Henry: the antichrist philosophy

Sunday, November 3, 2024
    Feast of Richard Hooker, Priest, Anglican Apologist, Teacher, 1600
    Commemoration of Martin of Porres, Dominican Friar, 1639
Meditation:
    My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
    —James 2:1-4 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We are so steeped in the antichrist philosophy—namely, that success consists in embracing not the values of the Sermon on the Mount but an infinity of material things, of sex and status—that we little sense how much of what passes for practical Christianity is really an apostate compromise with the spirit of the age.
    ... Carl F. H. Henry (1913-2003), Twilight of a Great Civilization, Westchester, Il: Crossway Books, 1988, p. 15 (see the book)
    See also Jas. 2:1-4; Matt. 6:25; 16:26; Mark 4:18-19; 8:36-37; Luke 8:14; 12:15-21; 16:9-13; John 12:42-43; Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 5:16; Heb. 12:1; 1 Pet. 1:24-25; 1 John 2:15-17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, free Your people from the entanglements of culture. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Moody: holding the blessing

Saturday, November 2, 2024
    Feast of All Souls
Meditation:
    And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
    —Acts 13:52 (NIV)
Quotation:
    A great many think because they have been filled once, they are going to be full for all time after; but O, my friends, we are leaky vessels, and have to be kept right under the fountain all the time in order to keep full. If we are going to be used by God we have to be very humble. A man that lives close to God will be the humblest of men. I heard a man say that God always chooses the vessel that is close at hand. Let us keep near Him.
    ... Dwight Lyman Moody (1837-1899), Glad Tidings, New York: E. B. Treat, 1876, p. 291 (see the book)
    See also Acts 13:52; Isa. 11:1-4; 61:1-3; Mic. 3:8; Luke 1:14-15,41,67; 4:1,14,18-19; 10:21; Acts 2:4; 4:8,31; 6:3-5; 7:55; 9:17; 11:24
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, fill me again with Your Spirit. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Brooks: the silences of God

Friday, November 1, 2024
    Feast of All Saints
Meditation:
    This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
    —1 John 5:14-15 (NIV)
Quotation:
    I never think of [the silences of God] without thinking how great is the delight which comes when any man discovers that God really has been answering him all the time when he thought that his prayers were all unheard. That must be one of the most exquisite joys of heaven.
    ... Phillips Brooks (1835-1893), The Light of the World, and Other Sermons, New York: E. P. Dutton, 1904, p. 132 (see the book)
    See also 1 John 5:14-15; Ps. 4:1; 10:1; 22:1; 35:22; 46:1,10; 83:1; 88:14; Hab. 1:2; Luke 15:7
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are never far from me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bonhoeffer: unconditional grace

Thursday, October 31, 2024
    Reformation Day
Meditation:
    I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
    —Romans 1:16-17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Luther had grasped by faith the free and unconditional forgiveness of all his sins. That experience taught him that this grace had cost him his very life, and must continue to cost him the same price day by day. So far from dispensing him from discipleship, this grace only made him a more earnest disciple.
    ... Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), The Cost of Discipleship, Simon and Schuster, 1959, p. 49 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 1:16-17; Hab. 2:4; John 3:36; 14:1; Rom. 3:3; 6:1-2; Gal. 3:11; Eph. 2:8-9; Phil. 3:8-9; Heb. 11:6-7
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your grace has drawn me to You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Luther: grace overlooking sins

Wednesday, October 30, 2024
    Commemoration of Martin Luther, Teacher, Reformer, 1546
Meditation:
    Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
    —Romans 8:1-2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Because of the incomplete gifts and because of the Spirit, there is nothing damnable in those who are in Christ. Because our flesh has not been killed, we are still sinners, but because we believe in Christ and have the beginnings of the Spirit, God so shows us his favor and mercy, that he neither notices nor judges such sins. Rather he deals with us according to our belief in Christ until sin is killed.
    ... Martin Luther (1483-1546), “Preface to the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans”, par. 12 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 8:1-2; Ps. 32:1-2; Isa. 54:17; Jer. 31:34; John 3:18-19; Rom. 5:1-2; 7:20; 1 Cor. 15:22; 2 Cor. 5:17; Tit. 2:11-14; 1 John 2:1
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I am without excuse, but You are my advocate. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Schaff: united in Christ

Tuesday, October 29, 2024
    Commemoration of James Hannington, Bishop of Eastern Equatorial Africa, Martyr in Uganda, 1885
Meditation:
    For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.
    —Hebrews 4:15 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If Christians are ever to be united, they must be united in Christ, their living head and the source of their spiritual life.
    ... Philip Schaff (1819-1893), The Life of Philip Schaff: in part autobiographical, David Schley Schaff, New York: C. Scribner’s Sons, 1897, p. 473 (see the book)
    See also Heb. 4:15; John 17:22-23; 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 1:9-10,22-23; 4:15; Col. 1:18-20,24
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, we seek You alone as our source of unity. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Gasque: the historical setting

Monday, October 28, 2024
    Feast of Simon & Jude, Apostles
Meditation:
    I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
    —Revelation 1:9 (NIV)
Quotation:
    A basic principle in the interpretation of the Bible is that one must first ask what a given Scripture was intended to mean to the people for whom it was originally written; only then is the interpreter free to ask what meaning it has for Christians today.
    Failure to ask this primary question and to investigate the historical setting of Scripture have prevented many Christians from coming to a correct understanding of some parts of the Bible. Nowhere is this more true than in respect to the last book in the Bible. Here, there has been a singular lack of appreciation for the historical background of the book; the book has been interpreted as if it were primarily written for the day in which the expositor lives (which is usually thought to be the end time), rather than in terms of what it meant to the first-century Christians of the Roman province of Asia for whom it was originally written. This has resulted in all sorts of grotesq ue and fantastic conclusions of which the author of the Revelation and its early recipients never would have dreamed.
    ... W. Ward Gasque (1939-2020), Sir William M. Ramsay: Archaeologist and New Testament Scholar, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1966, p. 48 (see the book)
    See also Rev. 1:9; Rom. 2:7; 5:3-4; 2 Thess. 1:4-5; Heb. 10:34-36; Rev. 3:10; 4:2; 13:10; 14:12
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, help me to understand those to whom You have spoken. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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