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Our Purpose

We live in a lost and dying world that continues to pursue its failing strategies for meaning and fulfillment in life. While people often look good on the outside, their lives are often more accurately characterized by self-indulgence, guilt, lust, confusion and despair. Seeking his own remedies, man continues his downward spiral toward separation from God. Man’s only hope is the person of Jesus Christ. For men to turn to Christ, they must be told about Him and they must see His reality displayed in the lives of His followers. As the body of Christ, the church is the visible earthly representation of who He is. Every church has the two-fold purpose of leading men to Christ and maturing them in the faith. Our expression of this purpose is:

To become a church that manifest the reality of Christ to the world by equipping our members to live lifestyles of spiritual integrity which are….

• Biblically accurate
• Personally pure
• Family-centered
• Evangelistically bold
• Socially responsible

...and by equipping our member to serve, unleashing them with confidence into our community and the world.

Comment

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Our Beliefs : The Lord's Supper

The Lord’s Supper

This is the second of the two ordinances we pratice at Bountiful Blessings World Fellowship. The word “ordinance” emphasizes the fact that the Lord’s Supper (along with water baptism) was ordained or instituted by Christ as a symbolic act of faith and obedience.

The meaning of the Lord’s Supper is primarily summed up in the command of Christ, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” It is first and foremost a memorial of Christ and His redemptive death, and secondly an expression of our fellowship with one another.

We believe the Lord’s Supper is open to all who meet the prerequisites outlined in Scripture. They are: first, that one personally know Jesus Christ as Savior, and secondly, that they have a cleansed life.

As they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread and asked God’s blessing on it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take it and eat it, for this is my body.” And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, “Each of you drink from it, for this is my blood, which seals the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out to forgive the sins of many. Mark my words—I will not drink wine again until the day I drink it new with you in my Father’s Kingdom.” Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.
Matthew 26:26-30

On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread (the day the Passover lambs were sacrificed), Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go to prepare the Passover supper?”
So Jesus sent two of them into Jerusalem to make the arrangements. “As you go into the city,” he told them, “a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him. At the house he enters, say to the owner, `The Teacher asks, Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’ He will take you upstairs to a large room that is already set up. That is the place; go ahead and prepare our supper there.” So the two disciples went on ahead into the city and found everything just as Jesus had said, and they prepared the Passover supper there.
In the evening Jesus arrived with the twelve disciples. As they were sitting around the table eating, Jesus said, “The truth is, one of you will betray me, one of you who is here eating with me.”
Greatly distressed, one by one they began to ask him, “I’m not the one, am I?”
He replied, “It is one of you twelve, one who is eating with me now. For I, the Son of Man, must die, as the Scriptures declared long ago. But how terrible it will be for my betrayer. Far better for him if he had never been born!”
As they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread and asked God’s blessing on it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take it, for this is my body.”
And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And he said to them, “This is my blood, poured out for many, sealing the covenant between God and his people. I solemnly declare that I will not drink wine again until that day when I drink it new in the Kingdom of God.” Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.
Mark 14:12-26 (New Living Translation)

Now the Festival of Unleavened Bread arrived, when the Passover lambs were sacrificed. Jesus sent Peter and John ahead and said, “Go and prepare the Passover meal, so we can eat it together.”
“Where do you want us to go?” they asked him.
He replied, “As soon as you enter Jerusalem, a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him. At the house he enters, say to the owner, `The Teacher asks, Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’ He will take you upstairs to a large room that is already set up. That is the place. Go ahead and prepare our supper there.” They went off to the city and found everything just as Jesus had said, and they prepared the Passover supper there.
Then at the proper time Jesus and the twelve apostles sat down together at the table. Jesus said, “I have looked forward to this hour with deep longing, anxious to eat this Passover meal with you before my suffering begins. For I tell you now that I won’t eat it again until it comes to fulfillment in the Kingdom of God.”
Then he took a cup of wine, and when he had given thanks for it, he said, “Take this and share it among yourselves. For I will not drink wine again until the Kingdom of God has come.”
Then he took a loaf of bread; and when he had thanked God for it, he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” After supper he took another cup of wine and said, “This wine is the token of God’s new covenant to save you—an agreement sealed with the blood I will pour out for you.
Luke 22:7-20 (New Living Translation)

Then he took a loaf of bread; and when he had thanked God for it, he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
Luke 22:19 (New Living Translation)

and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and you, sealed by the shedding of my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.”
1 Corinthians 11:24-25 (New Living Translation)

Who may climb the mountain of the LORD?
Who may stand in his holy place?
Only those whose hands and hearts are pure,
who do not worship idols
and never tell lies.
Psalm 24:3-4 (New Living Translation)

