Holman Old Testament Commentary - Deuteronomy: 3 by Max Anders
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is a very practical commentary on the book of Deuteronomy. I used it as our Sunday School classes studied the book. I trust you will be blessed and challenged by the quotes below;
Fear of the right type can be beneficial to the people of God (see Prov. 1:7), but the fear of man’s hostile intentions seldom fits that category. ~Max Anders
Believers should be more concerned for God’s opinion of them than for what human opponents might do to their bodies. ~Max Anders
The thoughtful believer recalls God’s faithfulness in the past when confronted by any new threat. Part of spiritual maturity is strong sense of one’s own history. ~Max Anders
Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers, but for powers equal to your tasks. Today’s pains not only affect today. They are God’s training ground for our tomorrows. ~Phillips Brooks & Max Anders
The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God you fear everything else. ~Oswald Chambers
God’s Word calls His people to adore Him exclusively and completely and to love people as themselves. ~Max Anders
The concept of freedom in Scripture differs from modern notions. Freedom is not a life lived free of restraints but a life that recognizes healthy limits, those that are concern to produce prosperity and order for the person who observes them. ~Max Anders
The labor of self-love is a heavy one indeed. Think whether much of your sorrow has not arisen from someone speaking slightingly of you. As long as you set yourself up as a little god to which you must be loyal, how can you hope to find inward peace? ~A.W. Tozer
Nothing should be considered outside the scope of God’s authority. ~Max Anders
Moses warned them [Israelites] that the leading spiritual danger they would face on entering the [promise] land would be forgetting the Lord. What adversity would not do, prosperity and satisfaction could. They were to be on their guard against spiritual lethargy. ~Max Anders
Conversion is essential, but it is a beginning, not an end. The believer in Jesus Christ is not simply rescued from the penalty of his sin; he is redeemed to love God and his neighbor so that others might come to know him. ~Max Anders
Moses simplifies the whole duty of Israel (and of humanity) by crystalizing the moral law into a single command to love God supremely. ~Max Anders
Even the wisest people learn little from their successes; God warns His people against allowing their victories (which He will grant) to lead them into pride and spiritual indifference. Instead, they should pay close attention to God’s Word. ~Max Anders
Although their parents died in the wilderness for their stubbornness, Israel could profit from the older generation’s failure by remembering that God had used adversity to train them. ~Max Anders
It is a good thing to let prayer be the first business in the morning and the last in the evening. Guard yourself against such false and deceitful thoughts that keep whispering, “Wait a while. In an hour or so I will pray. I must first finish this or that.” Thinking such thoughts we get away from prayer into other things that will hold us and involve us till the prayer of the day comes to naught. ~Martin Luther
Although God’s people find many successes in the world, they must not fall prey to a spirit of pride. We succeed not because of our moral superiority but because of the faithfulness of our divine intercessor and because of the great mercy of God. ~Max Anders
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
In Deuteronomy 11, God offers Israel a choice; either a life of productivity and enjoyment made possible by obedience to Him, or a life of difficulty and opposition made necessary by disobedience. The happiness Israel desires can only be theirs by being properly related to Him. ~Max Anders
Israel’s [as well as our] enjoyment of the land is contingent on their behavior. Blessings or cruses lie before them; the choice is theirs. ~Max Anders
Worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness; the nourishment of mind with His truth; the purifying of imagination by His beauty; the opening of the heart to His love; the surrender of will to His purpose – and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable and therefore the chief remedy for that self-centeredness which is our original sin and the source of all actual sin. ~William Temple
False teaching – anything that would weaken the believer’s ties to his Lord – must be confronted wherever it appears, even if that confrontation requires painful correction. ~Max Anders
Father, we ask that you give us a passion for the truth and not merely a hatred of falsehood. Keep us concerned for the spiritual health of people but open to your own rebukes from your mighty Word. ~Max Anders
God loves as we are, but He loves us too much to leave us that way. ~Anonymous
The worship practices of the people of God are to be marked by devotion to Him and compassion to the needy. ~Max Anders
If Israel is to please the Lord fully, they will live lives that are as distinctive among the nations as their Lord is different from pagan deities. ~Max Anders
In glory God is incomprehensible, in greatness unfathomable, in height inconceivable, in power incomparable, in wisdom unrivaled, in goodness inimitable, in kindness unutterable. ~Theophilus of Antioch
God demonstrates generosity, then asks it from His people. ~Max Anders
Giving works best when the Lord's portion is removed first and believers learn to live within the remainder. ~Max Anders
The generous giver, demonstrating the nature of God by his behavior, can never outgive God. ~Max Anders
God expects believers to improve their attitude in giving as well as their giving itself. ~Max Anders
Since all wealth ultimately comes from God, His people ought to acknowledge His primacy by offering Him the best of their wealth, time, and abilities. ~Max Anders
All human beings pass away. Do not let your happiness depend on something you may lose. If love is to be a blessing, not a misery, it must be for the only beloved who will never pass away. ~C.S. Lewis
