SHREVEPORT GRACE CHURCH
2970 Baird Rd., Shreveport, LA 71118
CHRIST ALONE - SCRIPTURE ALONE - GRACE ALONE
February 10, 2008
SUNDAY
Scripture Reading/Prayer: Psalm 85
Call to Worship: ‘Christ Exalted is Our Son’
Scripture Reading/Prayer: Philippians 1(David)
Hymn: # 152- ‘Lo! He Comes, with Clouds Descending’
Message: Heaven Described- Revelation 21:22-22:6
Hymn: # 144- ‘Hark! Ten Thousand Harps and Voices’
Call to Worship: ‘Come Let Us Join Our Cheerful Songs
Scripture Reading/Prayer: Job 7 (Jim Pennywell)
Hymn: # 49 - ‘Our Great Savior’
Message: The Law’s Demands - Deuteronomy 4:1-14
Hymn: # 485 - ‘Revive Us Again’
WEDNESDAY
7:00 PM - Mid-week meeting
Nursery care available during 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: #393-‘Take My Life’)
1 - Christ exalted is our song,
Sung by all the blood-bought throng;
To His throne our shouts shall rise.
God with us by sacred ties. (Repeat)
2 - Shout, believer, to thy God!
He has once the wine-press trod;
Peace procured by blood Divine;
Cancelled all thy sins and mine (Repeat)
3 - Here thy bleeding wounds were healed;
Sin condemned and pardon sealed;
Grace her empire still maintains;
Christ without a rival reigns. (Repeat)
4 - In thy Surety thou art free;
His dear hands were pierced for thee;
With His spotless garment on,
Holy as the Holy One! (Repeat)
Lord Save Me Ere I Perish
…he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand… Matthew 14:30-31
When the terrors of the night set about you, in your distress of mind will you cry Lord save me ere I perish or will you languish in the knowledge that you have not striven hard enough and vow anew to rectify your complacency in hopes that you may not be consigned to that place of darkness and its terrors forever?
Blessed be The Saviour, whom alone we can look to for a ransom completely accomplished; Who else can we turn to, HE Alone…
Matthew 18:14 Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish. Note that it is HIS will, not ours, so it is by HIS grace & mercy that we may be relieved of our distress. Blessed be The Name of The LORD! Layne Denton
Whose Christ - Theirs Or God’s?
“He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Peter answering said, The Christ of God.” Luke 9:20
To hear men’s testimonies of Christ today in comparison to God’s testimony of Him in Scripture, you have to come away with the conclusion that theirs is a different ‘christ.’ This is the very distinction that the Lord brought Peter and the other disciples to confess with ‘Whom say ye that I am?’ and he answered ‘The CHRIST [anointed] of God!’
Theirs is a ‘christ’ who wants to save everyone but can’t unless they let him. God’s Christ, however, has been given authority over all flesh to GIVE eternal life (not just wish to give) unto as many as the Father has given Him. In our Lord’s High Priestly prayer He said, “As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him,” John 17:2.
Theirs is a ‘christ’ who laid down his life as a ransom for every single person, and yet that ransom remains ineffective unless the sinner personally accepts it for himself, much like a check requiring two signatures (God’s and man’s) in order to cash it. God’s Christ effectually paid the sin debt of every sinner that the Father gave Him, and because the Father is satisfied, HE effectually draws each one in time to Christ in faith- John 6:37-39.
Theirs is a ‘christ’ of would’a, could’a, should’a religion, when it comes to getting the work of salvation completed. Modern preachers love to make people either feel proud of their part in salvation or their decision to accept ‘jesus.’ However, they hasten to make people feel guilty by preaching what Christ would’a liked them to do, but alas, they didn’t; or could’a done for their ‘jesus’, had they just been a bit more dedicated; or should’a done, but alas now they must be eternally condemned. God’s Christ puts no condition for salvation on the sinner, but HE Himself bore every condition Himself to satisfy God’s law and justice, and completed every requirement Himself in His obedience unto death. The sinner’s part is that of the beneficiary, by which he is given the Spirit of God, faith to believe, and submission to the righteousness of God established and worked out by Christ and imputed to the spiritual account of every one of God’s elect, immediately upon completion of Christ’s work at the cross; 1 Cor.1:30
Whose Christ do you have - theirs or God’s? Ken Wimer
What About Christ?
Some center their teaching on the blessings that men may or may not receive by their “participation” with GOD. They often promote physical and mental healing, formulas for happy marriages and life in general, financial windfalls and practical monetary advice. No benefit for men goes unnoticed and seldom any opportunities for self enrichment on the part of the “prophets” and “teachers”. But some just speak about the normal blessings of everyday life which they say can be enjoyed to a greater or lesser degree based on a person’s relative obedience to God’s commands. These show that not only have they missed the center of the Gospel but they have missed the Gospel entirely.
Still others shift their focus to the perpetuation of religious orders and traditions which are faithfully handed down from one generation to the next; completely intact in every detail, assuming that by preserving such customs, an adherence to Gospel truth can thus be insured in the future. Some focus on the gift of “preaching” as if it was the hinge pin upon which all of the truth of GOD must turn, even sometimes denying that a person could “hear” the Gospel through the lips of one not particularly set aside for this task by some ceremony or human recognition. Or they make “priests” out of those who are mere heralds of truth.
Then there are those who delight in certain “tests” which prove whether or not a person is a true disciple, such as water baptism, the length of one’s hair, head coverings for women, whether or not a person is a “Calvinist”, etc. In fact some even become enamored with doctrines which may be true enough but they promote the form of the doctrine rather than the ONE who is the SUBSTANCE of the doctrine. It does not matter how straight one may seem to be in dotting all of his theological I’s and crossing all of the T’s of his eschatology, if the crux of all of his preaching or conversation is not JESUS CHRIST and HIM crucified, then regardless of what else he may be doing, he is merely shadow boxing. (See I Cor.9:26)
Paul continually preached one message, and HIS message was CHRIST. When he taught about the Christian’s relationship to the law, his message was CHRIST. When he taught about the believer’s place among the saints of GOD in the local church, his message was CHRIST. If he taught on marriage, his message was CHRIST. If he taught on giving, his message was CHRIST. If he taught on the Lord’s Supper or baptism, his message was CHRIST. If he taught on walking in the SPIRIT and not fulfilling the lusts of the flesh, his message was CHRIST. If he taught about putting on the whole armor of GOD, his message was CHRIST. If he taught about the hope of the resurrection, his message was CHRIST.
If CHRIST is the center, sum, and substance of the gospel then it behooves us not only to be sure that we preach CHRIST, but that the CHRIST which we preach is the ONE of whom the scriptures bear record. “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.” (1John 5:11)
Mike McInnis, Obrien, Fl