TFTD - April 2017

[Resource Manager]

01 April 2017

 

"It was in Ephesus that Apollos, the Jew born in Alexandria, entered into the fulness of the faith with the support and encouragement of typical co-labourers, Aquila and Priscilla (Acts 18:24–26). There, for our benefit, is an illustration of how prominent individuals have endless debts of recognition to pay to some humble, or even nameless helper in the truth. Our Heavenly Father has room and need for each of us in our order and type. We are instruments in His hands; we are powerless of ourselves (John 15:5). All that we should be concerned about is the faithfulness of our joint and individual labours, “that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together” (John 4:37). Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly—“heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men” (Colossians 3:23). “Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him” (2 Corinthians 5:9)."

 

- Claud Lamb

Labourers Together (1999)

 

 

 

[Resource Manager]

02 April 2017

 

"... Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?" (Luke 24:32) What a realisation! They had supped with the Emmanuel, the Branch of Righteousness, the plant of renown, the stone cut without hands, the child with the iron shoulder, strong to bear government, the man with beautiful feet upon the mountain publishing peace, the refiner’s fire, the fuller’s soap, the Sun of Righteousness."

 

- D. Gillett

The Genius of Discipleship

[Resource Manager]

03 April 2017

 

"We are journeying through the desert, and in this aspect of our life, as in all others, we have the choice which God has graciously and mercifully given. We can either wander alone, groping blindly, destined never to reach our promised land; or we can “go on our way rejoicing”, finding every day an oasis of spiritual nourishment and refreshment in the Word of Life, knowing assuredly that we shall then be guided clearly and unfailingly into the kingdom of God when our Lord shall return ..."

 

- K.G. Galvin

Searching the Scriptures Daily (1966)

[Resource Manager]

04 April 2017

 

"We are told that God saw that what was made was good. This reveals God interested in the work and satisfied with its quality. Man, as made, was likewise good—for God’s work could not be other. But in the very freedom to think and to choose, which man was given, lay the possibility that man might choose that which marred. The possibility became a reality and the Bible history is the record of God’s activity as Redeemer, in which He re-creates that which man’s sin has spoiled. “We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works” (Ephesians 2:10). But this is of necessity co-operative. Are we working with God, or marring the new creation?"

 

- John Carter

Searchings of the Heart (1954)

[Resource Manager]

05 April 2017

"For us to see God truly with the eye of faith is to prostrate ourselves before Him, knowing that He sees the taint of our imperfections. Each of us is surely aware of our unworthiness of the least of all His mercies, and of all the truth which He has shown to us, His servants (Genesis 32:10)."

- Claud Lamb
Clothed with Humility (1990)

[Resource Manager]

06 April 2017

 

"In the natural sense those who possess perfectly good eyesight can by the use of tinted spectacles have a completely changed sense of colour values; we can become blind deliberately to certain colours. If one looks through ruby glass, whites appear red and most other colours appear grey or black. This feature is of immense value in scientific observations, or in certain industrial pursuits. The welder watches his work through blue glass. The steelmaker views his boiling metal through the same medium ... In his “Sermon on the Mount” the Lord found it necessary to warn us against looking for motes in the eyes of others while we ourselves were almost blinded by having a beam in our own eye. In like manner, we should be careful about discovering darkness in others, if our sight is coloured by tinted spectacles."

 

- N. Ward

Men’s Judgment and God’s (1953)

[Resource Manager]

07 April 2017

 

"... the world in which we live. It has no visible destination, no apparent haven, and its people are like the troubled sea whose billowing crests seem in constant turmoil. The nations reel to and fro like a man upon a heaving deck with neither rail nor stay to hold on to, and the waving political broomsticks we have just left behind provide no guide and no security; they are as unsubstantial as the air they beat. We do not see the hand which steers the ship and keeps it on its course so unfailingly; but we know that the pilot is there in his cabin on the topmost deck. So, too, is the Heavenly Pilot guiding this world, this vessel called Earth, just as surely to its appointed haven, notwithstanding the unrest and turbulence of its peoples."

 

- P. Lander 

Reflections at Sea (1962)

[Resource Manager]

08 April 2017

 

"God deals with men on a collective basis, according to their relationship. Upon those in Adam comes the curse which issued from Adam’s disobedience; upon those in Christ comes the blessing which is freely given to those who have been redeemed from the curse and have received the gift of righteousness. All this was done in the death of the cross, and at the same time the righteousness of God was upheld. There displayed on the cross was all that sin deserved, but also there was the love of God displayed, in that He gave His only begotten Son to a perishing world, and so brought life and immortality within reach of those who were sinners, provided they humble themselves to share the death and resurrection of Christ. And as he rose to newness of life, so do they. Redeemed from the old master, they now serve the new, recognising the necessity for a changed life consistent with the great gift which they have received. “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin” (Romans 6:56)."

