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will 2025 Be A Happy New Year?

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  This is copied from the bulletin of Calvary Baptist Church on 472 Ocean Road in Portsmouth NH 03801 (603) 436-7736. The bulletin is dated December 29th of 2024. Will 2025 Be A Happy New Year? "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" ( 2 Corinthians 5:17 ).          Will the year ahead be just another year, or will it be a new year? If it cannot be a new year in our Christian experience, how can it be a Happy New Year?         Sadly, for those without Christ, it will be just another year of uncertainty and fear, another year of drifting away from God, another year of thinking about the problems of the world. John Bunyan was right when he described the world as "a jungle full of beasts prowling about, snapping and snarling and showing their teeth at one another, albeit holding peace conferences. Let men talk about the dawning of a new day, but the fact...

New Year's Wishes

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  This is copied from the bulletin of Calvary Baptist Church on 472 Ocean Road in Portsmouth NH 03801 . (603) 436-7736. The bulletin is dated December 29, 2024.  New Year's Wishes What shall I wish the? Treasures of earth? Songs in the springtime, pleasures and  mirth? Flowers in thy pathway, skies ever clear? Would this insure thee a happy new Year? What shall I wish thee? What can be found? Bringing the sunshine all the  year round? Where is the treasure,  lasting and dear, That shall insure thee a happy new year?          Faith that increaseth, walking in the light; Hope that aboundeth, happy and bright; Love that is perfect, casting out fear - Those shall insure the a happy new year.           Peace in the Saviour, rest at His feet, smile in His countenance, radiant and sweet; Joy in His presence, Christ eve near - This will insure thee a happy new year.

If Christ Had Not Come

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  This is copied from the bulletin of Calvary Baptist Church on 472 Ocean Road in Portsmouth NH 03801 . (603) 436-7736. The bulletin is dated December 22, 2024. If Christ Had Not Come         A striking Christmas card was once published with the title "If Christ Had Not Come". It was founded upon our Saviour's words, "If I had not come.." in John 15:22 . The card represented a pastor's falling into a short sleep in his study on Christmas morning and dreaming of a world into which Jesus had never come.          In his dream he found himself looking through his home, but there were no bells, or candles, or wreaths of holly. He walked out into the street and found no church with its spire pointing to Heaven. He came back in and sat down in his library, but every book about the Saviour had disappeared from the shelves.          A knock at the door brought a request for him to visit a poor, dying mother. He hast...

Satan Is Alive And Well

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  This is copied from the bulletin of Calvary Baptist Church on 472 Ocean Road in Portsmouth NH 03801 . (603) 436-7736 The bulletin is dated December 15, 2024. While I think and agree that Satan is alive and well, I doubt he looks like  the image that so many have of him. They Bible describes him as an angel of light.  It is only through art and artists perceptions that we get an image of Satan  being someone in red, having horns, looking 'demonic', having a forked tail and hoofs. I think Satan created his image of himself so people won't realize that he is deceiving people  since he looks nothing like that image. I think this is why so many are deceived by cults.  (the above part wasn't copied from the bulletin but the part below was).  Satan Is Alive And Well Matthew 13:19 , 39 Our sophisticated, scientific, materialistic generation does not want to be disturbed by the idea of a personal devil. People do not even wish to acknowledge a personal God. ...

Great Hymns Of The Faith: Thy Life Was Given For Me

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  This was copied from the bulletin of Calvary Baptist Church on 472 Ocean Road in Portsmouth NH 03801 . (603) 436-7736. The bulleting is dated December 15, 2024. Great Hymns Of The Faith "Thy Life Was Given For Me" Frances Ridley Havergal 1836-1879          The first real hymn written by Miss Havergal was composed when she was but a month past her twenty-first birthday. On January 10, 1858, while visiting Germany, she entered the study of a German minister. Quite tired, she sat down and her eyes lit upon an inscription, which had been placed under a picture of Jesus Christ; "I did this for thee: what hast thou done for Me?" As she gazed on the face of suffering Redeemer the lines of the hymn framed themselves in her mind and taking a pencil, she wrote them on the back of a circular. But when she read them over she felt that they expressed her emotions of that hour so inadequately that she exclaimed to herself: "This is not poetry. I will not go to the tro...

Oh Give Thanks Unto The Lord

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  This is copied from the bulletin of Calvary Baptist Church on 472 Ocean Road in Portsmouth NH 03801 . (603) 436-7736 The bulletin is dated December 8, 2024. Oh Give Thanks Unto The Lord         "O give thanks unto the LORD; for He is good; for His mercy endurath forever" ( 1 Chronicles 16;34 )          The Nature of True Thankfulness      It implies:          1 A right apprehension of benefits conferred.          2 A faithful remembrance of benefits conferred.          3 Due to acknowledge of our obligations.          4 A feeling of love and esteem for the benefactor.          To Whom Shall We Be Thankful?     The Lord:          1 The almighty Creator and Preserver of all things.          2 Our Heavenly Father with whom we have been ...

Great Hymns Of The Faith: Just As I am

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  This is copied from the bulletin of Calvary Baptist Church on 472 Ocean Rd in Portsmouth NH 03801 . (603) 436-7736 Great Hymns Of The Faith "Just As I Am" Charlotte Elliott 1789-1871          There are many unsaved souls who imagine it is difficult to come to Christ. And this at first was the thought of Charlotte Elliott, the author of this hymn. Shortly after she became an invalid, with a helplessness lasting fifty years, Dr. Milan visited her father and talked with her concerning her soul's salvation. At first she rudely resented this, but afterward repented and asked him how she might find the way to Christ. He replied, "Dear Charlotte, cut the cable, it will take too long to unloose it. Cut it. It is a small loss anyway. You must come to Christ just as your are."  And so, just as she was, she came and found the "...peace of God, which passeth all understanding..."  ( Philippians 4:7 ).         Twelve years later, wh...