|
|
|
|
Resurrection Life Church
Following are two statements of faith that we have.
The first is brief, the second a more detailed and complete summary.
A Brief Summary of What We Believe
We believe in:
1. The full inspiration of the Holy Scriptures; their authority and
sufficiency as not only containing, but being in themselves, the Word of
God; the reliability of the New Testament in its testimony to the
teaching of the Holy Spirit to a true and spiritual understanding of the
whole.
2. The unity of the Godhead and the divine co-equality of the Father,
The Son, and the Holy Spirit; The sovereignty and ability of God in
creation, providence, and redemption.
3. The sinfulness of human nature in consequence of the fall and the
necessity of regeneration.
4. The Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ; His virgin birth; His real and
perfect manhood; the authority of His teaching and the infallibility of
all His utterances; His work of reconciliation of sinners of mankind by
His vicarious sufferings and death; His bodily resurrection and His
ascension into Heaven; His present priestly intercession for His people;
and His present function as the Baptizer with the Holy Spirit and His
Headship in the Church.
5. The justification of the sinner solely by faith, through the
reconciling merits of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
6. The necessity of the work of the Holy Spirit in conviction of sin,
regeneration, conversion and sanctification; also in ministry and
worship and in the exercising of spiritual gifts through the body of
believers.
7. The resurrection of the body; the judgment of the world by our Lord
Jesus Christ with the eternal redemption of the righteous and the
eternal punishment of the wicked.
8. Baptism by immersion of the believer; the Lord’s Supper as a
commemoration of our Lord=s death but not as being a sacrifice for sin
or involving any change in the substance bread and wine.
9. The personal return of the Lord Jesus Christ for His Church.
Resurrection Life Church
An In-depth summary of the truth we believe -
March, 1992
It makes no difference what a person or a group believes intellectually
if they don't believe it in their hearts and live it in their lives.
When they only agree to a creed with their minds they are a mere man-made organization; but when they experience and enjoy the reality of the
life of God through Jesus Christ as described in their Bible-based
creed, they are a true body, a living house, a church in Spirit and in
truth. "You believe that there is one God; you do well: the
devils also believe, and tremble" (James 2:19). Men must do more. They
must live it out in reality, "for as the body without the spirit is
dead, so faith without works is dead also" (vs. 26). We as a people seek
to know by experience what we present here, things that the devil and
unregenerate men cannot know. If our doctrine is a bit incorrect, please
bear with us. We are only seeking to understand and communicate the
reality of the knowledge of God we have come to know in our hearts and
lives. We believe God will not disqualify any man who, despite his
infant understanding of things, has the true seed of Jesus Christ in his
heart. It is our desire that God in His grace will cause these doctrines
to be understood, believed, and experienced by every man. (See John
20:31.)
Revelation
We believe no man knows "the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever
the Son will reveal Him" (Matthew 11:27). Jesus said, "The Comforter,
which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall
teach you all things" (John 14:26). The true knowledge of God is only
revealed to man by the Spirit of God. "Now we have received, not the
spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know
the things that are freely given to us of God… God has revealed them
unto us by His Spirit..." (1 Corinthians 2:12, 11). Inward revelation by
the Spirit is absolutely vital for birth and growth in the life of God.
We treasure the Bible and whole heartedly believe the holy scriptures
"are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in
Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished
unto all good works" (2 Timothy 3:15-17). The Bible contains a
declaration of all the fundamental doctrines and principles relating to
eternal life and salvation. It is the only fit outward judge and test
among Christians. We are willing to have all we believe, preach, and do
tested by it. Any doctrine or practice pretended to be of the Spirit but
contrary to the Bible is false and is to be rejected as a delusion. True
inward revelation by the Holy Spirit will never contradict the testimony
of scripture nor right and sound reason. We believe the Bible is a collection of divine revelations given forth
by the Spirit through holy men of God who spoke and wrote "as they were
moved by the Holy Ghost" (2 Peter 1:21). The Bible itself testifies that
the Spirit of God is the guide by which the saints are led into all
truth (John 16:13) and that only they that "are led by the Spirit of God
are the sons of God" (Romans 8:14). Therefore, according to the Bible,
the Spirit is the first and principal leader. The Bible is a declaration
of the Living Fountain and not the Fountain itself; it is the truth
about the Truth, Jesus Christ; it testifies not to itself but to Jesus
Christ as the source of eternal life. Jesus cautioned us, "Search the
scriptures; for in them you think you have eternal life: and they are they
which testify of Me. And you will not come to Me, that you might have
life" (John 5:39-40). "I am the way, the truth, and the life:" He said,
"no man comes unto the Father, but by Me" (John 14:6). The title "The Word of God" is reserved for Christ alone. "In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God... And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us" (John 1:1, 14).