 

- Philip Hinde

Made of a Woman, Made Under The Law (1977)

[Resource Manager]

09 April 2017

 

"Let us exercise ourselves constantly to grow more like the Lord Jesus Christ so that it is increasingly evident to men of any discernment that we are possessors of good things; and that we are possessed by them. Let us show ourselves abundantly willing to share our good things. But beyond that, the actual exposition of the gospel should depend upon some response from those we invite. The example of Jesus would lead us to provide the widest possible opportunity for hearing the gospel rather than forcing the gospel itself in the first instance."

 

- Len Richardson

Thoughts from the Mount (1965)

[Resource Manager]

10 April 2017

 

"Jesus lifted his eyes not just to see the world, but to look beyond it. We should seek to look at the world with his eyes, but also to look further. God has given us life not to be lived with lowered eyes, but to search for Him through all that is in this world, through things, events, people. All should reveal God to us. If we do this properly then our eyes will be blessed like those of the disciples (Luke 10:23-24), for they will then see what "prophets and kings have desired to see". Our eyes will then carry God to others, for then will our eye be single and our whole body full of light."

 

- Derek Hayward

Present Your Bodies (1990)  

[Resource Manager]

11 April 2017

 

"There are many forms of knowledge in the world, but only one is of final value. Knowledge of God has finality in two senses. First, all human knowledge is relative. The further men go in investigating the world by scientific methods, the clearer does it become that science by its very nature must always be changing; it cannot claim finality without ceasing to be science. In some degree the same is true of all branches of human learning. But when the Eternal has revealed Himself to men, there, and there alone, we can come to the knowledge of what is final and absolute, even when it is a knowledge in which we must be ever growing."

 

- L.G. Sargent

Knowledge of God (1951)

[Resource Manager]

12 April 2017

 

"The humble fishermen of Galilee preached the gospel with force and conviction: the learned and knowledgeable Pharisees marvelled at those whom they considered to be unlearned and ignorant men speaking with profound understanding. The apostle James, one of those who were styled ignorant men, gives us the essence of what is real wisdom in God’s sight. “Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom” (James 3:13). “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy” (James 3:17)."

 

- R. Fowler

The Wisdom of Solomon (1963)

[Resource Manager]

13 April 2017

 

"... Faith means abandoning, as Paul did, all trust in our own resources. It means casting ourselves unreservedly on the love and mercy of God. It means laying hold upon the promises of God in Christ Jesus for oneself, relying entirely on His saving power and mercy for daily strength and an ultimate crown of life."

 

- Sidney Webb

A Chosen Vessel (1984)

[Resource Manager]

14 April 2017

 

"The Christian hope is that one day we, too, may be made immortal, and see again, and meet again, those who have “fallen asleep” in him, and have sweet communion together. It is not to a ghostly, ethereal life that we are called, but to one of everlasting fellowship and joy, in the company of honest and faithful souls whose reward for loyal service of their Lord in their mortal lives is to be allowed to serve Him for ever in immortal life. And although we cannot possibly comprehend all that is involved in this, for “it does not yet appear what we shall be”, yet we know that at last, “when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2)."

 

- Len Richardson

Fundamental Doctrines (1977)

[Resource Manager]

15 April 2017

 

"... We are touchingly like the disciples and seem not to notice eternity for the pressures of the present. Almost all such sayings of Jesus end with the triumphant statement “he will rise the third day!” This is what makes Jesus the glorious figure that he is: death could not hold him. He is not, like us, man of today; he is Man of Tomorrow, “alive for evermore” like the Son of Man of Revelation 1:13-18. In his hands are the keys of hell and death."

