#553 – Telling God’s Story
The Gospel From God’s Point of View.
Accepting The Predestined And Absolute Purpose.
Preparing Our Inner Man For Eternity.
October 4, 2013
I am using “Telling God’s Story” instead of “Preaching or Teaching” for communicating the “gospel” Why? That is simply because “Preaching and Teaching,” too many times, is just ignoring “God’s Story” and has become a time for “Telling Man’s Story.” Just “Telling Man’s Story” over and over has become boring, irrelevant and something outside the boundaries of Christian Ministry. “Telling God’s Ultimate Story” or revealing His Eternal Purpose and how He will achieve it is basic Christian Ministry. However, some believers never get tired of hearing that old, old story of how Jesus left heaven to die for my sins on the Cross so I can spend eternity in heaven! I was lost but now I am found and, thank God, now I am saved. What amazing grace! That is “man’s story” and even if it is true it a far cry from “God’s Story.”
In examining the “gospel” that is being preached through the various media, it is more and more apparent that what is shared is irrelevant when compared with the total intent of God’s Story. The various emphases that have dominated the message are generally just man centered and ignores the Kingdom.
In this study we will attempt to ignore man’s plight and his fallen state and focus upon God’s desire to complete His purpose for this dispensation so He can get on with His Plans for completing the Tabernacle of God and preparing for the World Yet to Come! His immediate purpose is to prepare a people that will have the integrity and maturity to rule over the world yet to come. The recorded fact is that He after He has prepared a people for His purpose He will eliminate every enemy of His Purpose and every contrary power as the end of this age arrives. Destroying His enemies in the end time is very important but is not His goal. Raising up a new species of men to fulfill His Ultimate Purpose is His Goal. The “end of this church age” will not happen until everything He purposed before the foundation of the earth is complete and a “body” of the redeemed of mankind is ready to move into and participate in the Millennial Reign of Christ. Why must that take place now? That is because the Millennial Reign of Christ will NOT be a time for new believers to be introduced to the Kingdom of His Son and then for the immature to attempt to adjust to His Ultimate Government.
Since so much of the “visible church” is only interested in getting to heaven someday and wondering if our dogs and cats can go along, we will take an entirely different approach to the “gospel.” The modern gospel has been conceived from man’s point of view while the Gospel of the Kingdom is primarily just presented from God’s Point of View. These two viewpoints are miles apart and actually many times oppose each other. Much of the modern gospel of the half-priced sale, or the gospel of the bargains or the gospel of the give-a-ways is in direct conflict with the Gospel of the Kingdom. We call the Gospel of the Kingdom the Full Priced Bargain.
Mat 13:41 “The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, 42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 “Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
Mat 13:44 “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field.
Mat 13:45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, 46 and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
Mat 13:47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; 48 and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down, and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away.
Mat 13:49 “So it will be at the end of the age; the angels shall come forth, and take out the wicked from among the righteous, 50 and will cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Attempting to reconcile the modern gospel with the Gospel of the Kingdom would be very difficult and require a lot of carnal opinions and excuses which should be easy to evaluate. The Evangelical approach to the Kingdom is that the Kingdom was just for Israel and not the church. Following the church age, after all the “saved” are in heaven, then, the Kingdom will be established upon earth to rule for one thousand years over all the people who survive the great tribulation.
Of course everybody who takes the mark of the beast will be condemned and lost and everybody who refuses the mark of the beast cannot buy or sell and will be killed. The multitude that are left, following the Great Tribulation that go into the Millennial reign, is not explained or made clear how they survived. Some say they were from the tribal areas in remote places away from society and the Great Tribulation.
What is clear, during the church age, is that all those who commit lawlessness will be cast into the furnace of fire. All that are wicked will go with them. A LOT of fish will be caught and drawn in but there are both good and bad fish that are caught. The bad fish are sorted out and thrown away. The bad fish are worthless and are NOT thrown back for a second chance! The angels will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. The stumbling blocks, the lawless and the wicked will be eliminated from His kingdom and thrown into the fire. These groups have no eternal security AFTER they are caught! There is no mention of being saved or not saved! The Gospel of the Kingdom, then, is not about getting “caught” but about getting selected and judged as “good fish.” The stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness are probably “caught” but are bad fish. The tares and the wheat grow together in the same field and attend the same church services until harvest but the tares are burned up like the bad fish.
