Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness. Quicken me, O LORD, for thy name’s sake: for thy righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble. Psalm 143:10-11

Be Thankful Unto Him and Bless His Name

Psalm 100

One of the preachers of the past said, “If a person should give me a bucket of sand and tell me that there were many PARTICLES OF IRON in it, I might look for these particles of iron with my eyes and not see them; and search for them with my fingers and be unable to detect them; but, let me take a MAGNET and sweep through the sand, that magnet would draw to itself every particle of iron. Now, the UNTHANKFUL HEART, like my clumsy fingers in the sand, discovers no mercies throughout the day; but the THANKFUL HEART sweeps through every day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so the THANKFUL HEART finds God’s heavenly mercies and blessings in every hour and every day; only the iron in God’s sand is GOLD.”

O, God, give me a thankful heart that I might see, feel, and rejoice in all of Thy good providence; for I know that the worship most acceptable to our God comes from a thankful and cheerful heart.

Pastor Henry T. Mahan (bulletin 1989)

NEW YEAR UNDER OUR CAPTAIN

Joshua 5:13-15; “Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant? And the captain of the LORD’S host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.”

With the first day of this New Year let us be reminded that like Joshua, you and I are chosen, redeemed and regenerated by God our Savior. Christ has delivered us from sin, death and hell. Now Christ Jesus is our Captain. We are his soldiers. Yet, “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Eph. 6:12) Most remarkable of all is that we have absolutely no strength of ourselves for this warfare.

Still, it is certain we shall be victorious. Every enemy shall be made Christ’s footstool. (1 Cor. 15: 25; Mk. 12: 36; Heb. 10: 12-13) Our one weapon in this warfare is the gospel of Christ and Him crucified. Christ our Captain makes this weapon mighty to the pulling down of strongholds. (2 Cor. 10: 4) By the gospel trumpet, Christ shall make Jericho’s walls fall flat. (Jos 6: 1-5) Our charge is simply to believe on Christ, continue under the sound of the gospel in love toward one another as we support the preaching of Christ’s person and mighty works. Victory is certain because Christ has all power in heaven and earth to fill all in all. (Eph. 1: 22-23; 2: 1; Matt. 28: 18-20)May we begin this New Year saying with Joshua, “What saith my Lord unto his servant?” And may we continue the whole year long with the full assurance that we can do all things in the strength of Christ Jesus the Prince of peace. Pastor Clay Curtis

OUR PRAYER FOR THE NEW YEAR

"Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance: feed them also, and lift them up for ever" (Psalm 28:9).

David in this last verse of this Psalm closes with a sincere and fervent prayer for the Lord's people. He prays for vital things that we as sinners desperately and constantly need. Let us make this our prayer for 2023!

1). Save thy people….Who are these people? They belong to Christ by electing love (John 6:37; Eph. 1:3-6). They are His by redeeming blood, He bought them (Acts 20:28; 1 Cor. 6:20; 1 Peter 1:18-20). They are His by an effectual call of grace (2 Tim. 1:9; 1 Peter 2:9). What do Christ's people need? Salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ, for "All we like sheep have gone astray." Our Lord came to seek out and to save His lost sheep (Luke 19:10).

2). Bless thine inheritance…those who are the heirs of salvation, (Rom. 8:17). In Christ we have a blessed and eternal inheritance; "An inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you.” (1 Peter 1:3). Lord, bless your inheritance; the sheep of your hand and the people of thy pasture (Psalm 95:7). Bless your people with all spiritual blessings in Christ (Eph. 1:3-6). Bless your people with greater zeal and passion for the gospel of the free and sovereign grace (Phil. 1:27). Bless your people with greater confidence and assurance of complete salvation in Christ alone, grace alone (Phil. 3:7-9; Col. 2:9-10).

3). Feed them…what do the sheep desire to eat, sheep food? Christ is the Bread of life, (John 6:35). The Scripture is all about Christ, we feed on Him through the Word of life (John 5:39). God's servants are charged to, "Feed the church of God, that he purchased with his own blood" (Acts 20:28; 2 Tim. 4:1-2; 1 Peter 5:1-3).