SHREVEPORT GRACE CHURCH

2970 Baird Rd., Shreveport, LA 71118

 

CHRIST ALONE-SCRIPTURE ALONE-GRACE ALONE

 

FEBRUARY 4, 2007

 

OPPORTUNITIES FOR WORSHIP

 

SUNDAY

 

 

 

WEDNESDAY

7:00 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: ‘Take My Life and Let It Be,’- #393)

 

esus is the chiefest good;

He has saved us by His blood;

Let us value naught but him;

No one else deserves esteem [Repeat]

Jesus, when stern Justice said,

‘Man his life has forfeited,

Vengeance follows by decree,”

Cried, “Inflict it all on me.” [Repeat]

Jesus gives us life and peace,

Faith, and love, and holiness;

Every blessing, great or small,

Jesus freely gives us all. [Repeat]

Jesus, therefore, let us own;

Jesus we’ll exalt alone;

Jesus has our sins forgiven,

And will take us safe to heaven. [Repeat]

 

GOD’S GLORY IN THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS

“Give unto the LORD the glory due unto His name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness,”                                                            Psalm 29:2

 

henever we, the people of God, gather together in our services, it should be for one purpose- to worship the Lord our God.  When we worship, we give unto Him ‘the glory due unto His name.”  His name is His glory as it reveals and honors His nature and His works, especially His work of glorifying Himself in the salvation of sinners by His grace, in and through Christ Jesus our Lord.  We “worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness” as we see His holiness revealed, honored, and magnified in the Person and finished work of Christ on the cross to redeem us and justify us by His shed blood and imputed righteousness.  In Christ and Him crucified, the glory and holiness of the Godhead (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) shine forth.  This same glory and holiness shine forth in God’s redeemed people as we look to, rest in, serve, and as we grow in grace and in knowledge of Christ our Lord and Savior.                  BILL PARKER, Ashland, KY

PEACE BASED ON A JUST SATISFACTION

 “Then…came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, ‘Peace be unto you,’ And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side.  Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.”

John 20:19, 20

onsider these to whom the Lord spoke peace.  They were not in a state of believing, but locked away in fear in a room.  They had all fled the Lord when they came and took him away in the garden to crucify him, Matthew 26:31.  Quickly, we learn that our believing cannot be the condition of our salvation; otherwise how is it that Christ could speak peace to them while in such unbelief?  It is not an excuse for unbelief.  There is no more grievous sin, especially in the face of all of the clear testimony of Scripture concerning Christ and His work at Calvary, but clearly there is nothing done by us or anything in us that is ever the cause for our salvation, or the basis for maintaining it.  It is all conditioned on Christ and His finished work alone! 

                Our Lord Jesus came and stood in their midst and spoke peace to them all collectively. No closed doors could keep out our Conqueror of death and satisfier of God’s Law and Justice. There was no need for Him to knock for permission to come in.  He comes to those He redeemed as Sovereign Lord when and where He will- Matthew 11:27.  How, then, does He approach his fearful and faithless flock? He does not in anyway even scold them saying, ‘Shame on you!’ Instead He says, "Peace be unto you." Why?  Christ would remove from their hearts all fear of judgment because of any sin, or failure in them.  He would quiet each uneasy conscience, and again purge it from dead works, having put away their sins! Hebrews 9:14.  Two things we learn: 

(1). our justification with God is based solely on the accomplished death of Christ and not anything in us- “He shewed unto them His hands and His side”.  How often though, our minds still take us back to our experience, or believing, as a benchmark for our blessing with God, and we need once again to have our minds stayed on Christ! 

(2). peace with God is the everlasting consequence of Christ having died for His sheep- See Isaiah 32:17, 18.  Therefore, He speaks peace to them, in spite of unbelief. As one writer states it, “He would now remove their fears and unbelief.  ‘Be not afraid: I come not as judge, to demand an accounting.  I bring from my sepulcher something very different from upbraiding: ‘Peace be unto you’ was the blessed greeting of the Prince of peace, and none but He can speak peace to any.  ‘Peace’ is the first word He pronounced in the ears of His disciples now that He was raised from the dead.   So will it be when we meet Him face to face—we, with all our miserable failures, both individual and corporate; we with all our sins of omission and commission.  Not ‘Shame! Shame, but "Peace! Peace,” solely because of His shed blood and righteousness imputed!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          KEN WIMER

 

 

FORGIVENESS-FULL, FREE, AND FOREVER!

“In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace”               Ephesians 1:7

t’s FREE!  The word ‘grace’ means ‘free,’ as opposed to works, which has something that you must do.  Forgiveness of sins must not only be full, complete, and free, but also forever.  It must be irreversible, by men, angels, and even by God Himself.   What did God say in Hebrews 10:17, 18?  “Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” On what basis? V. 18- “Now where remission of these is…”  Where sin has been so fully and completely carried away,  there is no more offering for sin.

                If there is something you must do for forgiveness of sins, you will always feel the need of offering something.  Preachers love telling you that you must do something, or asking, ‘Have you done enough?’  But I ask you, ‘How could this criteria be met full, free, and forever, based on something you do or don’t do?”

                The forgiveness that is full, free, and forever is only accomplished ONE way, not multiple ways.  It must be when God discharged the sin of His elect from their account in the body and soul of Christ on the cross, and simultaneously charged to their account the righteousness earned and applied by Him there.  That is the only way it could ever be full, free, and forever.  There is no other way. 

   DAVID SIMPSON, Powell, TN

 

PAUL’S TESTIMONY- Galatians 6:14

aul never forgot the glory in which the Son of God appeared to him. He viewed this glory in connection with the cross, on which his sins had been expiated.  In it he beheld the exceeding sinfulness of sin; in it, connected with Christ’s resurrection and ascension, he saw the proof of all his sins having been forgiven.  He was now begotten again to a lively hope of an unfading inheritance, but he viewed the cross as the center from which every spiritual and heavenly blessing flowed, and it alone was henceforth the ground of his boasting.  Here he saw justice fully satisfied.  On the cross he had died with his glorious Lord and Master.  He knew he must follow him to the dust of death, but he also knew that he should have fellowship with Him in his victory over the grave.                                                                                                                              JAMES HALDANE