{"id":5934,"date":"2021-02-22T04:22:43","date_gmt":"2021-02-22T04:22:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=5934"},"modified":"2021-02-22T04:22:43","modified_gmt":"2021-02-22T04:22:43","slug":"bulletin-edition-february-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=5934","title":{"rendered":"Bulletin Edition February 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Near the cross of Jesus!<\/strong>
\n(Octavius Winslow, “Nearness to the Cross”)
\n
\n“Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother….” John 19:25
\n
\nTake your place with Mary, by the cross of Jesus.
\n
\nThere meet and blend suffering and love, sorrow and
\nsympathy. Standing in faith by the cross, you are near
\nthe suffering Savior, the loving Son, the sympathizing
\nBrother born for your present grief. Jesus, in the depth
\nand tenderness of His love, is at this moment all that
\nHe was when, in soul travail, He cast that ineffable look
\nof filial love and sympathy upon His anguished mother.
\n
\nHe can….
\n  enter into your circumstances,
\n  understand your grief,
\n  sustain and soothe your spirit
\nas one only can who has partaken of the cup
\nof woe which now trembles in your hand.
\n
\nDrink that cup submissive to His will, for He drank
\ndeeply of it before you, and has left the fragrance
\nof His sympathy upon its brim.
\n
\nYour sorrow is not new to Christ.
\n
\nStand close to the cross of Jesus!
\n
\nIt is the most accessible and precious spot this
\nside of heaven; the most solemn and awesome
\none this side of eternity.
\n
\nThe cross of Jesus is the focus of
\ndivine love, sympathy, and power.
\n
\nStand by it in suffering, in persecution, in
\ntemptation. Stand by it in the brightness of
\nprosperity and in the gloom of adversity.
\n
\nGo to Christ’s cross in trouble, repair to it in
\nweakness, cling to it in danger, hide beneath it
\nwhen the wintry storm rushes fiercely over you.
\n
\nNear to the cross, you are near a Father’s heart, a Savior’s side.
\n
\nYou seem to enter the gate of heaven, to stand
\nbeneath the vestibule of glory. Nothing but love
\nwill welcome your approach to the cross of Jesus;
\nlove that….
\n  pardons all your sins,
\n  flows over all your unworthiness,
\n  heals all your wounds,
\n  soothes all your sorrows, and
\nwill shelter you within its blessed pavilion until
\nearth is changed for heaven, and you lay down
\nthe warrior’s sword for the victor’s palm, and
\nspring from the foot of the cross to the foot
\nof the throne, “forever with the Lord.”
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\nIf the path of prosperity should be chequered\u2014if human props fail\u2014if human\nrefuges reveal themselves to be refuges of lies\u2014if worldly substance be\nimpaired\u2014if earthly love dies\u2014may that which is perishable and corruptible only\ndrive me nearer to the incorruptible\u2014to seek closer and more intimate\nfellowship with Him in whose presence there is fullness of joy. Thus, trusting\nYou and loving You, let me rise superior to all that is fleeting and\nfluctuating around.
\nJohn MacDuff
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\nChrist’s sleepless vigilance over His people!<\/strong>
\n(Winslow, “A Word in Season from Christ to the Weary”)
\n
\nWhat an exalted and endearing truth is Christ’s
\nsleepless vigilance over His people!
\n
\nImagine yourself threading your way along a
\nmost difficult and perilous path, every step of
\nwhich is attended with pain and jeopardy, and
\nis taken with hesitancy and doubt.
\n
\nUnknown to you and unseen, there is One
\nhovering each moment around you, checking
\neach false step, and guiding each doubtful one;
\nsoothing each sorrow, and supplying each need.
\n
\nAll is calm and silent.
\n
\nNot a sound is heard, not a movement is seen;
\nand yet, to your amazement, just at the critical
\nmoment, the needed support comes; you know
\nnot from where, you know not from whom.
\n
\nThis is no picture of imagination.
\n
\nAre you a child of God on your pilgrimage to
\nparadise by an intricate and a perilous way?
\nJesus is near to you at each moment, unseen
\nand often unknown.
\n
\nYou have at times stood speechless with awe
\nat the strange interposition on your behalf,
\nof providence and of grace. No visible sign
\nbetokened the source of your help. There was
\nno echo of footfall at your side, no flitting of
\nshadow athwart your path. No law of nature
\nwas altered nor suspended, the sun stood not
\nstill, nor did the heavens open.
\n
\nAnd yet deliverance, strange and effectual deliverance,
\ncame at a moment most unexpected, yet most needed.
\n
\nIt was Jesus your Redeemer, your Brother, your
\nShepherd, and your Guide. He it was who, hovering
\naround you, unknown and unobserved, kept you as
\nthe apple of his eye, and sheltered you in the hollow
\nof his hand. It was he who armed you with bravery
\nfor the fight, who poured strength into your spirit,
\nand grace into your heart, when the full weight of
\ncalamity pressed upon them.
