{"id":3004,"date":"2014-09-27T09:32:22","date_gmt":"2014-09-27T09:32:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=3004"},"modified":"2014-09-27T09:32:22","modified_gmt":"2014-09-27T09:32:22","slug":"bulletin-edition-229-september-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=3004","title":{"rendered":"Bulletin Edition #229 September 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

To Be A Witness.
\n<\/strong>\u201cGo home to thy friends and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee.\u201d Mark 5: 19\u2028\u2028The Lord had shown great mercy to this poor sinner, setting him free from demons and from sin. Now He tells him to go home to his family and friends and to be the Lord\u2019s witness.\u2028\u2028Do not go home and begin to preach. Do not go home and take up the great doctrines of grace and expound them. Do not go home and strive to bring everyone to your views and beliefs. Do not go home and condemn all who do not see what you see. Go home and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you! Not what great things you have read or heard, but what great things you have experienced! This is the way to begin our witnessing.\u2028\u2028There is never a more interesting story than the story a person has experienced, lived, and felt. If you would really interest others and get their attention, tell them what great things the Lord has done in you and for you!\u2028\u2028Notice the Lord said, \u201cTell them what great things the Lord hath done.\u201d It is a story of free grace. Not what we did, willed, or gave, but what He did for us by His own free, sovereign, and undeserved love. We will not convince them nor change them anymore than another man could convert us. But the Lord who did great things for us can do great things for them if He is so pleased to use the faithful witness of those who go and tell what great things the Lord hath done for them.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Henry Mahan.<\/p>\n

The Invitation to the Beloved
\n<\/strong>by James Smith, 1860
\nThe Lord Jesus is the object of the heart’s love of every believer. None can, for one moment, compare with him. He is the chief among ten thousand. He is the altogether lovely one. Everything in Christ is precious, and everything connected with Christ is esteemed. His name is as ointment poured forth, and his presence is felt to be a real Heaven. We could go anywhere with Christ. We could do anything for Christ. We feel an interest in all that belongs to Christ. These thoughts have been awakened by the language of the song, “I am my Beloved’s, and his desire is toward me. Come, my Beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages. Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourishes, whether the tender grapes appear, and the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give you my love!” Song of Songs 7:10-12
\nThe Invitation.
\n“Come, my Beloved.” The first word is taken out of Christ’s mouth. He always invites first. Invited by him \u2014 we come to him; coming to him \u2014 we are saved by him; being saved by him \u2014 we realize union to him, and communion with him; and realizing union and communion \u2014 we long and seek to be always with him \u2014 desiring and seeking to be always with him. As we cannot go to him as yet, we invite him to come and dwell with us: “Come, my Beloved.” Jesus has won the heart. He has gained the soul. There is, therefore none like him. He is . . . \u2028the beloved One,\u2028the object of desire, \u2028the source of joy, and \u2028the center of the affections.<\/p>\n

