2970 Baird Rd., Shreveport, LA 71118

CHRIST ALONE-SCRIPTURE ALONE-GRACE ALONE

December 18, 2005

OPPORTUNITIES FOR WORSHIP

SUNDAY

WEDNESDAY

6:30 PM- Mid-week Service

Nursery care available for all services for ages 4 and younger.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Ken Wimer, Pastor- ( (318) 687-4943

PO Box 5028, Shreveport, LA 71135

E-MAIL: pastor@shrevegrace.org

WEB SITE: http://www.shrevegrace.org Updated weekly with audio messages now available on-line.

CALL TO WORSHIP 

(Tune –‘When I Survey the Wondrous Cross’   #118)

Based on Psalm 123 by Henry Francis Lyte, 1834

nto Thee I lift my eyes,

Thou that dwellest in the skies;

At Thy throne I meekly bow,

Thou canst save, and only Thou.

 

As a servant marks his lord,

As a maid her mistress’ word,

So I watch and wait on Thee,

Till Thy mercy visit me.

 

Let Thy face upon me shine

Tell me, Lord, that Thou art mine.

Poor and little though I be,

I have ALL in having Thee.

 

Here to be despised, forgot,

Is Thy children’s common lot;

But with Thee to make it up,

Lord, I ask no better cup

MAN’S RELIGION & GOD’S TRUTH

“…That no flesh should glory in His presence.”  I Cor 1:29

·        Man’s religion is to build up human nature as good; God’s truth is to humble the creature in the dust as sinful, depraved, and worthy of condemnation – Romans 3:19

·        Man’s religion believes that the choice is up to the sinner, God’s truth declares that salvation is God’s choice alone, by His grace and mercy in Jesus Christ –Romans 9:18

·        Man’s religion is to make the sinner’s believing the key to forgiveness of sins; God’s truth makes the effectual death of Christ to be the only reason for forgiveness, and believing on Christ the fruit of His death.  All who believe do so because they were ordained to eternal life, and Christ died for them – Acts 13:48.  All who die in unbelief were never Christ’s sheep – John 10:26. 

Salvation is of the Lord!

                                                KEN WIMER

CHRISTMAS IN CRISIS- NOT CHRIST!

“Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years, I am afraid…” Gal. 4:10, 11

here’s a war on Christmas!  In a day of political correctness and inclusion of all views, more and more laws are being established making it illegal to have crèches and ‘Santas’ displayed in public places and for some there is a great outcry!              The question is, ‘How did ‘Santa’ and ‘crèches come to be considered together anyway?’   Sadly, much like many so called ‘christian’ holidays, it has its roots in Rome, and is a syncretism of works religion and pagan society.  

How blessed are the Lord’s people not to be affected one whit even if the laws of the land banish and make illegal all such public displays that surround this holiday season.  We do not worship our Lord Jesus as the world does anyway!  Just as with our Gospel of salvation freely accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ, untainted by man’s will, devices, or doings, so the taking away of all idolatrous festivities can only serve to cause others perhaps to weigh carefully all traditions in light of the Word.  What a great opportunity this is, in the heat of the battle, not to defend a tradition called ‘Christmas,’ but to testify of the truth of Christ’s incarnation without all the props, and to tell friends and loved ones that His coming, doing, and dying had as its purpose not merely to provide salvation for sinners, if only the sinner will accept Him,  but rather to accomplish salvation and fulfill it, that God might be just in justifying all for whom He died- imputing their sin to Christ, and God’s righteousness (justice) simultaneously to them in His cross death.  There is not a crisis in the true Gospel message of Christ as Substitute, and certainly the removing of all of the other idolatrous activities from that message, may, by God’s grace serve to cause some to look more carefully at what the Scriptures teach, rather than what tradition promotes.                                                                                                                                                                          KEN WIMER

BLESSED!

RAISE God  that He is faithful to His promises.  One of the blessings of the covenant is that He will write His law upon our hearts.  First, He slays us from every notion of being justified by our personal obedience to that law.  Next, He reveals to us how Christ came and fulfilled every jot and tittle of that law in the place of the very sinner slain by it.  Finally, He causes these blessed children to be able to love the very law that first troubled them.  All of this is through the merits of Christ’s work of infinite righteousness for all those who look to Him alone for justification and life.                                    TIM HALL, Albany, GA