2970 Baird Rd., Shreveport, LA 71118

CHRIST ALONE-SCRIPTURE ALONE-GRACE ALONE

NOVEMBER 27, 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: #10- ‘O God Our Help in Ages Past’ (Words based on Psalm 120)

n my distress to God I cried,

And he gave ear to me.

From lying lips, and guileful tongue,

O Lord, my soul set free.

What shall be giv'n thee? or what shall

Be done to thee, false tongue?

Ev'n burning coals of juniper,

Sharp arrows of the strong.

My soul with him that hateth peace

Hath long a dweller been.

I am for peace; but when I speak,

For battle they are keen.

But as for me my song shall rise

Before Jehovah’s throne,

For He has seen my deep distress

And hearkened to my groan.

ASCRIBING OUR JUSTIFICATION TO CHRIST ALONE!

en please themselves with a conceit that they do not dishonor Jesus Christ in ascribing their justification to faith, because faith is a grace of Christ, and so from Christ. But, by the same reason, we may ascribe our justification to love, patience, temperance, goodness, etc., because they are from Christ and fruits of the same spirit faith is, Gal. 5:22. And may we not also by the same reason ascribe our justification to all our spiritual performances such as prayers, tears, and all our good works, because the power by which we do these is from Christ: "For without me," Christ says, "ye can do nothing," John 15:5.

O all ye sons and daughters of the most High, lift up your voice, and cry, “No inherent holiness to justification,” as well as no works of the Law; for whatsoever is in us, and acted by us, and passes through us, is defiled by us, "All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags," Isa. 64:6. Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us," etc., Tit. 3:5-9. "But in the Lord have I righteousness," Isa. 45:24, 25. "He is our righteousness," Jer. 23:6. "I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only," Psal. 71:16. "My tongue shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long:" verse 24. For no other righteousness can be compared to this.

SAMUEL RICHARDSON, 1647

THANKFULNESS TO GOD

e are all by nature, self-centered and ungrateful creatures.  Sin has made us so.  Were it not for the Lord’s mercies, He would most certainly be just in casting us into hell.  A spirit of thankfulness is not something you can cultivate, but a grace given by the Lord.  Without the grace of God, trying to cultivate an attitude of thankfulness would be like watering a bed of weeds. How we need the gracious work of the Spirit on our hearts to make us thankful, not just for material possessions, but particularly for God Himself, and His Son the Lord Jesus Christ- by, in, and for whom He created the world!, Romans 11:36.  He sent His Son into the world to pay the sin debt owed His law for those sinners whom He chose in eternity.  In time the Spirit of God comes and causes them to be born again, enabling them to repent and know the sovereign, holy God in truth, and submit to the Lord Jesus who worked out that perfect righteousness whereby they stand just before God.  It is only then that a sinner will truly know thankfulness.  Why should God show mercy to any, except for His grace in Christ Jesus?  Has He given you this grace in His Son? Then you have every reason to thank HIM.

KEN WIMER

HELPLESS BUT NOT HOPELESS

, there is that in Christ that satiates the soul that is born of God.  HE IS ALL AND IN ALL.  It is of importance for you and me and every child of God to learn that He is our Savor and Redeemer.  We read in the prophecy by Ezekiel [Chapter 16] about a newborn babe being cast into the open field.  O!  How helpless it is       It can do nothing for itself; it must have all done for it.  Now, if you are born again of God, you are yourself as helpless as regards saving yourself, and washing yourself from your sins, and clothing yourself in the robe of righteousness, and justifying yourself in a spiritual point of view, as that little child was.  If we are born again, we are like the babe cast out, helpless and crying, bewailing our condition, knowing that no man can help us.  But when the Lord passes by, He spreads His skirt over us, and feeds and nourishes us with the Bread of heaven, and gives us all that we stand in need of.  Heaven-born souls can do nothing for themselves.  Christ and Christ alone is all and in all.  Amen!

JOHN KERSHAW, 1853

PITCHED WITHOUT AND WITHIN

Make thee an ark of gopher wood: rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. Genesis 6:14

he word ‘pitch’ appears only two times in the entire Bible in the Authorized Version. Both of those appearances are in the same verse, Genesis 6:14.  The ark is a type of Christ, but what is the significance of the pitch and why is it used twice in the same verse?  In fact there are two different words that have been translated as pitch.  They both come from the same root, but they have distinctly different meanings.  The first time it is used it is the Hebrew verb kaphar, which means ‘to cover’ or ‘make atonement.’  This is a blessing in itself, those on the ark were in Christ and the application of the pitch was making atonement for their sins.  But what was this pitch itself that was to be applied?  When the word pitch appears for the second time it is the Hebrew noun kopher, which means ‘the price of life’ or ‘ransom.’  This now makes so much sense. The atonement was made with the blood of the sacrifice.  Those on the ark were protected by this covering, a type of God’s forbearance, and were to look ahead to the day when our Lord Jesus Christ would make the last sacrifice on the cross and there justify those that His Father had given him.   

                                                       BILL FEGLEY, Shreveport, LA