Discussing Deut. 7:22-23, “However, God would not, as He did against the Egyptians, destroy all the armies of the nations in one brief encounter, all at once. Instead, He would drive out those nations … little by little. Israel would fight a war that it could win, but not a war that would be swift or uncomplicated. It was to Israel’s benefit that they not enter a deserted land. Had they done so, the wild animals would multiply around them and place them in jeopardy. The war that Christians must fight bears many similarities to the divine design for occupying the Holy Land. Christians must go to war every day, putting to death the deeds of the body so they can live victorious lives. Although the greatest victory is already won, a life still waits to be carved out for each soldier, and progress generally comes little by little. Come it will, however, to the one who fights, just as it would for Israel. The Lord promised to deliver their enemies over if His people would fight faithfully. ~Max Anders
God wanted Israel, as He wants Christians, to learn to utterly abhor and detest anything that had the potential of coming between them and their God. The believer’s enemies are typically internal rather than external, and they pose a powerful threat to spiritual health and progress. ~Max Anders
Wisdom lies in recognizing the dangers that lie within us and doing battle with them daily. ~Max Anders
The choice of a mate is crucial because no one has a greater influence on our spiritual lives. ~Max Anders
Kindness that allows barriers to one’s relationship with God to spring up is self-destructive. ~Max Anders
God chooses people not for what He can do for them, but for the good they can do for others. ~Max Anders
Christianity, righty understood, is utterly unlike religion that man invents. It is so completely contrary to the way man does things that it must have come from God. Take Christmas, for example; only God could have thought of that. When man invents a super being, he comes up with a Superman, or a Captain Marvel. God gives the world a baby. ~Richard Halverson.
My mother’s influence in molding my character was conspicuous. She forced me to learn daily long chapters of the Bible by heart. To that discipline and patient, accurate resolve I owe not only much of my general power of taking pains, but of the best part of my taste for literature. ~John Ruskin
People sometimes punish to exact judgment for past actions. God disciplines in order to teach and always in the interest of those whom he disciplines. ~Max Anders
God leads His people whether they are obedient or rebellious, but His leading is far more pleasant when they obey. ~Max Anders
God’s loving discipline brings us face-to-face with our pride. ~Max Anders
Chastening is a mark of affection, not a sign of rejection. ~Max Anders
God delights in providing His people with material gain and comfort, although prosperity can pose a threat to spiritual well-being. ~Max Anders
If someone considers the prophetic writings with all the diligence and reverence they are worth, while he reads and examines with great care, it is certain that in that very act he will be struck in his mind and senses by some more divine breath and will recognize that the books he reads have not been produced in a human way, but are words of God. ~Origen of Alexandria
There is no merit where there is no trial; and till experience stamps the mark of strength, cowards may pass for heroes, and falsehood for faith. ~Aaron Hill
The meaning of earthly existence lies, not as we have grown used to thinking, in prospering, but in the development of the soul. ~Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Never yet did there exist a full faith in the divine Word, which did not expand the intellect while it purified the heart; which did not multiply the aims and objects of the understanding, while it fixed and simplified those of the desires and passions. ~Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Intercessors constitute the greatest unseen group of spiritual heroes in world history. Their labors are not seen, but the results are. Those who pray for the spiritual needs of others do immeasurable good in the world, often preventing (at least for a time) divine judgment. ~Max Anders
Although God’s people find many successes in the world, they must not fall prey to a spirit of pride. We succeed not because of our moral superiority but because of the faithfulness of our Divine Intercessor and because of the great mercy of God. ~Max Anders
Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God. ~William Carey
There is no limit to what God’s people can expect their God to do if they are rightly related to Him. ~Max Anders
In any spiritual undertaking, God’s first order of business is to see to the spiritual health of His people. ~Max Anders
Believers are inclined to attribute their spiritual successes to their godliness when it would be more accurate to connect them with God’s faithfulness. ~Max Anders
The believer who feels the agony caused by rebellion will grow to become the best intercessor. ~Max Anders
Persistence in prayer brings results that casual prayer does not. ~Max Anders
To know God and to find one’s full satisfaction in that knowledge is the ultimate goal of Christian experience. The Lord’s greatest delight comes when His people discover the ultimate value lies in the knowledge of God. Nothing in the material world can complete with the delights that are present in His Person. ~Max Anders
Grace is always given freely by God, but grace received should always issue in a joyous delight in Him. ~Max Anders
For my part, I have never ceased to rejoice that God has appointed me to such an office. People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa …. Is that a sacrifice, which brings its own blest reward in healthful activity, the consciousness of doing good, peace of mind, and a bright hope of glorious destiny hereafter? Away with the word in such a view, and with such a thought! It is emphatically no sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege. Anxiety, sickness, suffering, or danger, now and then, with a foregoing of the common conveniences and charities of the life, may make us pause, and cause the spirit to waver, and the soul to sink; but let this only be for a moment. All these are nothing when compared with the glory, which shall be revealed in and for us. I never made a sacrifice. ~David Livingstone
