GOD\u2019S SUCCESSFUL WORD<\/p>\n
Isaiah 55: 10: For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven,
\nand returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring
\nforth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the
\neater: 11: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it
\nshall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I
\nplease, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.<\/p>\n
God made the rain and snow to illustrate his word. It is not an
\nafterthought that God uses creation to illustrate the truth. Everything
\nwas created \u201cby [Christ] and for [Christ] and he is before all things,
\nand by him all things consist\u2026that in all things he might have the
\npreeminence.\u201d (Col 1: 16-18) If we have not preached Christ from
\ncreation we have preached creation in vain.<\/p>\n
The rain and snow come down from God above. This illustrates how God\u2019s
\nword comes down from God above. (Ps 104:13; Job 37:6) Christ the Word
\ncame down from above. He is God in human flesh, the Word made flesh who
\ndwelt among us. (Jn 1: 1, 14) Likewise, it is God above who sends his
\ngospel to his child. (Deut 32: 2)<\/p>\n
Furthermore, as the rain and snow always accomplish God\u2019s purpose so
\ndoes God\u2019s word. The Word came down and is now returned to God but not
\nbefore accomplishing the purpose for which God sent him. He finished the
\ntransgression, made an end of sins, made reconciliation for iniquity,
\nbrought in everlasting righteousness, fulfilled all scripture, is
\nanointed the most Holy and has anointed the Holiest giving his people
\nwelcome access into God\u2019s presence. (Dan 9: 24; Jn 17: 4; 19: 30; Heb
\n10: 19-22) Likewise, the word preached in truth always accomplishes
\nGod\u2019s purpose, \u201cFor we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them
\nthat are saved, and in them that perish.\u201d (2 Cor 2: 15) \u201cthe LORD shall
\nsatisfy thy soul in drought\u2026and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and
\nlike a spring of water, whose waters fail not.\u201d (Is 58: 11) Christ
\nquickens and Christ grows us through the gospel \u201cas the latter and
\nformer rain unto the earth.\u201d (Hos 6: 3-4)<\/p>\n
Finally, as the snow and rain gives seed to the sower and bread to the
\neater, God accomplishes his purpose, giving us bread to live on and seed
\nto sow. Believer, live upon Christ the Bread and we shall never hunger.
\nAnd as we sow seed from the harvest for a future harvest so God causes
\nhis church to sow the word and calls out his lost sheep. \u201cHe that
\nobserveth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall
\nnot reap. As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the
\nbones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou
\nknowest not the works of God who maketh all. In the morning sow thy
\nseed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not
\nwhether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall
\nbe alike good.\u201d (Ecc 11: 4-6) Free will preachers are like rain-dancers.
\nBut as we depend upon God to give snow and rain and bring forth seed, we
\ndepend upon God to give life and fruit in our hearers, as well as
\nourselves. (Job 38: 22-29, 37-38) \u201cNow he that ministereth seed to the
\nsower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown,
\nand increase the fruits of your righteousness.\u201d \u201cGod is able to make all
\ngrace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all
\nthings, may abound to every good work: Being enriched in every thing to
\nall bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.\u201d (2 Cor
\n9: 8-11) So preach the word!
\nClay Curtis.<\/p>\n
Dry sand and deep wells
\n\u201cAnd they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore
\nand ten palm trees; and they encamped there by the waters.\u201d Exodus 15:27<\/p>\n
A great wilderness lay between Israel and Canaan; a vast unfriendly,
\nharsh land that stretched out before them across which they could not
\nsurvive without the presence and power of God. This wilderness is in
\nfigure a picture of this world. What they experienced physically all
\nbelievers experience spiritually. Spiritually there is nothing in this
\nworld to sustain, nourish, or preserve the child of God. Everything he
\nneeds must be supplied of God and come to him by sovereign irresistible
\ngrace. It is exactly the harsh environment of this wilderness that
\nbrings to the believer\u2019s heart the sweet experience of grace. Elim
\noffers nothing to the intellectual; just palm trees and wells. Elim
\noffers nothing to the mystic; its waters and trees were just waters and
\ntrees. But, oh, to the man whose tongue cleaved to the roof of his
\nmouth, to the sojourner whose back had been burnt under that blazing
\nson; to him those seventy palms and twelve wells was nearly Canaan
\nitself. Looking at Elim as a place of refreshing in the wilderness I see
\nit manifest in figure three ways.<\/p>\n
First, I see this blessed place of rest in the wilderness represented in
\nChrist. \u201cCome unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will
\ngive you rest.\u201d (Matthew 11: 28) It is Christ himself who is our rest.
\nIt is his blessed person that refreshes the heart and satisfies the soul.<\/p>\n
Secondly, Elim and its refreshing wells are represented to us in this
\ngospel age as the local church. God\u2019s church is the pillar and ground of
\nthe truth. He has put them strategically so that all who journey through
\nthis wilderness, on their way to Canaan, are sure to drink from its
\nwells and rest in its shade.<\/p>\n
Thirdly, Elim is represented in our day by the regenerating, renewing,
\nand converting work of the Holy Spirit of God. All of the refreshing
\nwaters of Christ are drawn up for us by his presence and power.<\/p>\n
It is the wilderness experience that makes Elim\u2019s water so precious.
