{"id":5880,"date":"2020-11-22T23:12:36","date_gmt":"2020-11-22T23:12:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=5880"},"modified":"2020-11-22T23:12:36","modified_gmt":"2020-11-22T23:12:36","slug":"bulletin-edition-november-2020-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=5880","title":{"rendered":"Bulletin Edition November 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Why are you cast\ndown, O my soul?<\/strong><br>\nJ.C.Philpot<br>\n&#8220;Why are you cast down, O my soul? Why so<br>\n&nbsp;disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for<br>\n&nbsp;I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.&#8221;<br>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Psalm 42:11<br><br>\nDo you forget, O soul, that the way to heaven<br>\nis a very strait and narrow path\u2014too narrow for<br>\nyou to carry your sins in it with you?<br><br>\nGod sees it good that you should be cast down.<br><br>\nYou were getting very proud, O soul.<br><br>\nThe world had gotten hold of your heart.<br><br>\nYou were seeking great things for yourself.<br><br>\nYou were secretly roving away from the Lord.<br><br>\nYou were too much lifted up in SELF.<br><br>\nThe Lord has sent you these trials and difficulties<br>\nand allowed these temptations to fall upon you,<br>\nto bring you down from your state of false security.<br><br>\nThere is reason therefore, even to praise God<br>\nfor being cast down, and for being so disturbed.<br><br>\nHow this opens up parts of God&#8217;s Word which<br>\nyou never read before with any feeling.<br><br>\nHow it gives you sympathy and communion<br>\nwith the tried and troubled children of God.<br><br>\nHow it weans and separates you from dead professors.<br><br>\nHow it brings you in heart and affection,<br>\nout of the world that lies in wickedness.<br><br>\nAnd how it engages your thoughts, time after time,<br>\nupon the solemn matters of eternity\u2014instead of being<br>\na prey to every idle thought and imagination, and<br>\ntossed up and down upon a sea of vanity and folly.<br><br>\nBut, above all, when there is a sweet response from<br>\nthe Lord, and the power of divine things is inwardly<br>\nfelt, in enabling us to hope in God, and to praise His<br>\nblessed name\u2014then we see the benefit of being cast<br>\ndown and so repeatedly and continually disturbed.<br><br>\n&#8220;Why are you cast down, O my soul? Why so &nbsp;<br>\n&nbsp;disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for<br>\n&nbsp;I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.&#8221;<br>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Psalm 42:11<br><br><br><br><br><br><strong>CAST INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE!<\/strong><br><br>\nThe following is by Don Fortner-<br><br>\n&#8220;And whosoever was not found written in the book of life<br>\nwas cast into the lake of fire.&#8221; Revelation 20:15<br><br>\nI must warn you who are yet without Christ, if you will not trust<br>\nChrist you must be forever damned! Soon, you shall be &#8220;cast into<br>\nthe lake of fire!&#8221; All who are found guilty of sin in that great<br>\nand terrible day of God&#8217;s wrath and judgment shall be cast into<br>\nthe lake of fire. There you shall be made to suffer the<br>\nunmitigated wrath of almighty God forever!<br><br>\nOne by one the Lord God will call the damned before his throne<br>\nand judge them. As he says to you, &#8220;Depart you cursed!&#8221;<br>\nHe will say to his holy angels, &#8220;Take him! Bind him! Cast<br>\nhim into outer darkness!&#8221; There will be no mercy for you!<br>\nThere will be no pity for you! There will be no sorrow for you!<br>\nThere will be no hope for you! There will be no end for you!<br><br>\nTo hell you deserve to go! To hell you must go!<br>\nTo hell you will go! Unless you flee to Christ and take refuge<br>\nin him, in that great day the wrath of God shall seize you and<br>\ndestroy you forever! I beseech you now, by the mercies of God,<br>\nbe reconciled to God by trusting his darling Son! &#8220;Knowing<br>\ntherefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men!&#8221;<br>\nCome to Christ now! Eternity is before you!<br><br>\nBehold his infinite love revealed in the sacrifice of his dear<br>\nSon, and know that God is gracious, merciful, and willing to<br>\nsave sinners (2 Cor. 5:14-15). Behold Christ&#8217;s finished atonement,<br>\nand know that God in Christ has found a way to deliver sinners<br>\nfrom going down to the pit (2 Cor. 5:21). Infinite wisdom found<br>\nan infinitely meritorious ransom in the sin-atoning blood of the<br>\nLord Jesus Christ. Now, God can be and is both just and the<br>\nJustifier of all who believe on his Son. Behold his amazing,<br>\nalmighty, saving grace, and know that our God is a God who is<br>\nable to save.