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TFTD - July 2016


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01 July 2016

 

"Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip" (Hebrews 2:1). Let us keep close to Bible things. Let us avoid everything that would hide them from our view. Let us keep clear of men, and things, and books, and ways, that would weaken our hold on them. Thus shall we preserve the peace of God with which the truth can fill the heart and mind; and be helped in the attainment of that everlasting peace which awaits the sons of peace in the day of Jerusalem’s exaltation, when God "will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream" (Isaiah 66:12)."

 

- Robert Roberts

The Peace of God (1897)

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02 July 2016

 

"... We certainly understand the foundation of our faith which is that we are sinners for whom Jesus died, and we know that the word “salvation” describes the process through which, by our Father’s grace, we are developing. This is the individual aspect of salvation, but its true purpose is vast for it is cosmic, that is, it is of the very nature of the Universe which has no meaning apart from the unity of Father, Son and Saints who are all working to a common end."

 

- John Marshall

Reflections on the Way (1960)

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03 July 2016

 

"Friendship is like the sun. It makes the characters of those on whom we allow it to shine open out in all their beauty, but just as too much sun will wither up the flowers, so too much or over-fussy friendship can stifle just the feelings we wish to evoke. In all our contacts with other people we must remember that there is always a point at which we must stop: a point when our interest is in danger of becoming merely curiosity. Loyalty again comes to the rescue, preventing us from trespassing too far, for friendship is a delicate plant to rear, and it is easy to kill it by unkindness or blundering tactlessness. Often people who pride themselves on saying just what they think are not being frank but merely brutal. Far from saying what they think they do not really think at all, because a little thought or a few words carefully chosen can overcome great difficulties ... a quotation which bears thinking about: "The way to keep friends is never to give one away."

 

- D.M.

The Reward of Friendship (1947)
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04 July 2016

 

"The House of Prayer is for Jews and Gentiles, among whom we are numbered. All who have fulfilled the Lord’s commandments will join the many people who "shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." (Isaiah 2:3)"

 

- Alfred Nicholls

An House of Prayer for All People (1997)

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05 July 2016 

 

"It is then not sufficient for the sons of men to acknowledge their lowly estate as dying creatures. They must also appreciate their true position before God as being even now dead until and unless they have heard of the secret which God has now revealed, that, by the dispensation of grace, they may be made to live in Jesus, sons of the living God."

 

- John S. Roberts

The Sons of Men (1977)
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06 July 2016

"If we are among those who hear and understand, among those who perceive with the eye of faith, then our meditations will be sweet, strength will be available for us in answer to our prayers, and we shall know that peace which passeth all understanding, that perfect peace which is the outcome of a staunch faith, of a heart stayed on God, a heart abundant in its outpourings of love in kind thoughts, gentle words and generous deeds; in other words, an opened heart."

- W.A. McLennan
Ephphatha (1951)

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07 July 2016

 

"If disappointments come through circumstance; if these are long and keen; if it seems that the sufferer has been denied gifts that others about him enjoy—the faithful one preserves his equanimity, for he knows the Word says: “No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly”. He does not go out to seek those good things, but “waits upon the Lord”. If the Lord still withholds them from him, then he knows that the things denied may not have been for his ultimate good." 

 

- Catherine Morgan 

Think on These Things

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08 July 2016

 

"We look at the customs of the land of Palestine of the days of Christ’s ministry for the atmosphere of his sayings; but it would be a mistake to restrict our enquiries to manners and customs. They only give the adjuncts, the trimmings, of the story. The heart of the story—the very basis of the thought of Jesus—goes back to Old Testament teaching."

 

- John Carter 

Parables of the Messiah

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09 July 2016

 

"The Wise Man tells us: “The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all the innermost parts of the belly” (Proverbs 20:27). Our spirit is our life, so we have an echo of John’s words, “the life was the light of men”, but the proverb is concentrating on the light we find in God’s Word. It reminds us that it is the probing beam of the Word in our hearts and minds which maintains and sustains our life in Christ; which both shows us the path before us and gives us the will and the encouragement we need to walk as children of light." 

