Robert Houk Hitchcock
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Thankful for God's Word

   In this wonderful Thanksgiving holiday season in the United States, it comes to mind that what I am most thankful for is the  knowledge of God.  Having been raised in a Christian home with Christian values, I still lacked a true knowledge of God and of His son, Jesus Christ.  In the fall of 1977, my junior year in college, I was invited to a Bible fellowship, called a "Twig."  In a week of attending that fellowship, I learned more of God's Word than I had in the previous 21 years.  It was there that a knowledge of God was unfolded to me like I had never known.  What deliverance it brought to my life to know that I had eternal life and that I could walk with the power of God in manifestation!  Continuing in my quest for learning, I enrolled in Biblical research and teaching classes and grew in my knowledge of God.

   The wonderful teaching ministry that brought me God's Word set forth a knowledge of God that literally had not been known for centuries.  Under the teaching ministry of Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille and other men and women, the knowledge of God brought the light of God's Word to a generation that hungered after it.  In reflecting upon that light, I thought I'd share, in thankfulness, what I consider to be their greatest contributions to the knowledge of God this century.

Colossians 2:6-10
   As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:
   Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
   Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
   For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
   And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:

   After we confess Jesus as Lord, and believe that God has raised him from the dead, God's Word directs us to become rooted and built up in him and to be established in the faith.  This requires that we are taught God's Word by knowledgeable men and women and that we abound therein with thanksgiving.  It is the teaching of God's Word that makes known our completeness in Christ so that we may grow up in him in all things.

Titus 1:9
   Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.

   God's Word also exhorts us to "hold fast the faithful word" as we have been taught.  The believing of God's Word first requires a knowledge of God's Word which requires that a knowledgeable teacher teach an eager and hungry student.  Today, around the world, men and women are still holding fast to the knowledge of God that was brought to them in this day and time.

2 Timothy 2:15
   Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

   Every student of the Bible is required to work God's Word in order that they may "rightly-divide" it.  This requires the tools of the trade, so to speak, and what a knowledge of those tools has been made and is being made available to our generations.

2 Timothy 2:1-2
   Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
   And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

   As we have been taught God's Word, we also seek to teach others.  This is the only pattern that will take God's Word into the next generation.  Faithful men who shall be able to teach others must continue to grow in the knowledge of God and continue to teach those that hunger after a knowledge of God.

2 Peter 3:18
   But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.  To him be glory both now and for ever.  Amen.

   No knowledge of God is ever fully complete.  We must continue to build upon the great knowledge of God that we've been given.  We are to grow in our knowledge of God, and that will mean that we continue to learn new light and continue to teach until Christ's return when we will know even as we are known.

Consider these wonderful contributions to the knowledge of God in our day and time:

1. The Knowledge of the Mystery

   Even before the end of the Apostle Paul's life, the knowledge of the mystery was all but lost.  The Mystery was so significant to God that it was hidden in Him until He revealed it to Paul.

2 Timothy 1:15
   This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.

2 Timothy 4:4
   And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

   The first century church may have turned away from Paul and his teaching of the Mystery of the One Body, but a knowledge of it was brought to light again in our day and time:

Ephesians 3:6
   That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:

Colossians 1:25-27
   Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;
   Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
   To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

   We, as believers have Christ in us, the hope of glory!  I never heard that at my Sunday school class.  I learned it from the teaching ministry that brought light to our generation.

2. The Knowledge of the gift of holy spirit and the manifestations of the spirit

1 Corinthians 12:1
   Now concerning spiritual gifts [matters], brethren, I would not have you ignorant.

1 Corinthians 12:7-11
   But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
   For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
   To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
   To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
   But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.

   How ironic it is that God has specifically written that we are not to be ignorant of something that almost all of Christendom is ignorant about: The gift of holy spirit and the nine manifestations of the spirit.  What a tremendous contribution this knowledge of God has made in our day and time both to the church as a whole and to us as individuals!  To be able to manifest speaking in tongues, interpretation and prophecy at our fellowships, to be able to receive word of knowledge, word of wisdom and discerning of spirits in our daily walks, and to be able to operate the manifestation of faith [believing}, miracles and gifts of healings is so wonderful and has brought so much edification and healing to so many.

3. The Knowledge of the  Hope of Christ's return and when the dead shall be made alive.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
   But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
   For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
   For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
   For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
   Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
   Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

   What another tremendous contribution to the knowledge of God is the true knowledge of the Return of Christ and the timing of the resurrections from the dead.  Almost all of Christianity believes in some form or fashion that the dead are alive now, but the Word of God is so clear in its teaching concerning death and the resurrection from the dead.  Our hope is Christ's promised return which could occur at any moment, that we which alive and remain shall be caught up in the cloud with those who have been asleep in Christ and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

  There is no comfort in the propagation that the dead are alive now.  There is no comfort in the institutional doctrine that so many, many Christians embrace.  Our comfort is that those that sleep in Christ are not conscious of time, and thus the next moment of their consciousness will be the Return of their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  What a comfort it is to have a true knowledge of God and of the promised Gathering Together unto him.

4. The Knowledge that Jesus Christ is the Son of God

I John 4:12
  No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

John 1:18
   No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

John 20:31
   But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

   God's Word is truth and we need make no apologies for truth.  You only have to apologize when you are incorrect.  Most of Christianity embraces the undocumentable doctrine that Jesus Christ is God.  How contradictory to the scriptures that is and what deliverance a true knowledge of God brings in this area.  How thankful I am that I know Who I worship and who my lord and savior is!
   There is no life in error, no matter how sincere it may be and how long it has been practiced.  This light of God's Word has made a significant contribution to our day and time.

   The knowledge of The Fellowship in the home, the Family of God and the Love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation

Acts 2:42-47
   And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
   And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.
   And all that believed were together, and had all things common;
   And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.
   And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
   Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

   Christianity is not a religion, it is a family of believers living God's Word and waiting for the day we are gathered together in Christ.  The practical contributions to the outreach of the church are significant.  The fellowship in the home is the core of Christianity and the family of God are the participants.  The fellowship is knit together in the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation as we all continue to grow in our knowledge of God.  With the operation of the gift ministries in the church, we are perfected in our walks and we continue to grow in our outreach of God's Word.  This pattern was utilized by the first century church and re-introduced to our day and time.  It is God's method for sustaining the church and for its continued blessing and well- being.

   How thankful I am to God for the knowledge of God that He has allowed me to learn through the wonderful teaching ministry of God's Word.  How blessed we are with a knowledge of God!  I am certain that there are other equally significant contributions that you may have thought about, but let it suffice to say that we are all thankful for the knowledge of God and for those that taught us and are teaching us God's wonderful Word.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving giving thanks unto Him for all that we've been given.


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© Copyright November 1999