trusted online casino malaysia
Realizing the presence, promise, and power of the Kingdom of God.

T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He and his wife, Susie, make their home in the Champlain Valley of Vermont.
Books by T. M. Moore

Deuteronomy 32.45-47

And when Moses had finished speaking all these words to Israel, he said to them, “Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”

Evidence that we have taken the Law of God to heart will be found in the thoroughness with which we teach God’s Law to the coming generation – and not merely as an intellectual exercise, but as a standard for daily practice. Teaching only accomplishes its aim when it brings forth obedience in the lives of those taught, the obedience to God’s Law which results in love for Him and neighbors (Matt. 22.34-30).

God’s Law marks out the path of full and abundant life in Christ (1 Jn. 2.1-6). If we will take it to heart, live in it day by day, and pass it along to our children, then we will know the fullness of God’s precious and very great promises (2 Pet. 1.4 – symbolized here by the land).

Sign up to receive Crosfigell, our thrice-weekly email devotional, featuring T. M. Moore’s insights to Scripture and the Celtic Christian tradition.

Take it to Heart!

July 19, 2012

Deuteronomy 32.45-47

And when Moses had finished speaking all these words to Israel, he said to them, “Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”

“Take to heart.” Here was the great stumbling-stone for Israel, for they did not have a heart for God (Deut. 5.29). It would take a great work of God to give them a new heart (Deut. 30.1-10). Christ’s work of redemption opened the way for the Spirit of God to come and give God’s people a new heart, so that they could learn and obey His Law (Ezek. 36.26, 27). Now God’s mandate to Israel remains for the people of God today: Take the Law to heart!

But what does this entail? Certainly we cannot take the Law to heart if we choose to remain ignorant of it. We must read, study, and meditate on God’s Law, listening for the Spirit to show us specific applications of this holy and righteous and good Law to our everyday lives. We must also learn to love the Law of God above our own best thoughts or the opinions of others (Ps. 119.97). The more we understand of God’s Law, and the more we act in obedience on it, the more we will see the wisdom and love of God in it, and, hence, the more we will love this Law and take it to heart.

Sign up to receive Crosfigell, our thrice-weekly email devotional, featuring T. M. Moore’s insights to Scripture and the Celtic Christian tradition.

 

Unto Holiness

July 17, 2012

Leviticus 19.2

Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.”

Matthew 5.44, 45

Obedience to the Law of God is not the way to salvation; Salvation is by grace through faith alone. Rather, obedience is the way to holiness, for the Law is holy, and God Who gave it is holy. His Son is holy, Who fulfilled all the righteousness of the Law on our behalf, and bore all its holy judgments against our sin. His Spirit is Holy, Who indwells those who believe and teaches us the Law of God. We are called to bring holiness to completion in the fear of God (2 Cor. 7.1). Believers are to be holy as God’s redeemed children, and that holiness is only through obedience to the Law of God.

If we love God supremely, we will keep His Word. If we keep His Word, beginning with His Law, we will be holy as He is holy – not all at once, but increasingly, as the Spirit transforms us from glory to glory into the image of Jesus Christ. (2 Cor. 3.12-18).

Sign up to receive Crosfigell, our thrice-weekly email devotional, featuring T. M. Moore’s insights to Scripture and the Celtic Christian tradition.

 

Holiness unto Life

July 18, 2012

Leviticus 18.1-5

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I am the LORD your God. You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the LORD your God. You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the LORD.”

The people of Israel were not to take their ethical cues from the surrounding nations, whether Egypt, where they had lived, or Canaan, to which they were going. God’s rules and statutes were to be their guide in all things; His Word was sufficient to equip them for every good work (2 Tim. 3.15-17).

So it is today as well. We are not to be conformed to this world (Rom. 12.1, 2) but are to lay aside all the ways of the flesh and follow in the way that Jesus walked, the way of God’s Word and Law (Eph. 4.17-24; 1 Jn. 2.1-6). The promise for obedience leading to holiness is life. We have the oath of the Lord that, if we obey Him, we will know full and abundant life as He intends.

Sign up to receive Crosfigell, our thrice-weekly email devotional, featuring T. M. Moore’s insights to Scripture and the Celtic Christian tradition.

