tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33088799002034193852023-11-15T13:03:24.217-05:00Pectus Theologum FacitThe Wisdom of William Henry Griffith Thomas, D.D.Chuck Hickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929470338280066656noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3308879900203419385.post-61502623334701611542011-01-19T12:09:00.003-05:002011-01-19T12:16:51.315-05:00Another PauseThanks to those of you who check in at <em><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">Pectus</span> <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Theologum</span> <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">Facit</span></em>.<br /><br />The editor of this blog is currently <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">immersed</span> in multiple projects at work and, giving first priority to church and daily <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">lectionary</span> studies, is unable, for the moment, to mine the writings of Dr. Griffith Thomas. My apologies. However this, too, shall pass, and more excerpts will appear before long.<br /><br />Your willingness to stop by here to read, and your patience during this break are much appreciated.<br /><br />The peace of the Lord be with you.Chuck Hickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929470338280066656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3308879900203419385.post-77988612215756855732011-01-06T11:35:00.001-05:002011-01-06T11:38:38.527-05:00Epiphany<blockquote>God knows the power of surprise, and with deepest reverence we may say that He delights to surprise and astonish His people in manifold ways. When He gave His only Begotten Son for the life of the world He gave mankind the greatest possible surprise, for whether we think of the life, or the teaching, or the influence of our Lord, we are face to face with the perpetual surprise of the ages. And now day by day in that “unspeakable gift” every believer is continually being surprised by God with marvelous gifts of grace.<br /><br />The weary soul has but one thought, the burden of sin and the desire to get rid of it. Convicted of personal guilt, the heart knows its own bitterness and is conscious of the Divine condemnation. The Christian life commences with the removal of that burden as the soul looks to Calvary, and looking, becomes conscious of pardon and deliverance. But instead of pardon only, the penitent soul finds very much more, for with the pardon comes a sense of peace and rest, and a consciousness of reconciliation with God. Nor is this all, for there is also a delightful sense of freedom and liberty, together with a wondrous experience of joy. Even these things are not the whole, for there comes into the soul a blessed consciousness of the presence of God, and with this the gift of His indwelling Spirit. Thus the soul at the very outset is surprised and astonished beyond measure at the Divine bounty to those whose only thought was riddance of a terrible burden. Like the thief on the cross, who expected some future deliverance when the Lord should come into His kingdom, and was surprised with a present, immediate blessing, “To-day thou shalt be with me,” so now the believing heart finds a succession of surprises at the very commencement of its Christian career.</blockquote>Chuck Hickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929470338280066656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3308879900203419385.post-62698998045272523882010-12-21T11:32:00.001-05:002010-12-21T11:34:25.129-05:00Obtaining<blockquote>Two intimate friends were once lunching together, and after the host had said the usual grace, “For what we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly thankful,” his friend asked him when he was expecting to have that prayer answered. “What do you mean,” was the reply. “Why,” was the rejoinder, “to my certain knowledge you have been praying for the last twenty-five years to be <i>made</i> thankful: is it not about time that you <i>were</i> thankful?” In the same way in the Christian life there comes a time when we should cease asking and commence obtaining. This is the value of distinction between God’s promises and God’s facts. The promises are to be pleaded and their fulfillment expected. The facts are to be accepted and their blessings at once used. When we read, “My grace <i>is</i> sufficient for thee,” it is not a promise to be pleaded, but a fact to be at once accepted and enjoyed. When we say “The Lord <i>is</i> my shepherd,” we are not dealing with a promise or the groundwork of prayer, we are concerned with one of the present realities of the Christian experience. </blockquote>Chuck Hickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929470338280066656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3308879900203419385.post-28868264527337205972010-12-10T10:25:00.000-05:002010-12-10T10:27:05.530-05:00Until He Comes<blockquote>Our Lord