STATEMENT OF FAITH

  1.  We believe that all Scripture as written in the Holy Bible is given by inspiration of God and that this Word of God is faithfully delivered to mankind in its pages. In the principle of "sol scriptura" we hold forth the authority of Holy Scripture as absolute, supreme and final. We believe that the Holy Spirit guided the holy men of old in all that they wrote and that He further illuminates the scriptures to those who are responding to His Word thereby drawing them into Himself and into the company of the called, the chosen and the faithful.- 2 Timothy 3:16, Deuteronomy 4:2, 2 Peter 1:21.

  2.  We believe the Godhead is a tri-unity eternally existent in complete unity and harmony yet presently relating to us as mortals in three persons - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These appear to us as three manifestations of the one God, being God the sovereign Father ruling in absolute righteousness from His throne of heaven, God the Son who is God Incarnate and who while He has always been God has entered the cosmos which He Himself created, and God the Holy Spirit our personal Counselor, Comforter and Holy Spirit Guide. These three perceptions, views and personal relationships whereby we know God reveal to us One God who while perceived by us in three persons is nevertheless One God of the same Spirit, essence, and perfection. - Romans 1:20, Matthew 28:19, 1 Corinthians 8:6.

  3.  We believe in the Personality and Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. As God the Son Incarnate He has always existed as God. He is the Seed of Heaven, the ultimate expression of YHVH/God into the cosmos. As the Living Word of God He is the Logos/Word, the Light that shines in the darkness. He was present at the laying of the foundation of the earth when the heavens and the earth, were created in total perfection. He has been manifest on this earth to the saints of old as the Angel or Messenger of the Lord. As God Incarnate He took on human flesh being conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He was truly God and truly man being fully manifest in both natures. As Emmanuel, God with us, He has come in the flesh as the Unleavened Bread, holy and without sin. Jesus Christ/Yeshua Hamashiach, the Son of God, has come to us and to this present ruined cosmos as the promised Suffering Servant. As our Kinsman Redeemer He came from heaven to this earth humbly riding a donkey, bringing the Bridal Price to offer to His people. As the Living Word or expression of God He also came to die as the ultimate and promised Sacrifice Lamb. He was crucified under Pontius Pilate at Calvary, the "place of the skull", just outside the walls of Jerusalem. - John 1:1-14, Matthew 1:20-23, John 14:9, Philippians 2:5-8, 1 Timothy 3:16, Hebrews 1:1-3. His blood was shed as an atonement for sin. His Cup of salvation is offered freely to as many as will receive Him.

  4.  We believe in the Personhood and the Deity of the Holy Spirit, the source and power of all acceptable worship and service. He is the minister and the interpreter of the infallible Word, bringing Light into the lives of inquiring men. He is not an impersonal "force". He is a Person. Accordingly the Holy Spirit is to be respected and treated as a Person and as part of the Godhead. He convicts men of sin and then leads them on to a place of repentance and faith. He then regenerates the repenting believing sinner into a New Life. He causes the called, the chosen, and the faithful to become new creatures by the divine grace of His indwelling Presence. The Holy Spirit indwells every true believer. He is ever present to aid the saints as they testify of Christ, bringing them on from redemption, to sanctification, and ultimately on to glorification at the resurrection-rapture of the quick and the dead at the last day. The Holy Spirit can come into a person with a quick and dramatic infilling initiating them into God and changing them forever. He also ministers in a slow steady day to day fashion that engenders steady growth in God. He is our Comforter and Guide independent of our earthly circumstances. He empowers us daily for Godly living and service. The indwelling Holy Spirit introduces Christ into the heart of each believer drawing them into a deepening relationship. The divine romance finds us drawn into a deepening relationship with God. He goes from being our "Lord" to become our Beloved or "Ishi" (Hos.2:16). This progression comes by His wooing and by our surrender to His gracious leading. It involves a daily decision to walk with Him under the leading of His Holy Spirit. The witness of ordinary saints caught up into extraordinary times testifies to His faithfulness, His preservation, and His covering in the hour of trial. (Rev.3:10) The indwelling Presence of the Holy Spirit is not quenched by the darkness of adversity but rather shines forth even more brightly under testing and persecution. This is even true when witnessing saints are pressed to the point of death as is evident in the accounts recorded for us in Foxe's Book of Martyrs. We further believe that the Presence of the Holy Spirit to save, heal, and deliver is only going to become more powerful, more pervasive and more glorious as we come into the latter days. We believe that the final epic climax of the Holy Spirit outpouring will be in the latter days, precisely as Joel saw it. The outpouring will reach its peak during those future times that will witness the cosmic disturbances of the 6th seal those being a darkened sun and a bloody moon. (Joel 2:28-32). The Holy Spirit outpouring Joel saw will therefore come to its peak after the tribulation, precisely as Jesus recounts in the Olivet Discourse. (Mat.24:29) The Holy Spirit will be poured out on all flesh in a glorious drenching latter rain, even as the returning Christ draws near and the saints go up in a final blaze of glory at the Resurrection-Rapture. (Joel 2:28-32, John 15:26, John 16:7-15, Acts 1:8, Romans 8:26-27, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 2 Corinthians 3:18, Galatians 5:22-23, Romans 8:9.

