Quote of the Day

Don't ever come to a conclusion at the price of a proper interpretation. Don't ever come to a conclusion or make a point at the price of a proper interpretation. Don't use the Scripture to support your viewpoint. You come up with a neat idea, you think it works, so you just push the Scripture into it.

John MacArthur

Quote of the Day

I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skilful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order; It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.

 

Sherlock Holmes

A.K. A. 

A. C. Doyle

Quote of the Day

If and when a horror turns up you will then be given Grace to help you. I don't think one is usually given it in advance. "Give us our daily bread" (not an annuity for life) applies to spiritual gifts too; the little daily support for the daily trial. Life has to be taken day by day and hour by hour.

C. S. Lewis

Quote of the Day

 In other words, Jesus came not only to fulfill the law in his own work, he came to take his people to a radical understanding of the law and a radical obedience to the law that is not based on law but on himself, and therefore reflects the fullness of what God wills for us - and especially reflects the gospel, the covenant-keeping work of Christ at Calvary for his church.  Marriage among Christians is mainly meant to tell the truth about the gospel - that Christ died for his church who loves him and never breaks his covenant with his bride.

In essence, Jesus says, 'You have heard that it was said, 'You are permitted to divorce.'  But I say to you, 'I have come to conquer the hardness of your heart.  I have come to die for your sins.  I have come to count you as righteous.  I have come to show you the drama that marriage was meant to represent in my sacrificial, covenant-keeping love for my sinful bride.  I have come to give you the power to stay married, or to stay single, so that either way you keep your promises and show what my covenant is like and how sacred is the covenant bond of marriage.

 John Piper

Quote of the Day

The will of God is not something you add to your life. It’s a course you choose. You either line yourself up with the Son of God…or you capitulate to the principle which governs the rest of the world. 

 

Elisabeth Elliot

Quote of the Day

If a drunkard signs the pledge, or a rich man gives all his money away, they are both of them freeing themselves from their slavery to alcohol or riches, but not from their bondage to themselves.  They are still moving in their own little orbit,  perhaps even more than the were before.  They are still subject to the commandment of works, still as submerged in the death of the old life as they were before.  Of course, the work has to be done, but of itself it can never deliver them from death, disobedience and ungodliness.  If we think our first step is the pre-condition for faith and grace, we are already judged by our work, and entirely excluded from grace.  Hence the term 'external work' includes everything we are accustomed to call 'disposition' or 'good intention.'  facere quod in se est.  If we take the first step with the deliberate intention of placing ourselves in the situation where faith is possible, even this possibility of faith will be nothing but a work.  The new life it opens to us is still a life within the limits of our old existence, and therefore a complete misapprehension of the true nature of the new life.  We are still in unbelief. 

 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Quote of the Day

Faith the mother of all good works justifieth us, before we can bring forth any good work: as the husband marryeth his wife before he can have any lawful children by her.

  

William Tyndale

Quote of the Day

…the doctrine of the Trinity says something that does not go beyond the first point but that underlines and clarifies it.  For it adds the claim that as God has revealed himself in Christ, so he is in himself.  What he does through his Son on earth reveals what he is like from eternity to eternity.  His revelation in the gospel tells us the ultimate truth about God's being and nature, or else it is not authentic revelation at all.  The love of the Father sending, empowering, guiding, and finally vindicating his Son, the love of the Son, coming, obeying, suffering, dying, are particular historical expressions of the love that eternally flows between Father and Son at the heart of the life of God.  The complex of relationships between Father, Son and Spirit are not just the means by which God communicates with us, they are an essential part of the content of that communication.  They are not just how he speaks, but part of what he says.  If these relationships are not of eternal significance, then the gospel itself is not of eternal significance.  That God not only acts in history as Father, Son and Spirit, but that he is in himself Father, Son and Spirit is the doctrine of the immanent or essential Trinity.

Thomas Smail

Quote of the Day

As Peter mentioned, so we also must be always ready to remind others of the truth.  To do this, we must keep it current in our thinking.  We must also be prepared to face opposition to those that react.  Peter was not saying they did not know these truths, just that they needed reminding.  Sometimes, this reminding is of scope not of detail, of importance (priority) not content; just because we know the Truth, dos not mean we are currently practicing it.  I may have a 'tool' at my disposal that fits the need and may need reminding that it is there or how to use it.  For us, this should be the core of our 'counseling' - the Truth.  It will involve 'stirring them up' in their memories (memorials) of the Truth.  The True Truth, not just because it is God's word, but because it identifies and clarifies what reality really is (it is true truth!). 

It is the 'right' thing to do (it is just, righteous and fair).  Especially considering the short stay we have in this 'tent' - The tent concept communicates that when we leave it, we leave for a permanent dwelling.  It is not only right, it is the best I can do, it is what we should aspire to.  The Truth will be used to 'stir' others (and ourselves) up.   It will be used to waken us from drowsiness or outright sleep, it is useful to pull us back to reality from our often visited dream worlds) - false realities.  It will be used to 'shake' us up - it may shake up what we are currently standing upon and may seemingly knock us down, but it is needed, lest our footing will always be upon unstable, fluctuating ground and we will be toppled by circumstances (and those, sometimes only small things).  Our goal should be to be surrounded by such faithful friends and to be such faithful friends!    We must realize though, that this stirring up with Truth reminding may be deemed as trouble-making or 'rocking the boat' - it may not be popular, but it is right.