Jesus Christ during the latter part of His earthly ministry laid special stress on two great facts associated with Himself; His death (Matt. xvi. 21; John vi. 51; viii. 28; xii. 32); and His coming again (Matt. xvi. 27; xix. 28; xxiv. 27, 37, and 44; ch. xxv.). His death was to be “for the life of the world” and “a ransom for many”; His coming was to be the crown of His revelation and the constant hope of His followers. On the first occasion when the Lord revealed to His perplexed disciples the fact of His approaching death (Matt. xvi. 21), He spoke also of His coming and glory (Matt. xvi. 27) thereby linking the two great events and showing the latter to be the complement and perfect explanation of the former. Then, “on the same night in which He was betrayed,” our Lord instituted an ordinance which was to combine in its full spiritual meaning a reference to His atoning death and His glorious coming; an ordinance which would be a standing to both, and serve for the sustenance and expression of His disciples’ faith in the one and of their hope in the other (Matt. xxvi. 26-29; I Cor. xi. 26).</blockquote>Chuck Hickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929470338280066656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3308879900203419385.post-45285278176988671042010-12-01T07:58:00.003-05:002010-12-02T12:12:49.120-05:00Hope in His Coming<blockquote>The fulness of God is the fulness of <i>hope</i>. “That ye may abound in hope.” Hope in the New Testament is a Christian grace wrought in the soul by the Holy Spirit. It is to be carefully distinguished from our modern use of the word as equivalent to hopefulness, just as a mere matter of buoyancy of temperament. The Christian hope will undoubtedly produce hopefulness, but the two are never to be confused, much less identified. The one is the cause, the other the effect. Hope always looks on the future and is concerned with that great object which is put before us in the New Testament. The Christian hope is fixed on the coming of our Lord, and this is a very prominent element of New Testament teaching. It is to be feared that it does not obtain great prominence in much of present day Christianity. Most people look forward, not to the coming of the Lord, but to death; yet the one object of expectation set before us in the New Testament is the coming of our Lord. Now-a-days, the general idea is that death <i>will</i> come, and the Lord <i>may</i> come; but Scripture reverses this and says, “Death <i>may</i> come, but the Lord <i>will</i> come.” There is something in the very fact of dying which is abhorrent to the Christian man. It is not that he is afraid to die, but that he naturally shrinks from that which is ever spoken of in the Bible as man’s “enemy.” “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death” (1 Cor. xv. 26). The Lord’s coming, on the contrary, is a subject of joy, satisfaction, blessedness, and the contemplation of it can do nothing but good to the soul.</blockquote>Chuck Hickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929470338280066656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3308879900203419385.post-6346458327809070802010-11-22T08:51:00.002-05:002010-11-30T12:25:35.268-05:00Perfect Peace<blockquote>The fullness of God is the fullness of <i>peace</i>. “Fill you with all…peace.” This brings before us the passive, as joy gives the active side of the Christian life. As with joy, so also there is a twofold peace in the Word of God, the peace of reconciliation and the peace of restfulness. The peace of reconciliation is the foundation: “Being justified by faith we have peace with God” (Rom. v. 1). The enmity has been removed, the barriers are broken down and the soul is reconciled with God through Him Who is our peace. And then comes the peace of restfulness: “The peace of God” (Phil. iv. 7). The soul at peace with God enjoys precious realisation of His presence as the God of peace, and restfulness arises and abides moment by moment in the heart. This again is part of the fullness of life which God intends for us in Christ Jesus, the fullness of His own peace. “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee” (Isa. xxvi. 3).</blockquote>Chuck Hickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929470338280066656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3308879900203419385.post-49195707673492105522010-11-18T09:06:00.002-05:002010-11-18T13:31:26.337-05:00Satisfaction<blockquote>The fullness of God is the fullness of <i>joy</i>. “Fill you with all joy.” Joy is one of the most important and prominent elements of the Christian life. It is a condition of soul which is the immediate result of our definite personal relation to Christ. There is a twofold joy in the Bible – the joy of salvation and the joy of satisfaction. The joy of salvation comes from the experience of sin forgiven, from the consciousness that the burden has been rolled away, and that all the past is covered in the righteousness of Christ. This was the experience of the jailer at Philippi, who “rejoiced, believing in God” (Acts xvi. 34). It was the restoration of this joy for which David prayed (Ps. li. 12).