In HOPE

  In HOPE 6.16                                  back to home                        David Timms

Ministry Resource

Richard Felix was President at Azusa Pacific University when his wife was diagnosed with cancer in February, 1997. Vivian's "homegoing" arrived in June, 1999. The School of Dying Graces  (Tyndale, 2004; 185 pages) tells a compelling story of faith and grace. This book will grab your attenton, grip your heart, and guide you to a new place in the Journey.

Hope Happenings

Students have now left campus for the summer. Many will be away on short-term mission trips and internships around the US and overseas. We anticipate many God-honoring stories to emerge in the next 12 weeks or so.

 

Hope International University
Fullerton, CA 92831

 

"A true and safe leader is likely to be one who has no desire to lead, but is forced into a position by the inward pressure of the Holy Spirit and the press of circumstances.... The man who is ambitious to lead is disqualified as a leader. The true leader will have no desire to lord it over God's heritage, but will be humble, gentle, self-sacrificing, and altogether ready to follow when the Spirit chooses another to lead."   (J. Oswald Sanders, Spiritual Leadership )


At-one-ment

Theories of the atonement have intrigued theologians throughout the ages. How did the Cross create a bridge between us and God? Is the Ransom Theory, the Satisfaction Theory, or the Substitutionary Atonement Theory more accurate?

Yet, in the process of defining a doctrine have we inadvertently minimized a glorious truth? 

Atonement is not an ancient event or a dusty doctrine of the Church. Nor is it a single moment in our own personal history. Atonement is a fresh, daily state - the powerful, transforming experience of, literally, at-one-ment with God.

Theology sometimes fails the test of relevance and currency. We figure out what God did, but have little sense of what He is doing.  We live with reasonable hindsight but limited now-sight. We celebrate that we have been reconciled to God but remain largely oblivious to the glorious opportunity and invitation to be one with Him in the present moment.

The Kingdom of God does not belong to yesterday. Nor does it mark time till tomorrow. The Kingdom of God is now. "Today is the day of salvation." (2 Cor 6.2) The exhortation of Jesus to "abide in me" (Jn 15.4) suggested a moment-by-moment experience. The Kingdom of God has come. It exists now. And being "at one" with the Father is not a theological curiousity but an energizing spiritual reality. 

At-one-ment describes our current state - the remarkable, personal, and intimate walk available to us.

The death of Christ secured our eternal destiny. But, more importantly, it facilitates a present relationship with the Father - a relationship in which He speaks, guides, transforms, comforts, and confronts. "At one" with the Father is not an abstract theory but a life-giving condition.

The real issue is not how at-one-ment was made possible, but whether or not we actually live in union with the Father now . Christ has opened the door and cleared the way.

As we retrieve atonement from theological abstraction and embrace it as the most profound description of the Christian experience, we'll discover new depths of faith and life - beginning today.

In HOPE -

David

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David Timms serves in the Graduate Ministry Department at Hope International University in Fullerton, California. "In HOPE", however, is not an official publication of the University and the views expressed are not necessarily those of the Administrators or Board of the institution. "In HOPE" has been a regular e-publication since January, 2001.

For back issues of In HOPE, see http://www.hiu.edu/inhope/