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Christian Racism

”My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.” | James 2: 1

The Spirit of God reminds us, as brethren, against elevating one person while neglecting another.

Sinful men glorify or reject one another based on race, gender, class, religious-practice and other things.

Fact is, in ourselves and apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, we are all one, putrid, mass of filth before the thrice-holy God.

By God’s grace, we believe that God did not choose any of his elect based on anything in us, good or bad.

Why then would we show favor to one and reject another based on anything produced by men?

God would have his one race glory in no other but the Lord of glory, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Why then would we glory in man by choosing one above another?

The glory of the Lord so far excels all, that when we behold him by faith, every imaginary difference between Jew and Gentile, male and female, rich and poor, the one who thinks he keeps the law and the one who knows nothing of God’s law vanishes.

Believers are complete in him, no sin, no schisms, and no differences.

The only true distinguishing characteristic that exists between sinners in this world is that some refuse to bow to the Lord Jesus Christ while others have been irresistibly made to glory only in the one who has made them the very righteousness of God.

Knowing therefore, who it is that makes one sinner to differ from another, let us glorify him, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.

~ Pastor Clay Curtis

Click here to listen to the message “Grace, Grace Unto It”

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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.

FreeGraceRadio.com Bulletin Article date: 11 January, 2008 | Previous post date: n/a | Danville, Kentuky

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From Whence Cometh My Help

”[[A Song of degrees.]] I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.” | Psalm 121

Believer, our help is Christ.

Our help comes from the hills — His holy hill in heaven and that hill where Christ has given his gospel.

His help is personal help — MY help. “Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.” (Hebrews 2: 17-18)

In all our troubles remember the truth revealed in Psalm 121.

The Lord Will Not.

First, the Lord will not allow the feet of his redeemed child to be moved. “He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.” (Psalm 121: 3)

Many times “our feet are almost gone, our steps well-nigh slipped.” But God our Savior will not allow our feet to be moved. “He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved.” (Psalm 62: 2)

“For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.” (Psalm 91: 11-12)

Secondly, the LORD will not slumber nor sleep. “He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.” (Psalm 121: 3-4)

God never forgets his children.

We can’t remember what to forget and we keep forgetting what we should remember. “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3: 13-14)

“We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick” (Numbers 11: 5)

“Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?” (Matthew 16: 9-10)

But God never forgets his child—neither slumbers nor sleeps. God never ceases to consider his child of grace. “But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.” (Psalm 40: 17)

Each child is always at the center-focus of Gods thoughts. There is never is a moment, night or day, in which the great mind of the Eternal ceases to think of the child he has everlastingly loved in Christ Jesus. “He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.”

The Lord Is.

The Lord is the keeper of his child. “The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.” (Psalm 121: 5)

Christ is our shade of righteousness and our shade of defense, the shade upon our right hand is Christ our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption — our ALL! “The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.” (Psalm 121: 5-6)

“And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence. And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.” (Isaiah 4: 5-6)

“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4: 10)

“That no flesh should glory in his presence. 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: 29-30)

Christ is able to give his help because Christ is God who created all things but even better, Christ is our Redeemer who by his blood makes all things new. “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained” (Psalm 8: 3)

“Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” (2 Peter 3: 13)

“For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain.” (Isaiah 66: 22)

The Lord Shall.

First, the Lord shall preserve each of his children. “The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.” (Psalm 121: 7)

There would be no perseverance of the saints where it not for the preserving of our Lord. “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise” (Ephesians 1: 13)

Secondly, notice what the Lord shall preserve his child from—all evil. I found 569 references to evil in the bible. Here are a few:

Evil of the heart. “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6: 5)

Evil of your doings; evil report. “And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.” (Numbers 13: 32)

Evil beast; evil congregation. “I the LORD have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.” (Numbers 14: 35)

Evil place. “And wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in unto this evil place? it is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink.” (Numbers 20: 5)

Evil generation. “Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers” (Deuteronomy 1: 35)

Evil diseases. “And the LORD will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee; but will lay them upon all them that hate thee.” (Deuteronomy 7: 15)