 

- Richard Purkis

The Son of Man (1970)

[Resource Manager]

16 April 2017

 

"... His servants shall serve Him with perfectly reciprocated love, and they shall see His face. Not His kind face, not His forgiving face, because every one of those adjectives would suggest the need for these virtues, and that need will have ceased. Perfect love will have cast out all fear: in Christ all will have been forgiven, and though love continues to be the essence of the everlasting ages, there will be no need for a forgiving love. "They shall see his face, and his name shall be in their foreheads." (Revelation 22:4)"

 

- H.A. Twelves

Seeing the Lord (1949)

[Resource Manager]

17 April 2017

 

"Our Heavenly Father’s will for His sons and daughters is that the faith which guides our lives should not be an impersonal formula but a conviction growing slowly and increasing daily, “and so much the more as you see the day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25). Doubts should not be stifled but patiently resolved. Light will assuredly come, not as the natural heritage of those who have not sought it, but as the reward and crown of patience and endeavour." 

 

- Claud Lamb

Need of Patience (1990)

[Resource Manager]

18 April 2017

 

"Through faith we understand that the world was formed by the Word of God, for He spake and it was done. Through faith also we know that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among men when Jesus came as an exact expression of the will of God. The Word of the Lord came through prophets of old and through them to all Israel. Again the Word of the Lord came through the apostles, for Jesus said, "He that heareth you heareth me and he that heareth me heareth him that sent me."

 

- I. Collyer

Principles and Proverbs 

[Resource Manager]

19 April 2017

 

"Man always chooses the powerful, the great, the rich, the mighty, the noble, for the accomplishment of any schemes he may conceive, as we see in all other religions throughout the whole world in every country and in every age. It is an absolutely universal characteristic of man to glory in man and to boast in his own or somebody else’s wisdom, riches, glory, and might. The Bible runs directly counter to human feelings and sentiments in this matter throughout its entire contents. This would be inexplicable on the hypothesis of a human production; but if the Bible be the reflex of divine views communicated by the Spirit of God to the writers, there is an explanation, instant and entirely satisfactory."

 

- R. Roberts

The Truth about God and the Bible

[Resource Manager]

20 April 2017

 

"... our fight of faith, not against outward visible foes, but against ourselves, our other self that always wants its own way. When we falter let us try to recall him whose fight we symbolize as we break the bread and pour out the wine. Shall we think of him, bereft of all that men fight for, possessions, power and honour, hanging upon the cross and surrendering himself to God confident of His power and wisdom in the ordering of affairs? “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” His fight of faith was fought, and won."

 

- J.G. Buckler

The Good Fight of Faith (1960)

[Resource Manager]

21 April 2017 

 

"... Jesus died, it is true, but it was impossible that so perfect a character should be lost, and God raised him from the dead to give him all power in heaven and in earth, including the keys of the grave. He was able to say: “I am he that liveth, and was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore.” The Jews said that they would have believed Jesus if he had come down from the cross. We believe in him because he stayed there, and, by his final victory over sin, made possible our reconciliation to God with the prospect of a victory over death for us also."

 

- F.E. Mitchell

Master (1966)

[Resource Manager]

22 April 2017

 

"The dominating principles of our life ought to be to take heed lest that day take us unaware, and to watch. To watch the signs of the times? Yes, but more important, to watch ourselves that we may prevail to escape the deadly opiate (we do not think that too strong an expression) that the things of this life offers, with its apathy, its attractions, insidiously claiming for its own those who venture in its ways. It does not bear contemplating that a little thoughtlessness, a little indifference, a little slackening of effort, a little failing in watchfulness, a little reluctance to speak often one to another, a little fading of that longing for his return, may rob us of that "crown of life" reserved for all those that "love his appearing."

 

- D.S. Grogan

Loving His Appearing (1951)

[Resource Manager]

23 April 2017

"It is so difficult to get on with men when they are in love with themselves, and so easy to get on with men when they are in love with God."

- Robert Roberts
My Days and My Ways
   

[Resource Manager]

24 April 2017 

 

"We have been brought “out of Egypt”, from the house of bondage, to serve the Living and the True God. And He demands our first allegiance and will not countenance rivals. He did not tell Israel that He was to be their chief God, but their only God. He will be God alone “and you shall have no other gods before me”. The Lord Jesus understood this perfectly. Asked by the scribe to name “the first commandment of all”, he replied: “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is One Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12:29-30)."

 

- L.W. Richardson

The Ten Commandments (1974)   

[Resource Manager]

25 April 2017

 

"... Faith ... is a self-emptying; without humility there can be no faith, for faith brings the denial of self-sufficiency. It is to commit ourselves wholly to God in trust both in His character and His power; it is the act of laying hold of God through which He lays hold of us; and when God lays hold of us, no outside force can take us from Him (John 10:27-30)."

 

- L.G. Sargent

Faith as a Grain of Mustard Seed (1950)