{"id":6818,"date":"2025-03-03T01:43:10","date_gmt":"2025-03-03T01:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=6818"},"modified":"2025-03-03T01:43:10","modified_gmt":"2025-03-03T01:43:10","slug":"bulletin-edition-march-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=6818","title":{"rendered":"Bulletin Edition March 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is faith?  Ebenezer Erskine\u2019s 7 fold\ndefinition of faith<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Faith in Christ pleases God<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Faith in Christ honours God<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Faith in Christ is honoured by\nGod<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Faith is the gift of\nGod. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

              It is\nnot the product of free will. It is the operation of the Spirit of God by the\nword of God and is the parent of all other graces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Faith has Christ Jesus as\nit\u2019s principle object,<\/strong> for it is the faith of Christ Jesus – our Lord,\nSaviour, Mediator and Hope. Christ is the bread; faith is the mouth which eats.\nChrist is the brazen serpent; faith is the eye that looks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Faith is receiving Christ<\/strong>,\nnot just hearing about Him or acknowledging Him, but a committal to Him. Is\nChrist meat? Then eat! Is Christ living water? Then drink! Is Christ the\nrefuge? Then flee to Him! Is Christ Lord? Then worship Him!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Faith is to rest upon\nChrist. <\/strong>\u2018Rest in the Lord\u2019 (Psalm 37:7). Faith is not an isolated act based\nupon an intellectual knowledge of some facts, but is a trusting in and resting\nupon Christ to perform all that I need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Faith is to rest upon\nChrist alone. <\/strong>The word alone is most important. Most men, by nature, try to\nadd something to the sacrifice and intercession of Christ. God has established\na bridge of communication between heaven and earth by the obedience and blood\nof Christ, and every other passage is blocked by the holiness and justice of\nGod.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Faith rests upon Christ\nas he is presented in the Gospel.<\/strong> We ask no other sign than the Word of\nGod. Faith is to believe the record that God hath given concerning His Son –\n\u201cHe that hath the Son hath life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. Faith rests upon Christ\nfor salvation, sanctification, righteousness and full redemption! <\/strong>The goal\nof faith is the salvation of our souls; and this our Lord undertook in the\neternal covenant and which He completed on Calvary when He cried \u201cIt is\nfinished.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nothing, either great or small,\nnothing sinner, no; Jesus Christ did it all long, long ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is finished! yes indeed\nfinished every jot;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sinner, this is all you need;\ntell me, is it not?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh may God the Holy Spirit\ngrant you faith in Christ! May He be pleased to perform in you that mighty\noperation of His grace, without which you will forever perish. O Holy Spirit of\nGod, perform that mighty operation in me continually, ever cause me to trust my\nSaviour, and thus believing Him to be ever found pleasing and honouring my God. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

O gift of gifts. O grace of\nfaith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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


\n
\n“My grace is sufficient for thee<\/strong>, for My strength is made perfect\nin weakness.”  2 Corinthians 12:9
\n
\nNot your strength<\/em>,
\nnot your wisdom<\/em>,
\nnot your prayers<\/em>,
\nnot your experience<\/em>;
\nbut “My grace”<\/em>\u2014My free, My matchless grace:
\n  independent of all works and efforts,
\n  independent of everything in the creature,
\n  flowing wholly and solely, fully and freely, out of the bosom of Jesus\nto . . .
\n    the needy,
\n    the guilty,
\n    the destitute,
\n    the undone.
\n
\nYou who are tried in worldly circumstances, who have to endure the hard lot\nof poverty<\/strong>\u2014”My grace is sufficient for you.”
\n
\nYou who are tempted<\/strong>, day by day, to say or do that which conscience\ntestifies against\u2014”My grace is sufficient for you.”
\n
\nYou who are harassed with family troubles <\/strong>and afflictions, and\nare often drawn aside into peevishness and fretfulness\u2014”My grace is\nsufficient for you.”
