ANNIE ARMSTRONG EASTER OFFERING
Church Goal: $1500.00
Given So Far: $20.00
Shower for Rebecca Whitehead
SUNDAY SCHOOL LIVE STREAM
Carl Hobbs, the teacher for Christians Under Construction, is teaching live on Facebook each Sunday at 9:30 AM. Everyone is welcome to join.
To Join: Search for Carl Hobbs on Facebook. You will then see a link to join on his page.
Call Jonathan if you have any issues.
MID-WEEK DEVOTION
Donât forget to check out Brother Davidâs Mid-Week Devotion on the book of Psalms. They are uploaded each Wednesday on the sermon page.
Time Change
Don’t forget to move your clock ahead 1 hour this Sunday.
Giving as of March 10, 2021
Budget for 2021 . . . . . . . . $320,880.00
Tithes Needed to Date . . . . . $61,707.73
Received to Date . . . . . . . . . $44,563.35
Needed for weekly budget . . . $6,170.77
Tithes Received this week . . . $2,941.46
From Our Pastor
Do you remember the last time you sang âAmazing Graceâ? Did you mean it? Could it be that you know the words, but the lyrics have lost their meaning? Have you forgotten how amazing is Godâs grace toward you? Such a condition reflects a cooling in our relationship with God. It almost always shows that we are no longer growing in our walk. It often shows that we are drifting away from Christ.
How de we confront this problem? First, we must remember our condition before Christ saved us (our natural condition). Psalm 53 gives us a brutally honest description of the real condition of a lost person.
Verse 1 says those who deny God are fools. We may quickly defend ourselves by saying that we have âalwaysâ believed that God is real. But did we live as if He didnât exist? Did we live as if He would not hold us accountable? Was there a fear of a holy God? All of those reflect a practical denial of God â no matter what we may have said. We were fools.
Verse 1 further says we were corrupt. We willingly committed sins. We did that which was wrong. Even if we did the right thing, we did it for the wrong reason. We were corrupt.
Verse 2-3 remind us that we were rebels. We went our own way. We deliberately left Godâs ways and went in the opposite direction.
There is only one thing that can save such people. That is grace. It was only by grace that God sent His son to live, die and rise again. It was only by grace that we came to Godâs salvation. Every part of our salvation was by Godâs grace.
The Apostle Paul made this clear in the book of Ephesians. He made it clear that Godâs wonderful plan of salvation through Jesus Christ was motivated by His grace. In Ephesians 1:2, Paul reminds the Ephesian believers that it was Godâs plan to give them (and us) grace and peace through Jesus Christ. No one and nothing could make God want to save us. As we have seen, we surely did not deserve it. It was by His grace alone.
Godâs following through with His plan was also a work of grace. Verse 7 says, âIn Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.â Christ could die only if it was Godâs plan. Our Lord made it clear that He laid down His life for us. No one took His life. He was executed because He chose to be (John 10:17-18). Christâs sacrificial death to fulfill Godâs plan of redemption was a work of grace. God did not have to do it and we certainly did not deserve it.
Our personal coming to Christ was a work of Godâs grace. We canât take credit for any part of it. Verses 4-5 says, ââŠjust as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His willâŠâ It was God who convicted us of our sinfulness, gave us understanding of the Gospel and gave us the ability to believe. It is all of grace.