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The World Judged At The Cross

“Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save. Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him.” | Mark 15: 31-32

A wonderful, prayerful resolve would be; Lord, let me look into the glorious glass of Thy Word and see the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, and let me conformed to His blessed image in all things.

Let me see Christ in all Thy Word.

Let me look to Him and look like Him.

Deliver me from this present evil world, deliver me from the god of this world, deliver me from my sinful self, and receive me into Thy Kingdom forever.

Let me be resolved to seek Thy will and do Thy will always.

~ Unknown

Click here to listen to the message “What Is It To Confess Christ” (32:17 minutes)

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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Central Grace Church Bulletin Article date: 13 August, 2017 | Previous post date: 18 August, 2021 | Rocky Mount, Virginia

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The Promise Christ Swore To

“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” | 1 Timothy 1: 15

When I look at the cross of Christ I think, how holy must God be and how evil must I be for such a person as God’s Son to have to die such a death in order to save me.

“I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Romans 7: 21-24)

“O wretched man that I am…”

~ Pastor John Chapman

Click here to listen to the message “The Promise Christ Swore To” (25:57 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: 14 April, 2024 | Previous post date: n/a

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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 Plague Of His Own Heart

“What prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house:” | 1 Kings 8: 38

When a child of God begins to speak of the “plague of his own heart,” this poor blind and religious world does not understand.

They think within themselves, “What on earth is this man doing? What ever it is he ought to stop it.”

But little do they know, it’s not what he’s doing, but what he feels himself to be.

He is sin.

He has an open wound that is always running and stinking.

This wound is his heart, his nature, who he is, in and of himself.

This heart is an incurable plague.

Not even the Lord God can cure it.

Yet this is the only people who are accepted of God in Jesus Christ.

Those who know the plague of their own heart are the only ones God acquits of all charges.

These are the only ones who truly rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in their stinking flesh.

It’s knowing the plague of their own heart that makes them to know their need of a new heart and imputed righteousness and to rejoice with exceeding great joy to believe that God has been pleased to freely give them what they need, all for the mere sake of His Dear Son.

So while they cast contempt upon themselves, they rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

~ Pastor Bruce Crabtree

Click here to listen to the message “Imputed Righteousness and a Weak Faith” (48:26 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: 7 April, 2024 | Previous post date: n/a

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And The Lot Fell ON Christ

”And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.” | 1 Peter 2: 8

The real offense is in the gospel of His grace!

It was not His works but His words that caused the division among the Jews.

His works did anger them, and they tried to discredit them; for His works bore a strong witness to His deity.

But the thing they hated and resented most was His claim to deity, to being THE CHRIST, to being THE REDEEMER of whom Moses wrote and for whom Abraham looked.

They said, “For good works we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou being a man, makest thyself GOD”. (John 10: 33)

Men today have no quarrel with religion, good works, nor noble efforts in the name of God; it is THE GOSPEL of sovereign mercy through a suffering and sufficient Substitute which causes them to stumble and become offended.

“Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.” (1 Peter 2: 7-8)

Who He is, what He suffered, why He suffered, and where He is now, if clearly preached, will cause the sheep to rejoice and the rest to stumble.

~ Pastor Henry Mahan

Click here to listen to the message “And The Lot Fell ON Christ” (31:05 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: 1 May, 2022 | Previous post date: n/a

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The Result Of The Cross

”Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,” | 1 Peter 1: 18-20

The death of Christ on the cross was not an afterthought.

It was not a fix to a situation that had gone horribly wrong.

It was the eternal purpose of God!

Before The world was ever created, and before man ever sinned, God the Father provided a sacrifice for sin – Jesus Christ His Son!

“And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” (Revelation 13: 8)

He is “the lamb slain from the foundation of the world!”

In time, He came and accomplished His Father’s purpose.

“The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” (John 1: 29)

On the cross of Calvary we “Behold the Lamb of God!”

“And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;” (Revelation 5: 9)

Soon, He will come again and gather every sinner that He was slain for to Himself. And for the rest of time and eternity they will cry to the Lamb who is seated on the throne: “Thou art worthy!… For Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by the blood!…”

~ Pastor Gabe Stalnaker

Click here to listen to the message “The Result Of 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: 13 May, 2018 | Previous post date: n/a

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The Lord’s Return

”And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.” | Revelation 20: 11

A true believer in Christ does not desire to know more than the Lord has revealed in His word.

While many expend countless hours studying world events, trying to connect those events for a revelation concerning the second coming, the believer studies God’s Word which is the revelation of Jesus Christ.

While the one trusting Christ is certainly watching expectantly for the return of his Lord, he is not taken up with the events surrounding that return.

A believer is taken up only with the Christ Who is returning.

~ Pastor Marvin Stalnaker

Click here to listen to the message “The Lord’s Return”

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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 February, 2020 | Previous post date: n/a

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An Election Of Grace

“And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.” | Romans 9: 10-12

In respect to GOD, the death of Christ was justice and mercy.

In respect to THIS WORLD, the death of Christ was murder and cruelty.

In respect to HIMSELF, the death of Christ was obedience and humility.

In respect to HIS ELECT, the death of Christ was wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.

~ John Flavel

Click here to listen to the message “An Election of 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.

Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church Bulletin Article date: 23 February, 2020 | Previous post date: n/a

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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

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Dead to This World

“Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.” | Isaiah 28: 16

A young student asked his Bible teacher this question: “How is the believer dead to the world when he lives in the world, works a regular job, raises a family, and owns property in the world?”

The teacher sent him out to the gravesite of a friend with instructions to criticize the dead friend, harass him, and find fault, and then praise him with glowing terms and brag on him to excess.

Upon his return, the teacher asked, “What did your friend say when you criticized him?”

“Nothing.”

“How did he react when you praised him?”

“It made no difference to him; he is dead!”

“That is what it means to be dead to this world,” said the teacher.

Its APPLAUSE means nothing and its HATRED means nothing. We neither ADMIRE the people of this world nor do we FEAR them. The riches of this world are but the fancy of fools, and the honors of this world mean little or nothing; for to be a child of God is the highest calling.

The religious traditions and ceremonies of the world have no attraction nor meaning when CHRIST IS ALL!

That which was once important to us we now consider loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ, our Lord.

This spiritual life in Christ cannot be explained; it must be experienced.

~ Pastor Henry Mahan

Click here to listen to the message “Christ- A Sure Foundation”

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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.

Central Grace Church Bulletin Article date: 10 October, 2021 | Previous post date: n/a | Rocky Mount, Virginia