January 20, 2010 Volume 3 – Issue 3
A word from our Family Pastor:
The Lord Delights to Save
God doesn’t save people because He must, He saves people because He delights to do so. Paul is a
wonderful example:
But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was
pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not
consult anyone. – Galatians 1:15-16
Why would God save someone like Paul who formerly was a persecutor of the church and a
murderer? Because it pleases Him to do so. Yes, God demonstrates his love for us in that “while we
were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). This love surely is not an unaffected love. Surely
this love is moved by more than duty. In fact if we were to say that the cross was motivated by duty,
we would be bringing Christ down! No, Jesus endured the cross for the “joy set before Him”
(Hebrews 12:2). No doubt the cross was painful beyond all comprehension, but even in the midst of
the full weight of God’s wrath being poured out on the Son, Jesus was nonetheless displaying the most
profound love for sinners imaginable.
I firmly believe the Jesus’ primary motive in going to the cross was to bring glory to the Godhead
(John 17:1-2; Phil 2:9-11; Ephesians 2:7). However, we must never forget that real love for real
sinners was being powerfully expressed on the cross. What is most central to the cross is the glory of
God being shown forth in this act of love, but nonetheless the cross was the greatest act of love in the
history of the universe and its love worth boasting in (Gal. 6:14)–love that ought to give direction to
every subsequent act of love (Ephesians 5:25).
C. S. Lewis in his sermon, The Weight of Glory, attempts to express the profundity of the loveexpressed on the cross like this:
In the end that Face which is the delight or the terror of the universe must be turned upon each
of us either with one expression or with the other, either conferring glory inexpressible or
inflicting shame that can never be cured or disguised. I read in a periodical the other day that
the fundamental thing is how we think of God. By God Himself, it is not! How God thinks of
us is not only more important, but infinitely more important. Indeed, how we think of of Him
is of no importance except insofar as it is related to how He thinks of us. It is written that we
shall “stand before” Him, shall appear, shall be inspected. The promise of glory is the promise,
almost incredible and only possible by the work of Christ, that some of us . . . shall actually
survive that examination, shall find approval, shall please God. To please God . . . to be a real
ingredient in the divine happiness . . . to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as
an artist delights in his work or a father in a son–it seems impossible, a weight or burden of
glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain. But so it is.
The Lord delights to save, not because we are worthy to save but because we are not and His power is
made perfect in weakness (2 Cor 12:9). There is great rejoicing in heaven when one sinner repents
(Luke 15:7)!
Announcements:
• Marriage Retreat –Shocco Springs on Feb. 26-27. Check-in will be that Friday at 4:00, and we willfinish up on Saturday at around 3-4pm. We will have dinner, breakfast, and lunch prepared for us
there. The cost is $170. Sign up online or at the church.
• Crisis Pregnancy Center is raising money and you can help. There are baby bottles in the churchoffices that they are asking us to fill with spare change. See Jennifer Dixon if you have any
questions.
• Community Groups – New Community Groups will start this Sunday night, January 17. Sign up onthe back table in the Sanctuary.
• Sunday Morning Snacks – Please see Denise Bledsoe to sign up to bring snacks for Sundaymorning.
• Track Ministry – If you would like to help with the Track Ministry, please see Ron Champion.
Women’s Announcements:
• Hospice- Ladies, Please sign up to deliver food to hospice. The sign up sheet is in the middlebuilding. We also need food for the box.
• Nancy Guthrie Conference – January 29-30 in Decatur. Cost $12 and includes snacks Friday nightand breakfast on Saturday. Please let Lisa know if you are interested in going ASAP.
• Morning Bible Study – Bible study will start back on Wednesday, January 20 at 8:45am. We willbe going through the study Holiness: The Heart God Purifies by Nancy Lee DeMoss. Book cost is
$10. Let Lisa Spence know by January 10 if you need her to order a book. Make checks payable to
New Covenant Baptist Church.
• Ladies True Woman Conference – March 25 – 27 in Chattanooga. Speaking will be Nancy LeighDeMoss, Mary Kassian, Dannah Gresh, and others. Worship leaders are Keith and Kristyn Getty.The price is $129 plus hotel accommodations. Let Lisa Spence or Amy Williams know if you are
interested. Here’s a link: http://www.truewoman.com/?id=760
Praise/Prayer Requests:
• Praise the Lord that Mark Coy and Todd Gregg were not seriously injured in their car accidentTuesday afternoon. Pray that they will have a speedy recovery from the soreness they are
experiencing from the crash.
• Pray for the Seckel’s grandson, Ethan, who has been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.
• Pray for Gloria Childress’ brother, James Pierce, who is in kidney failure and not doing well.
• Pray for Penny Roney, Steve Hellums’ sister. She has a tumor on her pituitary gland.
• Pray for Jeff and Suzanne Davis as Suzanne is pregnant and considered high risk and is havingsome major health issues.
• Pray for Denise Bledsoe’s mother, Shirley McLendon, who is in congestive heart failure. Pleasepray for Denise as she is trying to help her mother as much as possible.
• Pray for Ruth Thompson, Wanda Parker’s mother. Pray for her husband, Dalton, as he cares forher.
• Pray for those with cancer: Linda Duran.
Missions:
M.U.D. Ministries:
Please begin praying for those who are going to Nicaragua in February. These include Jimmy Barnard,
Matt Colvin, Jennifer Dixon, Charlie Fields, Todd Gregg, Lisa Spence, and Amy Williams.
M.U.D. is raising money to buy land and build houses in Nicaragua to build houses for orphans. If you
would like to donate money, please contact Eric Hixon at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
The Teague Family: Chris, Emily, Eden, Canaan, Bethany and Nile -
If you would like to get in touch with the Teague’s, you can contact them at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
They are working United World Missions. The website is www.unitedworldmission.org.
Volunteers for this week:
Sunday Morning:
1’s and 2’s – Lisa Spence/Gloria Childress
3’s and 4’s – Todd Gregg/Reagan Gregg
Food - Sweet – Patty Knight
Salty – Kathy Coy
Last Sunday Stats – January 17, 2010:
Attendance: Worship Service - 85
Offering: General - 2,215.15
Missions - 180.00
Birthdays:
Friday, January 22 – Laura Champion
Sunday, January 24 – Amber Knight
Tuesday, January 26 – Steve Hellums & Wesley Knight
New Covenant Baptist Church – www.DiscoverNewCovenant.com
104 W. Alabama Avenue, Suite A - Albertville, AL 35950
256-849-2454
Sunday:
9:30am – Sunday School
10:30am - Worship Service
6:00pm – Community Groups
Wednesday:
11:30pm – Men’s Bible Study
6:00pm - Children’s Activities
6:00pm – Student Activities
6:00pm – Adult Bible Study
Pastor – Brad Williams Family Pastor – Drew Dixon
Our mission and passion at New Covenant Baptist Church is to glorify God by becoming a community that
fosters the love of God with all of the heart, soul, mind and strength, and by learning to love one another as Christ
Jesus has loved us. The answer to every heart's need and the satisfaction of all our longing is found in Jesus Christ
our Lord, who is Himself the very image of Almighty God. We exist to adore Him, and to spread the knowledge
of His greatness to the ends of the earth.
