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Words About Our Faith

“O keep my soul, and deliver me: let me not be ashamed; for I put my trust in thee.” | Psalm 25: 20

Strange to say, the faith of Christians is a PERSON.

You may ask all other religions wherein their faith lieth, and they cannot answer on this wise.

Our faith is a PERSON; the gospel that we have to preach is a PERSON, and go wherever you may, we have something solid and tangible to preach.

If you had asked the twelve apostles, in their day, “What do you believe in?” They would not have needed to go round about with a long reply, but they would have pointed to their Master and they would have said, “We believe in HIM.”

“But what are your doctrines?”

“There they stand INCARNATE.”

“But what is your practice?”

“HE is our example.”

“What, then, do you believe?”

Hear ye the glorious answer of the apostle Paul, “We preach Christ crucified.”

Our creed, our body of divinity, our whole theology is summed up in the PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST.

The apostle preached doctrine, but the doctrine was Christ.

He preached practice but the practice was all in Christ.

There is no summary of the faith of a Christian that can compass all he believes, except that word – CHRIST; and that is the Alpha and Omega of our creed, that is the first and last rule of our practice – Christ, and Him crucified.

To spread the faith, then, is to spread the knowledge of Christ crucified; it is in fact, to bring men, through the agency of God’s Spirit, to feel their need of Christ, to seek Christ, to believe in Christ, to love Christ, and then to live for Christ.

~ Charles H. Spurgeon

Click here to listen to the message “O Keep My Soul!”

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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: 3 May, 2020 | Previous post date: n/a

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God’s Election

“But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:” | 2 Thessalonians 2: 13

Knowing something of the wickedness of my own heart…

Knowing that I would have never come to the Christ of the scripture on my own…

Knowing that I would have chosen destruction, and loved darkness more than the salvation and light of life with Christ…

That makes God’s election to be the sweetest, kindest, most loving thing I have ever heard in my life.

~ Pastor Gabe Stalnaker

Click here to listen to the message “There Is Only One Hope For Us”

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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 January, 2020 | Previous post date: 28 April, 2021

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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 Purpose Of God

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” | Romans 8: 28-30

We believe, according to the scriptures, that the Lord our God is a God of purpose, absolute and unalterable purpose. (Romans 9: 11-26)

Before the world began, Almighty God sovereignly purposed all that ever comes to pass in time.

Nothing in this world is left to chance.

Everything is moving toward the predetermined end of God’s eternal purpose with absolute, precise accuracy.

Even a casual reader of Holy Scripture has to face this fact: The God of the Bible is a God of purpose.

The Triune Jehovah is a God of purpose, and clearly teaches us several things about the purpose of God:

“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.” (Romans 11: 33-36)

The purpose of God is eternal. (Ephesians 1: 3-14)

The purpose of God includes all things. “According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:” (Ephesians 3: 11)

The purpose of God has for its peculiar design the everlasting benefit of God’s elect. Everything that God has purposed is for the ultimate, spiritual, and eternal benefit of his covenant people. “Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,” (2 Timothy 1: 9)

The purpose of God is immutable and sure. The Lord himself says, “My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.” (Isaiah 46: 10)

And in its ultimate end, God’s purpose will accomplish the eternal salvation of his chosen people and the glory of his own great name.

~ Pastor Don Fortner

Click here to listen to the message “The Simplicity That Is In Christ”

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

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The Lord Jesus Christ Is The Issue

“The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.” | Psalm 34: 15

A child of God should never feel forgotten because the eyes of the Lord are always upon the righteous.

Our circumstances have not escaped His notice.

He knows our circumstance because He has ordained it according to His eternal purpose and will.

A child of God should also be comforted to remember that the ears of our heavenly Father are always open to the cries of His children.

Not only does our Father hear the cries of His children but He tells us that we “ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18: 1)

What comfort to know that the Lord sees His people and will always hear their prayer.

~ Pastor Frank Tate

Click here to listen to the message “A Prayer for Deliverance”

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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.

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An Important Question

“Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.” | Job 33: 24

There is one ransom that delivers men from the pit of hell.

