{"id":6438,"date":"2023-05-14T23:58:06","date_gmt":"2023-05-14T23:58:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=6438"},"modified":"2023-05-14T23:58:06","modified_gmt":"2023-05-14T23:58:06","slug":"bulletin-edition-may-2023-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=6438","title":{"rendered":"Bulletin Edition May 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Have you ever noticed how believers who have\nbeen severely tried under the hand of God become more cautious and\nhumble?  They do not speak quite so fast as they used to speak; they do\nnot have a ready solution for every problem; they do not boast of what they\nhave done, will do, or would do under certain circumstances; they are not quite\nso critical of others who fail; they have little to say about their own doings\nand much to say about the wonderful grace of our Lord.  Afflictions and\ntrials have a way of mellowing believers and creating a certain character which\ncannot be mistaken or imitated.  David wrote in Psalm 119:71, \u201cIt is good\nfor me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn\u2026..\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 ~Henry Mahan (1926-2019)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FAMILY PRAYERS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BY John MacDuff, 1885<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prayer for one in\ndangerous illness
\n <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

O God, our Heavenly Father, in You we live, and move, and have\nour being. We rejoice to think that Your hand is never shortened, that it\ncannot save\u2014that Your ear is never heavy, that it cannot hear. We thank You for\nYour own recorded promise, that the prayer of faith, if consistent with Your\nblessed will, will save the sick. We entreat You to look down in great mercy on\nthat member of our family who is this day laid on a bed of languishing. May it\nplease You of Your infinite goodness speedily to restore him. Rebuke his\ndisease. Bring him back from the gates of the grave. May this sickness not be\nunto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified\nthereby. Mitigate the severity of pain. Grant him patience under his\nsufferings, and unmurmuring submission to the will of Him who afflicts not\nwillingly. His times are in Your hands. We commend him soul and body to You,\nthe great Physician. If You see fit to raise him up, may restored health and\nstrength be more than ever given unto him; but if You have otherwise\ndetermined, fit him for his eternal change. To him to live, may it be Christ\u2014to\nhim to die may it be great gain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n It is I<\/strong>
\n The following is from Octavius Winslow’s sermon,<\/em>
\n <\/em>“Be Not Afraid Or, The Voice of Jesus in the Storm”<\/em>
\n
\n “Be of good cheer: It\n is I<\/strong>;be not afraid.”
\n Mark 6:50
\n
\n Listen, then, to the voice of Jesus in the storm.
\n
\n It is I<\/strong> who raised the\n tempest in your soul,
\n and will control it.
\n It is I<\/strong> who sent your\n affliction, and will be
\n with you in it.
\n It is I<\/strong> who kindled the\n furnace, and will watch
\n the flames, and bring you through it.
\n It is I<\/strong> who formed your\n burden, who carved your
\n cross, and who will strengthen you to bear it.
\n It is I<\/strong> who mixed your cup\n of grief, and will
\n enable you to drink it with meek submission
\n to your Father’s will.
\n It is I<\/strong> who took from you\n worldly substance,
\n who bereft you of your child, of the wife of
\n your bosom, of the husband of your youth,
\n and will be infinitely better to you than
\n husband, wife, or child.
\n
\n It is I<\/strong> who have done it\n all.
\n
\n I<\/strong> make the clouds my chariot, and\n clothe
\n myself with the tempest as with a garment.
\n The night hour is my time of coming, and
\n the dark, surging waves are the pavement
\n upon which I walk.
\n
\n “Be of good cheer: It\n is I<\/strong>; be not afraid.”
\n
\n It is I<\/strong>, your Friend, your\n Brother, your Savior!
\n
\n I <\/strong>am causing all the\n circumstances of
\n your life to work together for your good.
\n
\n It is I<\/strong> who permitted….
\n the enemy to assail you,
\n the slander to blast you,
\n the unkindness to wound you,
\n the need to press you!
\n
\n Your affliction did not spring out of the ground,
\n but came down from above; a heaven sent
\n blessing disguised as an angel of light clad
\n in a robe of ebony.
\n
\n I have sent all in love!<\/strong>
\n <\/strong>
\n This sickness is not unto death,
\n but for the glory of God.
\n This bereavement shall not always
\n bow you to the earth, nor drape in
\n changeless gloom your life.
\n
\n It is I<\/strong> who ordered,\n arranged,
\n and controlled it all!
