SOVEREIGN GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH
MEETING LOCATION
251
Green Lane
Ewing,
NJ, 08368
Clay
Curtis, pastor
Telephone:
615-513-4464
Clay@FreeGraceMedia.com
MAILING ADDRESS:
7
Birch Street
Pennington,
NJ, 08538
Schedule of Services
Sunday
10: 15 AM Bible Class
Sunday
11:00 AM Morning Service
Thursday
7: 30 PM Midweek Service
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NURSERY
We
have a nursery equipped with a digital flat screen television broadcasting all
services live, for children four and under.
All articles by the pastor unless
otherwise noted.
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SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE WEBSITE: The
videos are now listed as individual sermons, as well as full services—
click
here.
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ON THE INSIDE LOOKING
UP
Exodus 26
Everything
on the inside of the tabernacle was, in figure, a type of Christ and the
redemption which God had appointed him to accomplish. On the inside, looking up, was two curtains
exactly the same in every detail joined together at the top by fifty taches of
gold. It is difficult to say what these
taches were exactly but it is enough to know their purpose. These taches were designed to join these two
curtains to make one tabernacle. (Exodus
26: 6) On the inside, looking up, the
sanctified servant sees his hope of righteousness in union with the righteous character
of his representative by a divine coupling.
He sees in Christ, his God and Savior one tabernacle; one body and one
hope of his calling. On the inside,
looking up, he sees himself as one with Christ and therefore acceptable to God
in all that he does. Peter tells us, "as lively stones we are built up a
spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices,
acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." (I Peter 2: 5) With this righteous covering and by the blood
of our great substitute we can now eat of the bread and worship at the altar
and do all in the light of his candlestick. Pastor Darvin Pruitt
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As
believers we are to care for, encourage and assist all men. We do so to other
believers for Christ’s sake…they are our brethren. We do good to them as being
one with them in Christ…chosen in Him by the same mercy and compassion from the
Father…redeemed by the same blood of the Lamb…called out of darkness by the
same Holy Spirit and kept by the same power of God through faith unto salvation
ready to be revealed in the last time. But we are also instructed, as we have
opportunity, to do good unto unbelievers…for this temporal life is their only
reward and therefore shall be the best they ever know or have. Pastor
Marvin Stalnaker
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CONTENTIONS
1 Corinthians 1: 11: For it hath been declared unto me
of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there
are contentions among you. 12: Now this I say, that every one of you
saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. 13: Is
Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of
Paul?
The core cause of all the problems at Corinth
were contentions among brethren. It had
caused so much disunity and distraction that they could not even hear Paul preach
the gospel to them (1 Cor 3: 1-3). This
contention was over preachers. Some even said, “We are of Christ.” These would not give honor to any preacher, even
deciding they did not need the gospel. Yet, all their contention was because they all
took their focus off Christ! Brethren, if some thing draws our attention
from Christ to ourselves then that thing will become the issue to us rather
than Christ.
So how
did Paul deal with this problem? Paul used
the motive of every true believer—“Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ,…” (v10). Christ loved his people and laid down
his life for us. He bore our sin, our curse and our death. He turned the world upside down to call us, sanctify
us and justify us. All of this to make
us one in the unity of the faith. If Christ is precious to me then that
will be enough to make me cease with contention that I might honor and glorify
his name.
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PERFECTLY JOINED TOGETHER
1 Corinthians 1: 10: Now, I beseech
you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same
thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be
perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
Brethren,
we should never compromise the gospel of Christ. But we should learn to keep
unity by compromising in lesser matters. The quickest way to become isolated
and create division among brethren is to constantly object, to have a snobbish
attitude that I am right and my brother is wrong. That is not the mind of
Christ (Php 2: 3-5). Let us learn to
listen. Scripture says, “Be swift to
hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.” Let us learn to give it time. Let us learn ways to keep the unity of the
Spirit in the bond of peace. Let us do so for the honor of Christ our Lord!
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IS CHRIST DIVIDED?
1 Corinthians 1: 13: Is Christ divided?
was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?
Christ does not create division in his body,
only unity. He was crucified for his
people to make us one. It is our oneness
in and by Christ that we confessed when we were baptized in his great name.
Christ’s
people are one because no matter the preacher who preaches the gospel to us, we
all have one and the same teacher, “It is written in the prophets, And they
shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath
learned of the Father, cometh unto me”
(Joh 6:45). Those only taught by
men may go on dividing. But those taught
of God are made willing to submit to Christ, submit to the pastor Christ has given
to have the rule over them and submit to one another. They do so that they might
protect the precious unity Christ has given them by his blood. It is the difference that the grace of God
makes in the heart!
Not only do we have the same teacher, God’s saints are one because we
are taught the same gospel. God does not
teach one believer one gospel and another something else. There is one gospel! It is the devil’s objective to make men think
there is more than one gospel so that they have to choose. The word “heresy” means “choice.” But there is no choice when Christ reveals himself
in his people. In Joshua 24:2, the
quotation opens with Christ speaking through Joshua, “Thus saith the LORD
God of Israel.” He gives repeated
examples of how he delivers his house to serve the LORD alone. The quotation is still open, Christ is still
speaking, when he says the ones making choices are those he has not delivered but
their choices are only between their idols, “And if it seem evil unto you to
serve the LORD, CHOOSE you this day whom ye will serve; WHETHER the gods which
your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, OR the gods of
the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell.” But
Christ takes away our choices, making us willing in the day of his power. Therefore, he says, “But as for me and my
house, we will serve the LORD” (Jos 24: 2-15). Christ served one true and
living LORD for his house making us righteous. Therefore, he makes his house serve
the one true and living LORD in the day of his power.
Oneness
shall continue in Christ’s house because he works it, intercedes for it and it
is the will of God our Father, “That in the dispensation of the fulness of
times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in
heaven, and which are on earth; even in him.” (Eph 1: 10; Gal 3:28) Therefore, “with all lowliness and
meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love” let us always be “endeavouring
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph 4: 2-3; (Php
2:14-16)