“Let us go forth into the field.” The field is the world. It is a field that needs cultivating. There is much work to be done there. The Beloved claims it \u2014 but an enemy has seized it. It has run waste. The desire is to recover, reclaim, and make it fit for the Lord. She was willing to work \u2014 but wanted her Savior’s company and sanction. She would labor \u2014 but desires to be a laborer together with God.
\n“Let us lodge in the villages.” The parts adjacent. Let us begin home missionary work first. Let us preach the gospel to the poor. Let us seek to win the illiterate, the neglected, the despised. Let us seek the simple ones. Let us lodge with them for a time, not merely pay a hasty visit, that we may save the more.
\n“Let us get up early into the vineyards.” The little churches. Little separated, cultivated, fruitful spots. The representatives of the one vineyard of red wine, where grow the Lord’s pleasant plants, where the great gardener loves to work, and walk.
\n“Come, my Beloved, let us go forth into the field,” where there is so much to be done.
\n“Let us lodge in the villages,” among the poor who have been so long neglected.
\n“Let us get up early into the vineyards,” the little spots enclosed by grace, and planted with the plants of the Lord’s right hand planting.
\nThe Design.
\n“Let us see if the vines flourish.” Let us see if sinners are converted, if believers are added to the church, if the saints grow in grace. God’s plants have life. They are planted in a good soil. They are expected to grow. Not merely to grow \u2014 but to flourish, to look healthy, become vigorous and strong; be ornamental and fruitful.
\n“Let us see if the tender grapes appear.” Let us look for the blossoms of hope, the fruits of faith and love. Let us see if there are indications of the fruits of the Spirit \u2014 love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, and faith. Or the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, to the praise and to the glory of God.
\n“Let us see if the pomegranates bud forth.” Let us see if those who have gifts, use them for the good of the church. Let us see if ministers preach Christ, set forth the great atonement, and keep the nourishment of the church before her. Let us see if the church is healthy and orderly, if believers are fruitful and happy, if ministers are holy and useful. Let us see by personal inspection, by active examination.
\nThe Inducement.
\n<\/strong>“There I will give you my love.” There I will afresh . . .\u2028surrender my heart to you, \u2028fix my affections upon you, and \u2028give utterance to my feelings before you.
\nThere will I sing you songs of love, the praises of the heart.
\nThere will I offer up prayers that will please and gratify you.
\nThere will I exercise loving confidence in you.
\nThere will I show loving zeal for your glory and obedience to your will. I will profess my love to you in the field, the world, before those who neglect or hate you.
\nI will confess my love to you in the villages, among the rustics who listen to the word.
\nI will prove my love to you in the vineyards, by my attention to, and concern for your pleasant plants.
\nMy whole heart and soul shall be set upon you, every gift and grace shall be employed for you, and my entire person shall be devoted to you.
\n“There I will give you my love.” There shall be no more reason to doubt my sincerity, or the whole-heartedness of my affection and attachment; for I will be for you, for you entirely, for you only, for you eternally \u2014 and you shall be for me.
\nFriend, if we are inviting Jesus to out heart, or our home, or to go forth with us to labor in his cause \u2014 it is the effect of his having invited us . . .\u2028to his feet, to find rest; \u2028to his cross, to enjoy pardon; and \u2028to his throne to obtain grace.
\nOur religion begins with Christ. It always begins with him. He is always first. “We love him \u2014 because he first loved us.”
\nReal religion is never selfish. As soon as we are blessed ourselves, we desire to bless others. If we enjoy the love of Jesus \u2014 we want all to enjoy it. We would have the whole field cultivated, or the whole world know and love Jesus. We would have the villages made happy and holy \u2014 we would have the churches all prosperous and faithful. Just in proportion as we are sanctified \u2014 we become unselfish.
\nYoung Christians always evince much zeal. They are often deficient in knowledge \u2014 they must be; but they will be zealous. Nor should we endeavor to check their zeal \u2014 but only to regulate it. God approves of their zeal, and therefore they are generally very useful. Jesus approves of their zeal, and accompanies them in their work, and therefore they are very happy.
\nJesus deserves our love, and the confession of it. We should love him . . . .\u2028for his glorious nature, \u2028for his sublime perfections, \u2028for his perfect character.
\nBut if we cannot rise as high as this \u2014 then we should love him . . . \u2028for what he has done for us, \u2028for what he has procured for us, \u2028and for what he has promised us.
\nWe should love him \u2014 for his love to us.
\nNor should we fear to confess our love to him. But, before his friends and his foes, we should acknowledge that he is the highest object of our love. What a blessed assurance Paul gives us, “If you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead \u2014 you shall be saved: for with the heart man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” What a precious promise himself makes us, “Whoever, therefore, shall confess me before men \u2014 him will I confess before my Father who is in Heaven.” But what a fearful threatening follows, “But whoever shall deny me before men, him I will also deny before my Father who is in Heaven!”
\nReader, do you love Jesus? Is he your Beloved? Have you ever had him revealed in you, and so endeared to you? Do you know . . . \u2028the sweetness of his presence, \u2028the power of his grace, and \u2028the glory of his salvation?
\nDo you daily invite him to accompany you into the world \u2014 to preserve, protect, and assist you; and into the church \u2014 to comfort, crown, and bless you?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To Be A Witness. \u201cGo home to thy friends and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee.\u201d Mark 5: 19\u2028\u2028The Lord had shown great mercy to this poor sinner, setting him free from demons and from sin. Now He tells him to go home to his family and friends and to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bulletin-editions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3004"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3004\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3006,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3004\/revisions\/3006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}