CALL TO WORSHIP

(Tune – O God Our Help in Ages Past – p. 10)

Jesus, the Lord, My Saviour is,

My Shepherd and my God,

My light, my strength, my joy, my bliss,

And I His grace record.

Mercy and truth and righteousness,

And peace most richly meet,

In Jesus Christ, the King of grace,

In whom I stand complete.

As through the wilderness I roam,

His mercies I’ll proclaim;

And when I safely reach my home,

I’ll still adore His name.

“Worthy the Lamb,” shall be my song,

For He for me was slain;

And with me all the heavenly throng,

Shall join and say, “Amen”.

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TODAY’S SERVICES – Messages by Pastor Bill Parker

BIBLE CLASS – 10:00 a.m. –

Behold, Thou Art Fair – Song of Solomon 4:1-7

MORNING WORSHIP – 11:00 a.m –

OPENING – Romans 11:33-36

CALL TO WORSHIP (above)

HYMN – Glory to His Name – p. 489

READING – Psalm 96

MESSAGE – The Lord’s Prayer (2) – John 17:1-5

CLOSING HYMN – What a Wonderful Savior – p. 454

Birthdays: WIP Payne – June 29^th | Kedrial Riggins – July 4^th
Judy Fletcher – July 6^th | Mary James Fuller – July 8^th

We express our deepest and sincere sympathies to Jason and Jackie Renfroe and family over the death of Jackie’s father, Mike Dooley, who passed away a week ago this past Thursday. Let us all remember Jackie and her family in our prayers.

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Congratulations to Neil Jackson (Alisha’s oldest son, Jim and Sylvia Casey’s grandson) upon his graduation from East Paulding High School. Neil graduated with honors and is now attending Georgia Tech University. We wish him all the best, and let’s keep him in our prayers.

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NO SERVICES NEXT SUNDAY, JULY 5

Debbie and I will be out of town next weekend over the holidays. This has been such an unusual year with our having to deal with this pandemic, and it has changed people’s schedules and habits. Others have had to deal with illnesses and having to face upcoming medical procedures, and this has kept them home and away from any public gatherings. For this reason, we will suspend our public services one more time and meet back together again on Sunday, July 12. Remember that we have our TV program that airs Sunday mornings at 9:00 a.m. on WALB-TV. Our live-stream listeners can hear messages on our website (www.rofgrace.com) and SermonAudio.com. —The Pastor

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How shall a man know that his humbling has been produced by the Gospel and that his sorrow has been produced by God? He does not do as Cain did, who cried that his sins were greater than he could bear, and so departed from the presence of God; nor does he do as Judas did, who repented, and hanged himself, nor as Felix did, tremble for a while, and then return to his lusts; nor as the Jews did, according to the prophet, “Pine away under their iniquities,” because of vexation of heart; nor doth he divert his thoughts to other things in order to relieve his soul in his trouble; nor hang his hopes upon a righteousness of his own; nor slothfully lie down under his perplexity; but in the midst of it he goes to God in Christ pleading for pardon and salvation. So, it is the soul’s application unto God for forgiveness, and not its sense of sin, that gives to God the glory of His grace. —John Owen

The gifts of liberty and freedom we enjoy make us all the more accountable to God. To whom much is entrusted, much shall be required. If these gifts are not used to glorify, worship and serve Him, they shall prove a curse as they have for many in the past. The liberty to sin, to do evil and to ignore God is simply man left to his own inventions. He is but to perish apart from God’s grace. True liberty is to worship and serve Christ and to believe the Gospel of Christ crucified. All other imagined liberties are but bondage. – Pastor Gary Shepard

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WORDS ARE IMPORTANT

The Apostle Paul instructed Timothy to “hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 1:13). These are “words” of truth from God that identify and distinguish the issues of faith, repentance, love, obedience, and worship in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. There are men who concoct their own words – their own particular phrases, definitions, and their own personal take on things. They become so attached to these words (almost married to them), invest their egos into them, and construct a paradigm of words that none can enter except those who state things the way they do. Some even go about seeking a following for themselves and dividing brethren over their words. Of such the apostle wrote to Timothy, “Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers” (2 Timothy 2:14). Let us pray that God will keep us in HIS Word and HIS words of truth in the Scripture, that by the power of the Holy Spirit He will drive us more and more to Christ and away from self, and promote within us the obedience of grace, as well as the love, fellowship, and unity of brethren.

Remember, when the multitudes began to leave the Lord, He turned to His disciples and asked, “Will ye also go away?” Peter answered, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life” (John 6:67-68). These “words of eternal life” are the Gospel of God’s free and sovereign grace wherein Christ is revealed, in the glory of His Person and the power of His finished work, for the complete salvation of His people. The words of men can sometimes aid us in an understanding of these words of life, but let us be careful never to listen or follow any words of men that deny or confuse our Lord’s “words of eternal life.”