Articles

Bulletin - January 22, 2023

Hymn of the Day

 

(tune: "Amazing Grace " p.236)

 

When I look in my wretched heart,

And there my nature see;

This is my hope, this is my joy,

That Jesus lived for me.

 

When I behold God's Holy law,

And there my sentence see;

This is my hope, this is my joy,

That Jesus died for me.

 

When I see how my days are mixed,

With joy and misery;

This is my hope, this is my joy;

That Jesus rules for me.

 

And when I ponder on my life,

How swift its end must be!

This is my hope, this is my joy,

That Jesus lives for me.

 

When I look out upon this world,

And there God's judgement see;

This is my hope, this is my joy,

That Jesus comes for me.

 

And when I stand before God's throne,

To hear His just decree;

This still my hope and joy shall be,

Jesus sits there for me!

 

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Today’s Hymns

See the Table Spread before You – cb8

Stricken Smitten and Afflicted – cb15

The Lord Is King – cb22

 

Special Dates: Albert Bakker - 25

 

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Mark your calendars: There will be a men’s meeting here at the church on February 25th.

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Believer, what a Saviour God has provided for His people (Gen. 22:8; Matthew 1:21)! The Almighty God (John 1:1), yet all tender Saviour and Good Shepherd who laid down His life for us (John 10:11; Psalm23:1). How well-fitted Jesus Christ is to be our Great High Priest (Hebrews 2:17; 4:14-16). How sufficient is He to supply our every need according to His riches in glory (Colossians 2:9-10; Philippians 4:19). How complete His wisdom and grace to provide for us perfect atonement and full justification from all our sin (Hebrews 9:12; Romans 3:24). How gracious the Lord is to impute His righteousness to us freely by His grace forever (Romans 4:6; 2Corinthians 5:21).  He sets guilty, poor and lost sinners free by His almighty power and sovereign grace (Luke 4:18; Romans 9:13-16). I say again, hallelujah what a Saviour we have in the Lord Jesus Christ (Revelation 7:9-10; 19:6).  -Tom Harding

 

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After some years’ experience, the Christian comes to know, better than he did at first, how much the gospel suits him. He finds that its simplicity suits his bewilderment; its grace suits his sinfulness; its power is suitable to his weakness; its comfort to his despondence; and the more he grows, the more he loves the gospel of the grace of God.  -C.H. Spurgeon

 

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If the possession of heaven could be obtained with only a single act of goodness - never to all eternity should I find it. “When I would do good, evil is present with me.” Oh! Then for grace to know Thee, to love Thee, to follow Thee, as my only good, my hope, my righteousness, my portion forever!  -Robert Hawker

 

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But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob,

and He that formed thee, O Israel,

Fear not: for I have redeemed thee,

I have called thee by thy name;

thou art Mine. -Isaiah 43:1

 

   There are no more powerful words found in the Scriptures than these, when applied by the SPIRIT of GOD to the man who is brought to the feet of the LORD laden with sin’s guilt, broken with contrition, and owning his own just condemnation by that same RIGHTEOUS JUDGE.  If he were to hear the words “depart from me”, he could in no wise find any place of argument, nor could he demand anything if he were met with utter silence.   But to hear these wondrous words must elicit a torrent of emotions from absolute joy to complete disbelief that such favor could be found.   -Mike McInnis

 

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God creates out of nothing. Therefore, until a man is nothing, God will make nothing out of him.  -Martin Luther

 

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In all the heresies that have troubled the church over the last 2000 years, there is, in truth, only one heresy – The Insufficiency of Christ. No matter what form a heresy may take – free-willism, ceremonialism, legalism, moralism and so forth - the underlying issue is a lack of belief that Christ is the necessary and sufficient Savior for sinners. We need Him, and He is all we need.

 

In a very real sense, many shall perish forever, not because they did not have enough, but because they had too much. They believed that Christ was necessary for their salvation, but they prove they do not believe that Christ is sufficient for they act as though the salvation brought by Christ is waiting for them to do something that activates or supplements the work of Christ.

 

But the glory of the gospel of Christ is that its success rests entirely on the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel of God requires nothing from us. It comes to us as sinners, expecting nothing from us other than sin. Even the faith by which we lay hold of Christ does not arise from our natural selves but is a gift from God, given to us without us asking for it, worked in us by the power of the Spirit of God as He imparts new spiritual life to us through the New Birth.

 

Everything in the gospel is designed so that “he who boasts, boasts in the Lord.” The praise of heaven does not contain a single word about the works of man. Rather, every syllable is toward the Son of God. He did it; He did it all; He did it well!  -Joe