TFTD - March 2021

[Resource Manager]

01 March 2021

 

"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) 

[Resource Manager]

02 March 2021

 

"A just balance and scales are the Lord’s; all the weights in the bag are his work." Proverbs 11:11 

 

"His standards have been embodied in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was able to say: "I am the Truth". If we want to measure ourselves, let it be in his scales. For here we see single-minded devotion to God’s will, courage, honesty, a man without sham and without duplicity, "a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure" (Deuteronomy 25:15). 

 

- L.W. Richardson

Divine Weights and Measures (1971)

[Resource Manager]

03 March 2021

"It is a mark of the honour given by God to His Son, that He has invited him to sit at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heaven, "a minister of the sanctuary and the true tent which is set up not by man but by the Lord". In these terms does the writer to the Hebrews emphasise the greatness of the Lord Jesus, who became as much superior to the angels as the name he has obtained is more excellent than theirs. But to what angel has he ever said, "Sit at my right hand, till I make your enemies a stool for your feet?"

 

- Alfred Nicholls

Seated at God’s Right Hand (1980)

[Resource Manager]

04 March 2021
 

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish ... For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him" (John 3:16-17). We thank God that when He saw the faults He did not withdraw His love, and His way was to save what was soiled. God saw the broken lives and He is willing to touch and to heal. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. How to touch the unclean with a healing hand must be learnt in master class. It was the Master’s way."

 

- Philip Vyse

Practical Living (1990)

[Resource Manager]

05 March 2021
 

"Some who saw the work of Jesus said, "John did no miracle, but all the things John said about this man were true," and therefore believed. Like John, we do no miracle, but if our presentation of the Saviour in word and in deed is of such sincerity and earnestness that men see what we say about him is true, and determine to follow him on that account, we shall have caught some of the evangelizing spirit of him who stood so highly in the estimation of the Christ."

 

- F.E. Mitchell

The Voice (1944)

[Resource Manager]

06 March 2021

"We have no glory of our own; we are dependent upon Christ. "For God hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). To use Paul’s phrase, it is a reflected glory. "We all (not just Moses or Israel but all, both Jew and Gentile) with unveiled face reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:18, RV)."

 

- W.H. Simkins

The Glory That Excelleth (1977)

[Resource Manager]

07 March 2021
 

"... We have an obligation to walk in newness of life-to serve God rather than sin. The reality of the resurrection imposes on us an obligation to be “instruments of righteousness unto God” until the return of our Lord from heaven. The Lord’s return is as certain as his resurrection. Like the disciples we can be slow to recognise the obvious signs and messages around us. Like them we can be bewildered and confused when events do not work out as we expect they should.

 

Let the First Century disciples be an example to us. Let the reality of the Lord’s resurrection inspire us to dedication and service. And finally, let us be sensitive to the momentous times in which we live and also to the way in which we live our lives. “Even so, Come, Lord Jesus.”

 

- Geoff Henstock

The Power of His Resurrection (1997) 

[Resource Manager]

08 March 2021

"We see the character of God manifested in His purpose with mankind. In spite of the waywardness and obstinate pride of men and women, God’s love will prevail and many will receive the gift of the divine nature to enjoy everlasting fellowship with Him and His beloved Son. "But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). The apostle, well aware of such love, writes, "Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!" (2 Corinthians 9:15)."

 

- Arthur Armstrong

Love and Thanksgiving (1958)

[Resource Manager]

09 March 2021

"The true motive for getting things into the right perspective is not fear or dread of blind compulsion. It is the master principle of love. People give the Truth top priority because they love it. Any other motive will fail and eventually the disciple becomes disgruntled and half-hearted. ... Loyal for love’s sake: this is the true perspective."

