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Is Our Message Offensive?

“I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be. And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased. I would they were even cut off which trouble you.” | Galatians 5: 10-12

Paul called his message “the offence of the cross.” Again and again he warned that the true gospel of God’s grace and glory would meet with great opposition from the religious world and the natural world. “The preaching of the cross is foolishness.” “The natural man receiveth not the things of God.”

Our Lord said, “Marvel not if the world hate you.” He also said in John 16, “They will cast you out of organized religion, and whosover killeth you will think that he serves God in doing so.”

If what we preach is NOT offensive to the religionist and to the worldling, then it is NOT THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST.

I repeat, it is not the gospel!

1). GOD’S ABSOLUTE SOVEREIGNTY in creation, providence, and redemption offends man’s claim to a freewill!

“But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.” (Luke 19: 14)

2). The preaching of TOTAL DEPRAVITY and INABILITY offends man’s dignity and claim to personal righteousness.

“We be not born of fornication”, that is, “we be not (they say) born in sin.”

“We may not be perfect, but we are not totally corrupt in God’s sight.”

3). The gospel of Christ comes by REVELATION and this offends man’s natural wisdom.

The college professor knows as much about the mysteries of grace as the farmhand, which is nothing apart from the Spirit of God.

4). EFFECTUAL REDEMPTION through the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, our substitute and sin-offering, offends man’s pride.

Men would have God do all that He wants to do or can do; but, there must be a work left for the sinner to perform, that we might share somewhat in the glory.

5). The LORDSHIP OF JESUS CHRIST offends man’s desire for recognition here and the hereafter.

“Grant, Lord, that we may sit at Thy right and left hand.”

“Let us have a system of rewards to distinguish us in some way from the beggar.”

We have established our social levels here and choose to continue them in heaven.

~ Pastor Henry T. Mahan

Click here to listen to the message “What Is Your Response To The Gospel?” (38:55 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.

Zebulon Grace Church Bulletin Article date: July 22, 2018 | Previous post date: 11 August, 2021 | Pikeville, Kentucky

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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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Three Men On A Cross

”And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.” | Luke 23: 33

By nature and practice, I am that justly condemned criminal that spoke in rage against the innocent Son of God.

By grace, I am the other vile and wicked man on the other side which God granted eyes to see Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and was promised to be with Him in paradise that very day.

By substitution, I am now a perfect, sinless son of God who is completely righteous, wholly holy and absolutely sinless through Him who loved me and gave Himself for me while dying in my place.

What a picture of the believer is found in all three men that hung on a cross at Mount Calvary.

~ Pastor David Eddmenson

Click here to listen to the message “Saved From Sin” (26:59 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.

Hurricane Road Grace Church Bulletin Article date: 29 November, 2020 | Previous post date: n/a | Cattletsburg, Kentucky

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If You Love Me

”Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.” | Matthew 27: 41, 42

Such is the blindness of natural man that when he attempts to speak of spiritual things, even the most intelligent among them become fools.

The intelligentsia of Jewish religion had long hated Christ.

They had often gone to where he was teaching to ply him with questions in an attempt to tricking Him into saying something they could use against Him.

In so doing they doubtless heard much of His teaching.

Yet, now they say, “Come down from the cross and we will believe you.”

Their taunt is utterly absurd.

If He comes down from the cross, they will have no reason to believe Him; He will have made Himself a liar.

Did He not say, “… the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many,” and, “The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men: And they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again”?

If He had come down from the cross, he would have proven Himself a liar and undermined any reason for anyone to believe Him.

But there is a more serious issue.

If Christ were to have come down from the cross, there would have been no value in believing Him. Faith would not have brought salvation.

Had Christ not fulfilled this death-work, believing Him would leave believers in their condemned state.

Their sins would not have been paid for, leaving them in a state of guilt, and God will by no means clear the guilty.

Anyone who does not see the cross-work of the Lord Jesus as the linchpin of the whole scheme of grace does not understand the scheme of grace.

The whole of it rests upon “Christ and Him crucified!”

~ Pastor Joe Terrell

Click here to listen to the message “If You Love Me” (51:32 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.

Hurricane Road Grace Church Bulletin Article date: 29 November, 2020 | Previous post date: n/a | Cattletsburg, Kentucky

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What Do You Think Of The Cross?

”He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.” | 2 Kings 18: 4

I am confident that the religious, superstitious Israelites were horrified when King Hezekiah destroyed their sacred symbol (which they worshipped, the serpent of brass Moses had made) calling it “a (worthless) piece of brass.”

Hezekiah declared it to be of no value in the worship of God, but rather a hindrance to the worship.

I can understand a person’s interest in that brazen serpent.

It would be extremely interesting to see it.

It would be interesting to see the rod of Moses, the tables of the law, the tabernacle, the ark of the covenant, and the cross on which our Lord died!

But interesting is all that these things can be certainly not inspirational, nor edifying, nor of any spiritual value, nor of any consequence where our relationship with God is concerned.

These are but types, pictures, and things which the Lord used to point our faith, hope, and trust to CHRIST JESUS!

In the knowledge, love, and worship of God, “CHRIST IS ALL!”

Hezekiah shocked Israel when he called Moses’ serpent “A PIECE OF BRASS.”

We may shock religion today by calling the cross on which Christ died “A PIECE OF WOOD,” or the tomb in which He laid, “A HOLE IN THE GROUND,” or the winding sheet in which He was wrapped, “A PIECE OF CLOTH;” but, having served their purpose, that’s all that they are.

And to make them of any spiritual significance is to be in danger of idolatry!

Idolatry is a subtle tool of Satan and must be avoided.