\nNever till we are weary and heavy laden will we appreciate Elim\u2019s rest.
\nThank God for dry sand and deep wells. – Darvin Pruitt
\nDarvin Pruitt<\/p>\n
Sent to Preach Good Things
\nAnd how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How
\nbeautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and
\nbring glad tidings of good things! Romans 10:15<\/p>\n
This passage is quoted from Isaiah 52 and is the beginning of the
\nimmediate context of chapter 53 which tells the good tidings themselves.
\nNamely, how that our Lord Jesus Christ was despised and rejected by us.
\nAnd that He was a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief, and how that
\nHe was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities.
\nIt proclaims the glad tidings that the chastisement of our peace was
\nupon Him and that with His stripes we are healed. He actually and
\neternally healed our souls by His stripes. His sin-atoning death
\naccomplished our salvation. His death was victorious and successful and
\nthose for whom He died obtained eternal redemption thereby (Heb 9:12).
\nYou see why these feet are so beautiful; because they bring tidings of
\nthe sovereign, gracious, almighty Savior Who died for and saved His
\npeople from their sins. The One prophesied of there in Isaiah 52:7 is
\nChrist Himself. He said in Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon
\nme, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel (glad tidings) to
\nthe poor . . . The Apostle Paul correctly uses this prophecy to apply to
\nall of God\u2019s preachers, because we are sent with one message, and it is
\nHis message, the message of Isaiah 53, and the whole Bible. The glad of
\ntidings of Jesus Christ the Lord and what He did for sinners.
\nChris Cunningham<\/p>\n
The King’s Matter
\n\u201c\u2026thou hast made known unto us the KING\u2019S MATTER.\u201d Dan. 2:23
\nA death sentence had gone out from King Nebuchadnezzar for Daniel and
\nhis friends. The only way their lives could be saved was for the Lord to
\nreveal the mystery of the king\u2019s dream. So, it is with us. The wages of
\nsin is death. None of the magicians, astrologers or sorcerers of our day
\ncan interpret the King\u2019s Matter. The truth of the gospel of God\u2019s free
\ngrace in Christ (which is the King\u2019s Matter) can only be known by divine
\nrevelation. If the Lord doesn\u2019t open the eyes of our understanding, we
\nwill die.
\nOh Lord, show us our total inability. Show us the glory of thy beloved
\nSon. Enable us to cast all our care on Him who cares for us. ~Greg<\/p>\n
What Is It To Preach The Gospel?
\nPsalm 130:5-6
\nThe Apostle Paul said, “Though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to
\nglory of” (I Cor. 9:16). What is it to preach the gospel? Is everybody
\npreaching the gospel? Regrettably no! It would be great if all the
\nchurches everywhere did preach the gospel, but this certainly is not the
\ncase. Preaching the gospel involves telling the truth as it is revealed
\nin the Holy Scriptures. Telling the truth about God, man, Jesus Christ,
\nand salvation; lets take a closer look at those four things.
\nTELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT GOD!
\nGod is not who we think He is, He is who He is as revealed in the
\nscriptures. All men by nature have an incorrect and false notion about
\nthe true and living God. The God that is revealed in scripture is
\nabsolutely HOLY. “Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name?
\nFor thou only art holy” (Rev. 15.4). God is also sovereign in all things
\n(Psalm 135.6). Divine sovereignty simply means that God is God, beside
\nHim there is none else. God is also immutable in all His attributes and
\nactions (Mal. 3: 6). All that He is today, He has been, and ever will be
\n(Heb. 13: 8). He is the etemal I AM (John 8: 24).
\nTELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT MAN!
\nMen don’t like to hear the truth about God nor about themselves. But we
\nmust be faithful to God and His word. Man is the exact opposite of
\neverything that God is. He is holy, we are unholy. He is omnipotent, we
\nare impotent and frail. He is unchanging, we change all the time. The
\ntruth is, man is fallen, totally depraved, sinful in all thoughts,
\nactions, and dead in sin (Rom. 3:9-19).
\nTELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT JESUS CHRIST!
\nWho is Jesus Christ? Fully and totally almighty God, and fully and
\ntotally a real man (I Tim 3:16). What did He accomplish? He is the
\nGod-Man Mediator sent of God to effectually and eternally redeem His
\npeople from all their sin (Heb. 9.12, Matt. 1:2 1). He did not fail to
\nsecure the eternal salvation of His blood-bought people (Isa. 42:4; John
\n19:30).
\nTELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT SALVATION!
\nEvery aspect of salvation from the beginning in election (I Thes. 2:13);
\nto the end in glorification (Rom. 8.30), is of the Lord.
\nSalvation is all of grace not of works (Eph. 2:8-9)!
\nTom Harding<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
GOD\u2019S SUCCESSFUL WORD Isaiah 55: 10: For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: 11: So shall my word be that goeth forth out […]<\/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-4937","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\/4937","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=4937"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4937\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4938,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4937\/revisions\/4938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}