\n
\nOur weakness<\/strong>, helplessness<\/strong>, and inability <\/strong>are\nthe very things which draw forth the power, the strength, and the grace of\nJesus!
\n
\nBeliever, your case is never beyond the reach of the words\u2014”My grace is\nsufficient for you!”
\n
\nThe free, the matchless, sovereign grace of God, is sufficient for all His\npeople\u2014in whatever state, or stage, or trouble, or difficulty they may be in!
\n
\n“My grace is sufficient for thee<\/strong>, for My strength is made perfect\nin weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 “THE RIGHTEOUS ALSO\nSHALL HOLD ON HIS WAY”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Job 17:9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What this scripture is saying is\nthat the believ\u00ader shall continue to believe, rest in Christ, and die in faith.\nThere are no exceptions. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and\nthey follow me; and I give unto them eternal life; and THEY SHALL NEVER\nPERISH” (John 10:27-28). The righteous shall indeed hold his way; for THE\nWAY is HIS way (the Lord’s way), and it is his way also (the believer’s way).\nThe believer loves and prefers the way of the Lord. He walks this way\nwillingly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. He may not always travel with\nEQUAL SPEED, but he will continue therein. He may hold his pace, but he will\nhold his way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. He may not always travel with\nEQUAL ENTHUSIASM and zeal, but he will hold his way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. He may not always travel with\nEQUAL SUCCESS, but he will hold his way; for he knows even his weak\u00adness\nmagnifies the Lord’s strength.              \n               Pastor Henry T.\nMahan <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such exceedingly\nreligious people<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Until the Blessed Spirit\nquickens the soul into spiritual life, we know nothing really or rightly of the\ntruth as it is in Jesus. We may be strictly orthodox in doctrine\u2014may abhor\ninfidelity and error\u2014may be shocked at profanity and irreverence\u2014may be scrupulously\nattentive to every relative duty\u2014may repeat, with undeviating regularity, our\nprayers and devotions\u2014may seem to ourselves and to others exceedingly\nreligious\u2014when, in the sight of a heart-searching God, we are still dead in\ntrespasses and sins!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The world is full of such\nexceedingly religious people!<\/strong> Every church and every chapel can\nproduce samples in abundance of such “devout and honourable” men and\nwomen. We may have a form of godliness in a profession of truth\u2014may have been\nsuckled and bred up from childhood in a sound creed\u2014may have learned the\ndoctrines of grace in theory and as a religious system\u2014may be convinced in our\nconscience of their substantial agreement with the Word of God\u2014may contend for\nthem in argument, and prove them by texts\u2014may sit under the sound of the gospel\nwith pleasure\u2014or even preach it with eloquence and fervour; and yet know\nnothing of the truth savingly and experimentally, by divine teaching and divine\ntestimony!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does the Scripture afford us\nno example of these characters? Who more religious, more strict, scrupulous,\nand orthodox than the ‘Pharisee’ of old? He sat in Moses’ seat, as the teacher\nof the people\u2014he tithed his mint, anise, and cummin with the most scrupulous\ncare\u2014he strained his drinks, that no unclean gnat might unawares pollute him\u2014he\nprayed and fasted rigidly and regularly\u2014and seemed to himself and to others the\nprime favourite of heaven. But what was he really and truly? What was he in the\nsight of God? According to the Lord’s own testimony\u2014a hypocrite\u2014a viper\u2014a\nwhited sepulcher, ripening himself for the damnation of hell!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who were those against whom\nholy John, fervent Jude, and earnest Peter warned the churches so strongly? Who\nwere those spots in their feasts of charity, feeding themselves without fear?\nWho were those clouds without water, carried about with winds\u2014those trees whose\nfruit withered, twice dead, plucked up by the roots? Who else but graceless\nprofessors of the truth! <\/em>It is not then, the form, the letter, the\nmere outside, the bare shell and husk of truth, that makes or manifests the\nChristian\u2014but the vital possession of it as a divinely bestowed gift and\ntreasure!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“And the Lord\nturned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the\nLord.”  Luke 22:61.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

