Favorite Pastor Quotes 6

Favorite Pastor Quotes 6

It is unwise to try to carry next week's burdens today

(J.C. Pittman)

"Do not worry about anything--but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7 

There is no harm in looking ahead--but it is unwise to try to carry next week's burdens today. There is nothing wrong in looking ahead, but needless worry in regard to the future, is not only useless but injurious--besides evidencing lack of implicit trust in our heavenly Father's care for His redeemed people. Worry looks tremblingly ahead--but never accelerates, and always hinders the speed in life's race.

Yet many drag through life weighted with all sorts of needless cares--and are never in their element unless looking for still more trouble. They are always watching for clouds--and are never content to bask in the sunshine.

Paul has a word concerning the sin of worrying. "Do not worry about anything." The reason is because we are in God's world, and He is able and willing to take care of all His people. "We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." 

Never bear more than one kind of trouble at once. 
Some people bear all three kinds of trouble at once:
  all they have had,
  all they have now, and
  all they expect to have.

John Wesley said: "I dare not worry--any more than I dare curse and swear!"
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What punishment then can be too great--for so great an evil?

(Ralph Venning, "The Plague of Plagues!")

The worst on this side of Hell, is mercy--and the worst of and in Hell, is but justice!

Cain could say that his punishment was intolerable--but he could not say that it was unjust. 
Though his punishment was greater than he could bear--yet it was not greater than he deserved. 

Repeatedly, when the judgments of God are spoken of in Revelation, they are said always to be just and true and righteous (Revelation 15:3; 16:7). Though God's ways are unsearchable--yet they are true and just and righteous. 

Death is but the due wages of sin (Romans 6:23). Therefore it is said, "Their damnation is just!" (Romans 3:8). Every sin has its just punishment (Hebrews 2:2).

Consider the nature of sin. It is Deicide--God-murder! Thus it is just for God to do with sinners, what they would unjustly do with Him. That is, take away from them all good and glory, displease and destroy them--because they would do so to Him. 
  
If sin had accomplished its intention and desire--horror of horrors!--God would have been no more!

If we consider the person who is sinned against, and that the aim of sin is to ungod God--then what punishment can be thought bad enough? 

Sin is an infinite evil. What punishment then can be too great--for so great an evil?

As none but infinite power can pardon sin--so none but infinite power can punish it sufficiently.

Just as sin's aim is infinite--so is its desert. Therefore, though sin's punishment is infinite--yet it is but just. 
Seeing sin contains all evil--it is fitting that its punishment should be answerable and proportionate.
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The glittering toys of life!(Harriet Newell)

"These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." Hebrews 11:13 

We are pilgrims--we are strangers in a barren land. This world is not our portion--it is incapable of satisfying our desires. The glittering toys of life are not calculated to afford real enjoyment.

There is nothing in Heaven or earth that can delight our hearts and ease us of the heavy load of sin, but God.

Let us not be satisfied with the groveling pursuits of time--but let us look to the unchangeable Jehovah for a supply of His soul-refreshing grace. 

How much has God done for us individually! He has made us partakers of His grace and redeemed us from eternal destruction. What shall we render to Him for this abundant mercy? O let our future lives evince gratitude--and let our praises unceasingly flow to His throne.

"Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul!" 1 Peter 2:11
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Our dim eyes cannot read the dark pages!(J.R. Miller)

"You do not know now what I am doing--but later you will understand." John 13:7

Peter could not understand why Jesus should so condescend as to wash his feet. It perplexed and puzzled him, and he shrank from submitting to it. Jesus said, "You do not know now what I am doing--but later you will understand." And so it proved. There came days afterwards when he understood it all, when he knew why his Master had done it--and when he truly saw beauty, wisdom, love, richest instruction, and divine necessity in it.

And the same principle applies all through our life. There are many things in the providence of God which at the time appear dark and obscure--but which the future makes clear and plain. The Lord lays us aside in the midst of our usefulness, He desolates our homes, He breaks our harp-strings, He pours bitterness into our cups of sweetness. Our lives are full of strange, perplexing things--and we do not know what they mean.

