Prayer

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“Backbiters”

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“Backbiters”

Romans 1:28-32
I cannot imagine any crime against another person which is more cowardly, despicable, and inexcusable than slander and gossip – backbiting. While such behavior is common and expected among the reprobate, there is no place for it in the kingdom of God.
Many who look down their noses with scorn upon fornicators, adulterers, and whoremongers, are guilty of this hideous offense. They think nothing of slandering another, attempting to murder his character, indeed, they seize every opportunity to do so. If Romans 1:28-32 means anything, it means that such people do not know God. Their character is the character of the reprobate. Backbiting men and women are proud, envious, little rebels, people who cannot be trusted in any area of life.
They are the pawns of Satan, used to disrupt the peace of God’s church and kingdom. Continue reading →

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PREACHING CHRIST

 

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And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. (Acts 5:42 )

That which separates the truth from a mere religion is that the truth concerns a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. This may seem a trite and worn out phrase, but it is true that salvation is a Person, not a doctrine. The longer I preach, the more I see the importance this distinction.

There are doubtless many who would find fault with such a generalization saying that one cannot preach without preaching doctrine. In this they would be correct, for doctrine is simply teaching. I would be impossible to preach the Person without preaching doctrine. However, it is quite easy to preach doctrine and never preach the Person.

Allow me to illustrate: Truth is, in some ways like a jigsaw puzzle. A jigsaw puzzle is made of many parts, each one important. The puzzle could not be complete if any individual part were missing. Yet, we all realize that the value of such a puzzle does not lie in the individual pieces, but in the image that is made when all these pieces are joined together in their proper relationship. Even though an unassembled jigsaw puzzle contains the very same materials and pieces as an assembled one, we recognize that there is a great difference between the two: the assembled puzzle gives us an image, a picture to enjoy. An unassembled puzzle is just a box of cardboard pieces.

The truth of God is similar: It is made of many parts, each one important. Yet the value of these parts lies not in themselves, but in the image they create when “assembled” through preaching. All the doctrines of the Scriptures are pieces of a Divine “puzzle” which, when assembled, provide us with an image of the Lord Jesus. One may emphasise the various individual “pieces” of this puzzle, and become quite expert in them, and never see the image which they were designed to create. As the Lord said to the Pharisees:

Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. (John 5:39) Continue reading →

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New Pocketsize Edition – Discovering Christ Day by Day

Pastor Fortner’s Devotional

 

Discovering Christ

Day by Day

 

New Pocketsize Edition

From GO Publications

 

This is a beautiful soft-bound tan/brown edition designed to slip in a purse or jacket pocket. It includes a place marking ribbon and a gift presentation page.

New Pocketsize Edition

“Go through the whole Bible in a year with a daily reading scheme and a devotional portion for each section read. Pastor Fortner’s clear emphasis on the sovereign grace of God in Christ is always on view. He shows how the Lord Jesus is present in type, prophecy, and picture throughout the whole of the Bible. An excellent daily reading book with the added benefit of covering the whole of God’s Word in one year.” — Publisher

North American Orders

 

S18.00 per copy plus $3.00 Shipping and Handling

 

Grace Baptist Church of Danville

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European Orders

Price £13.99 + £2.80 p&p

GO Publications — New Focus Magazine                     Ossett Christian Bookshop

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Hurting In Hope: Mom Has Died by Alan Lester

Alan Lester Book

 

This is a book by a dear brother Alan Lester, a brother in Christ. We thank him for the permission to place a link here. We pray this gives strength to brothers, sisters and loved ones, as we walk Alan’s journey with him in the sad and sudden loss of his lovely wife Charleen.  As believers we do have a wonderful hope in our Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus, our only strength in times of hurt ~Elmarie