“God is a spirit, and they that worship Him MUST worship Him in spirit and truth.”

True believers have no superstitions regarding days, hallowed places on earth, religious relics, symbols, signs, nor ancestors.

Christ is our sabbath, our altar, our prophet, priest, and king.

To Him and only to Him we come, bow, believe and worship.

~ Pastor Henry Mahan

Click here to listen to the message “What Do You Think of the Cross” (32:25 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.

Zebulon Grace Church Bulletin Article date: 25 February, 2007 | Previous post date: n/a | Pikeville, Kentucky

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Great And Mighty Themes

”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; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.” | 1 Corinthians 1: 22-24

That which should be preached the most often is, I’m afraid, the least often preached and that is the cross of Christ.

Bishop J.C. Ryle, one of the great, old preachers of many years ago and one of the great writers said this: “The cross of Christ is the strength of the preacher. I for one would not be without the cross of Christ. I’d feel like a soldier without his weapons.”

I’d feel like an artist without a pencil.

I’d feel like a pilot without a compass.

I’d feel like a carpenter without his tools.

-Pastor Henry Mahan

Click here to listen to the message “Great And Mighty Themes” (57:57 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.

Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church Bulletin Article date: 17 June, 2018 | Previous post date: n/a

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The Justice Of God

”Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out: he is excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice: he will not afflict.” | Job 37: 23

The justice of God is in itself a great barrier to the salvation of a sinner.

Because God is just, our sins must be punished.

“Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;” (Romans 3: 25)

Never has there been a sin pardoned without atonement since the world began.

There has never been a sin remitted by the great Judge of heaven until justice has been fully satisfied.

How, then, can a sinner be saved?

“Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.” (Isaiah 45: 22)

This is the great riddle of the law and the grand discovery of the gospel.

“To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” (Romans 3: 26)

The answer is, God’s justice has been fully satisfied through the substitution of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:” (1 Peter 3: 18)

Through the obedience and death of our Lord on our behalf, God can be just and justify the believer.

~ Pastor Henry Mahan

Click here to listen to the message “Seven Sayings Of The Savior On The Cross”

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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: 1 August, 2021 | Previous post date: n/a

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No More Curse

“Why dost thou strive against Him? For He giveth not account of any of His matters” | Job 33: 13

Years ago when asked by my children for a reason about a decision I had made concerning them my answer was often, “because I said so!”

I had my reasons and that was enough.

Truthfully I had their best at heart and my decision was for their good and therefore I owed them no further explanation.

When it comes to the Lord’s dealings with us, Scripture reveals that: “He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay His hand, or say into Him, what doest Thou?” (Daniel 4: 35)

He owes no explanation to His creatures.

He is the Potter and we are the clay.

If we’re called upon to suffer at the merciful hand of chastisement, He has promised that He’ll never leave nor forsake us.

Rest assured, the path that He has chosen for His elect is according to absolute wisdom and as He told the apostle Paul, when Paul besought the Lord thrice to remove a thorn in the flesh, “My grace is sufficient for thee.”

~ Pastor Marvin Stalnaker

Click here to listen to the message “No More Curse”

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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: 15 April, 2018 | Previous post date: n/a

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Justification By Faith

”For whosever shall call on the Lord shall be saved. How then can they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher” | Romans 10: 13-14

It has been said that a church either stands or falls by the blessed truth of justification by faith and their view of it, and their stand on it.

Faith is the opposite of works, faith is not doing but believing, faith has to do with resting in Christ and His obedience and His righteousness.

Faith is the means of our justification. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5: 1)

Faith receives the truth of the gospel the merits of Christ. Faith receives the doing and dieing of the Lord Jesus Christ. “We conclude that a man is justified without the deeds of the law” (Romans 3: 28)

Faith is not its own object; those who have been given faith do not look to their faith but to Christ who is the object of their faith.

We know there is no merit in our faith but in our Savior. Christ is faiths object and it is based on knowledge.

Faith is based on God’s word, it is believing with the heart.

Faith is based on trust, on commitment.

We don’t trust our faith we trust the Lord Jesus.

We don’t trust our feelings, we trust our Master who lived for us as our representative before God, and who died as our substitute bearing our sin away to a place where God doesn’t see it.

We don’t trust our knowledge or our intellect, we trust Him who has infinite knowledge of us.

Oh, what comfort in knowing He knows us, that all is open and naked with him and that even though He knows us as we are our Justification is sure and secure, because it is what He did for us.

Listen, “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by THE FAITH JESUS CHRIST, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the Faith Of Christ” (Galatians 2: 16)

We change, but not Him, our faith sometimes is so weak and feeble but He is our strength.

~ Pastor Don Bell

Click here to listen to the message “The beginning of the gospel”

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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: 12 January, 2008 | Previous post date: n/a | Danville, Kentuky

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Lord I Believe, Help My Unbelief

”And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child. And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us. Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.” | Mark 9: 21-24

Before this man believed, he was not aware of his unbelief.

It was not until he believed that he saw the power of his unbelief.

This is the continued cry of the believer, “Lord, I believe.”

The new man believes.

He cannot not believe and it is the new man that is painfully aware of the unbelief of the old man, “Help thou mine unbelief.” — ‘I cannot do anything about it, and I am asking you to help me!’

The new man always believes and the old man never does.

But there will be no unbelief in heaven because the old man will not be there!

The old man was condemned and put away on the cross, and in heaven the believer will never have to deal with him again.

~ Pastor Todd Nibert

Click here to listen to the message “I Believe: Help My Unbelief”

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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: 19 August, 2018 | Previous post date: n/a