Our dim eyes cannot read the dark pages.
Our dull ears cannot hear the voice of love which speaks out to us from every adverse circumstance.
Our heavy hearts cannot perceive the love which throbs with full pulse in every darksome event.

But there will come a day when every dark page in our life's history shall be explained--when all the tangle and confusion shall be unraveled, and the web shall lie before us woven through unto the end, warp and woof, with threads of gold and silver.

This word of Christ is the key to all the dark and strange providences in the life of every believer: "You do not know now what I am doing--but later you will understand."

One reason for the present obscurity--is our ignorance, or limited knowledge. We know now, only in part. We see now, only through a glass darkly. We are all scholars in God's school. The lessons set for us seem at first like the pages of an unknown language. We cannot pronounce the words. We cannot understand their meaning. They confuse and perplex us. We see no wisdom, no beauty, no love in them.

But the passing years bring riper wisdom and fuller knowledge. We shall then be able to read them off with ease. Then we shall see that every line held a golden lesson for our hearts--that every dark providence in our lives was one of God's precious love-thoughts written out for us--and the whole page will glow with divine beauty!

Only fuller knowledge is needed to explain to us much of the mystery of our lives. In the cloudless light and perfect revelation of Heaven--every shadow of mystery will vanish, and the strangest providences will seem as plain and easy as childhood's first lessons are to ripened and cultured manhood.

Another reason why many of the Lord's ways seem so strange to us, is because we see them only in their incompleteness. We must wait until they are finished, before we can fully understand what God is doing.

The work of sanctification is the process of painting the features of spiritual and divine beauty on human souls. And in this process, the Divine Artist oftentimes employs trials as His instruments. He first seems to destroy--but tribulation works patience. Many a man learns submission--when the Father's hand rests so heavily upon him, that he cannot rise.

Many a feature of beauty in the soul--is brought out in the darkness of affliction. The process seems to be destructive--but afterwardsit yields the peaceable fruits of righteousness. Not at the time--but afterwards. When God finishes His work--then it is beautiful and very good.

In the bitterness of his soul Jacob cried out, "All these things are against me!" But these things were not against him--God had not yet finished His work. The final result had not yet been wrought out. All things seemed against him--but he lived to praise the Lord for all the strange providences which appeared so cruel at that hour. These were but the crude blocks out of which God was building up a beautiful home for his old age, and with which He was laying the foundation of future greatness and glory for his family. They were links in a golden chain of blessing.

So it ever is, "You do not know now what I am doing--but later you will understand." Wait until God has completed His work--and then all shall be well. You may see it even on the earth. Before you close your eyes in death--you may see the good brought out of the seeming evil of your life. But if not, if you die with the mystery still unsolved--then one moment in Heaven will explain all! Then you shall see all things completed. You shall see the web out of the loom--all its beautiful figures perfect, not one thread dropped or tangled. You shall see the temple finished--every block in its place, and the whole adorned with glory. You shall see the picture when the artist has put the last touches to it--and when it appears no more marred and spoiled, as you thought it would be by so much trial--but perfect and beautiful, bearing the likeness of Christ in every feature.

Then you shall see all the dark providences of your life carried out to their final result. You shall see . . .
  both the discipline--and its blessing;
  both the affliction--and its rich fruits;
  both the furnace-fires--and the brilliant gold!

Favorite Pastor Poems

Favorite Pastor Poems

Love's Immensity

O past and gone!
How great is God! how small am I!
A mote in the illimitable sky,
Amidst the glory deep, and wide, and high
Of Heaven's unclouded sun.
There to forget myself for evermore;
Lost, swallowed up in Love's immensity,
The sea that knows no sounding, and no shore,
God only there, not I.

More near than I unto myself can be,
Art Thou to me;
So have I lost myself in finding Thee,
Have lost myself for ever, O my Sun!
The boundless Heaven of Thine eternal love
Around me, and beneath me, and above,
In glory of that golden day
The former things are passed away -
I, past and gone.

~Gerhard Tersteegen~
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The Rest of Faith

All Must Be Well!

