TFTD - October 2017

[Resource Manager]

01 October 2017 

 

"Our God is able to save us if we have set our hearts to know His will, to seek an understanding of His word. This must be our one most anxious concern. We can live only by His word, the true bread from heaven. “If any lack wisdom let him ask of God and it shall be given him.” Let us plead the promise of His grace and believe that it will be sufficient to keep us from falling. Let us come boldly to the throne of grace. Not boldness because of feeling that we deserve His kindness, for we are not worthy of the least of His mercies; but boldness in the sense of having faith and confidence in His love and mercy. We believe that our Lord was tempted like us and is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and that we may obtain forgiveness in him and grace to help in time of need. This is the faith so pleasing to God, the faith that will be counted to us for righteousness. This is the faith that enables us to go quietly forward, doing our tasks with a conscious feeling of needing and seeking His help, not waiting until we begin to sink below the waves before pleading His grace."

 

- Ron Styles

God’s Discipline (1961)

 

[Resource Manager]

02 October 2017

 

"... The Lord Jesus said that all the Law and the Prophets depended upon the two fundamental precepts of the law of love: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart”, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”. All sound doctrine is simply elaboration of these principles, and, consequently, every important precept can be placed under one of these two headings. Shallow critics sometimes point to some excellent moral precepts of pagan teachers, and suggest that the fact of sound doctrine emanating from such a source militates against the truth of Christianity. It is a very narrow method of reasoning. Jesus never claimed to invent or discover truth. He claimed to be the embodiment of eternal truth. He came neither to invent nor to destroy, but to fulfil."

 

- Islip Collyer

Conviction and Conduct

[Resource Manager]

03 October 2017

 

"We are not called to be types but imitators of Jesus (1 Corinthians 11:1; 1 Peter 2:21). God has presented to us visions of future glory which we can see when we meditate on His word, and a contemplation of these and the great cloud of witnesses of His goodness will teach us to be not discouraged in our efforts."

 

- S.L. Hale

Ezekiel and Jesus (1947)

[Resource Manager]

04 October 2017

 

"To believe in the Lord is to believe in Him as Saviour and Redeemer, and therefore to believe in His salvation. In Christ the salvation of the Lord is revealed: “The dayspring from on high hath visited us”. Therefore faith in the saving God becomes also faith in His Anointed: and throughout the New Testament to have faith means characteristically to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Since this is to lay hold of Christ and the salvation that is in him, and hence to be laid hold of by Christ, “believers” becomes the scriptural term for Christians, and “to believe” is often synonymous with becoming Christ’s. Faith is the channel through which to receive the working of his power over sin and death, and so becomes during his ministry on earth the ground both of healing for the body and forgiveness of sins."

 

- L.G. Sargent

Faith as a Grain of Mustard Seed (1950)

[Resource Manager]

05 October 2017

 

"Let us “stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free” (Galatians 5:1). Our thinking can be untrammelled, if it is directed to God’s glory: when we “turn to the Lord”, we may still “see through a glass darkly”, but the thickest “vail is taken away”. Patient, honest, humble, fearless study of God’s word can only bring good. Our speaking need only be censored by love. Our doing is free to express our love for God and man. Liberty is not licence: paradoxical as it may sound, “by the law of liberty” we “shall be judged” (James 2:12)."

 

- H.A. Twelves

Litmus Paper (1952)

[Resource Manager]

06 October 2017

 

"Jesus left his life to be ordered by the Father and lived each day as it came in the strength of his Father. If we are indeed to “inherit all things”, including the peace bequeathed to us by Jesus Christ—and that peace failed him not, even in the night of desertions, misunderstandings and slander, and shrank not from the cross—then we must follow Jesus, and allow the arbitrator and sentinel of God to work a perfect work in us."

 

- A.H. Bealey

The Peace of God (1953)

[Resource Manager]

07 October 2017

 

"In confessing God in our hearts, it is true that we leave the last vestige of independence, and become utterly subject to His vision and His working. But this is the perfect freedom from the slavery of sin, to which we are called in Jesus. This is the panacea for our present ills if we would only know it, and this is the assurance that he, who now dwells in our open hearts by faith, will be content to dwell with us yet again, and yet more, when we shall sit down with him in his kingdom."

 

- A.D. Norris

Sunday Morning (1946)

[Resource Manager]

08 October 2017

 

“Do good unto all men” is a command of tremendous scope, and we see it in full perspective in the light of the Master’s further words: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven”. And so we come back to the first bushel. We cannot do these things unless we go out into the world and try.”

 

- Peter W. Reynolds

Looking at Life (1957)

[Resource Manager]

09 October 2017

 

“Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” is the ideal God holds before us. The first practical step towards achieving the ideal is obviously to love ourselves less; the more we love ourselves the greater and more impossible becomes the task of loving our neighbour to the same degree. Our example is Christ; he extinguished self, laid down his life for his friends. We can be guided and inspired in our ways by considering him, and finally we think upon his words, “And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.”

