Wonderful day in Mt Airy at the Autumn Leaves Festival

A Super Harvest Moon crosses the zenith tonight with the planets Saturn and Neptune in the constellation Pisces, the first full moon following the September 22nd autumnal equinox.

https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/harvest-moon-2/

#SuperHarvestMoon #HarvestMoon #HarvestSupermoon #Supermoon2025 #Supermoon #Moon #FallingLeavesMoon #Autumn #Equinox #Perigee #NightSky #Astronomy

Christian, how blessed we are that God has chosen to show us grace. For it is by His grace that we are saved (Eph. 2:8), grace that came through Jesus Christ (Jn. 1:17).

By His grace, not only are we saved (2 Tim. 1:9), we are changed. He gives us a new heart and a new spirit (Ezek. 36:26). By His grace we are justified (Tit. 3:7). By His grace, we are sanctified. By His grace, Jesus is glorified in us (2 Thes. 1:12). By His grace, He called us to His eternal glory in Christ, and He will perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish us (1 Pet. 5:10). And by His grace, we will one day be glorified with Christ (Rom. 8:17).

Brethren, how marvelous is God’s grace, that He would do so much for us? And not for us alone, but for Himself? For all of this, while done by God for us, and which results in our glory, will surely in time, result in His glory. And praise be to God for that!

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Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening Devotions

Evening, October 1

"He will give grace and glory." Psalm 84:11

Bounteous is Jehovah in His nature; to give is His delight. His gifts are beyond measure precious, and are as freely given as the light of the sun. He gives grace to His elect because He wills it, to His redeemed because of His covenant, to the called because of His promise, to believers because they seek it, to sinners because they need it. He gives grace abundantly, seasonably, constantly, readily, sovereignly; doubly enhancing the value of the boon by the manner of its bestowal. Grace in all its forms He freely renders to His people: comforting, preserving, sanctifying, directing, instructing, assisting grace, He generously pours into their souls without ceasing, and He always will do so, whatever may occur. Sickness may befall, but the Lord will give grace; poverty may happen to us, but grace will surely be afforded; death must come but grace will light a candle at the darkest hour. Reader, how blessed it is as years roll round, and the leaves begin again to fall, to enjoy such an unfading promise as this, "The Lord will give grace."

The little conjunction "and" in this verse is a diamond rivet binding the present with the future: grace and glory always go together. God has married them, and none can divorce them. The Lord will never deny a soul glory to whom He has freely given to live upon His grace; indeed, glory is nothing more than grace in its Sabbath dress, grace in full bloom, grace like autumn fruit, mellow and perfected. How soon we may have glory none can tell! It may be before this month of October has run out we shall see the Holy City; but be the interval longer or shorter, we shall be glorified ere long. Glory, the glory of heaven, the glory of eternity, the glory of Jesus, the glory of the Father, the Lord will surely give to His chosen. Oh, rare promise of a faithful God!

Two golden links of one celestial chain:
Who owneth grace shall surely glory gain.

Brethren, how may we lay up fruit for the Lord? We must abide in Him. For the vine may not bear fruit apart from the root. No, it gets its strength from the root, and is only able to bear because of the nourishment it receives.

If a branch is severed from the root, it does nothing but wither and eventually die, unless it is quickly grafted back in.

Jesus is our root, the true vine (Jn. 15:1). Let us abide in Him that we may bear fruit, we cannot do so of ourselves, nor apart from Him can we do anything - at least, anything that pleases God (Jn. 15:4-5).

What happens if we do not abide? God is as a vinedresser, pruning away any branches that do not bear fruit, that the branches remaining may bear more. And as the severed branch quickly withers and dies, so does the spiritual life of the one who does not abide in Christ (Jn. 15:6).

This is to God’s glory, that we bear much fruit; this is evidence that we are His disciples (Jn. 15:8). What is this fruit? Paul tells us that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal. 5:22-23). Are these fruits evident in your life?

There is other fruit as well; that of evangelism and discipleship. Jesus told His disciples that the field was ripe for harvest, that we should be gathering fruit for eternal life (Jn. 4:35-36). We must continue sowing His word, and reaping the harvest of that sowing.

Christian, do not be as the branch not bearing fruit that will be cut off; abide in Him and bear the fruit of the grace you have received.

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Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening Devotions

Morning, October 1

"Pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved." Song of Solomon 7:13

The spouse desires to give to Jesus all that she produces. Our heart has "all manner of pleasant fruits," both "old and new," and they are laid up for our Beloved. At this rich autumnal season of fruit, let us survey our stores. We have new fruits. We desire to feel new life, new joy, new gratitude; we wish to make new resolves and carry them out by new labours; our heart blossoms with new prayers, and our soul is pledging herself to new efforts. But we have some old fruits too. There is our first love: a choice fruit that! and Jesus delights in it. There is our first faith: that simple faith by which, having nothing, we became possessors of all things. There is our joy when first we knew the Lord: let us revive it. We have our old remembrances of the promises. How faithful has God been! In sickness, how softly did He make our bed! In deep waters, how placidly did He buoy us up! In the flaming furnace, how graciously did He deliver us. Old fruits, indeed! We have many of them, for His mercies have been more than the hairs of our head. Old sins we must regret, but then we have had repentances which He has given us, by which we have wept our way to the cross, and learned the merit of His blood. We have fruits, this morning, both new and old; but here is the point- they are all laid up for Jesus. Truly, those are the best and most acceptable services in which Jesus is the solitary aim of the soul, and His glory, without any admixture whatever, the end of all our efforts. Let our many fruits be laid up only for our Beloved; let us display them when He is with us, and not hold them up before the gaze of men. Jesus, we will turn the key in our garden door, and none shall enter to rob Thee of one good fruit from the soil which Thou hast watered with Thy bloody sweat. Our all shall be Thine, Thine only, O Jesus, our Beloved!

