Scripture: All Scripture is given by the divine inspiration of God (2 Timothy 3:16), and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness. Altogether, the canonized books of the holy scriptures have been preserved for us in a present modern form, in the English language, in the Authorized King James Version of the Bible. The Holy Bible is absolutely sufficient, as the only authoritative source and guide, in all matters of knowledge, truth, practice, religion and wisdom. We hold on to the theological position of ‘Sola’ and ‘Tota’ ‘Scriptura’; that Scripture is the sole infallible, final, and complete source of authority for Christian faith and practice. Sola Scriptura means by Scripture alone and Tota Scriptura refers to the completeness of God’s Word in the Holy Bible, as the one-and-only rule for faith and practice, apart from any tradition, creed, or any other human authority. All of the canonized manuscripts of the Bible, from the Old to the New Testament, are equally inspired and settled upon by God. “For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.” (Psalm 119:89).
God: There is only one LORD God, and there is none else beside Him (Deuteronomy 6:4, 4:35). All things were created by Him and for Him. God has revealed Himself to the world, and throughout the Holy Bible, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is one in person, power, and essence. God is omnipotent (or all-powerful), as the Almighty (Revelation 1:8), with full sovereign authority over all things in His creation. God is omniscient (or all-knowing), as the Alpha and the Omega, seeing all things (Jeremiah 23:24); declaring the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10). God is omnipresent (present everywhere) (Psalm 139:7-10, John 4:24), filling the heaven and earth, and by Him and for Him do all things consist (Colossians 1:16-17).
God is the Most-High King of all kings; heaven is His throne, and earth is His footstool (Acts 7:48-49). In Exodus 3:14 God said to Moses, “I AM THAT I AM”: and to say, “I AM hath sent me”. The LORD God is a jealous God, for His people (not to serve other gods), for His land (Joel 2:18), and for His holy name (Ezekiel 39:25). God is slow to anger, but He will repay unforgiven sin with vengeance and wrath (Romans 12:19). God is without iniquity, and He is perfect, holy, and just in all of His ways (Deuteronomy 32:4). God is the source of all wisdom, goodness, and truth, and the standard of all that is righteous. God is abounding in mercy, grace, and compassion (Psalm 103:8, 145:8). God is Love (1 John 4:8). God is the only saviour (Isaiah 43:11).
“For 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), “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD” (Deuteronomy 6:4), – “there is none else beside him.” (Isaiah 45:21).
Jesus Christ: The Lord Jesus Christ is the Only Begotten Son of God, who was with God, and was God, from the very beginning, as the Word of God (John 1). All things created were made by Him, He is before all things, and in Him was the life that was the light of men. As God manifest in the flesh (1 Timothy 3:16), He is both fully God and man; the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15), in the form of God (Philippians 2:6), within Him dwelling the fulness of the Godhead bodily. (Colossians 2:9); “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;” (Hebrews 1:3). Christ was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born into the world as a child, and from about the age of 30 He began His public ministry on earth for about 3 1/2 years.
“He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:10-13). He was in all points tempted like as we are, yet “without sin”. (Hebrews 4:15), and “being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” (Philippians 2:8), sacrificing Himself for us (1 Corinthians 5:7), as the propitiation for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:2).
He was persecuted and crucified; He died for our sins, was buried, and then rose again the third day according to the scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:4), in the same physical body that was slain on the cross. As the only person never to sin, He “became sin for us,” dying on the cross, resurrecting back to life, and then ascended back into heaven, received up into glory at the right hand of the Throne, as the only atoning sacrifice which God accepts as the propitiation for all sins for all those who repent to obey the Gospel. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:10). Now, there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, “the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” (1 Timothy 2:6). He is the high priest we have which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities (Hebrews 4:15), who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens”, (Hebrews 8:1). All power has been given to Him in heaven and in earth (Matthew 28:18).
