{"id":6164,"date":"2022-02-22T09:09:06","date_gmt":"2022-02-22T09:09:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=6164"},"modified":"2022-02-22T09:09:06","modified_gmt":"2022-02-22T09:09:06","slug":"bulletin-edition-february-2022-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=6164","title":{"rendered":"Bulletin Edition February 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Lord is my Shepherd \u2014 I shall\nnot want!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(“Every Day!” 1872 Author unknown)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The Lord is my Shepherd \u2014 I shall not want!” Psalm\n23:1<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I shall not want!” Surely not! He is the Good\nShepherd who gave His life for His sheep; and if He has loved me, and given\nHimself for me \u2014 then what will He withhold?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh that I knew Him better, and trusted Him as He deserves! Then\nI would be kept quiet from fear of evil, and be ever assured that He will\nsupply all my needs, according to His riches in glory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do I need guidance? The Good Shepherd goes before His sheep \u2014 He\ninstructs and teaches us in the way we should go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do I wander \u2014 and need to be reclaimed? He seeks and finds His\nstraying ones, “He restores my soul, and leads me in the paths of\nrighteousness for His name’s sake.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Am I wounded? He binds up my wounds, and heals me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do I need rest and refreshment? “He makes me to lie down in\ngreen pastures, and leads me beside the still waters.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do I need encouragement? “His rod and His staff, they\ncomfort me.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do I need provision? “He spreads a table before me in the\npresence of my enemies.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My Shepherd is infinitely wise and kind and gracious. Surely\nthen, “Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I\nshall dwell in the house of the Lord forever!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The Lord my Shepherd is,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 I shall be well supplied;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Since He is mine, and I am His,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 What can I want beside?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Engraved!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(John MacDuff, 1874)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have\ncompassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget\nthee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my<\/em> hands; thy\nwalls are<\/em> continually before me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isaiah 49:15-16<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Behold,” says infinite God, “I have engraved you\non the palms of My hands!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not on the mountains, as colossal as they are, for they shall\ndepart;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

not on any page of nature’s vast volume, for the last fires\nshall scorch them;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

not on blazing sun, for it shall grow dim with age;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

not on glorious heavens, for they shall be folded together as a\nscroll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But on . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  the hand which made the worlds,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  the hand which was transfixed on the cruel cross,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  the hand of infinite might and unmeasurable love;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have engraved you there! No corroding power can efface the\nwriting, or obliterate your name!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You are Mine now, and Mine forever!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have summoned you by\nname\u2014you are Mine!” Isaiah 43:1<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No Pre-Requisites for Saving Faith<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that\nbelieveth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on\nhim.\u201d                                                                                                                       \n(John 3:36)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