Through the love of God our Saviour,
All will be well;
Free and changeless is His favor,
All, all is well;
Precious is the blood that heal'd us,
Perfect is the grace that seal'd us,
Strong the hand stretch'd out to shield us,
All must be well.

Though we pass through tribulation,
All will be well;
Ours is such a full salvation,
All, all is well;
Happy,still in God confiding,
Fruitful, if in Christ abiding,
Holy, through the Spirit's guiding,
All must be well.

We expect a bright tomorrow,
All will be well;
Faith can sing, through days of sorrow,
All, all is well;
On our Father's love relying,
Jesus ev'ry need supplying,
Or in living or in dying,
All must be well.

~Mary Bowley Peters~
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Sweet the Moments, Rich In Blessing

Sweet the moments, rich in blessing,
Which before the Cross I spend;
Life and health and peace possessing
From the sinner's dying Friend.

Truly blessed is this station,
Low before His Cross to lie,
While I see divine compassion
Beaming in His languid eye.

Love and grief my heart dividing,
With my tears His feet I'll bathe;
Constant still in faith abiding,
Life deriving from His death.

For thy sorrows we adore Thee
For the griefs that wrought our peace
Gracious Saviour! we implore Thee,
In our hearts Thy love increase.

~Walter Shelly~ 
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Would Jesus Have the Sinner Die?

Would Jesus have the sinner die?
Why hangs He then on yonder tree?
What means that strange expiring cry?
Sinners, He prays for you and me;
Forgive them, Father, O forgive!
They know not that by Me they live.

Jesus descended from above,
Our loss of Eden to retrieve,
Great God of universal love,
If all the world through Thee may live,
In us a quick'ning spirit be,
And witness Thou hast died for me.

Thou loving, all-atoning Lamb,
Thee, by Thy painful agony,
Thy bloody sweat, Thy grief and shame,
Thy Cross and passion on the tree,
Thy precious death and life I pray,
Take all, take all my sins away.

O let Thy love my heart constrain,
Thy love, for every sinner free,
That every fallen son of man
May taste the grace that found out me;
That all mankind with me may prove
Thy sov'reign, everlasting love.

~Charles Wesley~
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He Dies! The Friend of Sinner Dies!

He dies! the Friend of sinners dies!
Lo! Salem's daughters weep around;
A soleman darkness veils the skies,
A sudden trembling shakes the ground;
Come, saints, and drop a tear or two
For Him who groan'd beneath your load;
He shed a thousand drops for you,
A thousand drops of richer blood.

Here's love and grief beyond degree;
The Lord of glory dies for man!
But lo! what sudden joys we see:
Jesus, the dead, revives again.
The rising God forsakes the tomb;
In vain the tomb forbids His rise;
Cherubic legions guard Him home,
And shout Him welcome to the skies.

Break off your tears, ye saints and tell
How high your great Deliv'rer reigns;
Sing how He spoil'd the hosts of hell,
And led the monster death in chains:
Say, Live forever, wondrous King!
Born to redeem, and strong to save;
Then ask the monster, Where's thy sting?
And, Where's thy vict'ry, boasting grave?

~Isaac Watts~

Favorite Pastor Quotes 4

Favorite Pastor Quotes 4

We dwell within the palm of God's hand!

(Charles Spurgeon)

"My times are in Your hand!" Psalm 31:15

Not only are we, ourselves, in the hand of the Lord--but all that surrounds us is in His hand! Our times make up a kind of atmosphere of existence--and all of this is under His divine arrangement.

We dwell within the palm of God's hand! We are absolutely at His disposal--and all our circumstances are arranged by Him in all their details. We are comforted to have it so!

