Accepted in the Beloved

“For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea. For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.” | 2 Corinthians 1: 19-20

All false religionists, even though they might profess Jesus Christ to be their Savior, put their trust in something they have done; something they believe enables God to accept them.

In doing so, they are saying that what Jesus Christ did was not enough. They openly and publicly declare that they saved themselves, blatantly denying that Jesus Christ is their Savior.

Brethren, “God has made us accepted in the Beloved” (in Christ) “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.” (unmerited favor) (Ephesians 1: 6-7)

When God gives His gift of faith to a hell-deserving sinner, we not only enter into His rest, we also cease from our own works as God did from His; giving our Great Triune God all the glory for His unspeakable gift. (Hebrews 4: 10; I Corinthians 1: 26-31)

~ Pastor Gene Harmon

Click here to listen to the message “Jesus Christ Our Great Deliverer”

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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 January, 2018 | Previous post date: 25 February, 2021

CONCERNING SPIRITUAL GIFTS

”Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led. Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.” | 1 Corinthians 12: 1-11

Those who are chosen by God’s grace, redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ and quickened and made alive by the Holy Spirit have no reason to boast of any personal achievement.

The apostle Paul uses this powerful phrase, “no man” two times in one verse to exclude any from exalting the deeds of the flesh. We were ignorant Gentiles, carried away unto dumb and dead idols, until the grace of God set us free in Jesus Christ our Lord. (Ephesians 2: 11-13)

Consider these three statements:

All that every believer knows; God, in His mercy taught us! The gospel of God’s grace and glory is not something that the natural and carnal mind reasons out. The gospel must be revealed by the Holy Spirit. Salvation is not by education, but rather by revelation. The world by wisdom does not know God. (1 Corinthians 1: 21) God, the Holy Spirit must take the things concerning Jesus Christ and shew them unto us, or we will never understand the true gospel. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit” (1 Corinthians 2: 9-10)

All that every believer has; God, in His love gave us! There is not a single spiritual blessing that the believer enjoys that has not been freely given to us. (1 Corinthians 1: 30) We are justified freely by His grace. (Romans 3: 24) God has loved His people freely in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world. (Hosea 14: 4) Although all the spiritual blessings are freely given to us, they came at a great price to our Lord. He fully paid our sin debt with a great price, His own blood. (Acts 20: 28) “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8: 32)

All that we are; God, in His grace made us! By nature we are born in sin and shapen in iniquity. (Psalm 51: 5) By His grace we have been made trophies of His love and mercy. (Ephesians 2: 4-8) Every believer can truly say with the apostle Paul, “by the grace of God I am what I am” (1 Corinthians 15: 10) We are saved from our sin by His grace. (Romans 4: 16) We are redeemed from the curse of the Law through Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3: 13)

Therefore every believer can rightly boast of what God has done for us through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Salvation is all of God’s grace, all in Christ Jesus and all for His glory.

We say with the apostle, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians 6: 14)

~ Pastor Tom Harding

Click here to listen to the message “Salvation Is Of 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.

FreeGraceRadio.com Bulletin Article date: 3 September, 2008 | Previous post date: n/a | Danville, Kentuky

The Full Sum of Our Preaching

”For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;” | 1 Corinthians 1: 22-23

Times have changed but men have not.

Most religionists still seek signs, tongues, feelings, and experiences.

The other camp of religionists still seek wisdom, intellectualism, and philosophy.

But God’s preachers PREACH CHRIST.

They know Christ, love Christ, and desire that others know Him.

Such a vast, infinite, and heavenly gospel can never be exhausted; so, we preach Christ today and tomorrow, as our first and last message, and as the full sum of our theology.

~ Pastor Henry Mahan

Click here to listen to the message “They That Wait”

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

BLESSED ASSURANCE

“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” | Philippians 1: 21

Assurance of salvation and a saving interest in our Lord Jesus is NOT A FEELING cultivated by thinking good thoughts and doing good deeds.

