Faith Statement
The Bible
It is the Word of God. It is infallible, inerrant, authoritative, and sufficient. It is the source and the norm of Christian theology.
2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,” and clearly lays out the role of the Scripture. It is God’s breath. When we come to that realization, we can no longer live without the influence of the Bible. The very words must be allowed to transform our lives. We must conform to it, rather than trying to make it conform to our desires.
The Bible, the Word of God, it is eternal, it is unchanging, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Matthew 24:35). (2 peter 1:16-21, Romans 15:4)
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The Trinity: God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit
“Trinity,” it isn’t a biblical term, it is a descriptive term. The Trinity is a way for us to describe God as he has revealed himself to us. The one true God. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as revealed to us through his people, Israel, through his word, the Bible, and through his son, Jesus. The one true God in three persons.
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4). There is only one God, and He created everything, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). God loves us and created us in His image to have a relationship with Him (Genesis 1:27, 1 John 1:3).
At Jesus’ baptism we see all three personalities revealed, “As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’” [emphasis added] (Matthew 3:16-17).
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). John opens his gospel testimony of the life of Jesus Christ by proclaiming that Jesus was there in the beginning, he was with God, and that he was God. Jesus is the sinless sacrifice that, by His death and resurrection, has made salvation possible for all people for all time. He ascended into heaven as our high priest and head of the Church.
Jesus, the Son of God, has paid our fine for our sins. Now we who believe in him are set apart from the world to wait for God’s final judgment. But we are not alone. Since Jesus has cleansed us, God’s Spirit is within us to help us break free of the sins of the world, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17).
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. They each have a relationship to each other, and each are fully God. One God in three persons. Jesus commanded, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” [emphasis added] (Matthew 28:19).
Salvation
Salvation is God’s plan to redeem a sin filled creation. It is offered to all individuals as a free gift of grace through a personal faith in Jesus Christ, the atoning savior (Romans 2:23, John 3:16, Hebrews 9:26, Ephesians 2:8-9).
Once accepted by faith, believers are delivered into new life through baptism and with the gift of the Holy Spirit begin the process sanctification (Acts 2:38, Romans 6:6-13). Each individual, through their faith and baptism, becomes members of the Church, the fellowship of priests, to carry out God’s mission of salvation (John 1:13-13, 1 Corinthians 12:13, Matthew 28:16-20).
Man
Man was created in the image and likeness of God. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27). Man alone was created with this distinction, and man alone was given the charge to rule over the earth (Genesis 1:26).
We are “God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance” for us (Ephesians 2:10). Man has a purpose. Man has a God that loves him. Man fractured the image, but God so loved man that he sent His Son to be our Savior, restoring our fractured image while we wait for His return and our return to a perfected image (Romans 3:21-26).
We that have placed our faith in Jesus Christ as our savior and Lord of our lives are called to live in community as a priesthood, the Church, (1 Peter 2:9-10), and we are called to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20).
Baptism
Baptism by immersion symbolizes the death to our old lives and resurrection to our new lives (Romans 6:3-4). I do take caution and humility that God my grant forgiveness and the Holy Spirit without an act of ceremony, but Jesus was baptized (Luke 3:21-22), and He commanded His followers to baptize new believers (Matthew 28:18-20). When carried out with faith and repentance it offers the gift of the Holy Spirit and forgiveness of sin (Acts 2:38).
Communion
Communion is a participatory act of fellowship (1 Corinthians 10:16). It is a time to reflect on who Jesus is and what He has done for us. Take the bread and remember Jesus’ body broken by the punishment for our sins, take the juice and remember Jesus’ blood poured out to cleanse us of our sins (Luke 22:19-20), and reflect on your own motivations before doing so (1 Corinthians 11:28).
End Times
Jesus is going to return, but Jesus himself in Matthew 24:36 told the disciples, "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”
If Jesus himself and the Angels didn’t know, then why would we think we should know? Instead, we are exhorted to be ready for his return, "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him." (Matthew 24:42-44)
So, we are called to be house keepers. We are called to be on watch. And we are called to be ready, because Christ Jesus will return! (Matthew 24:45 - 25:46)
