Hymn of the Day
(tune: "Amazing Grace"p.236)
There is no work that I can do,
And thus for sin atone;
The precious blood of Christ must save,
Must save and that alone.
The leopard cannot change its spots,
Nor sin its deadly hue;
And ne'er can works, however good,
A sinful heart remove.
Not all the waters of the earth,
Can wash one sin away,
Nor all the laying on of hands,
Teach one poor soul to pray.
The blood, the blood, the precious blood,
Can cleanse us from our sin;
And nothing else in earth or heav'n,
Can make us pure within.
The blood the blood, the precious blood,
The blood of Christ alone;
Can all the load of guilt remove,
And change the heart of stone.
Today's Hymns
All Things Work Out for Good #267
I Love to Tell the Story #431,
On Jordan's Stormy Banks #517
Special Dates: Fred & Anne – 20 ~ Barney and Tricia – 20
Cornell and Shaina – 21 ~ Nevaeh Sandbulte - 22
Jason & Diane – 22 ~ Allen Koedam - 26
Aimee Koedam -27 ~ Jerry & Pat – 30
Congratulations to Fred and Ann Vlastuin on 70 years of marriage!
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There is nothing the church does that is more important than assembling to worship Christ. To gather in order to honor Christ through praying, preaching, and hearing the Gospel is such an important thing that each of us should approach it very seriously. Let each one prepare himself in heart and body so as to arrive on time, having the heart clothed with a desire to hear from Christ and the body dressed modestly so as not to attract attention to one's self. Let each of us enter into every song and prayer, closing out the thoughts of the world and all the cares it loads on us. Let each of us listen to the Word of God with the intensity of baby birds chirping for food. In short, let each of us give himself to worship in this hour as though there were nothing better or more important in all the world to do – because there isn't. -Joe
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[Salvation] is not in works of righteousness which we have done or can do, or in the use of our free will (which is only free to choose and love evil), or in watchfulness, prayer, fasting, self-denial, and outward sanctification. [It is not] in head knowledge or firm convictions of truth in the judgment or a life outwardly consistent with the Gospel or membership in a Gospel church or a fond love of ministers of the Gospel or sacrifices made to support the truth or in doubts, fears, tribulations, temptations, legal terrors or heart-rending despairs. All these things accompany salvation, but they can also be found in hypocrites and reprobates.
Salvation does not consist in desires, "for the sluggard desireth and hath not," nor in tears, "Esau cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry," or in running, "for it is not of him that runneth." Nor does it consist in outward gifts such as preaching and praying as a man may, "taste of the heavenly gift," and yet, "his end shall be to be burned." Saul prophesied; Judas preached, and the sons of Sceva adjured devils by the name of Jesus.
Nor does it consist in natural faith, for Simon Magus believed and was baptized, or in talking about religion for, "a prating fool shall fall," or being well thought of by others as Paul once thought well of Demas "who loved this present world." What I am saying is that salvation does not consist in anything of the flesh, that is, anything earthly, human, and natural, "for the flesh profiteth nothing."
So, no man can deliver his own soul or give to God a ransom for himself or his brother, for, "all flesh is grass," fit only to be cut down by the mower and to be cast into the oven. We have come to this conclusion (to which God sooner or later brings every elect soul) that those who are saved, are saved because God will save them, that "He will have mercy on whom he will have mercy," and on them alone, and that he saves them not from any foreseen goodness in them, but of His own free grace. He loves them freely, eternally, and unchangeably, and they are redeemed, justified, quickened, sanctified, preserved, and glorified only because they are the objects of the undeserved love of God himself. And He does all this by and through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and all whom He does this for will be head over heels in love with the Lord Jesus. -Scott Richardson
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Salvation is of God's grace, not of your merit; it is of God's goodness, not of your holiness; you have nothing to do but to rest on what Christ has done. -C.H. Spurgeon
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In all the ups and downs of our lives, in all the ebbing and flowing of our spiritual zeal, in all our failures and successes, there is this one sweet and unchanging truth to give us sweet rest: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13.8). -Joe
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Even with all the turmoil, confusion, lusts, and wanderings of a sinner, one thing is certain- no war exists between redeemed sons of Adam and God Almighty. Not even a temporary truce exists, conditioned on such fickle men trying to maintain the terms of some type of cease-fire, with God suspiciously watching every move we make. On the contrary, there is a peace "which passeth all understanding" because believers agree with God. They agree with God concerning His divine law. They confess that the law is holy, just, and good. They agree with God in that atonement has been made for all those He has eternally loved in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. They agree with God concerning God's sovereignty, and admit that He (God), has the right to do all that He has done and will do. Each with a Holy Ghost given heart to agree with God, believers are able to do what their own nature of sin would never long after- WALK WITH GOD! -Marvin Stalnaker
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He who does not believe on Christ is guilty of the greatest blasphemy. It is God (not men) that he does not believe, and he has made the God of truth to be a liar because he refuses the heavenly witness concerning Christ! Some wonder why God commends faith so much and condemns unbelief so severely. The glory of God is implicated in this. It is God who has borne witness of salvation in Christ. -Henry Mahan