In John 8:53, those who sought to kill Jesus asked Him, “Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself?”. In his reply, Jesus said, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad”, and they replied back to him, “Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?”. Jesus responded saying, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:53, 56-58). He is the biblically prophesied Messiah, and only rightful King to the Throne of David over Israel, Who will come again to the earth for a second time, to judge all of His enemies in fire, re-establish the whole world in righteousness, and rule all nations with a rod of iron; exercising His full dominion for a never-ending reign, in an eternal state of universal peace and joy. Jesus Christ, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, is the King of all Kings and Lord of all Lords, who loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood (Revelation 1:5), so that mankind could be reconciled back to God from our fallen state of spiritual death. His name means “God is Salvation”. Jesus is the door to God’s Kingdom; “the way, the truth, and the life”; no man comes unto the Father, but by Him (John 14:6). The Lord Jesus Christ is God. Be it known to all people, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom was crucified, and raised from the dead, “this is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:10-12).
Mankind: While created as a living soul in the image of God, mankind fell from his original state and place in creation, through an act of sin in the Garden of Eden. Mankind consists of a natural body (or outer-man, or flesh), and there is a spiritual body (or inner-man, or soul) (1 Corinthians 15:44, Ephesians 3:16). In both a persons’ natural and spiritual state, all people are born into this world alienated from God. Born and shaped in iniquity (Psalms 51:5), every aspect of a person is inherently corrupted by sin. People are unable to do good apart from God’s merciful will; therefore, human beings are unable to come to God on their own accord, and are hopelessly incapable of attaining righteousness by any independent effort or self-merit (Romans 3:24-25). Being utterly dead in trespasses and sins, and captive under the Law, until salvation into God’s Kingdom of eternal life might be attained; new creatures in Christ, in repentance by grace through faith, by the calling, and regeneration of the spiritual body, through the power of God. Even after spiritual sanctification (or being born-again of the spirit), one still remains mortally corrupt in the flesh, until final glorification with the coming of Christ.
Atonement for Sins: We believe in the atoning efficacy of the death of Christ; to serve as a sufficient and once-for-all sacrifice for our sin. The Lord Jesus Christ is the propitiation for our sins: “and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:2). “No man has greater love than to lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13), and because Jesus Christ shed His own blood for us, we can receive imputed righteousness from God by repenting and receiving justification to life from death, by God’s grace through faith in Christ. As a result of this atonement, eternal salvation can be offered to depraved people. While in a genuine state of repentance, one can receive the free gift of eternal life, that he offers by the grace of God through faith in His Son (Ephesians 2:8-9); by one repenting and obeying the Gospel, trusting God and calling out to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, to receive the rebirth of the Spirit, or the quickening or regeneration of the spiritual body, or sanctification of the spirit, or justification of life from the law, under the Covenant in the New Testament.
“For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.” (Hebrews 9:16-17). “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:8-11). While “we were yet without strength”, “in due time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6). The Lord Jesus Christ made an atonement of himself for our sake, upon the Cross of Calvary, just as was foreshadowed in the Mosaic Law of the Old Testament (Hebrews 10:1), “For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD.” (Leviticus 16:30).
“For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” (Leviticus 17:11). All need atonement for sin under the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, for deliverance from God’s wrath and to be reconciled with God. “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.” (Romans 5:7-11).
The Christian Walk: As faithful followers of Christ we are called to be set apart from this world. Though already made free from the reign of sin and death on the inner-man, through justification from the Law and sanctification of the Spirit, from the time of salvation, we’re now supposed to strive in this life not to yield our members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin. But to yield ourselves unto God, as those that are ‘alive from the dead’, and our members as ‘instruments of righteousness’ unto God. In 1 Corinthians 6:15-18 we are reminded our bodies are the members of Christ, so we should flee fornication, which means to flee sexual immorality as commanded in the Law (such as Leviticus 18), “for this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour”. Rather than chasing after the perishable things and vain glories of this life, we should seek first after the Kingdom to store spiritual treasures in heaven, and work to earn non-perishable rewards for the life to come. Being saved, we should then spend the rest of this life seeking primarily after the things and purposes of God’s Kingdom, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10).
Afterlife and Final Judgment: We believe man is appointed to die once in the natural body (Hebrews 9:27), and in the judgment of the afterlife we believe in the everlasting peace and joy of the righteous, and the everlasting punishment and misery of the wicked, in either heaven, hell, or outer darkness, until the Second Coming of Christ which will be followed by the final judgment of the Great White Throne. In final judgment, all the dead small and great (who were not part of the first resurrection) (Revelation 20:6), from the ‘sea’ and from ‘death and hell’ (Revelation 20:14), will be brought up before the throne, and the books will be opened, and every man will be judged according to their works, to receive the things done in the body whether good or bad (2 Corinthians 5:10). Finally, another book will be opened which is the Lamb’s Book of Life, and that came up from death and hell, and all whose names are not found written in this book will be cast into the Lake of Fire which is the second death, whereas all whose name are written will be redeemed to enter the New Heavens and New Earth.
