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Short Statement   Long Statement

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.