FAIR SUNSHINE

Christians, when they meet together, should be much in "holy conference". This is not only an advice—but a charge: "You must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are away on a journey, when you are lying down and when you are getting up again." (Deut. 6:6). Indeed, where there is grace poured in—it will effuse out! Grace changes the language—and makes it spiritual. When the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles, they "spoke with other tongues" (Acts 2:4). Grace makes Christian speak with other tongues.  A godly Christian not only has the law of God in his heart (Psalm 37:31)—but in his tongue! (verse 30). The body is the temple of God (1 Cor. 6:19). The tongue is the organ in this temple, which sounds in holy discourse! "The tongue of the just is as choice silver" (Prov. 10:20). He drops silver sentences, enriching oth...

The bruised reed is a man that for the most part is in some misery, as those were that came to Christ for help, and by misery he is brought to see sin as the cause of it, for, whatever pretences sin makes, they come to an end when we are bruised and broken. He is sensible of sin and misery, even unto bruising; and, seeing no help in himself, is carried with restless desire to have supply from another, with some hope, which a little raises him out of himself to Christ, though he dare not claim any present interest of mercy. This spark of hope being opposed by doubtings and fears rising from corruption makes him as smoking flax; so that both these together, a bruised reed and smoking flax, make up the state of a poor distressed man. This is such an one as our Saviour Christ terms `poor in spirit' (Matt. 5:3), who sees his wants, and also sees himself indebted to divine justice. He has no means of supply from himself or the creature, and thereupon mourns, and, upon some hope of mercy ...

Baptism is not a means to salvation. It is not a superficial badge of merit to accredit oneself as religious. It is not a mundane ritual established to add color to the church's activities. It is not an item to be checked off on a to-do list. It is not a meager practice to be lightly esteemed. Baptism is a one way ticket forward unto a life of service and allegiance to the banner of Christ. It is an external declaration of an inward regeneration. It is to be divorced from and dead to the world, and a rising into newness of life in Christ. It is an oath of one's self to render service to the Kingdom's cause, or to be offered as a sacrifice on the altar.  To fully understand that, to be a child of God is to resign oneself wholly to the Father, with the mindset of a Christ-committed martyr, and the resolve of a well-trained and disciplined soldier of the Word. A life worthy of the travail of the Lamb's soul. A life worthy of His satisfaction. The LORD added five souls to ...

This afternoon's heavy downpour would have been good enough reason not to go out, but it opened an opportunity  for mother and daughter, together with Neil, to take the gospel deep inside the unreached areas of the markets of Santa Maria. For the people here who literally sit in darkness, the light of Christ has shone upon them. Those who desire for the return of Christ should be found laboring earnestly for it. It is quite easy to excuse oneself and refrain from obeying the great commission, but more than a hundred and fifty souls would not have had the chance to read the gospel today had the flesh had its way. Looking back at all the tracts distributed within the short four years Father has gifted us, I shudder at all the lost opportunities, what could have been, had He left us languishing as simple church attendees.  I prayed for the LORD to give our laborers joy in their toil today, and Father was well pleased to grant just that in the fellowship that followed ...

By all accounts he was rarely gifted, and carried a brilliant intellect yielded to Christ. He had his own rustic school of theology, and his classes were attended by youths from miles around. Three of these class members sealed their testimonies with their blood, and their leader had oftentimes to flee. An impediment in his speech had made him give up the thought of being a Covenanting minister, but here was his own Bible School where he taught youth to resist unto blood, striving against sin.  In the summer time they held their classes in the sheepfold, and in the winter they sat around the peat fire in the kitchen. We rightly look upon John Brown of Priesthill as being one of our first founders of Bible Classes and Sunday Schools. Who would not like to see the Bible School at Priesthill with John Brown in his class of peasant students, candidates for martyrdom? The  year 1685 was a terrible year in a terrible era. The Killing Time reeked reddest then. The author of Robinson ...

Journal entry. Early morning. August, 2021. The spiritual health of a congregation can be seen in three areas:   1. Zeal in both personal and family devotion. The proclamation of the word is to take root inside the home even before it is taken to the public square. I take into account all of Christendom when I say the modern "Facebook church" is guilty of not being able to discern how it is merely maintaining its program simply to survive - not flourish. It is the fatal act of taking out the reading of the word of God inside the home by professors of religion, and reducing it to a ritual, and the responsibility placed instead on the shoulders of earthly shepherds - once a week. Not long ago, families gathered together around the table in their homes to read the word of God after every dinner, even before the dishes were washed. The modern church is too sophisticated for that. A student of academics will normally devote 8 hours a day for 5 days, even 6, to serious study in hi...