{"id":6881,"date":"2025-08-17T09:58:22","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T09:58:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=6881"},"modified":"2025-08-17T09:58:22","modified_gmt":"2025-08-17T09:58:22","slug":"bulletin-edition-august-2025-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=6881","title":{"rendered":"Bulletin Edition August 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Psa. 31:23 O love the LORD,\nall ye his saints: for<\/em> the LORD preserveth the faithful, and plentifully\nrewardeth the proud doer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psa. 31:24 Be of good\ncourage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThou\nKnowest\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

John\n21:17<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the Lord asked his fallen servant, Peter, \u201cLovest\nthou me?\u201d <\/em>Peter replied with these words of confident, comforting\nfaith – \u201cLord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love the.e\u201d<\/em> Knowing\nhis terrible sin, his miserable failure, and knowing that none of his brethren\ncould see beyond his actions, the fallen saint took refuge in his Saviour\u2019s\nperfect knowledge of him. He was saying, Lord, you see beyond what I am by\nnature. You see beyond my sin. You see me as I really am by your grace. In\nspite of what I am, in spite of the evil I have done, \u201cThou knowest\nthat I love thee.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\nFortner<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“<\/strong>He\nsaith to him again the second time, Simon, son<\/em> of Jonas,\nlovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee.<\/strong>” John 21:16<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Octavius Winslow
\n
\n“God is love,” and the expression of that love is the\nsending His own Son into the world, to achieve what the law, in its weakness,\ncould not do. Was ever love like this? “God so loved.” And was Jesus\nwilling to engage in the embassy? Did He voluntarily clothe Himself in our\nrags, stoop to our poverty, consent to be arrested and thrown into prison for\nus? Was He made a curse that He might deliver us from the curse? Did judgment\npass upon Him, that we might be saved from the wrath to come? Oh here is\ninfinite, boundless love! Then let Him have in return our love; it is the least\nthat He can ask, or we can make. Let it be a hearty, cordial, obedient,\nincreasing love. Alas! it is but a drop, when it should be an ocean. It is but\na faint spark, when it should be a vehement flame.
\n
\nHow should our best affection flow out toward Him who assumed,\nand stills wears, our nature! What an attractive, winning object is the\nIncarnate God, the God-man Mediator! Fairer than the children of men, the chief\namong ten thousand, the altogether lovely, He is the wonder and admiration, the\nbeloved and the song, of all heaven. Why should He not be equally so of all\nearth? Did the Son of God take up our rude and suffering nature, and shall we\nbe loth to take up His lowly and despised cross, and follow hard after Him?\nForbid it, Lord! Forbid it, you precious Saviour! What humiliation, what\nabasement, can be too much for us, the sinful sons of men, when You, the\nsinless Son of God, did so abase and humble Yourself! Let Your love constrain\nus to stand firm to You, to Your truth, and to Your cause, when the world\ndespises, when friends forsake, when relatives look cold, and all seem to leave\nand forsake us. And as You did condescend to be made in the likeness of our\nhuman and sinful nature, oh conform us to the likeness of Your Divine and holy\nnature. As You were a partaker with us, make us partakers with You. As You were\nmade like unto us, in what was proper to man, make us like You, in what is\nproper to God. And as You did come down to our sinful and dim earth, lift us to\nYour pure and bright heaven!
\n
\nWhat a privilege is nearness to Christ! Yet, dear and precious\nas it is, how sadly is it overlooked! We may trace this, in some degree, to the\nbeliever’s oversight of his oneness with Christ. Yet to forget this truth is to\nforget that He lives. As the branch has one life with the vine, the graft one\nlife with the tree, so he that is united to Christ, and grafted into Christ,\nhas one life with Christ. Go where he may, he is one with Christ. Be his\ncircumstances what they may, he is one with Christ. And as he is in Christ, so\nChrist is in him. And if Christ be in him, dwelling in him, living in him,\nwalking in him, so also is Christ in every event, and incident, and\ncircumstance of his history. He cannot look upon the darkest cloud that\noverhangs his path, but he may say, “Christ is in my cloud; Christ is in\nmy sorrow; Christ is in my conflict; Christ is in my need; Christ is all to me,\nand Christ is in all with me.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His\nsheep feed in the midst of wolves!<\/strong>
\n
\n(John newton)
\n 
\n“The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want!” Psalm\n23:1<\/strong>
\n
\nThe Lord is my Shepherd!<\/em> This is a\ncomprehensive word. The sheep can do nothing for themselves. The Shepherd must\nguide, guard, feed, heal and recover. It is well for us–that our\nShepherd<\/em> is the Lord Almighty! If His power, care, compassion and\nfullness were not infinite–the poor sheep would be forsaken, starved and die!\nBut we have a Shepherd full of care, full of kindness, full of power, who has\nsaid, “I will search for My lost ones who strayed away, and I will bring\nthem safely home again. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the\nweak!” Ezekiel 34:16. How tender are these expressions, and how well\nfulfilled! His sheep feed in the midst\nof wolves<\/strong>–yet are safely preserved; for, though they cannot see\nHim–His eye <\/em>and His heart <\/em>are ever upon\nthem!
\n
\nWhich of God’s children have not cause to say, “My\nsoul is among lions!” <\/em><\/strong>But our Shepherd stops their mouths, or\nonly permits them to gape and roar, and show their teeth. He does not allow\nthem to bite and tear us at their will. Let us trust our Shepherd–and all\nshall be well.
\n
\nAs to daily occurrences, it is best to trust that a daily\nportion of comforts <\/em>and crosses<\/em>–each one the most\nsuitable to our case–is adjusted and appointed by the hand which was\nonce nailed to the cross for us! <\/em>We must trust, that where the path of\nduty and prudence leads us–that there is the best situation we could possibly\nbe in, at that time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clowns\nentertaining the goats!<\/strong>