Paul calls it “full assurance of faith.” It has to do with faith, with BELIEVING GOD!

Assurance is born of CONFIDENCE IN THE FATHER as our covenant God; “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” Assurance is born of CONFIDENCE IN THE SON as our just God and Saviour; “By His stripes we are healed.”

Assurance is born of CONFIDENCE IN HIS PROMISES; “Abraham was fully persuaded that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.”

So your assurance of redemption is not enhanced by the MORE YOU WORK, but by the MORE YOU TRUST AND REST IN HIM.

“Let us labor therefore to enter into THAT REST” (Hebrews 4: 11)

~ Pastor Henry Mahan

Click here to listen to the message “Four Words that Demand Your Attention”

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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 February, 2018 | Previous post date: n/a

“That’s Dangerous Doctrine!”

”Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?” | Hebrews 10: 29

How often I have heard those words from preachers who are trying to excuse their compromise of the gospel and persuade others to be less dogmatic in their assertions of gospel truth.

When we preach the believer’s absolute security in Christ “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand” (John 10: 28) the Arminian cries, “That’s dangerous doctrine!”

If we assert God’s sovereign election “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” (Ephesians 1: 4) the free-willer cries, “That’s dangerous doctrine!”

As soon as we affirm the believer’s freedom from the law “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace” (Romans 6: 14) the legalist cries, “That’s dangerous doctrine!”

When we declare the eternal justification of God’s elect in Christ “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: 30) the works monger cries, “That’s dangerous doctrine!”

Understand this: – No truth of God is dangerous!

All truth is blessed, delightful, and encouraging to the faith and holiness of God’s elect.

In over 40 years of pastoring I have heard many excuses for the ungodly acts of men. But I have never heard even one believer attempt to justify any evil thing by the doctrine of God’s free and sovereign grace in Christ!

Those who suggest that free grace is dangerous or will promote licentiousness, simply know nothing of the grace of God.

~ Pastor Don Fortner

Click here to listen to the message “The Most Hideous Doctrine In The 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.

Zebulon Grace Church Bulletin Article date: 31 October, 2021 | Previous post date: n/a | Pikeville, Kentucky

Christ Prayeth for the Apostles and All Believers

“These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. 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. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we [are]. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.” | John 17: 1-12

~ Pastor Henry Mahan

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.

Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church Bulletin Article date: 27 September, 2020 | Previous post date: 15 February, 2021

He Has Made Him Sin

”For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” | 2 Corinthians 5: 21

The Lord Jesus being made sin for us must extend beyond the idea of the imputation of our sin to Him.

We would never be made the righteousness of God in Christ as a result of His being merely charged with our sin. No, He must also suffer for those sins. He must not merely bear our sins, but must bear them on the tree of curse and punishment. To bear the sins of someone else and suffer in their place is the very definition of a sin offering, so we understand Paul to mean that the sinless Christ was made a sin offering for sinful us. Paul’s words are essentially the same as the prophet Isaiah in 53: 10 of his prophecy, “…you shall make his soul an offering for sin.”

In the original Hebrew the word “offering” does not appear, for, in the language of the old testament, the word for sin and the word for the offering to put it away are one and the same.

Nor is our being made the righteousness of God in Christ merely an act of imputation.

In the case of our being “made” the righteousness of God, the word signifies a change in the very essence of a thing. In being made a sin offering, Christ’s status before God was changed, as the word signifies; but His essence remained unchanged. But, in being made the righteousness of God, our very essence is changed.

Christ’s sacrificial death did not make us the righteousness of God in Him, but opened the door to the other works of God’s grace which do, indeed, make us the righteousness of God.

Christ’s work for us made possible God’s work in us.

Thus, beginning with the New Birth and finishing with our glorification to be like Christ, we are quite literally made into something different from what we were at our natural birth: our nature is changed by God.

