CALL TO WORSHIP

(Tune: Brethren, We Have Met)

Lord, we've met to see Thy beauty

And to worship at Thy feet;

May we ask to see more clearly

Grace and glory, rich and sweet.

Tell us more of Christ our Savior,

In Him all Thy people bless;

Let us dwell with Thee forever

In the LORD OUR RIGHT­EOUSNESS.

Christ our Light and our Salvation,

God is just to justify;

By His merits we're forgiven,

"God is gracious," is our cry.

Confidence in God our Savior,

Free to serve and worship now;

We shall reign with Christ in glory;

At the throne of grace we bow.

TODAY'S SPEAKER: Eager Avenue Grace Church extends a warm welcome to Bill Parker. Bill is pastor of Thirteenth Street Baptist Church in Ashland, Ky. He will conduct both the 10:00 am and 11:00 am services today. Pray for him as he delivers God's Word.

Fellowship Meal: There will be a fellowship meal immediately following today's service.

Radio Broadcast: Sunday morning at 9:30am on 98.7 FM -WISK. You can also hear the sermons on your computer. Just click on http://www.americusradio.com/

Birthdays: Sue Parker - Nov. 10^th.

THE EXCELLENCE OF KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST

"Yea doubtless, and I count all things [but] loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them [but] dung, that I may win Christ," (Philippians 3:8).

There is no greater knowledge than that which God teaches all His children by the Holy Spirit when He teaches them of the glory of Christ crucified and risen again (Jer. 31:34; John 6:45). Knowledge for knowledge's sake alone merely makes a person proud and self-righteous. Knowledge without grace, truth, and heart merely makes a person outwardly pious and judgmental. But when God the Holy Spirit teaches us of our utter depravity and sinfulness and then drives us to Christ for all righteousness, eternal life, and glory, this is the excellence of knowledge that causes us to consider all things that rival Christ to be no more than dung so that we may win Christ and be found in Him, having been washed in His precious blood and clothed in His perfect righteousness. God uses the means of preachers preaching the Gospel of His grace in Christ to us, but it is only by the Holy Spirit that this excellent knowledge is imparted to our hearts unto salvation. This is the knowledge that brings us to faith in Christ and repentance of dead works (Php. 3:7). This is the knowledge that comes in the fear of the Lord as we see the glory of the Person and finished work of Christ for whole salvation (Prov. 1:7).

Pastor Bill Parker

The Lost Sheep Restored

Our first view of this peculiar people shall be in the place where God finds them. "My people," He says, "have been lost sheep." They do not become sheep by being found, nor do they cease to be sheep by being lost. They were sheep eternally in the mind of God; and their becoming lost did not alter nor destroy their character of being sheep any more than the wandering of a sheep literally and naturally from the fold turns it into a goat. It may be lame, sick, or diseased; it may stray away miles from the fold; its fleece may be torn with briars or soiled with mud, and its whole appearance so altered that the shepherd can scarcely recognize it; but it is a sheep still, and ever will be a sheep while it continues to exist. And thus the elect being sheep eternally in the mind of God, and as such possessing an eternal union with the Son of God, could not cease to be sheep by falling in Adam, nor do their personal, individual falls, slips, and transgressions destroy their original, unalterable character.

J.C. Philpot

"WITHOUT SPOT"

Many times in the descriptions of the various sacrifices and offerings in the Old Testament we read these words "without spot." Here is one of many:

"And in the beginnings of your months ye shall offer a burnt offering unto the LORD; two young bullocks, and one ram, seven lambs of the first year without spot;" (Nu 28:11)

These offerings were all pictures and types of the Lord Jesus who was the one sacrifice for sins forever. (Heb. 10:12) He is not an offer to men but an offering for His people. By that one offering He perfected forever them that are sanctified, set apart in Him, by God's sovereign choice of grace. (Heb. 10:14) This was all according to God's will through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Heb. 10:10) Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. (Heb. 9:28) How could He do this and how could the thrice holy God accept His sacrifice? Because He offered Himself without spot to God. "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Heb. 9:14) One instant He is the Lamb without spot or blemish and the next instant He is the Lamb slain! Why? Because the wages of our sin is death! (Rom. 6:23) One minute He is the only One acceptable to pay that debt; the next minute He is the One who has paid it! The soul that sinneth shall surely die (Ezek. 18:4, 20) but a sinner cannot die for a sinner. Oh, but He who knew no sin can and He did. "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:" (1Pe 1:18-19) It is because of His sinless offering offered to God in the place of sinners that Paul says to believing sinners that Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it "That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or