<br><br>\n&#8220;For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for<br>\nour sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.&#8221;<br>\n2 Cor. 5:21<br><br>\nIn that great and terrible day I hope to be found in Christ,<br>\nnot having my own righteousness, but having his righteousness.<br>\nHow will it be for you in that day?<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><strong>HOPE<\/strong><br>\nJohn MacDuff<br>\n&#8220;This is the resting place, let the weary rest; and this is the place of\nrepose&#8221;\u2014<br><br>\n&#8220;O Israel, put your hope in the Lord.&#8221; Psalm 130:7<br><br>\nHope opens its bright vista-view through the Elim palms\u2014the morning dewdrops\ndrenching their fronds and sparkling with diamond luster in the rising sun!<br><br>\n&#8220;Hope!&#8221; Who is insensible to the music of that word? What bosom has\nnot kindled under its utterance? Poetry has sung of it, music has warbled it,\noratory has lavished on it its enchanting strains. Pagan mythology, in her vain\nbut beautiful dreams, said that when all other divinities fled from the world,\nHope, with her elastic step and radiant countenance and lustrous attire,\nlingered behind. The weeping Hebrews, in the day of their exile, did not\nunstring the harps of Zion or break them to pieces. No; they hung them,\ntuneless indeed and mute, but still undamaged, on the willowed banks of the\nstreams of Babylon. Why? because Hope cheered them with the thought that these\nsilent melodies would once more awake, when God, in His own good time, would\n&#8220;turn again their captivity as streams in the south.&#8221;<br><br>\n&#8220;Hope!&#8221; well may we personify you lighting up your altar-fires in\nthis dark world, and dropping a live coal into many a desolate heart;\ngladdening the sick room with visions of returning health; illuminating with\nrays brighter than the sunbeam the captive&#8217;s cell; crowding the broken slumbers\nof the soldier, by his campfire, with pictures of his sunny home and his own\njoyous return.<br><br>\n&#8220;Hope!&#8221; drying the tear on the cheek of woe; as the black clouds of\nsorrow break and fall to the earth, arching the descending drops with your own\nbeautiful rainbow! Yes, more, standing with your lamp in hand by the gloomy\nrealms of Hades, kindling your torch at Nature&#8217;s funeral pile, and opening\nviews through the gates of glory! Beautifully says a gifted writer of the\nsister country\u2014<br><br>\n&#8220;Where&#8217;er my paths<br>\nOn earth shall lead,<br>\nI&#8217;ll keep a nesting bough<br>\nFor Hope\u2014the song-bird, and, with cheerful step,<br>\nHold on my pilgrimage, remembering where<br>\nFlowers have no autumn-languor, Eden&#8217;s gate<br>\nNo flaming sword to guard the tree of life.&#8221;<br><br>\nYes, if hope, even with reference to present and finite things, is an emotion\nso joyous; if uninspired poetry can sing so sweetly of its delights, what must\nbe the believer&#8217;s hope, the hope which has God for its object and heaven for\nits consummation? &#8220;I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait, and in His word\ndo I HOPE.&#8221; &#8220;Let Israel HOPE in the Lord.&#8221;<br><br>\nThis lofty grace, indeed, at times, requires stern discipline to develop its\nnoble proportions. It is often the child of tribulation. The apostle traces its\npedigree, &#8220;Tribulation works patience; and patience experience; and\nexperience HOPE&#8221; (Rom. 5:3, 4). It would appear as if (recurring to the\nfigure already employed), like the rainbow in the natural heavens, Hope\nspecially loves to span the moral firmament with its triumphal arch, in the\ncloud of tribulation.<br><br>\nBut, heaven-born, it is heavenward, too, in its aspiration. It is generally\nrepresented by the sculptor&#8217;s chisel as a beautiful female form, with wings\nready to be extended in flight. The safety of the timid bird is to be on the\nwing. If its haunt is near the ground\u2014if it flies low\u2014it exposes itself to the\nfowler&#8217;s net or snare. If we remain groveling on the low ground of feeling and\nemotion, we shall find ourselves entangled in a thousand meshes of doubt and\ndespondency, temptation and unbelief. &#8220;How useless to spread a net in full\nview of all the birds!