About Jesus Christ?
We believe that Jesus Christ is both God and human. God loves people so much that he sent his son Jesus Christ to make it possible for anyone to have a relationship with God.
In the beginning the Word already existed. He was with God, and he was God. [2] He was in the beginning with God. John 1:1-2 (New Living Translation)
The Word became flesh and blood,and moved into the neighborhood. John 1:14 (Message Bible)
Jesus Christ willingly died on the cross and rose again so that we could experience and receive God’s forgiveness and have new life; by this act alone, people can once again experience a personal relationship with God.
What this means is that those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun! 2 Corinthians 5:17 (New Living Translation)
- About God?
We believe in one true, holy God eternally existing in three persons: Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer.
You have one Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all, works through all, and is present in all. Everything you are and think and do is permeated with Oneness. Ephesians. 4:5-6 (Message Bible)
In the beginning God perfectly created all things and continues to sustain and rule over God’s creation by God’s sovereign will.
Before the mountains were created, before you made the earth and the world, you are God, without beginning or end. Psalm 90:2 (New Living Translation)We believe that God created humanity to have a relationship. Humanity chose the path of independence and disobeyed God. Since then, all humanity has been broken, fragmented, filled with sin, and unable to experience true life and relationship with God or others. This separation leads to complete and utter brokenness and spiritual and eternal death. So, we can only have real life and relationship with God through a gracious act of God. God has sought throughout history to bring us back into relationship with God.
All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and God, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. [19] God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 (Message Bible)
About the Bible?
We believe that the Bible is God’s message to us about how to live in relationship with God and others. It is our guide to a faithful relationship with God. Inspired by God’s Spirit, the Bible teaches us how to live lives pleasing to God; how to follow God’s way of living and how to serve God with our lives.
All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right. [17] It is God’s way of preparing us in every way, fully equipped for every good thing God wants us to do. 2 Tim. 3:16-17 (New Living Translation)
About God’s Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit makes all of humanity aware of God’s presence. The spirit delivers God’s free gift of grace and lives in us. The Holy Spirit reveals truth and enables us to understand and receive the teaching of the Bible. The Holy Spirit makes it possible for us to become more like Jesus and equips us to do God’s work in the world.
“But I will send you the Counselor—the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will tell you all about me. John 15:26 (New Living Translation)
unpacking our beliefs/convictions
We all fall down
We’re all imperfect. It’s a no brainer really that none of us is perfect. We all make mistakes, we all have shortcomings, we all sin, we all fall down. We may work hard to correct our mistakes after we make them, but no one can say “I’ll never make another mistake.” We don’t have that ability. That is the human condition. We will and do make mistakes. We do things that don’t please God. They hurt our relationship and disconnect from God. They are barriers that prevent us from connecting to God (Acts 16:14), they keep our minds from focusing on God (2 Corinthians 4:6), they cause us to not hear God’s voice (Matthew 13:1-17), or see God (John 9:35-41). Because we have fallen and we are broken and we can’t put ourselves back together. We can’t be whole again without God’s help.
It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. Ephesians 2:1 (Message Bible)
God chooses us
God chooses to love us despite our imperfections. God’s choice to love us isn’t based on anything we do or say. God’ s only motivation to love us is God. Despite our condition and our inability to stop falling, God chooses to love us and reclaim a relationship with us. This is God’s solution to our fallen condition. Our human brokenness separates us from God. But there is a solution. Before the creation of the world, God chose us to be members of his family. Just as an adoptive couple selects a child to love, God chose us to be adopted into his spiritual family. God chooses us despite our flaws. God’s choice is a gift and not based on anything we say or do (1 Corinthians 2:14). It gives God joy to choose to love us. (Ephesians 1:5).
Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) Ephesians 1;:4-5 (Message Bible)
Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! 9We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! 10No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing . Ephesians 2:8-10 (Message Bible)
Intentionally re-connected
Jesus intentionally sacrificed his life to reconnect us to God. Because we are unable to stop ourselves from falling, Jesus God’s son, took the fall for us. Jesus willingness to do so is a measure of God’s love. God loves people so much that God sent God’s son Jesus Christ to make it possible for anyone to have a relationship with God. Jesus sacrifice is the only thing that could bring us back into relationship with God. It is the only thing that can make us one with God. It is for everyone who responds to God’s love and adoption.
“No one can come to me unless the Father draws him. . .” (John,6:44). The Father draws people to believe in Jesus.
“I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own sheep and my own sheep know me. In the same way, the Father knows me and I know the Father. I put the sheep before myself, sacrificing myself if necessary. John 10:14-15 Message Bible.
But God was merciful! We were dead because of our sins, but God loved us so much that he made us alive with Christ, and God’s wonderful kindness is what saves you. God did this so that in the future world he could show how truly good and kind he is to us because of what Christ Jesus has done. Ephesians 24-5, 7
We are made right in God’s sight when we trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, no matter who we are or what we have done. Romans 3:22 (New Living Translation)
The power to change
God’s spirit gives us the power to change. The spirit changes us spiritually from the inside out. This change is not so much about what we do, but what God does in us through God’s spirit. The Holy Spirit changes us in a way that we cannot change ourselves. The Holy Spirit delivers God’s free gift of grace and lives in us. The Holy Spirit reveals truth and enables us to understand and receive the God’s message to us from the Bible. The Holy Spirit makes it possible for us to become more like Jesus. God’s Spirit equips us to do God’s work in the world.
Jesus said, “You’re absolutely right. Take it from me: Unless a person is born from above, it’s not possible to see what I’m pointing to—to God’s kingdom.” John 3:3 Message Bible
And now you also have heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. 14The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us everything he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. This is just one more reason for us to praise our glorious God. Ephesians 1:13-14 New Living Translation
Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! Ephesians. 2:8-9 Message Bible
a lasting loving relationship
God’s great desire is to have an ongoing, lasting, loving relationship with us. When we trust God with our lives, God’s love continues to draw us closer and deeper into relationship with God. God sees us not as disconnected but as reconnected and holds us together in that relationship. Scripture reminds us of God’s promise to hold securely to us. The joy and peace of following Jesus comes from knowing that our salvation from beginning to end is completely the work of God.
Jesus said, “My sheep listen to my voice; [ know them and they follow me. [ give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand" (John 10:27-28) New International Version
That's plain enough, isn't it? You're no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You're no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He's using us all--irrespective of how we got here--in what he is building. Ephesians 2:19 (Message Bible)
For my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. So no one can take them from me. John 10:29 New Living Translation
(high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us. Romans 8:39 Message Bible
