SHREVEPORT GRACE CHURCH
2970 Baird Rd., Shreveport, LA 71118
CHRIST ALONE - SCRIPTURE ALONE - GRACE ALONE
March 16, 2008
SUNDAY
Scripture Reading/Prayer: Psalm 90 (Mike)
Call to Worship: ‘Lord, we fain would walk in love’
Scripture Reading/Prayer: Colossians 2 (David)
Hymn: # 329- ‘Sitting at the Feet of Jesus’
Message: VAIN WORSHIP- Isaiah 1:10-20
Hymn: # 228- ‘My Faith Has Found a Resting Place’
Hymn: # 209- ‘Grace Greater Than Our Sin’
Scripture Reading/Prayer: Job 11 (Jim Pennywell)
Hymn: # 172- ‘O Word of God Incarnate’
Message: GOD’S RIGHTEOUS STANDARD - Deuteronomy 5:1-15
Hymn: # 110- ‘Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed?’
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: #233- Depth of Mecy)
1-Lord, we fain would walk in love,
But, alas! How slow we move;
Pride, that haughty monster, pride,
Often makes us turn aside.
2-Lamb of God, Thy power make known;
Sweetly draw, and we will run;
Make our love to Thee and Thine
Like the sun at noon-day shine.
3-As the purchase of Thy blood,
May we seek each other’s good;
And be it our great concern,
Thee to view, of Thee to learn.
4-Flesh of flesh, and bone of bone,
With the King of glory one;
Of one body each a part,
Jesus, make us one in heart.
5-King of kings, enthroned above,
Come and shed abroad Thy love;
Fill us with that source of joy,
Which can never, never cloy.
"Your eyes shall see the King in His beauty." Isaiah 33:17
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y endless, blissful theme is ever new; Jesus and His salvation will never wear out. I would never have any sit down satisfied, but still press on after fuller revelations of Jesus; for there are heights and depths in the love of Christ of which the most favored have no conception, and there are beauties and glories in His person which none have yet beheld. Oh! I would have none rest short of the revelation of His person, though His benefits are all precious. Things of earth often repeated grow stale, but the same view of a precious Jesus a thousand times over is ever new. When Jesus shows Himself again to us, is He not as a lamb newly slain; and is not His sacrifice, as an odor of a sweet smell, as fragrant as though but just offered without spot unto God? Oh, yes, He is ever the same without sameness, and will be to all eternity. The glories, beauties, and excellences of His person are infinite; and from these boundless sources our finite minds will be feasted forever and ever. Letters of Ruth Bryan (1805-1860)
FOUR EFFECTS OF THE TRUTH ON THE LORD’S PEOPLE
“That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; In whom are hid ALL the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
COLOSSIANS 2:2, 3
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irst,
the heart is comforted (strengthened, helped, and consoled ) by
hearing the truth of Christ and the Gospel.
Second,
the Lord’s people will be knit together in love (for Christ, His
Gospel, and His people). ‘Knit together’ means to cause two or more people
to be BOUND one to another, by the truth of the Gospel in one mind, one
heart, and one spirit. Troublers will seek to divide, or say there is more
than one view, and we have to allow for other’s opinions. A free thinking
world will hold three or four positions on any subject, call it tolerance,
and preach ‘Why can’t we all get along?’ The Lord’s people must first be
taught to love the truth as it is in Christ, by the Spirit of God, and in
loving the truth, will love those who love the truth- Ephesians 4:15, 1
Peter 1:22, 2 John 1:3.
Third,
there is a full assurance of understanding. These two words are one
in the original text meaning literally ‘a most certain confidence’ of the
truth of the Gospel. It is to be fully persuaded, established in the
doctrine of Christ, and ever growing and learning the truth pertaining to
Christ and Him crucified. The word ‘understanding’ means a flowing together
as one in the truth of Christ and His cross. Like the hub of a wheel where
all of the spokes meet there, flow out from there, and find their stability
there, every attribute of God meets in the person of Christ and His cross.
There, mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed
each other, Psalm 85:10. In other words, in the cross the fullness of God’s
justice and grace are revealed. Apart from the cross, there is no grace.
However, in the cross, and justice satisfied, there remains nothing but the
free, unchanging grace of God for sinners whom the Lord has redeemed and
justified by His blood. This is NOT understood by mere intellectual,
logical, reasoning, but is Spirit given and revealed- Colossians 1:9.
Fourth,
is the acknowledgement of the mystery of God This is a right, true,
and accurate perception of God’s sovereign, secret purpose or counsel,
revealed by the Spirit, through the Gospel, in CHRIST. It is the full
revelation of God concerning His Son the Lord Jesus Christ, as ordained from
eternity, but now fully manifest and revealed in the Gospel of Christ, that
the Spirit of God causes those for whom Christ died to know, understand, and
embrace- Romans 16:25-27, I Cor. 2:7, Ephesians 3:9, Colossians 1:26, 27.
Have you so learned Christ?
KEN WIMER
GLORY IN CHRIST’S RIGHTEOUSNESS ALONE
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ou that glory in being a Christian, you shall be winnowed. Every vein of your profession will be tried to purpose. It is terrible to have it all come tumbling down, and to find nothing but itself to stand upon. You, who pride yourself on being a Christian, see to your waxen wings, which now will melt with the heat of temptation. What a misery is it to trade much, and be bankrupt at length, and have no stock, no foundation laid for eternity in your soul! You, who pride yourself on the gifts you have, look to see there is not a worm at the root that will spoil your entire fine gourd, and make it die about you in a day of scorching.
Look over your soul daily, and ask: Where is the blood of Christ to be seen upon my soul? What righteousness is it that I stand upon to be saved? Have I got away from all my self-righteousness? Many eminent religious people have come at length to cry out, in the sight of the ruin of all their duties, “Undone, undone, to all eternity!” Consider, the greatest sins may be hid under the greatest duties, and the greatest terrors. See that the wound that sin has made in your soul be perfectly cured by the blood of Christ! Not skinned over with duties, humbling and enlargements. Apply what you will besides the blood of Christ, it will poison the sore. You will find that sin was never mortified truly, if you have not seen Christ bleeding for you upon the cross. Nothing can kill it, but beholding Christ’s righteousness.
THOMAS WILCOX
MERCY AND TRUTH IN CHRIST ALONE
“And in mercy shall the throne be established: and He shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness.”
ISAIAH 16:5