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

" Be content with such things as ye have: for He hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee ." -Hebrews 13:5 [KJV] Preach contentment to a covetous carnal mind, and you will just have the same success, as if you bid the surging billows to be calm, or the boisterous winds be still. He possesses nothing which can give true contentment to his mind. Has he riches? they are a curse to him: for he himself is under the curse of the law. O believer! was not this, in a certain sense, your case also? You stand in need of this exhortation—“Be content.” You are the subject of a carnal nature, that is under the curse of the law: for that is ever dissatisfied, craving for more, murmuring against the dispensations of the Lord. Know and consider this. Be humble: be watchful.  Consider, (1st.) what good things of this life you have. Be they little or much, do you deserve them? Have you a right to challenge more from God, the Giver of them? Here set your foot, and let c...

"Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them." -Hebrews 7:25 [KJV] If the gracious Lord did not live to make intercession for us, He could hardly be said to save us to the uttermost. But as He ever lives at God's right hand and is ever interceding, ever presenting the perfume of His acceptable mediation, this gives us a certain pledge of His love, His pity, and His power. Is not this very encouraging to all who come unto God by Him? And may we not say, "Such are we, O Lord; we do come, we daily come to Thee by Jesus Christ?"   And do we not need all the encouragement that God may give us out of it? For we often sink very low through temptation and trial and the manifold afflictions of the way. How blessed, then, it is if you can only trace this mark of grace in your soul when others seem almost lost out of sight. If you know anything of internal work, you know t...

"Clouds and darkness are round about Him; righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His throne." -Psalm 97:2 [KJV] What a blessed scripture is here! And what a satisfying answer is given in it to the endless questions which are for ever arising in the human mind, for explaining the ways and works of God towards His creatures! The words are as if the sacred writer had been answering such inquiries, and had therefore made this conclusion; there must be much darkness, which the dim view of short-sighted creatures cannot see through, in carrying on the purposes of Jehovah: but here is an everlasting rule to go by; righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His throne, Who is "Wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working." Oh, my soul! couldest thou call to remembrance this blessed scripture every day, and all the day, in the several exercises of thy warfare, how many anxieties would it save thee? I know as well as can be, in the perfect and ...

  O God of everlasting days, Receive our worship, thanks and praise; May all who gather in this place, Exalt Thy Name and seek Thy face.   We ask that as we gather here, Grant grace to bow, Thy Name to fear; Speak Lord to ev’ry mind and heart, Reveal to us how great Thou art.   Lord, for Thy servant we would pray, May he in power preach today; Send forth Thy gospel to each heart, To every soul Thy grace impart.   O may Thy Son, our sovereign Lord, Be praised, exalted and adored; Give unto us true faith to see,  Christ Jesus saves eternally.   And for Thy loved, yet wayward sheep, Out on the rugged mountain steep; O Shepherd find the lambs which roam, And bring the wand’ring, lost ones home.     Tune: “DOXOLOGY” LM Words by J. Byrd

A BELIEVER’S PEACE      Where does a believer find real and genuine peace?  On what foundation can we rest and say in truth, “It is well with my soul?”  I’ll tell you; it lies in this, that we are justified by faith and not by works.  Christ Jesus stood in my place before God.  I was guilty with nothing to pay; doomed to hell, and Christ took my place.  He died for me!  How can I perish?  How can I be punished for sins which have already been laid on Christ and for which He has already suffered?   God demands of me that I keep His holy law perfectly.  I cannot do it.  But Christ has kept it for me.  He kept it, magnified it, made it honorable in my flesh.  What more can God demand of me?  I am washed in the blood of Christ; I am risen and seated at His right hand in Christ.  You may ask, “How is all this yours?”   I reply, “By the grace of God, through the merits of Chri...

IRRESISTIBLE, EFFECTUAL GRACE       What is there to be said to you sinners about the power of God the Holy Spirit in His regenerating grace?  It says to me that there is hope for spiritually dead and lost sinners.  I can and do preach the gospel of the grace of God to sinners in, through and by Christ the Savior.  However, I cannot save you; I cannot get at your heart.   Perhaps my words may have an emotional effect upon you, maybe even cause you to weep, but you wipe your eyes, leave the building and nothing of any lasting power is accomplished.  But the power of the Holy Spirit, can and does save.  It is able to soften your heart, to make you spiritually alive and cause you to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.   That which is impossible for you to do, or for me to accomplish through my preaching, is a work that the Spirit can and must do.  The Lord makes no offer of salvation; He makes sinners wil...