The heart that delights in God and longs only to see His glory advance will seldom be conscious of sacrifice. God in His wisdom asks that we first love Him and then live in keeping with that core value. He does not want His people to think of what they do as sacrificial, even though from the world’s point of view it may be just that. Gratitude for grace of God will always be found near the center of the Biblical Christian’s most powerful motivations. ~Max Anders
Just as the ark rested in the center of Israel’s camp, God wants His Word to form the center of the believer’s life. ~Max Anders
The most blessed gift that God can give any person is a knowledge of Himself. ~Max Anders
Fear of God and love for God coexist happily in the heart of people who are rightly related to Him. ~Max Anders
God’s commandments not only reflect His holiness, they promote our happiness. ~Max Anders
All believers can increase their commitment to God by reflecting on His faithfulness and by considering the forms such commitment should assume in their experience. ~Max Anders
Spiritual strength is connected to faithful obedience to God’s commands. ~Max Anders
God supplies the needs of His people according to their needs but does not ordinarily allow stockpiling. ~Max Anders
The worship of false gods is always an outgrowth of spiritual deception. ~Max Anders
Since the success of believers is tied to our knowledge of and obedience to God’s Word, the memorizing of portions of the Bible is advisable. ~Max Anders
David memorized Scripture and recognized it as a key to walking with God: “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you” (Ps. 119:11). He knew that memorization was the doorway to constant meditation and all the benefits associated with it: “But [the godly person’s] delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night” (Ps. 1:2). Fixing God’s Word on the heart and mind is both preventative and corrective to engage in foolish and sinful practices. At the same time, God will use Scripture to help us realize it when our actions are not pleasing to Him. ~Max Anders
Curiosity is an enormous challenge to godly living. ~Max Anders
Believers have just as much to fear from legalism as from waywardness. The first detracts from the beauty of the message, while the second mars it content. ~Max Anders
Worship is accomplished with the life as well as with the words and attitudes of people. Changed and transformed lives testify to the character and supernatural power of the God of heaven. Closeness to Him produces changes in character and holiness. ~Max Anders
Attachments to older forms of worship may be comfortable, but they may contain elements of falsehood that make them unacceptable to God. ~Max Anders
Common sense religion emphasizes the human contributions that are supposed to move the deity. Valid worship always begins with recognition of what God has already done. ~Max Anders
Religious truth is not false for being narrow any more than mathematical or scientific truth is false for the same reason. ~Max Anders
Rejoicing is the essence of genuine worship. A sad face (apart from remorse for sin or regret concerning the pain of others) is an affront to a gracious and generous God. ~Max Anders
God ought to be given the choice portion of our wealth and not its dregs. ~Max Anders
God warned Israel, “And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it” (Ex. 20:25). To pollute something is to make it ordinary. God insists that any approach crafted by human ingenuity will produce a worship system just like all the pagan systems in the world. In other words, it will be common or profane – just like everyone else’s paganism. ~Max Anders
By definition, if man contributes anything toward acceptance by God, he loses everything. God expects man to be the recipient, not the originator. Jesus paid it all, not 99% of it. Paul wrote, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8-9). ~Max Anders
We dare not trim stones to make God an altar, for if we do we ruin everything. We would spend time bringing people to the altar and saying, “Look at those beautiful stones we trimmed!” We merely need to accept the work that God has done for us in Christ. The object of His restrictions is to help us see how wonderful He is and to spend the rest of our lives rendering true worship to Him. ~Max Anders
Simplicity reaches out after God; purity discovers and enjoys Him. ~Thomas a Kempis
How little people know who think that holiness is dull. When one meets the real thing ... it is irresistible. If even ten percent of the world's population had it, would not the whole world be converted and happy before year's end? ~C.S. Lewis
Act in such a way that you always treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never simply as a means but always also as an end. ~Immanuel Kant
Earth’s crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God. And only he who sees takes off his shoes, the rest sit around and pick blackberries. ~Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Unless we know the difference between flowers and weeds, we are not fit to take care of a garden. It is not enough to have truth planted in our minds. We must learn and labor to keep the ground clear of thorns and briars, follies and perversities, which have a wicked propensity to choke the word of life. ~Clyde Francis Lytle
True repentance hates the sin, and not merely the penalty; and it hates the sin most of all because it has discovered and felt God’s love. ~William Mackergo Taylor
When people stop believing in God, they do not believe in nothing. They believe in anything. ~ G.K. Chesterton
Conversion is not a repairing of the old building; but it takes all down and erects a new structure. The sincere Christian is quite a new fabric – from the foundation to the top stone all new. ~Joseph Alleine
Love thy God and love Him only and thy breast will ne’er be lonely. ~Aubrey Thomas DeVere
Grace binds with far stronger cords than the cords of duty or obligation can bind you. Grace is free, but when once you take it you are bound forever to the Giver, and bound to catch the spirit of the Giver. Like produces like. Grace makes you gracious, the Giver makes you give. ~ E. Stanley Jones