&#8221; (Prov. 1:17; marginal reading). &#8220;Those who\nwait (or hope) in the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with\nwings as eagles&#8221; (Isa. 40:31). &#8220;I will hope continually,&#8221; says\nDavid, &#8220;and will yet praise You more and more&#8221; (Ps. 71:14).<br><br>\nAgain using a similar emblem\u2014the bird in the tempest rushing for shelter under\nthe mother&#8217;s wing\u2014&#8221;You have been my help, therefore under the shadow of\nYour wings will I rejoice&#8221; (Ps. 63:7). The Believer is a\n&#8220;prisoner,&#8221; but a &#8220;prisoner of hope.&#8221; The gospel is a\n&#8220;gospel of hope.&#8221; Its message is called &#8220;the good hope through\ngrace.&#8221; The &#8220;helmet of salvation&#8221; is the helmet of hope. The\n&#8220;anchor of the soul&#8221; is the anchor of hope. The believer\n&#8220;rejoices in hope.&#8221; Christ is in him &#8220;the hope of glory.&#8221;\nHope peoples to him the battlements of heaven with sainted ones in the\nspirit-land. He &#8220;sorrows not as others, who have no hope.&#8221;<br><br>\nWhen death comes, Hope cheers the final hour\u2014&#8221;Now, Lord, what do I wait\nfor? my hope is in You.&#8221; Hope stands with her torch over his grave, and in\nthe prospect of the dust returning to its dust, he says, &#8220;My flesh shall\nrest in hope.&#8221; Hope is one of the three guardian graces that conduct him\nto the heavenly gate. Now abides these three, &#8220;Faith, Hope, and\nLove;&#8221; and if it be added, &#8220;the greatest of these is Love,&#8221; it\nis because Hope and her companion finish their mission at the heavenly door!\nThey proceed no further; they go back to the world, to the wrestlers in the\nearthly conflict. Faith returns to her drooping hearts, to undo heavy burdens,\nand to let the oppressed go free. Hope goes to her dungeon vaults, her beds of\nsickness, her chambers of bereavement and sorrow. To take Faith or Hope to\nheaven, would be to take the physician to the well man, or to offer crutches to\nthe strong, or to help to light the meridian sun with a tiny candle. Faith is\nthen changed to sight, and Hope to full fruition. Love alone holds onto her\ninfinite mission. Faith and Hope are her two soaring wings. She drops them as\nshe enters the gates of glory. The watchman puts out his beacon when the sun\nfloods the ocean; the miner puts out his lamp when he ascends to the earth.\nHope&#8217;s candle-light is unneeded in that world where &#8220;the sun will never\nset again, and the moon will wane no more; the Lord will be your everlasting\nlight, and your days of sorrow will end.&#8221;<br><br>\n&#8220;I dwell here in content,<br>\nThankful for tranquil days;<br>\nAnd yet my eyes grow dim,<br>\nAs still I gaze and gaze<br>\nUpon a mountain pass<br>\nThat leads\u2014or so it seems\u2014<br>\nTo some far happier land<br>\nBeyond the world of dreams.&#8221;<br><br>\n&#8220;On we haste, to home invited,<br>\nThere with friends to be united<br>\nIn a surer bond than here:<br>\nMeeting soon, and met forever!<br>\nGlorious HOPE! forsake us never,<br>\nFor your glimmering light is dear.<br><br>\n&#8220;All the way is shining clearer,<br>\nAs we journey ever nearer<br>\nTo the everlasting Home.<br>\nFriends who there await our landing,<br>\nComrades, round the throne now standing,<br>\nWe salute you, and we come!&#8221;<br><br>\n&#8220;May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him,\nso that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.&#8221;<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><strong>To bathe in the ocean of endless bliss!<\/strong><br>\nJ.C.Philpot<br>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &#8220;Blessed are those whose strength is in You,<br>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; who have set their hearts on\npilgrimage.<br>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; As they pass through the Valley of Baca,\n(&#8220;weeping&#8221;)<br>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; they make it a place of springs;<br>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; the autumn rains also cover it with\npools.<br>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; They go from strength to strength,<br>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; until each appears before God in\nZion.&#8221;<br>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Psalm 84:5-7<br><br>\nEvery living soul that has been experimentally taught<br>\nhis lost condition\u2014that has known something of a resting<br>\nplace in Christ\u2014that has turned his back upon both the<br>\nworld and the professing church\u2014and gone weeping<br>\nZionward, that he may . . .