When one knows that his times are in God's hands--he would not change places with a king! No, nor even with an angel!
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Forward, and Not Back

J. R. Miller

It is a good thing always to face forward. Even nature shows that men's eyes were designed to always look forward—for no man has eyes in the back of his head, as all men certainly would have—if it had been intended that they should spend much time in looking backward. We like to have Bible authority for our rules in life, and there is a very plain word of Scripture which says, "Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you!" Proverbs 4:25

There is also a striking scriptural illustration in the greatest of the apostles, who crystallized the central principle of his active life in the remarkable words, "This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are ahead, I press toward the mark!" The picture is of a man running in a race. He sees only one thing—the goal yonder. He does not trouble himself to look back to see how far he has come—or how far the other runners are behind him; he does not even look to the right hand or to the left—to catch glimpses of his friends who are watching him and cheering him. His eyes look right on to the goal, while he bends every energy to the race.

That is the picture which Paul drew of himself as a man, as a Christian; he forgot his past—and lived only for his future. We must remember, too, that he was an old man when he wrote these words. Looking at him, we would say there was but little before him now to live for—but a little margin of life left to him. The young look forward naturally, because everything is before them—the long, bright future years, seem to stretch out for them almost inimitably; they live altogether in hope, and as yet have no memories to draw their eyes and their hearts backward and to chain their lives to the past. But old people, who have spent most of their allotted years and have but a small and fast-crumbling edge of life remaining, are much prone to live almost entirely in the past. The richest treasures of their hearts are there, left behind and passed by, and so their eyes and their thoughts are drawn backward, rather than forward.

Here, however, was one old man who cared nothing for what was past, and who lived altogether in hope, pressing on with quenchless enthusiasm into the future. What was gone was nothing to him—in comparison with what was yet to come. The best things in his life were still to be won; his noblest achievements were yet to be wrought; his soul was still full of unrealized visions—which would yet be realized. His eye pierced death's veil, for to him life meant immortality, and earth's horizon was not its boundary.

The last glimpse we have of this old man—he is about going forth from his Roman, dungeon to martyrdom—but he is still reaching forth and pressing on into the Eternal Before. His keen eye is fixed on a glory which other men could not see, as with exultation he cried, "The time of my departure is at hand. . . . Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown!"

There is something very sublime in such a life, and it ought to have its inspirations for us. We ought to train ourselves to live by the same rule. There is a tremendous waste in human energy and in all life's powers—resulting from the habit of ever turning to look backward. While we stand thus, with arms folded, peering back into the mists and the shadows of the dead past—the great, resistless, never-resting tides of life are sweeping on, and we are simply left behind. And few things are sadder than this—men with their powers yet at their best, left behind in the race, and left alone—because they stop and stand and look backward—instead of keeping their eyes to the front and bravely pressing on to the things ahead!

It is every way better to look forward—than to look back. The life—follows the eye; we live—as we look. But what is there ever behind us to live for? There is no work to do; no tasks wait there for accomplishment; no opportunities for helpfulness or usefulness lie in the past. Opportunities, when once they have passed by, never linger—that tardy laggards may yet come up and seize them; passed once, they are gone forever!

We cannot impress ourselves in any way upon the past; the records which are written all over the pages of yesterday, were made when yesterday was the living present. We cannot make any change on the past; we can undo nothing there, correct nothing, erase nothing.

We may get a measure of inspiration from other men's past—as we study their biographies and their achievements and grasp the secrets of their power.

"Lives of great men all remind us
 We can make our lives sublime,
 And, departing, leave behind us
 Footprints on the sands of time."

Then, we may get something, too, from our own past—in the lessons of experience which we have learned. He certainly lives very heedlessly, whose days yield no wisdom. Yesterday's mistakes and failures, should make the way plainer and straighter today. Past sorrows, too, should enrich our lives. All one's past is in the life of each new day—all its spirit, all its lessons, all its accumulated wisdom, all its power—lives in each present moment. Yet this benefit that comes from the things that are behind, avails only when it becomes impulse and energy to send us forward the more resistlessly and wisdom to guide us the more safely.

