About God
God is the personal Creator and Ruler of everything. He has eternally existed in perfect community – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These three are co-equal and are one God. He is holy, all-powerful, all knowing, unchanging, and full of mercy and grace.
See Genesis 1:1,26,27; 3:22; Psalm 90:2; Matthew 28:19; 1 Peter 1:2; and 2 Corinthians 13:14
About Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ, God’s Son, became fully human when he was born of the Virgin Mary. He was fully human and fully God. He lived a perfect life in place of our imperfect lives; died, as our substitute, the death we deserved to die because of our self-centeredness; and physically rose from the dead. He offers us full life by the promise of his own resurrection. He then ascended into heaven and today is our representative, intercessor, and advocate with God the Father.
See Matthew 1:22,23; Isaiah 9:6; John 1:1-5, 14:10-30; Hebrews 4:14,15; 1 Corinthians 15:3,4; Romans 1:3,4; Acts 1:9-11; I Timothy 6:14,15; and Titus 2:13
About the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is co-equal with the Father and the Son of God. We experience the full life and presence of God in our relationship with God the Spirit. He is present in the world to make men and women aware of their need for Jesus Christ. He also lives in every Christian from the moment of salvation. He provides the Christian with power for living, understanding of spiritual truth, the GRACE of God to overcome strongholds of darkness, power to break every yoke, healing of the heart and mind, and guidance in doing what is right. He gives every believer a spiritual gift(s). As Christians we seek to live under His control daily and be constantly filled with HIM.
See 2 Corinthians 3:17; John 16:7-13, 14:16,17; Acts 1:8; I Corinthians 2:12, 3:16; Ephesians 1:13; Galatians 5:25; and Ephesians 5:1
About the Bible
The Bible (66 books of the Old and New Testament) is God’s completely true story about who He is, what He has done, what He is doing, and what He will do. It contains the Old and New Testaments and it is totally unique. It was written by human authors under the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is the supreme source of truth for Christian beliefs and living. It is our primary and final source of authority. It’s words are POWERFUL and LIFEGIVING and SUPERNATURAL.
See 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20,21; 2 Timothy 1:13; Psalm 119:105,160, 12:6; and Proverbs 30:5
About Human Beings
People are made in the spiritual image of God to be like Him in character and to be in relationship with Him and with one another. People are the supreme object of God’s affection.This is why the enemy of our souls (the Bible calls the Devil/Lucifer) hates humans and desires to destroy their lives. Although every person has tremendous potential for good, all of us born with an attitude of disobedience toward God called “sin.” This attitude separates people from God and causes many problems in life. Through the saving and life changing power of the CROSS of Christ, our attitude toward rebellion against God is changed and we happily submit to His love, kindness, adoption into His family, and life changing truth in His Word.
See Genesis 1:27; Psalm 8:3-6; Isaiah 53:6a; Romans 3:23; and Isaiah 59:1,2
About Real Life
We are connected to God in only one way – by choosing to accept the offer of forgiveness and reconciliation God offers to us by Christ’s life and resurrection. God’s gift of grace makes us His adopted daughters and sons, loved as much as He loves Jesus himself. We are given a new, divine nature, replacing the nature (or predisposition toward sin). Sin makes us unhappy and we become convicted by the Holy Spirit that sin separates us from a loving, but holy Father.There is nothing we can do to deserve this life – it is all a gift of God, and our job is to simply receive it in humility, repentence, and gratitude. When we do, God begins the process of changing our hearts and minds from the inside out and making our characters more and more like Jesus. He will continue this process in us until He completes it in heaven. Because of the presence of the Holy Spirit in us and His work of grace, our hearts become united with Jesus, causing works of faith and good fruit to manifest (Galatians 5). Our works of faith and good works come only from this union with Jesus, and do not save us, but are the natural outworking of the Holy Spirit in our life through Christ’s sacrifice.
Because of our relationship with God, we will want our lives to please Him. He will show us how to make this happen. We will also hope for healthy, loving relationships with all those around us. As we become more and more like Him, this becomes possible in our lives.
See Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8,9; John 14:6, 1:12; Titus 3:5; Galatians 3:26, Romans 5: John 10:29; 2 Timothy 1:12; Hebrews 7:25, 10:10, 14 and 1 Peter 1:3-5.
About Eternity
People were created to exist forever. We will either exist eternally separated from God by sin, or eternally with God through forgiveness and salvation. To be eternally separated from God is Hell. God doesn’t send people there, they choose to reject His plan for eternal life through His Son Jesus and obedience by grace to His Word.To be eternally in union with Him is eternal life. Heaven and Hell are places of eternal existence.
In His own time and in His own way, God will bring the world, as we know it to an end. According to His promise, Christ will return personally and visibly to judge the living and the dead and to begin the new era of God’s universally visible reign that will last forever.
See John 3:16; John 14:17; Romans 6:23; 8:17-18; Revelation 20:15; and 1 Corinthians 2:7-9