CQOD: 03/05/08 -- Boice: the unique authority

Christian Quotation of the Day

March 5, 2008Meditation:
    [Jesus:] Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
    -- Matthew 5;17,18 (NIV)

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Quotation:
    We are to believe and follow Christ in all things, including his words about Scripture. And this means that Scripture is to be for us what it was to him: the unique, authoritative, and inerrant Word of God, and not merely a human testimony to Christ, however carefully guided and preserved by God. If the Bible is less than this to us, we are not fully Christ’s disciples.
    ... James Montgomery Boice (1938-2000), “The Preacher & God’s Word”

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me faith to believe Your word.

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CQOD: 03/04/08 -- The learned and the unlearned

Christian Quotation of the Day

March 4, 2008

Commemoration of Felix, Bishop, Apostle to the East Angles, 647

Meditation:
    Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
    -- 2 Peter 3:15,16 (NIV)

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Quotation:
    Scripture in some places is easy, and in some places hard to be understood. This have I said, as touching the fear to read, through ignorance of the person. And concerning the hardness of Scripture, he that is so weak that he is not able to [eat] strong meat, yet he may suck the sweet and tender milk, and defer the rest, until he wax stronger, and come to more knowledge. For God receives the learned and unlearned, and casts away none, but [does not discriminate]. And the Scripture is full as well of low valleys, plain ways, and easy for every man to use, and to walk in: as also of high hills & mountains, which few men can climb unto.
    ... “A Fruitful exhortation to the reading of holy Scripture,” from the Anglican Homilies [1562]

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me the mind of Christ to understand Your word.

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CQOD: 03/03/08 -- Approach scripture humbly

Christian Quotation of the Day

March 3, 2008Meditation:
    Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.
    -- Ephesians 5:15-17 (NIV)

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Quotation:
    In holy Scripture is fully contained what we ought to do, and what to eschew; what to believe, what to love, and what to look for at God’s hands at length. In these Books we shall find the father from whom, the son by whom, and the holy Ghost in whom all things have their being and keeping up, and these three persons to be but one God, and one substance. Read [Holy Scripture] humbly with a meek and lowly heart, to the intent you may glorify God, and not your self, with the knowledge of it: and read it not without daily praying to God, that he would direct your reading to good effect: and take upon you to expound it no further than you can plainly understand it. For (as Saint Augustine says) the knowledge of holy Scripture is a great, large, and a high place, but the door is very low, so that the high & arrogant man cannot run in: but he must stoop low, and humble himself, that shall enter into it... The humble man may search any truth boldly in the Scripture, without any danger of error. (Continued tomorrow)
    ... “A Fruitful exhortation to the reading of holy Scripture,” from the Anglican Homilies [1562]

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, defeat sin in my life through Your mighty word.

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CQOD: 03/02/08 -- Leo: dictation of the Holy Ghost

Christian Quotation of the Day

March 2, 2008

Feast of Chad, Abbot of Lastingham, Bishop of Lichfield, Missionary, 672

Meditation:
    Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.
    -- Psalm 119:160 (KJV)

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Quotation:
    It is absolutely wrong and forbidden, either to narrow inspiration to certain parts only of Holy Scripture, or to admit that the sacred writer has erred. For the system of those who, in order to rid themselves of difficulties, do not hesitate to concede that divine inspiration regards the things of faith and morals, and nothing beyond, because (as they wrongly think) in a question of the truth or falsehood of a passage, we should consider not so much what God has said as the reason and purpose which He had in mind in saying it—this system cannot be tolerated. For all the books which the Church receives as sacred and canonical, are written wholly and entirely, with all their parts, at the dictation of the Holy Ghost: and so far is it from being possible that any error can co-exist with inspiration, that inspiration not only is essentially incompatible with error, but excludes and rejects it as absolutely and necessarily as it is impossible that God Himself, the supreme Truth, can utter that which is not true.
    ... Leo XIII (1813-1903), “On the Study of Holy Scripture,” in Providentissimus Deus [1893]

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I thank You for the reliability of Your word.