       Self-righteousness is like\nthe pesty mole. Drive it out of one hole, and it will quickly find another in\nwhich to make its den. We have fairly well beaten it out of the den of good\nworks as a ground of hope before God. But it has found another hiding place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The dark den where\nself-righteousness hides with little possibility of detection is called by many\nnames: \u201cFitness for Faith,\u201d \u201cConditions of Conversion,\u201d \u201cSuitability for\nSalvation,\u201d \u201cQualifications for Grace,\u201d and \u201cSaving Knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      No matter what name you hang over\nthe hole, it is a den of iniquity. It teaches sinners that in order to have\ntrue faith in Christ there are certain conditions that must be met. The\ndoctrine goes like this: \u201cSalvation is by grace alone. It is not what you do,\nbut what Christ has done that saves you. But before you can truly trust Christ\nand be saved, you must be terrified with conviction, you must weep and mourn\nover your sin, you must desire holiness, you must repent, you must long for\nChrist, you must come to see yourself as a lost sinner, you must earnestly seek\nthe Lord, or you must acquire a certain measure of doctrinal knowledge. Then,\nonce you\u2019re qualified, once you\u2019ve met the required conditions, you may trust\nChrist.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Such doctrine may sound good on\nthe surface to those who are not taught of God, but it is only a round-about\nway of preaching salvation by works. \u2014\u2014 Anything set by men between Christ and\nthe sinner (works, feelings, experience, knowledge, anything!) is damning\ndoctrine. It is not to be tolerated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      There are no pre-requisites, no\nconditions, no qualifications to be met by sinners before they trust Christ.\nThe gospel of Christ is addressed to sinners as sinners, not awakened sinners,\nnot sensible sinners, not convicted sinners, not lost sinners, not repentant\nsinners, just sinners!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      God does not command sinners to\nfeel a certain way, experience something, to acquire a certain level of\nknowledge, or come to realize something about themselves. God commands sinners\nto believe on his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The moment a preacher places any\ncondition or qualification of any kind upon the sinner before he can trust\nChrist and be saved, he ceases to preach a gospel of pure grace. Repentance,\nconviction of sin, lamentation and sorrow over sin are not prerequisites for\ncoming to Christ and trusting him. These things do not precede faith. They are\nthe results of faith (Zechariah 12:l0; John 16:7-14). \u2014 \u201cHe that believeth on\nthe Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see\nlife; but the wrath of God abideth on him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \u201cDost thou believe on the Son of\nGod?\u201d No other question is relevant. \u201cDost thou believe on the Son of God?\u201d May\nGod the Holy Spirit give you grace to believe!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Don Fortner<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The love that surpasses knowledge!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Horatius Bonar, “The Chief Among Ten Thousand”)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own\nblood. Revelation 1:5<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The name of Him who loves us is not given, because it would be\nsuperfluous to state it. Only One could be meant. His is love like Himself . .\n.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  infinite,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  unchanging,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  never ending,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  yet free!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Love stronger than death or the grave \u2014 love that loves us . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  out of sin,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  out of the grave,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  out of Hell,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  into Heaven!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is the love whose breadth and length, depth and height, are\nimmeasurable \u2014 the love that surpasses knowledge!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“May you have the power to understand, as all God’s people\nshould \u2014 how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is!”\nEphesians 3:18<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too\ngreat to understand fully!” Ephesians 3:19<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the God whom we adore!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Letters of John Newton)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For I know that the LORD is<\/em> great, and that<\/em> our Lord\nis<\/em> above all gods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatsoever the LORD pleased, that<\/em> did he in heaven, and in\nearth, in the seas, and all deep places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psalm 135:5-6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God rules all! And though He is concealed by a veil of second\ncauses from common eyes, so that they can perceive only the means, instruments,\nand contingencies by which He works, and therefore think He does nothing; yet,\nin reality, He does all according to His own counsel and pleasure, in the\narmies of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who can enumerate all the beings and events which are . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  incessantly before His eye,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  adjusted by His wisdom,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  dependent on His will,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  and regulated by His power!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we consider the heavens, the work of His fingers, the moon\nand the stars which He has ordained; if we call in the assistance of\nastronomers to help us in forming a conception of the number, distances,\nmagnitudes, and motions of the heavenly bodies \u2014 the more we search, the more\nwe shall be confirmed that these are but a small portion of His ways! Without\nHis continual energy upholding them \u2014 they would rush into confusion, or sink\ninto nothing! They are all dependent upon His power, and obedient to His\ncommand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To come nearer home, and to speak of what seems more suited to\nour scanty apprehensions \u2014 still we may be lost in wonder. With respect to\nmankind, He reigns with uncontrolled dominion over every kingdom, family and\nindividual. Before this blessed and only Potentate, all the nations of the\nearth are but as the dust upon the balance, and the small drop of a bucket \u2014\nand might be thought (if compared with the immensity of His works) scarcely\nworthy of His notice! Yet here He presides, pervades, provides, protects, and\nrules! All changes, successes, and disappointments \u2014 all that is memorable in\nthe annals of history, all the risings and falls of empires, all the turns in\nhuman life \u2014 take place according to His sovereign plan!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Him His creatures live, move, and have their being. From Him,\nis their food and preservation. The eyes of all are upon Him; what He gives,\nthey gather \u2014 and can gather no more! And at His word they sink into the dust!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is not . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  a worm which crawls upon the ground,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

   or a flower which grows in the pathless wilderness,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

   or a shell upon the sea-shore \u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n

but bears the impress of His wisdom, power, and goodness!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He preserves man and beast, sustains the young lion in the\nforest, feeds the birds of the air, which have neither storehouse or barn, and\nadorns the insects and the flowers of the field with a beauty and elegance\nbeyond all that can be found in the courts of kings!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All things serve Him, and are in His hands \u2014 as clay in the\nhands of the potter. Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty!\nJust and true are Your ways, O King of saints!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the God whom we adore! This is He who invites us to lean\nupon His almighty arm, and promises to guide us with His unerring eye!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My grace is sufficient for you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(J.C. Philpot, “Strength Made Perfect in Weakness<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And he said unto me, My grace\nis sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2 Corinthians 12:9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not your strength,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

