TFTD - April 2011

[Resource Manager]

01 April 2011

 

"What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?"

- Vincent Van Gogh

 

"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."

Philippians 4:13

[Resource Manager]

02 April 2011

 

"Sometimes the poorest man leaves his children the richest inheritance."

- Ruth E. Renkel

 

"A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children,

but the wealth of the sinner is stored for the righteous."

Proverbs 13:22

[Resource Manager]

03 April 2011

 

"Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light."

- Helen Keller

 

"So now, since we have been made right in God's sight by

faith in his promises, we can have real peace with Him

because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us."

Romans 5:1

[Resource Manager]

04 April 2011

 

"Seeing our Father in everything makes life one long

thanksgiving and gives rest of the heart."

- Hannah Whithall-Smith

 

"... the gentle will have the earth for their heritage;

they will take their delight in peace without measure."

Psalm 37:11

[Resource Manager]

05 April 2011

 

"The sun does not shine for a few trees and flowers,

but for the wide world's joy."

- Henry Ward Beecher

 

"This is how God showed his love among us:

He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him."

1 John 4:9

[Resource Manager]

06 April 2011

 

"The Bible does not provide a map for life - only a compass."

- Haddon Robinson

 

"A man's heart deviseth his way:

but the LORD directeth his steps."

Proverbs 16-9

[Resource Manager]

07 April 2011

 

"The seasons do not push one another;

neither do clouds race the wind across the sky.

All things happen in their own good time."

- Dan Millman

 

"To every thing there is a season,

and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

God has made everything beautiful in its time."

Ecclesiastes 3:1,11

[Resource Manager]

08 April 2011

 

"God writes with a pen that never blots,

speaks with a tongue that never slips,

and acts with a hand that never fails."

- Unknown

 

"For the word of the LORD is right and true;

he is faithful in all he does."

Psalm 33:4

[Resource Manager]

09 April 2011

 

"Friendship is precious, not only in the shade,

but in the sunshine of life."

- Thomas Jefferson

 

"I no longer call you servants,

because a servant does not know his master's business.

Instead, I have called you friends,

for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you."

John 15:15

[Resource Manager]

10 April 2011

 

"A little lantern can do what the great sun can never do -

it can shine in the night."

- Unknown

 

"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet,

and a light unto my path."

Psalms 119:105

[Resource Manager]

11 April 2011

 

"In the book of life, the answers aren't in the back."

- Charlie Brown

 

"All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching,

for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;

so that the man of God may be adequate,

equipped for every good work."

2 Timothy 3:16, 17

[Resource Manager]

12 April 2011

 

"A loving heart is the truest wisdom."

- Charles Dickens (1786 - 1851)

 

"Dear friends, since God so loved us,

we also ought to love one another."

1 John 4:11

[Resource Manager]

13 April 2011

 

"Faith is a bird that feels dawn breaking

and sings while it is still dark."

- Rabindranath Tagore

 

"The night is far gone, and the day is near:

so let us put off the works of the dark,

arming ourselves with light."

Romans 13:12

[Resource Manager]

14 April 2011

 

"Many of our fears are tissue paper thin,

and a single courageous step would carry us clear through them."

- Brendan Francis [behan]

 

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged …

for there is a greater power with us than with him."

2 Chronicles 32:7

[Resource Manager]

15 April 2011

 

"Work joyfully and peacefully, knowing that right thoughts

and right efforts will inevitably bring about right results."

- James Allen

 

"Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life,

for those who are not holy will not see the Lord."

Hebrews 12:14

[Resource Manager]

16 April 2011

 

"Patience is the companion of wisdom."

- Augustine

 

"And remember, our Lord's patience gives people time to be saved.

This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the

wisdom God gave him"

2 Peter 3:15

[Resource Manager]

17 April 2011

 

"Hope is the word which God has written on the brow of every man."

- Victor Hugo

 

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son,

that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

John 3:16

[Resource Manager]

18 April 2011

 

"Nature is the art of God."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

"He covers the sky with clouds,

he supplies the earth with rain,

and maketh the grass grow on the hills."

Psalms 147:8

[Resource Manager]

19 April 2011

 

"God loves you where you are at,

but He loves you enough not to leave you there."

- James Maxon

 

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,

That whoever believes in him, shall not perish,

But have everlasting life."

John 3:16

[Resource Manager]

20 April 2011

 

"When I look at the galaxies on a clear night -

when I look at the incredible brilliance of creation,

and think that this is what God is like,

then instead of feeling intimidated and diminished by it,

I am enlarged ... I rejoice that I am a part of it."

- Madeleine L. Engle

 

"You made the heavens, even the highest heavens,

and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it,

the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything,

and the multitudes of heaven worship you."

Nehemiah 9:6

[Resource Manager]

21 April 2011

 

"Take the gentle path."

- George Herbert

 

"Then Jesus said, 'Come to me,

all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens,

and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you.

Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart,

and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear,

and the burden I give you is light.'"

Matthew 11:28-30

[Resource Manager]

22 April 2011

 

"So far as I can remember,

there is not one word in the Gospels in praise of intelligence."

- Bertrand Russell

 

"Whoever therefore humbles himself as this little child,

the same is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven."