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CQOD: 03/01/08 -- French Confession on Scripture

Christian Quotation of the Day

March 1, 2008

Feast of David, Bishop of Menevia, Patron of Wales, c.601

Meditation:
    Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
    -- John 20:30,31 (NIV)

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Quotation:
    We believe that the Word contained in these books [viz., the Bible] has proceeded from God, and receives its authority from Him alone, and not from men. And inasmuch as it is the rule of all truth, containing all that is necessary for the service of God and for our salvation, it is not lawful for men, nor even for angels, to add to it, to take away from it, or to change it. Whence it follows that no authority, whether of antiquity, or custom, or numbers, or human wisdom, or judgments, or proclamations, or edicts, or decrees, or councils, or visions, or miracles, should be opposed to these Holy Scriptures, but on the contrary, all things should be examined, regulated, and reformed according to them.
    ... The French Confession of Faith, article V. [1559]

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, thank you for Your word that is fixed for all time.

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CQOD: 02/29/08 -- Westminster Confession on Scripture

Christian Quotation of the Day

February 29, 2008Meditation:
    But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.
    -- 1 John 2:20 (NIV)

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Quotation:
    We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the Church to a high and reverent esteem of the Holy Scripture, and the heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy of the doctrine, the majesty of the style, the consent of all the parts, the scope of the whole (which is to give all glory to God), the full discovery it makes of the only way of man’s salvation, the many other incomparable excellencies, and the entire perfection thereof, are arguments whereby it does abundantly evidence itself to be the Word of God; yet, notwithstanding, our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth and divine authority thereof is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit, bearing witness by and with the Word in our hearts.
    ... The Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 1. article V. [1646]

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, the testimony of Your Spirit leads me into truth.

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CQOD: 02/28/08 -- Bonhoeffer: indifferent to the message

Christian Quotation of the Day

February 28, 2008Meditation:
    The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God."
    -- Luke 1:35 (NIV)

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Quotation:
    We have become so accustomed to the idea of divine love and of God's coming at Christmas that we no longer feel the shiver of fear that God's coming should arouse in us. We are indifferent to the message, taking only the pleasant and agreeable out of it and forgetting the serious aspect, that the God of the world draws near to the people of our little earth and lays claim to us. The coming of God is truly not only glad tidings, but first of all frightening news for everyone who has a conscience.
    ... Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “The Coming of Jesus in Our Midst,” in A Testament to Freedom: The Essential Writings of Dietrich BonnHoeffer, ed. Geoffrey B. Kelly and F. Burton Nelson, Harper San Francisco, San Francisco, Ca., 1995

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, restore to me joy and awe at the Incarnation.

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CQOD: 02/27/08 -- Herbert: blood and wine

Christian Quotation of the Day

February 27, 2008

Feast of George Herbert, Priest, Poet, 1633

Meditation:
    Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it. "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many," he said to them.
    -- Mark 14:23,24 (NIV)

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Quotation:
    Love is that liquor sweet and most divine Which my God feels as blood; but I, as wine.
    ... George Herbert (1593-1633), from The Agony

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I drink Your love like wine.

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CQOD: 02/26/08 -- St. John Chrysostom: the Player and the instrument

Christian Quotation of the Day

February 26, 2008Meditation:
    However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" -- but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.
    -- 1 Corinthians 2:9,10 (NIV)

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Quotation:
    Seeing, then, it is no longer the fisherman, the son of Zebedee, but He who knoweth “the deep things of God” (I Cor. 2:10), the Holy Spirit, I mean, that striketh this lyre, let us hearken accordingly. For he will say nothing to us as a man, but what he saith, he will say from the depths of the Spirit.
    ... St. John Chrysostom (345?-407), from Homily 1 on the Gospel of John

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, make my testimony to You ring loud and clear.

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CQOD: 02/25/08 -- Stott: we have the means

Christian Quotation of the Day

February 25, 2008Meditation:
    ... for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: "Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."
    -- Ephesians 5:14 (NIV)

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Quotation:
    We have the means to evangelize our country; but they are slumbering in the pews of our churches.
    ... John R. W. Stott (b.1921)

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, awaken Your people to the need for Christ everywhere.

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CQOD Compilation Copyright 2008, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
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