\n
\n(C.H.Spurgeon)
\n
\n“Feed My sheep.” John 21:17
\n
\nA time will come when instead of shepherds feeding the sheep,\nthe church will have clowns\nentertaining the goats!<\/strong>
\n
\n<\/strong>“I charge thee<\/em> therefore before God, and\nthe Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing\nand his kingdom; <\/strong>2 <\/sup><\/strong>preach\nthe word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all\nlongsuffering and doctrine. <\/strong>3 <\/sup><\/strong>For the\ntime will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own\nlusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; <\/strong>4 <\/sup><\/strong>and they shall turn away their<\/em> ears\nfrom the truth, and shall be turned unto fables!” 2 Timothy 4:1-4<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Shepherd feeds<\/strong> his\nsheep. <\/em>It is his daily care to lead them to the pastures where the best\nfood abounds. He guards them from unwholesome fields, in which herbage is rank,\nand weeds might injure, and thorns and thistles mock the hungry mouth, and\npoison lurks in a beguiling form. Thus he nourishes, and the flock thrives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prophet takes up the image,\nand exclaims, “He shall feed His flock like a shepherd.” (Isa. 40:11)\nThey need nourishment, and largely He supplies. Their appetite is spiritual,\nand spiritual is their regalement. He brings them to the fertile meadows of the\nWord, and says, “Eat, O friends; drink, yes, drink abundantly, O\nbeloved.” (Song 5:1) Bodies retain not life except through food, and sheep\nwould perish without pasture. But the Word supplies abundantly. Around the camp\nof Israel the angels’ food fell only in the morning dew; but at all times the\nWord is near. The power of the Word to strengthen and revive consists mainly in\nits revelations of the Saviour. “The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of\nprophecy.” (Rev. 19:10) Here the hungry soul is cheered by gladdening\nviews of His wondrous person, His everlasting love, His tender grace, His\nwilling sufferings, His atoning death, His rising power, His ascending glory,\nHis interceding might, His coming kingdom. Invigorated by views of their ever-present,\never loving Lord, they are strong for toil. They renew their strength in His\nappointed ordinances, and mount with wings as eagles. In the congregation of\nthe saints, in united prayer and praise, they brace their nerves and gird up\ntheir loins. They see their Lord uplifted in His courts, and they return\n“rejoicing as a strong man to run a race.” (Psa. 19:5) A table is\nprepared before them in the house of their pilgrimage\u2014even the sacramental\nfeast. Here is much-loved refreshment. In these green pastures they lie down\nwith great delight, and the food is sweet to their taste. Thus tender is the\nheavenly Shepherd. Thus nurtured is the happy flock. They feed and sing, He is\nindeed “the Good Shepherd!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Henry Law<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 We have the nature\nof the trust <\/em>committed of old to the Levitical priesthood, and now to\nthe ministers of Christ. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“My covenant was\nwith him of life and peace.” Malachi 2:5<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That covenant \u2014 the\neverlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure \u2014 by which God designed to\nconvey life and peace to His people, was entrusted to the care and guardianship\nof the priesthood. It was deposited in their hands for the benefit of Israel.\nThey were not merely to enjoy its provisions of grace themselves, but to make\nthem known to the people, that they might become partakers of its unsearchable\nriches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brief, but full, is the sum\nhere given us of its blessings \u2014 “life and peace” \u2014 eternal life and\npeace with God. Their daily sacrifices and ceremonies pointed to these, and\ntheir daily instructions opened up the glad tidings of great joy, which these\nrites both foreshadowed and contained. Such was the office of the sons of Levi\nunder the law \u2014 and such is still the office of Christ’s ministers under the\ngospel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jehovah’s covenant of life\nand peace is still with us; nay, more truly and really with us now than it was\nof old with the legal priesthood. For now the darkness is past, the shadows\nhave fled, and the true light has risen. Now the mere figures of the truth have\nvanished away, and the truth itself has come! He who is our life and peace,\nhas, in the fullness of time, been revealed. Our covenant<\/em>, then, is\nespecially that of life and peace. Our office<\/em>, our embassy, our\nmessage, are of life and peace. Ours is the silver trumpet that proclaims the\ndawn of jubilee. Ours is the olive branch that speaks of abated waters and\nindignation over and past. Ours is the ministry of reconciliation that tells of\n“glory to God in the highest, peace on earth and goodwill toward\nmen.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is through Jesus, then,\nthat we are commanded to proclaim life and peace. It is through the\nblood of the Lamb <\/em>that these blessings flow. It is Jesus, the life of\nthe world that we preach to men \u2014 Jesus the light <\/em>of life \u2014\nJesus the fountain <\/em>of life \u2014 Jesus the bread <\/em>of\nlife and the water <\/em>of life \u2014 Jesus the resurrection <\/em>and\nthe life \u2014 Jesus the way<\/em>, and the truth<\/em>, and the life \u2014\nJesus the living and the life-giving One! It is through Him alone \u2014 through His\nfinished work and perfect righteousness \u2014 that we proclaim lasting life to lost\nsinners; testifying, according to His own words, that “whoever believes in\nHim though he were dead, yet shall he live”; and that “this is life\neternal, to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.” It\nis thus that we are “to preach the gospel with the Holy Spirit sent down\nfrom Heaven.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Horatius Bonar<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus shewed himself again <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

