Get Your Pretense On!

Chapter 1: The Greatest Story in the Word • 31

This great Story will end with the Father receiving the Kingdom from the hand of his Son, and God will ultimately be our All-in all. This outline of the events to come represents just a snapshot of our hope and certain future. Because of the love of God, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the communion of the Spirit, those who believe will live “happily ever after.” We are destined for the throne – we who believe will serve our God, transformed by grace, empowered forever with incorruptible bodies just like our Lord’s own glorious body, to bring glory to him always. In his new heavens and new earth, all things will forever glorify God as Lord. Nothing can prevent this Story’s future from being accomplished, for the Lord himself has sworn it. Come, Join the Story of God Can you begin to feel the excitement of this amazing tale of God’s grace and love? In a world gone mad with power, lust, and greed, the Holy Spirit calls the Church to be faithful to God’s biblical revelation of Jesus of Nazareth. This same clear, simple tale of God’s awesome grace is recorded in the Bible, summarized in the creeds, and passed down faithfully through the centuries by the Church. Despite the issues and challenges we face today in this world, this Story continues to draw the lost to its Good News. This great tale of Jesus of Nazareth, the Story’s champion and hero, is as fresh today as when the disciples told it after the resurrection. Nothing has changed in the Story. The God who spawned it still loves us, the Savior who redeems us by his death still can save. The Spirit who fell on the first company of disciples can still empower us today. What then, do we need to do?

The answer is clear. We only need to hear this Story afresh, to sense its truthfulness and power once more, to recover the same