TFTD - March 2013

[Resource Manager]

01 March 2013

"The only works which are "good" in the sight of God are works which have their ground and motive in faith in the living God. By men’s standards they may be good or bad; they may even run counter to all men’s feelings and philosophy. But only if they are an expression of faith in God’s promise and declared purpose will they be reckoned for righteousness.

It is possible for an emphasis on "good works", so far from being an expression of faith, to be a compensation for a weakening conviction. The process will in all likelihood be subconscious, but it can happen that a zeal for works grows alongside of a dwindling faith. If faith is the body, works are its breath; as James says, "As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." (James 2:26) But what is breath without the body?"

- Scribe
Jottings (1962)

[Resource Manager]

02 March 2013

"The worship of God, the proclamation of His truth, and the exhibition of His love, are the main purposes of a Christian ecclesia. One of the lessons to be learnt from the first letter to the Corinthians is that discipline and regulation are needed to avoid disorder in the achievement of these purposes: “God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints ... Let all things be done decently and in order” (1 Corinthians 14:33, 40). If this instruction was needed in years when special gifts of the Spirit were bestowed, the need for orderly arrangements in modern ecclesial affairs will not be questioned, even if it were not obvious from a practical point of view. The Christian communities of all centuries are to be protected from lawless self-seeking, unedifying whims and serious departures from truth and righteousness. Essential tasks must be neither neglected nor duplicated for lack of sensible oversight of the work of the Lord."

- J.B. Norris
The First Century Ecclesia

[Resource Manager]

03 March 2013

"A living witness is one whose life is dedicated to God. From the commitment joyfully undertaken at baptism issues a quality of life different from that of people still in bondage to sin. With the heart we believe the Gospel, with the lips we confess our convictions, and by our lives we demonstrate our faith, to God and to man. It cannot be otherwise if we are to be true to our calling. If we love God, then we must express that love not merely in word or in speech, which anybody could do, but in deed and in truth." (1 John 3:18)."

"A Living Witness"
CALS Publication

[Resource Manager]

04 March 2013

 

"The Scriptures are our daily spiritual food. Only from these can we obtain strength to run the race for life. We would be merely relapsed worldlings were we to forsake or neglect this, our truest food from God. Our Lord has taken the needful steps to provide food for the life of the world. (Matthew 5:16; Philippians 2:15; John 5:35)"  

 

- A.D. Norris

Our Daily Bread

[Resource Manager]

05 March 2013

"The revelation of God’s holiness leads us to think of Him as lawgiver and judge and it raises acutely the question of our duty to Him and our relationship with Him. We must, therefore, enquire what is the content of God’s law and what it reveals of practical importance to us. The clue to this is given in Psalm 24, which begins with an acknowledgment of God as creator and ends with triumphant praise to the Lord of hosts, the king of glory. Between these two ascriptions to the greatness of God there occur these words:

“Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that has clean hands, and a pure heart; who has not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.” (Psalm 24:5)."

- E.J. Newman
God Whom We Worship

[Resource Manager]

06 March 2013

"The Spirit and the Bride say, Come! God reveals, and man must pass on the message. "And let him that hears say, Come." (Revelation 22:17). None of us should look upon himself or herself as a blind alley in the progress of the purpose of God. "Freely you have received, freely give" in all ways open to us, is the exhortation of the Lord (Matthew 10:8)."

- A.D. Norris
Wise Unto Salvation

[Resource Manager]

07 March 2013

"He was begotten of the Holy Spirit and therefore called the Son of God; he was anointed with the Spirit and therefore called the Christ; he was given the power of the Spirit without measure and therefore knew all that would come to him in the mortal struggle. He was obedient in all things and therefore highly exalted (Philippians 2:8-9). He loved righteousness and hated iniquity and was therefore exalted high above all others (Hebrews 1)."

- Islip Collyer
The King in the New Testament (1954)

[Resource Manager]

08 March 2013

"The true and deep spirit of the Son who sanctified himself that his disciples might be brought near to God is the greatest possible incentive to personal dedication. It is the source of our holiest aspirations, the motive that inspires our purest victories, the light that illumines our darkest hours. It is the birthplace of a love which calls in utter sincerity, "Even so come, Lord Jesus". (Revelation 22:20)"

- M. Purkis
Our Spiritual Heritage (1955)

[Resource Manager]

09 March 2013

"The Bible does not yield its treasures to its critics."
- John Carter

"The LORD directs the steps of the godly.
He delights in every detail of their lives."
Psalm 37:23 

[Resource Manager]

10 March 2013

"We cannot be all alike ... But we can one and all set before us the love of God shown to us in the scriptures; we can make love the moving principle in our lives, which by reciprocation will provoke others unto love and prove a blessing to ourselves and to all with whom we have to deal. If we so walk in love, we can be sure of the blessing of Christ, and shall not be ashamed before him at his coming."

- W.J. Young
Whitsuntide Gathering (1937)

[Resource Manager]

11 March 2013

 

"The word of God liveth and abideth for ever; it is the word of life, the life to come, and contains the promise of life by resurrection. “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna”—a meal in God’s holy place, from the golden cup. Life for ever with God and the Lord himself, the living bread. Nothing else will satisfy the truly yearning heart. “I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.”

 

- Harry Tennant
"What is it?" (1974)

[Resource Manager]

12 March 2013

"The gaiety of the world is based on forgetfulness. The joy of a true Christian is based on memory. A man of the world can rejoice in momentary prosperity because the king of terrors seems far away. The Christian can rejoice even in times of disaster because the God of all comfort is near."

