Central Grace Church
3596 Franklin Street Rocky Mount, Virginia
Website: www.centralgracechurch.com Email: [email protected]
April 17th 2022
9:30 am -------------------------------------------------The King of kings – 1 Kings 1
10:00 am ----------------------------Grace & Truth by Jesus Christ – John 1:14-18
Wisdom in Death
Lord, make me to know my end and the measure of my days that I may know how frail I am. – Psalm 39:4
When we, by God’s grace, are wise enough to face death, judgement, and eternity, things are seen in their proper light. All these fine ideas of fame, fortune, and friends, and our so-called importance melts like frost in the sun. Death reveals the truth, blows away the chaff, shuts a man’s mouth, and opens the books! Death takes no notice of what I thought nor what others thought of me, but only of what God thinks. “Oh, that I may win Christ and be found in him.” – Henry Mahan
A Thankful Person
A thankful person is truly a happy person. It is not possible to be unhappy and thankful at the same time. If a person is truly thankful to the Lord for saving their soul, that person is also truly happy. – John Chapman
Live in an Attitude of Thanksgiving and Prayer
The Apostle Paul says, “Rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing and give thanks to God in all things” (1 Thess. 5:16-18). This is the will of God; that we rejoice always, pray continually, and give thanks. What we are, what we have, where we are, and all that happens in the life of a believer are all according to the will of God for us. Let us rejoice in prosperity or adversity, and live in an attitude of thanksgiving and prayer, even when we have no particular request. Very ungrateful is the man who does not set so high a value on the love of God, the righteousness of Christ, and the hope of eternal life that he allows anything in this life to overshadow that wonderful gift of grace. How can I murmur and complain when I am a child of the King of kings?—H.T.M.
Trust in The Lord -- "O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee." -- Psalm 84:12
Trust in God implies total self-renunciation. The moment that I trust in myself, I cease to trust in God. The moment I take any portion of my confidence away from the Lord and put a grain of it in myself, that moment I take away all my trust in God. My trust in God must be all or nothing. It must be unreserved and complete, or else it is false and delusive. Is not the Lord worthy to be trusted? And if he is worthy to be trusted at all, is he not worthy to be trusted with all? What real confidence could a man have in the wife of his bosom if he could trust her with one key, but not with all? Is that full confidence? So, if we can trust God for one thing and not for all, it shews that we have no real trust in him. A man has no real trust in his wife who cannot give her all the keys. A man has no real trust in God who cannot give him all his heart, and put everything into his hand; family, property, body, and soul. The province and work of true faith is to put everything into the hands of God, keeping back no part of the price. It is this secret reserve that God hates; there is hypocrisy on the very face of it. Trust in God for nothing; or trust in him for all. God will not take a divided heart. Give him all, or none. And is he not worthy of it? Has he ever disappointed you whenever you have really put your trust in him?
But David saw how few there were that with all their hearts did trust in God. This feeling seems to have made him say, "Blessed is the man," that peculiar man, that rare individual, "that trusteth in thee!" The blessing of God rests upon that happy, that highly-favoured man. He is blessed for time and for eternity. He has the blessing of God even now in his soul. Oh! how rare it is for us to be in that sweet, blessed frame when we can put our trust wholly in God; trust him for life and death; trust him for all things, past, present, and to come. Yet without a measure of this faith, there is no solid peace, no real and abiding rest. And to this you must sooner or later come; for you cannot carry your own burdens without their breaking your back. But when you can cast your burden on the Lord, then you will surely find sweet relief. May we not, then, join heart and voice with David, "O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee?" Such a one will never be disappointed. The Lord will hear his prayer; the Lord will bless his soul; will be with him in life, support him in death, and take him to be with him in eternity. – J.C. Philpot
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