But now when I mention this next issue, I cannot praise you. For it sounds as if more harm than good is done when you meet together. First of all, I hear that there are divisions among you when you meet as a church, and to some extent I believe it. But, of course, there must be divisions among you so that those of you who are right will be recognized!
It’s not the Lord’s Supper you are concerned about when you come together. For I am told that some of you hurry to eat your own meal without sharing with others. As a result, some go hungry while others get drunk. What? Is this really true? Don’t you have your own homes for eating and drinking? Or do you really want to disgrace the church of God and shame the poor? What am I supposed to say about these things? Do you want me to praise you? Well, I certainly do not!
For this is what the Lord himself said, and I pass it on to you just as I received it. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and you, sealed by the shedding of my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.” For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again.
So if anyone eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily, that person is guilty of sinning against the body and the blood of the Lord. That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking from the cup. For if you eat the bread or drink the cup unworthily, not honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself. That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died.
But if we examine ourselves, we will not be examined by God and judged in this way. But when we are judged and disciplined by the Lord, we will not be condemned with the world. So, dear brothers and sisters, when you gather for the Lord’s Supper, wait for each other. If you are really hungry, eat at home so you won’t bring judgment upon yourselves when you meet together.
I’ll give you instructions about the other matters after I arrive.
1 Corinthians 11:17-34 (New Living Translation)

Comment

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Our Beliefs : Baptism

Baptism

Baptism in an essential “first step” for a believer who seeks to become a disciple of Jesus Christ. In taking it, he reaveals that a coup has taken place in the secret recesses of his soul. The government of self has been toppled and overthrown. In its place, a new authority now reigns and rules. It is Christ, the living Lord!

We at Bountiful Blessings Fellowship uphold the act of baptism as a sacred, injunction of the Scripture. Every believer, serious in his or her faith, will also be serious about baptism. In many ways, baptism is comparable to a marriage. In our culture, a couple usually falls in love prior to their wedding day. The marriage ceremony is an outward representation of the inward comittment. So it is with baptism, one is saved before being baptized, the act is an outward expression of an inward profession. A picture is indeed worth a thousand words. And the picture portayed in baptism declares a variety of scriptural truths.

• It proclaims Christ’s death and resurrection

Now let me remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then and still do now, for your faith is built on this wonderful message. And it is this Good News that saves you if you firmly believe it—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place.
I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me—that Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, as the Scriptures said.
1 Corinthians 15:1-4 (New Living Translation)

• It serves public notice to the world of one’s new life in Christ

If anyone acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will openly acknowledge that person before my Father in heaven.
Matthew 10:32 (New Living Translation)

• It pictures a believer’s death to sin and his resurrection to a spiritual life and lifestyle through the power of the Holy Spirit

Or have you forgotten that when we became Christians and were baptized to become one with Christ Jesus, we died with him? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.
Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised as he was. Our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. ...He died once to defeat sin, and now he lives for the glory of God. So you should consider yourselves dead to sin and able to live for the glory of God through Christ Jesus.
Romans 6:3-7,10-11 (New Living Translation)

Our method of baptism is the method os immersion. We feel strongly that this mode is the one preseted in the New Testament for the following reasons:

1. The Greek word for baptism means “to submerge, plunge, drench, saturate, dip” (Ardnt and Guingrich, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, p.131)
2. Immersion followed the Jewish proseltye practice.
3. The practice of the early church was immersion.

Jesus commanded His disciples to baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost (Matthew 28:19). The New Testament Apostles understood this commandment to mean by the authority of the Godhead, but in the name of Jesus Christ. They taught and practiced water baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Acts 2:38—Colossians 3:17)

Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 28:19 (New Living Translation)

Peter replied, “Each of you must turn from your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Acts 2:38 (New Living Translation)

And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
Colossians 3:17 (King James Version)

The command of Scripture is “be baptized.” By it we both please the Lord and declare His reality in our live and to the world.

Comment

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Our Beliefs : The Future

The Future

We believe that the next great event in human history will be the personal return of Jesus Christ. This is the BLESSED HOPE, yearned for by all those who love Jesus Christ. Though the time of Christ’s return is a mystery know only to the Father Himself, we believe that it is as sure as we believe that Jesus’ first coming was a fact.