Evil name. (Slander) “And give occasions of speech against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid” (Deuteronomy 22: 14)

Evil spirit; evil dealings; evil understanding. “And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.” (Job 28: 28)

Evil time. “The LORD knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance shall be for ever.” (Psalm 37: 18)

The LORD shall preserve thee from ALL evil. (Job 5: 19-27) http://blb.sc/00G1MH

Also, the LORD shall preserve your soul. “The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.” (Psalm 121: 7)

He shall raise our bodies incorruptible from the dust of the grave, but the soul how important! the soul. “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16: 26)

“The LORD redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.” (Psalm 34: 22)

Furthermore, the Lord shall preserve our going in and coming out, that is, all our ways. “The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.” (Psalm 121: 8)

“In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” (Proverbs 3: 6)

When will the LORD start doing this? From this time forth! “Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” (Matthew 6: 31-34)

“Cast foreboding cares away, God provideth for today.” “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5: 8)

But for how long will the Lord preserve me?

Even for evermore.

The end of this life is just the beginning.

~ Pastor Clay Curtis

Click here to listen to the message “Precious Death That Humbles”

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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.

Central Grace Church Bulletin Article date: 13 April, 2014 | Previous post date: n/a | Rocky Mount, Virginia

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Greater Things Hereafter

”Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these. And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.” | John 1: 50-51

Isaiah said, “I saw also the Lord…” “In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.” (Isaiah 6: 1)

Sinners only see the Lord through faith by revelation from God. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” (Romans 1: 16-17)

John tells us it was the glory of Christ the Lord which Isaiah saw. (John 12: 36-41)

The glory of Christ which Isaiah saw is the glory which sinners are brought by grace to behold through faith.

How did Isaiah describe his glory?

1. Sitting. The Lord Jesus Christ finished the work given him by the Father before the world began. He fulfilled all prophecy concerning him, he honored and magnified the law of God as the Representative of his people in righteous obedience; as their Substitute as God’s Lamb he laid down his life that they might become dead to the law. He cried, “It is finished.” When he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1: 3)

2. Upon a throne. Isaiah saw Jesus Christ as he is, the Living Lord. He is LORD of lords AND KING of kings. He reigns with God the Father from his heavenly throne “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” (Revelation 3: 21)

3. High. Isaiah beheld who the Lord Jesus is. Christ Jesus is THE SON OF GOD. The child born, is also a Son given, also the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. He is indeed the great I AM which was before Abraham. If we are going to be brought low, we must first behold him HIGH. Our Savior is God Almighty.

4. Lifted up. We must see that God the Father is well-pleased with him and that, by God the Father he was and is lifted up. He is the preeminent Captain, the Author and Pioneer of faith, the Faithful One, he faithfully obeyed and gave himself to be lifted upon the cross and God the Father is well-pleased; God the Father lifted him up glorified in heaven “And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1: 4)

“For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (2 Peter 1: 17)

5. His train filled the temple. His train signifies his dominion and glory as our King Priest. Isaiah beheld that his dominion reaches not just around his throne but fills his whole temple in heaven and earth. He reigns in the midst of his church.

May the Holy Spirit be pleased to reveal in us the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus.

~ Pastor Clay Curtis

Click here to listen to the message “Greater Things Hereafter”

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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.

Sovereign Grace Baptist Church Bulletin Article date: 9 November, 2008 | Previous post date: n/a | Ewing, New Jersey

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For All His Benefits To Me

”I said in my haste, All men are liars. What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD. I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people. Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.” | Psalm 116: 11-15

The work which God gives into the hands of his pastors is God’s work.

The work he gives into the hands of his witnesses is God’s work.

The Sovereign of heaven and earth will soon discover this to us through enemies which he has foreordained that we face.

We will face some who appear so full of light that if it were possible they would deceive even the elect of God.

Yet God will expose them to be enemies of the righteousness of God and he will conquer them before us.

There will be times when some within will depart from us and break our hearts.

But God will use those things to reveal to us that there is absolutely no sufficiency in us for this work.