This is a love story – a story of as true a love as you will ever read! Alan writes about the loss of his true love, his dear wife Charleen. As you read the stories and memories of their marriage, I know you will join in me in saying with tears, “that is true love”. And when you start to feel the heartache and begin to wonder how you will ever one day endure such pain and loss Alan gives such hope as he shares another love story – the love story of his First Love – His Lord and Savior! Alan takes the reader on a journey of hope found in his First Love during such agonizing grief and pain and you are once again compelled to say “that is True Love”! It is only staying wrapped in the arms of his First Love, Jesus Christ and forcing himself to meditate on Biblical Truths that he is able to rejoice in suffering and awake each morning without his true love, dear Charleen! There is true hope in hurting – but Alan reveals the only way this is found! Alan has lived this out in real life as we have watched him cling to that hope in such unfathomable hurt! ~  MARDA MACK  – (PERSONAL FRIEND, WIFE OF JOSH MACK)

Audio Sample : LISTEN

SAMPLE CHAPTER

Lightning scribbled across a darkened, rugged terrain, momentarily sketching the frowning skyline of the Gouwsberg mountains rising beyond a four-strand barbed-wire fence and a stretch of thorny bushveld to my Left. Fifty-year-old Bluegum trees strained and flexed, against an aggressive blast that had charged in from the North, determined, it seemed, to uproot them. Before my numbed eyes, leaves and plant debris swept and churned, mingled with oversized raindrops that strove in vain through the gale to strike the earth. The gentle glow emitting from the screen of my well-used Blackberry Torch illuminated a small patch around me as I sat in vast blackness. I stared at the mobile phone in my Left hand, and at the familiar number I was preparing to dial. With my right hand on the steering wheel, I could hardly hear the hum of the engine as it twisted the wheels slowly forward over a rocky road. I tightened my lips, as if it would compose me; this was the hardest call I would ever make. How could I do it? Yet how could I not?  Continue reading →

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When God’s Providence And Security Are Just Not Enough

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ARMINIANISM wrests Scripture to teach that it is possible for the true believer to fall from the grace of salvation (Gal. 5:4); and that each believer is provided with sufficient ability to persevere and preserve himself, if only he will: (“And ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life.” John 5:40). It all depends on the choice of man’s will, whether he will persevere or not. (This denies everything thus far so irrefutably declared!) The error continues: Continue reading →

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The First Twelve Preachers

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The First Twelve Preachers

“And he goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him whom he would: and they came unto him. And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils: And Simon he surnamed Peter; And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder: And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Canaanite, And Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed him: and they went into an house. And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.” (Mark 3:13-21)

Here the Holy Spirit describes the calling of the twelve Apostles by our Lord Jesus Christ. This is an event, which ought to always be remembered and studied with deep gratitude. No twelve men in history have been so important as these twelve. None have done so much good. None have been of such benefit to us. J.C. Ryle wrote…

“What a vast amount of benefit these few men have conferred upon the world! The names of a few Jewish fishermen are known and lived by millions all over the globe, while the names of many kings and rich men are lost and forgotten.”

These apostles were a special order of men. The apostolic office was in existence for only a very brief period of time, during which the canon of Holy Scripture was completed. They had distinct gifts of healing, tongues, and inspiration, which no one has possessed since the Apostolic Era. They were men specifically chosen, gifted, and ordained by our Lord Jesus Christ to preach the gospel during the earliest days of Christianity and to write the New Testament, explaining by divine inspiration the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ. They had no successors. When they died, their office died. And when the Apostles died, all the gifts and signs accompanying apostleship died as well.

Twelve Men Continue reading →

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Discerning Between the Righteous and the Wicked

Malachi 3 v 13 to 18

“Our Lord tells us to let the tares grow with the wheat. We are never to attempt to separate them. Why? Because we do not have the ability to know the one from the other. If the task of separating them were ours, we would pull up the wheat and keep the tares every time. None of us knows who is saved and who is lost. Those who pretend to have such knowledge are as arrogant as they are ignorant.”

DISCERNING BETWEEN THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED

Don Fortner 

My subject tonight is Discerning Between the Righteous and the Wicked. — Our Lord Jesus tells us plainly that in every age, wherever the righteous are found the wicked will be found among them. In every field of wheat, there tares grow and thrive. Wherever sheep find pasture, goats will be found grazing beside them. He also tells us to let the tares grow together with the wheat and let the goats graze with the sheep. We are never to try to separate them. That is the Lord’s work, and he will do it by the gospel.