<br>\n&nbsp; live in Jesus<br>\n&nbsp; feel His power,<br>\n&nbsp; taste His love,<br>\n&nbsp; know His blood,<br>\n&nbsp; rejoice in His grace;<br>\nevery such soul shall, like Israel of old, be borne safely<br>\nthrough this waste howling wilderness\u2014shall be carried<br>\nthrough this valley of tears\u2014and taken to enjoy eternal<br>\nbliss and glory in the presence of Jesus\u2014to bathe in the<br>\nocean of endless bliss!<br><br><br><br><br><strong>&#8220;I pray with all my heart; answer me, Lord! I will obey your\nprinciples. I cry out to you; save me, that I may obey your decrees. I rise\nearly, before the sun is up; I cry out for help and put my hope in your words.\nI stay awake through the night, thinking about your promise.&#8221; Psalm\n119:145-148<\/strong><br>\nOctavius Winslow<br>\nTo be heavenly-minded, in the true and scriptural sense, is to carry our holy\nChristianity into every department of life, and with it to elevate and hallow\nevery relation and engagement. There is no position in which the providence of\nGod places His saints, for which the grace of Jesus is not all sufficient, if\nsincerely and earnestly sought. Nor is there any sphere, however humble, or\ncalling, however mean, to which the life of Jesus in the soul may not impart\ndignity, luster, and sacredness. Christianity, through all grades, and classes,\nand occupations, is capable of diffusing a divine, hallowing, and ennobling\ninfluence, transforming and sanctifying all that it touches. Blessed and holy\nare they who know it from personal and heartfelt experience.<br><br>\nBut &#8220;if we be risen with Christ,&#8221; what is it to seek those things\nwhich are above, and to set our affections not on things on the earth? In other\nwords, what is true heavenly-mindedness? It involves the habitual and close\nconverse with God. The life of the soul can only be sustained by constant and\nceaseless emanations from the life of God. There must be a perpetual stream of\nexistence flowing into it from the &#8220;Fountain of Life.&#8221; And how can\nthis be experienced but by dwelling near that Fountain? Of no practical truth\nam I more deeply and solemnly convinced than this, that elevated\nspirituality\u2014and, oh, what a blank is life without it!\u2014can only be cultivated\nand maintained by elevated communion. The most holy, heavenly-minded, devoted,\nand useful saints have ever been men and women of much prayer. They wrestled\nwith God secretly, and God wrought with them openly; and this was the source\nwhich fed their deep godliness, which supplied their rich anointing, and which\ncontributed to their extensive and successful labors for Christ. Thus only can\nthe life of God in the soul of man be sustained. Other duties, however\nspiritual\u2014other enjoyments, however holy\u2014other means of grace, however\nimportant and necessary, never can supply the place of prayer. And why? because\nprayer brings the soul in immediate contact with Christ, who is our life, and\nwith God, the Fountain of life. As the total absence of the breath of prayer\nmarks the soul &#8220;dead in trespasses and sins,&#8221; so the waning of the\nspirit of prayer in the quickened soul as surely defines a state in which all\nthat is spiritual within is &#8220;ready to die.&#8221; Let nothing, then, rob\nyou of this precious mean of advancing your heavenly-mindedness\u2014nothing can be\nits substitute.<br><br>\nThe believer should correctly ascertain the true character of his prayers. Are\nthey lively and spiritual? Are they the exercises of the heart, or of the\nunderstanding merely? Are they the breathings of the indwelling Spirit, or the\ncold observance of a form without the power? Is it communion and fellowship? Is\nit the filial approach of a child, rushing with confidence and affection into\nthe bosom of a Father, and sheltering itself there in every hour of need?\nExamine the character of your devotions; are they such as will stand the test\nof God&#8217;s word? will they compare with the holy breathings of David, and Job,\nand Solomon, and the New Testament saints? Are they the breathings forth of the\nlife of God within you? Are they ever accompanied with filial brokenness,\nlowliness of spirit, and humble and contrite confession of sin? See well to\nyour prayers! &#8220;The Lord is far from the wicked: but He hears the prayer of\nthe righteous.&#8221; &#8220;The Lord is near unto all those who call upon Him,\nto all that call upon Him in truth.&#8221;<br><br><br><br><br><br><strong><br>\nThis is the saint&#8217;s inheritance!