He is not depending upon the strength of men; he teaches us not to depend upon men, not even those who profess to trust him.

We love our brethren, we receive one another without doubting, but we are to look only to Christ.

“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Corinthians 12: 9)

Our strength is the grace of our God alone.

~ Pastor Clay Curtis

Click here to listen to the message “For All His Benefits To Me”

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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.

Sovereign Grace Baptist Church Bulletin Article date: 9 November, 2008 | Previous post date: n/a | Ewing, New Jersey

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Christ Himself Is Our Hope

Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. | Hebrews 6: 19-20

Hope is an earnest desire for an object, accompanied with the expectation of obtaining it.

Spiritual hope includes that, but it also includes something natural hope does not.

It includes the sure and steadfast assurance that we shall receive what we hope for.

The object of the believer’s hope is Christ.

Our expectation is to be with Christ in glory in His perfect righteousness.

The assurance of our hope is Christ, who himself is our Hope.

Our hope is sure and steadfast because in and by Christ all God’s covenant-promises are fulfilled for us, apart from our works.

~ Pastor Clay Curtis

Click here to listen to the message “Wherefore Commit Ye Evil?”

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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: 29 December, 2019 | Previous post date: n/a

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Consider Him

”For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.” | Hebrews 12: 3

The Greek word for “consider” is translated in another place, “proportion.”

It is a mathematical term, signifying to compute by comparing things together in their due proportions.

Consider who Christ is in light of who you are.

Consider what Christ endured in light of what you endure.

Consider how Christ endured in light of how you endure.

Consider who he is. This is God in human flesh, the second person in the Trinity; the Lord of glory; Creator of heaven and earth. This is the Son of God, the Beloved of the Father.

Consider who you are in relationship to him. He is the believer’s Redeemer and we are his Possession. The believer is his willing bond-servant; he is our Master.

Consider why he endured suffering. He was called on by God the Father to suffer here on earth — in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4: 15)

Believer, he suffered for the purpose of obeying God’s law as our Representative Man.

He was born to suffering that he might die in agony as the Substitute of his people, that God might be just and the justifier of all who believe on him. He suffered in order to make his people perfect and complete.

Christ finished this work by first being born and then living in a world of sin and sin’s consequences, despised and rejected of men. Is it a strange thing that you and I should be called on to endure a little suffering in his service. “Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.” (John 15: 20, 21)

Consider what he was accused of.

He was accused of being a deceiver: “And there was much murmuring among the people concerning him: for some said, He is a good man: others said, Nay; but he deceiveth the people.” (John 7: 12)

He was accused of perverting the people: “Said unto them, Ye have brought this man unto me, as one that perverteth the people: and, behold, I, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse him:” (Luke 23: 14)

Religious people essentially accused him of being without the law because of those he received into his company: “And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.” (Luke 15: 2)

He was accused of being a law-breaker: “And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him.” (Mark 3: 2)

He was accused of healing sinners by the power of the devil: “But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.” (Matthew 12: 24)

He was looked down upon as a lowly, uneducated, uncouth Nazarene from Galilee: “Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee?” (John 7: 41)

He was called a “glutton and a winebibber.” “The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.” (Matthew 11: 19)

He was falsely accused of speaking against Caesar: “And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.” (John 19: 12)

When we are reviled, rebuked, treated spitefully by men, we quickly become offended.

All too often we are quick to let folks know why we do not deserve to be spoken to in such a manner.

Then after we have wrestled with the accusations of others in our minds and gloated in how “we told them,” all we have done is weary ourselves to the point of fainting from this gospel of Christ. Oh, we’re somebody aren’t we!

Every grain of wisdom you and I have is total darkness in proportion to the infinite Wisdom of Christ Jesus.

Every good thought or deed you and I have ever done has been full of enough wickedness to send a million men to eternal hell; he was Holy from conception to the cross.

We flatter ourselves with the idea that we treat others the way we want to be treated but fact is our obedience makes the golden rule look like unpolished brass; he left the riches of heaven for you, believer.

The very presence of every single person he came into contact with stunk with such abomination of sin to him by just their very presence.

