God has always been and always will be. He is the eternally existent creator of the universe, and ruler of all things that exist in the past, present, and future. He is the one and only true God, existing in three distinct persons - The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. 

 

Genesis 1-2; Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 43:10-11; Matthew 28:19; Luke 3:22

The Bible is God’s written word for us. It is the divinely inspired message given to us by the Holy Spirit. He spoke to people and they wrote His words. It is the only written revelation from God to man. The Bible is true, without error, will not fail, and is the authoritative rule of faith and conduct for all people. 

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2Timothy 3:15-17; 1Thessalonians 2:13; 2Peter 1:21

God created all of the universe, including humans. We were created in the image of God to be friends with God. By a voluntary act of the will, the first humans, Adam and Eve, disobeyed God. That first sin set humankind on course to live separated from God, and ushered death - physical and spiritual - into the world. Every person born after the creation of Adam and Eve was born with a natural tendency toward sin. Sin breaks our friendship with God, and all sin requires a payment in order to be reconciled with God.

 

Genesis 2-3, Isaiah 53:6, Isaiah 59:2, Romans 3:23, 5:12-19, 6:23, Ephesians 2:11-18

God had a plan all along to rescue us from sin and restore our friendship with Him - Jesus. He is God, the Son. He came to earth to live as a human. He walked this earth as one of us, experiencing pain, joy, temptation, and loss, just like we do, but He never sinned. In order to pay for our sin debt, He willingly gave up his life to die so we could be forgiven. He was tortured and put to death on a cross, but He didn’t stay dead. 

Three days after Jesus died, he was raised back to life by the power of the Holy Spirit - proving that He has put away our sin for good, and conquered death, so we don’t have to die for our sin, but can live. Now we have direct access to a restored friendship with God! That access is only through faith in Jesus, not by any good works we can do, but only by believing He is our perfect savior and surrendering the rule of our lives to Him. 

After Jesus came back to life and lived a little while longer on the earth, He ascended to Heaven’s glory with the promise to return again someday, and reign as the ultimate King and Ruler over all the earth. Before He ascended to heaven, He left His followers a promise and a mission. 

 

Isaiah 9:6; John 1:1-5, 3, 14:6, 14:10-30; Acts 1:9-11; Romans 1:1-6; 1Corinthians 15:3-4; 1Timothy 6:14-15; Hebrews 4:14-15

Jesus promised that when He left the earth for heaven, He would send us a helper - the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God’s person, presence, and influence given for our daily lives. He serves several different purposes - to convict us of our sin and make us aware of our need for Jesus, and to empower us to live like Jesus and to tell others about Him. He also equips Christians with supernatural gifts to support the ministry and mission of the church.

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Acts 1:4-8; Romans 12; 1Corinthians 12; Galatians 5:22-23; Ephesians 4, 5:18

The Church is the people of God - believers in Jesus Christ. As believers, we are instructed to work together as a unified body for a three-fold purpose: to tell the world about Jesus and God’s plan for our salvation, to worship God together, and to equip other believers for ministry.

 

Mark 16:15-16; 1Corinthians 12:12-28, 14:12; Ephesians 4:11-16

 

The Ordinances of the Church

There are two things that Jesus instructed us to do as believers to remind us of His sacrifice for us and our new life in Him - Baptism and Communion

 

Baptism

The Bible teaches that all who repent and believe in Jesus Christ are to be baptized in water. In baptism we publicly proclaim our faith in Jesus Christ. Baptism by being immersed in water and brought back out again is symbolic of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. It is how we declare to the world that we have died to sin and have been raised to new life with Christ. 

 

Matthew 3:13-17, 28:19; Romans 6:4

 

Communion

Communion consists of two elements: the bread and juice/wine. Jesus taught His followers this example of remembrance at His last supper with them. The bread is symbolic of the body of Christ that would be broken so that we could be made whole, and the juice/wine is symbolic of the blood of Christ that would be spilled to cover our sin. Communion is a memorial of Christ's sufferings on the cross and a celebration of our salvation. It is a sacred moment for a believer to examine their own life and experience forgiveness.

 

Luke 22:14-20; 1Corinthians 11:23-29

Throughout the Bible, we are assured that the world will not continue forever in the cycle of sin and death, but that there will come a day when Jesus Christ will return to earth to gather His followers and to reign as the ultimate King and Ruler over all things, making the world brand new - without sin, sorrow, pain, or death.

We are told that when He returns, He will resurrect those who have died as believers and together with us who are still alive, will usher us into His perfect kingdom. The return of Christ and the rapture of the church is our Blessed Hope. 

There will be a final judgment in which all who have died, and all who are still alive - believers and unbelievers, will stand before God to be judged. Those who have believed in Jesus and surrendered their lives to follow Him will have their names written in the Book of Life. Those whose names are not found in the book will be consigned to everlasting punishment in the lake of fire (Hell), along with the devil and his angels. Those whose names are written in the Book of Life will stand at the judgment seat of Christ to be rewarded for their good deeds, and will begin the rest of eternity in the presence of God. 

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Matthew 25:31-46; Romans 2:1-9; 1Corinthians 15:51-57; 1Thessalonians 4:16-18; Titus 2:13; Revelation 20:11-15