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My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is a very practical commentary on the book of Deuteronomy. I used it as our Sunday School classes studied the book. I trust you will be blessed and challenged by the quotes below;
Fear of the right type can be beneficial to the people of God (see Prov. 1:7), but the fear of man’s hostile intentions seldom fits that category. ~Max Anders
Believers should be more concerned for God’s opinion of them than for what human opponents might do to their bodies. ~Max Anders
The thoughtful believer recalls God’s faithfulness in the past when confronted by any new threat. Part of spiritual maturity is strong sense of one’s own history. ~Max Anders
Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers, but for powers equal to your tasks. Today’s pains not only affect today. They are God’s training ground for our tomorrows. ~Phillips Brooks & Max Anders
The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God you fear everything else. ~Oswald Chambers
God’s Word calls His people to adore Him exclusively and completely and to love people as themselves. ~Max Anders
The concept of freedom in Scripture differs from modern notions. Freedom is not a life lived free of restraints but a life that recognizes healthy limits, those that are concern to produce prosperity and order for the person who observes them. ~Max Anders
The labor of self-love is a heavy one indeed. Think whether much of your sorrow has not arisen from someone speaking slightingly of you. As long as you set yourself up as a little god to which you must be loyal, how can you hope to find inward peace? ~A.W. Tozer
Nothing should be considered outside the scope of God’s authority. ~Max Anders
Moses warned them [Israelites] that the leading spiritual danger they would face on entering the [promise] land would be forgetting the Lord. What adversity would not do, prosperity and satisfaction could. They were to be on their guard against spiritual lethargy. ~Max Anders
Conversion is essential, but it is a beginning, not an end. The believer in Jesus Christ is not simply rescued from the penalty of his sin; he is redeemed to love God and his neighbor so that others might come to know him. ~Max Anders
Moses simplifies the whole duty of Israel (and of humanity) by crystalizing the moral law into a single command to love God supremely. ~Max Anders
Even the wisest people learn little from their successes; God warns His people against allowing their victories (which He will grant) to lead them into pride and spiritual indifference. Instead, they should pay close attention to God’s Word. ~Max Anders
Although their parents died in the wilderness for their stubbornness, Israel could profit from the older generation’s failure by remembering that God had used adversity to train them. ~Max Anders
It is a good thing to let prayer be the first business in the morning and the last in the evening. Guard yourself against such false and deceitful thoughts that keep whispering, “Wait a while. In an hour or so I will pray. I must first finish this or that.” Thinking such thoughts we get away from prayer into other things that will hold us and involve us till the prayer of the day comes to naught. ~Martin Luther
Although God’s people find many successes in the world, they must not fall prey to a spirit of pride. We succeed not because of our moral superiority but because of the faithfulness of our divine intercessor and because of the great mercy of God. ~Max Anders
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
In Deuteronomy 11, God offers Israel a choice; either a life of productivity and enjoyment made possible by obedience to Him, or a life of difficulty and opposition made necessary by disobedience. The happiness Israel desires can only be theirs by being properly related to Him. ~Max Anders
Israel’s [as well as our] enjoyment of the land is contingent on their behavior. Blessings or cruses lie before them; the choice is theirs. ~Max Anders
Worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness; the nourishment of mind with His truth; the purifying of imagination by His beauty; the opening of the heart to His love; the surrender of will to His purpose – and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable and therefore the chief remedy for that self-centeredness which is our original sin and the source of all actual sin. ~William Temple
False teaching – anything that would weaken the believer’s ties to his Lord – must be confronted wherever it appears, even if that confrontation requires painful correction. ~Max Anders
Father, we ask that you give us a passion for the truth and not merely a hatred of falsehood. Keep us concerned for the spiritual health of people but open to your own rebukes from your mighty Word. ~Max Anders
God loves as we are, but He loves us too much to leave us that way. ~Anonymous
The worship practices of the people of God are to be marked by devotion to Him and compassion to the needy. ~Max Anders
If Israel is to please the Lord fully, they will live lives that are as distinctive among the nations as their Lord is different from pagan deities. ~Max Anders
In glory God is incomprehensible, in greatness unfathomable, in height inconceivable, in power incomparable, in wisdom unrivaled, in goodness inimitable, in kindness unutterable. ~Theophilus of Antioch
God demonstrates generosity, then asks it from His people. ~Max Anders
Giving works best when the Lord's portion is removed first and believers learn to live within the remainder. ~Max Anders
The generous giver, demonstrating the nature of God by his behavior, can never outgive God. ~Max Anders
God expects believers to improve their attitude in giving as well as their giving itself. ~Max Anders
Since all wealth ultimately comes from God, His people ought to acknowledge His primacy by offering Him the best of their wealth, time, and abilities. ~Max Anders
All human beings pass away. Do not let your happiness depend on something you may lose. If love is to be a blessing, not a misery, it must be for the only beloved who will never pass away. ~C.S. Lewis