That is not to mention the cruelness, the venom, the ignorance and the rejection that foamed up out from beneath our tongues toward him the entire time he walked this earth.

Yet he opened not his mouth but trusted God to deliver him. “For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:” (1 Peter 2: 19-23)

Are you, believer, disheartened by the hard usage you are receiving from men, yea, from the religious world?

Are you fearful as you anticipate the persecutions which may yet attend your Christian profession; or, are you too ready to show resentment against those who oppose you?

Then consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself.

Do you desire to be strengthened by Christ as you strive against sin?

Consider him, look to him, and commit yourself to him that judgeth righteously.

What are our trials when compared with His agonies!

I want to blush with shame because of my murmurings.

~ Pastor Clay Curtis

Click here to listen to the message “O Wretched Man”

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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.

Sovereign Grace Baptist Church Bulletin Article date: 2 November, 2008 | Previous post date: n/a | Ewing, New Jersey

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It Pleased The Lord Through Preaching

”Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.” | Acts 13: 1-3

In this text, we have the account of how the Lord faithfully sent forth Barnabas and Saul to the Gentile world.

God has an elect people whom he has determined to save OUT OF all corners and people of this world in Christ Jesus.

This was the Lord’s word to Abraham: “In blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed” (Christ the Seed) ‘shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.” (Genesis 22: 17-18)

The gospel of Christ the Seed was preached to Abraham: “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.” (Galatians 3: 16)

“And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.” (Galatians 3: 8, 9)

This same gospel shall be preached to all God’s elect scattered throughout the entire world.

God uses his church to do so.

The very wisdom of God which chose his people in Christ, the very wisdom which accomplished the work whereby mercy and peace have met in harmony in Christ our Substitute, is the same wisdom of God which chose that the instrument he would use to proclaim his gospel would be his church in this world. The believer — who is perfectly complete in Christ to enter glory right now – remains in this world because God choose to use saved sinners to carry his gospel to his elect and save them through the gospel of our glorified Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

“For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” (1 Corinthians 1: 21)

Just as the work of election, of redemption, and of regeneration is the work of our triune God even so the work of raising up and equipping his vessels of mercy is the work of our Lord. God’s ambassadors’ are called of God; God gives his saints a heart to recognize his messengers and to support them in God’s work; God separates them to the work he would have them to do; God’s messengers are filled and led by the Spirit of God.

Thus they go forth preaching the gospel of Christ and him crucified.

~ Pastor Clay Curtis

Click here to listen to the message “Consider Him”

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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.

Sovereign Grace Baptist Church Bulletin Article date: 26 October, 2008 | Previous post date: n/a | Ewing, New Jersey

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The Race That Is Set

”Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,” | Hebrews 12: 1

Everything about the believer’s race is set by God.

Our Lord determined before the foundation of the world those whom he would put in this race when he chose his people in Christ. The love of God for his people is as eternal as God is. It existed before time; it shall exist when time is no more. The everlasting love of God in Christ Jesus gives the believer great cause for patiently running this race.

Our God set the precise moment he would cross our path with the gospel. He determined the pastor he would raise up, gave him the heart to trust Christ, and the unction to preach his word in truth and in spirit. In that hour of love he made Christ our Wisdom.

We beheld something of the righteous skill with which Christ Jesus honored and magnified God’s law on our behalf.

We beheld his faithfulness and graciousness in satisfying justice on our behalf. In the light of Christ we heard the law condemn our sins and our sins were more than we could bear. But the Spirit revealed in our hearts that all our sins have been forever put away by Christ’s one offering.

In love and power Christ was made our Perfection, our Completion, our Righteousness, our All. When we behold God’s all-powerful hand in all providence which brought us to Christ in spite of us, the believer finds great comfort in knowing that the God who provided and is our Righteousness will continue to be our Strength to run this race.

Our God set every hurdle on this course which we must run and declares plainly to us that we must suffer much tribulation in this race. Yet, the God who set the course also reveals in us that he is the God who supplies the grace. That is what he teaches us as he carries us through every dark vale.