This is, obviously, in direct conflict with the concepts of too many of the modern gospel pulpiteers and about their idea of eternal salvation. We must doubt the validity and the reality of what they boldly preached. Why? Most of what is being preached is not compatible with God’s Story.
There are 34 parables but just one Kingdom. Therefore, each parable defines one viewpoint of the Kingdom but is certainly NOT in conflict with the other parables. Each viewpoint accumulates and applies to all the other parables so our viewpoint of the Kingdom must include all the viewpoints. These Kingdom scriptures are just a few examples of how these two “gospels” contradict each other. For me, it seems reasonable to reject the modern gospel and rely upon the Gospel of the Kingdom as the ultimate Truth by which God judges.
However, the modern gospel contends that the Kingdom requirements are not for us and are much too difficult for the church in this “age of grace.” Therefore, this “abundance of grace,” showered upon the church during the church age, eliminates the demands of the Kingdom. Of course, we find nothing like that in scriptures so we might wonder what is the source of this information.
1Cor 2:14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. 15 But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no man.
Any natural man in the pulpit is a very dangerous thing. Why? Because he cannot understand anything that is spiritual. Natural men, who are “elders in the church,” have no ability to maintain a spiritual stability in the leadership or in the church. Now if the poor preacher has no spiritual understanding, what is he supposed to do when he stands in the pulpit? What “story” can he possibly tell? Well, he could begin by telling his own story. He could review how he was called, how he was trained, when he was ordained, how God expects his congregation to support the ministry with their tithes and offerings. He could search for verses that show how God insists that the congregation provide for his retirement, his health care and the security for his wife. After all, he has appointed her as co-pastor. The congregation is responsible for maintaining a building in which he can work and a staff to oversee the activities of the church.
Of course if he tells “his story” too often the people will get bored and leave. Therefore, he must come up with “another story” to keep the congregation entertained and thinking this is all there is. “Another story” is that now that we are saved there is nothing more to do except to occupy until he comes to take us home. When we all get to heaven, we can walk up and talk to Jesus and then His sheep will hear His voice and it will be wonderful. The problem is that “this story” has severe limitations so he must select a verse from the Bible to explain on Sunday. This is called “teaching the word.” I heard of a well known preacher that preached on the same verse for one year. I expect they never forgot that verse. This was remarkable but he never told “God’s story” that whole year.
Just explaining a verse or two each week may suffice for “having a meeting,” especially if we have good singing and a testimony, but this has very little to do with the Kingdom of God or God’s Eternal Purpose!
When the natural persons are in the pulpit, they must keep trying new things to keep the people interested. A musical concert might help, or a dress up day where everyone came to church in 1950 type clothes. Maybe a Halloween party would be exciting or a hay ride would peak people’s interest. We could try a wheelbarrow push in the parking lot and get the people out into the fresh air. A bonfire for hot dogs is always popular with the kids! A health expert visiting with his products for sale always gets people out, especially if he gives some products away. A sack race is always popular among the youth if we also have a bonfire and something to cook. A “game day” is always appreciated and a great chance for the people to meet other members outside of a religious setting. Peddle races for the young people are always well attended. There seems to be no end of the good ideas to direct people away from the Kingdom of God and from telling “God’s Story.”
To tell “God’s Story” it is necessary to indentify the who, the where, the why, the when and the how He will accomplish His predestined end. Why? God is always working to complete His Eternal Purpose that was predestined before man existed. Still, God has predetermined to use man to rule over all the works of His hands. That means over the world yet to come. However, now we must determine what kind of man will meet God’s qualifications to rule or participate in His Ultimate Government. God has never renounced His absolute authority or His Sovereignty over the Ultimate Tabernacle of God. That means that all activity in the world yet to come will function under His Absolute Sovereignty.
In order to present an accurate account of “God’s story” to the believers in each generation, the Almighty God has purposed to use the New Species Minister to complete this work. He must, first, have his access to the spiritual and invisible realms in which God functions. Otherwise, how can he explain the mysteries that have been hidden from past generations? It seems that each generation has been assigned certain mysteries to reveal. Therefore, each generation will have ministers of the new species assigned to reveal the mysteries predetermined for that generation.
Eph 3:8 To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things; 10 in order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. 11 This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Col 1:25 Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, 26 that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations; but has now been manifested to His saints, 27 to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Mat 13:34 All these things Jesus spoke to the multitudes in parables, and He did not speak to them without a parable, 35 so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, “I WILL OPEN MY MOUTH IN PARABLES; I WILL UTTER THINGS HIDDEN SINCE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD.”