John 21:1 After these\nthings Jesus shewed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias; and\non this wise shewed he himself<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. The Lord Jesus Christ must\nHimself show Himself – that is simply what the scripture declares.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is always His coming to us\nwhich is the vital matter. There will be \u201ca time of love\u201d for all He loves\neverlastingly.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. The resurrected Christ is only\nknown by revelation but His revelation is a repeated revelation – again. He\nonly revealed Himself to His chosen, His elect, those for whom He bore those\nwounds unto death.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. on this wise shewed he himself<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everything about this event every detail\nis full of gospel truth for our believing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is how the resurrected Christ\nreveals Himself again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. The resurrected Christ meets\nwith His gathered ones at the place promised but at a time and in a way in\nwhich they were not expecting to meet Him. He reveals Himself always as He sees\nfit. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. When the Lord reveals Himself –\nHe will find us in darkness and bring light again. He will find us having\ntoiled and been empty – weary and heavy laden. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. When He reveals Himself He will\nreveal us to us. Isaiah 6:1-7<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. When He reveals Himself His\nword will come to us with the power to obey.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

All His \u201cI wills\u201d and \u201cthey\nshalls\u201d will be fulfilled. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. The deity of Christ will be\nrevealed. He Who commanded \u2019let there be light.\u201d Can command fish – \u201cget into\nthe net.\u201d The wind and the waves obey Him. He worketh all things after the\ncounsel of His own will. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

9. When He reveals Himself His\nloved ones will know it is THE LORD.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

10. When He reveals Himself His\nloved ones will know it is THE LORD and tell others immediately.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

11. When you see Him revealed you\nhave got to get to Him – nothing else matters just getting to Him being with\nHim is vital.  Peter heard and \u2018did cast Himself into the sea.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

12. When He reveals Himself we\ncome to Him seeing that everything about my salvation is already done.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Come and<\/em> dine. Not \u2018come\nand do\u2019 but \u2018come and dine\u2019 on what you did nothing to earn nor deserve.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

13. Such is the glory of the\nrevealed Christ that He delights in the gift of giving from His servants.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grace abounding to the chief of\nsinners. \u201cBring the fish you have caught\u201d  Who was the one alone who\nsovereignly ruled the sea and there fish?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

14. When He reveals Himself we\nwill rejoice to be called \u201cchildren.\u201d One who: belong to a Father, one who has\nan elder Brother, one who is birthed from the same Mother, from the same seed,\none who is born to a place of dependence, needy and teachable but mostly one\nwho trusts with the innocence of a child loved dearly.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lord reveal Yourself in Your\nresurrected glory again to Your children.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Psa. 31:23 O love the LORD, all ye his saints: for the LORD preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer. Psa. 31:24 Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD. \u201cThou Knowest\u201d John 21:17 When the Lord asked his fallen servant, Peter, \u201cLovest thou me?\u201d Peter […]<\/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-6881","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\/6881","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=6881"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6881\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6882,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6881\/revisions\/6882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}