Our God set the length of our course. He has appointed the hour our race will end. By his grace we will find the finish line to be the most glorious hour of all the hours of our lives for then we shall enter into the presence of Christ our Redeemer.

What a joy to know that our race ends where it began, in Christ our Lord.

~ Pastor Clay Curtis

Click here to listen to the message “According to Promise”

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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.

Sovereign Grace Baptist Church Bulletin Article date: 26 October, 2008 | Previous post date: n/a | Ewing, New Jersey

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It Pleased The Lord Through Preaching

”Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.” | Acts 13: 1-3

In this text, we have the account of how the Lord faithfully sent forth Barnabas and Saul to the Gentile world.

God has an elect people whom he has determined to save OUT OF all corners and people of this world in Christ Jesus.

This was the Lord’s word to Abraham: “In blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed” (Christ the Seed) ‘shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.” (Genesis 22: 17-18)

The gospel of Christ the Seed was preached to Abraham: “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.” (Galatians 3: 16)

“And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.” (Galatians 3: 8, 9)

This same gospel shall be preached to all God’s elect scattered throughout the entire world.

God uses his church to do so.

The very wisdom of God which chose his people in Christ, the very wisdom which accomplished the work whereby mercy and peace have met in harmony in Christ our Substitute, is the same wisdom of God which chose that the instrument he would use to proclaim his gospel would be his church in this world. The believer — who is perfectly complete in Christ to enter glory right now – remains in this world because God choose to use saved sinners to carry his gospel to his elect and save them through the gospel of our glorified Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

“For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” (1 Corinthians 1: 21)

Just as the work of election, of redemption, and of regeneration is the work of our triune God even so the work of raising up and equipping his vessels of mercy is the work of our Lord. God’s ambassadors’ are called of God; God gives his saints a heart to recognize his messengers and to support them in God’s work; God separates them to the work he would have them to do; God’s messengers are filled and led by the Spirit of God.

Thus they go forth preaching the gospel of Christ and him crucified.

~ Pastor Clay Curtis

Click here to listen to the message “Consider Him”

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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.

Sovereign Grace Baptist Church Bulletin Article date: 26 October, 2008 | Previous post date: n/a | Ewing, New Jersey

Posted on by Sovereign Grace Bulletin Articles

The Race That Is Set

”Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,” | Hebrews 12: 1

Everything about the believer’s race is set by God.

Our Lord determined before the foundation of the world those whom he would put in this race when he chose his people in Christ. The love of God for his people is as eternal as God is. It existed before time; it shall exist when time is no more. The everlasting love of God in Christ Jesus gives the believer great cause for patiently running this race.

Our God set the precise moment he would cross our path with the gospel. He determined the pastor he would raise up, gave him the heart to trust Christ, and the unction to preach his word in truth and in spirit. In that hour of love he made Christ our Wisdom.

We beheld something of the righteous skill with which Christ Jesus honored and magnified God’s law on our behalf.

We beheld his faithfulness and graciousness in satisfying justice on our behalf. In the light of Christ we heard the law condemn our sins and our sins were more than we could bear. But the Spirit revealed in our hearts that all our sins have been forever put away by Christ’s one offering.

In love and power Christ was made our Perfection, our Completion, our Righteousness, our All. When we behold God’s all-powerful hand in all providence which brought us to Christ in spite of us, the believer finds great comfort in knowing that the God who provided and is our Righteousness will continue to be our Strength to run this race.

Our God set every hurdle on this course which we must run and declares plainly to us that we must suffer much tribulation in this race. Yet, the God who set the course also reveals in us that he is the God who supplies the grace. That is what he teaches us as he carries us through every dark vale.

Our God set the length of our course. He has appointed the hour our race will end. By his grace we will find the finish line to be the most glorious hour of all the hours of our lives for then we shall enter into the presence of Christ our Redeemer.

What a joy to know that our race ends where it began, in Christ our Lord.

~ Pastor Clay Curtis

Click here to listen to the message “According to Promise”

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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.

Sovereign Grace Baptist Church Bulletin Article date: 26 October, 2008 | Previous post date: n/a | Ewing, New Jersey