<br /><br />The joy of satisfaction is the other element of the fullness of joy. “Satisfaction!” some one answers, “is it possible to use such a word in connection with the Christian life of the present?” Should we not limit this idea of satisfaction to the life to come? Satisfied with what? Not with ourselves, not with our attainments or service, but satisfied with Christ. The Apostle Peter’s glowing words are not to be postponed to the life to come, “whom, having not seen, ye love; in whom, though ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Pet. i. 8). This is one of the searching and supreme tests of life – our satisfaction with our Lord. </blockquote>Chuck Hickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929470338280066656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3308879900203419385.post-40719831860145426882010-11-08T07:51:00.002-05:002010-11-09T19:51:33.874-05:00Abundant Entrance<blockquote>A Christian man was on his death-bed. He had spent a long life of service in the Kingdom of God, and a friend at his side was encouraging him with the thought of his approaching entrance into the Home above, and the joy of meeting his Lord after all his earnest labour and faithful service. The dying man responded with beautiful humility, “I shall be satisfied if I can but creep into heaven on my hands and knees.” We can easily understand the spirit which prompted these words; he felt that his service was nothing compared with his need of the Mercy of God through which alone he would reach the heavenly Kingdom. At the same time there is another sense in which the words are not rightly applicable to the Christian, for St. Peter speaks of our having “an abundant entrance ministered unto us into the everlasting kingdom” (2 Pet. i. 11). In keeping with this St. Paul was constantly emphasising the Christian life under such figures of speech as “wealth,” “riches,” “abundance,” “fullness,” and he prays that Christians “might be filled with all the fullness of God.” He was not satisfied with a bare entrance into heaven, he wished his converts and himself to have the fullest possible Christian life and experience here below, and then enter fully into the joy of the Lord above. This is the true Christian life, the life of fullness, depth, power and reality; the only life emphasized in the Word of God, the only life that can glorify God or satisfy His purpose concerning us.</blockquote>Chuck Hickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929470338280066656noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3308879900203419385.post-31987655371592819912010-11-01T10:35:00.002-04:002010-11-18T09:09:31.278-05:00Appointment<blockquote>Shall we not therefore <i>make</i> an appointment with God from this moment? There is no special place of meeting now, only a special Person through Whom we come. Christ our Saviour and our Lord is willing to make an appointment with us, if only we are willing to respond to Him, and definitely arrange to meet with Him day by day.</blockquote>Chuck Hickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929470338280066656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3308879900203419385.post-31667260413783418862010-10-20T07:41:00.001-04:002010-10-20T07:43:16.049-04:00Walking in Agreement (iv)<blockquote>God met His people at the Altar of Incense. “Thou shalt make it a perfume…and put of it before the testimony in the tabernacle…where I will <i>meet</i> with thee,” (Exod. xxx. 35, 36). This Altar was in the Holy Place of the Tabernacle, and was used day by day for the daily offering of incense (Luke i. 9). We can see the spiritual meaning of it in the Psalmist’s words, “Let my prayer be set forth before Thee as the incense” (Psalm cxli. 2). The underlying thought is that of worship and communion, for the incense rose day by day in the Tabernacle, so the people of Israel were to worship and commune with their God day by day. The spiritual meaning for us is evident: we are called to daily communion with God through prayer and His Word. In prayer the soul speaks to God; in the Bible God speaks to the soul, and this is another of the meeting places with God. God meets us by appointment in daily worship and spiritual communion.<br /><br />This everyday experience of prayer and meditation is at the root of all genuine Christian life. It is only as we “wait upon the Lord” that we shall “renew our strength” (Isa. xl. 31) and glorify God day by day.