I Am What I Am, By The Grace Of God

“But by the grace of God I am what I am” | 1 Corinthians 15: 10

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:” (Ephesians 2:8)

Until we see our sin, we will never understand, love or be thankful for God’s sovereignty, His election or His finished work of salvation.

Men and women naturally reject God’s sovereignty because they do not want to be ruled by someone else. Mankind wants to rule himself. Men and women naturally reject God’s election because they think that if God didn’t choose for them to be saved, it would be unfair and wrongful treatment to them. Men and women naturally reject God’s finished work in salvation through the blood of Christ ALONE because they pridefully and self-righteously believe that they have something good in themselves that they can add to Christ’s work.

But after sinners truly see their sin, they LOVE God’s sovereignty, because they know that their own rule over themselves has only brought absolute ruin to them. They LOVE God’s election, because they know that God’s unconditional election is the only hope that sinners like them could ever have of being saved. And they LOVE God’s finished work in salvation, because they know that there is NOTHING they could add to it but the deadness of their sin. They know that if Christ doesn’t finish the work, it’s not going to be finished!

Men and women by nature hate everything about God… until God causes them to hate everything about themselves. Once men and women truly hate what they sees in themselves, they will LOVE everything that they see in their merciful, loving, gracious Lord. At that moment, they all will confidently and humbly say: “I am what I am, by the grace of God.”

~ Pastor Gabe Stalnaker

Click here to listen to the message “The God Of Manoah And His Wife”

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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: 23 August, 2020 | Previous post date: n/a

True Faith

“And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD.” | 2 Samuel 11: 26-27

True faith throbs in a man’s pulse, it looks out of his eyes, it lights up his countenance, it softens his touch, it mellows his voice, it bows his head, it bends his knee, it opens his hand, it soft-pedals his tongue, it breaks his heart, it orders his steps, and it gives him a hearing ear. He lives for Christ; and, if necessary, he would die for Him.

~ Pastor Henry Mahan

Click here to listen to the message “The Lord Has Put Away Your Sin”

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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 May, 2020 | Previous post date: 1986 | Pikeville, Kentucky

I Am A Worm

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

This verse is a miracle in language.

How could the Lord of glory be brought to such abasement as to be not only lower than the angels, but even lower than men? What a contrast between “I AM” and “I am a worm”!

Yet such a double nature was found in the person of our Lord Jesus when bleeding on the tree. He felt himself to be comparable to a helpless, powerless, downtrodden worm, passive while crushed, and unnoticed and despised by those who trod upon him.

He selects the weakest of creatures, which is all flesh; and becomes, when trodden upon, writhing & quivering flesh, utterly devoid of any might except strength to suffer. This was a true likeness of himself when his body and soul had become a mass of misery-the very essence of agony-in the dying pangs of crucifixion.

Man by nature is but a worm; but our Lord puts himself even beneath man, on account of the scorn which was heaped upon him and the weakness which he felt, and therefore he adds, “and no man.” The privileges and blessings which belonged to the fathers he could not obtain while deserted by God, and common acts of humanity were not allowed him, for he was rejected of men; he was outlawed from the society of earth, and shut out from the smile of heaven.

How utterly did the Saviour empty himself of all glory, and become of no reputation for our sakes! “A reproach of men” their common butt and jest; a byword and a proverb unto them: the sport of the rabble, and the scorn of the rulers. Oh the caustic power of reproach, to those who endure it with patience, yet smart under it most painfully!

“And despised: of thee people.” The very people who would once have crowned him then contemned him, and they who were benefited by his cures sneered at him in his woes. Sin is worthy of all reproach and contempt, and for this reason Jesus, the Sin bearer, was given up to be thus unworthily and shamefully entreated.

~ Charles Spurgeon

Click here to listen to the message “I Am A Worm”

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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.

Lantana Grace Church Bulletin Article date: 15 April, 2018 | Previous post date: n/a | Crossville, Tennessee

ONLY ONE WAY OF SALVATION

“And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.” | Genesis 7: 15

When our God sent the flood, the whole world perished except those happy ones who were found in the ark.

Even so, there is only ONE WAY of salvation for all persons living under heaven.