 

- Graham Cooke

Children of Light (1992)

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10 July 2016

 

"... the voice of Paul rings out with clarity and conviction. God “hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead”. To Paul there was no doubt. The Lord he had encountered on the Damascus Road was the unshakable certainty that lay beneath his own hope of life. For the Lord shall descend and “the dead in Christ shall rise first”. “The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible.” Never had there sounded in the ancient world a voice so ringing with conviction and confidence in a world as wavering and insecure as our own."

 

- Sheila Harris

What it Means to Be a Christian (1969)

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11 July 2016

 

"... Jesus is prophetically described as “the God of truth”, a prophecy which he applied to himself when he said, “I am the Amen”—the Truth.

 

How full of meaning then is the announcement of Jesus. It is the charter of our worship. it assures us that the Father seeks our worship, and tells us what is the essential character of that worship which pleases the Father. “He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar and the truth is not in him.” Such a worshipper is not sought by God. But the man who loves God and seeks to keep His commandments, is known of Him, and his worship is well pleasing."

 

- John Carter

Our Worship (1960)

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12 July 2016

 

"... everything around us we see change and decay; we can put our trust in nothing visible, because visible things are not permanent. Even the very stars of heaven are not permanent. We look at the stars and think we see them. We see them as they were years ago. What we see to-night is not the star as it exists now, because the light takes so long to reach us. Possibly that star has completely changed its aspect; we are looking back many years. Even the very stars, then, are not permanent, nothing visible is permanent, nothing material is enduring. God is the only Great Unchangeable, and therefore the only One in Whom we can put our trust."

 

- W.H. Dean

Change (1924)

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13 July 2016

 

"... Christ made this attitude a subject for exhortation in the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican in Luke 18:9-14. Again we see two men. On the one hand the self righteous Pharisee, complacency oozing out of him. He examined himself, but by the wrong standard—by one which indirectly judged others. He was aware of the extortioners, unjust, adulterers and all such like. He had picked them out and he held up their black deeds as a background against which to assess his own righteousness. In this way he obtained a false estimate of his whiteness—a whiteness which in God’s sight must have been a very dirty grey.

 

The one who obtained justification was the publican. He was unconcerned with the faults of others; but he had a true vision of his own unworthiness and pleaded for forgiveness in humility of mind; and because of the mercy of God, who looks upon the humble and the contrite spirit, he received forgiveness and was justified rather than the other."

 

- N. Ward

Men’s Judgment and God’s (1953)

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14 July 2016

 

"When the King in whom Israel should have rejoiced greatly but rejected because he was meek and lowly, riding upon an ass and the colt the foal of an ass, comes again to Israel, “then the Lord God shall blow the trumpet” (Zechariah 9:9-17). The last trumpet will bring the fulfilment of all that was heralded by the first. The dramatic divine intervention in human affairs in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ will bring the Lord from heaven with manifestations which repeat the phenomena of Sinai: “With a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.” Have we as a people been so attentive to the still small voice which, more penetrating than the sound of whirlwind, earthquake or thunder, speaks of things which are not seen and are therefore eternal, that we shall be able to respond to the invitation to “Come up hither”, to meet the Lord?"

 

- Alfred Nicholls

Editorial (1971)
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15 July 2016 

 

"In the end men become like the God they worship. Those who worship an insensate god become themselves insensate. The principle is true of holiness. In Leviticus 11 there is a comprehensive declaration which is timelessly true: “You shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy.” It is restated in the New Testament in these words: “You therefore shall be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Let us not be dismayed by the absolute nature of the declaration. It is a revelation of the ideal—it is God’s thought for man. Man needs the ideal to keep him in the path of endeavour. If he is to strive he must strive upwards. He needs a vision on the boundary to inspire him through the wilderness. Give him the attainable, surround him with the humanly possible and soon he is self-satisfied and boastful."

 

- Dennis Gillett

The Genius of Discipleship

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16 July 2016

 

"Disciples must be men of vision. We are not walking with head bent low and eyes fixed doggedly on the next step in front of us. True enough, "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof" (Matthew 6:34), and we must certainly not anticipate tomorrow’s anxiety and trouble by letting them sap the strength for today. But, the good to come is another matter. Faith anticipates the fulfilment of the excellent promises of good; faith has foretaste; faith sees tomorrow more certainly than today."