When in glory, we shall not be righteous only by a legal act of imputation, but we shall be essentially righteous, even as the Lord Jesus Christ is righteous. And even now, the born again child of God possesses a new nature called spirit – the restored image of God – which is flawless in every respect. It is the beginning of the New Creation and bears the image of the One Who made it. It is incapable of sinning, for it is the offspring of its Perfect Creator.

The child of God – who still finds no good thing in his flesh – is yet flawless in his spirit; and in those things the spirit does, he acts without sin.

~ Pastor Joe Terrell

Click here to listen to the message “The Judgment Seat 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.

FreeGraceRadio.com Bulletin Article date: 3 September, 2008 | Previous post date: n/a | Danville, Kentuky

Blind Eyes Opened

”And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. 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. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” | Luke 18: 9-14

One of the many promises concerning God’s servant is that He would open the eyes of the blind.

In the Lord’s parable of the Pharisee and the Publican who both went into the temple to pray we have an excellent example of what this means.

The Pharisee’s eyes had not been opened and thus he prayed: “I thank thee that I am not as other men.”

A person whose eyes have not been opened is blind to his sinfulness, that his righteousness is in God’s sight like filthy rags and as Solomon said “the plague of his own heart.”

The publican’s eyes had been opened and thus he prayed: “God be merciful to me a sinner.”

The word translated “merciful” shows that his eyes had been opened to see his sinfulness, and his need of an atonement to reconcile him to God.

The one atonement that reconciles sinners to God is the bloody sacrifice of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ the righteous.

Has He opened your eyes to see your need and to sue for mercy?

Then you are part of the family of God which shall forever praise Him for the redeeming, justifying blood of the Son of God.

~ Pastor David Pledger

Click here to listen to the message “A Weighty 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.

Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church Bulletin Article date: 31 October, 2021 | Previous post date: n/a

Look and Live

“Blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, set by the highway side begging.” | Mark 10: 46

All who the Lord shall save are like blind Bartimaeus.

What he was outwardly by nature is what he was inwardly by nature… blind, poor, and unable to work to provide life. All he could do was sit and beg mercy from another.

We are so blind by nature that we cannot even see we need salvation.

When God gives us sight the first thing we behold is that our flesh profits nothing.

Only then will a sinner come to Christ empty and begging mercy.

~ Pastor Clay Curtis

Click here to listen to the message “Look and Live”

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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 February, 2018 | Previous post date: n/a

Some Basic Facts

“The Bible is the word of God” | 1 Timothy 3: 16

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God.

It contains no error whatsoever.

We do not derive our doctrine from men nor denominations.

The Bible is our rule of faith and practice.

“To the Law and the testimony; if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8: 20)

Christ Is The Gospel.

He is both the subject and the object of the gospel. It is about Him (Romans 1: 1-3) and for His glory. (Colossians 1: 18) “Christ is ALL” are the words of scripture. (Colossians 3: 11)

He is ALL in the scriptures, ALL to God, ALL in salvation, and ALL to every believer. The SURE and ONLY HOPE of every child of God is wrapped up in the PERSON AND WORK OF CHRIST. Salvation is caused by the work of Christ, His effectual atonement for His people, (Matthew 1: 21) and experienced by knowing and bowing to the Lordship of Christ. (John 17: 2-3)

Every aspect of salvation from the beginning (election) to the end (glorification) is all of God’s grace!

Salvation is not what you do for God but what He does for you.

No part of salvation can be ascribed to man.

To credit any part of salvation to the religious efforts, good works, or free will of man is to DENY salvation by grace. “Salvation is of the Lord” (Jonah 2: 9) “By grace are ye saved through faith, and that no of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2: 8-9)

Christ and his salvation is not received by doing but by believing.

“This is the work of God, that ye BELIEVE ON HIM Whom He hath sent.”

Anyone who trusts Christ for salvation will be saved.

“The just shall live by faith.”

~ Pastor Todd Nibert

Click here to listen to the message “Him With Whom We Have to Do”

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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.

FreeGraceRadio.com Bulletin Article date: 2 September, 2008 | Previous post date: n/a | Danville, Kentuky