Discussing Deut. 7:22-23, “However, God would not, as He did against the Egyptians, destroy all the armies of the nations in one brief encounter, all at once. Instead, He would drive out those nations … little by little. Israel would fight a war that it could win, but not a war that would be swift or uncomplicated. It was to Israel’s benefit that they not enter a deserted land. Had they done so, the wild animals would multiply around them and place them in jeopardy. The war that Christians must fight bears many similarities to the divine design for occupying the Holy Land. Christians must go to war every day, putting to death the deeds of the body so they can live victorious lives. Although the greatest victory is already won, a life still waits to be carved out for each soldier, and progress generally comes little by little. Come it will, however, to the one who fights, just as it would for Israel. The Lord promised to deliver their enemies over if His people would fight faithfully. ~Max Anders
God wanted Israel, as He wants Christians, to learn to utterly abhor and detest anything that had the potential of coming between them and their God. The believer’s enemies are typically internal rather than external, and they pose a powerful threat to spiritual health and progress. ~Max Anders
Wisdom lies in recognizing the dangers that lie within us and doing battle with them daily. ~Max Anders
The choice of a mate is crucial because no one has a greater influence on our spiritual lives. ~Max Anders
Kindness that allows barriers to one’s relationship with God to spring up is self-destructive. ~Max Anders
God chooses people not for what He can do for them, but for the good they can do for others. ~Max Anders
Christianity, righty understood, is utterly unlike religion that man invents. It is so completely contrary to the way man does things that it must have come from God. Take Christmas, for example; only God could have thought of that. When man invents a super being, he comes up with a Superman, or a Captain Marvel. God gives the world a baby. ~Richard Halverson.
My mother’s influence in molding my character was conspicuous. She forced me to learn daily long chapters of the Bible by heart. To that discipline and patient, accurate resolve I owe not only much of my general power of taking pains, but of the best part of my taste for literature. ~John Ruskin
People sometimes punish to exact judgment for past actions. God disciplines in order to teach and always in the interest of those whom he disciplines. ~Max Anders
God leads His people whether they are obedient or rebellious, but His leading is far more pleasant when they obey. ~Max Anders
God’s loving discipline brings us face-to-face with our pride. ~Max Anders
Chastening is a mark of affection, not a sign of rejection. ~Max Anders
God delights in providing His people with material gain and comfort, although prosperity can pose a threat to spiritual well-being. ~Max Anders
If someone considers the prophetic writings with all the diligence and reverence they are worth, while he reads and examines with great care, it is certain that in that very act he will be struck in his mind and senses by some more divine breath and will recognize that the books he reads have not been produced in a human way, but are words of God. ~Origen of Alexandria
There is no merit where there is no trial; and till experience stamps the mark of strength, cowards may pass for heroes, and falsehood for faith. ~Aaron Hill
The meaning of earthly existence lies, not as we have grown used to thinking, in prospering, but in the development of the soul. ~Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Never yet did there exist a full faith in the divine Word, which did not expand the intellect while it purified the heart; which did not multiply the aims and objects of the understanding, while it fixed and simplified those of the desires and passions. ~Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Intercessors constitute the greatest unseen group of spiritual heroes in world history. Their labors are not seen, but the results are. Those who pray for the spiritual needs of others do immeasurable good in the world, often preventing (at least for a time) divine judgment. ~Max Anders
Although God’s people find many successes in the world, they must not fall prey to a spirit of pride. We succeed not because of our moral superiority but because of the faithfulness of our Divine Intercessor and because of the great mercy of God. ~Max Anders
Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God. ~William Carey
There is no limit to what God’s people can expect their God to do if they are rightly related to Him. ~Max Anders
In any spiritual undertaking, God’s first order of business is to see to the spiritual health of His people. ~Max Anders
Believers are inclined to attribute their spiritual successes to their godliness when it would be more accurate to connect them with God’s faithfulness. ~Max Anders
The believer who feels the agony caused by rebellion will grow to become the best intercessor. ~Max Anders
Persistence in prayer brings results that casual prayer does not. ~Max Anders
To know God and to find one’s full satisfaction in that knowledge is the ultimate goal of Christian experience. The Lord’s greatest delight comes when His people discover the ultimate value lies in the knowledge of God. Nothing in the material world can complete with the delights that are present in His Person. ~Max Anders
Grace is always given freely by God, but grace received should always issue in a joyous delight in Him. ~Max Anders
For my part, I have never ceased to rejoice that God has appointed me to such an office. People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa …. Is that a sacrifice, which brings its own blest reward in healthful activity, the consciousness of doing good, peace of mind, and a bright hope of glorious destiny hereafter? Away with the word in such a view, and with such a thought! It is emphatically no sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege. Anxiety, sickness, suffering, or danger, now and then, with a foregoing of the common conveniences and charities of the life, may make us pause, and cause the spirit to waver, and the soul to sink; but let this only be for a moment. All these are nothing when compared with the glory, which shall be revealed in and for us. I never made a sacrifice. ~David Livingstone
