{"id":6219,"date":"2022-07-20T10:34:55","date_gmt":"2022-07-20T10:34:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=6219"},"modified":"2022-07-20T10:34:55","modified_gmt":"2022-07-20T10:34:55","slug":"bulletin-edition-july-2022-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=6219","title":{"rendered":"Bulletin Edition July 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

“When thou passes through the waters, I will be with\nthee.” Isaiah 43:2<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

J.C.Philpot<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How many of the dear saints of God, when they have been brought\ninto tribulation and sorrow, have found the fulfillment of this most gracious\npromise! And is there not one of these waters through which all must go–that\ndeep and rapid Jordan (death) which every one must pass through? How dark and\ngloomy those waters have appeared to the eyes of many a child of God, in whom\nis continually fulfilled the experience of the words, “Who through fear of\ndeath were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” But how often have\nthese waters only been terrible in prospect, in anticipation. How different has\nbeen the reality. When he comes down to the river’s bank and his feet dip in\nthese waters, and it appears as though they would rise higher and higher, the\nLord suddenly appears in his power and presence, and then the water sinks. He\nspeaks a word of peace to his soul upon a dying bed–reveals Christ in his love\nand grace and blood–removes those doubts, fears, and disturbing thoughts which\nhave perplexed him for years, and brings into his heart a holy calm, a sweet\npeace, assuring him that all is well with him, both for time and eternity. Has\nhe not then the fulfillment of the promise, “When you go through deep\nwaters, I will be with you”?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might\nlearn your statutes.”<\/em> Psalm 119:71<\/p>\n\n\n\n

J.C.Philpot<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We may have everything naturally that the carnal heart desires,\nand only be hardened thereby into worldliness and ungodliness. But to be\nbrought down in body and soul, to be weaned and separated from an ungodly world\nby affliction sanctified and made spiritually profitable–to be brought to feel\nour need of Christ, and that without a saving interest in his precious blood\nour soul must be forever lost–how much better it is really and truly, to be\nlaid on a bed of affliction, with a hope in God’s mercy, than to be left to our\nown carnality and thoughtlessness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Affliction of any kind is very hard to bear, and especially so\nwhen we begin to murmur and fret under the weight of the cross; but when the\nLord afflicts it is in good earnest; he means to make us feel. Strong measures\nare required to bring us down; and affliction would not be affliction, unless\nit were full of grief and sorrow. But when affliction makes us seek the Lord\nwith a deep feeling in the soul that none but himself can save or bless, and we\nare enabled to look up unto him, with sincerity and earnestness, that he would\nmanifest his love and mercy to our heart, he will appear sooner or later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lord, who searches the heart, knows all the real desire of the\nsoul, and can and does listen to a sigh, a desire, a breath of supplication\nwithin. He knows our state, both of body and soul, and is not a hard taskmaster\nto require what we cannot give, or lay upon us more than we can bear. But very\noften he delays to appear, that he may teach us thereby we have no claim upon\nhim, and that anything granted is of his pure compassion and grace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE REASSURING VOICE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

