What’s it Mean to Be Lost? Everything to God!

An Anchor sermon preached by Kaler Carpenter of The Redemption Movement, June 4th, 2017.
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It’s interesting to me that we live in a post-Christian world that no longer believes in sin, yet there are “cultural sins.” One big cultural sin that I want to open with by looking at: the sin of labeling others.

The idea here is that, our society has become so individualistic, that it’s now totally up to the individual to define their experience and determine who they are. And therefore, any outside attempt to label a person contrary to what they feel they are, why, that’s oppressive, insensitive, and a “cultural sin.”

For those who hold to a Biblical worldview, it can be challenging to operate in such a fluid and individualistic culture. Primarily because the Bible has zero problem labeling people--(and newsflash, so was pretty much all of human history up until the postmodern era).

The Biblical worldview is extremely black and white. Consider with me just a few examples of how the Bible doesn’t throw any punches when it comes to labeling people:

You’re either saved, or unsaved.
You’re either righteous, or unrighteous.
You’re either wise, or foolish.
You’re either a Jew, or a Gentile.
You’re either a believer, or a nonbeliever.
You’re either holy, or a sinner.
You’re either found, or lost.

Now, in light of how sensitive the world is about labels, how then is a Christian supposed to hold to and communicate this black and white worldview? Especially when it comes to our Christian witness? Three quick tips:

• For starters, I think that those who hold to this Biblical worldview should be aware of how such a worldview may be misunderstood and interpreted negatively by someone who doesn’t share it or isn’t familiar with it.

• Secondly, in order to have a good Christian witness, we need to respect and try to understand worldviews that are different than our own. Empathy goes a long way.

• Thirdly, the Christian worldview should be communicated in a such way that’s both loving and doesn't compromise the truth.

Thankfully, the theology of scripture is rich enough to achieve this. To show you this, I want to look at the Biblical concept of “lost.”

Concerning “lost,” consider this: if you engage in conversation with someone that’s unfamiliar with the Bible and you say in Christianese, “Those people are lost,” they might interpret that to mean something negative or judgmental, like “those people are stupid.” After all, who gets lost today? Only people who aren’t smart enough to read a map or use GPS. (btw, I still get lost even with GPS).

But, when the Bible talks about “the lost,” it’s doing so to communicate value and hope. Jesus explains just how much a lost person means to God in a short and powerful parable.

Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. -Luke 15:8-10 (NIV)

The woman loses a silver coin, or a denarius. This is equivalent to a day’s wage. So, considering how the woman only has about 10 day’s worth of coins to her name, and that one-room houses built in first century Palestine typically didn’t have windows (thus why a lamp was needed), you get the impression that this woman wasn’t all that wealthy, like a peasant living paycheck to paycheck. Like, if she doesn’t find this coin, her family won’t eat. So there’s some super intense searching going on here.

To say that this lost coin was valuable to the woman is an understatement.

This is significant because in this parable, the woman represents God (which is significant in its own right), and the coin represents sinners--those who are lost and away from God. In context, Jesus tells this parable in response to the religious authorities who were accusing him of eating with sinners, a crime that deserved to be punished (Dt. 21:18-21).

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Then Jesus told them this parable. -Luke 15:1-3 (NIV)

Jesus responds by teaching 3 parables in a row (the lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost son) that each say the same thing: these sinners whom I eat with are lost, so they are valued by God; enough so that God uses every resource at His disposal to seek them out and find them.

The parable we read says that the woman lit the lamp, swept through the house, and looked carefully. It’s a picture of thoroughly looking under the couch cushions and sifting through the junk drawer. But the historical context actually makes this search more intense. The floors back then were essentially beat down dirt and dried reeds, and it was dark, and metal detectors weren’t invented yet. So we’re talking needle in a haystack. Perhaps the woman was using the lamp to hopefully catch a gleam of light reflecting off the silver.