The heart that delights in God and longs only to see His glory advance will seldom be conscious of sacrifice. God in His wisdom asks that we first love Him and then live in keeping with that core value. He does not want His people to think of what they do as sacrificial, even though from the world’s point of view it may be just that. Gratitude for grace of God will always be found near the center of the Biblical Christian’s most powerful motivations. ~Max Anders
Just as the ark rested in the center of Israel’s camp, God wants His Word to form the center of the believer’s life. ~Max Anders
The most blessed gift that God can give any person is a knowledge of Himself. ~Max Anders
Fear of God and love for God coexist happily in the heart of people who are rightly related to Him. ~Max Anders
God’s commandments not only reflect His holiness, they promote our happiness. ~Max Anders
All believers can increase their commitment to God by reflecting on His faithfulness and by considering the forms such commitment should assume in their experience. ~Max Anders
Spiritual strength is connected to faithful obedience to God’s commands. ~Max Anders
God supplies the needs of His people according to their needs but does not ordinarily allow stockpiling. ~Max Anders
The worship of false gods is always an outgrowth of spiritual deception. ~Max Anders
Since the success of believers is tied to our knowledge of and obedience to God’s Word, the memorizing of portions of the Bible is advisable. ~Max Anders
David memorized Scripture and recognized it as a key to walking with God: “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you” (Ps. 119:11). He knew that memorization was the doorway to constant meditation and all the benefits associated with it: “But [the godly person’s] delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night” (Ps. 1:2). Fixing God’s Word on the heart and mind is both preventative and corrective to engage in foolish and sinful practices. At the same time, God will use Scripture to help us realize it when our actions are not pleasing to Him. ~Max Anders
Curiosity is an enormous challenge to godly living. ~Max Anders
Believers have just as much to fear from legalism as from waywardness. The first detracts from the beauty of the message, while the second mars it content. ~Max Anders
Worship is accomplished with the life as well as with the words and attitudes of people. Changed and transformed lives testify to the character and supernatural power of the God of heaven. Closeness to Him produces changes in character and holiness. ~Max Anders
Attachments to older forms of worship may be comfortable, but they may contain elements of falsehood that make them unacceptable to God. ~Max Anders
Common sense religion emphasizes the human contributions that are supposed to move the deity. Valid worship always begins with recognition of what God has already done. ~Max Anders
Religious truth is not false for being narrow any more than mathematical or scientific truth is false for the same reason. ~Max Anders
Rejoicing is the essence of genuine worship. A sad face (apart from remorse for sin or regret concerning the pain of others) is an affront to a gracious and generous God. ~Max Anders
God ought to be given the choice portion of our wealth and not its dregs. ~Max Anders
God warned Israel, “And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it” (Ex. 20:25). To pollute something is to make it ordinary. God insists that any approach crafted by human ingenuity will produce a worship system just like all the pagan systems in the world. In other words, it will be common or profane – just like everyone else’s paganism. ~Max Anders
By definition, if man contributes anything toward acceptance by God, he loses everything. God expects man to be the recipient, not the originator. Jesus paid it all, not 99% of it. Paul wrote, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8-9). ~Max Anders
We dare not trim stones to make God an altar, for if we do we ruin everything. We would spend time bringing people to the altar and saying, “Look at those beautiful stones we trimmed!” We merely need to accept the work that God has done for us in Christ. The object of His restrictions is to help us see how wonderful He is and to spend the rest of our lives rendering true worship to Him. ~Max Anders
Simplicity reaches out after God; purity discovers and enjoys Him. ~Thomas a Kempis
How little people know who think that holiness is dull. When one meets the real thing ... it is irresistible. If even ten percent of the world's population had it, would not the whole world be converted and happy before year's end? ~C.S. Lewis
Act in such a way that you always treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never simply as a means but always also as an end. ~Immanuel Kant
Earth’s crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God. And only he who sees takes off his shoes, the rest sit around and pick blackberries. ~Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Unless we know the difference between flowers and weeds, we are not fit to take care of a garden. It is not enough to have truth planted in our minds. We must learn and labor to keep the ground clear of thorns and briars, follies and perversities, which have a wicked propensity to choke the word of life. ~Clyde Francis Lytle
True repentance hates the sin, and not merely the penalty; and it hates the sin most of all because it has discovered and felt God’s love. ~William Mackergo Taylor
When people stop believing in God, they do not believe in nothing. They believe in anything. ~ G.K. Chesterton
Conversion is not a repairing of the old building; but it takes all down and erects a new structure. The sincere Christian is quite a new fabric – from the foundation to the top stone all new. ~Joseph Alleine
Love thy God and love Him only and thy breast will ne’er be lonely. ~Aubrey Thomas DeVere
Grace binds with far stronger cords than the cords of duty or obligation can bind you. Grace is free, but when once you take it you are bound forever to the Giver, and bound to catch the spirit of the Giver. Like produces like. Grace makes you gracious, the Giver makes you give. ~ E. Stanley Jones
With the
goodness of God to desire our highest welfare, the wisdom of God to plan it,
and the power of God to achieve it, what do we lack? ~A. W. Tozer
Faith, mighty
faith, the promise sees, and looks to that alone; laughs at life’s
impossibilities, and cries, it shall be done.