\n
\nThus has he always been to his children.
\n
\nThe eye that neither slumbers nor sleeps was upon you.
\n
\nHe knew in what furnace you were placed, and was
\nthere to temper the flame when it seemed the severest.
\n
\nHe saw your frail vessel struggling through the tempest,
\nand he came to your rescue at the height of the storm.
\n
\nHow has he proved this in seasons of difficulty and doubt!
\n
\nHow often, at a crisis the most critical of
\nyour history, the Lord has appeared for you!
\n  Your lack has been supplied,
\n  your doubt has been solved, and
\n  your perplexity has been guided.
\n
\nHe has delivered…
\n  your soul from death,
\n  your eyes from tears, and
\n  your feet from falling.
\n
\nYou are never for an instant….
\n  out of his heart,
\n  out of his thoughts,
\n  out of his hands, or
\n  out of his eye.
\n
\nGo, and lay your weariness on Christ.
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\nThe Lord’s secret power in our souls?<\/strong>
\n
\n(J. C. Philpot, “Power Given to the Faint”, 1845)
\n
\n“He gives power to those who are tired and worn
\n out; and increases strength to the weak.” Is. 40:29
\n
\nThe Lord’s people are often in the state that they have
\nno might. All their power seems exhausted, and their
\nstrength completely drained away; sin appears to have
\ngotten the mastery over them; and they feel as if they
\nhad neither will nor ability to run the race set before
\nthem, or persevere in the way of the Lord.
\n
\nNow what has kept us to this day? Some of you have
\nmade a profession ten, twenty, thirty, or forty years.
\n
\nWhat has kept us?
\n
\nWhen powerful temptations were spread for our feet,
\nwhat preserved us from falling headlong into them?
\n
\nWhen we felt the workings of strong lusts, what kept
\nus from being altogether carried captive by them?
\n
\nWhen we look at the difficulties of the way, the
\nperplexities which our souls have had to grapple with,
\nthe persecutions and hard blows from sinners and
\nsaints that we have had to encounter–what has still
\nkept in us a desire to fear God, and a heart in some
\nmeasure tender before Him?
\n
\nWhen we view the . . .
\n  infidelity,
\n  unbelief,
\n  carnality,
\n  worldly-mindedness,
\n  hypocrisy,
\n  pride, and
\n  presumption of our fallen nature,
\nwhat has kept us still . . .
\n  believing,
\n  hoping,
\n  loving,
\n  longing,
\nand looking to the Lord?
\n
\nWhen we think of our . . .
\n  deadness,
\n  coldness,
\n  torpidity,
\n  rebelliousness,
\n  perverseness,
\n  love to evil,
\n  aversion to good, and
\n  all the abounding corruptions of our nature,
\nwhat has kept us from giving up the very profession
\nof religion, and swimming down the powerful current
\nthat has so long and so often threatened to sweep
\nus utterly from the Lord? Is it not the putting forth
\nof the Lord’s secret power in our souls?
\n
\nCan we not look back, and recall to mind our first
\nreligious companions; those with whom we started
\nin the race; those whom we perhaps envied for their
\ngreater piety, zeal, holiness, and earnestness; and
\nwith which we painfully contrasted our own sluggishness
\nand carnality; admiring them, and condemning ourselves?
\n
\nWhere are they all, or the greater part of them?
\nSome have embraced soul-destroying errors; others
\nare buried in a worldly religious system; and others
\nare wrapped up in delusion and fleshly confidence.
\n
\nThus, while most have fallen into the snares of the devil;
\nGod, by putting forth His secret power in the hearts of His
\nfainting ones, keeps His fear alive in their souls; holds up
\ntheir goings in His paths that their footsteps slip not; brings
\nthem out of all their temptations and troubles; delivers them
\nfrom every evil work; and preserves them unto His heavenly
\nkingdom. He thus secures the salvation of His people by
\nHis own free grace.
\n
\nHow sweet and precious it is . . .
\n  to have our strength renewed;
\n  to have fresh grace brought into the heart;
\n  to feel the mysterious sensations of renovated life;
\n  to feel the everlasting arms supporting the soul . . .
\n    fighting our battles for us,
\n    subduing our enemies,
\n    overcoming our lusts,
\n    breaking our snares, and
\n    delivering us out of our temptations!
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\nThe cry of weary, care worn humanity<\/strong>
\n
\n(John MacDuff, “Hospice of the Pilgrim” 1891)
\n
\n“Oh, where can rest be found?”
\n
\nThis is the cry of weary, care worn humanity.
\n
\nThis is the cry embracing every nation and every
\nclimate, from the yearnings of heathendom to the
\nlongings and aspirations of the present hour.
\n
\nFrom the tumultuous sea of the world’s unrest,
\nthis cry has gone up like a dirge of baffled souls,
\n“Oh, where can rest be found?”
