flesh from God.
If we are a child of God, it is a great blessing to be given the sentence
of death.
Believers really should regard all our trouble as God giving us a great
blessing. By bringing us to the end of our strength, by delivering us by God’s
strength, then from experience “we may be able to comfort them which are in any
trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.” (2 Cor 1:
3-4) What a blessing!
Also, by our sentence of death, as we partake of the sufferings, we shall
also partake of the consolation. Christ is our consolation. (2 Cor 1: 5) By suffering we are made to know Christ more,
by tasting a little of the sufferings he suffered for us. By Christ consoling us we are made to know
the power of his resurrection and he makes us willing to die to self. (Php 3:
10) We get the spiritual reality of the gospel
down in our hearts as we know Christ our only Strength. Christ’s consolation always abounds much more than our light
afflictions. What a blessing!
In addition, God receives praise and our hearts are united with our
brethren under God’s sovereign hand. The purpose of the trouble is to humble us.
(Ja 4: 6; Ps 34:18) God gives it “that we should not trust in ourselves, but in
God which raiseth the dead.” When God’s hand brings us to look out of ourselves
to Christ then what a blessed place, to be “pressed out of measure” with no
strength left. (1 Cor 1: 9)
A dear sister in Christ once told me, and we have brethren suffering
greatly who comfort us with the same words, reminding us it is a great blessing
to be given the sentence of death by our God!