the work of the Spirit

"For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, 'Abba! Father!' The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs- heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him." (Romans 8:14-17 ESV)

I'm reading the letters of Jack Miller, former professor at Westminster, pastor, and director of World Harvest Mission. In one letter he writes about "why our hearts resist the work of the Holy Spirit"...

"Why, then, is the Holy Spirit not leading more of us into a maximum Christian life? The answer is that we are letting Him have only a minimal control of our life choices, both as individuals and families. We do not want Him to lead us too far along the paths of righteousness for fear that we may get hurt or someone we love may get hurt. But the concern of the Holy Spirit is contrary to our self-protective agendas. He has a holy passion for glorifying Christ. He wishes to honor Christ for His compete self-giving in His suffering. He also wishes to bring us into partnership with the Lord's work of filling up His sufferings in His disciples.... It is supremely a call to abandon self-protective strategies and awake to the truth that Christ's ascension now defines us and defines our whole universe. Look up, dear brothers and sisters, to Jesus upon the throne. Christ has ascended and in the process taken total control over human history, the world, and our lives. Believe it! Act on it! ... The Holy Spirit has been sent to act as the executive presence of Jesus Christ (Matt. 28:20). He is the primary means for Jesus' conquest of ourselves and the universe." (C. John Miller, The Heart of a Servant Leader: Letters from Jack Miller, p. 91-92)

Our unbelief does not hinder God from working in us -- nothing in actuality hinders God -- but this unbelief does in fact become a reason for God to withold the blessing of his power and presence. The Lord honors faith, and specifically a faith which is manifested in what Miller calls "the abandonment of self-protective strategies." This is the kind of faith so clearly demonstrated in Hebrews 11. It is also the ongoing struggle of all Christians, including myself.

clement quotes hebrews

Clement of Rome wrote to the church in Corinth around AD 90. This is perhaps the same Clement, companion of Paul, mentioned in Philippians 4:3. Many hold him to be the first bishop / pope in Rome, aka St. Clement I. Clement quotes from the letter to the Hebrews. Origin suggested that Clement was in fact the writer (as transcriber or amanuensis) of Hebrews. Perhaps this letter began as a "word of exhortation" given by Paul at the synagogue (Heb 13:22; cf Acts 13:15) which then became a circular letter for the churches. Other possible authors of Hebrews include Luke, Barnabas, or Apollos. The theology is Pauline, but the transcriber is obviously second-generation (Heb. 2:3-4). At any rate, this early church leader in Rome, is already quoting Hebrews in his letter in AD 90: CHAPTER 36 ALL BLESSINGS ARE GIVEN TO US THROUGH CHRIST This is the way, beloved, in which we find our Savior, even Jesus Christ, the High Prie...

Howard Hendricks on OT books chronology

When I was in seminary, Howard Hendricks (aka "Prof") gave us a little card with the books of the OT chronologically arranged. The scanned copy I have was a bit blurry and I wanted to make something like this available for our church class in OT theology ("Story of Redemption"). A few minor edits and here it is...

sword and trowel

"From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail. And the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah, who were building on the wall. Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other. And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built. The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me." (Nehemiah 4:16-18 ESV) The great London preacher, Charles Spurgeon, published a monthly magazine called The Sword and The Trowel; A record of combat with sin and of labour for the Lord. It was published from 1865 to 1892. The cover of the journal had a drawing taken from Nehemiah 4, which included both a trowel (representing the work) and a sword (representing the fight). The sword was necessary to protect what the men with trowels were building. These citizen-soldier-builders would successfully complete the wall aroun...

my burg

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