"Salvation is of the LORD." -Jonah 2:9

"Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?" - Isaiah 21:11  [KJV] While this solemn inquiry may be supposed to have peculiar reference, as addressed to the servants of the Lord, whom He hath set as watchmen upon the walls of Zion, may it not be made personally to every man's bosom also, as it refers to himself? And the repeating of it twice should seem to imply the importance and earnestness with which it should be followed up. My soul, what is the night with thee? Art thou watching in it more than they that watch for the morning: yea, I say, more than they which watch for the morning? How art thou exercising this watchfulness? Is all safe respecting thine everlasting welfare? Art thou watching the approaches of the enemy? Art thou watchful in prayer; watchful for the gracious moment of the Spirit's helping thee in prayer; watchful in guiding thee in the exercise of it; watchful of the Lord's gracious answers to prayer; and, like the prophet on th

  Weekend Gospel message to follow for All Hands   (30JUL-01AUG21) Heads-Up --- Please find enclosed encouragement in   SO GREAT SALVATION   by the perfect and finished work of   our Lord Jesus Christ in saving poor, needy and wretched sinners by His sovereign free grace - God's unmerited favor to save us-  from  our  sins and from Hell: THE CONDITIONS FOR SALVATION  The conditions of fallen man's salvation are two, namely, Perfect Atonement for sin, and Perfect Obedience to the law. Both of these conditions Christ has completely fulfilled in the stead, and for the infallible salvation of every soul that comes to His blood for cleansing, and to His righteousness for clothing. "To what end, then serves faith?" To let you into the knowledge, possession, and enjoyment of this free and finished redemption!  —preacher Augustus Toplady (1740-1778 A.D) ------------------------------------------ Please be advised that each Friday evening there'll be a fifteen-minute Gospe

"We, being many, are one body in Christ."   -Romans 12:5  [KJV] One of the most delightful of all thoughts, and which when fully enjoyed under the influence of the Holy Ghost, gives an unspeakable felicity in the heart, is that union and fellowship of Christ with His church. Ponder it, my soul, this morning. All the members of Christ's body are but one body. the apostle saith, in Christ; "and He is the Head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all." I would never, if possible, lose sight of this, because in the perfect conviction and assurance of it must be found all our security and joy. And the way by which this blessed truth, under divine teaching, will be kept alive in the soul, is this: I would behold myself, what I am by nature and practice in Adam, and connect with this view what I am by grace and faith in Christ.     Now, as Adam was the common head of all his seed in nature, equally so is Christ the c

"Try me, O God, and search the ground of my heart. Prove me and examine my thoughts. Look well if there be any wickedness in me, any root of bitterness yet undiscovered; and lead me in The Way Everlasting. Show me the true state of my soul. Bring me out from every false refuge. Strip off every deceitful covering, every covering that is not of Thy Spirit.  Forbid that the anchor of my hope should be cast, or the house of my dependence built, on any but Christ, the Rock of Ages. Forbid that I should rest short of that repentance which is Thy gift, and is connected with life eternal, and forbid, O forbid, that I should sit down without aspiring to that conformity unto Thee in righteousness and true holiness, abstracted from which repentance is false and faith is dead."  -preacher Augustus Toplady (1740-1778 A.D.)

"As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings; so the LORD alone did lead them ." - Deuteronomy 32:11-12  [KJV] Here learn a lesson, to form some faint idea how the Lord is unceasingly engaged in taking care of His people. If thy God condescends to represent it by such a similitude, is it not both thy privilege and thy duty to mark the several particulars of such grace and tenderness? The eagle not only possesseth in common with other creatures, the greatest affection for her young, but manifests a vast superiority over every other of the winged tribe in her management of her brood. She provides for them and protects them, as other birds of the air do; but in educating them, and the method by which she shelters them from danger, here is displayed such superior wisdom and power, as far exceeds whatever we meet with in other creatures. "She stirreth up her nest:" by which we may unders

High Noon! by D.G. Miles McKee I love the story of the ‘Woman at the Well’!  We find it in John 4:3-42 and it shows us, among other things, how Jesus loves to save lost sinners.  Here’s the story. In His mission of seeking and finding, the Good Shepherd leaves Judea to go to Galilee (v 3). He then diverts to Sychar, a city of Samaria (v 4).  Jacob's well was there and Jesus, upon arrival, being weary, sat down (v 6).  What a remarkable sight.  Jesus, God manifest in the flesh, the incarnate Word, the Creator and upholder of the universe; sits there, as a tired man, hungry, and thirsty. What astonishing things we see in the gospel! His disciples had gone into the city to buy food (v 8), and He is left alone.  He wanted to have a conversation with a poor helpless woman and in His sovereignty had chosen the exact time for this meeting … High Noon! She comes to the well at the appointed time (v7). Notice that Jesus was there before she arrived. That’s because He is always

God’s own eternal Son, Christ the Anointed One, Hung on the cross. Servant of God was He, Dying on Calvary; To set His people free, From endless loss.   Our sins on Him were laid, By Him our debt was paid, What wondrous grace! Infinite wrath He bore, Who can such love explore? God can demand no more, Christ took our place. Justice was satisfied, When Christ our Savior died, By God’s decree. Risen, He reigns on high, To God He brings us nigh; On Him our hopes rely, Eternally! -Tune to "MY FAITH LOOKS UP TO THEE" 664.6664 Words by JIM BYRD

"That thy trust may be in the LORD, I have made known to thee this day, even to thee ." -Proverbs 22:19 [KJV] My soul, mark for thy morning meditation, what is here said. Observe, in the first place, the general knowledge the Lord hath given of His saving truth and mercies in Christ Jesus, and which becomes a sufficient warrant and authority for all the world to believe in Christ, and to accept of Christ, to the salvation of the soul. Christ in the word is the Father's authority for every sinner to believe the record God hath given of His Son; and the rejection of this command will be the condemning sin to every one who despises this plan of salvation, because he hath heard and then turned his back upon this love of God in Christ Jesus the Lord.     My soul, ponder over this view of the subject, and then turn to another sweet and distinguishing property of God's revelation which He makes by His blessed Spirit, in the particular apprehension of it. And thi

"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up." - John 3:14 [KJV] The deliverance of sinners from the claims of divine justice was dependent upon Christ bringing in everlasting righteousness for them by the sacrifice of Himself, therefore the Savior said to Nicodemus, "even so  must  the Son of Man be lifted up."  It was in this way the demands of God’s law would be upheld and all the sins of those people entrusted to the Surety before the world began would be taken away, never to be remembered again. Those who insist that sinners can, by will, worth or work, make themselves acceptable to God, render the death of Christ needless and ineffectual. "If righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain"  (Galatians 2:21). Jonathan Edwards said, "If there be ground for you to trust in your righteousness, then all that Christ did to purchase salvation, and all that God did to prepare the way for it

"And there wrestled a Man with him until the breaking of the day." - Genesis 32:24 [KJV] My soul, here is a lovely portion for the morning. For the morning, did I say? Yea, both for night and morning, and, indeed, until the everlasting morning break in upon thee, and all the shadows of the night flee away. For are not all the seed of Jacob like their father, wrestlers in the actings of faith, and the fervour of prayer, until they come off, like him, prevailing Israels? And who was this man which wrestled with the patriarch? Let scripture explain scripture, and give the answer. By his strength, said the prophet Hosea 12:3-5 “He had power with God; yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed; he wept and made supplication unto him; he found him in Bethel, and there he spake with us; even the Lord God of Hosts, the Lord is his memorial." Here then light is thrown upon the subject. He that is called a man in one scripture, is called an angel in this other