However, no one knows the day or the hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows.
Matthew 24:36 (New Living Translation)

I can tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not rise to meet him ahead of those who are in their graves. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the call of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, all the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and remain with him forever.
1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 (New Living Translation)

Don’t be troubled. You trust God, now trust in me. There are many rooms in my Father’s home, and I am going to prepare a place for you. If this were not so, I would tell you plainly. When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.
John 14:1-3 (New Living Translation)

Please read Matthew chapters 24 and 25
Matthew 24-25 (New Living Translation)

Here we are—Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya toward Cyrene, visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism), Cretans, and Arabians. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!”
Acts 2:9-11 (New Living Translation)

Comment

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Our Beliefs : The Church

The Church

We believe that all who have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit belong to the one true church and are directed by the Scriptures to associate themselves in local, visible churches. The local church is the only visible representation of Christ’s invisible church and consists only of regenerated believers. The local church is autonomous in its relationship, and elects its own members to the biblical offices of elder and deacon. The two-fold purpose of the church is to lead others to Christ and mature them in the faith.

Think of ways to encourage one another to outbursts of love and good deeds. 25And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now that the day of his coming back again is drawing near.
Hebrews 10:24-25 (New Living Translation)

Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church—about three thousand in all. They joined with the other believers and devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, sharing in the Lord’s Supper and in prayer.
A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met together constantly and shared everything they had. They sold their possessions and shared the proceeds with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their group those who were being saved.
Acts 2:41-47 (New Living Translation)

While Peter and John were speaking to the people, the leading priests, the captain of the Temple guard, and some of the Sadducees came over to them. They were very disturbed that Peter and John were claiming, on the authority of Jesus, that there is a resurrection of the dead. They arrested them and, since it was already evening, jailed them until morning. But many of the people who heard their message believed it, so that the number of believers totaled about five thousand men, not counting women and children.
The next day the council of all the rulers and elders and teachers of religious law met in Jerusalem. Annas the high priest was there, along with Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and other relatives of the high priest. They brought in the two disciples and demanded, “By what power, or in whose name, have you done this?”
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Leaders and elders of our nation, are we being questioned because we’ve done a good deed for a crippled man? Do you want to know how he was healed? Let me clearly state to you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed in the name and power of Jesus Christ from Nazareth, the man you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead. For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says,
`The stone that you builders rejected
has now become the cornerstone.’
There is salvation in no one else! There is no other name in all of heaven for people to call on to save them.”
The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men who had had no special training. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus. But since the man who had been healed was standing right there among them, the council had nothing to say. So they sent Peter and John out of the council chamber and conferred among themselves.
“What should we do with these men?” they asked each other. “We can’t deny they have done a miraculous sign, and everybody in Jerusalem knows about it.
Acts 4:1-16 (New Living Translation)

Please read 1 Corinthians chapter 12, 13, and 14.
1 Corinthians 12-14 (New Living Translation)

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
“Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”
Then he asked them, “Who do you say I am?”
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. Now I say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you lock on earth will be locked in heaven, and whatever you open on earth will be opened in heaven.” Then he sternly warned them not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that he had to go to Jerusalem, and he told them what would happen to him there. He would suffer at the hands of the leaders and the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, and he would be raised on the third day.
But Peter took him aside and corrected him. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!”
Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, and not from God’s.”
Then Jesus said to the disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross, and follow me. If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life. And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process? Is anything worth more than your soul? For I, the Son of Man, will come in the glory of my Father with his angels and will judge all people according to their deeds. And I assure you that some of you standing here right now will not die before you see me, the Son of Man, coming in my Kingdom.”
Matthew 16:13-28 (New Living Translation)

Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given complete authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20 (New Living Translation)

So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. We are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We who believe are carefully joined together, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Through him you Gentiles are also joined together as part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.
Ephesians 2:19-22 (New Living Translation)

Comment [1]

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Our Beliefs : Salvation

Salvation

We believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins as the only sufficient sacrifice. All who believe in Him are declared justified by the Father on the grounds of Jesus’ death and resurrection. All who receive the Lord Jesus Christ by grace through faith have been regenerated by, and baptized in the Holy Spirit. They are thereby the children of God forever and members in the one true church, the Body of Christ. This salvation results in righteous living and good works as the believer submits his life to the Word of God and the direction of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.
John 14:6 (New Living Translation)

But then God our Savior showed us his kindness and love. He saved us, not because of the good things we did, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins and gave us a new life through the Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us because of what Jesus Christ our Savior did. He declared us not guilty because of his great kindness. And now we know that we will inherit eternal life.
Titus 3:4-7 (New Living Translation)

There is salvation in no one else! There is no other name in all of heaven for people to call on to save them.”
Acts 4:12 (New Living Translation)

But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.
John 1:12 (New Living Translation)