 

- T.J. Barling

Sunday Morning (1947)

[Resource Manager]

10 October 2017

 

"When a seed bursts into new life, the pattern of its growth follows identically that of its predecessor; from a corn of wheat we expect wheat to grow, and from a grape seed we expect to see a fruit-bearing vine. For us the predecessor is Christ himself, for he was the firstfruits of the harvest: “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept” (1 Corinthians 15:20)."

 

- Michael W. Smith

The Death of a Seed (1959)

[Resource Manager]

11 October 2017

 

"Jeremiah knew that, imprisoned by his own iniquity, man was doomed unless help came from God. Bowed down by a recognition of the man’s depravity through sin, and the affliction which it brings, he felt that God had shut out his prayer, and that his strength and hope had perished. Yet he was convinced that

 

“It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord” (Lamentations 3:1-26)."

 

- Spencer L. Hale

Thoughts on Isaiah (1978)

[Resource Manager]

12 October 2017

 

"... We have only to think of him, as shown to us in the Gospels, to realize that he had got his balance right. Nobody has ever lived so purely as he. Nobody ever so separate from the defilement of the world. Yet his enemies made it a matter of reproach that “he received sinners and ate with them”. The derelict and despised found warmth and uplift in his presence. “A bruised reed shall he not break and the smoking flax he shall not quench”, wrote Isaiah of him. What a testimony to his compassion! What an example to us! Here is our centre of balance.

 

“Do all you have to do without complaint or wrangling. Show yourselves guileless and above reproach, faultless children of God in a warped and crooked generation, in which you shine like stars in a dark world and proffer the word of life” (Philippians 2:14-16)."

 

- L.W. Richardson

The Importance of Right Attitudes (1970)

[Resource Manager]

13 October 2017

 

“One of the surest signs of personal progress in the Christian life is a deepening sensitivity of spirit. If we are “truly alive unto God”, we shall become increasingly responsive to Him.

 

In the Acts we catch glimpses of this process at work in the life of Paul:

 

“Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry” (Acts 17:16).

 

His wait for Silas and Timothy (who stayed at Thessalonica to establish the ecclesia there) was not fruitless. As he waited, he saw! Not only did he see, but he saw through—through the proverbial characteristics of the Athenians who “spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing” (Acts 17:21).

 

God kept Paul waiting until his spirit became sensitive to that which surrounded him, the outward aspects of Athenian dignity and repute, classic buildings, cultured art, and the basic corruption of its wholesale idolatry. Sinfulness is not merely seen in the alleys of slumdom or in the vileness of low natures, but also in the very citadels of human greatness. The blue sky of Athens was in ironic contrast to the pall of moral darkness which lay upon the city. Its noblest achievements and aspirations were no more than the gropings of the blind.”

 

- Claud Lamb

Alive Unto God (1976)

[Resource Manager]

14 October 2017

 

"... the life of Jesus is an expression of the love of God ... we need to meditate and focus our attention upon the Lord Jesus Christ who was that Good Samaritan. We need to acquaint ourselves with his life and his works and his obedience to his Heavenly Father, because he has shown us the way to love one another. It is possible to overcome every difficulty and every adversity through love. It is in this sense that he has given us a new commandment.

 

"Love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends, if you do whatsoever I command you." (John 15:12-14)"

 

- David Honey

Love One Another (1996)

[Resource Manager]

15 October 2017

 

"... we stand before our God today and now take into our hands these precious emblems of His gracious love, to share them amongst ourselves. We are stripped of all pretence and seen as we really are, begging for His mercy and beseeching Him that we might indeed in that day, by the grace of God, stand in His holy place and receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of our salvation."

 

- Trevor A. Pritchard

Stand Fast in the Lord (1998)

[Resource Manager]

16 October 2017

 

"... "The night is far spent; the day is at hand" meant as little to them as it often has throughout the centuries, and, surprisingly, it does still today. But the significance of these words lies not merely in the historical nearness of the Second Coming, but also in the historical nearness of our death. The night of our own darkness passed away when we were first enlightened; and the night of the world’s darkness will persist in our knowledge only for so long as our mortal consciousness shall last. After that, we shall sleep, and in a moment awake again; and after the day of striving has closed, the morning of judgment will dawn. It is that day which has always hastened upon every disciple, that day which demands from us constant exhortation and constant heeding, that day which asks from us every provocation to love and good works which can prepare us for its trial."

 

- A.D. Norris

Sunday Morning (1950)

[Resource Manager]

17 October 2017

 

"And the Lord said, 'Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a tcleft of the rock, and I will ucover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.'" (Exodus 33:21-23).