\n
\n In every stormy wind,
\n in every darksome night,
\n in every lonesome hour,
\n in every rising fear,
\n the voice of Jesus shall be heard, saying,
\n “Be of good cheer; It\n is I<\/strong>; be not afraid.”\n <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n

“This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God,\nthat the Son of God might be glorified thereby.” John 11:4<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Octavius Winslow<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The season of sickness is the schooling of the soul. More of God\nis unfolded then, and more of his truth is learned, than perhaps in any other\ncircumstances. Oh, how the character, and the perfections, and the government\nof God become unfolded to his mind by the teachings of the Spirit of truth! His\ndim views are cleared, his crude ideas are ripened, his erroneous ideas are rectified;\nhe contemplates God in another light, and truth through another medium. But the\nsweetest effect of all is the personal appropriation of God to his own soul. He\ncan now say, “This God is my God, and is my Father, and is my portion\nforever,”- words of assurance hitherto strange to his lips. The promises\nof God were never realized as so precious, the doctrines of grace were never\nfelt to be so establishing, and the precepts were never seen to be so\nobligatory and so sanctifying as now; blessed results of a hallowed possession\nof the season of sickness! And what a pruning of this living branch has taken\nplace! What weanedness from the engrossing claims of the earthly calling, from\nan undue attachment to created good, from the creature, from the world, and\nwhat is the greatest weanedness of all, from the wedded idol, self! What\nhumility of mind, what meekness of spirit, and self-renunciation follow! He\nentered that chamber as a proud man; he leaves it as a little child. He went\ninto it with much of the spirit of a grasping, covetous, worldly-minded\nprofessor; he emerges from it with the world under his feet: “Consecration\nto Christ and Holiness to God”, written upon his substance, and engraved\nupon his brow. He has been near to eternity! He has been looking within the\nveil! He has been reading his own heart! He has been dealing with Christ! He\nhas seen and felt how solemn a thing it was to approach the gate of death, to\nenter the presence of God- and from that dreadful point of vision, he has\ncontemplated the world, and life, and human responsibility, as they are; and he\nhas come back like a spirit from another sphere, clothed with all the\nsolemnities of eternity- to live now as one soon in reality to be there. Truly,\nhis sickness was “for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be\ngloried thereby.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our wisest plans and best endeavors!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Letters of John Newton<\/a>)
\n
\nWe are disciples \u2014 Jesus is our Master. The world <\/em>we\nlive in is His school<\/em>, and every person<\/em> and event <\/em>is\nunder His management, designed to forward us in the great lessons <\/em>which\nHe would have us to learn \u2014 such as . . .
\n  self-denial,
\n  a distrust of creatures, and
\n  an absolute dependence upon Himself.
\n
\nIn this view,
\n  afflictions<\/em> \u2014 are mercies,
\n  losses<\/em> \u2014 are gains,
\n  hindrances<\/em> \u2014 are helps, and
\n  all things<\/em>, even those which seem most\ncontrary \u2014 are working together for our good.
\n
\nCreatures <\/em>smile upon us \u2014 or frown upon\nus; caress us \u2014 or disappoint us;
\nfriends<\/em> grow cool \u2014 and enemies become kind \u2014 
\njust as His wisdom sees most expedient to promote our spiritual\nprogress.
\n
\nWhere we look for most blessing \u2014 it often comes to little;
\nwhere we look for nothing \u2014 we often obtain most benefit.
\n
\nOur wisest plans and best endeavors<\/strong> at\none time produce great troubles!
\nAt another time, what we do at random<\/em>, and what we\naccount the most trifling<\/em> incidents \u2014 are productive of happy,\nlasting, and extensive consequences.
\n
\nIt is well for us if, by a long train of such changing,\ncheckered experiences \u2014 we at length attain to some proficiency, and can say\nwith David, “My soul, wait only upon God; for my expectation is from\nHim.”
\n
\nThe heart possession of two maxims of Matthew Henry<\/em>,\nis well worth all that the acquisition can cost us:
\n  1. Every creature is to us \u2014 only what God makes it.
\n  2. We cannot expect too little from man \u2014 nor too much\nfrom God.
\n
\nIn this school <\/em>I am placed \u2014 and these lessons <\/em>I\nam aiming to learn. But I am a poor scholar<\/em> and indeed any\nmaster but He who condescends to be my teacher \u2014 would turn me out as an\nincorrigible dunce!
\n
\nYet I sincerely wish to be willing to be what<\/em>,\nand where<\/em>, and how <\/em>the Lord would have me be \u2014 to\ncast all my cares simply upon Him, and to be always satisfied in my mind that\nHe assuredly cares for me!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am black, but lovely!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Henry Law<\/a>, “The Song of Solomon<\/a>” 1879)<\/p>\n\n\n\n


\n“I am black, but comely!<\/strong>”\nSong of Solomon 1:5
\n
\nThe believer pictures her state. It is a seeming paradox. The\nextremes of lowliness and greatness are combined. She presents two aspects: deformity\nand loveliness compose the portrait.<\/em> “I am black, but comely!<\/strong>“
\n
\nBlackness is frightful and repulsive. No eye can rest on it\ncomplacently. But blackness is the emblem of our state by nature<\/em>.\nWe are conceived and born in sin; and sin is most hideous wherever it appears.\nThe Spirit has revealed this truth to each enlightened convert.