Jesus spoke in parables because there were no New Covenant ears to hear until after Calvary and Pentecost. Because God entrusted Jesus with the Parables and the parables are part of God’s Story, each parable has a significant role to play in our understanding. Today, the “ministers of the New Covenant” must speak clearly or those who blow the trumpets to warn this generation will just make noises or confusing sounds with inadequate words that are irrelevant or that makes no sense. If today’s ministers can expose none of the mysteries that have been hidden, but were assigned to be revealed to this generation, can they even qualify as ministers of the New Covenant?
Telling “God’s Story” will involve revealing the mysteries that have been hidden from past generations! Why? That is because God has given each generation of “ministers” the opportunity and the responsibility to cooperate with Him in speaking to each generation. However, God’s Purpose for the church age, which must be “Revealed in telling His Story,” is for each believer to grow up until each one can hear His voice and obey. Then each member must learn to function directly under His Government. Another of the mysteries “Revealed in His Story” is for each believer, when he is grown up, to become a Priest after the Order of Melchizedek.
The fact is that many of these hidden mysteries are already recorded in scriptures but they must be revealed by the current ministers. If the “current ministers” are not able to reveal these mysteries and clearly tell “God’s Story” they cannot be considered as ministers of the New Covenant. These chosen ministers, who were appointed by Him who ascended far above, will speak “Spirit” and not “letter.” “Entertaining the troops” is not considered a New Covenant ministry.
2Cor 3:5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, 6 who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
“But brother, that is not my calling! I was just called to “win souls.” Of course that is not a valid excuse for any New Covenant minister who must minister “Spirit and not just “letter.” Anything less than directing the believers into God’s Ultimate Purpose is not adequate New Covenant ministry! Why is there no excuse for this obvious failure? That is because, this adequacy does Not come from Bible School training or from the Tree of Knowledge but it comes from God when we eat from the One who IS the Tree of Life. The “LIFE” comes by eating of His Flesh and by drinking of His Blood. This IS the ministry part of the New Covenant in His Blood. How do we know that? Because, this was NOT available under the Old Covenant! How do we know that? Because, ONLY the Tree of Knowledge was available to the Adam Species, following the fall, because the Cherubim were guarding the Tree of Life!
Gen 3:24 So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim, and the flaming sword which turned every direction, to guard the way to the tree of life.
Telling “God’s Story” from man’s point of view can easily end up just telling a big lie. It is for that reason that “God’s Story” must be only preached from God’s Point of View. Why? Man’s point of view is from the visible, earth realm and is temporal but God’s Viewpoint is from the invisible realm of Mount Zion and is, therefore, eternal.
The natural man is so limited, he can only preach from “man’s point of view” and he is limited to preaching “letter.” Why? Because he has no access to the New Covenant. That is NOT because he prefers to preach death but that he has no other choice as a natural man. But, brother, that cannot be right because he is “saved.” That may or may not be true but “I will forgive your sin and your iniquity I will remember no more” is only the beginning part of the New Covenant. I am guessing that only the full provision of the New Covenant, as personal experience, can qualify us to become ministers of the New Covenant. Experiencing one part of the New Covenant but ignoring the rest may result in some basic salvation but that is not “salvation” from God’s Point of View! Why? That is because God’s Viewpoint is from the Kingdom dimension and from the Throne and out of His Absolute Sovereignty. From that viewpoint “salvation” is received so we can fulfill God’s Predestined Purpose and participate in the Kingdom Government of God.
For example; man’s point of view, that is evident in modern evangelism, is NOT God’s Point of View from eternity and from the elevation of His Eternal Purpose and the GOAL of producing a Government for the world yet to come! Then what is the solution to this pitiful situation? What must the New Covenant minister do now to reverse this “ministry disease?
We must begin by establishing God’s Absolutes as the stabilizing factor for all New Covenant activity in the church and in the ministries. But, brother, when does that “next degree of ministry” begin and how can we tell if it is effective? The full New Covenant ministry will begin when the Priesthood Ministry begins. But, are you sure priesthood ministry even is for today?