  5.  We believe that Jesus Christ/Yeshua Hamashiach, the Son of God came to us, a rebellious generation, as the promised Suffering Servant. He was also known by the faithful saints of old as the Promised Seed of Abraham or the Expected One, the Messiah, the Son of David. As the Holy One of Israel He came from heaven to this earth to redeem and deliver His Elect covenant people, Israel. As our Saviour He came to die as the ultimate and promised Sacrifice Lamb. He shares Himself with us as the Living Word or expression of God. He became the sinner's substitute before God and died as a propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. He was crucified under the instigation of the presiding established religious order of the day, the Sanhedrin, as well as the acquiescence of the governing Roman authority of Pontius Pilate, and also by the denunciation of the popular masses and crowds of people gathered at the time. He was made a curse for sinful men, dying for our sins according to the Scriptures. He was dead and buried. He descended into Hades, the place of the dead. There as the Son of Man His victorious Life embraced and conquered death on behalf of all men. The shed blood of Jesus Christ and His resurrection provide the only ground for justification and salvation for all who believe, and only such as receive Jesus Christ as Saviour are born of the Holy Spirit and thus become children of God -Romans 4:4-5, Romans 5:8, Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:8-9, John 1:12, 1 John 2:2, Hebrews 2:9, Hebrews 9:22, Galatians 3:13.

  6.  We believe in the resurrection of the crucified and absolutely dead body of our Lord Jesus Christ and that He arose from the dead after three days and three nights according to the scriptures. After His resurrection He was seen of many for forty days during which time He issued the Great Commission giving His authority to go into the end of the earth and proclaim the Gospel to the entire world until His return at the climax of this present evil age. He ascended into Heaven before the eyes of His disciples at the Mount of Olives promising to descend again in like manner as He was seen ascending into heaven. From our present perspective in time He sits on the right hand of God as the believer's High Priest and advocate. -Luke 24-39, Acts 1:10-11, Ephesians 4:10, Hebrews 1:3, Hebrews 8:1-2. 1John 2:1., Mat.28:18-20

  7.  We believe that Christ, in the fullness of the blessings He has secured by His death and resurrection, is received by faith alone; and that the moment we trust Him as our Saviour we are passed out of death into everlasting life. By His shed blood which atones for our sin we are accepted before the Father, loved as the Son is loved, and made one with Him. At the time we accept Christ as Saviour, He comes to indwell us. He lives out His life of holiness and power in us and through us as we exercise faith in Him and as we allow Him to work within us. We believe that upon confession of faith Christ has called us into the testimony of baptism by immersion. We are called into this as an opportunity and privilege for a confirming witness of our new life in Christ. Baptism is a witness to others, a witness to the watching angelic host, and a valuable witness to ourselves of our total identification with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. -Hebrews 9:15 &12:1, Romans 3:28, Romans 4:3, Romans 4:23-25, Ephesians 1:3, John 17:23, Galatians 2:20, Galatians 4:6-7, John 14:23.

  8.  We believe in the personal return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to this earth to judge men and nations. His return in wrath on His enemies and deliverance of His saints is the "Blessed Hope" set before us. His awesome and glorious coming as Prince of Peace, King of the Jews, Lion of the Tribe of Judah, and King of Kings, will restore to this earth the only true peace that it has ever known or will ever know. As Messiah He will rule and reign over this earth from the throne of David as Emmanuel, -"God with us", for one thousand literal years. As pilgrims and sojourners of the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob our true citizenship is first and foremost the Holy City, the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven from whence we look for the appearance of our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ /Yeshua Hamashiach - Acts 1:11, 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, John 14:1-3, Titus 2:13, Philippians 3:20-21.

  9.  We believe that the souls of those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation do at death immediately pass into His Presence, and there remain in conscious happiness until the resurrection of the body at His coming, when soul and body reunited shall be with Him forever in a glorified new state. This climactic resurrection of the righteous dead at the last day or Day of the Lord is immediately followed by the rapture/glorification of those who are alive and remain who will then join those being being resurrected with Christ in a single glorified unified regathered company of saints at the last day. (1 Thes. 4:15-18, Luke 23:43, 1Cor.15:23, 2 Cor. 5:8, Luke 16:22, 25, Philippians 1:23)

  10.   We believe that at the end of this present evil age Jesus/Yeshua as Messiah shall come in wrath to judge and destroy the wicked. At the last day He will resurrect and glorify the righteous dead and translate His living saints as well in the combined Resurrection-Rapture of all who are in Christ at His coming.(1Cor.15:23, 1Thes.4:15-17) He will judge the nations that remain by separating and removing the goats out from among the sheep (Mat.25:31-46) and by establishing His Kingdom on earth for one thousand years. (Rev.20:4-6) The Millennium of Messiah will bring in His peace thus completing holy history and His wonderful work of redemption among mortal men. He will also restore the order and beauty of this world He created. (Mat.24:29-31, Mat.25:31-46, Rev.11:15-18, Rev.20:4-6, 1Cor.15:24)