\nHe sees it;
\nhe feels it;
\nhe owns it;
\nhe bewails it.
\nIt is his constant misery.
\n
\nWhen he would do good, evil is present with him. He hates and\nloathes and abhors himself in dust and ashes. Surveying the innate corruption,\nwhich is his, he mournfully confesses, “I am black! I am vile!”
\n
\nBut he looks off to Christ. He sees the precious blood washing\nout every stain and obliterating<\/em>
\n<\/em>the crimson dye.<\/em>
\n
\nThe blackness disappears.
\nIn Christ he is whiter than the whitest snow.
\n
\nHe puts on Christ, and adores Him as made sin for us, that we\nmight be made the righteousness of God in Him. He sees His pure and perfect\nobedience wrought out as a robe to hide his every defect, so bright, so lovely,\nand so glorious, that it exceeds all admiration.
\n
\nHe feels that this righteousness is through grace imputed<\/em> to\nhim. He knows that he is lovely through divine loveliness. Thus clothed and\ndecked, he triumphantly tells his friends, “I am\nblack, but comely!<\/strong>“
\n
\n“Thou art all fair, My love; there is no spot<\/em> in\nthee!” Song of Solomon 4:7<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This God is our God forever and\never!<\/strong>
\n
\n(“Every Day!<\/a>”\nAuthor unknown, 1872)
\n
\n“This God is our God\nforever and ever! <\/strong>He will be our Guide even unto\ndeath!” Psalm 48:14
\n
\nThose who have fled for refuge to the hope set before them in\nthe gospel, all who are living a life of faith\u2014are privileged to say of the\nLord, “This God is our God forever and ever!”<\/em>
\n
\nBelievers are privileged to say that the God who has all power\nin Heaven and earth, whose understanding is infinite, who is good, and who does\ngood continually: “This God is our God forever and ever!”<\/em>
\n
\nBelievers are privileged to say the God of holiness,\nrighteousness, and justice; the God of mercy, truth, and grace; the “just\nGod and the Savior”: “This God is our God forever and\never!”<\/em>
\n
\nBelievers are privileged to say the God whose name and whose\nnature is love, and who has manifested His love toward us in sending His only\nbegotten Son into the world that we might live through Him: “This\nGod is our God forever and ever!”<\/em>
\n
\nBelievers are privileged to say the God and Father of our Lord\nJesus Christ; the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort; the Refuge of\nthe oppressed, the Helper of the helpless, the Hope of the hopeless, and the\nSavior of the lost: “This God is our God forever and ever!”<\/em>
\n
\nBelievers are privileged to say the Source of every good and\nperfect gift; the promise-keeping God: “This God is our God”\u2014and\nalways will be; for He never leaves nor forsakes His redeemed people. “He\nwill be our Guide even unto death,” and our portion forever and ever!
\n
\n“This God is the God we adore;
\n Our faithful, unchangeable Friend;
\n Whose love is as great as His power.
\n And knows neither measure nor end!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his\nsaints.” Psalm 116:15.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Octavius Winslow<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is solemnly true that there is a “time to die.” Ah!\naffecting thought- a “time to die!” A time when this mortal conflict\nwill be over- when this heart will cease to feel, alike insensible to joy or\nsorrow- when this head will ache and these eyes will weep no more- best and\nholiest of all- a time “when this corruptible shall put on incorruption,\nand this mortal shall put on immortality,” and we shall “see Christ as\nHe is, and be like Him.” If this be so, then, O Christian, why this\nanxious, trembling fear? Your time of death, with all its attendant\ncircumstances, is in the Lord’s hand. All is appointed and arranged by Him who\nloves you, and who redeemed you- infinite goodness, wisdom, and faithfulness\nconsulting your highest happiness in each circumstance of your departure. The\nfinal sickness cannot come, the “last enemy” cannot strike, until He\nbids it. All is in His hand. Then calmly, confidingly, leave life’s closing\nscene with Him. You cannot die away from Jesus. Whether your spirit wings its\nflight at home or abroad, amid strangers or friends, by a lingering process or\nby a sudden stroke, in brightness or in gloom, Jesus will be with you; and,\nupheld by His grace, and cheered with His presence, you shall triumphantly\nexclaim, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will\nfear no evil; for you are with me: your rod and your staff, they comfort\nme,” bearing your dying testimony to the faithfulness of God, and the\npreciousness of His promises. My time to die is in Your hand, O Lord, and there\nI calmly leave it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you ever noticed how believers who have been severely tried under the hand of God become more cautious and humble?  They do not speak quite so fast as they used to speak; they do not have a ready solution for every problem; they do not boast of what they have done, will do, or […]<\/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-6438","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\/6438","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=6438"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6439,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6438\/revisions\/6439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}