- Islip Collyer
Joy (1946)

[Resource Manager]

13 March 2013

"Listen. "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." The word is for no one else. Everywhere the Bible makes it plain that the mighty cannot extract its treasures by force; the wise of this world cannot find their kind of wisdom there, nor can the self-assured I-am-the-only-judge be at home in its courts. There is only one way to enter the royal house and converse with the men of God: it is by the meekness of wisdom, the quietness of spirit which God describes as "trembling at my word". Samuel practised it when he said: "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth."

- Harry Tennant
A Word in Your Ear (1963)

[Resource Manager]

14 March 2013

 

"The divine principles are still the same today. God has promised to fight alongside us and provide the armour and weapons if we remain faithful and obedient. The LORD our God will help us to drive out all forms of sin from our hearts and minds if we remain “very courageous” and “continue in what we have learned and have become convinced about.” We remember, don’t we, the warning of Paul that “the time will come when men will not endure sound doctrine but will select teachers to suit their own desires, to say what their itching ears want to hear.”

 

If we learn the lessons of history and of our own experience: “The Lord will rescue … from every evil and save … for his heavenly kingdom” (2 Timothy 4:18). A greater than Joshua is leading us against our enemy, against godlessness, covetousness and other lusts of various kinds. Our Leader has destroyed the great enemy in himself, he has utterly defeated sin. Death no longer has any dominion over him.

 

The early church had a saying, one that puts the matter very clearly:

 

“If we died with him, we will also live with him;

if we endure, we will also reign with him.

If we disown him, he will also disown us;

if we are faithless, he will remain faithful; for he cannot disown himself.” (2 Timothy 2:11-13)"

 

- Stuart Cowlishaw

Divine Principles (1985)

[Resource Manager]

15 March 2013

"The Heart’s Desire - As time goes on, this comes to mean to us something quite different from what it did in our youth. We learn at last, that in having Christ, we have all: for "In Him are hid all the treasures" (Colossians 2:3) that we could possibly desire. And when we give ourselves to Him in daily service, we identify ourselves with His interests, even as it is our continual endeavour to be "like Him". For, “If any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of His." (Romans 8:9)"

- S.J.L.

[Resource Manager]

16 March 2013

 

"A disciple of Christ is not looking out for any present honour, or present attention. He is looking out for opportunities of doing good; and a man who is in that frame of mind realises that “That is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” How are we going to have that faith? How is it going to get in? By the word—by the facts testified by the word. The word is the pencil of the divine artist, as it were, with which He draws His ideas upon our mind."

 

- Robert Roberts

[Resource Manager]

17 March 2013 

Brotherly Conduct — "It should be holy. "Be ye holy in all manner of conversation." It should be without offence. "Be ye wise as serpents and harmless as doves." "Give none offence, neither to the Jew, nor to the Greek, nor to the Church of God." It should be loving and kind. "Love one another." "Have fervent charity among yourselves." "Add to charity brotherly kindness." It should be full of compassion and mercy. "Be ye merciful, as your Father in heaven." "Put on, as the elect of God, bowels of mercy." It should be peaceable. "And be at peace among yourselves." "The fruit of the Spirit is peace."

- Compilation
The Christadelphian Magazine (1920) 

[Resource Manager]

18 March 2013

"The Revelation especially is a gift from Christ to help in days of darkness. The Spirit and the Bride are coupled by him in its closing references as saying, "Come." ... Let us remember that the eyes of God are upon us as they have ever been upon His people in the past."

- C.C. Walker
Exhort One Another (1906)

[Resource Manager]

19 March 2013

"Our names are not known of men, but they are written in heaven: and our efforts to please God will not bring the praise of men, but they will secure admission to that number which attain the highest distinction of being “God’s inheritance” by attaining the inheritance of the saints in light."

- John Carter
Inheritance Among Them That Are Sanctified (1941)

[Resource Manager]

20 March 2013

"Genuine repentance ... is not a passing emotion, sincerely as it may be felt at the time. It is an understanding of truth, God’s truth as expressed in His Word, and a resolve to amend one’s ways "from henceforth". It is the basis for that forgiveness of sin which the Lord grants to the "humble and the contrite"."

- Fred Pearce
Neither do I condemn thee ... (1998)

[Resource Manager]

21 March 2013

"While it is true that God works "all things after the counsel of His own will", it is also true that we must "draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you"; that we must be merciful if we would receive mercy; that we must forgive if we would be forgiven."

- John Carter
Prophets after the Exile

[Resource Manager]

22 March 2013

"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]

23 March 2013

"Think of our Lord’s gracious words: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!" remembering also that he was the Lamb of God’s providing which bears away the sins of the world. At all times, let us have in our minds the overwhelming love of God for us sinners and let each one of us be more prepared to show that quality of self sacrificing love towards others:

"For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:7-8)

- Trevor A. Pritchard
The Quality of Forgiveness

[Resource Manager]

24 March 2013

"Our part is to remember and fear. To exercise ourselves diligently in the pursuit of those wise counsels which abound in the Word of God. Then shall we be able from our hearts to give expression in the language of the Psalmist:-

"I remember the days of old; I meditate on all your works; I ponder on the work of your hands. I stretch forth my hands unto you: ... Cause me to hear your loving kindness in the morning; for in you do I trust: cause me to know the way in which I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto you." (Psalm 143:5-6)."

- J.E. Jarvis
Remembrance (1933)

[Resource Manager]

25 March 2013

"Remembering that "every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account there-of", let us daily, by steady progress, seek to build up a character that shall be rich and helpful to those about us, that, in truth, we may come to possess "the tongue of the disciple"."

- P.T. Harley
The Tongue of the Disciple (1966)