BIBLE CLASS - 10:00 AM

The Prodigal Son-Luke 15:11-32

MORNING WORSHIP- 11:00 AM

Scripture Reading/Prayer: Psalm 113 (David)

Call to Worship: ‘Hallelujah To Our God‘

Scripture Reading/Prayer: II Samuel 8 (Mike)

Hymn: #326 –‘More About Jesus’

Message: FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH– Rev. 2:8-11

Hymn: #186 – ‘THE Church’s One Foundation’

AFTERNOON WORSHIP

Hymn: #340 – ‘Nearer, Still Nearer’

Scripture Reading/Prayer: Luke 22 (Jim)

Hymn: #294 – ‘Savior Like A Shepherd Lead Us’

Message: WILDERNESS JOURNEYS - Numbers 10:11-36

Hymn: #156 – ‘It Is Well With My Soul!’

CONTACT INFORMATION

PO Box 5028, Shreveport, LA 71135

OTHING can justify us, but that which is our reconciliation, our righteousness and peace. Nothing can procure peace to us but that which justifies us and covers our iniquities that “separate us from God,” Isa. 57 and 59:2. “for he is our peace, who hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us,” Eph. 2:14, 15, 17. Can faith do these things for us? Surely not! Christ became our righteousness by His obedience, or more strictly by His obedience to the death of the Cross, Col. 1:20, Eph. 2:16. God did ordain Him to be our righteousness, I Pet. 1:18-20, and therefore, we ought to look upon Christ to “be our righteousness,” because God “hath made him” so; I Cor. 1:30, II Cor. 5:21; Heb. 9:26, 28. Nothing can present us holy, and unblamable, but Christ, Col. 1:22. Therefore, Christ’s Testament declares that all the parts of our redemption, justification, reconciliation, and salvation, are attributed to Christ’s blood, to His death, Col. 1:20, Eph. 2:16, Heb. 9 and 10, and Rom. 5:9. SAMUEL RICHARDSON, 1637

“…even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,” Ephesians 5:25,26

otice how the work of Christ is described here on behalf of His Church. It is one of sanctifying and cleansing. When it says that He gave himself for it, it is speaking of His obedience unto death, and the subsequent immediate effect of that death in sanctifying and cleansing His people. Hebrews 10:10 describes this as a once for all sanctifying- “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” The ‘washing of water by the word’ is a metonymy [figure of speech] for cleansing by Christ, THE WORD. Every member of THE CHURCH of God’s elect in Christ was perfectly sanctified and cleansed by the perfect work and blood-shedding of Christ upon the cross. Every legal ordinance of condemnation that stood before God the Father against us was removed out of the way, Col. 2:14.

Some have a hard time with this because they confuse sanctification with purity. They say, “If I was justified and sanctified at the cross, how then could I be born into this world in sin and darkness?” They therefore endeavor to put sanctification after regeneration, as if regeneration makes them somewhat more righteous before God. The question is, ‘Are we any less sinners after regeneration?’ Can you say that being born again you are no longer sinful? 1John 1:8 states that “if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” That in itself points us to the need of Christ as our Sanctifier and Sanctification more than anything else.

What does the word “sanctify” mean? It is to be set apart, to be free from violation or condemnation. In the Old Testament there were sanctified fields, sanctified oxen, sanctified clothing, and sanctified articles. On the great day of Atonement, Aaron appeared with his sanctified coat and breeches of fine linen, and these, when soiled with the filth of the sanctified beasts slain in the sacrifice, were just as holy, just as much sanctified, as they were when clean. This marks the distinction between sanctification and purity. Sanctification exists where impurity is evident. The difference is that the Spirit of God causes those whom Christ has sanctified, set apart by His righteousness imputed to them, to mourn over and hate their sin and to look to Christ alone, who IS their sanctification! I am wholly and perfectly sanctified (set apart and free from condemnation) because Christ is my sanctification, and I AM sanctified in Him. It is unto Him as my righteousness, that the Holy Spirit has separated me by regeneration. KEN WIMER

E came from the bosom of the Father to the bosom of a woman. He put on humanity that we might put on divinity. He became Son of Man that we might become sons of God. He was born contrary to the laws of nature, lived in poverty, was reared in obscurity, and only once crossed the boundary of the land in childhood. He had no wealth or influence, and had neither training nor education in the world’s schools. His relatives were inconspicuous and non-influential.

In infancy He startled a king; in boyhood He puzzled the learned doctors; in manhood He ruled the course of nature. He walked upon the billows and hushed the sea to sleep. He healed the multitudes without medicine and made no charge for His services. He never wrote a book, yet all the libraries of the country could not hold the books that have been written about Him. He never wrote a song, yet He has furnished the theme for more songs than all song writers together. He never founded a college yet all the schools together cannot boast of as many students as He has. He never practiced medicine, and yet He healed more broken hearts than doctors have healed broken bodies.

He is the Star of astronomy, the Rock of geology, the Lion and the Lamb of zoology, the Harmonizer of all discords and the Healer of all diseases. Great men have come and gone, yet He lives on. Herod could not kill Him: Satan could not seduce Him; death could not destroy Him; the grave could not hold Him.

He was rich yet for our sake became poor. How poor? Ask Mary. Ask the wise men. He slept in another’s manger; He cruised the lake in another’s boat; He rode on another man’s foal; He was buried in another man’s tomb. Yet, He is the ever perfect One, the chiefest among ten thousand. He is altogether lovely. S. of Solomon 5:16

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