<\/strong><br>\nJ.C.Philpot<br>\n&#8220;Now if we are children, then we are heirs\u2014heirs of<br>\n&nbsp;God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in<br>\n&nbsp;His sufferings in order that we may also share in<br>\n&nbsp;His glory.&#8221; Romans 8:17<br><br>\nThis is the especial blessedness of being a child of God:<br>\nthat death, which puts a final extinguisher on all the<br>\nhopes and happiness of all the unregenerate\u2014gives him<br>\nthe fulfillment of all his hopes and the consummation<br>\nof all his happiness\u2014for it places him in possession of<br>\n&#8220;an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that<br>\nfades not away, reserved in heaven.&#8221;<br><br>\nIn this present earthly life, we have sometimes sips<br>\nand tastes of sonship, feeble indeed and interrupted;<br>\nyet are they so far pledges of an inheritance to come.<br><br>\nBut this life is only an introduction to a better. In this<br>\nlife we are but children\u2014but in the life to come, we shall<br>\nbe put into full possession of the eternal inheritance.<br><br>\nAnd what is this? Nothing less than God Himself.<br>\n&#8220;Heirs of God!&#8221; says the Apostle. God Himself is<br>\nthe inheritance of His people\u2014yes, He Himself in<br>\nall His glorious perfections . . .<br>\n&nbsp; all the love of God,<br>\n&nbsp; all the goodness of God,<br>\n&nbsp; all the holiness of God,<br>\n&nbsp; all His happiness, bliss, and blessedness,<br>\n&nbsp; all His might, majesty, and glory, in<br>\n&nbsp; all the blaze of one eternal, unclouded day!<br><br>\nThis is the saint&#8217;s inheritance!<br><br>\nLet us press on by faith and prayer to<br>\nwin this eternal and glorious crown!<br><br><br><br><strong><br>\nThere is one stable rock amidst the billows of the sea of life!<br>\n<br>\n<\/strong>(Charles Spurgeon)<br><br>\n&#8220;Be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age!&#8221;\nMatthew 28:20<br><br>\nIt is well that there is One who is ever the same, and who is ever with us. It\nis well that there is one stable rock amidst the billows of the sea of life. O\nmy soul, do not set your affections upon rusting, moth-eaten, decaying\ntreasures\u2014but set your heart upon Him who abides forever faithful to you. Do\nnot build your house upon the moving quicksands of a deceitful world\u2014but found\nyour hopes upon this rock, which, amid descending rain and roaring floods,\nshall stand immovably secure!<br><br>\nMy soul, I charge you\u2014lay up your treasure in the only secure cabinet; store\nyour jewels where you can never lose them. Put your all in Christ; set . . .<br>\n&nbsp; all your affections on His person,<br>\n&nbsp; all your hope in His merit,<br>\n&nbsp; all your trust in His efficacious blood,<br>\n&nbsp; all your joy in His presence,<br>\nand so you may laugh at loss and defy difficulties.<br><br>\nRemember that all the flowers in the world&#8217;s garden wither and die\u2014and the day\nis coming when nothing will be left but the black, cold earth. Death&#8217;s black\nextinguisher must soon put out your candle. Oh! how sweet to have sunlight\u2014when\nthe candle is gone! The dark flood must soon roll between you and all you have!<br><br>\nSo wed your heart to Him who will never leave you. Trust yourself with Him who\nwill go with you through the black and surging current of death&#8217;s stream, and\nwho will land you safely on the celestial shore, and make you sit with Him in\nheavenly places forever!<br><br>\nGo, sorrowing son of affliction\u2014tell your secret troubles to the Friend who\nsticks closer than a brother. Trust all your concerns with Him . . .<br>\n&nbsp; who never can be taken from you,<br>\n&nbsp; who will never leave you, and<br>\n&nbsp; who will never let you leave Him, even &#8220;Jesus Christ, the same\nyesterday, and today, and forever.&#8221;<br><br>\n&#8220;I am with you always,&#8221; is enough for my soul to live upon\u2014though all\nothers forsake me!<br><br><strong><br>\n<br>\n<br>\nTHE LORD MY PORTION<\/strong><br>\nOctavius Winslow<br>\n&#8220;The Lord is my portion, says my soul; therefore I will hope in Him.&#8221;\nLam. 3:24<br><br>\nIt is our great privilege, beloved, that we live in a portionless world. This\nis both our distinctive badge and our Christian charter. When God parceled out\nthe land of Canaan among the tribes of Israel, He made an exception in the\ntribe of Levi, to whom He said, &#8220;You shall have no inheritance in the\nland, neither shall you have any part among them;&#8221; assigning as His\nreason, &#8220;I am your share and your inheritance.