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Wisdom In Death

”LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.” | Psalm 39: 4

When we, by God’s grace, are wise enough to face death, judgement, and eternity, things are seen in their proper light.

“Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity.” (Psalm 39: 5)

All these fine ideas of fame, fortune, and friends, and our so-called importance melts like frost in the sun.

“Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.” (Psalm 39: 6)

Death reveals the truth, blows away the chaff, shuts a man’s mouth, and opens the books!

“Deliver me from all my transgressions: make me not the reproach of the foolish. I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it.” (Psalm 39: 8-9)

Death takes no notice of what I thought nor what others thought of me, but only of what God thinks.

“Oh, that I may win Christ and be found in him.”

~ Pastor Henry Mahan

Click here to listen to the message “David Deals With Death and Life” (29:01 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.

Central Grace Church Bulletin Article date: 17 April, 2022 | Previous post date: n/a | Rocky Mount, Virginia

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When God Is Displeased With A People

”And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” | Luke 18: 7-8

When God is exceedingly displeased with a people, it is not necessary, in order to their punishment, that He should bury them alive by an earthquake, or destroy them by lightening.

If He only leaves them to themselves, withdraws His blessings from their counsels, and His restraint from their passions, their ruin follows of course, according to the necessary order and connection of causes and effects.

If God gives up a people to the way of their own hearts, they will, they must, perish!

When a general corruption of morals takes place, when private interest extinguishes all sense of public virtue, when a profligate and venal spirit has infected every rank and order of the state, when presumptuous security and dissipation increase as danger approaches, when, after repeated disappointments, contempt for God, and vain confidence in imagined resources of their own, grow bolder and stronger, then there is reason to fear that the sentence has already gone forth, and that the execution of it is at hand.

~ John Newton

Click here to listen to the message “God Shall Avenge His Elect” (34:08 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.

Central Grace Church Bulletin Article date: 1 June, 2021 | Previous post date: n/a | Rocky Mount, Virginia

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Trust In The Lord

”O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.” | Psalm 84: 12

Trust in God implies total self-renunciation.

The moment that I trust in myself, I cease to trust in God.

The moment I take any portion of my confidence away from the Lord and put a grain of it in myself, that moment I take away all my trust in God.

My trust in God must be all or nothing.

It must be unreserved and complete, or else it is false and delusive.

Is not the Lord worthy to be trusted?

And if he is worthy to be trusted at all, is he not worthy to be trusted with all?

What real confidence could a man have in the wife of his bosom if he could trust her with one key, but not with all?

Is that full confidence?

So, if we can trust God for one thing and not for all, it shews that we have no real trust in him.

A man has no real trust in his wife who cannot give her all the keys.

A man has no real trust in God who cannot give him all his heart, and put everything into his hand; family, property, body, and soul.

The province and work of true faith is to put everything into the hands of God, keeping back no part of the price.

It is this secret reserve that God hates; there is hypocrisy on the very face of it.

Trust in God for nothing; or trust in him for all.

God will not take a divided heart.

Give him all, or none.

And is he not worthy of it?

Has he ever disappointed you whenever you have really put your trust in him?

But David saw how few there were that with all their hearts did trust in God.

This feeling seems to have made him say, “Blessed is the man,” that peculiar man, that rare individual, “that trusteth in thee!”

The blessing of God rests upon that happy, that highly-favoured man.

He is blessed for time and for eternity.

He has the blessing of God even now in his soul.

Oh! how rare it is for us to be in that sweet, blessed frame when we can put our trust wholly in God; trust him for life and death; trust him for all things, past, present, and to come.

Yet without a measure of this faith, there is no solid peace, no real and abiding rest.

And to this you must sooner or later come; for you cannot carry your own burdens without their breaking your back.

But when you can cast your burden on the Lord, then you will surely find sweet relief.

May we not, then, join heart and voice with David, “O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee?”

Such a one will never be disappointed.

