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

We gather this morning to worship and praise, The God of all glory, the Ancient of Days. None other is worthy but Jesus alone God’s Lamb once provided, His blood has atoned. From sin and from darkness, He brings out His own, Through preaching the Gospel to them He makes known, The riches of glory and grace by His cross: Eternal possessions which cannot be lost. Praise be to the Father who chose us in grace. Praise be to the Son who has died in our place. Praise be to the Spirit who gave us new birth. Praise be to the One God of heaven and earth. With all of our hearts does the Lord bid us sing, Come humbly before Him, thanksgiving to bring. All others are idols, He lives, God alone By grace He has saved us and made us His own. -Gospel hymn, "Immortal, Invisible" Words by Gary Shepard -------0------- "What is history? It is the accumulated stories of how God has been working in all events, bringing to pass His eternal purpose." -John Newton   “Remember the former th...

"When a person works an eight-hour day and receives a fair day’s pay for his time, that is a wage. When a person competes with an opponent and receives a trophy for his performance, that is a prize. When a person receives appropriate recognition for his long service or high achievements, that is an award. But when a person is not capable of earning a wage, can win no prize and deserves no award, yet receives such a gift anyway, that is a good picture of God’s unmerited favor . This is what we mean when we talk about the grace of God."   -copied    “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.” -I Corinthians 2:12 [KJV]

The Evidence of Spiritual Death "There is no greater evidence of spiritual death than that which is revealed when men and women sit under the message of the gospel on Sunday morning and then go into the day totally unmoved in heart by the wonders of Christ and Him crucified. I do not look for a man to be a murderer, a thief, a liar or an adulterer to believe he is spiritually dead. The greatest indicator of the true state of man before the living God is his response to the wondrous gospel of  God’s grace in Christ ."    -preacher Gary Shepard     “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish  foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of  God.”   -I Corinthians 1:18     “But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a  stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.”   -I Corinthians 1:23-24  “A ne...

"Thy Maker is thine husband, the LORD of Hosts is His name, and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel: the GOD of the whole earth shall He be called. "   - Isaiah 54:5 [KJV]   In this one verse, is a trinity of comforts. All are enjoyed in the unity of faith. The Spirit bears witness of them. Let our hearts attend to them.    Consider, thou sin-distressed, law-accursed, Satan-accused soul, Thy Maker is thine Husband. Glorious gospel! Faith, listen ; love, awake ; hope, rejoice . In the Hebrew, Thy Makers thy husband; Father, Son, and Spirit. The triune God, who made thee, is married to thee, and in covenant with thee. How is this relation effected? God the Son comes into our nature; takes upon Him our flesh. We are peculiarly espoused to Christ.    By His ministers . Says St. Paul, “I have espoused you to Christ” (II Corinthians 11:2.)     Experimentally, by faith . We know nothing of the loving, eternal designs of Christ to our souls,...

"Unto me who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given." -Ephesians 3:8 [KJV]   My soul, hear what the great apostle to the gentiles speaks of himself. He calls himself "less than the least;" a thing almost impossible in itself; but he doth it with a view to magnify the riches, the exceeding great riches of grace. And in the same moment that he views himself so low and abject, he is lost in amazement at beholding the exalted office to which he was called. So that Paul cries out, "Unto me," a poor, sinful, unworthy creature of the earth, "to me was this grace given!"   My soul, leave for a moment the view of the apostle, and make the subject personal, by looking to a renewed instance of that grace, most freely given, in a case as far surpassing Paul in the greatness and undeservedness of it, as the imagination can conceive. Perhaps every sinner feels the same; this at least is certain, all may well feel the same. B...

"Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies." -Psalm 103:4 [KJV]   The coronation of a king puts the last and highest seal upon his reigning authority. This made the spouse say, "Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold king Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart" (see Song of Solomon 3:11) .    And what a day will that be when the anti-typical Solomon is crowned Lord of all. Thus there is a crown put upon the soul which is healed of all its diseases, and whose life is redeemed from destruction. It is as if God could not be satisfied till He had put the crown of His lovingkindness upon the soul, until He had Himself crowned the heart with His own love. And what is the effect? The soul puts a crown of glory upon His head. So the soul has the crown of grace, and God has the crown of glory.    This is being crowned with lovingkindness and tender ...