DOGS

”Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” | Matthew 15: 25-27

My wife and I have a little dog. We love that little dog.

That little dog serves no real purpose in life, she only desires to be the object of our affection.

She begs for food. Sometimes she has to be cleaned up after. She is totally dependent on us and without our constant care, she will die.

She is somewhat a liability. Yet, in spite of her liabilities, she brings us great joy.

She is always glad to see us when we return from being away.

She loves us dearly and desires to be with us every hour.

We go to great lengths to make sure every need of our dog is provided for. We see to it that she is treated with compassion and tender care. Regardless of all her endearing qualities, at the end of the day, she is still a dog.

She still acts like a dog. I think she enjoys being a dog. Many dogs in this world do not fare so well as our dog does.

From my perspective, being OUR dog is a wonderful privilege. I have seen other dogs that do not fare as well as our dog. It seems that the quality of a dog’s life depends on who their master is.

I rejoice greatly that I, the dog that I am, belong to that Master who constantly sees to it that I have all I need and yet much more.

My Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, requires only one thing from me in return.

What does He require of me?

Nothing but my love, adoration and worship of Him.

How wonderful and life sustaining it is to constantly eat of the crumbs that fall from His table.

Child of God, I like being my Master’s dog! Don’t you?

~ Pastor David Eddmenson

Click here to listen to the message “Even Dogs Get Crumbs”

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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: 31 October, 2021 | Previous post date: n/a | Rocky Mount, Virginia

The Jailer Who Was Freed

“But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” | Acts 16: 28-30

I recently heard a charlatan preacher say, “Give the Lord a handclap.”

If I could, I would tell that man, “God is not worshipped with men’s hands, as though He needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things.” (Acts 17: 25)

God doesn’t need our hand claps.

God doesn’t have any needs. But we certainly do!

How amazing it is that God gives to all life and breath, and all things? Our Lord said, “He (God) maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matthew 5: 45) But how much more astonishing is that for the believer, “God shall supply all your need (singular and spiritual) according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

Jesus Christ is the one thing “needful,” for life eternal. (Luke 10: 42)

The Lord Jesus provides Himself as the only acceptable sacrifice for sin according to the riches of God’s glory, which is also found in Christ Jesus.

Is it any wonder that Peter said, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved?” (Acts 4: 12)

~ Pastor David L. Eddmenson

Click here to listen to the message “The Jailer Who Was Freed”

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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.

Zebulon Grace Church Bulletin Article date: 3 October, 2021 | Previous post date: n/a | Pikeville, Kentucky

HOW EXCELLENT O GOD!

“How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.” | Psalm 36: 7

I LOVE TO SEE and bask in the Light of God’s electing love, for Christ is God’s Elect and it was in Him that His people were chosen before they ever existed, removing all doubt about Who does the saving. (Ephesians 1: 4)

I LOVE TO HEAR of Divine substitution, for it was Christ Jesus, my Lord, my Savior, and my God who substituted Himself and died in the place of the ungodly. (Romans 5: 6)

I LOVE TO THINK on God’s irresistible call of sovereign grace, for I would have resisted had Christ not made me willing in the day of His power. (Psalm 110: 3) “It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.” (Romans 9: 16)

I LOVE TO PREACH on perfect righteousness and justification, for Christ gave His perfect righteousness to His sheep as He took their sins upon Himself, remaining both “just and Justifier” of those who believe in Christ. (Romans 3: 26)

I LOVE TO BELIEVE that Christ chose me, called me, and took my place, justifying me before the Father by giving me His perfect righteousness. (2 Corinthians 5: 21)

I LOVE TO REST in the excellence of Christ’s lovingkindness, for greater love hath no man than this, that He lay down his life for his friends. (John 15: 13)

IS IT THEN ANY WONDER that Jesus Christ is everything to the saved sinner?

~ Pastor David Eddmenson

Click here to listen to the message “God’s Wondrous Works”

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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: 17 October, 2021 | Previous post date: n/a

At His Feet

“There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged.” | Luke 7: 41-43

Modern day religion proclaims what sinners do for God.

True religion declares what God has done for sinners in Christ.

Which do you believe gives all the glory to God?

~ Pastor David Eddmenson

Click here to listen to the message “At His Feet”

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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: 15 March, 2020 | Previous post date: n/a

Who Are These That Have Great Need?

They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. | Matthew 9: 12

Who are these that have no need?

They are those who are said to be whole. Many times in the scriptures the word “whole” is used to show the believer’s completeness and perfect soundness in the Lord Jesus Christ. But here in Matthew chapter 9, verse 12, the word “whole” means, “to be able, or one who can do.”

Who are they that have “no need?”

Who are these that are said to be whole?

They are those that “are able” and “can do” something for themselves.

Those that be whole (or think themselves to be) need not a physician.

Who are these that have great need? They are those that are sick.

Like the man at the pool of Bethesda, we are lame and cannot walk. Like the poor woman who was bowed over, we can in no wise lift ourselves up. Like the unclean leper, sin is eating us away. Like the man with the withered hand, we cannot pick ourselves up by the bootstraps. Like the demoniac, we lived among the tombs of the dead. Like Lazarus, we were dead.

If I had a terminal disease that only one doctor had the cure for, I would give anything and everything to find and receive treatment from that specialist.

Dear reader, we have such a disease and it is called “sin.”

There is such a Great Physician and He found me.