 

- Harry Tennant

Discipleship (1975)

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17 July 2016

 

"The hearty belief in the second coming of Christ to put an end to the kingdoms of men, makes a great difference to the individual outlook. It is something very much more than a matter of doctrine to be proved in argument. It is much more than any hope that may be entertained for a life beyond the grave. It is a thought which brings Christ near to us and perhaps to some people would make him painfully real. At any moment the normal activities of life may be ended and disciples be called upon to face the greatest of all experiences. It is not merely a shadowy prospect of something which may come when all efforts to prolong mortality have failed. It is on the contrary a hope of something real and tangible which will put a sudden end to human entanglements even while disciples are full of life and energy. It offers the hope of living and being with Christ, which, as the apostle says, is much better than either the toil and struggle of human life or the merely negative rest of death."

 

- Islip Collyer

The Day of His Coming (1935)

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18 July 2016

 

"Our fear of God is linked with our love for Him and as that love grows and grows to fill our minds, we find that “perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). This is the evidence that the mustard seed of faith with which we began has grown and grown until other believers and seekers can shelter in its branches and have their own halting faith strengthened."

 

- David Caudery

Sent Forth (2000)

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19 July 2016

 

"God teaches us simple lessons in nature. Once a plant has begun to establish itself you do not disturb its roots. This preparation is now over; subsequently you live by faith. Each plant becomes an individual. It must not be crowded out so that growth is distorted or stifled. The protection of other plants must not be withdrawn else the weeds find the gaps and the struggle for possession begins. Collective balance is needed."

 

- Philip Vyse

Practical Living (1990)

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20 July 2016

 

"In our day when so much emphasis is laid upon the love and grace and bountiful forgiveness of God, all so right as aspects of His redeeming work, let us not be afraid to uphold that completer view which is that of the Bible itself, and so to understand the words of Paul: "Behold now the goodness and severity of God" (Romans 11:22)."

 

- F.T. Pearce

The Knowledge of God

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21 July 2016

 

"The secular occupations of Jesus and Paul beautifully fill out this picture: Jesus, the “artisan” in wood and stone and metal, built the framework and foundation of the spiritual tabernacle—the “centre pole” of his work being the cross of wood erected at Golgotha. Afterward, Paul—the New Testament “Aholiab”—was responsible for the “stitching together” of the skins and fabrics (the individual ecclesias?) into whole coverings, to overlay the wooden framework: the “carpenter” and the “tentmaker” working together, according to the pattern of the more perfect tabernacle!"

 

- George Booker

The Carpenter and a Tent Maker (1984) 

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22 July 2016

 

"If we are to put on the armour which is to enable us to withstand in the evil day, does it not amount to this, that we are to make it a matter of vigilant policy to follow those things that strengthen faith, and avoid those that have the tendency to weaken it."

 

- Robert Roberts

Vigilant Policy (Filler 1963)

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23 July 2016

 

"The body of Jesus was taken down from the cross by Joseph, wrapped in “a clean linen cloth” and laid in the tomb to await the glory of the resurrection morning, announced by angels, themselves clad in shining garments, white as snow. The Lord rose from death to ascend into the heavens as our High Priest, “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners ”, mediator of a better covenant. How significant, that Caiaphas, the unworthy representative of Aaron’s priesthood, had symbolically ended the old order by rending his garments at Jesus’ trial. It was thus clad in the garments of the new High Priest, after the order of Melchizedek, that Jesus appeared to John in Patmos to reveal “things which shall be hereafter” (Hebrews 7:22-28; 8:6; Matthew 26:65; Revelation 1:12-16)."

 

- David Burges

The Garments of Salvation (1978)

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24 July 2016     

 

"... A consideration of the heavens will continue to invite the Psalmist’s question, “What is man, that you are mindful of him?” (Psalm 8:4 also see Hebrews 2:6) and to underline the prophet’s declaration that the “nations ... are as but the small dust of the balance” (Isaiah 45:15); but the amazing truth is that God is mindful of man, and that the nations of men are fulfilling a design foreknown before the foundation of the world."

 

- Ralph Smalley

The Great and the Small (1963)
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25 July 2016

 

"Never has there been a time in history when there were more signs for the Bible student to identify. Unhappily, a growing apathy is one of those signs! The antidote is regular, sincere Bible reading to increase our appreciation of what God has done for us in His Son and also to create a greater awareness of the multitude of signs, which herald Jesus’ Second Coming."

 

- Cyril Tennant

The Lord Delayeth His Coming (2000)
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