His Lord’s solemn prediction\nof his sin he seemed quite to have forgotten. But when that look met his eye,\nit summoned back to memory the faded recollections of the faithful and tender\nadmonitions that had forewarned him of his fall. There is a tendency, in our\nfallen minds to forget our sinful departures from God. David’s threefold\nbacksliding seemed to have been lost in deep oblivion, until the Lord sent His\nprophet to recall it to his memory. Christ will bring our forgotten departures\nto view, not to upbraid or to condemn, but to humble us, and to bring us afresh\nto the blood of sprinkling. The heart searching look from Christ turns over\neach leaf in the book of memory; and sins and follies, inconsistencies and\ndepartures, there inscribed, but long forgotten, are read and re-read, to the\ndeep sin-loathing and self-abasement of our souls. Ah! let a look of forgiving\nlove penetrate your soul, illuminating memory’s dark cell, and how many things,\nand circumstances, and steps in your past life will you recollect to your\ndeepest humiliation before God. And oh! how much do we need thus to be reminded\nof our admonitions, our warnings, and our falls, that we may in all our future\nspirit and conduct “walk humbly with God.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

“The Lord hath done\ngreat things for us; whereof we are glad!” Psalm 126:3<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some Christians are sadly prone\nto look on the dark side of everything, and to dwell more upon what they have\ngone through, than upon what God has done for them. Ask for their impression of\nthe Christian life, and they will describe their continual conflicts, their\ndeep afflictions, their sad adversities, and the sinfulness of their hearts\u2014yet\nwith scarcely any allusion to the mercy and help which God has vouchsafed them.\nBut a Christian whose soul is in a healthy state, will come forward joyously,\nand say, “I will speak, not about myself\u2014but to the honour of my God. He\nhas brought me up out of an horrible pit, and out of the miry clay, and set my\nfeet upon a rock, and established my goings\u2014and He has put a new song in my\nmouth, even praise unto our God. The Lord has done great things for me, whereof\nI am glad!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such an abstract of\nexperience <\/em>as this, is the very best that any child of God can\npresent. It is true that we endure trials\u2014but it is just as true that we are\ndelivered out of them. It is true that we have our corruptions, and mournfully\ndo we know this\u2014but it is quite as true that we have an all-sufficient Saviour,\nwho overcomes these corruptions, and delivers us from their dominion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In looking back, it would be\nwrong to deny that we have been in the Slough of Despond<\/em>, and have\ncrept along the Valley of Humiliation<\/em>\u2014but it would be equally\nwicked to forget that we have been through them safely and profitably; we have\nnot remained in them, thanks to our Almighty Helper and Leader, who has brought\nus “out into a wealthy place.” (Psalm 66:12) The deeper our troubles\u2014the\nlouder our thanks to God, who has led us through all, and preserved us until\nnow. Our griefs cannot mar the melody of our praise, we reckon them to be\nthe bass part of our life’s song<\/em>, “He has done great things\nfor us, whereof we are glad!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Our strength…
\n<\/strong>
\n-Spurgeon, “Salvation Altogether by Grace”<\/em>
\n
\nThe vine being weak twists about the elm to support it.
\nA good Christian, being conscious of his own imbecility,
\ntwists by faith about Christ.
\n
\nSamson’s strength lay in his hair.
\nOurs strength<\/strong> in our head, Christ.
\n
\n“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
\nPhilippians 4:13<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lean hard!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Octavius Winslow, “The\nBurden Cast upon God”<\/p>\n\n\n\n


\n<\/em>“Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain\nthee.” Psalm 55:22
\n
\nIt is by an act of simple prayerful faith, that we transfer our cares<\/em> and anxieties<\/em>,\nour sorrows<\/em> and needs<\/em>\u2014to the Lord.
\n
\nJesus invites you to come and lean upon Him, and to lean with all your might\nupon that arm that balances the universe, and upon that bosom that bled for you\nupon the soldier’s spear!