\n
\n“Come unto me,” is the address of many
\nsiren voices, titillating tones of questionable
\nor forbidden pleasure, leading only to . . .
\n  unrest,
\n  disquiet,
\n  heart weariness,
\n  life failure;
\ntinted soap bubbles with a momentary
\niridescence, then collapsing.
\n
\nThe existence of many is a pursuit after spurious
\nand counterfeit rest, misnamed happiness; an
\naimless, vapid life of pleasure; engrossed with
\nobjects which bring with them no sense of
\nsatisfaction; a dull, weary round on the world’s
\nmonotonous treadmill.
\n
\nSome strive to find rest through the gateway
\nof ethical systems and philosophic tenets.
\n
\nOthers, through the gateway of human merit.
\n
\nOthers through . . .
\n  ceremonial observances,
\n  fasts and vigils, 
\n  penances and pilgrimages,
\n  rites and ceremonies,
\n  creeds and dogmas.
\n
\nThese, and such as these, are
\nalike spurious and unavailing.
\n
\n“Oh, where can rest be found?”
\n
\n“Come to Me, all of you who are weary
\n and carry heavy burdens, and I will give
\n you rest.”   Matthew 11:28
\n
\n
\n
\n
\nOnesimus: A Picture Of Grace   <\/strong>   
\n
\nPhilemon 15
\n
\n     Philemon was a truly gracious man (v. 5). He loved\nChrist,his church,his gospel,and his servants. He maintained a church in his\nhouse. He treated God’s servants with the highest respect, kindness, and\ngenerosity. He was an especially benevolent friend to the Apostle Paul.\nOnesimus was a slave whom Philemon had come to trust. But this trusted steward\nof Philemon’s household betrayed his master, stole his money, and ran away to\nRome. At Rome, by one means or another, he was brought into contact with Paul\nin prison. There he heard the gospel of Christ and was converted. Converted or\nnot, Onesimus still belonged to Philemon. He was a wanted man.His master had a\nlawful right to have him executed, but he might be gracious. So Paul wrote this\nlittle epistle to Philemon and sent Onesimus back to his master with a plea for\nmercy.What a picture this is!The only way any sinner will ever be saved is to\nreturn to his Master, who has every right to slay him, pleading for mercy. As\nOnesimus found mercy at the hands of Philemon, so every repenting sinner finds\nmercy at the throne of grace when he returns to God by faith in the Lord Jesus\nChrist. Read this little epistle carefully and you will see seven lessons\nclearly taught in it.
\n
\n1. All true believers are united to one another in sincere love (vv. 1-5, 16).
\n
\n2. God always uses the appointed means of grace, gospel preaching, to save\nchosen sinners (v. 10). By one means or another, he causes his elect to hear\nthe Word (Rom. 10:17).
\n
\n3. The transforming power of God’s sovereign grace makes the most useless\nsinners profitable servants to him (v. 11; I Cor. 1:26-30; 6:9-11).
\n
\n4. The providence of God arranges all things for the salvation of his elect,\noverruling the most evil deeds of men, even the sins of his chosen, to bring\nthem to Christ (v. 15; Psa. 76:10).
\n
\n5. As Onesimus was accepted for Paul’s sake, so God’s elect are accepted for\nChrist’s sake on the basis of his substitutionary work and intercession (vv.\n17-18).
\n
\n6. Saved sinners owe a debt of gratitude to those who are the instruments of\ntheir salvation (v.19;Isa.52:7).
\n
\n7. The most blessed thing in the world is the experience and the exercise of\nfree forgiveness (v. 17; Matt. 6:14-15; Eph. 4:32).
\n
\nDon Fortner
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\nHelp from the sanctuary<\/strong>
\nJ.C.Philpot
\n“May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble. May the name of the God of\nJacob set you up on high, send you help from the sanctuary, grant you support\nfrom Zion.” Psalm 20:1, 2
\n
\nWhen the soul has to pass through the trying hour of temptation, it needs help\nfrom the sanctuary. All other help leaves the soul just where it found it. Help\nis sent from the sanctuary because his name has been from all eternity,\nregistered in the Lamb’s book of life\u2014engraved upon the palms of His\nhands\u2014borne on His shoulder\u2014and worn on His heart. Communications of life and\ngrace from the sanctuary produce spirituality and heavenly-mindedness. The\nbreath of heaven in his soul draws his affections upward\u2014weans him from\nearth\u2014and makes him a pilgrim and a sojourner here below, looking for a city\nwith eternal foundations\u2014a city designed and built by God!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Near the cross of Jesus! (Octavius Winslow, “Nearness to the Cross”) “Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother….” John 19:25 Take your place with Mary, by the cross of Jesus. There meet and blend suffering and love, sorrow and sympathy. Standing in faith by the cross, you are near the suffering Savior, the loving […]<\/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-5934","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\/5934","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=5934"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5935,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5934\/revisions\/5935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}