Jesus is Your Answer
Jesus is the only Lord and Savior. John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."
The Word of God is Our Authority
What We Believe
1. God is one in three persons who is both one and distinct, comprised of the Father (in Hebrew: Yahweh),
the Son (in Hebrew, Yeshua; Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah), and the Holy Spirit (also known as the Holy Ghost or the Spirit).
2. Jesus is both all God and all man. He was born of a virgin, lived among people, and was crucified and died. He was buried, and then resurrected on the third day in a glorified physical body made of flesh and bone.
3. Jesus is the only Savior, Redeemer, and Lord of mankind. Acts 4:12 "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." John 14:6 "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.'" This is the good news, or gospel. Jesus brings the kingdom of God to people on the earth. Jesus makes peace between God and man by conquering sin, the devil, and death, and giving believers victory in their spirit, soul, and body. Jesus rescues us from the judgement of Hell and gives us the assurance that we will spend eternity in the pleasures of heaven with Jesus, God, and the Spirit of Life. Hell is a real place of suffering according to Jesus who said in John 8:24 "Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins." Jesus also said in Matthew 25:41 "Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels." And, in Matthew 13:42 "and [His angels] will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth."
4. A man or woman is saved, redeemed or purchased back to God by making Jesus of Nazareth "the King" over their life. This requires believing with corresponding actions. Believing occurs in your heart. You must believe with all your heart that Jesus is raised bodily from the dead and that Jesus is the Son of God, and you must say with your mouth that Jesus is Lord of all including your life. These actions result in our being "saved" from sin by God's grace through faith (see Romans 10:9-10 and Ephesians 2:8). Redeeming faith cannot be earned but comes freely from Jesus shedding His blood by dying on the cross in payment for our sins. Jesus' death pays for our soul and pays for eternal life with God. Corresponding actions mean that from our heart, we will have a love for God and a love for people. Though we still struggle with sin, we will seek to conform ourselves to the image of Jesus according to the Spirit and the Word of God.
5. Jesus said in John 3:3 and verse 6 that you must be born again to see the kingdom of God. This describes what happens to the believer's human spirit when one is "saved". Your human spirit is born again from above by God's Spirit. John 1:12 "But as many as received Him (Jesus) to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name." Being born again means that we are a new creation, born into the family of God and into the kingdom of God. II Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."
Upon being saved and born again, the believer should then be baptized in water by
immersion (see Matthew 28:19). In Acts 10:47 Peter spoke about new Christian believers when he said, "Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?"
6. Our love and maturity in God our Father will be demonstrated by behavior (actions and speech), not by doctrine or knowledge. We will pursue the Great Commission of Jesus which cannot be over-emphasized. Jesus said in Matthew 28:19, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen. This is exemplified by Acts 16:9 "And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, 'Come over to Macedonia and help us.'" Taking revelation knowledge from these scriptures, we commit 51% of all giving into the local church to be designated for foreign missions.
7. Praise and worship of God may be done by singing, clapping, hands lifted up, bowing on one's knees, dancing to the Lord our God, and by prayer (talking and shouting to God in the voice of triumph).
8. The second experience of grace available only to believers in Jesus, the Messiah, is the baptism of the Holy Spirit or being filled with the Spirit. This experience is received by faith and produces the evidence of speaking in "new" or "other" tongues as the Spirit gives utterance (See Mark 16:17 and Acts 2:4). Speaking in new tongues is not forced on the believer and is not outside of the believer's control. The believer decides when and where they will speak in other tongues; however, when other tongues are spoken, the person does the "speaking", and the Holy Spirit gives the "utterance" or spontaneously provides the words without any thoughts from one's mind. When one prays in other tongues they do not pray from their mind but from their heart, or human spirit. I Corinthians 14:14 "For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful." I Corinthians 14:2 "For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him: however, in the (human) spirit he speaks mysteries."
9. The Bible is the inerrant Word of God, given by inspiration of the Holy Spirit through the hands of men, and it is the authoritative rule of faith and conduct.
10. The Lord's supper or Holy Communion will be regularly observed as instituted in scriptures by the Lord Jesus, Messiah.
11. Concerning alcohol, we have no teaching except that found in the Bible. We will not destroy the work of God through grace by making rules of men.
12. Concerning giving of money, we have no church requirements to be in good standing. We chose not to lose one soul by making outward rules that may distract lost people from the work of grace in their hearts. II Corinthians 9:7 "So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver." Jesus said in Luke 6:38 "Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you." If you love money more than God, then we caution you with what Jesus said to the rich young ruler in Luke 18:22, "You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." Our last two thoughts on the subject follow. Through interpreting the verse in Isaiah 55:1, we hold up what Isaiah said, in that, salvation is bought without price. We also observe in Acts 8:20, where the Apostle Peter said to a man named Simon, "Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money!"
Interpreting the verse in Isaiah 55:1, we hold up what Isaiah said, in that, salvation is bought without price.
Jesus is both all God and all man. He was born of a virgin, lived among people, and was crucified and died. He was buried, and then resurrected on the third day in a glorified physical body made of flesh and bone.
Copyright 2005. Gospel Harvest Church. All rights
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