There is one God, Who has made Himself known, to various degrees in various ways, to all earth's people throughout the ages, from the Beginning. The created natural world reflects the nature of our Creator, especially His highest creation: Mankind. Through all that God has done through all the ages, His great purpose has been to reveal Himself and draw us to Himself for the purpose of fellowship and union and fullness of life with Him. Yet, He has wanted to do this in such a way that we would choose Him to be our God, not out of fear of His greatness and power, but in response to the realization of His loving and gracious nature.
In His great wisdom, after making Himself known through His creation, then through His dealings with the nations of man through the nation of Israel, God, the Father of all, the Creator, the Great Spirit, manifested Himself among men as a man, as the created, in the life of Jesus the Christ, as the climatic historical act of humility and sacrifice to prove His love for us and to provide a way for us to reunite with Him.
In His great plan of salvation for us, that we might be freed from our imprisoning sinful nature and instead receive His own Spirit into the core of our being, God in Christ took man's place in bearing the rightful punishment for mankind's sin, and every individual's sins, by being the acceptable Sinless Sacrifice, crucified on that Roman cross; and by rising from the dead, defeating death for everyone who will believe in and receive Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. Upon one's accepting Jesus' death and resurrection for their atonement and reconciliation with God our Creator and willfully asking the Father to receive the Spirit of Christ into their own spirit or heart, God readily responds by doing so. From that moment of spiritual new birth, a person continues in this new personal, intimate relationship with God as a regenerated human being, a new creation, with God's own Holy Spirit living within. A process of change begins and continues through life in which a person's thoughts, attitudes, will and emotions shed the influence of sinful self-centeredness and become more like Christ's gracious nature in mind and character.
The dynamics of the inner transformation involve an on-going process of realizing and facing sin-based motives, mentalities, attitudes and behaviors, reckoning their inclusion in Christ's death to sin, and then appropriating the new nature and characteristics of the Spirit of the resurrected Christ within. All the various means of ministry are involved: personal meditation in Scripture and prayer, interactive fellowship, instruction, counseling, mentoring, mutual accountability and encouragement, and service ministries to others. By these means God's Spirit works in the hearts and minds of believers for the progression of Christ-like transformation, for the propagation of God's Message of salvation and transformation in Christ, and for the manifestation of God's magnanimous love for all through the generosity and good works of His followers.
The end of this transformation process, this growing spiritual oneness with God's Spirit, culminates in a death-transcending, eternal perfect union with God the Father in Heaven, the realm of God's full Presence beyond the boundaries of this material world.