</blockquote>Chuck Hickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929470338280066656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3308879900203419385.post-67857912852379894422010-10-13T11:30:00.001-04:002010-10-13T11:32:31.639-04:00Walking in Agreement (iii)<blockquote>God met His people at the Altar of Burnt Offering. “A continual offering…at the door of the tabernacle…where I will <i>meet</i> you” (Exodus xxix. 42). The Burnt Offering was offered in the outer court of the Tabernacle by morning, and it was wholly consumed on the altar. The predominant spiritual meaning was not propitiation, though that element was included, but consecration. It implied the whole-hearted devotion and complete surrender of the offerer; as his gift was was wholly consumed by the fire, so his life was to be wholly dedicated to God. The Christian counterpart of this is very clear in the New Testament. As propitiation is seen in Rom. iii. 25, so consecration is seen in Rom. xii. 1, “I beseech you therefore by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice.” In this whole-hearted surrender of soul God meets with us, and we are thereby enabled to walk with Him.<br /><br />It is possible that one secret of our failure to walk with God lies just at this point. We have accepted our Lord as the propitiation, but we have not surrendered wholly to Him as our Master and Lord; and yet He can never be wholly our Saviour unless He is also our Lord. The woman with an issue of blood attempted to obtain the blessing of healing without giving Jesus Christ credit in open testimony and confession, and in like manner it would seem as if many professed Christians desired to obtain the benefits of Calvary without yielding their lives to Him in grateful devotion as their Master and Lord. But as long as this is the case, there can be no walking with God. He must be Lord of all if we are to have fellowship with Him. Whenever, therefore, we are prepared to say from the heart, “Here we offer and present unto Thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy and living sacrifice unto Thee,” we shall find that He will meet with us and enable us to walk step by step…</blockquote>Chuck Hickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929470338280066656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3308879900203419385.post-50594159376987447252010-10-07T07:01:00.001-04:002010-10-07T07:03:52.757-04:00Walking in Agreement (ii)<blockquote>God met His people at the Mercy Seat. “There I will <i>meet</i> with thee” (Exodus xxv. 22). The Mercy Seat was in the Holy of Holies, and was approached only once a year by the High Priest alone. He brought the blood of sacrifice with him, and sprinkled that blood in front of and upon the Mercy Seat; the Holy Ghost thus signifying that God and His people were now at peace, reconciled on the basis of sacrifice. The predominant thought of the Mercy Seat was that of propitiation, and in that propitiation God “met His people by appointment.” For us today the spiritual meaning and antitype are found in the Cross of Christ. “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood” (Rom. iii. 25). God meets us by appointment at the Cross, and fellowship with Him is only possible on the basis of that sacrifice. The intimate connection of the believer with the Cross of Christ is not to be limited to the moment of conversion, or even to the elementary experiences of the Christian life. The death of Christ touches the Christian life at all points and at all times, and is concerned with the deepest and most mature experiences of the Christian soul. The teaching of the Apostle Paul (Rom. vi.; Col. v.) clearly connects the death of our Lord with the whole course of our Christian life. We are not only justified by His blood (Rom. v. 9), we are also sanctified thereby (Heb. xiii. 12). Never for an instant can we get away from or pass beyond the power of the propitiation of Calvary; it is there that God continues to meet with us day by day, and at this meeting place we have the first part of a truly blessed walk with our Heavenly Father.</blockquote>Chuck Hickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929470338280066656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3308879900203419385.post-52614409754479445772010-09-28T08:15:00.002-04:002010-09-28T08:24:56.434-04:00Walking in Agreement<blockquote>How then can this life of walking with God be realised? “Can two walk together except they be agreed?” We know how true this is in an earthly walk. The two friends must be agreed as to the time of starting, the direction of the walk, and also as to the topics of conversation.<br /><br />In like manner, there must be “agreement” between God and the believer if there is to be a walk together. What, however, does it really mean for the believer and his God to “be agreed”? In the margin of the R.V. there is a very interesting reading – “Can two walk together, except they make an appointment?” A still closer rendering of the Hebrew would be, “Except they <i>meet</i> by appointment.” In the proper interpretation of this word lies the secret of walking with God. The Hebrew root from which the word comes is used in connection with the Jewish Tabernacle, which it will be remembered is, literally, “the tent of <i>meeting</i>,” and there are three passages in particular which suggest to us the secret of walking with God.