Rom 15:15 But I have written very boldly to you on some points, so as to remind you again, because of the grace that was given me from God, 16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest the gospel of God, that my offering of the Gentiles might become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
Paul was of the wrong tribe to be a priest after the Order of Aaron so he must have been ministering as a Priest after the order of Melchizedek. Why? There was and still is no other priesthood available. Then maybe he was ministering as a Catholic priest? That could Not be possible because no such priesthood exists, except in the systems of the Catholic Church, but which can never be recognized by God as even being “ministers.” Why? That “priesthood” was designed and created for the natural man and for a natural people by Emperor Constantine in the year 365. This “priesthood” is still just a religious priesthood with no standing before God. Why? It is neither of the Old Covenant or was it part of the New Covenant. That “priesthood” is only capable of instructing the natural man in a natural religion. Why? That is because they can understand NOTHING of the spiritual realms of ministry of the Holy Spirit. How do we know that? By just listening to the Catholic Channel on TV will make this tragedy abundantly clear.Therefore, when we attempt to tell “God’s Story” from His viewpoint, we must find ourselves personally dwelling in the New Covenant experience and in harmony with the Internal Kingdom Government of God. What does that mean? It means that we must be filled with the Holy Spirit, releasing the Living and abiding Word of God from up out of the New Inner Man, with both thoughts and words taught by the Holy Spirit! But, if that is the requirement who can possibly be adequate? The answer is NO ONE, except those who have been made adequate by God and can minister in the New Covenant dimension.
Well, brother, that is some high and lofty concepts that you have come up with but totally impractical for this century. Just basic reasoning should convince you that 99 % of the current church ministers will not agree with this theory of yours. Of course that might be true. However, that is what we believe, and we are all unanimous on that. (That means that me, myself and I all agree.)
Since this certainly does appear to be some high and lofty thinking how could it possibly be practical from a ministry viewpoint and how can we even begin to think in this extreme realm?
This “realm of ministry” must begin by insisting upon maintaining the standard of the dozens of absolutes that God has established out of His Absolute Sovereignty. These “absolutes” are the stabilizing factor for all ministry and all New Covenant ministry MUST agree that these “absolutes” takes precedent over all other scripture. But, brother, if that is true why are not most of the Teachers, the Apostles and the Prophets teaching these things. I surely don’t know the answer to that question but these “absolutes” are certainly NOT hidden in scripture. To me “You Must Be Born Again” is not complicated. “Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood or there is no Life in you” seems clear enough as an “absolute.” “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he (and only he) who does the will of My Father who is in heaven” seems like a straight forward statement that is easy to understand.
John 6:44 “No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. 45 “It is written in the prophets, ‘AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.
It would be difficult to twist this scripture to make it say anything like “make a decision today” and be “saved.” These and many other scriptures can only be interpreted as “absolutes” and none are presented as options or possibilities. All tares will be thrown into the fire and burned up is an absolute that is non-negotiable! Bad fish are sorted out and thrown away AFTER they are caught. But, brother, that is NOT the God I know who is full of compassion, grace and forgiveness. Then you don’t know the God of the Kingdom requirements!
All these dozens of “Absolutes” are all from “God’s Viewpoint” and are part of “God’s Story” that is based within the Kingdom Government of God and are established out of God’s Absolute Sovereignty.
In other words “DON’T MESS WITH THESE ABSOLUTES OR ATTEMPT TO MODIFY THEM SO THEY ARE MORE ACCEPTABLE TO THE NATURAL MAN.
But, brother, what minister would do such a thing? The “natural pulpiteer” does it all the time! The TV “evangelists” offer the half-priced-sale all the time. Why do they do it?
That may be because of their deep compassion for the natural man and how easily the carnal man is offended by the Gospel of the Kingdom. After all, the natural man has enough problems just working and existing so he is depressed when he comes to the meetings. We certainly we don’t want to add to his misery by tearing him down more. We want the natural man to leave here encouraged and happy so we don’t want to present anything that sounds negative or demanding. We don’t even want to preach the gospel of the give-a-ways because he might not get his share of the freebies and then he will think God doesn’t love him. Besides, God has told me to just preach happy things and encourage His people! The confirmation that our message is anointed by God is that the pews are full and God is continually blessing us.
It is certainly difficult to disagree with that testimony, especially since we cannot confirm that God is blessing us with so much abundance. Of course the ratio of the natural men to the spiritual men in those meetings is difficult to determine. It seems to be that the offering collected from the spiritual men seems to be less than the offerings collected from the natural men. That, of course, may be because there are so many more of the natural men in the pews. If we had 1000 natural men in one church and only 10 spiritual men in another, that might explain the difference! Nevertheless, when God separates the sheep from the goats, it will be more apparent! When He separates the good fish from the bad fish it will be much more clear. When the tares are separated from the wheat everything will make more sense! Of course if God would just harvest the tares along with the wheat and take them all to heaven, His table could be much fuller but the tares are totally worthless in the Kingdom. But isn’t a full table the most important thing? Of course God’s Table at the wedding feast WILL be full but it may take a long time to fill it with those who are worthy! The Kingdom, from God’s Viewpoint, indicates that He is not just looking for quantity because He will only accept Quality!