~Charles Wesley
Theological
error is the most pernicious of errors; it strikes at man’s center and
separates him from his Creator and Redeemer. God insisted not only that
Israelites should judge their own hearts and cast aside falsehood about Him but
that they should also confront it wherever it emerged. ~Max Anders
False teaching –
anything that would weaken the believer’s ties to his Lord – must be confronted
wherever it appears, even if that confrontation requires painful
correction. ~Max Anders
The dictionary
defines tolerance as “the capacity
for or the practice of recognizing and respecting the beliefs or practices of
others.” Tolerance in this traditional sense is merely an outgrowth of
Christian love, part of practicing the Golden Rule. We like to have our views
and practices respected. The Lord insisted that the best way to encourage this
is to grant it to other people.
But as is so
often the case, the directory is running behind the culture. Today we are
hearing a new definition of tolerance
in the modern world. To respect people as people is not enough. To grant them
the right to their practices is inadequate. Today, we must accept their ideas
as equally valid with our own. We are constantly asked to jettison a love for
the truth for the sake of harmony.
In the Western
world, tolerance has now become the highest of all virtues. No one should be
made uncomfortable by raising questions about the validity of their beliefs.
Still less acceptable are people who have strong spiritual convictions.
Christian evangelism is now often viewed as a form of hate speech.
Many Christians
today subscribe to this perspective, not realizing that this modern brand of
tolerance brings with it a diminished concern for lost people. We now can
comfort ourselves when we are indifferent to people without Christ by explaining
that we dare not cause them discomfort. As our biblical text shows, however,
spiritual truth is literally a matter of life and death. Christians must not
fail to show loving spiritual concern for others by justifying such neglect in
the name of good manners. Our witness must always be winsome, but it must be a
winsome witness. ~Max Anders
Truth can be
attested by the supernatural, but so can falsehood. ~Max Anders
A concern for
doctrinal purity should always be based on love of the Lord, not a desire to
express spiritual pride. ~Max Anders
Some believers
tend to forget God’s persistent faithfulness in the face of the spectacular and
showy. ~Max Anders
There is a kind
of misguided pity that deals gently with false teachers at the expense of their
victims. ~Max Anders
Error is most
painful when it is found inside the family.
~Max Anders
God chose Israel
not because they were superior but because of what He could do through them for
others. ~Max Anders
The fear of God
does not come naturally to human beings; it must be learned through Scripture,
worship, and the hard knocks of experience.
~Max Anders
God not only
allowed for joyful worship but also commanded it. ~Max Anders
Compassion is
easily forsaken in the midst of prosperity, even when this prosperity is God
given. ~Max Anders
God is glorified
when His people find satisfaction in Him and in His provisions for them. ~Max
Anders
When things are
out of our hands, then it is easier to hold on to God. ~Mission Air
God demonstrates
generosity, then asks it from His people.
~Max Anders
Giving works
best when the Lord’s portion is removed first and believers learn to live
within the remainder. ~Max Anders
The generous
giver, demonstrating the nature of God by his behavior, can never outgive
God. ~Max Anders
God expects
believers to improve their attitude in giving as well as their giving
itself. ~Max Anders
Since all wealth
ultimately comes from God, His people ought to acknowledge His primacy by
offering Him the best of their wealth, time, and abilities. ~Max Anders
God delights to
see His people rejoice in what He has provided.
~Max Anders
A good memory is
one of the most precious assets of spiritual living. ~Max Anders
Recalling what
our lives were like before Jesus Christ entered them will help keep our daily
problems in perspective. ~Max Anders
Prosperity is
often the enemy of spiritual development. ~Max Anders
A worshiper’s
gift makes a statement about the worshiper and his God. ~Max Anders
In God’s pattern
of justice, He takes the risk of the guilty going free but not the innocent
being punished. ~Max Anders
Man’s sinful
nature causes him to deny his guilt as well as pervert the judicial system that
seeks to discover the truth. ~Max
Anders
God is not naïve
in the giving of His laws; He anticipates our disobedience even as He commands
our obedience. ~Max Anders
There is no
substitute for a firsthand encounter with the Word of God. ~Max Anders
Those who serve
God in vocational ministry must learn to trust Him for their daily needs before
they can encourage others to do so.
~Max Anders
Intimacy with
God is to be preferred above material wealth.