The Lord will hear his prayer; the Lord will bless his soul; will be with him in life, support him in death, and take him to be with him in eternity.

~ J.C. Philpot

Click here to listen to the message “Grace & Truth By Jesus Christ” (35:16 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.

Central Grace Church Bulletin Article date: 17 April, 2022 | Previous post date: n/a | Rocky Mount, Virginia

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God So Loved The World

”For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” | John 3: 16

We warn you against those who say that “God loved the world” means “God loved every one alike.”

They tell people indiscriminately that “John 3: 16 means that God loved you. You may substitute your name for the word world in John 3: 16.”

They know this is not true!

“I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.” (Malachi 1: 2-3)

For example, they know that God Himself declared, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated”.

“As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.” (Romans 9: 13)

Despite knowing this, we can imagine them saying to Esau, as they say to all others, “Smile, God loves you – for God loves everyone! When you read John 3:16, change the word world to your name, so that it reads ‘For God so loved Esau ….’”

Hear me well!

Neither Esau nor all the other unrepentant and unbelieving wicked people whom God declares that He hates are in the world loved by God, and to which He gave His only begotten Son for their salvation.

Furthermore, there is more than one world on this earth.

And the world loved by God is distinguished from another world in the High Priestly prayer of Jesus Christ to His Father recorded in John chapter seventeen.

“I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.” (John 17: 6-9)

That other world is the world for which Jesus Christ refused to pray, and the world from which God removed His people and gave to Christ in order that He might save them: “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me… they have believed that You sent Me. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.” “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” (Ephesians 1: 3-6)

“These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.” (Proverbs 6: 16-19)

They who misrepresent God’s love to His world should remember that among the people God hates and abominates is “a false witness who speaks lies”.

“In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him; And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him; We love him, because he first loved us.” (1 John 4: 9, 16, 19)

All who are in this world loved by God will confess: “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. … And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. … We love Him because He first loved us”.

Is this your confession?

~ Pastor Daniel Parks

Click here to listen to the message “Even So, Amen” (35:28 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.

Central Grace Church Bulletin Article date: 1 June, 2021 | Previous post date: n/a | Rocky Mount, Virginia

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It Is Good For Me That I Am Afflicted

”It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn Thy ways.” | Psalm 119: 71

God’s ways and God’s word are best learned by experience and in time of trouble.

When our Lord is pleased to lay his hand heavily upon us, we do not soon forget the lessons learned.

“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.” (Revelation 3: 19)

When the Lord singles out a believer or a church for special affliction and adversity, it is not for punishment nor lack of love for them; it is for eternal blessings and because He does love them.

“Whom the Lord loveth” he chastens, corrects, and teaches!

When Job sat before his friends, who was afflicted?

The one God loved!

When Paul stood before King Agrippa, who wore the chains?

The one God loved!

Humanly speaking, which path of life would you prefer to live on earth, that of Esau or Jacob?

Esau had the life of prosperity and ease; Jacob was full of trouble and conflict.

But God loved Jacob!

Thank God he has not left us alone!

Thank God he has loved us in Christ and is pleased to teach us his ways by dealing with us in such a way that we are weaned from the world and find our life, comfort, and hope only in him.

“But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.” (Hebrews 12: 8)

A person who measures his blessings and relationship with God by his prosperity, health, happiness, and worldly comforts makes a fatal mistake.

Paul wrote, “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. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” (2 Corinthians 12: 9-10)

He who sends the trial for his glory and my good will supply the grace sufficient.

Those who know the Redeemer also know that when we are weak, we are strong; when we are poor, we are rich; when we are empty, we are full; and when we die, we live!

~ Pastor Henry Mahan

Click here to listen to the message “Joy After Chastening” (44:48 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.

Sovereign Grace Baptist Church Bulletin Article date: 3 March, 2008 | Previous post date: n/a | Ewing, New Jersey

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Seeking God’s Will

“Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.” | Isaiah 40: 10-11

Every believer desires to do the Lord’s will.