Don Lambert

Quote of the Day

One word stands out from all others as the key to knowing God, to having his peace and assurance in your heart; it is OBEDIENCE.

To OBEY God's will was like food to Jesus, refreshing His mind, body and spirit. 'My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me.'

Obedience to God's will is the secret of spiritual knowledge and insight. It is not willingness to know, but willingness to DO (obey) God's will that brings certainty.

'If any man will do (obey) His Will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of Myself.'

OBEDIENCE IS THE SECRET OF GUIDANCE. Every Christian should live a God-guided life. If you are not guided by God, you will be guided by something else.

The Christian that doesn't know this sense of guidance in his life is missing something vital.

Take OBEDIENCE with you into your prayer hour, for you will know as much of God, and only as much of God, as you are willing to put into practice.

Eric Liddell

Quote of the Day

"I was crushed...so much so that I despaired even of life, but that was to make me rely not on myself, but on the God who raises the dead" (2 Cor. 1:8, 9).

"Pressed out of measure and pressed to all length;

Pressed so intensely it seems, beyond strength;

Pressed in the body and pressed in the soul,

Pressed in the mind till the dark surges roll.

Pressure by foes, and a pressure from friends.

Pressure on pressure, till life nearly ends.

"Pressed into knowing no helper but God;

Pressed into loving the staff and the rod.

Pressed into liberty where nothing clings;

Pressed into faith for impossible things.

Pressed into living a life in the Lord,

Pressed into living a Christ-life outpoured."

The pressure of hard places makes us value life. Every time our life is given back to us from such a trial, it is like a new beginning, and we learn better how much it is worth, and make more of it for God and man. The pressure helps us to understand the trials of others, and fits us to help and sympathize with them.

There is a shallow, superficial nature, that gets hold of a theory or a promise lightly, and talks very glibly about the distrust of those who shrink from every trial; but the man or woman who has suffered much never does this, but is very tender and gentle, and knows what suffering really means. This is what Paul meant when he said, "Death worketh in you."

Trials and hard places are needed to press us forward, even as the furnace fires in the hold of that mighty ship give force that moves the piston, drives the engine, and propels that great vessel across the sea in the face of the winds and waves. 

A. B. Simpson

Quote of the Day

It is by no means pleasant when reading an interesting article in your magazine to

find yourself pulled up short with the ominous words, “to be continued.” Yet they are

words of good cheer if applied to other matters. What a comfort to remember that the

Lord’s mercy and lovingkindness is to be continued! Much as we have experienced in

the long years of our pilgrimage, we have by no means outlived eternal love.

Providential goodness is an endless chain, a stream which follows the pilgrim, a

wheel perpetually revolving, a star for ever shining, and leading us to the place

where he is who was once a babe in Bethlehem. All the volumes which record the

doings of divine grace are but part of a series to be continued.

 

Charles Spurgeon

Quote of the Day

On Psalm 42:

… the first thing we have to learn is what the Psalmist learned—we must take ourselves in hand. This man was not content just to lie down and commiserate with himself. He does something about it, he takes himself in hand. But he does something which is more important still, that is he talks to himself. This man turns to himself and says: “Why are thou cast down O my soul, why art thou disquieted within me?” He is talking to himself, he is addressing himself. “But”, says someone, “is that not the one thing we should not do since our great trouble is that we spend too much time with ourselves? Surely it contradicts what you have already said. You warned us against morbidity and introspection, and now you tell us that we have to talk to ourselves!”

How do we reconcile the two things? In this way. I say that we must talk to ourselves instead of allowing “ourselves” to talk to us! Do you realize what this means?

I suggest that the main trouble in this whole matter of spiritual depression in a sense is this: that we allow our self to talk to us instead of talking to our self.

Am I trying to be delibrately paradoxical? Far from it. This is the very essence of wisdom in this matter. Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them but they are talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Your self is talking to you. Now this man’s treatment was this: instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself. “Why art thou cast down, O my soul?” he asks. His soul had been depressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says,: “Self, listen for moment, I will speak to you.” Do you know what I mean? If you do not, you have had but little experience.

  

Martyn-Lloyd Jones

Quote of the Day

O God, I have tasted Your goodness,

and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more.

I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace.

I am ashamed of my lack of desire.

O God, the Triune God,

I want to want You;

I long to be filled with longing;

I thirst to be made more thirsty still.

Show me Your glory, I pray,

so I may know You indeed.

Begin in mercy a new work of love within me…

Give me grace to rise and follow You up from this misty lowland

where I have wandered so long.

  

A. W. Tozer

Quote of the Day

A true faith in Jesus Christ will not suffer us to be idle. No, it is an active, lively, restless principle; it fills the heart, so that it cannot be easy till it is doing something for Jesus Christ.

 

George Whitefield

Quote of the Day

"Well,” says one, “I like to be my own master.” Yes, and that involves two things; first, you have a very bad master; and, next, your master has a fool for his servant.

 

Charles Spurgeon