But now God has shown us a different way of being right in his sight—not by obeying the law but by the way promised in the Scriptures long ago. 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.
For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins. For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God’s anger against us. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us. God was being entirely fair and just when he did not punish those who sinned in former times. And he is entirely fair and just in this present time when he declares sinners to be right in his sight because they believe in Jesus.
Romans 3:21-26 (New Living Translation)

Now let me remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then and still do now, for your faith is built on this wonderful message. And it is this Good News that saves you if you firmly believe it—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place.
I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me—that Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, as the Scriptures said.
1 Corinthians 15:1-4 (New Living Translation)

And if Christ was not raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your trust in God is useless.
1 Corinthians 15:14 (New Living Translation)

He is so rich in kindness that he purchased our freedom through the blood of his Son, and our sins are forgiven.
Ephesians 1:7 (New Living Translation)

God saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
Ephesians 2:8-9 (New Living Translation)

And what God wants is for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time.
Under the old covenant, the priest stands before the altar day after day, offering sacrifices that can never take away sins. But our High Priest offered himself to God as one sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down at the place of highest honor at God’s right hand.
Hebrews 10:10-12 (New Living Translation)

And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. So whoever has God’s Son has life; whoever does not have his Son does not have life.
1 John 5:11-13 (New Living Translation)

So you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 3:26 (New Living Translation)

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16 (New Living Translation)

I assure you, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.
John 5:24 (New Living Translation)

Comment

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Our Beliefs : The Nature of Man

The Nature of Man

We believe that man was directly created in the image of God to enjoy HIs fellowship and to fulfill God’s will on this earth. Man fell into sin by a voluntary acot of personal disobedience to the will of God; consequently all men are spiritually dead and subject to the certainty of both physical and spiritual death apart from Jesus Christ. The fall of man was a once-for-all historical fact. Its spiritually deadening effect spread to all men, each of whom is born with a sinful nature and sins habitually in thought, word, and deed.

Then God said, “Let us make people in our image, to be like ourselves. They will be masters over all life—the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the livestock, wild animals, and small animals.”
So God created people in his own image;
God patterned them after himself;
male and female he created them.
Genesis 1:26-27 (New Living Translation)

And the LORD God formed a man’s body from the dust of the ground and breathed into it the breath of life. And the man became a living person.
Genesis 2:7 (New Living Translation)

But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who push the truth away from themselves. For the truth about God is known to them instinctively. God has put this knowledge in their hearts. From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God.
Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. The result was that their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they became utter fools instead. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people, or birds and animals and snakes.
So God let them go ahead and do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. Instead of believing what they knew was the truth about God, they deliberately chose to believe lies. So they worshiped the things God made but not the Creator himself, who is to be praised forever. Amen.
That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relationships with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men and, as a result, suffered within themselves the penalty they so richly deserved.
When they refused to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their evil minds and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, fighting, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They are forever inventing new ways of sinning and are disobedient to their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, and are heartless and unforgiving. They are fully aware of God’s death penalty for those who do these things, yet they go right ahead and do them anyway. And, worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.
Romans 1:18-32 (New Living Translation)

As the Scriptures say,
“No one is good—not even one.
No one has real understanding;
no one is seeking God.
All have turned away from God;
all have gone wrong.
No one does good,
not even one.”
“Their talk is foul, like the stench from an open grave.
Their speech is filled with lies.”
“The poison of a deadly snake drips from their lips.”
“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
“They are quick to commit murder.
Wherever they go, destruction and misery follow them.
They do not know what true peace is.”
“They have no fear of God to restrain them.”
Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses and to bring the entire world into judgment before God. For no one can ever be made right in God’s sight by doing what his law commands. For the more we know God’s law, the clearer it becomes that we aren’t obeying it.
But now God has shown us a different way of being right in his sight—not by obeying the law but by the way promised in the Scriptures long ago. 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.
For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard.
Romans 3:10-23 (New Living Translation)

Once you were dead, doomed forever because of your many sins. You used to live just like the rest of the world, full of sin, obeying Satan, the mighty prince of the power of the air. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passions and desires of our evil nature. We were born with an evil nature, and we were under God’s anger just like everyone else.
Ephesians 2:1-3 (New Living Translation)

Comment

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Our Beliefs : The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit

The third person of the Trinity executes the will of God in the world of men. It is the Holy Spirit who applies the salvation Jesus Christ secured through His death on the cross. It is the Holy Spirit who convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgement. It is the Holy Spirit who empowers the church to live a lifestyle pleasing to God, endowing it with special gifts which equip the belivers to accomplish distinct ministries, planned beforehand by God the Father.

