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According to His Purpose

“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.” | Romans 8: 28

All things work together for good. If we could only learn this.

We know that it is true!

We believe that it is so!

But for some reason this FACT from God is one of the hardest things for our flesh to understand and rest in. Daily, we are confronted with things that seem so awful and unfortunate to us, but based on the Word of our God (the God who cannot lie) everything that we are faced with is PURPOSED for good!

If the Lord would settle our hearts on this, our days would be bright rather than gloomy; our hearts would be full of happiness rather than full of sorrow; and our minds would rest in the PEACE of our God’s perfect providence rather than staying torn all to pieces over the chaos of this sinful world.

If God has secured us in the blood of Christ, our eternal life in glory, AND our temporary life on earth are BOTH settled, ordered, and sure! Knowing this, every time we ask ourselves, “Why did this happen?”, we ought to immediately answer ourselves with, “For good!”

All things are for the glory of God, the furtherance of the gospel, and the salvation of men and women’s souls. All things are for the purpose of bringing God’s people to Christ.

That makes ALL THINGS “good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.”

~ Pastor Gabe Stalnaker

Click here to listen to the message “What God’s People Glory In”

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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: 2 May, 2021 | Previous post date: n/a

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“That Is The Problem”

“Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.” | Romans 16: 25-27

A believer related a story to me about a discussion he had with another man (a very religious man) concerning the doctrine of election.

When the man disagreed with the doctrine of election, the believer told him to search the scriptures of which the man replied, “I don’t need to search the scriptures.” I replied, “That is his problem.”

People believe what they want to believe regardless of what the word of God teaches.

Most try to make the word of God fit what they believe instead of believing what it says.

The only warrant and foundation for all that we believe is the word of God.

~ Pastor John Chapman

Click here to listen to the message “What Have We Learned”

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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: 16 May, 2021 | Previous post date: n/a

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Religious But Lost

“Whosoever believeth that JESUS IS THE CHRIST is born of God.” | >b>1 John 5: 1

All who are born of God believe that Jesus is the Christ.

The title THE CHRIST signifies anointed and includes all the offices of the Son of God. To believe Him to be THE CHRIST is to believe Him to be that Prophet which Moses said should come, who has declared the whole mind and will of the Father. It is to believe He is that Priest which should arise after the order of Melchizedek and make full atonement for sin and effectual intercession for transgressors. It is to believe He is King of kings and Lord of lords, whom God hath set over all things from all ages and for all time.

This faith in Christ is not a mere assent to the fact nor merely acknowledging it as the demons have done. (Luke 4: 41)

It is to believe with the heart. (Romans 10: 9-10)

It is to bow the knee in repentance and to look to Christ, trust in Him, receive Him as our righteousness, to rest in His blood for cleansing, and to lay hold of Him as our Savior, Redeemer, and Mediator. (1 Timothy 2: 5)

Such faith is far above and beyond the reach of the human mind.

It is the gift of God.

It is the result of regeneration and a new birth, for we must be drawn to Christ and taught of God. (John 6: 44-45)

-Pastor Henry T. Mahan

Click here to listen to the message “Religious But Lost”

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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 January, 2021 | Previous post date: 10 January, 2021

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THE DAY OF SMALL THINGS

“For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth.” | Zechariah 4: 10

God delivered a nation from 400 years of bondage with a shepherd’s staff. He slew a giant and saved that nation with a sling and a stone. He turned the world upside down with eleven simple, plain men – and the illustrations that “Little is great when God is in it” are numberless, but we must not just apply this truth to the instrument God uses, but should apply it also to the task.

It is true that God uses humble men to perform great works for His glory – but God also uses His servants to teach the little children, to pastor the small assembly, to witness to one Ethiopian, to offer a prayer, to provide an unrecognized and often an unknown service! Most of us are willing to be “humble men” doing great works, but how many of us “great men” are willing to do humble work?

It is most doubtful that our Lord will trust us with any great responsibility until it has been proven that we are faithful in few things! It has been my understanding from the Scriptures that those whom God trusted with great responsibility were content with where they were and with what they were doing. Examples: Moses, David and Joseph.

It would be refreshing, instead of hearing what one used to do or what one plans to do and be, to see one dedicated to being what he is and doing with joy and zeal what is at hand!