</blockquote>To be continued…Chuck Hickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929470338280066656noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3308879900203419385.post-13157053389813750112010-09-14T07:38:00.000-04:002010-09-14T07:42:38.001-04:00Friends Indeed<blockquote>One man and one man only in the Old Testament has the great privilege of being called “the friend of God” (2 Chron. xx. 7; Isa. xli. 8; James ii. 23); and to this very day in the Arabian desert Abraham is spoken of as El Khalil, God’s friend. But this very title is applied in the New Testament to all the Master’s disciples: “I have called you friends” (John xv. 15), “Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you” (John xv. 14).</blockquote>Chuck Hickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929470338280066656noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3308879900203419385.post-29205863680954587962010-09-07T08:03:00.000-04:002010-09-07T08:04:16.133-04:00Friends of God<blockquote>Enoch and Noah seem to represent the two aspects of the Christian life – the inner and outer; character and conduct; contemplation and its action. It is not quite correct to imagine Enoch as living entirely the life of adoration, contemplation and communion, for we are told (Jude 14, 15) of his faithful testimony to the ungodly around him, and no one can be so faithful amidst surrounding idolatry and wickedness without experiencing opposition and real discipline of soul. In the case of Noah, however, there is no possible doubt about his being a man of affairs, a practical, hard-working servant of God who in the midst of his labours and testimony was nevertheless enabled to walk with God. It is impossible, therefore, for anyone to say that this walk with God is impracticable and beyond our power. What man has done, man can do, for the grace of God is the same in all ages and the Lord is “rich unto all that call upon Him.”</blockquote>Chuck Hickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929470338280066656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3308879900203419385.post-289478015892587432010-08-30T07:52:00.001-04:002010-08-30T07:52:57.287-04:00Prepositions<blockquote>It is interesting to note the various prepositions that are found in Scripture connected with the Christian walk. “Walk <i>before</i> me” (Gen. xvii. 1). Abraham is called to sincerity, to live his life in the presence of God. “Ye shall walk <i>after</i> the Lord your God” (Deut. xiii. 4). The believer is also required to follow God in close, careful obedience. “As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye <i>in</i> Him” (Col. ii. 6). The believer is commanded to walk in union with his Lord. But highest of all we read of walking “humbly <i>with</i> God” (Mic. vi. 8). This is our highest and truest companionship, keeping step with God day by day.</blockquote>Chuck Hickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929470338280066656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3308879900203419385.post-18695344858803369662010-08-24T11:54:00.000-04:002010-08-24T11:55:53.121-04:00Walking Together in Love<blockquote>Dead people do not walk, and it is impossible to think of a Christian “walking” until we realise that he possesses spiritual life in order to enable him to do so. “He that hath the Son that life,” and when we receive into our hearts by faith the life of God in Christ we have the certain guarantee of our Christian walk.<br /><br />The Christian walk means activity in Christ and for Him. The life is not to be quiescent, but energetic. The proof of our possession of life lies in our Christian walk.<br /><br />The Christian walk is not a solitary one, for, there is companionship in it; the Christian does not go it alone. This is true with reference to our fellow-Christians, and the New Testament is very clear in its emphasis on Christian love and fellowship. A purely individualistic Christian is no Christian at all. A solitary Christian is an utter misnomer. No one can be a New Testament Christian apart from fellowship with other Christians. In this companionship there is joy and strength and inspiration, and truly to be a saint in the Bible meaning of that word requires an experience of “the Communion of Saints.”</blockquote>Chuck Hickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929470338280066656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3308879900203419385.post-64262186168663281612010-08-16T14:59:00.001-04:002010-08-16T15:01:28.797-04:00The Walk<blockquote>The Christian life is described and illustrated in Holy Scripture by means of several faculties and actions of the human body. Sometimes the eye is used: “<em>Look</em> unto Me, and be ye saved” (Isa. xlv. 22). At others times the ear is mentioned: “<em>Hear</em>, and your soul shall live” (Isa. lv. 3). Yet again we have the hand: “Let him <em>take hold</em> of my strength” (Isa. xxvii. 