"And His name is called The Word of God" (Revelation 19:13). We call the
Bible the words of God, the written word of God, and the Holy
Scriptures, in the same way that Jesus, the apostles, and the other holy
men of God referred to them. (See Exodus 20:1, John 5:47, 15:7, and
Revelation 22:18-19.)
God
We believe that God is the only wise, omnipotent, and everlasting God,
the Creator of all things both in heaven and in earth, and the Preserver
of all that He has made. He is God over all to whom belongs all
blessing, honor, glory, power, praise, and thanksgiving now and forever
(Revelation 5:12, 13). We believe that "there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father,
the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one" (1 John 5:7).
Though the word Trinity is never used in the Bible, it appropriately
describes the unity of the Godhead and the divine co-equality of the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God is one yet manifests Himself
uniquely through each of the three. We believe Jesus Christ is God the Father's beloved and only begotten
Son in whom He is well pleased. He was with God from the beginning and
is God (John 1:1). Because of the amazing love in the Godhead, the Son
"was made flesh, and dwelt among us" (vs. 14). He was conceived by the
Holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary, lived on this earth as a real man,
was crucified, died, was buried, and then rose from the dead on the
third day by the power of God, now to live forevermore as King of all
creation at the right hand of God as our holy Mediator, Advocate, and
Intercessor. He is the express "image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: for by Him were all things created, that are in
heaven, and that are in earth... and He is before all things, and by Him
all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the Church... that
in all things He might have the preeminence" (Colossians 1:15-18). He
alone is the Redeemer and Savior of man. "Neither is there salvation in
any other: for there is no other name under heaven given among men,
whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). We believe the Holy Spirit is God. He is the Comforter sent forth by the
Father in Jesus' name to lead and guide us into all the truth (John
14:26, 16:13). He convicts of sin and, when He is obeyed, gives power to
men to overcome and forsake it. It is the work of the Spirit not merely
to reveal Jesus to us but in us; He not only came to be with men but in
them (John 14:17). He is the "Unction from the Holy One" (1 John 2:20)
who writes the life and law of Christ on our hearts (2 Corinthians 3:3,
Heb 8:10). It is He that baptizes men into Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13,
Romans 6:3). He ministers Christ to our hearts, making Christ's death,
burial, and resurrection real in our experience (John 16:15, Colossians
2:9-12).
Man
In the beginning God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, after Our
likeness: and let them have dominion..." (Genesis 1:26). And so God did,
and called him very good. Man was made for God's pleasure, that he
should know God, serve Him, enjoy Him, reign with Him, and live in
Paradise forever in perfect communion with Him. Man from the beginning
was meant to be the crown of God's creation. God chose us in Christ
"before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before Him in love" (Ephesians 1:4), "conformed to the image of
His Son" (Romans 8:29). But Adam and Eve sinned and consequently died spiritually, for "the
wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). They lost the heavenly image in
which they were created and were driven from Paradise by God Himself,
for no man who has sin in his heart can dwell with God (Psalms 24:3-4).
Being spiritually dead, Adam and Eve brought forth children after their
own kind and nature according to one of the laws of creation, namely
that every living thing reproduces and bears fruit after its own kind
(Genesis 1:11-12, 24-25). Now "all have sinned, and come short of the
glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Death has "passed upon all men, for that
all have sinned" (Romans 5:12). Now, until Jesus intervenes, man is
fallen, degenerated, dead, and of the nature of the devil (Ephesians 2:1-3); no good thing dwells in him (Romans 7:18); he has no hope, and is
"without God in the world" (Ephesians 2:12); and "the wrath of God abides on him" (John 3:36).
