SHREVEPORT GRACE CHURCH

2970 Baird Rd., Shreveport, LA 71118 

CHRIST ALONE-SCRIPTURE ALONE-GRACE ALONE 

APRIL 1, 2007 

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: #1- ‘O, Worship the King’) 

YE children of God, by grace in His Son,

Redeemed by His blood, & with Him made one;

This union with wonder and rapture be seen,

Which nothing shall sunder, without or within.

This pardon, this peace, which none can destroy,

This treasure of grace, this heavenly joy.

The worthless may crave it, it always comes free;

The vilest may have it, ‘twas given to me.

‘Tis not for good deeds, good tempers, nor frames;

From grace it proceeds, and all is the Lamb’s;

No goodness, no fitness, expects He from us;

This I can well witness, for none could be worse.

Sick sinner, expect no balm but Christ’s blood;

Thine own works reject, the bad and the good;

None ever miscarry that on Him rely,

Though filthy as Mary, Manasseh, or I.

 

GOD’S ZION

here are numerous references to Zion in the scripture as an exact location yet most of the time that reference is made to it; the context leads us to see it used more as a metaphor for the place where GOD is pleased to dwell with HIS people.  “Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.” (Ps 2:6) does not have reference to a “place” so much as it does to the fact that HE has a kingdom which is an everlasting kingdom. (See Ps.145:13; Dan 7:37;2 Pet.1:11)   

Zion is a place with an unshakeable foundation. “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation” (Isa 28:16)  The LORD JESUS CHRIST is that CORNERSTONE which the builders of earthly kingdoms have rejected.  Yet “other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor, 3:11)  HIS righteousness alone is the hope of those who dwell there.

                Zion is a place of great joy.  “And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” (Isa 35:10)  The word of reconciliation is sent out to all those who have been purchased by JESUS CHRIST. “The year of my redeemed is come.” (Isa 63:4)  The gospel is sent by HIM to publish glad tidings and comfort those that mourn. (see Isa.40:9; 41;27; 61:1-3).   MIKE MCINNIS, O’Brien, Florida

A MINISTER OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

“Who hath made us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the Spirit,” 2 Corinthians 3:6

hat is the point that the apostle Paul makes here in God’s inspired Word?  Isn’t it that God’s true ministers have been established for the proclamation of God’s will and testament that He purposed in His Son from eternity, having named specifically in His will those sinners who should be beneficiaries of His eternal grace, love, forgiveness, and glory through the death of His Son in their place, Rev. 21:27.                  It is called the NEW Testament, not because it is different than what He purposed from eternity, but rather in contrast to the Old Testament, of the ‘letter’ of the law, which was one of obligations, conditions, and rules that could only condemn sinners, not save them.  The first was designed to show the utter impossibility of any sinner to satisfy any of God’s holy requirements, based on personal effort or individual obedience.  The law had no flexibility, giving no life, no hope, no help, but to the letter of the law required absolute perfection.  In establishing the New Testament, however, God did not set aside the first.  Rather, the Lord Jesus Christ came and fulfilled the first in every jot and tittle, and thereby established a new and living will for those that God chose from eternity, whom He named in the Lamb’s book of life, Heb. 9:15. 

All of the conditions and obligations were accomplished by the Lord Jesus.  Because of the death of the Testator (Christ), all of the privileges and benefits of grace written in the Testament are now the inheritance of every sinner for whom Christ died.  What benefits?  These include their redemption, justification, sanctification, and final glorification, which could not be obtained in any other way than by the death of the Testator.  Our Lord Jesus satisfied ALL the conditions of God’s law and justice by His shed blood, and now the New Testament is in full force by His death as Testator, Heb. 9:15,16.  No man, or devil can disannul it, add to it, or make it void.  It is NOW in full force for every heir of promise, whether they have already died and gone before, those living now in the joy of the Spirit having Christ revealed in them, and even those yet to be called by God’s glorious grace to Himself. 

                Every true Gospel preacher declares this glorious message because He has the Spirit of God in him.  He is called a minister of the Spirit, to communicate to the Lord’s redeemed and justified people the blessings of Christ.. He is pardoned by Christ’s blood and therefore preaches forgiveness in HIM alone.  Knowing that he is justified, he preaches only that imputed righteousness of God established, accepted and accomplished at the cross, knowing that nothing else could justify him.  Being quickened by the Spirit of God, he believes and therefore speaks, holding forth the Word of life in its fullness, freeness, and finality by the blood and righteousness of Christ alone.                  KEN WIMER

MARRIED TO ANOTHER

“Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?  For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.  So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.   Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.”  Romans 7:1-4

ere is a parable in which the first husband represents the Law; the wife represents the Church; and not the second, but the last husband represents the Lord Jesus Christ.  The picture is of a humble Jewish woman who is married to a stern, critical, unyielding, unrelenting, perfectionist husband. She can never do enough to please him.  The meals are either too hot or too cold. He puts on a white glove to check for dust on the window sill at the end of every day.    When she speaks, she is too loud or too soft. She talks too much or too little. Her clothing is too dull or too flashy. She is too slow or too fast. What she thought was an ideal has become an ordeal. Now, she needs a new deal! She had a situation! She was in bondage. She had no legal or moral recourse. And worst of all, they both lived from the time of the first Adam to the advent and suffering of the Last Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Finally, the first husband, the Law died. She was free! God’s elect, the Church, died to the Law when Christ died. By His obedience unto death He fulfilled every part and penalty of the Law. By her union with Christ, she also fulfilled the Law. She was married to the Law; now, she is married to Christ. He is the exact opposite of the first husband. He is kind, tender, gentle, encouraging, accepting, and loving. She has found liberty she never knew existed. So it is for those married to Christ!           DAVID SIMPSON, POWELL, TN