His name is Jesus Christ and only He can save His people from their sin. (Matthew 1: 21)

When do we go to the doctor?

When we are sick.

May God be pleased to continue to show us our sickness and need of Christ, the Great Physician.

~ Pastor David Eddmenson

Click here to listen to the message “Need”

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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: 18 October, 2020 | Previous post date: 12 February, 2021

Thou Knowest

“So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.” | John 21: 15

On the night before His crucifixion the Lord Jesus said to His disciples, “All ye shall be offended because of me this night.” (Matthew 26: 21)

Peter with pride and arrogance spoke up and said, “Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended.” (Matthew 26: 23)

Before the rooster crowed the next morning, Peter had denied the Lord three times. Now we fast-forward to the shores of Tiberias, after the Lord’s resurrection, and the Lord asks Peter this solemn, soul-searching question. “Lovest thou me more than these?” (Meaning more than the other disciples that were there also.) In lieu of Peter’s past failure and fall, this time he is not so quick to arrogantly answer.

The enlightened sinner that trusts alone in Christ has been taught not trust in their own heart, but to simply trust in the Searcher of all hearts to decide.

Peter now rested his love and faithfulness upon the omniscience of His Savior and said, “Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee.”

Oftentimes, we, the sinners that we are, feel the need to boast of our love and faithfulness to Christ, when the only thing we have to boast in is Christ’s love and faithfulness to us.

If we ever feel that our love for Christ is in question, by ourselves or others, may we resist the selfish need to defend ourselves and learn to answer as Peter did and claim, “My Lord, knows all things; He knows that I love Him.”

~ Pastor David Eddmenson

Click here to listen to the message “Thus It Must Be”

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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: 26 September, 2021 | Previous post date: n/a

BUT BY ME and EXCEPT THE FATHER

“Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.” | Psalm 85: 10-11

“Salvation is of the Lord.”

Many in religion today preach often from the passage found in John chapter fourteen, verse six, where our Lord Jesus proclaimed that He alone is salvation. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” however many who preach stop there without finishing the rest of the verse.

I certainly understand why they do that, and I believe that they feel as though they have a good reason as to why. Those who believe that sinners are saved by man’s will, man’s work, and man’s worth, know and understand that our Lord’s words, “But by me,” destroy their theology and belief of “Salvation by works.”

Dear reader, Christ said, “No man cometh to the Father, but by me.” That means that sinners are saved only by the work of righteousness that Christ provides for God’s elect. That is why our Lord also said in John chapter six, verse forty-four that, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.”

That means the same thing. I love those little words like “but” and “except,” don’t you?

There is no salvation for me, “But,” by Christ.

There is no hope of me ever coming to Christ, “Except,” God the Father which sent God the Son draw me to Him by the cords of love, mercy and grace.

~ Pastor David Eddmenson

Click here to listen to the message “The Language Of Grace”

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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: 28 March, 2021 | Previous post date: n/a

LIFELOCK

“At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.” | John 14: 20

Recently I received an advertisement from a company called “LifeLock.” It is a company that provides security against “identity theft.”

Identity theft has undoubtedly become a real issue and problem in today’s world. Crooks and thieves steal your identity and run up debt in your name. As I read over that advertisement, I was thinking how the Lord Jesus did that to His people in reverse.

Without their permission, He assumed the believer’s identity. He stepped into their personal business, the business between them and God and He took their place. (1 Timothy 2: 5) He took control of their account and made it His own.

He didn’t take control of their identity to add debt like a thief does. NO! He took control of the believer’s account in order to pay the debt of sin that they had accumulated. He took my debt and paid it in full as a rich friend might do.

O what a rich friend Christ is. He is rich in love, mercy, grace and forgiveness.

How many friends do you have that would die to pay the debt you owe? Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow. Now, I have His perfect identity, and I am eternally life-locked to Him.

~ Pastor David Eddmenson

Click here to listen to the message “Trust In The Lord”

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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: 27 December, 2021 | Previous post date: 30 December, 2020

Whosoever Will and God’s Election

“And I have given you a land for which ye did not labour, and cities which ye built not, and ye dwell in them; of the vineyards and oliveyards which ye planted not do ye eat. Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD. 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 as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the LORD, to serve other gods; For the LORD our God, he it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and which did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the people through whom we passed:” | Joshua 24: 13-17

Those who preach the election of God are often asked by those who don’t, “Why don’t you preach only to the elect?”

The simple answer is, “I don’t know who they are, but God does.”

That is why I am called to preach to “whosoever will hear,” to “whosoever will believe” and to “whosoever will come.”

God told Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

Therefore, we must conclude that “Whosoever will” is “Whosoever God wills.”

~ Pastor David Eddmenson

Click here to listen to the message “Your Free Will Or God’s?”

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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: 25 July, 2021 | Previous post date: n/a | Rocky Mount, Virginia

Do You Know The Lord?

“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.” | Titus 3: 5

I recently had someone ask me if I trusted in works. My first reaction was to say God forbid!

But I answered this way: Yes, I trust in works; but they are not my works.

I trust in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I trust in him and what he did for sinners like me. He did for me what I couldn’t do for myself. He worked out a perfect righteousness for me.

I trust Him and his work alone for all my salvation.

His works are now my works.

~ Pastor David Eddmenson

Click here to listen to the message “Do You Know The Lord?”

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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: 20 June, 2021 | Previous post date: n/a