Matthew 18:4

[Resource Manager]

23 April 2011

 

"Every man is a volume if you know how to read him."

- William Ellery Channing

 

"Let your light shine before men in such

a way that they may see your good works,

and glorify your Father who is in heaven."

Matthew 5:16

[Resource Manager]

24 April 2011

 

THE RISEN CHRIST

 

"Now is Christ risen from the dead" (1 Cor. 15: 20)

 

"I HAVE just finished reading one of those popular modern lives of Christ, which seek to present the Son of God in a guise palatable to the man in the street. The avowed object of this particular book is to portray Christ in a different light from the picture given by the "catechism-mongers" and by those who write of him as the "Lamb of God who was weak and unhappy and glad to die". It speaks of Jesus as a leader of men; as living a vigorous outdoor life; as being a sociable man with numerous friends in every rank of society; it even speaks of him as being the founder of modem business!

 

There is much of interest in the book; its point of view is sometimes refreshing, even if open to doubt; it deals with the familiar events of his life from a new angle, even if that angle challenges accuracy; it presents a virile Jesus. But the book closes with Jesus hanging lifeless on the cross!

 

Not a word is said about the resurrection! "On a barren hill beyond the city walls they nailed his perfect body to the cross." Such is the last scene in this popular modem Life of Christ. In spite of the brave attempt to portray Jesus as a firm, upstanding, lovable man, with wide interests and a high sense of duty, it is impossible to escape the feeling of failure which this portrait of Christ conveys.

 

The Scripture presents a different picture of the Son of God. It stresses the triumph of Jesus over death. In the words of Peter: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1: 3). Such is the Apostle Peter's glorious declaration concerning the risen Christ: and Peter was a witness of the resurrection of his Lord. We accept Peter's declaration on the matter rather than the modem popular view, and rejoice with him in the fact of a risen, glorified Christ, and all that is implied thereby. For us the crucifixion is not the last scene in the life of Christ: the darkness of Golgotha gives place to the brightness of the Resurrection Morn.

 

"Why seek ye the living among the dead? Christ is not here, he is risen! Come, see the place where the Lord lay." Can we not appreciate the "fear and great joy" with which those faithful women--chosen for the signal honour of being the first recipients of that glorious news--received the angelic message of Christ's resurrection? And have we not been impressed as we have read, and re-read, the Gospel narratives of the Resurrection by the wealth of evidence which is given to us to establish our hearts and minds in the truth of this greatest of all the events in the life of the Master? Have we not rejoiced that there was amongst the Twelve a "doubting Thomas", who should require personal and tangible proof of the resurrection of the actual body of Christ before he would believe? Have we not walked in imagination the road to Emmaus with the two of sad countenance who received such convincing testimony from the Stranger of the truth of the Resurrection that their hearts burned within them while he opened to them the Scriptures? As we weigh the evidence available in support of the fact of the Resurrection we cannot help calling to mind the words of that famous Headmaster of Rugby School, Dr. Arnold:

 

"I have been used for many years to study the history of other times, and to examine and weigh the evidence of those who have written about them: and I know of no fact in the history of mankind which is proved by better and fuller evidence of every sort, to the understanding of a fair enquirer, than the great sign which God has given us, that Christ died and rose again from the dead."

 

As we advance in the knowledge of the Truth, however, there is another line of evidence supporting the fact of the Resurrection which becomes stronger and stronger as our understanding of the things of God grows. We begin to realize that the Resurrection is not an isolated incident in the life of Jesus, requiring abundant "outside" evidence for its proof: instead we perceive more and more that it is essentially related to the work Jesus had to perform, and that his rising again from the dead was as necessary as his crucifixion--in fact, the former would be useless without the latter. As bro. Roberts puts it: "The Resurrection is everything, without which the condemnation of sin in the flesh would have been nothing". The more we look at the matter from the doctrinal point of view the more we are convinced of the inevitability of the resurrection of Christ. Peter makes this abundantly clear in simple striking language when he spoke to that vast audience on the day of Pentecost:

 

Christ, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. (Acts 2: 23-24).

 

Not possible that Christ should be holden of death! Of course it was not possible! How could he who had done no sin be held by death, which is the wages of sin? How could God, who is just, condemn His Son to the triumph of death in view of his obedience even unto death? The Resurrection of Christ is inevitable in the purpose of God for the salvation of mankind; as necessary to that salvation as was Christ's sacrifice on the cross. As Paul says: "He was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification".

 

Deny the resurrection of Christ and human salvation from sin and death is impossible. "If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins: they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished." There in a nutshell is the essential Christian doctrine of the Resurrection; if we surrender that we lose all.

 

Thanks be to God there is no need to surrender this glorious truth! If the modern popular view can find no place for the resurrection of Jesus, so much the worse for the modern popular view! To us the resurrection of Jesus is the guarantee of the faithfulness of God; the assurance that His promise of life in Christ will be realized. With Paul we say: "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept . . . For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming"."

 

Brother F.W. Turner

-------

Chapter 9

Meditations

[Resource Manager]

25 April 2011

 

"Few delights can equal the mere presence of someone we utterly trust."

- George MacDonald

 

"Trust the LORD always, because the LORD,

the LORD alone, is an everlasting rock."

Isaiah 26:4