He wants to do what the Lord’s Word says.

And I believe that for every situation we face and every decision we are to make there is a scriptural example or principle given.

If we seek diligently we will find the answer to every question regarding what the Lord would have us to do.

Like the faithful Father that He is, He never leaves His children without clear instruction.

His Word is a “lamp unto our feet, a light unto our path.”

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

If we really want direction from the Lord, He will give it.

Most of the time we have not because we ask not, and sometimes we ask not because we may already know the answer and do not really want to do what we know should be done.

It is sad but that is the flesh.

May God deliver us from it and make us willing and obedient to do His will.

I submit three things that I believe can be applied to every decision we need to make; every situation which arises that we need an answer as to what to do. Examine everything using these criteria…

  1. IS IT FOR GOD’S GLORY? — Is what I am about to do or where I am about to go in the best interest of God’s glory? Will God receive more glory in this way or another? “Whether we eat or drink, do all for the glory of God.”
  2. IS THIS FOR THE GOOD OF THE CHURCH? — How is this decision going to affect the church of which I am a member and vitally joined to? No believer is independent, but is a member of the body. Everything we do affects the church. We need to guard against anything which may bring reproach upon our God and His church, and we need to seek ways to serve the body and not ourselves. “That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.” “And all that believed were together, and had all things common.”
  3. HOW IS THIS GOING TO AFFECT MY FAMILY’S SPIRITUAL GOOD? –- If I have a husband, wife, son or daughter; everything I do, every decision I make affects them in some way. I must lay aside my personal desires in favor of them. I must do what is best for their spiritual good. “…as Christ loved the church.”

The very last consideration (and perhaps no consideration at all), is my own personal desires or happiness.

“Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Christ.”

~ Pastor Paul Mahan

Click here to listen to the message “The Arm Of The Lord” (37:21 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.

Central Grace Church Bulletin Article date: 24 April, 2022 | Previous post date: n/a | Rocky Mount, Virginia

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Blood Before The Lord

”Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.” | Exodus 12: 5-7

Note in the scriptures how many times the blood is said to be “before the Lord.”

Whether any man saw it or not was of small account, for it was offered for sin “before the Lord.”

“And he shall go out unto the altar that is before the LORD, and make an atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about.” (Leviticus 16: 18)

When the passover lamb was slain in Egypt, where was the blood placed?

It was on the OUTSIDE of the door “before the Lord.”

“For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 12-13)

He said, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.”

“But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” (Hebrews 2: 9)

The suffering and death of Christ on behalf of His people was “BEFORE the Lord,” UNTO the Lord, to declare the Lord’s righteousness, to satisfy the Lord’s justice, to fulfill the Lord’s purpose, to glorify the Lord’s character, to enable the Lord to be both just and justifier.

The atonement does not change the NATURE and CHARACTER of God, but rather the atonement HONORS and MAGNIFIES the character of God.

“Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.” (Ezekiel 38: 23)

The death of Christ is NOT the cause of God’s love, but the result of it.

God is not merciful because Christ died; Christ died because God is merciful.

“And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever.” (2 Chronicles 20: 21)

In order that every attribute might be expressed, glorified, and honored, God gave His Son to be the Saviour of the chosen people!

Thank God we have an atonement “before the Lord.”

~ Pastor Henry Mahan

Click here to listen to the message “Christ’s Blood Speaks” (34:48 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.

Sovereign Grace Baptist Church Bulletin Article date: 3 March, 2008 | Previous post date: n/a | Ewing, New Jersey

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Honouring The Lord With Our Substance

“Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.” | Proverbs 3: 9-10

Modern false preachers promise great returns on your money if you will but send it to them; much like one would invest in the stock market for quick and easy gain.

But the believer’s motivation for giving is God’s grace and charity toward him or her.

Since everything we have has been freely given (loaned) to us, therefore we give back a portion of what belongs to the Lord anyway.

The believer gives out of heartfelt gratitude and a desire to see the work of the gospel prosper.