This totally blows the minds of the Pharisees Jesus was addressing, because in their worldview, sinners were despised by God, tax collectors were enemies of Israel, and both groups should be avoided at all costs. Yet, here Jesus is, receiving sinners, eating with them, even, drawing near to them!

By the way Jesus conducted his meals, He was announcing to the Pharisees something new and scandalous about the Kingdom of God. However, for the Gentiles, for the sinners, for you and me, this simple action is a declaration of good news!

Social rules of dining mirrored the sectarian structures of the first century in both Jewish and Greco-Roman life. Who one ate with was a serious matter.

Yet Jesus uses the table to flip insider and outsider boundaries. For the Jews of Jesus’ day, meals bound participants to one another by covenants established between religion, persons and states. Jesus’ meal practices contested, transformed, and reinterpreted social mores. Jesus cultivated community at the table, modeling other-worldly availability. Jesus reclined at table with doubters, cowards, and betrayers, and called them friends.

Jesus used the table to express God’s friendship with religious outliers. Jesus’ choice of table guests represents God’s coming world, a foreshadowing of the feast at the kingdom of God (Rev. 19:19). -Church as Movement

In fact, when Jesus comes on the scene and announces that He is the Son of God, what does He say the very purpose of His mission is? Luke 19:10, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

By Jesus incorporating seeking the lost into the mission of the Kingdom of God, now all those who are followers of Christ are given the same mandate “to seek and save the lost.” This means valuing lost enough to befriend them, and to seek them out with the same sense of fervor as the poor woman looking for her lost coin. This is the driving motive for Christians being called as missionaries to their communities.

Compare this to the old covenant. In fact, this idea of sinners being lost is totally foreign to the Jews, which is why you’ve probably never met a Jewish missionary.

No Pharisee had ever dreamed of a God like that. A great Jewish scholar has admitted that this is the one absolutely new thing which Jesus taught men about God---that he actually searched for men. The Jew might have agreed that if a man came crawling home to God in self-abasement and prayed for pity he might find it; but he would never have conceived of a God who went out to search for sinners. We believe in the seeking love of God, because we see that love incarnate in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came to seek and to save that which was lost. -William Barclay 

According to Jesus, God’s heart for the lost is clearly seen in Luke 15:

• When the woman found her lost coin, she rejoiced and threw a party.
• When the Shepherd found his lost sheep, he rejoiced and threw a party.
• And when the prodigal son returned, the father rejoiced and threw a banger of a party.

In v. 10 it says “There is joy in the presence of the angels of God.” So you get this idea of Heaven erupting into a big party. Why? Because Heaven and the angels are reflecting the heart of God. William Barclay further explains: 

The joy of God and all of the angels, when ONE SINNER comes home, is like the joy of a home when a coin which has stood between them and starvation has been lost and is found.

Christians, this reality should drive our mission. If our worship, prayer, and preaching is to please God, then we should work even more so to take seriously the very thing that gets God to experience unbridled joy and turn Heaven into a party--finding and saving the lost!

What’s this look like to take the mandate of seeking and saving the lost seriously?

For starters, it means actually being intentional about stepping outside of your comfort zone by inviting and sharing a table with sinners, just like Jesus did. I for one take this mandate very literally and actually spend my Friday nights, literally driving my car around Oneonta’s streets seeking the lost.

Secondly, it means taking seriously every relationship we have with the lost by trying to find ways to bring the Good News of the Gospel into it--in a credible and loving way. For example, remember how I opened by sharing advice on how to talk to postmoderns? Friends, I think about this all the time and I am constantly looking for ways to improve how I share the Gospel.

And this may sound crazy, but I even go so far as to review video footage of conversations I’ve had with the lost so I can go back and improve my Christian witness. Plus, The Redemption Movement has meetings where we review these videos together so we can all learn how to better share the Gospel. It’s quite fun actually.