Bodily Return of Christ: We are now in the Christian church age of grace , (since the first advent of Christ on earth). Since the days of His public ministry on earth in the first century AD, the Kingdom of God has been growing as a mountain, in the spiritual domain and in the hearts of the people in His Church, and it will continue to grow, as more and more people press in through obedience to the Gospel, until His second advent will begin with the end of this world. And so shall it be in the end of this world; “The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.” (Matthew 13:40-43). We believe in the future bodily return of the Lord Jesus Christ to the earth, when He will judge all the world in fire, but deliver and preserve His own. All that is not of His Kingdom will be destroyed, but the saved will be glorified to receive an everlasting inheritance in His Kingdom (Matthew 13:41-43, Titus 2:13). While the men of Galilee looked stedfastly toward heaven as Jesus ascended, two men stood by them in white apparel, and said, “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:10-11).
The day of the LORD will come when the nations gather against Jerusalem to battle; and the city will be taken, and half will go forth into captivity, and “the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city”. “Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south…And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be. And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.” (Zechariah 14:1-4, 8-9).
Final Resurrection: “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power”. Christ is reigning now from heaven over earth, and He must continue to reign, “till he hath put all enemies under his feet.” (1 Corinthians 15:19-25). As that which is corrupt cannot inherit incorruption, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 15:50). Before entering the eternal state of the New Heavens and New Earth all who belong to Christ must be transformed into a gloried state of existence. “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:53-57).
Salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ alone by Grace through Faith
The Bible declares that God, through His Son, created all things including mankind. God is totally sovereign and all-powerful, therefore we would be wise to consider what His divine word says to us, because at some point in time we will all have to face the Throne and give an account for all the things we have done, whether good or bad (Romans 2:3, 2 Corinthians 5:10). The Bible says that through the disobedience of one man (that is Adam) sin entered into the world, and the result of sin is death. Whereas with physical death our bodies perish to return back into the ground from whence they came, the natural birth state of all men being ‘dead in trespasses and sins’ (Ephesian 2:1) entails a spiritual sense of separation from God. Our inherent sinful nature, along with the curse of the law, brings all people under a state of divine condemnation which leads us towards death, and deservedly so. Thus, death passed upon all men, for all have sinned (Romans 5). “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:” (Romans 3:10). Thus, we all need to receive personal salvation from God for deliverance from the reign of sin over our souls, and to gain the promise of everlasting preservation from death. Salvation in Christ, which comprises forgiveness of personal sin, and the inheritance of eternal life with God, is made available to us by Jesus Christ through His sacrifice on the cross. Salvation is given by God to those that are predetermined, as a result of the work of the gospel, by grace through faith in Christ, while one is in a state of repentance, turning away from sin and towards Christ in personal prayer, in obedience to the call of the Gospel to believe on Him (John 6:29); trusting in Christ as one’s personal Saviour and only means to salvation.
The Christian faith is not merely a religion but much more so a way of living, believing, abiding in, serving, and relating towards God the creator in Christ, His Kingdom, and His beloved children. The Salvation of God does not come by the good works of religion, but rather, in repentance from sin, by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is an outline of the core beliefs and key tenants we hold with regards to our ministry fellowship that are considered to be essential doctrines of the Christian faith. No one really deserves to go to heaven, according to the perfect standard of God’s own righteousness. Hence, it is not by good works of self-righteousness that we can merit or earn being saved, but God, who is rich in mercy, has extended His gracious hand to the lost, by offering salvation through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who died to pay the penalty for the sins of the world. Eternal salvation can be received from God, while in a state of repentance, by the Grace of God, through Faith in Christ (John 10:9, John 8:12), to receive the quickening of the Spirit, which brings about Sanctification of the Spirit, or Justification of the Law, unto Eternal Life in His Kingdom. “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, … That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” (Romans 10:4-6, 9).