 

- Dennis Gillett

The Genius of Discipleship

[Resource Manager]

10 March 2021

 

"We cannot – and would not if we could – borrow the methods of the evangelical campaigns. We must often feel that the message preached is so inadequate and misleading as not to be the Gospel. But we can be reminded that only the Gospel can bring men to life, or life to men. Not the exposure of error, though that may be necessary; not the display of learning, though learning may have its uses; not even the exposition of prophecy, though prophecy is a vital witness to the truth: but 'good news of God' (Romans 1:1) – that is the essential of all our preaching."

 

- L.G. Sargent

Fundamentalism (1955) 

[Resource Manager]

11 March 2021

 

"God promises to bring His children through trial, suffering and tribulation, and to do abundantly for them above all that they ask or think. Let us trust Him implicity and He will help us in our weaknesses and lovingly correct us in our errors. He will, in short, "cause all things to work for the good of those who love him, who are called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28)."

 

- Harold Smalley

 Sitting on the Fence (1979)

[Resource Manager]

12 March 2021

"We need to scatter the seed of our “bread” upon the waters at all times, in all situations. We cannot say when we are young (in our morning), “I shall scatter in my evening time”; nor can we say when we are old (in our evening), “I scattered in my morning”. The seed must be scattered at all times and throughout life. Casting our bread upon the waters is life. If we can do this with the right spirit we shall enter into the song of Israel’s joy as the captives returned to Jerusalem: “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him” (Psalm 126:5,6)."

 

- Maurice Beale

Cast thy Bread upon the Waters (1993)

[Resource Manager]

13 March 2021

 

"Never let any person be more powerful for you than God, so that what they say, or what they do, might eat away inside you, so that you yourself - they cannot do it - you yourself allow it to be a guiding force in your life to separate you from the love of God. If you trust in God it will not happen.

 

"shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" (Romans 8:35b).

 

"Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:37-39).

 

For we have an infinite God, and we stand at this very moment with our infinite God against a finite petty world."

 

- Tim Galbraith

Caution! God at Work

[Resource Manager]

14 March 2021

 

"The foundation upon which John builds is the fact that “God is love”. This can be said of no other! A person may be described as lovely or loveable but only of God can it be said that “He is love”. Love is an inseparable part of His being; it is seen in all His ways. It is the very basis of His great work of salvation and because of it He gave His only begotten Son to save those who would believe in him. Therefore John can write, “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” And he can state the same lesson positively, “Everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God”; and repeat it again a few verses later, “If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us” (see 1 John 4)."

 

- Cyril Tennant

A New Commandment (1994)

[Resource Manager]

15 March 2021

"... Many sons are brought to glory. Those “in Christ” will receive, with him, the kingdom prepared for them “from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). They too were in God’s mind when he declared his purpose on the sixth day. They are “chosen in him before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4); or in the language of Revelation, their names are written “in the book of life from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 17:8). Christ, the saints and the kingdom have all been in the plan from the beginning. They have all pre-existed in the mind of God."

 

- Peter Watkins

Thoughts on Genesis (1964)

[Resource Manager]

16 March 2021

"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." (Romans 5:1)

 

"When we pray for the peace of Jerusalem we all must realise that true peace will not materialise in the Holy Land as a result of man’s negotiations. True harmony will only ever be possible when Jesus reigns as King from the city of peace. When Jesus returns (a daily possibility) he will bring peace to the world ... at present we need to practise the quality of peace in our lives. Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God" (Matthew 5:9) ... So then let us follow Jesus, the example and source of our peace."

 

- Steven Thaw

Peace (1996)

[Resource Manager]

17 March 2021

"As children of God we must manifest a measure of faithfulness, we must give diligence to make our "calling and election sure"; then being supported by God’s "stability" we have His promise that we "shall never stumble: for thus shall be richly supplied" "the entrance into the eternal kingdom." God’s faithfulness is the foundation of everything; by His divine power He "hath granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness," including the all-important faith in His "precious and exceeding great promises."

 

- H.H-B.