There is only one name whereby they can be saved.

Would you be saved, rich man? There is no way except that way whereby the poorest pauper is also to be saved.

Would you be delivered, O man of intelligence? You must be saved in the same way as the most ignorant!

There were not two arks, only one. So there are not two saviors, only one Savior!

There was no other means of salvation except the ark; so “there is none other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved”, except “Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”

~ Pastor Henry Mahan

Click here to listen to the message “The Ark Of Noah and The Gospel Of Christ”

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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 February, 2018 | Previous post date: n/a

Beware of Giving Comfort Before it’s Time

“God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 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; Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.” | Hebrews 1: 1-4

It is one of the most unwise things under heaven to comfort people who have not yet closed with Christ in heart faith.

When people manifest an interest in the gospel and give an ear to our message, we must not allow our love for them and our zeal for their conversion to lead us to offer them rest when they need strong words to shut them up to Christ.

Any friendship with the pastor and church people which gives an unbeliever cheer, fellowship, and ease short of a union with Christ is dangerous.

A sinner’s main business is to come to CHRIST HIMSELF, to love Christ, to rest in Christ. Then come to church fellowship, rest, and the joys of the body.

There is no half-way house before believing in Him!

~ Pastor Henry T. Mahan

Click here to listen to the message “Every Need Met In Christ Jesus 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.

Zebulon Grace Church Bulletin Article date: 11 April, 2021 | Previous post date: 1987 | Pikeville, Kentucky

Blessed Is He That Considereth The Poor

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. Blessed [is] he that considereth the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble. The LORD will preserve him, and keep him alive; [and] he shall be blessed upon the earth: and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies. The LORD will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness. I said, LORD, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee. Mine enemies speak evil of me, When shall he die, and his name perish? And if he come to see [me], he speaketh vanity: his heart gathereth iniquity to itself; [when] he goeth abroad, he telleth [it]. All that hate me whisper together against me: against me do they devise my hurt. An evil disease, [say they], cleaveth fast unto him: and [now] that he lieth he shall rise up no more. Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up [his] heel against me. But thou, O LORD, be merciful unto me, and raise me up, that I may requite them. By this I know that thou favourest me, because mine enemy doth not triumph over me. And as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest me before thy face for ever. Blessed [be] the LORD God of Israel from everlasting, and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen. | Psalm 41

Click here to listen to the message “Blessed Is He That Considereth The Poor”

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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.

Bethel Baptist Church | Spring Lake, North Carolina | Pastor John Chapman

Take Your Burden to the Lord

I know my sins, but I rejoice in His grace.

I know my weakness, but I rest in His strength.

I know my emptiness, but I am complete in Him.

“O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,” all because we do not cast our sins, our souls on Christ and LEAVE THEM THERE!

~ Pastor Henry Mahan

Click here to listen to the message “Lessons Learned In Trouble”

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

The Work of Grace

“Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” | Isaiah 6: 5

The work of self-righteous religion cries, “Woe is men.”

The work of grace cries, “Woe is me! I am undone…”

The work of self-righteous religion cries, Isaiah 65: 5 “…stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou.”

The work of grace cries, Luke 18: 13 “And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.”

Lord, do a work of grace in me.

~ Pastor John Chapman

Click here to listen to the message “Dead to the Law–Married to Christ”

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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: 14 February, 2021 | Previous post date: n/a

“I’m not glad I sinned, but I’m glad I’m a sinner.”

“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only [so], but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”

“For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

“Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.”

~ Romans 5: 1-10

Click here to listen to the message “Jesus – Friend of Sinners”

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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.

Henry Mahan Sermons; 17 February, 1974 | Previous post date: n/a

The Happy Truth of Humility

In Christ there is no great and small, no important and unimportant, but only sinners saved by the grace of God.

We are all brethren! The servant is not greater than his Lord; and if the Lord humbled himself to become a servant, shall we not do likewise?

Happy are those who know this gracious truth by experience and perform the doing of it.

~ Pastor Henry Mahan

Click here to listen to the message “Pride and Humility”

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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: 14 February, 2021 | Previous post date: n/a