This issue of The Ministry includes the first 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. What is typified by the experiences of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is realized in the New Testament, especially in Galatians 3--6. Abraham's experiences represent the experiences of God the Father (3:8, 29), Isaac's experiences represent the experiences of the Son (4:28), and Jacob's experiences represent the work of the Spirit in discipline and transformation (cf. 5:16; 6:8; 5:22-23). The experiences of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob culminated in God's people, Israel. God's goal always was and still is to have a corporate people to express and represent Him on the earth. The existence of such a people--Israel in the Old Testament and the Israel of God in the New Testament--depends upon certain kinds of spiritual experiences had by all the people of God. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are the foundation of the nation of Israel. Their experiences were not merely for themselves. Their experiences were to gain a corporate people, all of whom know God and experience Him as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Last of all, we include a report concerning the 2005 Chinese-speaking perfecting conference in New Jersey.