~Max Anders
Giving to God
should come from the firstfruits of a person’s labor rather than from what is
left after the bills are paid. ~Max
Anders
When believers
neglect the revealed Word of God, they are likely to turn to silly and
unprofitable methods of insight. ~Max
Anders
God realizes His
people need protection from the pains and heartaches of the world. ~Max Anders
The agonies of
those who are falsely accused are of great concern to the living God, and He
acts as their defender. ~Max Anders
The task of
evangelism often involves preparing an open road so offenders can find their
refuge in Christ. ~Max Anders
Compassion for
victims is sometimes forgotten in a misapplied concern for their oppressors and
murderers. ~Max Anders
The faithfulness
of God in the past fortifies believers for future challenges. ~Max Anders
Courage is the
most fundamental of all virtues. ~Max
Anders
Discouragement
is contagious and is easily transmitted to others. ~Max Anders
Exposure to
false doctrine places a person at risk not just for theological errors but for
moral failure. ~Max Anders
Love is one
factor – but not the only on – that God uses to promote the permanence of the
marriage bond. ~Max Anders
People are not
free to violate law or convention to satisfy their wants and cravings. ~Max Anders
Even guilty
people deserve to be treated as those made in the image of God. ~Max Anders
The opposite of
love is indifference to the genuine needs of others. ~Max Anders
God is concerned
that Christians live consistent with their profession even in the seemingly
small and insignificant areas of life.
~Max Anders
God wants
believers to take an interest in the well-being of the society in which they
live. ~Max Anders
Protection of
human life can be costly; but so is the neglect of that protection. ~Max Anders
Sometimes
believers are hampered in their public effectiveness by limitations that are no
fault of their own. ~Max Anders
God is able to
transform the hostile intentions of wicked people into blessings for His
people. ~Max Anders
God is always
near His people, but their sinful behavior may cause His presence to be
grievous. ~Max Anders
Christians must
allow no unclean thing to interfere with a harmonious relationship with
Christ. ~Max Anders
The health of
marriage and the health of society are bound together; as one goes, so goes the
other. ~Max Anders
The wise
Christian will learn from the spiritual blunders of others. ~Max Anders
Equal justice
under law is a spiritual as well as a civic principle. ~Max Anders
Individual
believers are not to usurp the role of civil government and judge people who
are offensive. ~Max Anders
Christians
should be among those who speak loudest in defense of civil liberties and the
protection of the weak. ~Max Anders
Some duties
exist simply because we are part of a larger family or community. ~Max Anders
When shame is
missing from corporate life, society, quickly becomes uncivilized. ~Max Anders
Every
demonstration of God’s faithfulness to us is an opportunity for us to testify
of Him to others. ~Max Anders
An enriched
capacity for rejoicing is an expanded capacity for worship. ~Max Anders
Celebration is
best done in the company of others who can rejoice with us over God’s
goodness. ~Max Anders
Before we can
pray for God’s blessing, we should ask ourselves if our disobedience could
hinder his blessing. ~Max Anders
Hearing alone is
less effective in learning God’s truth than hearing combined with reading. ~Max Anders
The person who
believes he must earn the right to go through the door of eternal life will
miss the mark. ~Max Anders
Our identity as
the people of God is marked primarily by our faithfulness in obedience to
Him. ~Max Anders
What we do in
public determines our reputation; what we do in private determines our
character. ~Max Anders
The Lord longs
to exalt His people as trophies of His work in them. ~Max Anders
Mental confusion
can be the product of divine discipline.
~Max Anders
No amount of
human willfulness can overcome God’s determined love. ~Max Anders
While
catastrophes do enter the lives of godly people, they attach themselves far
more to people who reject Him. ~Max
Anders
Conversion
engages the mind as well as the emotions.
~Max Anders
Distance is no
barrier to the love of God. ~Max Anders
A healthy
relationship with God is built on the internal changes He brings about through
Christ. ~Max Anders
A life that is
lived without regard to God cannot be called living. ~Max Anders
It is sometimes
easier to trust God in a life-threatening battle than in the small challenges
of daily life. ~Max Anders
Although spiritual
growth puts our wills to the test, after the battle has been won, we recognize
that the Lord is the true victor in the struggle. ~Max Anders
Only people of
proven character should be placed in positions of spiritual leadership. ~Max Anders
No amount of
temporal success can compensate for the loss of God’s approval. ~Max Anders
In a world of
constant change, God alone is the Rock upon which to build a life. ~Max Anders
Although the
world places a premium on the latest things, some realities are discovered by
looking into the past. ~Max Anders
Many people find
spiritual growth possible only when times are hard; prosperity tends to promote
complacency. ~Max Anders
Demons lie
behind much of the world’s pagan worship systems. ~Max Anders
God’s love does
not depend on the current spiritual condition of those He loves. ~Max Anders
One of the
greatest testimonials to God’s love is His provision of His Word. ~Max Anders
Spiritual
leadership ought to be given to those who have proven themselves under
stress. ~Max Anders
The spiritual
heritage of the godly lives on after they are gone. ~Max Anders
God never
forgets a promise. ~Max Anders
Our lives will
last as long as God has something for us to do.
~Max Anders
Christians can
mourn, but not as those who have no hope (1 Thess. 4:13). ~Max Anders
Training leaders
is part of the work of discipling. ~Max Anders
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