The Ministry, Vol. 09, No. 10

Book excerpt: This issue of The Ministry contains the last nine messages given during the 2004 spring term of the Full-time Training in Anaheim, California. The general subject of this series of messages is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In a simple, basic way the God of Abraham is the God of justification, the God of Isaac is the God of grace, and the God of Jacob is the God of transformation through divine discipline. Messages 2 through 7 of the October 2005 issue of The Ministry presented the God of Abraham. Messages 8 and 9 of that issue presented the God of Isaac. In this issue Message 10 concludes the fellowship concerning the God of Isaac. Isaac signifies our living a life of enjoying God; hence, we live a grace-enjoying life for God's good pleasure. Messages 11 through 17 present the God of Jacob. The God of Jacob, who is the God of transformation, issues in the God of Israel, who is the God of the transformed Jacob. Message 18 presents the Israel of God. All the experiences of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, represented by the lives and experiences of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, are to produce this corporate person--the Israel of God. We do not have the experiences of the God of Abraham merely to be spiritual persons, we do not enter into the experiences represented by Isaac simply to be individuals enjoying God's grace in a personal way, and we do not go through all the experiences represented by Jacob's long life just to end up as spiritual individuals who have some spiritual stature. God desires a corporate person; He wants a people to express Him and represent Him. Last of all, we include a report concerning the Lord's move in the United Kingdom.