Tag: Sovereign Grace

Sermon Download: Sola Gratia (Grace Alone)

~ Bob Hayton ~ Leave a comment

This past Sunday, I had the privilege of preaching for a special five-part series at our church. Each week a sermon has been devoted to one of the Five Solas of the Reformation. In English, the Five Solas are: Christ Alone, Scripture Alone, Grace Alone, Faith Alone, and to the Glory of God Alone. This is also the order we are using for the sermon series. Our pastor has opened the series and will finish it, and two other men and I are privileged to contribute one of the messages for the set.

My sermon from this Sunday was on Sola Gratia, or Grace Alone. I was especially burdened by this topic which is so all-encompassing. My sermon highlighted the role of Grace in salvation — we are saved not on account of our works (praise God!). And I also emphasized how grace opposes legalism, in both its doctrinal and practical forms. Finally I was able to touch on Sovereign Grace just a bit as well.

My text was Titus 3, and I was pleased to discover that Martin Luther preached a pair of sermons on Titus 2:11-4 and Titus 3:4-7 for Christmas of 1522. Those sermons were epsecially pertinent to my theme and I included some quotations. (You can find Luther’s sermons on Titus  here and here).

I’m sharing my sermon notes and audio in this post and welcome any feedback. You can also find all my recent sermons from The Heights Church, St. Paul, here.

If you don’t have time to listen to the entire sermon (52 minutes), please do look over my notes.

Place: The Heights Church, St. Paul
Date: November 12, 2017
Title: Sola Gratia (Grace Alone)
Text: Titus 3:3-8
Notes: Download PDF
Audio Link: Click to listen (right click to download)

Super Sale at Sovereign Grace

~ Bob Hayton

Before I forget myself, I need to remind everyone about the second annual super sale that Sovereign Grace Ministries is hosting. You can find details about the sale here.

  • All their music CDs, such as Together for the Gospel Live, Valley of Vision, & Songs for the Cross Centered Life, are available for $6
  • All their books, such as Worldliness & The Cross-Centered Life by C.J. Mahaney, are available for $7 each or less.
  • If you like their music, check out their songbooks. They are also on sale, but run $25 or $30. (I need to pick up volume 3, myself)
  • Plus they offer free shipping in the US.

Before I close this post, I should really recommend Love that Lasts: When Marriage Meets Grace. I’ve paged through this book and it is the best book on marriage I’ve ever seen. I gave away my copy so I haven’t read it all. It’s worth the $7. I’ll probably be ordering my copy soon as well. (Of course if anyone wants to bless a poor blogger, I’d love a free book or some free music!)

Music Mondays: “How Deep” by Stephen Altrogge

~ Bob Hayton

I recommend many modern hymns & contemporary songs for corporate worship. While the old hymns are certainly grand, the new songs God is giving to the church, are worthy of respect too.

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I plan on highlighting some more praise music again.   Every Monday, I will try to post on one of the songs we sang in church the day before.   It’s so easy to leave the spirit of worship at the church on Sunday, and endure the week without it.   Hopefully these posts will help keep us in the spirit of worship all week long.

Today’s song is “How Deep” by Stephen Altrogge (son of Mark Altrogge, whose music I’ve previously highlighted).   Songs like this one, cause us to contemplate more deeply just how great it is that Jesus suffered and died in our place.   The song encourages a genuine heart-felt and knowledgable pouring out of thanks and love to our Savior.   It is a wonderful worship song.

How Deep
Stephen Altrogge

You were broken that I might be healed
You were cast off that I might draw near
You were thirsty that I might come drink
Cried out in anguish that I might sing

How deep is Your love
How high and how wide is Your mercy
How deep is Your grace
Our hearts overflow with praise to You

You knew darkness that I might know light
Wept great tears that mine might be dried
Stripped of glory that I might be clothed
Crushed by Your Father to call me Your own

(repeat chorus)

Words and Music by Stephen Altrogge  ©2006 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI). Sovereign Grace Music, a division of Sovereign Grace Ministries.

You can see a guitar sheet  with words and chords of the song here.   Or you can download a free copy of the basic piano score (lead sheet), or guitar sheet (as well as purchase a fuller piano score) here.   You can hear a sample of the song for free here.   And I’d encourage you to buy the cd it is on: Valley of Vision.

A Divine Perspective on the Church — C.J. Mahaney

~ fundyreformed ~ 2 Comments

Last Sunday, we had the privilege of hearing C.J. Mahaney preach in our church. His text was 1 Cor. 1:1-9 where Paul surprisingly commends the Corinthian church. He’s about to provide some strong correction for their many errors, but he goes out of his way to thank God for them, and ensure they know how blessed they are of God.

The message encourages us to find the evidences of God’s grace in the lives of those around us. It’s so easy to find fault; but when we study the fruits and gifts of the Spirit as revealed in God’s Word, we will see God at work in many ways in the lives of the people in our churches. This point is underscored by 1 Cor. 4:5. There Paul expects that God will give each minister a “commendation”. Not “condemnation” but “commendation”. This is stunning. At the judgment, and because of Christ’s transforming work in us and his substitutionary work for us, God will find things to praise us for. What wonder!

Now, don’t just enjoy my meager summary of the message. It’s available for free download from our church’s website. Click here. To learn more about C.J. Mahaney, click here. You can find other free sermons by Mahaney at this page, or by searching Sovereign Grace Ministries’ resource library. Also a C.J. Mahaney sermon archive is being created here.

May God grant us eyes to see how He is working in our lives today.

And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. (1 Pet. 5:10-11)

One last note: I recommend several of Mahaney’s books (a few are listed here). I’ve also reviewed The Cross Centered Life, and Sex, Romance, and the Glory of God.

Super Sale at Sovereign Grace

~ fundyreformed ~ 8 Comments

If you haven’t heard, Sovereign Grace Ministries is having a big February Sale.

All of their music CDs are discounted to $6 with free shipping. At my church, probably 30% of what we sing in worship times are songs written by Bob Kauflin and the other Sovereign Grace songwriters. I recommend Songs for the Cross Centered Life (which I have), and I’ve heard that Valley of Vision and their Christmas CD are really good. Their store will let you preview clips of the songs, as well as preview the lyrics and scores for free. Many of the songs I’ve reveiwed on my blog, are Sovereign Grace songs.

They also are discounting their Pursuit of Godliness books, and other materials as well. I encourage you to take advantage of this super sale!