Therefore we should never waste a moment in looking back at our past attainments. Yet there are people who, especially in their later years, do little else. They are accomplished egotists—yet they never have anything but very old heroisms and achievements to talk about. They are talkative enough concerning the great things they have done—but it was always a long time ago, that they did them. All the grand and noble things in their life—are little more than past traditions. Their religious experiences, also, are of old date, and they seem never to have any new ones. Their testimonies and their prayers in the conference-meeting are quite like the tunes of street-organs—the same always every time you hear them; they never get a new tune, not even a new and revised edition of the old one. With mechanical invariableness and endless repetition, they relate the same experiences year after year. They can tell a great deal about what they felt, and what they did—a long time ago—but not a word about what they felt and what they did yesterday.

The utter inadequacy and the unworthiness of such living, are apparent at a glance. No past glory avails, for this living present. The radiance of last night, will not make the stars brilliant tonight; the beauty of last summer's flowers, will not do for the flowers of this summer; the industry of early manhood, will not achieve results in mid-life or in old age; the heroism of yesterday, will win no laurels for the brow today. What does it matter—that one did great things some time in the past? The question is—What is he doing now?

Suppose a man had ecstatic religious experiences ten or twenty years ago; ought he not to have had still more ecstatic experiences every year since? Suppose a man did a noble thing twenty-five years ago; why should he still sound the praises of that one lone deed after so long a lapse of time? Ought he not to have done just as noble things all along his life—as he did that particular day a quarter-century ago?

The ideal life, is one that does its best every day—and sees ever in tomorrow, an opportunity for something better than today. It is sad when any one has to look back for his best achievements and his highest attainments. However lofty the plane reached, the face should still be turned forward—and the heart should still be reaching onward for its best.

The true life has its image in the tree which drops its ripe fruits in the autumn and forgets them, leaving them to be food for the hungry; while it straightway begins to prepare for another year's fruits. What an abnormal thing it would be, for an apple tree to bear one abundant crop—and then never again produce anything each year, but a few scattered apples hanging lonesome on the wide-spreading branches, while the tree continued to glory year after year in its superb yield of long ago!

Is such a life any more fitting for an immortal man—than for a soulless fruit tree? Immortality should never content itself, with any past. Not back—but forward, always should our eyes be bent. The years should be ladder-steps upward, each lifting us higher. Even death should not intercept the onward look, for surely the best things are never on this side—but always on beyond death's mists. Death is not a wall cutting off the path and ending all progress: it is a gate—an open gate—through which the life sweeps on through eternity! Progress, therefore, is endless, and the goal is ever unreached!

Even the mistakes and the sins of the past—should not draw our eyes back. Sins should instantly be confessed, repented of and forsaken—and that should be the end of them! To brood over them—does no good; we can never undo them, and no tears can obliterate the fact of their commission. The way to show true sorrow for wrong-doing, is not to sit in sackcloth and ashes weeping over the ruin wrought—but to pour all the energy of our regret, into new obedience and better service! We cannot change the past—but the future, we can yet make beautiful, if we will. It would be sad if in weeping over the sins of yesterday, we should lose today also! Not an instant, therefore, should be wasted in unavailing regret when we have failed; the only thing to do with mistakes—is not to repeat them; while, at the same time, we set about striving to get some gain or blessing from them.

Defeats in life should never detain us long, since only faith and courage are needed to change them into real victories. For, after all, it is character we are building in this world; and if we use every experience to promote our growth, to make us better; if we emerge from it stronger, braver, truer, nobler—we have lost nothing—but have been the gainer. In reverses and misfortunes, then, we have but to keep our eyes fixed on Christ, caring only that no harm comes to our soul from the loss or the trial; and thus we shall be victorious. If we stop and look back with despairing heart, at the wreck of our hopes and plans—our defeat will be real and humiliating! Like Lot's wife, we shall be buried beneath the encrusting salt! But if we resolutely turn away from the failure or the ruin—and press on to brighter things—things that cannot perish—we shall get victory and win blessedness and eternal gain!

Look forward—and not back! Live to make tomorrow beautiful, not to stain yesterday with tears of regret and grief.

Favorite Pastor Quotes 3

Favorite Pastor Quotes 3


The jewelry of the Bible!

(Octavius Winslow, "The Preciousness of the Divine Promises") 

"God has given us His very great and precious promises!" 2 Peter 1:4The promises of God are the jewelry of the Bible! 
Every page of the sacred volume is rich and sparkling with these divine assurances of Jehovah's love, faithfulness, and power towards His people. 

