SHREVEPORT GRACE CHURCH
2970 Baird Rd., Shreveport, LA 71118
CHRIST ALONE - SCRIPTURE ALONE - GRACE ALONE
December 23, 2007
SUNDAY
Scripture Reading/Prayer: Psalm 78 (Mike)
Call to Worship: ‘Scripture Reading/Prayer: Galatians 6 (David)
Hymn: # 355- ‘From Every Stormy Wind That Blows’
Message: THE GREAT WHITE THRONE- Revelation 20:6-15
Hymn: # 511- ‘Face to Face’
Hymn: # 449 ’To God Be the Glory’
Scripture Reading: Job 3 (Jim)
Hymn: # 277 ‘O Thou in Whose Presence’
Message: GOD’S CARE FOR HIS OWN IN THE WORLD- Deut. 2:7-37
Hymn: # 256 ’It Is Well With My Soul’
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
Audio Messages Available On-Line; Updated weekly
Radio Broadcast: 9:00 AM (CST) Sunday on KWKH;
AM Radio 1130, Shreveport, LA area or LIVE streaming at http://www.kwkhonline.com/common/gap_streamer.php
CALL TO WORSHIP
(Tune: #268- ‘How Firm a Foundation’)
1- My God, my Creator, the heavens did bow,
To ransom offenders, and stooped very low;
The body prepared by the Father assumes,
And on the kind errand most joyfully comes.
2- O wonder of wonders! Astonished I gaze,
To see in the manger the Ancient of Days;
And angels proclaiming the stranger forlorn,
And telling the Shepherds that Jesus is born.
3-For thousands of sinners the Lord bow’d his head;
For thousands of sinners he groaned and He bled,
My spirit rejoices—the work it is done!
My soul is redeemed----and salvation is won!
4-Dear Jesus, my Savior, thy truth I embrace
Thy name and thy natures, thy Spirit and grace;
And trace the pure footsteps of Jesus, my Lord
And glory in Him whom proud sinners abhorred!
5- My God is returned to His glory on high;
When death makes a passage, to HIM then I’ll rise
To join in the song of all praise thru His blood,
To the Three who are One inconceivable God.
ETERNAL REDEMPTION AND JUSTIFICATION
According to Rom.3:24, we are "justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." This justification must be the act of God, being "freely by His grace," and it is through the "redemption that is in Christ Jesus." If so, the act of justification cannot be considered as actually passed until the redemption was actually made. Redemption is "through His blood." (Eph.1:7 & Col.1:14). Again, "In the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son made of a woman and made under the law to redeem them that were under the law." (Gal.4:4,5). Hence, as redemption is so manifestly a time act for those who before "were under the law," I cannot believe that the act of justification was passed until Christ was raised again. It is true Christ is said in Heb.9:12, "To have obtained eternal redemption for us;" but a moment's reflection on the passage and its connection will, I think, convince any one that the redemption is here called eternal, not because it existed from eternity, but because it shall be, in its effects, of eternal or everlasting duration.
SAMUEL TROTT, 1837
PEACE ON EARTH GOOD WILL TOWARD MEN
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace goodwill towards men,” Luke 2:14.
How often this verse is used to encourage goodwill among men and nations in a search for political peace. There are, however, two problems with such thinking. First, because of our sin nature, there is no goodwill among men. Being descendants of Adam, and sinners by nature, there is nothing in us but sin and a propensity for evil. Education, reformation, or legislation cannot produce in the sinner any true or lasting goodwill. Only a work of grace in the heart, by the Spirit of God, can cause one to show mercy and kindness to other fellow creatures, and that only because of the sacrificial death of Christ as their Substitute.
Second, the goodwill described here is not man to man, but rather God to men. In the context, it explains why the Lord Jesus came to this earth as a man-child, Luke 2:11. It is because it was GOD’S good pleasure to save sinners from every tribe, nation, and tongue. The goodwill towards men is God’s, in choosing sinners whom He would save, and appointing the Lord Jesus Christ to come, live, die, and rise again to put away their sin, and enable God to justify (acquit) them from all charges of law and justice immediately upon completion of Christ’s obedience unto death at the cross. They are those in whom God’s Spirit works by grace, drawing them to Christ in faith. They are the objects of God’s goodwill on earth. If He has He so manifest His good will toward you, revealing Christ in you, and drawing you to Him in faith, you have much for which to thank God at all times.
K. WIMER
HOW IS GOD GLORIFIED IN THE SINNER’S HEART
In clinging to the religion of works (salvation conditioned on the sinner) they demonstrate the reality that they in fact esteem themselves far better than others - for they imagine that some distinction produced by or in them (but not produced by others) makes them accepted and blessed by God. To remain so deceived is to cling to a false gospel which strikes directly at the glory of God by attempting to rival that which Christ alone accomplished in establishing a perfect righteousness for the elect whose sins He bore. One may strive for humility and lowliness of mind in many areas, but apart from God-given faith and repentance that looks to Christ and His finished work alone for all of salvation, God is not glorified in that sinner's heart. Rather, when any comfort or assurance is derived from the natural, self-righteous notion that salvation is ultimately conditioned on what I do (my belief, my profession, a righteousness nature put within me, etc.), it is mere presumption and vain glory indeed! "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ..." (Gal. 6:14).
RANDY WAGES, Albany, GA
SHEEP AT HIS RIGHT HAND
“And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left,”
Matthew 25:34
Look to the right hand of the Judge. The sheep of His pasture are there folded. The children of the covenant of grace await the issue. Their cruel adversary exhibits all their sins. He establishes their guilt. He demands their full punishment. They deny no charge. But they present a plea for acceptance. It is simple, but unanswerable. Their plea is Christ. Their lives show that by the Spirit’s power faith became the inmate of their hearts. This faith united them to Christ. It made them very members of Him their glorious Head. Thus, all His sufferings were their sufferings. All His work was their work. In Him they died. In Him they paid the law’s most extreme penalty. In Him they wrought out complete obedience. None can lay anything to their charge. Christ’s death is full acquittal. Christ’s life is a spotless robe concealing every sin. They ask no mitigation of the law’s just claims. But they ask life and heaven on the sure grounds that Jesus is the Law-fulfiller. They prevail. “God is just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus:” Romans 3:26. They have full right to all which Jesus earned and purchased. They receive it. The accuser is silenced. They hear the welcome, ‘Come ye blessed children of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:’ Matthew 25:34.
HENRY LAW, 1797-1884
CHRIST’S SUPREME GLORY
For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen. (Romans 11:36)
NOTES
· CLEANING SCHEDULE: Carters (12.23-1.6)
· NURSERY: Pam Atchison
· BIRTHDAYS: Ken Wimer-12/1; Hannah Carter-12/19 ANNIVERSARIES: Layne and Linda Denton-12/12; Mike and Pam Carter-12/18
· THE LORD’S TABLE- Next Sunday, December 30, 2007. There will not be a carry-in fellowship meal following.