John MacDuff<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and\nI will give you rest.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Be of good cheer; it is I–be not afraid.” Matt.\n14:27<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It surely was an exceptional season of fear and unrest with the\ndisciples, that night-storm on the Sea of Galilee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The saddest feature of the moment was that faith–the strong\nresolute faith of other times–had now deserted their better natures. They\ncould see nothing but perilous environment, the surging billows and the\ndarkness–for “it was the fourth watch of the night,” about three\no’clock, when the gloom was deepest, and no flush of morn as yet had tinted the\nwild hills of Gadara. Strangely different from their experience on a former\noccasion! He was then with them. Though asleep on “a coil of ropes for His\npillow,” He was there. They had the comfort of His Presence. They could\nawake (as they did awake) the weary slumberer; and the voice of the God within\nthe toil-worn man rebuked the waves and turned the storm into a calm. Now it\nwas different–their despairing monotone rather was, “How has He left us\nat the moment we most needed Him?” “Surely the Lord has forsaken me,\nand my God has forgotten me!” No, more, when He at last appeared on the\ncrest of the waves, instead of recognizing Him with a shout of adoring welcome,\nthey in their superstitious fear imagined that a demon of the deep, an\napparition premonitory of death, had come from the spirit-world. Their cry was\na cry of trouble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To such unworthy turbulence and misgiving truly they need not\nhave given way. We know from the context where He had been all night–on some\nadjoining mountain engaged in prayer–engaged in prayer for them, <\/em>watching\nthrough the darkness their tempest-tossed bark, in sympathetic touch with their\npalpitating hearts, and eager to speak His word of power. At last it is spoken.\nHe who comes down from the mountain oratory to tread the waters, pronounces His\ngracious rest words<\/em>–the reassuring “It is\nI” <\/em>(literally, I AM). It is preceded and followed by “Fear\nnot”–“Be not afraid.” There can be no mistake. “O Lord God\nof hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto You? You rule the raging of the\nsea–when the waves thereof arise, You still them.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a parable of profounder spiritual realities. In the unrest\nof the soul, amid the swirls and eddies of life’s ocean, Jesus comes to His\npeople–most often, too, when darkness is deepest. The sensible tokens of His\nlove and mercy seem withdrawn. In their misgiving and incredulity they wail out\nthe plaintive cry, “Where is now my God?” He seems, in accordance\nwith the narrative of the storm, “as if he would pass them by.”\n“My way is hidden from the Lord, my judgment is passed over from my\nGod.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Be still!” Let patience have her perfect work. He\nwill in His own time and way change the storm into a calm. We are, alas! often\nourselves responsible for our unworthy despondencies. We turn our backs to the\nSun of Righteousness. There is a shadow projected, but that shadow is our own.\nWe conjure up some phantasms of unbelieving doubt. We say, like the disciples,\n“It is a spirit,” and we “cry out for fear.” Let us look\naway from ourselves, the surging waves and billows within us and around us, and\nkeep the unwavering eye of faith on Him who is waiting to give rest to the\nweary, and peace to the troubled, and hope to the desponding. To revert to our\nfigure, He has His Hospice built at every turn of the perilous way. He fences\nit with these same two buttresses–“Fear not; IT IS I; be not afraid.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“O Redeemer! Shall one perish
\nWho has looked to You for aid?
\nLet me see You, let me hear You,
\nThrough the gloomy midnight shade,
\nUtter You Your voice of comfort\u2013
\n‘It is I; be not afraid!'”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In all time of our tribulation He will be true to His\npromise–“I will be with him in trouble<\/em>, I will deliver him\nand honor him.” As the Hospice is most valued by the tempest-beaten\ntraveler, so every trial is a fresh reason for resorting to “the Refuge\nfrom the storm, the Covert from the tempest.” And when the last trouble of\nall, the hour of departure arrives, the Hospice-gates will be opened by the Divine\nPromiser of Rest, and the triplet-comfort fall for the last time on the ears of\nthe weary and heavy laden\u2013 “Fear not; it is I; be not\nafraid.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This is the resting place, let the weary rest. This is the\nplace of repose.” Isaiah 28:12<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Song\n4:16 Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that<\/em>\nthe spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat\nhis pleasant fruits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

C.H.Spurgeon<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anything is better than the dead calm of indifference. Our souls\nmay wisely desire the cold north wind of trouble\u2014if that alone can be\nsanctified to the drawing forth of the perfume of our graces. We should not\nshrink from the most wintry blast that ever blew upon plants of grace. Did not\nthe spouse in this verse humbly submit herself to the reproofs of her Beloved;\nonly entreating Him to send forth His grace in some form, and making no\nstipulation as to the peculiar manner in which it should come? Did she not,\nlike ourselves, become so utterly weary of deadness and unholy calm\u2014that she\nsighed for any visitation which would motivate her to action?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet she desires the warm south wind of comfort, too\u2014the smiles of\ndivine love, the joy of the Redeemer’s presence; these are often mightily\neffectual to arouse our sluggish life. She desires either one or the other, or\nboth\u2014so that she may but be able to delight her Beloved with the spices of her\ngarden. She cannot endure to be unprofitable, nor can we.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How cheering a thought\u2014that Jesus can find comfort in our poor\nfeeble graces. Can it be? It seems far too good to be true. Well may we court\ntrials or even death itself\u2014if we shall thereby be aided to make glad\nImmanuel’s heart. O that our heart were crushed to atoms, if only by such\nbruising, could our sweet Lord Jesus could be glorified. Graces unexercised are\nas sweet perfumes slumbering in the cups of the flowers. The wisdom of the\ngreat Gardener overrules diverse and opposite causes\u2014to produce the one desired\nresult, and makes both affliction and consolation draw forth the grateful\nfragrances of faith, love, patience, hope, resignation, joy, and the other fair\nflowers of the garden. May we know by sweet experience, what this means!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Acts\n14:22 Confirming the souls of the disciples, and<\/em> exhorting them\nto continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter\ninto the kingdom of God.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