The entire chapter of 1 Corinthians 12
1 Corinthians 12 (New Living Translation)

Once you were dead, doomed forever because of your many sins.
Ephesians 2:1 (New Living Translation)

After dark one evening, a Jewish religious leader named Nicodemus, a Pharisee, came to speak with Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are proof enough that God is with you.”
Jesus replied, “I assure you, unless you are born again, you can never see the Kingdom of God.”
“What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”
Jesus replied, “The truth is, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new life from heaven. So don’t be surprised at my statement that you must be born again. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”
John 3:1-8 (New Living Translation)

Yes, I’m telling you these things now, so that when they happen, you will remember I warned you. I didn’t tell you earlier because I was going to be with you for a while longer.
“But now I am going away to the one who sent me, and none of you has asked me where I am going. Instead, you are very sad. But it is actually best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Counselor won’t come. If I do go away, he will come because I will send him to you. 8And when he comes, he will convince the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment. The world’s sin is unbelief in me. Righteousness is available because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more. Judgment will come because the prince of this world has already been judged.
“Oh, there is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not be presenting his own ideas; he will be telling you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring me glory by revealing to you whatever he receives from me. All that the Father has is mine; this is what I mean when I say that the Spirit will reveal to you whatever he receives from me.
John 16:4-15 (New Living Translation)

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. The 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)

You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.
John 15:16

So I advise you to live according to your new life in the Holy Spirit. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The old sinful nature loves to do evil, which is just opposite from what the Holy Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are opposite from what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, and your choices are never free from this conflict. But when you are directed by the Holy Spirit, you are no longer subject to the law.
When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, your lives will produce these evil results: sexual immorality, impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure, idolatry, participation in demonic activities, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, divisions, the feeling that everyone is wrong except those in your own little group, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other kinds of sin. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Here there is no conflict with the law.
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. If we are living now by the Holy Spirit, let us follow the Holy Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.
Galatians 5:16-25 (New Living Translation)

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Our Beliefs : The Son

The Son

Jesus Christ is both the Son of God and virgin-born Son of man. Fully God and fully man, He surrendered nothing of His deity during His early life. Having led a sinless life, He satisfied the Father’s justice concerning sin by His death. We believe in His bodily resurrection, His physical ascension, and His visible return to this earth to establish His earthly kingdom.

So the Word became human and lived here on earth among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father.
John pointed him out to the people. He shouted to the crowds, “This is the one I was talking about when I said, `Someone is coming who is far greater than I am, for he existed long before I did.’ ”
We have all benefited from the rich blessings he brought to us—one gracious blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. But his only Son, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart; he has told us about him.
John 1:14-18 (New Living Translation)

Read the entire chapter of 1 Corinthians 15
1 Corinthians 15 (New Living Translation)

Therefore, it was necessary for Jesus to be in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. He then could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people. Since he himself has gone through suffering and temptation, he is able to help us when we are being tempted.
Hebrews 2:17-18 (New Living Translation)

Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins. For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God’s anger against us. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us. God was being entirely fair and just when he did not punish those who sinned in former times. And he is entirely fair and just in this present time when he declares sinners to be right in his sight because they believe in Jesus.
Romans 3:24-26 (New Living Translation)

And I saw a great white throne, and I saw the one who was sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide. I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to the things written in the books, according to what they had done. The sea gave up the dead in it, and death and the grave gave up the dead in them. They were all judged according to their deeds. And death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death—the lake of fire. And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.
Revelation 20:11-15 (New Living Translation)

For in Christ the fullness of God lives in a human body
Colossians 2:9 (New Living Translation)

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Our Beliefs : The Father

The Father

The first person of the Trinity orders and directs all things according to His own purpose, pleasure, and grace. He has decreed all things that come to pass for His own glory. He graciously involves Himself in the affairs of men, hears and answers prayer, and saves from sin and death all who come to Him through Jesus Christ.

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name…
Matthew 6:9 (King James Version)

Jesus replied, “I assure you, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and tells him everything he is doing, and the Son will do far greater things than healing this man. You will be astonished at what he does. He will even raise from the dead anyone he wants to, just as the Father does. And the Father leaves all judgment to his Son, so that everyone will honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. But if you refuse to honor the Son, then you are certainly not honoring the Father who sent him.
“I assure you, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life…”
John 5:19-24 (New Living Translation)

How we praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we belong to Christ. Long ago, even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure.
So we praise God for the wonderful kindness he has poured out on us because we belong to his dearly loved Son.
Ephesians 1:3-6 (New Living Translation)

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