not your wisdom,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

not your prayers,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

not your experience;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

but “My grace”–My free, My matchless grace:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  independent of all works and efforts,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  independent of everything in the creature,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  flowing wholly and solely, fully and freely, out of the\nbosom of Jesus to . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    the needy,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    the guilty,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    the destitute,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    the undone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You who are tried in worldly circumstances, who have to endure\nthe hard lot of poverty–“My grace is sufficient for you.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You who are tempted, day by day, to say or do that which\nconscience testifies against–“My grace is sufficient for you.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You who are harassed with family troubles and afflictions, and\nare often drawn aside into peevishness and fretfulness–“My grace is\nsufficient for you.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our weakness, helplessness, and inability are the very things\nwhich draw forth the power, the strength, and the grace of Jesus!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Believer, your case is never beyond the reach of the\nwords–“My grace is sufficient for you!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The free, the matchless, sovereign grace of God, is sufficient\nfor all His people–in whatever state, or stage, or trouble, or difficulty they\nmay be in!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made\nperfect in your weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ALL POWER OF JESUS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This is the resting place, let the weary rest; and this is\nthe place of repose”\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.”\nMatthew 28:18<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such was among the last whispers of the Heavenly Palm\u2014while\nstill rooted in the midst of the earthly encampments, and when about to be\ntransplanted\u2014the all-glorious ‘Tree of Life’\u2014into the midst of the Paradise of\nGod!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What more precious farewell truth, what more blessed Keepsake\ncould the Saviour have confided to His people than this; that to Him has been\ncommitted the Sceptre of universal Empire! Many, among the multitude He was\nthen addressing on one of the mountains of Galilee, had witnessed His poverty,\nHis humiliation, His cruel buffetings, His bitter death. But now these were all\npast. His head was about to be “crowned with many crowns.” As King of\nHis Church, “all things had been delivered to Him by His Father” (Matt.\n11:27). He knew that “the Father had given all things into His hands”\n(John 13:3). He would impart the comfort of this ennobling truth to the\norphaned Church He was to leave behind Him. When the chariots of God had borne\nHim away from their sight, they could still think of Him as boundless in His\nresources; that He who so often had spoken to them “in righteousness”\nwas still “mighty to save.” To these very hands that were pierced on\nCalvary’s Cross had been entrusted the sovereignty of the universe!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John, in his exile, sixty years later, beheld in striking vision\na Book or roll “sealed with seven seals.” Tears came to the aged eyes\nof the Evangelist, because no one in heaven or in earth was found “worthy\nto take the book” and decipher its mysteries. All at once, one of the\nredeemed from the earth conveys to him the joyous assurance that he need no\nlonger “weep” for “the Lion of the tribe of Judah had prevailed\nto open the book,” and unveil its contents (Rev. 5:7). What was this but\nthe announcement, in significant figure, of the Savior’s own last utterance,\nthat He had committed to His keeping the roll of Providence; that roll in which\nis inscribed not only the fate of kingdoms, the destinies of nations\u2014but\nwhatever concerns the humblest and lowliest member of His Church on earth; with\nHim rests the unfolding of the roll\u2014the breaking of the seals\u2014the pouring out\nof the vials\u2014the bursting of the thunders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Need we wonder that, in taking “the Book” into His\nhands, the ransomed myriads in the Apocalyptic vision should be seen falling\ndown at the feet of the Lamb, with their “harps and golden vials full of\nincense;” and exulting in the thought that the Great Ruler of all was a\nBrother of the human race; that they should attune their lips to the lofty\nascription, “You are worthy to take the book, and to open the seals\nthereof; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood, out of\nevery kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, who will not exult in the thought that this vast world of\nours is committed to the rule of JESUS\u2014that it was created “for\nHim”\u2014that “by Him all things are held together.” I look up to\nthe spangled dome of heaven with its myriad constellations. I am told these\nlamps, hung in the sky, are burning incense-fires to His glory; that they march\nat His word, and their eternal music is an anthem to His praise. I look at the\nlandscape below; that vast furniture in the Palace of Nature is His providing.\nIt is He who covers it in its robe of light, who wreathes the brow of Spring in\nliving green, and decks the valleys in Summer glory. Not a breeze murmurs\nthrough the forests, nor a dewdrop sparkles on its leaves\u2014the sun shoots not\none golden arrow through its glades, but by His permission. It is He who\npencils the flowers, and intones the thunder, and gives voice to the tempest,\nand wings to the lightning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But these manifestations of His power in nature, are subordinate\nto a nobler sovereignty with which He is invested in the moral and spiritual\nworld. There, too, nothing can happen but by His direction, nothing can befall\nus but what is the dictate and result of His loving wisdom. Often, indeed, as\nwe have frequently said, that wisdom and love are veiled behind gigantic clouds\nof permitted evil. But, when we remember the pledge, in His own life’s-blood,\nwhich He has given of His love to His people, dare we challenge the rectitude\nof His dealings or arraign the wisdom of His ways?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No! this Saviour-God “reigns, let the earth be glad.”\nFrom the heart stripped of its beloved gourd by the gentle hand of death, to\nthe more terrible cry of perishing thousands by famine, or pestilence, or\n“the grievousness of war,” what truth more sublime, what syllables\nfall with more soothing music on the soul than these, HE (the Saviour, who died\nfor me, who now lives for me), “does as He pleases with the powers of\nheaven and the peoples of the earth!”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Lord is my Shepherd \u2014 I shall not want! (“Every Day!” 1872 Author unknown) “The Lord is my Shepherd \u2014 I shall not want!” Psalm 23:1 “I shall not want!” Surely not! He is the Good Shepherd who gave His life for His sheep; and if He has loved me, and given Himself for […]<\/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-6164","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\/6164","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=6164"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6165,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6164\/revisions\/6165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}