&#8221; The gospel teaching\nof this is obvious and significant. As the Lord&#8217;s true priesthood, this world\nis not our portion, nor earth our rest. It may have required some painful\ndiscipline, and no small measure of faith, on the part of the devout Levite, as\nhe gazed upon the fertile meadows, the watered plains, and the vine-clad hills\nof the Promised Land, before he was made willing to relinquish it all for Him\nwho is invisible&#8211;and it needs no little teaching and discipline of our God,\nand no little faith on our part, before we are led to give up the world, the\ncreature, self, and all, for Christ&#8211;satisfied to have the Lord alone as our\nPortion, and heaven only as our inheritance.<br><br>\nBut the Lord will not put His people off with anything unworthy of Him to give,\nor them to accept. He has set them apart for Himself, and Himself apart for\nthem. &#8220;All believers are the Lord&#8217;s CLERGY; and as they are His portion,\nso He is theirs.&#8221; (Leighton.) &#8220;The Lord&#8217;s portion is His people,\nIsrael is the lot of His inheritance.&#8221; &#8220;The Lord is my portion, says\nmy soul.&#8221; His love to us was so great, that when He could give no greater\nproof of that love, He gave HIMSELF. Nothing more could have expressed the\nyearnings of His heart, nothing less could have satisfied the desires of ours.<br><br>\nAnd oh, what a Portion is God! All that He is and all that He has is ours!\nEvery attribute of His being is over us, every perfection of His nature\nencircles us, every pulse of His heart beats for us, every glance of His eye\nsmiles upon us. We dwell in God, and God dwells in us. It is not the world\nwhich is our portion, but HE who made, upholds and governs the world. It is not\nthe creature who is our portion, but the Lord of angels and the Creator of men.\nInfinite portion! illimitable power! immeasurable grace! boundless love!\nall-satisfying good! all, all is ours!<br><br>\nAnd what a Portion, O my soul, is Christ! A divine Christ, a redeeming Christ,\na full Christ, a sympathizing, ever-present, ever-precious, ever-loving Christ.<br><br>\n&#8216;Lord, I bless You for the discipline that brought me to realize what a divine,\nall-satisfying Portion I have in Yourself. You took from me an earthly portion,\nonly to enrich me with a Heavenly one. You removed from me the human prop upon\nwhich I too fondly and idolatrously leaned, that I might learn what Christ was,\nas my soul&#8217;s all-sufficient, all-satisfying, and everlasting Portion. I can now\nadmire the wisdom and adore the love that blasted my gourds and emptied me from\nvessel to vessel, that, rising superior to the broken staff, the drooping\nflower, and the failing spring of creature good, I might claim my portion as a\ntrue spiritual Levite in Yourself alone.&#8217;<br><br>\nBeliever in Jesus! make the most of your portion. It is all-sufficient for all\nyour need. God has, perhaps, made you poor in this world, that you might be\nrich in faith and an heir of that kingdom of glory, the New Jerusalem, He has\nprepared for you&#8211;whose foundations are precious stones, whose walls are\njasper, whose gates are pearls, whose streets are pure gold, and through which\nsoftly flows the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out\nof the throne of God and the Lamb, in the midst of the street of it, and on\neither side of the river is the tree of life, bearing twelve manner of fruit,\nand yielding her fruit every month. All this awaits you! Hope in the Lord, hope\nin adversity, hope in trial, hope against hope, for God in Christ is your\npresent and eternal Portion. &#8220;The Lord is my Portion, says my soul; therefore\nI will HOPE in Him.&#8221;<br><br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why are you cast down, O my soul? J.C.Philpot &#8220;Why are you cast down, O my soul? Why so &nbsp;disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for &nbsp;I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.&#8221; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Psalm 42:11 Do you forget, O soul, that the way to heaven is a very strait [&hellip;]<\/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-5880","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\/5880","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=5880"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5880\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5881,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5880\/revisions\/5881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}