 

We must never try to separate the tares from the wheat; and we must never try to separate the wicked from the righteous. But that does not mean that they be discerned and will not be separated. In Malachi 3, the Lord God makes a very clear discernment and assures us that, when he has finished all things, we shall with him — “discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.” Continue reading →

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Lessons for Troublesome Times

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“And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury. And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites. And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all: For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had. And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said, As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. And they asked him, saying, Master, but when shall these things be? and what signwill there be when these things shall come to pass? And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them. But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by. Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven. But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name’s sake. And it shall turn to you for a testimony. Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer: For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake. But there shall not an hair of your head perish. In your patience possess ye your souls. And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” (Luke 21:1-24)

We are living in troublesome times. These are perilous days. These are difficult days for everyone. But they are particularly difficult for people who believe God and seek, in all things and above all things, to honor Him. I know that your minds are constantly full of questions, for which there seems to be no answer. Moral decadence, fornication, adultery, homosexuality, and the pedophilia that it spawns are not just tolerated, but actively promoted in our public schools and by law. The brutal slaughter of unborn babies is as common as the removal of warts. By some perverse logic, the same people who want to protect rattle snakes from extinction and weep over the misuse of laboratory rats tell us that the murder of a baby is a matter of choice! Domestic violence is epidemic. War is an everyday activity. And the religion of the day is nothing short of men worshipping themselves. When I think about these things, three passages of Scripture come to my mind (Deuteronomy 31:17; Psalm 10:4; Galatians 6:7). Continue reading →

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TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT SALVATION

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Grant Swart

I pray that it is my humble and heartfelt intent to write concerning an earnest directive which believers have been given, and that is, to truthfully pass on to those who do not know the Lord, the liberating and glorious facts concerning the means of salvation which the Gospel proclaims. When we consider all which constitutes the doctrine of salvation in the Gospel, it is impossible to disentangle it from the truth about God, the truth about men, the truth about sin, and the truth about Christ.

So often today the word “salvation” is used in very loose terms, ascribing to it many man-centered, phony ideas and fanciful doctrines which sound reasonable and very appealing to man’s conscience and which man readily accepts. Many of these are simply intended to soothe man’s guilty conscience, and leave him with a false comfort that man himself remains the ‘captain of his soul’ and in control of his eternal destiny. However, biblical truth about salvation is that man is not in any position to determine or secure his own salvation, by means of a decision or by applying his will or effort.

One is not likely to hear from the mouths of most preachers, that man is hopelessly unable to choose to follow God, or to decide to allow God into his life. Contrary to what many billboards around our country proclaim, man cannot, and indeed will never want to, turn back to God, unless he has been called to do so by God. Continue reading →

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3 Men Claiming To Be Jesus in a matter of days/weeks apart ?

1 John

We have all heard the news of the Australian man,  Alan John Miller claiming to be Jesus and a week or two  later,  two other South African men claimed the same,  that they are Jesus Christ.

Our  question, to these men should be, why do these men not read the Bible before making such false claims ?

Do they not know that the second coming of Jesus will be a glorious event for all the eyes to see ?

And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
(Matthew 24:30 KJV)

Do they not know that Jesus warns himself of false Christs, who will say they are Him?

Jesus said :  Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. (Matthew 24:23-24 KJV)

Why do men and women believe follow and believe these things ? The Bible is clear :

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.  (1 Corinthians 2:14-15 KJV)

Who are these men who are making such false claims ?

False Jesus 1  Continue reading →

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Will There Be Degrees Of Reward In Heaven? Part 2

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Don Fortner

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away                                                                                                                                                                                                                      — Revelation 21:4

Will there be degrees of reward in heaven? This is a question around which there has been much controversy throughout the history of the church. Many men whose doctrine has been thoroughly biblical in other areas have been in grave error concerning rewards. I know that I will not settle the controversy surrounding this question in this brief study. That is not my purpose. It is my responsibility to teach those things which become sound doctrine and build up God’s elect in the faith of Christ, so that you will not be “tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the slight of men, and cunning craftiness!”