5). And not infrequently the mouth is employed: “O <em>taste</em> and see that the Lord is good” (Ps. xxxiv. 8). But perhaps the commonest, and in some respects the most suggestive, is the illustration of the “walk” which is found very frequently both in the Old and the New Testaments. In the Epistle to the Ephesians the metaphor of “walking” is found no less than seven times. There is a remarkable appropriateness in this use of the metaphor to express the Christian life. Walking is one of the few perfect forms of exercise, those in which all parts of the body are brought into play; and its suggestiveness and appropriateness for Christianity are evident when we remember that religion is intended to affect with vital, practical reality every part of our being, and that every faculty of our nature is to be exercised to the fullness possible extent, “ever, only, all” for God. <blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>Chuck Hickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929470338280066656noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3308879900203419385.post-8735033179415005702010-08-10T11:15:00.001-04:002010-08-10T11:15:35.367-04:00Lift Up Your Heads<blockquote>Prophecy is history written beforehand. With God promise is reality, truth is fact. In the coming of the Lord is the hope of the world. It is not the “larger hope” but the “blessed hope” that is the true and substantial hope of God’s people and all humanity; and this revelation of eternal Kingship makes its claim upon us, and is intended to elicit a response of <i>joyful confidence</i>. We are to live and work in the light of this glorious day. It will give tone and power to our service, it will save us from despair, it will give fibre and force to all our endeavors, it will make us radiantly optimistic and never gloomily pessimistic. Not for an instance must we ever be discouraged, even by the gravest problems in the present condition of the world. “He must reign, He shall reign.” There must be no looking backward, even to what are called the “good old days.” Doubtless they were good old days; but as God is true, as Christ is real, as the Spirit is powerful, the present days are better, and the best is yet to come. Never must we tremble for the ark of God, though may well tremble for everything else. “Cease ye from man,” and live and work only in the light of “glorious day that is coming by-and-by.”</blockquote>Chuck Hickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929470338280066656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3308879900203419385.post-77661313705278262282010-08-03T08:04:00.001-04:002010-08-03T08:07:43.883-04:00All Power<blockquote>Most modern Lives of Christ begin in Bethlehem and end at Olivet, but the New Testament begins earlier and continues later. There is nothing more definite, clear, and unmistakable in the New Testament than the truth of our Lord’s present life and service in heaven. His work on earth is finished, but not so His work in heaven. He intercedes, He bestows the Spirit, He guides the Church, He is interested in individuals, He uses people, He controls affairs. We hear a great deal of going “Back to Christ.” The truer expression is “Up to Christ”; to the Christ on the throne – the living, exalted, and ever-present Lord. The Book of the Acts of the Apostles is really the Book of the Acts of the Ascended Christ; and this revelation of our Lord’s perpetual presence makes its claim upon us. How can we talk of retrenchment when “all things are ours” and “all power” is given to Christ for us?</blockquote>Chuck Hickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929470338280066656noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3308879900203419385.post-72812463799901361472010-07-26T10:13:00.001-04:002010-07-26T10:14:49.800-04:00Provision<blockquote>Pentecost means power to live, to labour, to love; power to work, to witness, to wait; power to serve, to stand, to suffer; power “to resist, to insist, to persist”; power, if needs be, to die. “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” It means that our Lord’s Divine Power has provided for us all things that pertain to life, godliness and service, and that there is no excuse for barrenness and unfruitfulness. Work done in the energy of the flesh or in the power of mere human enthusiasm will fail, but work done in the power of the Spirit will abide and abound and glorify God; and if we would realise this, and rest entirely for all holiness and all service on the gift of the exalted Christ, our lives would be “satisfied with favour, full with the blessing of the Lord,” and “thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”</blockquote>Chuck Hickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929470338280066656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3308879900203419385.post-13510039376623703102010-07-20T09:35:00.000-04:002010-07-20T09:36:11.466-04:00On