C.H.Spurgeon<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God’s people have their trials. It was never designed by God, when\nHe chose His people, that they should be an untried people. They were chosen in\nthe furnace of affliction; they were never chosen to worldly peace and earthly\njoy. Freedom from the sicknesses and pains of mortality, was never promised\nthem; but when their Lord drew up the charter of privileges, He included\nchastisements among the things to which they should inevitably be heirs. Trials\nare a part of our lot; they were predestinated for us in Christ’s last legacy,\n“In this world you will have trouble.” John 16:33. So surely as the\nstars are fashioned by his hands, and their orbits fixed by Him, so surely are\nour trials allotted to us! He has ordained their season and their place, their\nintensity and the effect they shall have upon us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Godly men must never expect to escape troubles; if they do, they\nwill be disappointed, for none of their predecessors have been without them.\nMark the patience of Job; remember Abraham, for he had his trials, and by his\nfaith under them, he became the “Father of the faithful.” Note well\nthe biographies of all the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs\u2014and you\nshall discover none of those whom God made vessels of mercy, who were not made\nto pass through the fire of affliction. It is ordained of old, that the cross\nof trouble should be engraved on every vessel of mercy\u2014as the royal mark\nwhereby the King’s vessels of honor are distinguished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though tribulation is thus the path of God’s children, they have\nthe comfort of knowing that their Master has traversed it before them; they\nhave His presence and sympathy to cheer them, His grace to support them, and\nHis example to teach them how to endure; and when they reach “the\nkingdom,” it will more than make amends for the “much\ntribulation” through which they passed to enter it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blessed suffering!<\/strong>
\nThe following is from Bonar’s book,
\n    “The Night of Weeping”
\n
\nAfflictions help us to get rid of sin.
\nEach pain is a nail driven through some
\nsin, another blow inflicted on the flesh,
\ndestroying the very power of sinning.
\n
\nWe have not yet fully parted company
\nwith this sinful world.  And, therefore,
\nGod drives affliction like a wedge
\nbetween us and the world; or He sends
\nit like a plowshare right across our most
\ncherished hopes and brightest prospects
\nuntil He thoroughly wearies us of all below.
\n
\n“He has made me weary,” said Job.
\nNor do we wonder at the complaint.
\nWearisome nights were his.  The
\n“ploughers ploughed upon his back,”
\nand drew many a long furrow there.
\nHe might well be weary.
\n
\nSo with us. God makes us weary, too,
\nweary all over; thoroughly weary.
\nWe are weary of a present evil world,
\n    weary of self,
\n    weary of sin,
\n    weary of suffering,
\n    weary of this mortal body,
\n    weary of these vile hearts,
\n    weary of earth,
\nweary of all but Jesus!
\nOf Him no trial can weary us.
\nSuffering only endears Him the more.
\n
\nBlessed suffering! that makes Jesus
\nappear more precious and the world viler!
\n
\nBlessed suffering! that brings Jesus nearer
\nto our hearts and thrusts the world away!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cup of love!<\/strong>
\n
\n(John MacDuff<\/a>, “Gleams from the\nSick Chamber” 1882)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is.\n38:15 What shall I say? he hath both spoken unto me, and himself hath\ndone it<\/em>: I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


\n
\nGod Himself has mixed your bitter cup, and led
\nyou to your ‘Gethsemane of suffering’.
\n
\nAll your sufferings . . .<\/strong>
\n  the existence <\/strong>of them,
\n  the duration <\/strong>of them,
\n  the intensity <\/strong>of them,
\nare appointed by your heavenly Father.
\n
\n“Though now for a little while, if need be<\/strong>, you may
\n have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.” 1 Peter 1:6
\n
\nYour heavenly Father can inflict no unnecessary pang.
\n
\nYou may presently be pain-stricken, and woe-worn.
\n
\nThere is a divine necessity for your present “fiery trial.”
\nNo drop in the cup can be spared!<\/strong> “I will correct you
\nin measure<\/strong>.” Your heavenly Father, tenderer and more
\nloving than the tenderest earthly parent, tempers the
\nfury of the flames, saying, “Thus far shall you go, and
\nno farther.”
\n
\nHappy for you, that you can write “if need be<\/strong>” . . .
\n  over that severest hour of distress,
\n  over every night of throbbing temples,
\n  over sleepless eyes,
\n  over every fresh thorn sent to buffet,
\n  over every heavy cross sent to carry.
\n
\nWhen we are assured that nothing which is
\nappointed by our Father can come to us wrongly,
\nour cup of suffering <\/strong>becomes a cup of\nlove!<\/strong>
\n
\n“Shall I not drink the cup my Father has
\n given me?<\/strong>” John 18:11
\n
\n“For our light and momentary troubles are
\n achieving for us an eternal glory that far
\n outweighs them all.” 2 Corinthians 4:17
\n
\nWhat verse is more soothing sight for a suffering
\ncouch, or for a dying pillow? What verse is more
\nconsolatory for a weary, burdened body? and above
\nall, for a weary, burdened, sin-stricken heart?
\n
\n“God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
\n   Revelation 7:17
\n
\nA tearless Heaven will make amends for all!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“When thou passes through the waters, I will be with thee.” Isaiah 43:2 J.C.Philpot How many of the dear saints of God, when they have been brought into tribulation and sorrow, have found the fulfillment of this most gracious promise! And is there not one of these waters through which all must go–that deep and […]<\/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-6219","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\/6219","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=6219"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6220,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6219\/revisions\/6220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}