by Jim Kerwin
on April 7, 2021
Resting on the Rock(ing Chair)
3 April 2021
Dear friend,
I’m so dog-gone tired that cat-naps won’t suffice.
I find myself envying ol’ Rip Van Winkle
just a bit!
This is what an idyllic vacation dream looks like for me; but it doesn't hold a candle to the Secluded Place where “He restoreth my soul.”
Yes, this newsletter is a bit late, and it’s a bit different. I just haven’t had the internal oomph to write it and get it published. Oh, don’t worry. External circumstances are going well, the blessing of God seems to be on our activities, the path ahead looks bright, and we are healthy. We had our Finest of the Wheat annual board meeting this past week, and we were all giving thanks to God for His goodness and blessing over the last year.
But having acknowledged that, I also realize that I’ve reached a point of temporary burnout. It happens now and then, since I usually go nonstop, and I’ve learned through experience that it’s nothing that should raise alarm bells. Experience has also taught me that it’s rather futile to harness the remaining “fumes” of my willpower in order to “blast through.” In burnout times, the most fruitful response, yielding the quickest recovery time, is to listen to Jesus when He says, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while” (Mark 6:31).
My idea of a [continue reading…]
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prophecy,
Psalm 77:11-13,
Wilder and Venesa Hernández
by Jim Kerwin
on April 1, 2021
Copyright © 2021
by
Percy Gutteridge
God’s Calendar of Events
As Christians, we are facing a great and glorious future. But it is a future in which the enemy will try to entangle our minds and confuse us, so that we shall not be ready when the Bridegroom comes. We need guidance from the Lord and His Book so that we may understand and be able to read the signs of the times, to be “men who know what Israel ought to do.”
To that end, God the Father intends that you should have in your mind a divine calendar of events leading up to [continue reading…]
Tagged as:
1 Corinthians 15:20-24,
1 Corinthians 15:51-57,
1 Thessalonians 4:16,
1 Timothy 3:16,
2 Peter 2:5,
2 Thessalonians 2:7,
Acts 10,
Acts 11,
Acts 15:7-11,
Acts 1:16,
Acts 1:8,
Acts 25,
Acts 28:27,
Acts 2:29,
Acts 2:29-31,
Amos 9:13,
barley,
Charismatic Movement,
Colossians 1:27,
Day of Atonement,
Deuteronomy 18:15,
eschatology,
Exodus 12:11,
Exodus 12:2,
Exodus 12:46,
Exodus 23:16,
Exodus 34:22,
Exodus 9:31-32,
Ezekiel 47:1-8,
Feast of Booths,
Feast of Dedication,
Feast of Firstfruits,
Feast of Lights,
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Genesis 20:7,
Genesis 41:47,
Gentiles,
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Hanukkah,
Hosea 13:14,
Isaiah 11:6-9,
Isaiah 25:8,
Isaiah 2:4,
Isaiah 35:6-7,
Isaiah 55:12,
Isaiah 59:20-21,
Isaiah 5:10,
Isaiah 9:7,
Jeremiah 33:6,
John 19:31-37,
John 1:18,
John Bunyan,
Jude 14-15,
leaven,
Leviticus 23,
Luke 13:21,
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Mark 7:13,
Mark 7:24-30,
Matthew 13:15,
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Matthew 26:30,
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Micah 4:4,
mystery of godliness,
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Paschal Lamb,
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Percy Gutteridge,
Philippians 3:10-14,
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Psalm 118:23,
Psalm 37:11,
Psalm 72:7,
Purim,
Revelation 11:15,
Revelation 13:8,
Revelation 14:1,
Revelation 14:4-5,
Revelation 21:1,
Revelation 2:17,
Revelation 2:26-29,
Revelation 2:7,
Revelation 3:12-13,
Revelation 3:21-22,
Revelation 3:5-6,
Romans 11:25-29,
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Sin,
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wheat,
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Zechariah 12:1-9,
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Zechariah 12:11-12,
Zechariah 13:1,
Zechariah 13:6,
Zechariah 14:16-19,
Zechariah 14:4,
Zechariah 14:8-9
by Jim Kerwin
on March 26, 2021
Margaret J. Harris
(1865-1919)
In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.