High<blockquote>Though He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high, it does not mean that He is inactive or at ease in that exalted position. He ascended as Priest; He abides there as Priest and King. This revelation makes it claim upon us, and is intended to elicit a response of <i>spiritual fellowship</i>. The Ascension means entrance into the holiest, and not only for the Lord, but for us. It means access, liberty, fellowship, power, and blessing; and hence the Epistle to the Hebrews can say: “We have a High Priest; therefore let us draw near, let us hold fast, let us consider one another.” The fact that through the Ascension we have all these privileges and blessings should be the means and incentive to spiritual blessing, spiritual fellowship, and spiritual influence. We rob ourselves of blessing, strength, and joy if we do not see in the fact of the Ascension not merely the opportunity of complete spiritual provision, but an absolute duty to appropriate and use that provision for the illumination and satisfaction of our lives.</blockquote>Chuck Hickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929470338280066656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3308879900203419385.post-11429941760373711162010-07-16T11:30:00.001-04:002010-07-16T11:32:00.250-04:00Raised to be Lord<blockquote>His resurrection is a revelation of <i>Absolute Lordship</i>. He was thereby “declared to be the Son of God with power.” The Servant of God becomes the Lord of man, and this revelation makes it claim upon us, and is intended to elicit a response of <i>unquestioning obedience</i>. “To this end, Christ both died and rose again and revived, that he might be Lord.” Through that Resurrection, and because of it, we are to yield Him our allegiance. “Jesus Christ our Lord” is the favourite designation of the Apostle Paul, “My Lord and my God” is the adoring submissive confession of Thomas. “Lord and Saviour” is Peter’s repeated title of his Master. “Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.” So He is; and as we realise this and yield Him our loving loyalty, we shall find peace and joy, the power and blessing of resurrection of Him Whom God hath raised up as the Servant of Jehovah, the Lord of Mankind.</blockquote>Chuck Hickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929470338280066656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3308879900203419385.post-38040565282532958702010-07-13T09:59:00.000-04:002010-07-13T10:00:24.711-04:00Sacrifice<blockquote>The Lord’s death is first and foremost an atoning sacrifice, and as such is absolutely unique; but there are aspects of this death which we are called to imitate. As a revelation of love it makes a claim upon us, and is intended to elicit a response of <i>grateful self-sacrifice</i>. “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid His life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” Here is the great obligation, “We ought”; here is the great source of that great obligation, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.” In the death of our Lord we have the highest expression of love… That love binds us to Him with cords of devotion. “We love, because He first loved us,” and in loving service even unto death we shall “fill up that which is behind in the afflictions of Christ for His body’s sake, the Church,” and reveal to the world the greatest of all powers, the power of loving self-sacrifice.</blockquote>Chuck Hickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929470338280066656noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3308879900203419385.post-14982607023594436142010-07-08T10:36:00.002-04:002010-07-08T10:39:53.736-04:00Work<blockquote> Our Lord inaugurated His earthly ministry by His act of consecration in the rite of baptism, with its keynote, “Thus is becometh us to fulfil all righteousness,” and all through the three years, service for God was the dominant note. His preaching, His miracles, His training of the twelve Apostles, all meant work. The entire picture of Jesus in the Gospel of St. John is that of One Whose supreme desire and determination were to do the will of God. “I must work the works of Him that sent Me while it is day” was His constant thought, until at the end He is able to say, “I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do.”<br /><br />This revelation makes its claim upon us, and is intended to elicit a response of <i>whole-hearted consecration</i>. “For their sakes I consecrate Myself, that they may be consecrated through the Truth.” The Lord’s earthly ministry is a call to steadfast purpose, to strenuous endeavor, and to genuine work for our Master.<br /><br /><blockquote> “That all our powers with all their might,<br />In His sole glory may unite.”</blockquote></blockquote>Chuck Hickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01929470338280066656noreply@blogger.com0