 

"... Moses was only able to see it after he was placed in a clift in the rock, and even then, he was not allowed to behold all. And is it not so with us? Christ, our Rock, came, the end of the Old Covenant and the beginning of the New, and it is only those who in the mercy of God are placed in the clift of the rock, in Christ, that can behold and experience the glory of God, manifested toward them in His goodness and truth. Even so, like Moses, we are unable to behold the full splendour of the glory of the Lord as yet. We are still in the wilderness. “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known” (1 Corinthians 13:12)."

 

- W. Willey

A Picture of Redemption (1959)

[Resource Manager]

18 October 2017  

 

“Watch ... the Son of man cometh”

 

"Are we ready for that time, ready with our loins well girt, or are we still murmuring and complaining? Jesus warned, “Watch, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come ... for in such an hour when ye think not, the Son of man cometh.” Some of his murmuring servants say, “The Lord delayeth his coming”. “The Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of” (Matthew 24:42-51)."

 

- Arthur Pennington

And God Called (1998)

[Resource Manager]

19 October 2017  

 

"How can a man say he loves God if he does not love his brother? “This commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also” (1 John 4:20, 21). We should not consider John’s statement as being novel. The idea that in moving towards our brother we are moving towards God is the fundamental assumption underlying all Biblical ethics. We are made in the image of God, and so there is an unbreakable link between the way we treat each other and regard God himself (Genesis 1:26; 9:6; James 3:9). Ultimately it must be true that loving our brother, in the full sense, is the only real safeguard against having other gods before the Lord ... In showing love to our neighbour we are rooting our relationship with God, by moving away from ourselves towards Him. Just as faith is made real when it is given expression, so our relationship with God becomes real in our relationships with others."

 

- Karam Ram

This Commandment Have We From Him (2000)

[Resource Manager]

20 October 2017

 

"First among the fruit of the Spirit in Paul’s letter to the Galatians (Galatians 5:22) is love, and it is not difficult to see why this is so since God Himself is love. The love of God over-arches all His other attributes and out of it comes our salvation, for "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16)."

 

- John Mitchell

"The Greatest of These ..." (1996)

[Resource Manager]

21 October 2017

  

"He challenged his friends to do their best, his enemies to do their worst. And the opening note of his life’s mission was a challenge to temptation in the desert.

 

Every disciple of his “that hath ears to hear” will challenge his own doubts and difficulties, the motives of his discipleship, and the cost of it; will challenge himself to be his best, and the world to do its worst. If that is the opening note of our song of life, the song will not die upon our lips when darkness blots out the road."

 

- Claud Lamb

The Song of Life (1994)

[Resource Manager]

22 October 2017

 

"Christ’s victory over his adversaries was a purposeful product of the heart, soul and mind that united the Father and His Son. Christ understood and lived by Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18. His victory over sin was founded on his concern for others and his selfless devotion and obedience to his Father’s will (Philippians 2:4-11). He was therefore able to “quench all the fiery darts of the wicked” because, “for the joy that was set before him [he] endured the cross, despising the shame ... For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself” (Hebrews 12:23). Indeed, he did much more than just endure the wicked questions; he was more skilled than any scribe or lawyer and his perfect knowledge enabled him to turn deceitful ideas into edifying lessons."

 

- Allan Harrison

The First and Great Commandment (1998)

[Resource Manager]

23 October 2017

 

"Everything we know, or need to know, about the purpose of God; the origin and destiny of man; the way of salvation; the issues of life and death: all are contained within the covers of the written Word. How do we value it? Any amount of writing is profitless without readers. “Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning”. Then what kind of readers are required for the Word of God! Reverent, teachable, attentive, constant."

 

- C.E. Hinde

Written for Our Learning (1993)

[Resource Manager]

24 October 2017  

 

"... how can we remain spiritual in an ungodly world whose influence besets us daily? Paul advised us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) to keep our hearts and minds focused on God and His Son rather than ourselves. He also wrote to the Ephesians that they should be speaking to themselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in their heart to the Lord. And we must not forget the Word of God: we should be addicted to it above all else."

 

- Grahame A. Cooper

Sunday Morning (1992)

[Resource Manager]

25 October 2017

 

"It is no very small matter to believe the truth—though a very easy and pleasant thing. The truth is so clear and so glorious in itself, that this believing it is the easiest part of our duty; but we may nevertheless fail to become Christ’s servants in deed and in truth. It is in the doing of Christ’s word that we gain the victory. It is in the keeping of his commandments that we have great reward. In the keeping of these, we must needs fellowship his sufferings, and shall then find his companionship at the table a new and delightful and a very profitable thing."

 

- Robert Roberts

Sunday Morning (1868)