Redemption
Though our sin and iniquity hid God's face from us (Isaiah 59:2), "God
commends His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us" (Romans 5:8). Jesus died in our place, the guiltless for
the guilty, that we may be reconciled to God. "For God so loved the
world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in
Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). Jesus
died on the cross to redeem us (or buy us back) from our present
condition of sin, bondage, and death with its just reward of
condemnation and hell, and bring us into His kingdom which is
"righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost" (Romans 14:17).
Though sin marred God's image and likeness in man, Jesus came to
recreate in us that glorious image. God has called us, by the "gospel,
to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Thessalonians
2:14). All that was lost through Adam has been regained for us in
Christ's redemption! And more! For "where sin abounded, grace did much
more abound" (Romans 5:20). Amen! We believe that through faith a man can be justified (or pardoned)
freely by God's grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus
(Romans 3:24). "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from" not some but "all
unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). He who repents of his sin and believes in
Jesus is made pure in heart in an instant, as if he had never sinned
(Acts 15:9, John 1:29)! His past sinful record is washed away by the
precious blood of Jesus and God remembers his sin no more (Revelation
1:5, Hebrews 8:12). We look not at the impossibility, but at Jesus and
the power of His blood!
We believe that every man "must be born again" of the Spirit in order to
"enter into the kingdom of God" (John 3:6, 5). Justification is what God
does for us; regeneration, or new birth, is what God does in us.
Justification changes our relationship to God from enemy to friend
(Romans 5:1); regeneration changes our innermost being from sinner to
saint (1 John 2:29, 3:9). Justification has to do with the forgiveness
of sins; new birth has to do with the destruction of the power of sin.
Not only did Jesus die to wash away our sins (Romans 3:25), but to
destroy the root and nature of sin, for He is "the Lamb of God, which
takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). Jesus came not only do
deal with the bad fruit of the corrupt tree; He came to lay the axe to
the very root of the tree (Luke 3:9). "Our old man is crucified with
Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should
not serve sin" (Romans 6:6). When the Spirit enters a man He baptizes
him into the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus and makes it the
man's own experience. The old man (also called the Adam nature, sin
nature, and stony heart) is destroyed and we become "partakers of the
divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4). We do not believe we are left with two
natures, both sinful and divine, here in this world (Matthew 7:16-18,
Romans 7:1-6, James 3:11-12). We take God at His word who said, "I will
take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a
heart of flesh," the nature of Jesus (Ezekiel 36:26). We are brought
into the new covenant: God's law of love is written on our hearts and
minds; He becomes our very personal God and we become His people; we
know Him in a real and intimate way; and our sins, though like scarlet,
are washed away and remembered no more (Hebrews 8:10-12)! "Therefore if
any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away;
behold, all things are become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17). In Christ a man
is set free from the power of sin and made a servant of righteousness
(Romans 6:18, 1 John 3:9) and is now enabled to fulfill the will of God
(1 Peter 4:2). It is possible for a Christian to sin if we move from our
position of faith (1 John 2:1). The pulls of the world, the flesh, and
the devil are very real and very strong and can stir any of us to sin if
we allow them to. But we maintain that we don't have to sin "because
greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world" (1 John
4:4). God tells us to "go and sin no more" (John 8:11) and is able to
keep us from falling (Jude 24). We point to "Christ in you" (Colossians
1:27) as the only hope of living this glorious life of Jesus.
Power o'er the world, the fiend, and sin
We in Thy gracious Spirit feel,
Full power the victory to win,
And answer all Thy righteous will.
-
Charles Wesley
Having been born of God, we must "go on unto perfection" (Hebrews 6:1)
and be completely "conformed to the image of His Son" (Romans 8:29).
This perfection has two aspects: present perfection of heart and a
perfection that is future and final. We shall never be of the same full
orbed perfection that God is of. But we are told to grow in love and
pursue it. When Jesus said, "Be therefore perfect, even as your
Father which is in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:48), He was referring
to the perfect love He came to establish in men's hearts and lives. It
must be possible to "be perfect" and to love like Jesus or He never
would have commanded it (John 13:34). We can move right into it by His
grace and know a perfection of love now in proportion to our stage of
growth in Jesus, for it isn't the size of love that is the vital thing
but the kind and nature of love that is. Love will increase in a man's
heart through process of time. We believe we shall be perfected in love
here in this world if we "continue in the faith grounded and settled,
and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel" (Colossians 1:23).
