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What Is Your Heart Set On?

“Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:” | Philippians 1: 6

Here is great comfort for the child of God, especially under trials.

God will not forsake the work of his grace.

He will perform the work begun till we stand in His presence complete, without spot or blemish.

~ Pastor John Chapman

Click here to listen to the message “What Is Your Heart Set On?”

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Visit our primary website at www.ksgctn.org for more information about Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church, watch our livestream (when available) and access our previously recorded messages.

Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church Bulletin Article date: Special | Previous post date: 12 June, 2021

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True Profession

“My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” | 1 John 3: 18

The thing that troubles me most about the validity of our profession of Christ is that we talk, preach, and sing of love, mercy, and forgiveness.

But then, when the opportunity comes for us to love the unlovely, forgive the offender, and bind up the wounded heart, we join the circle of Pharisees, clutching our stones, ready to wound and maim.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” (Galatians 5: 22-23)

A profession that does not produce is a false profession.

~ Pastor Henry T. Mahan

Click here to listen to the message “I Never Knew You” (44:28 minutes)

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Visit our primary website at www.ksgctn.org for more information about Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church, watch our livestream (when available) and access our previously recorded messages.

Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church Bulletin Article date: Special | Previous post date: 10 June, 2021

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Six Things Believers Will Do

“O remember not against us former iniquities: let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought very low. Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name’s sake.” | Psalm 79: 8-9

1). Believers so trust Christ as to renounce every other ground of confidence. “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:” (Philippians 3: 7-9)

2). Believers glory only in the righteousness of Christ and count their own to be filthy rags. “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” (Isaiah 64: 6)

3). Believers rejoice in the cross of substitution, glorying in nothing else. “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” (Galatians 6: 14)

4).Believers love the Lord Jesus supremely and will so order their lives as to avoid commitments and associations which hinder fellowship with Him. “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14: 26-27)

5). Believers will continue in the faith, for true believers never quit. “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.” (1 John 2: 19)

6). Believers obey the Lord’s commandments, not in order to gain His favor but because they love Him and dwell in His favor. “For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.” (2 Corinthians 5: 14-15)

Believers trust Christ, glory only in Christ’s righteousness, rejoice in the cross, love the Lord Jesus, continue in the faith and obey the Lord’s commandments.

~ Pastor Henry T. Mahan

Click here to listen to the message “Who Is God?” (40:37 minutes)

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Visit our primary website at www.ksgctn.org for more information about Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church, watch our livestream (when available) and access our previously recorded messages.

Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church Bulletin Article date: Special | Previous post date: 7 June, 2021

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Ye Are Complete In Him

“And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:” | Colossians 2: 10

The believer’s standing in Christ does not fluctuate with his feelings, not even the increase or decrease of his faith or understanding or anything else.

He stands complete in Christ.

God would never trust any of His children to stand before Him at any time in their own selves; that is, in their merits or certain good frames of mind.

He knows our frame.

He remembers that we are yet dust.

Therefore, He has on purpose provided for them this perfect standing in Christ Jesus.

“And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:” (Colossians 2: 1)

“Ye are complete in Him,” the Holy Ghost said.

“Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:” (Colossians 1: 28)

He says in another place, “Ye are perfect in Christ Jesus.”

“But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1: 30-31)

The very nature of our God requires us to be perfect and complete before Him at all times.

He, out of necessity, therefore provided all this for His children; a perfection, a completeness, which can never be diminished.

“Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:” (Hebrews 6: 17)

It is as unchanging as God Himself.

“Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” (Hebrews 13: 8)

Every true believer may walk through this world in perfect liberty, free from anything and everything – yes, even his sin, fear of condemnation, and all else that would cause him to doubt of his completeness.

He may freely come to God, worship Him, call Him “Father,” and this he may do at all times with the utmost confidence and thankfulness, because in Christ he stands, first and foremost and always, complete before God.

O thanks be to God for Jesus Christ.

~ Pastor Bruce Crabtree

Click here to listen to the message “If You Love Me” (51:54 minutes)

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Visit our primary website at www.ksgctn.org for more information about Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church, watch our livestream (when available) and access our previously recorded messages.

Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church Bulletin Article date: Special | Previous post date: 5 June, 2021

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The Strait Gate And Narrow Way

“And he came near, and kissed him: and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the LORD hath blessed.” | Genesis 27: 27

There is, without a doubt, no clearer picture or type of the blessing of God Almighty to an unworthy rebel than the blessing of Jacob by his father Isaac.

Jacob had exhibited the true nature of a wretched sinner.

In Jacob’s mind, the only way he could get his father’s blessing was to impersonate his brother Esau.

Lying with every breath, Jacob attempted to convince his father that he was someone else.

Not until Isaac smelled the coat of Esau did he bestow the blessing.

The smell of his first born satisfied the aging Isaac.

And just as the smell of Esau’s coat that covered Jacob ushered in the blessing to the younger son… Christ’s royal robe of righteousness, imputed to everyone that believeth in Christ, is the smell of satisfaction, obedience, and truthfulness to God the Father.

In ourselves, we are but “Jacobs,” deceivers, liars and supplanters.

But robed in the glorious robe of Christ’s imputed righteousness… we are accepted and blessed in the Beloved… Apart from Him, there is no hope, no life, and no blessing from the just and Holy God.

~ Pastor Marvin Stalnaker

Click here to listen to the message “The Strait Gate And Narrow Way” (19:19 minutes)

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Visit our primary website at www.ksgctn.org for more information about Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church, watch our livestream (when available) and access our previously recorded messages.

Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church Bulletin Article date: Special | Previous post date: 3 June, 2021

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I Am A Worm

“But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.” | Psalm 22: 6

This verse is a miracle in language.

