SHREVEPORT GRACE CHURCH

2970 Baird Rd., Shreveport, LA 71118

CHRIST ALONE-SCRIPTURE ALONE-GRACE ALONE

September 25, 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 119: 105-112, by Dale A. Schoening. 

1.  Your word's a lamp unto my feet,

    And light unto my path.

    I've made a solemn promise that

    I'll keep your righteous ways.

 

2.  I am afflicted, Lord, save me

    According to your word.

    Accept my offerings of praise

    And teach me all your ways.

 

3.  My life is ever perilous,

    But I uphold your laws;

    The wicked set a trap for me,

    Yet I won't stray from them.

 

4.  Your teachings are forever mine,

    They give my heart great joy.

    I am resolved to keep your laws

    Until the day I die.

THE MYSTERY OF GOD MADE FLESH

AND CHRIST MADE SIN

nd when it is said, He was made flesh, misconceive not, as if there was a mutation of the Godhead into flesh; for this was performed, "not by changing what he was, but by assuming what he was not…," As when the scripture, in a like expression, saith, "He was made. sin," 2 Cor. v. 21, and made a curse, Gal. iii. 13. The meaning is not, that he was turned into sin, or into a curse; no more may we think here the Godhead was turned into flesh, and lost its own being and nature, because it is said he was made flesh.

JOHN FLAVEL, ‘The Fountain of Life’, 1671

GROWTH IN GRACE

AND THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE LORD- 2 Peter 3:18

ver since the Lord began His work of grace in my heart, by His Spirit, having taught me the glorious Gospel of our Lord Jesus, the object of my faith has been Christ and Him crucified, and my soul fixed on Him who died that sacrificial death, much like the children of Israel whose gaze they fixed on the brazen serpent, John 3:14.  It is at the cross that God has graciously taught me how He, a Just and Holy God, can be just and justify sinners such as myself.  I cannot say, however, that I am an expert in the doctrine of the cross, but rather, He has graciously made me a life-long student [disciple or learner] of the cross and the One who died there as the Savior, Redeemer, Substitute, Justifier and Sanctifier of sinners. 

            The more I learn, by God’s grace, the less I rely on any previous knowledge I thought I had, and the more intently I rely upon Him who accomplished the work entirely and exclusively for me at the cross.  This is truly growth in GRACE.  If I am growing in grace, I am growing in my need of grace, and thereby seeing myself only as sinful, ignorant, and helpless apart from His redeeming and justifying death.  To grow in the knowledge of the Lord is to acknowledge ever more that salvation is ALL in, by, and of Him, and nothing in, by, or of me.  This work of grace makes the truth of the cross, and Christ’s work of righteousness finished and imputed there all the more evident to the heart.  I Corinthians 1:30- “But of HIM are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us WISDOM, and RIGHTEOUSNESS (justification) and SANCTIFICATION, and REDEMPTION.”  When the Spirit of God makes Christ wisdom to you, you also see Him as everything else- righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, not just established or grounded in His death, but accomplished and applied there! Hebrews 1:3.  As we grow in grace and the knowledge of the Lord, we become increasingly teachable, particularly when it involves a subject as vital as the death of the Lord Jesus. The grace of God humbles the soul and causes us to look entirely outside ourselves for any righteousness or good. Righteousness is not in us, but IN HIM. 

“Lord, grant me more of that grace and  knowledge of your Son, and remove any thought of grace or knowledge that does not increasingly bring me low at His feet, and exalt HIM above ALL!”

KEN WIMER

NOT BY CHANCE

hance has nothing to do with death! Not the outcast infant of a day old, exposed by its unnatural mother to perish by the tiger or the vulture; nor even the sparrow that dies of hunger in its nest--passes out of life without the knowledge of God. Our Lord Jesus declared, “Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. Revelation 1:17, 18

            What consolation is there in this sublime declaration! The key of death is never for a moment entrusted out of His hands--and never can be wrested from them! Every time a human being dies, it is by an act of His power, in turning the key which unlocks the gates of death! Our life is under the constant and strict observation of His omniscient eye! He determines the moment when to take the key from His belt, and throw the portals of immortality back on their mighty hinges! O, what comfort does this impart to us, in reference to our own lives--to know that exposed as we are to all the ‘accidents’ and diseases of this 'world of changes', and enveloped as we are in darkness as to the consequences of the next step, and the events of the next hour--that we cannot die by a random stroke, or by a blind chance! The key of death must be turned by Him who is infinitely wise, and powerful, and good!

“See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand,” Deuteronomy 32:39

COPIED FROM GRACE GEMS