The Scriptures do not teach and therefore we do not believe in a fake redemption, that is, a redemption that did not actually redeem.  “Take heed therefore…to feed the church of God which He purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28).  The true declaration of redemption by the blood of Christ is that He really paid the debt of a particular people, all those given to Him in covenant grace, the church chosen unto salvation.   He suffered, bled, died and arose for those entrusted to Him, the eternal Surety of His people.  I realize most people in religion believe in what is called a universal redemption which says that Christ died for, redeemed, reconciled to God and paid the sin-debt of all men without exception.  Universal redemption is the false notion that the death of the Son of God was as much for Cain who perished as it was for Abel who was saved and as much for Judas who died in his sins as it was for the thief who was brought to faith in...

" As we consider “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God , ” remember that it is not our evaluation of God’s Word that gives it value; nor is it our interpretation or presentation of scripture that makes it authoritative.  What Scripture is intrinsically, in and of itself, gives it authority. Therefore, without depending on anything outside of itself, the Word of God is a powerful offensive weapon that can successfully rout the wicked enemy we are fighting." -preacher J. D. Pentecost Note:  Remarks posted in the ‘Thought for the Day’ are not an endorsement of the person, but only of the quote.

" I was alive without the law once; but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died." -Romans 7:9 [KJV] Would you read the best experience of a true believer in Christ, that ever was written? Here it is in this chapter. Try your own. Judge of others by this. Commend me to a holy, humble Paul’s experience. If we are taught by the same Spirit, ours will answer to his, as face does to face in a glass, in the following particulars.  (1st.) A sense of sin will be revived in the conscience, which no human palliates, or lulling opiates can keep in a swoon any longer. You will so see, feel, and be sensible of its dread and terror, that you will confess yourself to be totally destroyed by it, and your case to be quite desperate under it.  (2d.) This is effected by the law. “For by the law is the knowledge of sin,” (Romans 3:20.) “When the commandment came.” That is, when the purity and spirituality of the holy and perfect law of God comes into your heart and co...

"O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock." -Song of Solomon 2:14 [KJV] Jesus is the hiding-place, the only hiding-place from sin and self. "Thou art my hiding place," said David of old. This was shewn to Moses, in figure, when the Lord put him into the cleft of a rock, which Toplady has so beautifully versified, to paint the longing desires of his soul: "Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee!" It is on this "Rock of Ages" that God has built His Church. As a rock, He is deep as well as high—so deep as to have under-bottomed the depths of the fall, so high as to be God's fellow, seated at His right hand. As a rock, too, He is broad as well as long—broad enough to bear millions of living stones built on Him, and long enough to reach from eternity to eternity. The apostle, therefore, prays that the Church at Ephesus may comprehend with all saints, "what is the breadth and length, and depth and height, an...

"And he looked up and said, I see men as trees, walking." -Mark 8:24 [KJV] I have often considered the case of this man as holding forth a sweet and comfortable lesson of instruction, to the small attainments of the followers of Jesus. Perhaps our gracious Lord, in the method He was pleased to adopt, in the opening of this man's eyes by gradual means, intended so to instruct His people. My soul, look at it in this point of view; it may be profitable to thee. When the Son of God, Who came to give light to the spiritually blind, as well as to restore vision to the eye of the body, first touched this poor man's eyes, the effect was that when he looked up, the men he saw were only like "trees, walking;" the sight was imperfect, and the objects obscure. And such is it very frequently in our apprehension of spiritual things; but then it should be remembered, and remembered with great thankfulness, that this imperfection of our sight differs altogeth...

" ...I say unto all, Watch." -Mark 13:37 [KJV] It is very awful, when God’s precious promises are opposed to His righteous commands. Hence some get above and beyond duty: they cannot bear the word duty! O say they, don’t tell us of duty, it is such legal stuff! We are at liberty. We are not under the law, but under grace. True, indeed they are at liberty, but it is to pervert the gospel. They are awfully under the law of sin; not under the law of love, but the spirit delusion. Their ears are closed, and their hearts shut against the sweet voice of our loving charmer, Christ.  O my soul, watch against such, and their licentious notions of liberty, as you prize the love of Christ, and sweet communion with Him. He who sees no danger, and thinks he has nothing to lose, will give no attention to this command, Watch . It is here opposed to sleep. Sin is not dead. Satan never sleeps. The world ever invites and enchants. All is war against thee. Therefore, thy Lord in ...

"So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God." -Mark 16:19 [KJV] The right hand of God means the right hand of power, of dominion, of authority, and of acceptance. When our blessed Lord went back to the courts of bliss, and the gates of heaven lifted up their heads, and the everlasting doors were lifted up, and the King of glory went in, He sat down at once at the right hand of the Majesty on high. But what did this place of preeminence imply? It certified to principalities and powers, and the whole bright and glorious throng of angelic hosts, that God had accepted His work and given Him for His reward that exalted place of power, of honour, and of dignity .  For remember this, that our gracious Lord went up to heaven and sat down at the right hand of God in His human nature. He did not go up to heaven as He came down from heaven only as the Son of God. He went up to heaven as the Son of man as wel...