Zechariah 13:1
When I saw the cleansing fountain
Open wide for all my sin,
I obeyed the Spirit’s wooing,
When He said, “Wilt thou be clean?”
Chorus:
I will praise Him! I will praise Him!
Praise the Lamb [continue reading…]
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cleansing from sin,
hymn,
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sanctification,
Zechariah 13:1
by Jim Kerwin
on March 22, 2021
Carrie E. Breck
(1855-1934)
Face to face with Christ, my Savior,
Face to face—what will it be,
When with rapture I behold Him,
Jesus Christ who died for me?
Chorus:
Face to face I shall [continue reading…]
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Carrie-Breck,
hymn,
hymns,
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by Jim Kerwin
on March 20, 2021
Henry Ostrom
(1862-1941)
Jesus may come today,
Glad day, glad day!
And I would see my friend;
Dangers and troubles would end
If Jesus should come today.
Chorus:
Glad day, glad day!
Is it the [continue reading…]
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Henry Ostrom,
hymn,
hymns,
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by Jim Kerwin
on March 9, 2021
Daniel Webster Whittle
(1840-1901)
Jesus is coming! O sing the glad word!
Coming for those He redeemed by His blood,
Coming to reign as the glorified Lord!
Jesus is coming again!
Chorus:
Jesus is coming, is coming again!
Jesus is coming again!
Shout the [continue reading…]
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Daniel Webster Whittle,
hymn,
hymns,
Return of Christ,
Second Coming
by Jim Kerwin
on March 1, 2021
28 February 2021
For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. 9This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance. 10For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.
1 Timothy 4:8-10 nkjv
Dear Friend,
Prepping for a new teaching season!
My next-door neighbor, despite being Virginia born and bred, is a lifelong New York Yankees baseball fan. This morning he and his family left for Florida so that he can fulfill a long-held dream of watching the Yankees during their Spring-training camp. (Of course, there’s also the small matter of visiting a Florida-based great-grandchild — their first!)
My neighbor’s neighbors (that would be Denise and me) are in “spring training,” too, but it’s not nearly so glamorous as swinging bats, snagging line drives, and signing autographs for fans. Yes, assuming we can [continue reading…]
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Wilder Hernandez
by Jim Kerwin
on February 24, 2021
Copyright © 2021
by
Jim Kerwin
A Trip Down Memory Lane
When you found that Old Testament quotation
in the New Testament this morning,
did you pull the “mnemonic trigger”?
If not, you probably missed a blessing!
Okay, I’ll be the first to admit that mnemonic isn’t an adjective that rolls off the tongue or that comes up in casual conversation. Neither is its related noun, mnemonics, which means a technique of improving memory. But I think I can promise that if we can understand these unfamiliar words, the concept of a “mnemonic trigger” will become a useful and powerful tool in our Scripture reading and Bible study.
It might help us fix these two unusual words in memory if we take a quick trip down Memory Lane to visit the name which gave birth to both words. The ancient [continue reading…]
Tagged as:
2 Timothy 3:15,
Acts 14:11-13,
Acts 19:21-41,
Acts 28:4,
Acts 28:6,
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Bible Study,
Deuteronomy 6:6-7,
Exodus 23:13,
Galatians 4:8,
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Jim Kerwin,
John 14:26,
John 16:13,
John 19:19-25,
John 19:23-25,
John 19:28,
John 19:30,
Joshua 23:7,
Luke 23:46,
Mark 15:34,
Matthew 27:46,
memorization of Scripture,
mnemonic trigger,
Mnemosyne,
Nine Muses,
Pilgrim Psalms,
Psalm 119:11,
Psalm 119:97,
Psalm 19:14,
Psalm 19:14-15,
Psalm 19:16,
Psalm 19:17,
Psalm 19:18,
Psalm 1:2,
Psalm 22,
Psalm 22:1,
Psalm 31:19-24,
Psalm 31:5,
Psalms of Ascent,
Songs of Ascent
by Jim Kerwin
on February 8, 2021
Alternate title:
Jehovah Tsidkenu
Robert Murray M’Cheyne
(1813-1843)
“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch;
And He will reign as king and act wisely
And do justice and righteousness in the land.