 

Deuteronomy 31.9-13

Then Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all the elders of Israel. And Moses commanded them, “At the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of release, at the Feast of Booths, when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”

Acts 20.26; 2 Timothy 3.15-17

It was not enough that the people of God should teach the Law in their homes or that the judges of the people should rule by it in the gates of the city. Every seven years, when the people were together, they entirety of the Law – probably Deuteronomy – was to be read in their hearing. This would provide an opportunity for all the people to be renewed in the Law and would ensure that, had any parents or judges been lax in their teaching, the gaps would be filled.

Notice that God intends all His people to hear the Law – even the sojourners living in the midst of the people. This is important to help ensure that the people of God will fear Him and obey His Law. In the Church we must teach the Law again and again, at every stage of human development, so that we might be careful to practice obedience always, and to fear God and enjoy His good promises.

Sign up to receive Crosfigell, our thrice-weekly email devotional, featuring T. M. Moore’s insights to Scripture and the Celtic Christian tradition.

 

Beautiful to Jesus

July 11, 2012
What kinds of things are beautiful to Jesus?

He Named them All

July 11, 2012

God Who named the stars has also assigned names to us.

It is pleasant to learn.

Deuteronomy 6.20-25

When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the LORD our God has commanded you?’ then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. And the LORD showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us.’”

There is a third reason to obey: God commands it.

Beginning in fear of the Lord, as we have seen, obedience leads to blessing (“for your good”). Obedience to God is the fruit of a proper fear of and love for Him, and it brings forth goodness and righteousness in us, to the praise of the glory of His grace. Thus, not only are we blessed for obeying the Law of God, but He is glorified in us as His righteousness comes to fruition through our obedience.

Deliverance, promises, and God’s command: These are three powerful reasons to obey the Law of God, so that the goodness and righteousness of God might be seen in us.

Sign up to receive Crosfigell, our thrice-weekly email devotional, featuring T. M. Moore’s insights to Scripture and the Celtic Christian tradition.

 

Deuteronomy 6.20-25

When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the LORD our God has commanded you?’ then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. And the LORD showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us.’”

Yet there is more to our obedience than gratitude alone. As God brought the people of Israel into the land of promise, there to enjoy all that He had prepared for them, so He has given us exceeding great and precious promises (2 Pet. 1.4) so that, by them, we might actually participate in Him. These promises – summarized in the idea that God has blessed us so that we might be a blessing (Gen. 12.1-3) – are ours to the extent that we walk within God’s ways, according to His Laws.

We must teach the promises of God to our children (Ps. 78.1-8) so that they might grow up desiring these above all else. Gratitude for redemption and the hope of the promises are powerful motivators for obedience to God’s Law. But if we fail to live by this Law, and to teach it to our children, we will never know the promises that God has for us in Jesus.

Sign up to receive Crosfigell, our thrice-weekly email devotional, featuring T. M. Moore’s insights to Scripture and the Celtic Christian tradition.

 

Grateful Obedience

July 13, 2012

Deuteronomy 6.20-25

When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the LORD our God has commanded you?’ then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. And the LORD showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us.’”

In responding to their children, parents must be careful to keep their understanding of the Law within the framework of grace. The people of Israel were slaves in Egypt; we were slaves to sin. God came to us in our need and, through a powerful deliverance, lifted us out of sin and death into newness of life through Jesus Christ. He redeemed us, as He did Israel, freely, by His grace. But He redeemed us unto good works (Eph. 2.8-10), even the good works of the Law (Matt. 5.17-19).

We would still be helpless and lost were it not for the Lord’s mighty deliverance. In gratitude for His saving mercy, we receive His Word and declare, “All that the Lord has spoken, we will do.” Gratitude to God is the first reason we obey His Law: We love Him in gratitude because He first loved us in redemption (1 Jn. 4.9).

Sign up to receive Crosfigell, our thrice-weekly email devotional, featuring T. M. Moore’s insights to Scripture and the Celtic Christian tradition.

 

Subscribe to Ailbe Newsletters

Sign up to receive our email newsletters and read columns about revival, renewal, and awakening built upon prayer, sharing, and mutual edification.