CALL TO WORSHIP

(Tune – O For A Thousand Tongues – p. 46)

O come, and let us to the Lord

In songs our voices raise;

With joyful hearts let us the Rock

Of our salvation praise.

In Thy great name, O Lord, we bow

To worship at Thy feet;

O pour Thy Holy Spirit down

On all that now shall meet.

This house with grace and glory fill,

This congregation bless;

Thy great salvation now reveal,

Thy glorious righteousness.

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TODAY’S SERVICES – Messages by Pastor Bill Parker

BIBLE CLASS – 10:00 a.m. –

Rise Up and Come Away – Song of Solomon 2:8-13

MORNING WORSHIP – 11:00 a.m –

OPENING – Psalm 69:13-16

CALL TO WORSHIP (above)

HYMN – God Leads Us Along – p. 298

READING – Psalm 22

MESSAGE – The Word of Want – John 19:28

CLOSING HYMN – He Leadeth Me – p. 295

Birthdays: Alex Wages – June 1^st

The glory of the LORD shall endure for ever: the LORD shall rejoice in His works. He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth: He toucheth the hills, and they smoke. I will sing unto the LORD as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. – Psalm 104:31-33

“Lord, grant us Thy presence as we worship today in spirit and in truth through Christ our Lord. Let us see more of Christ and the value of His righteousness to secure our final glory in Heaven. Let our conduct honor Thee as we seek to live as those who have been blessed among men. Inspire us to obedience, worship, diligence, and love as we are motivated by Your grace and our eternal gratitude for Your mercy.” —Copied

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Whenever one of our brethren, our loved ones, and friends are sick, we pray for them to be healed and find relief. We have no specific promise from God of physical healing for ourselves and others, but we do have a command from God to pray for our own good and their good, physically and spiritually. What do we pray for then? We pray to God who is the source of all good, all healing, physical and spiritual, and we pray, “Thy will be done.” Then, we resign ourselves to His sovereign will in all things, knowing that He is all-powerful, all-wise, and that He has nothing but good in store for His children no matter what we experience in this life (Rom. 8:28). —Copied

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The Apostle Paul knew well the suffering that comes with the ministry of the Gospel, the reproach of Christ. He was mocked, beaten, arrested, misrepresented, and reviled by those who hated him and who hated the Gospel he preached. We know full well why natural man hates the Gospel and will not receive it. It is because the preaching of the Person of Christ and the work of Christ to establish the only ground of salvation for sinners in the merits of His obedience unto death proves them to be lost and exposes their best deeds aimed at salvation to be no more than evil deeds and fruit unto death (John 3:19-20). But some who even claimed to believe the Gospel Paul preached spoke harshly of him. Because of jealousy, pride, and arrogance, they sought to discredit him. However, by the Spirit of God, Paul wrote that the proper way to handle accusations and persecutions is not to return evil for evil. He wrote that we “labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it:” (1 Cor. 4:12). Let our enemies rail on. We have a great and noble commission from our Lord and Savior to preach the Gospel to every creature. Let us set our minds to be engaged in our Father’s business and let our enemies strive unto nothing. Our hope and prayer to God is that they might be saved. —Pastor Bill Parker

God has in Himself all POWER to defend us, all WISDOM to direct us, all MERCY to pardon us, all GRACE to enrich us, all RIGHTEOUSNESS to clothe us, all GOODNESS to supply us, and all HAPPINESS to crown us. God's love for us is in Christ; God's choice of us is in Christ; God's righteousness is fulfilled for us in Christ; God's acceptance of us is in Christ. This is all our salvation – not our works, feelings, nor our righteousnesses.

'Tis not by works of righteousness

Which our own hands have done,

But we are saved by sovereign grace

Abounding through THE SON.

--Copied

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“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17).

Experiences and feelings without truth can never rise above the source from which they came, and that source is SELF. True faith has to do with God and His eternal, infallible Word. It connects the soul to God Who gives it and to Christ Whose righteousness provides it. Feelings without truth has to do with one's own fluctuating circumstances and conditions; true faith has to do with God's unchanging truth and Christ's enduring righteousness. We can talk of faith as a mystical experience which no one can really grasp, but all we are doing is confirming ourselves in a false profession of religion, hanging on to our own works and deeds which are evil in light of the only righteousness which will satisfy God, the imputed righteousness of Christ. Faith believes God's testimony concerning Him who justifies the ungodly based solely upon the merits of Christ's obedience unto death. And when a sinner sees this, he will let go of past experiences which exalt self above Christ and His righteousness. This truth will establish the believer’s heart with grace. It will impress upon his soul that He is already entitled to all of salvation based on the righteousness of Christ before he ever begins to persevere in the faith against all that would hinder him. With this in mind, the believer can face the most difficult circumstances and rise above adverse feelings.