Christ may come today and I could die today, but I’m not sure that He would accept my explanation that I was preparing myself for great things and would have been a teacher if there had been an opening, or a pastor if there had been a church available, or a martyr if men had still been dying, a deacon, an elder, or a church leader after I had aged a bit. Would He? Or would He ask, “What servant chooses his own task? His own place of labor? His own time of service?” Does not the faithful servant ask, “Lord, what would you have me to do?”

Everybody wants to take the floor, few care to sweep it.

The returning prodigal did not labor as a hired servant, but he was willing.

~ Pastor Henry T. 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: 25 April, 2021 | Previous post date: n/a

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No Confidence In The Flesh

No true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ has any confidence in his flesh.

He knows that he is a fallen creature of the dust with no ability to reconcile himself back to God.

He trusts the Lord Jesus totally for salvation, the One who alone did bear the griefs and carry the sorrows of His people at Calvary. And while that regenerated sinner trusts Christ alone for salvation, he rejoices in the beautiful words, “And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely,” knowing that in the grand scope of God’s mercy, one even such as himself has hope.

~ Pastor Marvin Stalnaker

Click here to listen to the message “And God Remembered Noah”

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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

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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

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WAIT ON THE LORD

“Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.” | Psalm 27: 14

Waiting on the Lord is an attitude that is completely foreign to the natural man.

That’s why the new man struggles while he truly desires to wait on the One who loves him and gave Himself for him.

He knows that the Lord is working all things after the counsel of His own will and that whatsoever comes to pass has been eternally purposed by the Lord for His glory and the eternal good of His elect and shall not fail to be brought about.

But though these truths are known and loved by the people of God… still they experience the battle within to take matters into their own hands.

O may the Lord help us to wait upon Him.

~ Pastor Marvin Stalnaker

Click here to listen to the message “Dealing With Every Problem”

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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: 11 April, 2021 | Previous post date: n/a

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This Man Recieveth Sinners, and Eateth With Them

“Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them” | Luke 15: 1-2

While the self-righteous Pharisees and scribes withdrew from the Lord Jesus Christ and then harshly criticized Him, many publicans and sinners drew near to hear Him.

What a blessing from the Lord to have a willingness to draw near to Him (John 6: 44) and then to have ears to actually hear a word from Him. (Acts 10: 33)

His words are words of life. (John 5: 24)

His words are words of salvation. (Romans 1: 16; Hebrews 4: 12)

The worst thing the Pharisees and scribes said of the Lord, “This man recieveth sinners, and eateth with them;” is the best thing any sinner could hear.

It is not sin that keeps a man from hearing the good news of the gospel of Christ, it is his presumed righteousness he is going about to establish by his religious deeds. (Romans 10: 1-4)

No man will ever come to Christ while he is resting in the deeds of the law for salvation. (Romans 3: 19-20)

It is only by the almighty power of His sovereign grace that will effectually quicken us and make us alive in Christ that will cause us to draw near to Him, to hear Him and to believe Him. (John 5: 21; Ephesians 2: 1; 1 John 5: 1)

This Man receives sinners! What a miracle of amazing and sovereign grace. (2 Timothy 1: 9)

-Pastor Tom Harding

Click here to listen to the message “Some Believed and Some Believed Not”

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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 April, 2021 | Previous post date: n/a

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A Believer’s Peace

I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. | Psalm 78: 3-5

Where does a believer find real and genuine peace? On what foundation can we rest and say in truth, “It is well with my soul”? I’ll tell you; it lies in this – that we are justified by faith and not by works. Christ Jesus stood in my stead before God. I was guilty with nothing to pay, doomed to hell; and Christ took my place! He died for me! How can I perish? How can I be punished for sins which have already been laid on Christ and for which He has suffered?

God demands of me that I keep His holy law perfectly. I cannot do it. But Christ has kept it for me. He kept it, magnified it, made it honorable in my flesh. What more can God demand of me? I am washed in the blood of Christ Jesus; I am risen and seated at His right hand in Christ Jesus.

You may ask, “How is all this yours?” I reply, “By the grace of God, through the merits of Christ, revealed by the Spirit of God THROUGH FAITH!” God said, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.” I do believe, I sincerely believe in Christ; therefore, I have eternal life.

~ 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: 18 April, 2021 | Previous post date: 1987 | Pikeville, Kentucky

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Who And What We Preach

Two of my all-time favorite hymns are “Rock Of Ages,” and “Amazing Grace.”

Modern-day religion has taken the “Rock” out of their preaching, which has removed the “Amazing” from their grace.

~ Pastor David Eddmenson

Click here to listen to the message “Who And What We Preach”

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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