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

  Weekend Gospel message to follow for All Hands (23-25DEC22 A.D.) 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 - Almighty God's unmerited favor - from our sins and from Hell: “ Soon we will bid farewell to 2022. Let each of us reflect upon this past year and as we do, I know we will agree with the words of Joshua, "Ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof” (Joshua 23:14).  What promise of God, made to you in Christ, has your heavenly Father not kept? Can you name one? Of course, you cannot for the Lord is faithful to do as He has promised. “ If we believe not, yet He abideth faithful: He cannot deny Himself” (2 Timothy 2:13).   Can you po...

"In Whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory."   -I Peter 1:8 [KJV] Here we have linked together faith, love, joy, and glory. The word translated "rejoice" means a high degree of joy, and signifies literally, to leap with joy. Spiritual joy, holy joy, is therefore distinguished from earthly joy, natural joy, not only in nature, but in degree. Natural joy can never rise very high, nor last very long. It is of the earth, earthy, and therefore can never rise high nor long endure. It is always marred by some check, damp or disappointment; and, as in the bitterest cup of the righteous "There's some thing secret sweetens all," so in the sweetest cup of the ungodly there is something secret embitters all. All their mirth is madness; for even "in laughter the heart is sorrowful, and the end of that mirth is heaviness." God frowns upon all the worldling's pleasure, conscience condemns it, a...

  Another Look at the Saviour’s Birth by D.G. Miles McKee   Just recently my good friend, S.J. from Kerrville, Texas sent me a delightful article from an unknown writer.  It dealt with the birth of the Saviour and especially with the shepherds and the manger.    Here is the article, “I bet you didn’t know the following about the manger that Jesus was laid in.  Of course, mangers are animal feeding troughs but in ancient Israel they were made of stone - not what you would see in a modern-day nativity scene. Not comfortable, but great for protection. That’s why those who were experts in this matter, the priests, would put their newborn lambs in them for protection. But not just any lamb, the unblemished perfect lambs that were used in the sacrifice for sins. And Bethlehem, where Jesus was born was FAMOUS for their UNBLEMISHED LAMBS used for the sacrifice. These lambs had to be perfect so they would wrap them tightly in cloth and lie them in the manger to keep...

"Them also which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with Him." -I Thessalonians 4:14 [KJV] My soul, thy last night's thoughts, with which thou fell asleep, were upon a subject so truly connected with Jesus, that I hope thou couldest and didst say, "My meditation of Him was sweet!" There is another blessed thought, connected both with Jesus and it, that may be, proper to take along with it. Seek of God the Spirit to unfold its beauties in Jesus to thy view, this evening, and lead thee with it to fall asleep, this night, as on the former, in the Lord. The apostle opens it to thy meditation in these words; "They which sleep in Jesus, God will bring with Him." The bodies, as well as the souls of the redeemed, are alike the purchase of Christ's blood, and Jesus will have them all with Him. They are His jewels, His treasure, His segullah. He suffers them to lie among the dust, it is true; but He saith Himself, though they have so lain, yet shall they be ...

"And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt." - Hosea 2:15 [KJV] Now the "valley of Achor" signifies the "valley of trouble." It was the valley in which Achan was stoned. And why stoned? Because he had taken the accursed thing; because his eye had been captivated by the Babylonish garment and golden wedge, and he had buried them in the tent. This may throw a light on what the "valley of Achor" is spiritually. Perhaps you have been guilty of Achan's sin; you have been taking the accursed thing; have been too deeply connected with the world; have done things which God's displeasure is against. Let conscience speak in the bosom of each. The consequence has been, that you have got into the "valley of Achor!" Trouble, sorrow, and confusion are your lot, and you do not ...

"And they shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads." -Revelation 22:4 [KJV] My soul, thy morning thoughts were directed to the sweet subject of being called to fellowship with thy Lord Jesus Christ in grace. Do thou, this evening, beg of God the Holy Ghost to enable thee to connect with it the transporting subject of the everlasting enjoyment of Jesus in glory. This is the great end and final consummation of all. This blessed scripture leads immediately  to the contemplation: "They shall see His face;" and on "their foreheads shall be His name:" that is, the token of their oneness, union, and relationship in and with Jesus; so that He will be their glory, their supreme happiness and joy; and thus He will never cease to be the immediate Head of all His body, the church, "the fulness that filleth all in all;" yea, the only and everlasting medium of communication in glory, as He is of grace in this life.   Pause, my soul, ove...

"That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God."   -I Corinthians 2:15 [KJV] It is true that real grace can suffer neither loss nor diminution, but its manifestations and its actings may. Who that possesses faith is not conscious that it ebbs and flows, rises and sinks, is strong and weak, and varies from day to day and from hour to hour? Thus when a sharp trial comes, its immediate effect is to depress faith. It falls upon it like a weight, and bends it down to the ground. Faith may be compared to the quicksilver in a weather-glass, or in a thermometer. The quantity of mercury in the  bulb  never varies; but it rises or falls in the  tube,  according to the weight of the air, or the heat of the day. Thus faith, though it abides in the heart without loss or diminution, yet rises or sinks in the feelings, as the weather is fair or foul, or as the sun shews or hides himself.   Did Job's faith, for instance, mount equally high ...