"As
He is, so can we be in this world" (1 John 4:17). And "when He shall
appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is" (1 John
3:2).
The pure in heart Thy face shall see
Before they hence remove,
Redeemed from all iniquity,
And perfected in love.
This is the great salvation! This
The prize at which we aim,
The end of faith, the hidden bliss,
The new, mysterious name.
-
Charles Wesley
The Church
We believe the Church is made up of true believers in heaven and on the
earth who have been justified from sin, born of the Spirit into new life
in Christ, and now worship God "in Spirit and in truth" (John 4:24). The
Church is the true spiritual body of Christ (Ephesians 1:22-23); His
Bride, "of His flesh, and of His bones" (Ephesians 5:30); the corporate
temple of God (1 Peter 2:4-6); a family (Ephesians 3:14-15); and a
courageous army (Revelation 19:11-21). The Church shall be made perfect
in one, for Jesus prayed it while on earth (John 17:20-26) and His zeal
will perform it (Isaiah 9:7).
We believe God has instructed each one in His Church to be baptized in
water as an outward and physical picture of the inward and spiritual
reality of the baptism in the Spirit. As baptism in water is the
initiation into the visible church on earth, so spiritual baptism is the
initiation into the spiritual body of Christ. It is vital that a person
has an inward baptism into Christ by the Spirit to receive eternal life.
Without that, the baptism in water is meaningless. (See Acts 2:38, 8:12,
8:36-39, 10:44-48.) We believe God has also instructed His Church to partake of the Lord's
supper until He comes again (1 Corinthians 11:26). The Lord's supper is
another outward and physical picture of an inward and spiritual
experience. Water baptism is done once, typifying spiritual birth into
the kingdom of God; the breaking of bread is done in the context of
local churches on a regular basis, typifying man's need to continuously
feed on Jesus and maintain constant communion with Him and his brethren.
Without the inward experience of communion with God in the Spirit, the
outward act of breaking of bread avails nothing. (See 1 Corinthians
11:17-34.) "By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body" (1 Corinthians 12:13),
the body of Christ. The local church, being a part of the visible body
of Christ, is the focal point of God's life on the earth and the
foundation from which each living member's calling and ministry springs
forth and develops. Practically speaking, we are joined with others in a
local body of believers, vitally linked with one another by the Spirit,
Jesus being the head (Colossians 1:18). Missions and ministries, rather
than being entities in themselves, are to be under the covering,
oversight, and authority of local churches. We believe the local church
is to be autonomous yet linked with many other local churches around the
world by cords of compassion and bands of love. This linking provides
comfort and encouragement for each church as well as spiritual safety
and protection in doctrine and practice, for "in a multitude of counselors
there is safety" (Proverbs 24:6). The local church is to demonstrate
through the lives of its members the unity and love of the Spirit where
loving leadership oversees and guides the whole and where all are
subject one to another in humility and love (John 13:34-35, Ephesians
4:1-16, 1 Peter 5:1-5).
The End... The Beginning
We believe a day is coming when "Jesus shall be revealed from heaven
with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that
know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who
shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the
Lord, and from the glory of His power; when He shall come to be
glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe in
that day" (2 Thessalonians 1:7-11). God will judge the world by Jesus
Christ the Lord whom He has ordained (John 5:22). There will be a bodily
resurrection both of the wicked and the righteous in which "all that are
in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have
done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil,
unto the resurrection of damnation" (John 5:28-29). The end of the world shall be the beginning of eternity for God's people
in the very presence of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. There
shall be "new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness"
(2 Peter 3:13). "And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that
defiles, neither whatsoever works abomination, or makes a lie: but
they which are written in the Lamb's book of life" (Revelation 21:27).
Amen! Only purity and holiness will be there, for Jesus, who takes away
sin, will be King. Only those who have identified with Jesus and His
pure and holy life in this world and have reigned in life through Him
(Romans 5:17) will reign forever there. |
|