Faith (1941)

[Resource Manager]

18 March 2021

"... My marriage brought me to America, and in this land, the truth found me. I was like yourself, a wanderer, seeking for something, but knew not then what it was. Intense grief would come over me, when I opened the word, because I could not understand it ... but my thirsty soul sought for a resting place, but found none until truth put forth her hand and pulled me into the Ark. Seven years ago, I plucked her beautiful olive branch of peace; it is an evergreen which time cannot wither or decay. I rejoice every day more and more ..."

 

- A Sister in Christ

Greeting to a Newborn in Christ (1869)

[Resource Manager]

19 March 2021
 

"For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed" (1 Corinthians 15:52). This will be when "they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send forth his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect" (Matthew 24:30, 31). That this will herald the rising of the dead we cannot doubt; for "many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake"; "every man in his own order; Christ the firstfruits, afterwards they that are Christ’s at his coming" (Daniel 12:2; 1 Corinthians 15:22-23)."

 

- C.E. Hinde

Thy Kingdom Come (1988)

[Resource Manager]

20 March 2021

 

"By nature we are of the changing order of things, and that remains true whether we care to think about it or not; but we may be linked up with the eternal order of things. We say we are the children of God. What does that mean? What does it mean to be born of God, who is eternal? Here is the answer: "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know." How positive this is! "That ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God" (1 John 5:12-13). If we really, truly, and fully believe on the name of the Son of God, we "have eternal life," because we are linked up with Him who is the life-giver, who is the source of life, and never changes, and though there is the decay of the dust, the change of the material aspect, He is able to raise us up again so that we shall die no more."

 

- W.H. Dean

Change (1924)

[Resource Manager]

21 March 2021

 

"He cleanses the courts of the temple in His own good time and in His own way. He may even send some sorrow which sweeps from our minds all thoughts save one–the nothingness, the vanity of all (2 Corinthians 4:18). Then quietly, but effectively, we are enabled to bring into captivity every thought in obedience to Christ who strengthens us to do all the things that we should do to the glory of God."

 

- Claud Lambe

The House of Prayer (1989)

[Resource Manager]

22 March 2021

 

"The motive of a steadfastness from men is a surer steadfastness from God. "The word spoken by angels was steadfast", and the word spoken through the Son has, if that were possible, a greater assurance behind it. The course, therefore, to which the disciple commits himself is not a risk which may prove to have been ill-chosen, but a firm security: an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast."

 

- A.D. Norris

Steadfastness (1950)

[Resource Manager]

23 March 2021

 

"Hearken diligently unto me," how can we do it now? There is no prophet; we cannot go to a Samuel and say, "Pray to the Lord for us; what does the Lord reveal concerning us?" God is accessible in his book, and in reading the Bible prayerfully and carefully, and endeavouring to live up to it, we are hearkening unto Him, and this is life."

 

- C.C. Walker

God’s King and Kingdom (1928)

[Resource Manager]

24 March 2021

"Early Christians refused to look at representation of Christ on the cross because they had seen men crucified. Our hearts fail and our pen falters as we force ourselves to look at the events of the next six hours. It is a sight too terrible to gaze upon for long: yet to refuse to look at him steadily for a few moments before we wait for the first day of the week, is to deny ourselves the consolation of his love. We cannot linger in the shadow of the cross, but we must approach, lift our reluctant eyes steadfastly to his, and pass on our way with bleeding but strengthened hearts determined that for us, that sacrifice shall not be in vain."

 

- Melva Purkis

A Life of Jesus

[Resource Manager]

25 March 2021

 

"It is not through the exercise of reason's powers that faith becomes weak or that those who have run well begin to stumble. It is through the cramping cares of life, or the search for pleasure, or perhaps even the narrowness of friends. And when believers grow weary, their drift from faith is nearly always with mere half-hearted negatives. The habit of self-examination with a continued insistence on the simple positives might have saved them.

 

Life itself is an affirmation.

 

When hearts do not beat, and lungs do not breathe, their day is over. And when we cease to have a positive belief by which to guide our lives, we might as well not live at all."

 

- Islip Collyer

Conviction and Conduct