In His days Judah will be saved,
And Israel will dwell securely;
And this is His name by which He will be called,
‘The LORD our righteousness
(יְהוָה צִדְקֵנוּ / Yahweh ṣidəqēnû / Jehovah Tsidkenu).’”
—Jeremiah 23:5-6 nasb—
I once was a stranger to grace and to God,
I knew not my danger, and felt not my load;
Though friends spoke in rapture of Christ on the tree,
Jehovah Tsidkenu was nothing to me.
I oft read with pleasure, to sooth or engage,
Isaiah´s wild measure [continue reading…]
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by Jim Kerwin
on February 3, 2021
Frederick Whitfield
(1829-1904)
We love because He first loved us.
—1 John 4:19—
There is a name I love to hear,
I love to speak its worth;
It sounds like music in mine ear,
The sweetest name on earth.
Chorus:
O, how I love Jesus!
O, how I love Jesus!
O, how I love Jesus
Because He first loved me!
It tells me of a Savior’s love
Who died to set me free,
It tells me of His precious blood,
The sinner’s perfect plea.
It tells me of a Father’s smile [continue reading…]
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1 Kings 19:12,
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hymn,
hymns,
John 16:16,
love for God,
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by Jim Kerwin
on February 1, 2021
Amos R. Wells
(1862-1933)
10Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, “Take thirty men from here under your authority and bring up Jeremiah the prophet from the cistern before he dies.” 11So Ebed-melech took the men under his authority and went into the king's palace to a place beneath the storeroom and took from there worn-out clothes and worn-out rags and let them down by ropes into the cistern to Jeremiah. 12Then Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, “Now put these worn-out clothes and rags under your armpits under the ropes”; and Jeremiah did so.
Jeremiah 38:10-12 nasb
Hail to thoughtful Ebed-melech,
Ebed-melech, bold and kind —
Slave, well worthy to be freeman,
Royal heart and ready mind!
Where a cowardly king was feeble,
He was quick to dare and do,
Pitiful to Jeremiah,
Strong to [continue reading…]
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Ebed-melech,
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by Jim Kerwin
on January 31, 2021
30 January 2021
If “speed kills,” then VW bug owners should live a long time!
Denise and I celebrated our 49th wedding anniversary yesterday, and I am reminded that when we got married we owned a high-mileage black 1965 VW “bug” as our first car. Though loved by economy-minded VW owners, that model more than deserved its nickname of “gutless wonder.” Did you ever get stuck on an uphill freeway on-ramp behind a “bug” that was reciting “I think I can, I think I can” as it strained up the incline? If you did, you probably got close enough to read the bumper sticker that only a VW bug owner could fully appreciate:
DON’T HONK!
I’M [continue reading…]
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by Jim Kerwin
on January 18, 2021
Daniel March
(1816–1909)
Hark, the voice of Jesus calling,
“Who will go and work today?
Fields are ripe and harvests waiting,
Who will bear the sheaves away?”
Long and loud the Master calls us,
Rich reward He offers free;
Who will answer, gladly saying,
“Here am I, send me, send me”?
If you cannot [continue reading…]
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Daniel March,
hymn,
hymns,
missions
by Jim Kerwin
on January 13, 2021
Original title:
A Worker’s Prayer
Frances Ridley Havergal
(1836-1879)
Lord, speak to me, that I may speak
In living echoes of Thy tone;
As Thou hast sought, so let me seek
Thy erring children, lost and lone.
O lead me, Lord, that I may lead [continue reading…]
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Divine guidance,
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hymn,
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