2Thes 1:5 This is a plain indication of God’s righteous judgment so that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering.
Now, even if this message is properly discerned and is compatible with God’s Point of View and established from God’s Absolutes, it will be difficult to convey this eternal message to the visible church. Why? It appears that the visible church is all about outward and temporal things and can only accept the visible realm because that alone is all that is relevant to them.
A pastor friend was given an antique cupboard that had accumulated MANY layers of paint. He began stripping away one layer after another for many days. Finally he saw some of the wood. This reveals a terrible problem in the visible church. Layers and layers of strange doctrines, extreme emphasis, carnal concepts and outright lies have been painted over God’s ultimate truth revealed by the Kingdom. Now it seems impossible to remove the darkness and all this “confusion” to get down to the basic facts revealed in the “absolutes.”
Much of the visible church rejects any mention of absolutes because they are told there are no such thing. Everything is just relative and full of gray areas that are neither light or darkness. These gray areas then become the new normal. The gospel of make a decision, say these words and believe this doctrine seems to confirm that we are saved within the gray areas of half-light.
But, brother, the Bible says that “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”
Of course that is true but does that fact nullify the absolute truth that we must be born again? Does that fact cancel out the truth and we must be born of the Water and the Spirit or that everyone must do the will of God to enter the Kingdom of God? Does that scripture nullify other scriptures?
Mark 16:16 “He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. 17 “And these signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues;
My theory is that we should use all the scriptures to define salvation. For example; God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever is drawn by God, convicted by the Holy Spirit, believes in Him, is born again, conceives a new inner man, is baptized, receives the Holy Spirit, becomes a new species, and does the will of God, should not perish, but have eternal life.” But he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.
This “theory” will probably not be widely received by the visible church. This is way too complicated and involves far too many steps and appears to be a process rather than a quick decision. Nevertheless, this only involves a few of the absolutes and not the whole Kingdom package.
Mat 19:24 “And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” 25 And when the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, “Then who can be saved?” 26 And looking upon them Jesus said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Therefore, it is easier to create a doctrine that since God loves us, even if we are bad fish, that His great mercy will figure how to accept us into the eternal dwelling places because of His grace and because “we really are saved bad fish.”
Yes, we are just tares but God loves us just as we are and because we are already “saved” we have no doubt that we will see all you fanatics in heaven.
My pastor assured me that I should not worry because someone is just trying to deceive me with doubt about my salvation, so I just cannot accept that “The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. That is way too harsh for the Loving God I Know!
Telling God’s Story today and especially if we tell “God’s Kingdom Story” will be received with much opposition and bad mouthing. Accusations of just preaching “works” and not “faith” should be expected. Accusations that we don’t accept Jesus’ sacrifice on Calvary as total redemption and that we must add to the Word of God to make our point is already happening.
Our only defense now is that if we ignore God’s Absolutes and focus upon random scriptures, as many do, it is possible to create a “salvation” that only requires that we believe just very basic things about Jesus to be saved. These “basic things” are NOT absolutes and vary from church to church. My position is that God established and set His Absolutes clearly in the scriptures to avoid this carnal view about His So Great A Salvation. This epidemic of “cheap salvation”- of “Christ-less Salvation”- is the result of ignoring these “Gospel Absolutes” that help us define the Kingdom, the Tabernacle of God, the World yet to come and God’s Eternal Purpose!
Dan 7:27 ‘Then the sovereignty, the dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.’
Our Great Salvation certainly must prepare us for this tremendous event!
Titus 2:11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, 12 instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus; 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
Is this a valid “salvation Scripture” that cannot be ignored when we view “salvation” from the Kingdom viewpoint? Forgiveness of sins is one thing but redeeming us from every lawless deed and purifying us until we belong to Him alone is a further work of grace. This, in no way, depreciates from what took place at Calvary or Pentecost but it does reveal more about the Kingdom and God’s Eternal Purpose! This dimension of “salvation” helps prepare us to participate in “God’s Eternal Story.”