2970 Baird Rd., Shreveport, LA 71118
CHRIST ALONE-SCRIPTURE ALONE-GRACE ALONE
MAY 14, 2006
SUNDAY
Scripture Reading/Prayer: Psalm 144 (David)
Call to Worship: ‘I’ll Bless My Savior God’
Scripture Reading/Prayer: 2 Kings 12 (Mike)
Hymn: #46- ‘O For A Thousand Tongues to Sing’
Message: ‘REASONS FOR GOOD CHEER’- John 16
WEDNESDAY
7: 00 PM- Mid-week Service
Nursery care available for all services for ages 4 and younger.
Ken Wimer, Pastor- ( (318) 687-4943
E-MAIL: pastor@shrevegrace.org
WEB SITE: http://www.shrevegrace.org Updated weekly with audio messages now available on-line.
CALL TO WORSHIP
Tune: (#188- ‘I Love Thy Kingdom Lord’)
Words based on Psalm 44, by John Beaumont, 1834 [Edited]
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’ll bless my Savior God,
Who doeth all things right;
Arm’d with His Spirit’s two-edged sword,
Against my foes I’ll fight.
My goodness, and high tower,
My fortress, and my shield;
Depending on His love and power
I’ll boldly take the field.
My Savior has subdued
The powers of earth and hell;
Behold, He has made all things new,
He doeth all things well.
GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS IMPUTED
“For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God,” Romans 10:3
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ome are attempting to define God’s righteousness in terms of some inner moral sinless perfection which the Spirit of God produces, calling it ‘imparted righteousness.’ However, such language is never used in Scripture. The righteousness of God defined in His Word is a judicial, legal perfection established by the Lord Jesus Christ in His obedience unto death, which God the Father fully accepted as His own (therefore God’s righteousness), and imputed (charged once for all) to the spiritual account in one simultaneous act, at Christ’s death. If your sin was discharged to our Lord in His death, there remains nothing but righteousness (acquittal from all charges) that has already been accounted to you, the Lord Jesus having already satisfied law and justice on your behalf. We are seen by God as justified by His imputed righteousness alone, which He reveals by the Spirit of God through faith, Romans 1:17. To believe in, or preach any other righteousness is to be ignorant of God’s righteousness and to discount the very record that God has given of it in His Word. May He graciously cause each of us to willingly submit to that righteousness of God imputed in Christ at the cross, once for all- Hebrews 10:14!
KEN WIMER
PROPITIATION BY CHRIST’S DEATH
“Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” Romans 3:25
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he whole of salvation and forgiveness is hung upon Christ accomplishing propitiation . The propitiation in the Old Testament was the blood on the mercy seat, sprinkled once each year. In short, propitiation means that God was satisfied with everything about Christ and His obedience unto death. In life and death He assumed our responsibilities and wrongs. By His doing and dying He exhausted the penalties of the Law. So complete was the propitiation that He accomplished that all that remained upon its completion was ‘the righteousness of God’ imputed there to the elect, and revealed to them in time by faith (Rom 1:16-18). Most importantly, Christ satisfied God’s law and justice, leaving God no room to be angry with any for whom Christ died. On the ground of His work, God became just and justifier or the just justifier of His people. DAVID SIMPSON, Powell, TN
THE GOD-MAN
“…of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever, Amen!” Romans 9:5
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his is such a clear statement of our Lord Jesus Christ as the GOD-MAN. He was fully man and fully God and He came to ACCOMPLISH salvation by His shed blood on the cross. He came as the Substitute, in the place of every elect sinner that the Father gave Him, with mercy, love and pardon. Therefore, Christ is over all as God, and BLESSED forever, as THE GOD-MAN.
JIM PENNYWELL, Shreveport, LA
NEWS FROM MALAWI, SOUTHERN AFRICA
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astor Ken, the brothers here in the church are praising the Lord for what He has done to have this church building roofed. We thank God for what we have gone through, especially when the wall had fallen at one point. God did not want us to roof that old dark gospel we used to proclaim. Our prayer was to roof that church building since, as perhaps you know, that church was the first of all the branches, and it has also been the first to receive the blessings of the roof and indeed your first gift to the church in Malawi. God bless you richly. Be with us in your prayers just as we are with you here. All the brethren send their regards. Yours in His Vineyard, JAMES MWALE
THE NARROW WAY
“The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it,” Luke 16:16
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ince John the Baptist, the Gospel is being preached to the world, and no longer through the Jews. By God’s grace, there were many upon hearing the Gospel who were pressing to enter into the kingdom there declared. They were striving to enter through THE NARROW WAY, God motivating them through the Holy Spirit, giving them the desire to push through any and all opposition in order to gain the prize, which is the true knowledge of Christ the Savior.
Through the Jewish nation of old, God was revealed through the Law and Prophets. As the Savior, He was the promise to come and as Jesus Christ, come in the flesh; He is NOW the fulfillment and the completion of salvation to all men- that is sinners of every tribe and kindred. Any who truly hear the Gospel as proclaimed by John, and since then by the apostles, will press or strive to enter into this narrow gate, through all opposition brought on by their own religious leaders, their families, or their friends. What is wise to man stands in contrast to the wisdom of God.
The Gospel of God defies all that men are brought up to believe and see. To believe this Gospel of Jesus Christ and full justification by Him alone, apart from works, according to the inalterable purpose of God, a sure salvation for lost sinners who cannot come of themselves, and that does not allow one to serve both God and mammon, leaving out any possibility of free-will, will ALWAYS be in opposition to the ways and thinking of natural men of this world. The warfare and struggle against this man-centered religion will always be there for one who is taught of God. However, with God’s Spirit indwelling a person, and him continuing to grow in grace and the knowledge of Christ, he will leave this world’s unrighteous mammon alone. He’ll leave behind work’s salvation, rewards in heaven kind of thinking, and he’ll continue to press toward the mark of the high calling of God, which is salvation by grace and by Christ alone.
DAVID STRANGE, Shreveport