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

"A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence." -I Peter 2:8 [KJV] O my Lord! how wonderful is it, that Thy coming should have given such offence to Thy people? The prophet, indeed, said it should be so, and thereby gave one among the many testimonies to Thy character. "He," saith the prophet in Isaiah 8:14,  "that shall be for a sanctuary, shall be but for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel." But what was there, my Lord, in Thee, and the gracious purpose for which Thou came, that could have furnished occasion for stumbling? Thy birth, indeed, was humble, Thy life marked with sorrow, Thy death ignominious, and every thing about Thee debased. But under all these things, did not the Godhead burst forth in acts which none but God could perform?  And is the offence of the cross ceased in the present hour? Alas! what multitudes of sinners now, as much as then, still live to despise salvation by Thy blood and righteousn...

"The L ORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty." - Zephaniah 3:17 [KJV] What a mighty God we have to deal with! And what would suit our case but a mighty God? Have we not mighty sins? Have we not mighty trials? Have we not mighty temptations? Have we not mighty foes and mighty fears? And who is to deliver us from all this mighty host except the mighty God? It is not a little God (if I may use the expression) that will do for God's people. They need a mighty God because they are in circumstances where none but a mighty God can interfere in their behalf.   Why, if you did not know feelingly and experimentally your mighty sins, your mighty trials, your mighty temptations, and your mighty fears, you would not want a mighty God. This sense of our weakness and His power, of our misery and His mercy, of our ruin and His recovery, of the aboundings of our sin and the superaboundings of His grace—a feeling sense, I say, of these opposite yet harmonious things brings us to hav...

"It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn Thy statutes." - Psalm 119:71 [KJV] We may have everything naturally that the carnal heart desires, and only be hardened thereby into worldliness and ungodliness. But to be brought down in body and soul, to be weaned and separated from an ungodly world by affliction sanctified and made spiritually profitable, to be brought to feel our need of Christ, and that without an interest in His precious blood our soul must be for ever lost—how much better it is really and truly, to be laid on a bed of affliction, with a hope in God's mercy, than to be left to our own carnality and thoughtlessness.   Affliction of any kind is very hard to bear, and especially so when we begin to murmur and fret under the weight of the cross; but when the Lord afflicts it is in good earnest; He means to make us feel. Strong measures are required to bring us down; and affliction would not be affliction, unless it were full of grief an...

  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 ...