God found it or provided it in “giving His only begotten Son.”

The ransom is called “the righteousness of God.”

It is the absolute and perfect obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ to God’s holy law; obeying its precepts and suffering its penalty.

It is to that righteousness, to Christ that we must look and be saved. “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.”

“I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.” (Isaiah 61: 10)

It is upon that righteousness alone that we as believers must rest; and on that righteousness alone we must live, die, and appear before the righteous LORD God.

~ Pastor David Pledger

Click here to listen to the message “An Important Question”

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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.

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Children Of Light Walking In A Dark World

“See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.” | Ephesians 5: 15-17

There is hope for thee.

God has prepared a salvation for His elect, chosen by Him not because of any goodness in them, but because He will have mercy on whom He will have mercy, and will have compassion on whom He will have compassion.

Is this not a salvation that will suit thee, O poor sinner?

If God had chosen them out of any merit, or if that choice depended on anything which men did or could do, thou wert a damned soul, for thou hast no goodness, and thou canst do nothing.

If God’s election comes to those who are without merit, without hope, without strength, there is hope for thee

~ C.H. Spurgeon

Click here to listen to the message “Children of Light Walking in a Dark World”

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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.

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God’s Election

“But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:” | 2 Thessalonians 2: 13

Knowing something of the wickedness of my own heart…

Knowing that I would have never come to the Christ of the scripture on my own…

Knowing that I would have chosen destruction, and loved darkness more than the salvation and light of life with Christ…

That makes God’s election to be the sweetest, kindest, most loving thing I have ever heard in my life.

~ Pastor Gabe Stalnaker

Click here to listen to the message “There Is Only One Hope For Us”

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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 January, 2020 | Previous post date: 28 April, 2021

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Unless Christ

”And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely: Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.” | Acts 16: 23-25

Unless the Spirit of God crosses my path and gives me an understanding of the preciousness of Christ and the glory of His blessed Gospel and creates within me a new heart, giving me a knowledge of Who He is, I will be forever lost.

Unless Christ intervenes, He will never be any more to me than someone else recorded in history who walked this earth.

When the gospel is preached it will be nothing more to me than a boring hour of the same message heard last week; the songs of praise will be to me nothing more than a different way of singing eighth notes; and when I hear those who call themselves believers witness of Him, their conversation will only grate on the already frayed ends of my nerves.

But if my cold heart is removed and God Himself creates within me a new heart, I will find myself in awe of His mercy.

I will not be able to thank Him enough, to praise Him enough, to worship Him enough, or to hear His gospel enough.

As Rolfe Barnard said, “I’ll find myself somewhere between total ecstasy and despair.”

Still, even with that new heart, sometimes I will seemingly feel so indifferent to Christ’s message.

But I will not despair at my feelings — He is greater than my feelings!

I must not rest in my feelings.

I must rest in Him, in His Word, in His promises.

~ Pastor Marvin Stalnaker

Click here to listen to the message “Imprisoned By Sovereign 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.

Zebulon Grace Church Bulletin Article date: 2 December, 2007 | Previous post date: n/a | Pikeville, Kentucky

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Let Us Not Be Discouraged!

”God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.” | Psalm 46: 1-5

We preach the gospel of God’s sovereign, free grace in Christ Jesus the Lord; that salvation is in Christ alone, by grace alone, through faith alone, according to the word alone.

For the most part, the message is rejected, but do not be discouraged, it has ever been so!

Elijah thought he was the only one left who believed God; Isaiah wrote, “Who hath believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?”

When the Lord Himself preached in His hometown of Nazareth, the people marveled at His gracious words when He spoke of the blessings, but when He spoke of sovereign mercy, they tried to kill Him!

The Apostle Paul was accused of being a pestilent fellow, a mover of sedition, the ringleader of a sect and was imprisoned for preaching the gospel. But remember, it is written; “the word of God is not bound,” “my word shall not fail” and “this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.”

~ Pastor Charles Pennington

Click here to listen to the message “It Shall Be Well With The Righteous”

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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: 9 December, 2007 | Previous post date: n/a | Pikeville, Kentucky