Chronicles of a Watchman by Dr. James P. Norman Jr.

The Holy Spirit is God himself personally present in the believer. "If" "Spirit of God" no more implies deity than does the Angel of God, why is not the Holy Spirit called simply the angel or messenger of God? The Spirit and the incarnation the Holy Spirit is God in his innermost being or essence, the principle of life of both the Father and the Son; that in which God, both as Father and Son, does everything, and in which he comes to us and is in us increasingly through his manifestations.  Through the working and indwelling of this Holy Spirit, God in his person of Son was fully incarnate in Christ (I Corinthians 2:11). This analogy must not be pushed to far, as if the Spirit of God and God were co-extensive terms, as the corresponding terms are, substantially, in man.  The point of the analogy is evidently self-knowledge, and in both cases the contrast is between the spirit within and anything outside.  We must not expect always to feel the power of the Spirit...

I have read and pondered Ezekiel 28. As pastors, preachers, ministers, or teachers of the God's word, this text reminds me there is a responsibility.  The position as an expositor of God's word requires accountability to the task and function.  The text speaks of guiding, leading, and directing a flock as a shepherd.  The persons shepherded are likening to sheep.  The leader is to feed the flock the Word of God.  Feeding is important to the maintenance, development, and sustenance of sheep.  God has entrusted the leader with the care of the flock.  The leader -- pastor, preacher, minister, or teacher -- is subordinate to God as the under-shepherd.  An under-shepherd has three responsibilities: one to lead, second, to guide; and third, to feed.  We are to do all three responsibly and not haphazardly.  We are not to lord our position over the sheep.  We are to be examples of what it means to be God inside minded.  We set the...