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As the Father Has Sent Me
God’s Progress of Redemption: Part One
Rod Culbertson
foreword by Jim Hatch
As the Father Has Sent Me
God’s Progress of Redemption
Copyright © 2018 Rod Culbertson. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.
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paperback isbn: 978-1-5326-4903-5
hardcover isbn: 978-1-5326-4904-2
ebook isbn: 978-1-5326-4905-9
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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Dedication
With lifelong gratitude and indebtedness, and having been blessed beyond measure to be taught by and know the man (and his wife, Mittie), I dedicate this book to the greatest professor that I have ever heard teach—Mr. James “Buck” Hatch.
“Buck” Hatch was a man broken by life, humble, self-deprecating, and constitutionally insecure. Yet he was a holy and useful vessel in the hands of God, who had graciously redeemed him. His brokenness enhanced his ministry of teaching, preaching, and counseling. His security was found in Christ! At times, he seemed nervous to teach, as well as embarrassed at the thought that, in his unworthiness, he would have anything worthwhile to tell his students. Yet, God’s strength was perfected in “Buck” Hatch’s weakness, and we listened as if the next moment of life depended upon every word he spoke. The man was intense about Christ! He taught me about the prophets (whom he loved), family life and marriage, and through his legendary course, “Progress of Redemption,” he shaped my life and ministry forever. “Buck” Hatch also became my personal counselor during the throes of challenging pastoral ministry, pastoral work that was often attended with much personal introspection and questioning.
Truly, I can still hear him declaring the poignant chapel message he delivered at Columbia International University (then Columbia Bible College) from 1 Corinthians 3:9 during my senior year of seminary. He reiterated to those of us preparing to serve God in full-time ministry, “You are God’s cultivated field!” I knew that “Buck” Hatch believed it, and ever since I have believed it—I am God’s work! And so is his church. I must humbly add that this book is mostly “Buck” Hatch’s work, written with hopes that his ministry will continue to bear fruit in God’s kingdom and be a blessing to his church.
Foreword
Mellow and grateful. Reading my friend Rod Culbertson’s As the Father Has Sent Me left me with both feelings.
On the one hand, of course my dad’s teaching permeates this book. So as I write this, I’m mellow—I miss him! And I share Rod’s view of him as a teacher. He was indeed the best teacher I’ve ever learned under. That flowed from his absolute aversion to teaching as a “monological information dump” and his determination that students themselves have the “Aha!” experience. Staying riveted to that objective radically impacted his teaching. This was perhaps uniquely true in what for many became their favorite course under Buck Hatch, Progress of Redemption. So I kept seeing and hearing dad as I read this book.
But the other sense is equally true. I’m deeply grateful for Rod’s effective and biblical unpacking of this foundational teaching of Buck Hatch. To be sure, Rod’s personal context, analysis, and life illustrations make this work his very own in a winsome way. To see clearly again the biblical flow of the purposes of God in the Scriptures, particularly in the Old Testament, will be very helpful to any who read. Far too many see the Bible as atomistic individual “pieces,” and rarely ever grasp what the Lord is doing from the beginning to the end of Scripture. Dad’s (and Rod’s!) reminder of the ways the Lord works—he has a plan, takes his time, uses fallible human instruments to change the world—are energizing.
I’m grateful that this broader understanding can be expanded through As the Father Has Sent Me. I warmly commend it to you.
Jim Hatch
Preface
God always has a plan and his plan will play out in a well-orchestrated story for the world. As a matter of fact, this world is his world and the world’s story is a story that God is both “writing” and working out by his sovereign and powerful hand, through the power of the Holy Spirit. This book, As The Father Has Sent Me, is the first of two books that will summarize God’s plan of redemption (saving a people for himself to the honor of his own glory and majesty). Both books will demonstrate to the reader how God’s story unfolds according to his gracious plan. As The Father Has Sent Me will start in the beginning, commonly known as the book of Genesis, and will climax in its narrative with the coming of Christ, the Son of God. You will watch God’s “drama of redemption” unfold before your eyes as you read the text of book one. The second book, So Send I You, will continue the story with Christ’s command to his disciples to make other disciples (or followers) of the entire world. As you read So Send I You, you will watch the beginning of God’s movement from saving the nation of Israel for his own purposes to the calling of a special people to himself from the ranges of the entire world. So, I must prepare the reader for the inevitable: when you complete this volume, you will not be finished with the entire story. Book one, As The Father Has Sent Me, is filled with all sorts of insights about both the Bible and God’s plan, but at its completion, although you will crescendo to the apex of the message, the coming of Christ, the story will not be over. Hopefully, you will want to continue reading and will pursue the second book, So Send I You. And if you engage in reading volume two, you could even discover that you—yes, you yourself—might make an appearance in God’s story as well. So, I hope you will enjoy both books and in doing so, find yourself in the midst of God’s story for the world.
Acknowledgments
I once met with an old friend, and minister at the time, whom I knew while we were both students at the University of South Carolina. When he mentioned to me that he had earned his Master of Divinity (and ThM) degree at Dallas Theological Seminary, I remarked, “Oh, you were able to study under the great Christian education professor, Dr. Howard Hendricks. That must have been incredible!” His reply was simply this, “Yes, but I envy your studies at Columbia International University. You were able to study under the legendary ‘Buck’ Hatch! There is no one like him!” And he was correct—I had learned from a master teacher.
In my dedication, I have acknowledged that the bulk of this work is a product of the instruction of Presbyterian minister, Reverend Mr. James “Buck” Hatch, Professor of Bible, among other things, at Columbia International University. This book primarily consists of notes from his insightful course, “Progress of Redemption,” a course well known to a vast number of the graduates of CIU. I have tried to recapture the course and enhance it with some of my own insights. Ultimately, the material is a reproduction of his teaching, straight from the copious notes I took covering the first portion of his “Progress of Redemption” course. Therefore, credit goes to Mr. Hatch, the man who kept us both attentive and alert by constantly stopping his lectures with long pauses, while matter-of-factly saying, “Look up here!” And we did!
Many thanks are due to my professional graphics artist for creating some very nice pictures that enhance this