Upon no spot in this wilderness world can the Christian plant his foot, strange and untrodden though that path may be--but a gem from this casket meets his eye, the sight of which inspires his heart with confidence, his spirit with comfort, his soul with hope! 

Imagine what would have been the condition of God's children apart from the divine promises of which the blessed volume is so full. What must have been the desolateness, the sadness, and the sinking--did we not have the divine assurances of God's Word to rely on; by which we are . . .
  guided in our march heavenward, 
  upheld in weakness, 
  cheered in depression, and
  conducted step by step to final blessedness. 

The promises are comprehensive in their character, and adapted to all the varied circumstances of our individual history. Child of God, you cannot conceive of . . .
  any condition in which you may be placed,
  any circumstance by which you may be surrounded,
  any sorrow by which you may be depressed,
  any perils that may confront you,
  any darkness that may overshadow you,
  or any needs that you may have--
in which you may not find some precious promises of His blessed Word which meet your case! 

The promises of Scripture are exceedingly precious, because they are all signed and sealed with the heart's blood of Jesus! They are the throbbings of the infinite love of Jesus! The promises are but echoes of His heart sounding from each page of the sacred volume! 

If you are sin-burdened or sorrow-stricken--just stretch forth your hand and receive these precious jewels as they flow out from the open casket of God's Word!

The promises have stanched may a bleeding wound. 

The promises have dried many a falling tear. 

The promises have calmed many a disturbed mind. 

The promises have guided feet through many a labyrinth.

The promises have shed light on many a lonely path. 

The promises, like voices of music, have broken sweetly on many a dreary night of weeping and woe. 

We have these rich clusters of precious promises bending down from the Tree of Life! 
We may pluck them at all times, in all seasons, and under all circumstances!
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I always carry an oil can in my pocket!

(J.R. Miller, "Intimate Letters on Personal Problems" 1914)

There is a good illustration in one of Dr. Parkhurst's books. He tells of a workman who was in a trolley-car one day. As the door was opened and shut, it squeaked. The workman quietly got up and, taking a little can from his pocket, dropped some oil upon the offending spot, saying as he sat down, "I always carry an oil can in my pocket, for there are so many squeaky things in this world which a little oil will help."

Dr. Parkhurst applies this to life, saying that love is a lubricant with which we can soften or prevent a great many unpleasant frictions with others--if we always have love and will speak the gentle word, the soft word, the kindly word, at the right time. I used the illustration recently in my church in a sermon, and suggested to the people that they all carry oil cans, thus trying to make the world a little sweeter place to live in.

"I am not writing you a new command, but one we have had from the beginning--that we love one another." 2 John 1:5

"The entire law is summed up in a single command: Love your neighbor as yourself." Galatians 5:14

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you--so you must love one another." John 13:34

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How shall I follow in His steps?

(Alexander Smellie, "The Secret Place")

"Leaving an example for you to follow in His steps." 1 Peter 2:21

How shall I follow in His steps?

The first requisite is a personal relationship to Him. I cannot wear the loveliness of Jesus--until I drink deep of the forgiveness of Jesus. From the Cross where He has saved me--I set out on the pilgrim-road of imitation.

It is necessary, also, that love for Him leaps and flames in my soul. No amount of intellectual comprehension is enough. The heart must enthrone Him, must adore Him, must turn to Him with the invitableness and the trust of the sunflower turning to the sun. I can only resemble Him, if my affection for Him is profound, controlling, and pervasive.

And there must be intimacy with my Lord. I am to share His thoughts, His temper, His motives, His decisions.

I must dwell much with Himself in prayer.

I must often meditate on the story of His life and death.

These are some of the modes in which I shall touch and grasp and imitate the grace and the wisdom and the loveliness and thegentleness and the splendor of Jesus Christ.

"Whoever says he abides in Him, ought to walk and conduct himself in the same way in which He walked and conducted Himself." 1 John 2:6 (Amplified Bible)