 

The issue by which this question must be settled is very clear. – Is God’s salvation, in its’ entirety, the work of his free grace in Christ, or is it not? If, as the Scriptures everywhere assert, our salvation is altogether the work of God’s free grace, if our works have nothing to do with it, and heavenly glory is but the consummation of that salvation, then there can be no degrees of reward in heaven[1]. Continue reading →

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God’s Children and The Devil’s


Sermon Notes ~ Don Fortner 

1st John is the “we know” epistle. It is written specifically to assure God’s elect of his grace and his salvation in Christ. John wrote these five chapters by divine inspiration to assure every believer, to assure every sinner who trusts Christ of his saving interest in Christ. Eleven times, God the Holy Spirit inspired John to write these two words, “we know,” in this short epistle, so that we might know that Christ is ours and we are his.

1 John 2:3 “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.” — We know that we know God because we keep his commandments, that is to say, we trust his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

1 John 2:18 “Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.” — We know that we are living in the last time, during the last tick of the clock of God’s purpose for this world, because antichrist is everywhere!

1 John 3:2 “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we knowthat, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” — We know that we have a good hope through grace. Oh, what a blessed hope it is! — When Christ comes again, “we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is!”

1 John 3:14 “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.” — We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren.

1 John 3:19 “And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.” — We know that we are of the truth and assure our hearts, by the love of God shed abroad in our hearts, causing us to perceive the love of God for us in the sacrifice of his dear Son and causing us to love one another.

1 John 3:24 “And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we knowthat he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.” — We know that we are God’s, chosen, redeemed, called, and born again, because God the Holy Spirit dwells in us, giving us faith in Christ, teaching us to love one another. Continue reading →

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A Call For Separation

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And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
(Revelation 18:4 KJV)

Don Fortner

Revelation 18:4

Always endeavor “to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Bend over backwards to get along with God’s saints. Make allowances for one another’s faults, failures, and offenses. Never be guilty of alienating a brother, or refusing to graciously embrace one who is a child of God. But this brotherly kindness is not to be extended to those who are “the enemies of the cross of Christ.” “Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord?” (II Chr. 19:2; Ps. 139:21-22; Gal. 1:6-9). Continue reading →

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Will There Be Degrees Of Reward In Heaven? Part 1

DEGREES OF REWARD IN HEAVEN

There is much talk today about degrees of reward in heaven. Even men who claim to believe the doctrines of grace seem determined to give something to human works. But, the gospel of the grace of God allows no place for human merit. God is no man’s debtor. That which he gives to men and does for men, both in this life and in the life to come, is the reward of pure grace, not of debt.

In order for something to claim merit before God, it must be perfect. God’s infinite holiness, righteousness, and justice will accept nothing less than perfection.

Where is the man who has ever done anything that is perfect in the sight of God? Continue reading →

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“The Revelation of Jesus Christ”

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Don Fortner – Discovering Christ in all the Scriptures 

Chapter 66

REVELATION

“The Revelation of Jesus Christ”

It has been my singular object in these surveys of the Bible to show clearly that the singular subject, theme, and message of the entire Book of God, the Old Testament and the New, is the Person, work, and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. As in creation, providence, and redemption, so in the Holy Scriptures, it is the purpose of God “that in all things he might have the preeminence” (Col_1:18).

Him Book

The Book of God is a book all about Christ (Luk_24:27; Luk_24:44-48). The Bible is a Him Book. It is all about Him. All the promises and blessings of God given to sinful men and women are in Christ (Eph_1:3). Apart from Christ, God promises nothing but wrath; and every supposed blessing will prove to be a curse. All the love, mercy, and grace of God is in Christ. All the revelation and knowledge of the triune God is in Christ. Christ is not only the central message of Holy Scripture; he is the message of Holy Scripture. To understand that is to have the key that opens the Word of God and reveals its treasures.

That which is true of the whole Volume of Inspiration is especially and gloriously true of the last, closing chapters of the Volume, the Book of Revelation. This last book of the Bible is Christ’s revelation of himself to his servants. This Book is “The Revelation of Jesus Christ” (Rev_1:1). It is not the revelation of St. John, but “the Revelation of Jesus Christ” given to and recorded by John. It is not the book of revelations (plural). It does not contain many revelations. It contains one revelation seen in many things. It is “the Revelation of Jesus Christ.” Continue reading →