How could the Lord of glory be brought to such abasement as to be not only lower than the angels, but even lower than men?

What a contrast between “I AM” and “I am a worm”!

Yet such a double nature was found in the person of our Lord Jesus when bleeding on the tree.

He felt himself to be comparable to a helpless, powerless, downtrodden worm, passive while crushed, and unnoticed and despised by those who trod upon him.

He selects the weakest of creatures, which is all flesh; and becomes, when trodden upon, writhing & quivering flesh, utterly devoid of any might except strength to suffer.

This was a true likeness of himself when his body and soul had become a mass of misery-the very essence of agony-in the dying pangs of crucifixion.

Man by nature is but a worm; but our Lord puts himself even beneath man, on account of the scorn which was heaped upon him and the weakness which he felt, and therefore he adds, “and no man.”

The privileges and blessings which belonged to the fathers he could not obtain while deserted by God, and common acts of humanity were not allowed him, for he was rejected of men; he was outlawed from the society of earth, and shut out from the smile of heaven.

How utterly did the Saviour empty himself of all glory, and become of no reputation for our sakes!

“A reproach of men” their common butt and jest; a byword and a proverb unto them: the sport of the rabble, and the scorn of the rulers.

Oh the caustic power of reproach, to those who endure it with patience, yet smart under it most painfully!

“And despised: of thee people.”

The very people who would once have crowned him then contemned him, and they who were benefited by his cures sneered at him in his woes.

Sin is worthy of all reproach and contempt, and for this reason Jesus, the Sin bearer, was given up to be thus unworthily and shamefully entreated.

~ Charles Spurgeon

Click here to listen to the message “I Am A Worm” (45:42 minutes)

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Visit our primary website at www.ksgctn.org for more information about Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church, watch our livestream (when available) and access our previously recorded messages.

Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church Bulletin Article date: Special | Previous post date: 31 May, 2021

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Man Of Sorrows

“It pleased the Lord to bruise Him.” | Isaiah 53: 10

The death of Christ pleased every attribute of the Father.

The death of Christ pleased God’s wisdom.

The death of Christ enables God to be both just and justifier.

The death of Christ pleased God’s justice.

Christ suffered for the sin of His people until the debt was paid in full.

The death of Christ pleased God’s mercy and grace.

The death of Christ enables God to be merciful to His people in justice because their sin has been put away.

Since Christ died God can justify the ungodly, God can forgive sin, and God can accept His people into His presence because He is pleased with them in Christ.

~ Pastor Frank Tate

Click here to listen to the message “Confessing Christ” (63:29 minutes)

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Visit our primary website at www.ksgctn.org for more information about Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church, watch our livestream (when available) and access our previously recorded messages.

Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church Bulletin Article date: Special | Previous post date: 29 May, 2021

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The Humiliation And Sufferings Of Christ

“Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” | Isaiah 53: 1-3

I saw where someone wrote recently, “there’s a lot more in the word of God, than Christ.” That is a sad and horrible statement.

If I tell you that I grew up in Deer Park Texas, my first car was a Plymouth Duster and I worked at Houston Independent School District, this is not a treatise on cities, cars or companies.

It is all about me.

The scriptures have some things to say about Heaven, Hell, Bethlehem and even heresy, but we need to understand that the word of God concerns His Son Jesus Christ, all Him, only Him, always Him.

Every other person, place, thing and subject are included, only as they relate to, reveal and glorify Him.

When it comes right down to it, He is all there is.

Anyone who does not, by God’s grace, know this, has no business saying or writing anything about God or His word.

If God will ever reveal anything to you, it will begin right there; Christ is all.

If God is ever going to use you for His glory, in His ministry, in any capacity, He will cause you to determine to know nothing, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

~ Pastor Chris Cunningham

Click here to listen to the message “Why Christ is Despised and Rejected” (36:13 minutes)

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Visit our primary website at www.ksgctn.org for more information about Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church, watch our livestream (when available) and access our previously recorded messages.

Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church Bulletin Article date: Special | Previous post date: 27 May, 2021

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The Lamb Is Sufficient

“Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.” | Exodus 12: 3-4

Salvation is the most beautiful word that a lost condemned sinner could ever hear.

It includes all the blessings of grace, and all the blessings of glory.

It is the washing of our consciences from guilt, the redemption of our souls from the curse of the Law, the renewing of our heart by the Spirit of God, and the freedom of our spirits from the power and dominion of sin.

It is to be loved and chosen by God, justified in Christ, born again by the Holy Spirit, pardoned of all wrong doing, received into the family of God, accepted in the beloved.

It is to be an heir of God, joint heir with Christ.

If I am saved, I have all wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption in Christ.

~ Pastor Milton Howard

Click here to listen to the message “The Lamb is Sufficient” (32:08 minutes)

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Visit our primary website at www.ksgctn.org for more information about Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church, watch our livestream (when available) and access our previously recorded messages.

Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church Bulletin Article date: Special | Previous post date: 24 May, 2021

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The Promises Of God

“For I am the Lord, I change not.” | Malachi 3: 6

God is unchangeable in His essence, nature, and perfections.

Isn’t it wonderful that in our experience in a life that is nothing but change, to know that the Lord changes not?

His purpose has never altered and never will.

This gives assurance and peace to all who have fled to Christ for refuge.

~ Pastor David Pledger

Click here to listen to the message “The Promises of God” (38:46 minutes)

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Visit our primary website at www.ksgctn.org for more information about Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church, watch our livestream (when available) and access our previously recorded messages.

Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church Bulletin Article date: Special | Previous post date: 22 May, 2021