The believer gives because he wants to, needs to, and because he knows it is his reasonable service.

The Lord will bless those who give in this way.

Although we are not to give in order to be blessed, yet the Lord will bless those who give willingly, lovingly and cheerfully.

Didn’t He say, “It is more blessed to give than receive”?

David, the king, observed the people giving willingly and generously (as did he) and thanked the Lord that they did so. “Wherefore David blessed the LORD before all the congregation: and David said, Blessed be thou, LORD God of Israel our father, for ever and ever. Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all. Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name. But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding. O LORD our God, all this store that we have prepared to build thee an house for thine holy name cometh of thine hand, and is all thine own. I know also, my God, that thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of mine heart I have willingly offered all these things: and now have I seen with joy thy people, which are present here, to offer willingly unto thee.” (1 Chronicles 29: 10-17)

“Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.” (Psalm 110: 3)

When God saves someone, He makes them willing in the day of His power; He makes them willing worshippers, subjects, servants, followers and supporters.

Someone said, when God saves a man he saves his wallet too; meaning, when a soul is liberated that person becomes liberal with their money.

Know something?

It is not our money, but a loan from our Lord.

The above scripture is a promise from God Who cannot lie.

He tells us to give the first fruits… not what is left over.

Why is it we do not have anything left over to give?

Along with our own covetousness and greed, perhaps it is because we do not first honour the Lord with our substance.

If this be true with us, we should not wonder at our financial difficulties.

God is not going to bless someone who first thinks of himself and lavishes himself with things, while reluctantly or grudgingly giving a little (if anything) back to the One Who gave it all.

How can this be? Consider what He gave… Himself.

“God loves a cheerful giver.” God honours His word and honours those who honour Him by doing what He says.

Listen to the following scripture, better yet, turn to it and read it for yourself.

Listen carefully… “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” (Malachi 3: 8-10)

~ Pastor Paul Mahan

Click here to listen to the message “O’ Our God, We Don’t Know What To Do” (45:57 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.

Central Grace Church Bulletin Article date: 24 April, 2022 | Previous post date: n/a | Rocky Mount, Virginia

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The Miracle Of God’s Irresistible Grace

”And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the LORD’S passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped.” | Exodus 12: 26-27

Reader!

If you are a parent, learn from hence how to encourage your little ones to seek information concerning the great things of God.

If they ask you what is meant by the Christian Passover (I mean the service of the Lord’s Supper) Oh! tell them that it commemorates his precious sufferings and death, by whose stripes we are healed.

“Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” (1 Peter 2: 24)

Tell them of the distinguishing mercies of God in Christ, that while we merited death as much as any Egyptian, the Lord passed by and saved us when Egypt was destroyed.

“He shall send from heaven, and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth.” (Psalm 57: 3)

And do, my brother, if you can, tell your children also, how in numberless instances, both in providence and in grace, the Lord hath passed over you and your house, and not suffered the destroying angel to come in, while you have seen many on the right hand and on the left, swept away in sudden destruction.

“Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:” (Romans 3: 24)

Oh how sweet is the contemplation of distinguishing mercy!

~ Robert Hawker

Click here to listen to the message “The Miracle of Grace” (36:17 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.

Sovereign Grace Baptist Church Bulletin Article date: 3 March, 2008 | Previous post date: n/a | Ewing, New Jersey

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Rejecting God In The Name Of Obeying God

”The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.” | John 19: 31

Legalistic Antinominism.

“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” (Romans 10: 4)

Removing the body of God’s chosen Sabbath from off the cross in the name of observing God’s law manifests the natural mind’s backwardness of imagining acceptance by law-obedience rather than through faith in Christ who is the end of the law for righteousness.

~ Pastor Clay Curtis

Click here to listen to the message “Warnings from the Master” (45:37 minutes)

Sovereign Grace Baptist Church Bulletin Article date: 29 February, 2008 | Previous post date: n/a | Ewing, New Jersey