Spurgeon's Morning and Evening Devotions

Evening, August 1

"Thou crownest the year with Thy goodness." Psalm 65:11

All the year round, every hour of every day, God is richly blessing us; both when we sleep and when we wake His mercy waits upon us. The sun may leave us a legacy of darkness, but our God never ceases to shine upon His children with beams of love. Like a river, His lovingkindness is always flowing, with a fulness inexhaustible as His own nature. Like the atmosphere which constantly surrounds the earth, and is always ready to support the life of man, the benevolence of God surrounds all His creatures; in it, as in their element, they live, and move, and have their being. Yet as the sun on summer days gladdens us with beams more warm and bright than at other times, and as rivers are at certain seasons swollen by the rain, and as the atmosphere itself is sometimes fraught with more fresh, more bracing, or more balmy influences than heretofore, so is it with the mercy of God; it hath its golden hours; its days of overflow, when the Lord magnifieth His grace before the sons of men. Amongst the blessings of the nether springs, the joyous days of harvest are a special season of excessive favour. It is the glory of autumn that the ripe gifts of providence are then abundantly bestowed; it is the mellow season of realization, whereas all before was but hope and expectation. Great is the joy of harvest. Happy are the reapers who fill their arms with the liberality of heaven. The Psalmist tells us that the harvest is the crowning of the year. Surely these crowning mercies call for crowning thanksgiving! Let us render it by the inward emotions of gratitude. Let our hearts be warmed; let our spirits remember, meditate, and think upon this goodness of the Lord. Then let us praise Him with our lips, and laud and magnify His name from whose bounty all this goodness flows. Let us glorify God by yielding our gifts to His cause. A practical proof of our gratitude is a special thank-offering to the Lord of the harvest.

Beautiful videos and pictures! Thank you, Bob!

THIS IS AUSTRALIA - Autumn at its best
https://bobneville.substack.com/p/this-is-australia-autumn-at-its-best?publication_id=3531328&post_id=165254345&isFreemail=true&r=1maoyr&triedRedirect=true&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Fall has come to Virginia with another vibrant display of leaf colors beginning to appear in late-October; the afternoon sunlight illuminates Lake Burke in the colors of the autumn leaves. #Fall2024 #FallColors #Fall #LakeBurke #Lake #BurkeLakePark #Virginia #AutumnLeaves #Autumn

The Super Hunter’s Moon in the constellation Pisces crosses the sky tonight with the planets Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, and Jupiter. This is the third of four supermoons for 2024, and the closest approach to Earth; the final supermoon for this year arrives on November 15th. #SuperHuntersMoon #HuntersMoon #HuntersSupermoon #Supermoon2024 #Supermoon #Moon #Perigee #AutumnalEquinox #Spooky #Astronomy

https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-hunters-moon/

https://local12.com/news/nation-world/inmate-who-strangled-11-month-old-will-get-taxpayer-funded-gender-surgery-judge-rules-autumn-cordellion-lgbt-transgender-affirming-care-lgbtq-midwest-law-legal-justice-federal-court-baby-strangle-male-female#

Is anyone else already looking forward to autumn?

Barney Fife impersonator at the Autumn Leaves Festival in Mt. Airy, NC
#AutumnLeaves #MtAiryNC

The only problem I have with autumn is that is just doesn't last long enough...

Fall has come to Virginia with another vibrant display of leaf colors appearing in mid-October. The Canada Geese and a Great Blue Heron were enjoying the afternoon warmth on Tuesday as the sunlight illuminated the water of Lake Burke in the colors of the autumn leaves.

#Fall2023 #FallColors #Fall #LakeBurke #Lake #BurkeLakePark #Virginia #CanadaGeese #Geese #GreatBlueHeron #Heron #AutumnLeaves #Autumn

It's that time of year! Fall festivals every weekend in October in NC. The weather is cooperating very well, and people are taking great advantage of being out and about. This was so much fun in Mt. Airy.
#AutumnLeaves

The fourth and final supermoon of 2023 rises tonight with the planet Neptune in the constellation Pisces, joined by Saturn with the globular clusters M15, M2 & M30 to the east and Jupiter & Uranus to the west, and is the first full moon following the autumnal equinox.

https://earthsky.org/moon-phases/september-full-moon-harvest-moon-corn-moon/

#HarvestMoonSupermoon #HarvestMoon #HarvestSupermoon #CornMoon #FallingLeavesMoon #Autumn #Supermoon2023 #Supermoon #Moon #Perigee #Astronomy

The first full day of fall was so beautiful. The temps were cool and the leaves are beginning to change.
#Fall #Autumn #CoolerTemps