"Thy words were found, and I did eat them, and Thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart." -Jeremiah 15:16 [KJV] Yea, Lord, I have indeed found Thy words most precious, and, through Thy grace, I have eaten them, and they are as honey and the honey-comb to my soul. In them I find my God and Father in His covenant engagements, all pledged in faithfulness to His dear Son, to be the everlasting and unchanging portion of His redeemed. Oh! what unknown, what unspeakable blessedness do I find in that one promise; "I will be their God, and they shall be My people!" Here also I find Christ and His fulness; the Holy Ghost and His graces; the whole covenant and its rich promises: all, all secured, made over, and co-operating to the assurance of salvation!  And how then can Thy word, Lord, wherein Thou hast caused me to hope, be otherwise than "the joy and rejoicing of mine heart?" I have Jesus in all, and His promises in all, and therefo...

GIVING THANKS  ALWAYS by D. G. Miles McKee This Thanksgiving I want to share a message from Dr. Clarence E. Macartney, (This was sent to me by Pastor Venlon Bradford).   "Giving thanks always for all things." -Ephesians 5:20   In the autobiography of the late Dr. Clarence E. Macartney, the following story is told: Two men were passing through a field in the country when they were charged by an enraged bull. They started for the nearest fence, but it was soon apparent that they couldn't make it before the animal reached them. One said to the other, "Put up a prayer, John. We're in for it!" But John answered, "I can't. I never made a public prayer in my life." "But you must," said his companion, "the bull will soon be upon us." "All right," panted John, "I'll give you the only prayer I know, the one my father used to repeat at the table: `O Lord, for what we are about to receive, make us truly than...

" He received from GOD the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased ." -II Peter 1:17 [KJV] These words furnish poor sinners with matter for sweet meditation. Spirit of truth, help us to see the honour and glory of the Father and Son in them, and to get comfort from them.  Here is, (1st.) a silencing answer to that objection: you rob the Father of His honour and glory, by ascribing so much to the Son Jesus. Have you never been assaulted with this temptation? It comes from the enemy of God and sinners. Can two walk together, except they be agreed? But God and we are agreed. Our faith puts all the honour and glory of our salvation upon God’s beloved Son. There God Himself puts it. IN His beloved Son, God is well pleased, and with us also IN Him.  (2d.) Here see the nature of faith. It causes the soul both to imitate and obey God, and to be well pleased with what God ...

"As willows by the water courses." -Isaiah 44:4 [KJV] The willow, we know, cannot exist without water; it must be near the brook or river, or it withers and dies. Take a young willow and plant it upon a mountain top or in the sandy desert, and it soon droops and perishes. But take the barest twig off the willow, and plant it near a stream, so that the water may reach it, and it will soon shoot downwards and push a vigorous stem upwards. So it is with the child of grace: he must live by the river side; he must dip his roots into that "river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God," and by it he must be continually bathed, or he droops and dies. He cannot live in the world, away from Jesus, His word, ordinances, house, people, presence, Spirit, and grace, any more than a willow can live upon the mountain top; he cannot live among carnal men, cut off from union and communion with his great and glorious Head, any more than the willow can thrive and...

"For he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue." -Luke 7:5 [KJV] What a very interesting character is given, though but in few words, of this honest centurion. Though unconnected with Israel, and a Gentile, yet he loved the Jews. Was he, like another Rahab, partaker of the faith, and though unconscious of it, had a part in Jesus? It is most blessed to behold such rich provisions in grace, making way for the calling of the people, both Jew and Gentile, in that plan of redemption, "given in Christ Jesus before the world began!"   But we must not stop here, in our view of the centurion. He not only loved the Jewish nation, but gave proofs of that love in building them a synagogue. Surely nothing short of grace in the heart could have wrought such acts of love and affection to Israel, and to Israel's God, in a Gentile mind! But, while admiring this gracious conduct in the centurion, and admiring still more the blessed Author and Giver of t...

" By faith the walls of Jericho fell down." -Hebrews 11:30 [KJV] Doubtless, this story has been food for the profane wit of scoffing infidels. To see Joshua and his army, with seven priests blowing rams’ horns, marching round Jericho, once every day and on the seventh day, seven times—what could the men of Jericho think? Doubtless, that it was the foolish parade of a set of weak-headed men. Had they told them, Behold, on the seventh day’s blowing of the rams’ horns, the strong walls of your city shall fall down at our shouting, without any human power; they would have laughed them to scorn, as a set of dreaming enthusiasts.  The obedience of faith is the scorn and ridicule of carnal men. What of that? Our Lord was pleased with it. They had His word for their warrant. They believed His word. They did as He commanded. The event was as He promised: the Lord soon made it manifest, who were the fools and madmen?  But, (1st.) why is it said, “By faith the walls of Jeri...