\n
\nBut you doubtingly ask, “Is the Lord able to do this thing for me?”
\nAnd thus, while you are debating a matter about which there is not the shadow\nof a shade of doubt\u2014the burden is crushing your gentle spirit to the dust!
\n
\nAnd all the while Jesus stands at your side and lovingly says:
\n“Cast your burden upon Me, and I will sustain you. I am God Almighty. I\nbore the load of your sin and condemnation up the steep of Calvary, and the\nsame power<\/em> of omnipotence, and the same strength of love<\/em> that\nbore it all for you then\u2014is prepared to bear your need and sorrow now. Roll it\nall upon Me!
\n“Child of My Love! Lean hard!<\/strong> Let Me feel the pressure of\nyour care. I know your burden, child! I shaped and formed it in My own hand,\nand made no proportion of its weight to your unaided strength. For even as I\nlaid it on, I said ‘I shall be near;’ and while you lean on Me, this burden\nshall be Mine, not yours. So shall I keep My child within the circling arms of\nMy own love. Here, lay it down! Do not fear to impose it on a shoulder which\nupholds the government of worlds! Yet closer come\u2014you are not near enough! I\nwould embrace your burden, so I might feel My child reposing on My bosom. You\nlove Me! I know it. Doubt not, then. But, loving Me, lean hard!<\/strong>“<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am a perverse and\nunruly patient!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Newton
\n
\nI am bound to speak well of my Physician<\/strong>; He treats me with great\ntenderness, and bids me in due time to expect a perfect cure. I know too much\nof Him (though I know but little) to doubt either His skill or His promise.
\n
\nIt is true, I have suffered sad relapses <\/em>since I have been\nunder His care. Yet I confess that the fault has not been His, but my\nown! I am a perverse and unruly patient!<\/strong> I have too often\nneglected His prescriptions, and broken the regimen He appoints me to observe.\nThis perverseness<\/em>, joined to the exceeding<\/em> obstinacy\nof my disorders<\/em>, would have caused me to be turned out as an\nincurable <\/em><\/strong>long ago-had I been under any other hand but His!\nIndeed, there is none like Him! When I have brought myself <\/em>very\nlow, He has still helped me. Blessed be His name, I am yet kept alive only by\nmeans of His perfect care.
\n
\nThough His medicines are all beneficial<\/em>, they are not all pleasant<\/em>.\nNow and then He gives me a pleasant <\/em>cordial; but I have many\nsevere disorders, in which there is a needs-be<\/em> for my\nfrequently taking His bitter <\/em>and unpalatable <\/em>medicines!
\n
\nWe sometimes see published in the newspapers, acknowledgments of cures\nreceived<\/em>. Methinks, if I were to publish my own case, that it would run\nsomething like this:
\n“I, John Newton, have long laboured under a multitude of grievous\ndisorders:
\n    a fever of ungoverned passions,
\n    a cancer of pride,
\n    a frenzy of wild imaginations,
\n    a severe lethargy, and
\n    a deadly stroke!
\nIn this deplorable situation, I suffered many things from many physicians,\nspent every penny I had – yet only grew worse and worse!
\nIn this condition, Jesus, the Physician of souls, found me when I sought Him\nnot. He undertook my recovery freely<\/em>, without money and without\nprice-these are His terms <\/em>with all His patients! My fever <\/em>is\nnow abated, my senses are <\/em>restored, my faculties <\/em>are\nenlivened! In a word, I am a new man!<\/em> And from His ability,\nHis promise, and the experience of what He has already done – I have the\nfullest assurance that He will infallibly and perfectly heal me; and that I\nshall live forever as a monument of His power and grace!”<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is faith?  Ebenezer Erskine\u2019s 7 fold definition of faith Faith in Christ pleases God Faith in Christ honours God Faith in Christ is honoured by God 1. Faith is the gift of God.                It is not the product of free will. It is the operation of the Spirit of God by the word […]<\/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-6818","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\/6818","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=6818"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6818\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6819,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6818\/revisions\/6819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}