Now, as crazy as that sounds, consider how much football players review tapes, study playbooks, and train their bodies like crazy. To fans, this devotion is admired. And here’s the thing, all of that crazy training for sports and mountains of money spent on it; it’s all for a game. Played for a trophy that will rust, for a championship that people will forget about, and in an expensive stadium that will eventually get demolished for a better one.

Paul in the Bible pretty much says the exact same thing in 1 Corinthians by referring to the mission of God as race--a race that all Christians are running!

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. -1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (NIV)

I want to close by premiering a new #OneotaRides video from giving a ride last month. In it, I explain what lost means to a student.

I want to show you this video to motivate your own sense of mission, and, like a football player watches tape in preparation for the big game, it’s my hope that this somehow equips and motivates you and Anchor for the mission of sharing the Gospel with the lost.

Before I play the video, let me give you some background. This is a ride given to a young man who stopped by our Kindness Station tent last month for the Senior Bar Crawl and he was very happy to meet us and introduce himself. He mentioned that we’ve provided safe rides home to his girlfriend all throughout the past school year, and how he was very thankful we were looking out for her.

Eventually, the young man requested a ride home. During the ride, we got to talking about faith and religion. He really wanted to know what our motivation was for serving others.  This inquiry led to a powerful explanation about what it means to be lost.

Vietnam Memorial Replica Hits My Hometown, and Then Hits Home

On Memorial Day Weekend 2017, Oneonta had the privilege of hosting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Replica and Mobile Education Center, AKA, The Wall That Heals.

Vietnam Wall replica comes to Oneonta, by @DS_MarkBhttps://t.co/3xs7ExK0cc pic.twitter.com/NJmVlnYgDQ

— The Daily Star (@thedailystar) May 27, 2017

I got to see the wall with my family, and even though my young boys proved too much of a handful for me to have the full experience, the wall nevertheless left an impact on me.

My feelings were that of gratitude, followed by sorrow. Although, my strongest feelings of thankfulness didn't come so much from the names on the wall, but rather, one name that wasn't on the wall. Namely, my own father, a Vietnam War veteran.

My dad saw combat in Vietnam, and he was fortunate to survive the experience and return home. Had he not survived, then I wouldn't be here today, along with my younger sister, and by extension, neither would my two sons, ages 3 and 1.

This thought stuck with me for the rest of the day, and it made me grateful to spend the day with my family, enjoying a Saturday at Gilbert Lake State Park.

What also hit me that day was another, much more grim reality: every name on that wall translates to not just one life being snuffed out by war, but it also means the world was denied that young man living a full life that includes having children. These children would have then gone on to have children of their own, and on and on for generations to come. Herein lies the often-forgotten tragedy that accompanies the loss of every life: when one life is cut short, the consequences of such a loss reach far beyond a headline or a name memorialized on a monument. Indeed, one battlefield casualty also means a casualty for any chance of future children and future generations from the fallen solider, or 57,939 to be exact.

And that's just on the American side of the war.

If every human is made in the image of God, then the lives of the Viet Cong soldiers matter to God too, and the life of every fallen Vietnamese had the same potential to multiply generations of people--all of whom would have been loved by God, as much as God loves Americans. When one takes into account the number of these lives lost, it quickly becomes apparent that a much, much larger wall is needed. From Britannica:

Not until 1995 did Vietnam release its official estimate of war dead: as many as 2 million civilians on both sides and some 1.1 million North Vietnamese and Viet Cong fighters. The U.S. military has estimated that between 200,000 and 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers died in the war.

After seeing the wall, I was fortunate enough to enjoy spending time at the beach with my family and watch my children play in the sand. The weather was cool so there wasn't a big crowd that day... but would there have been if not for the Vietnam War? How many empty picnic tables would have been occupied that day by families had America not fought that unpopular war half a century ago? In fact, would upstate New York even have a population loss problem if America's history didn't include one major war for each of its generations? It would seem not.

War then, shouldn't be something that's celebrated or glamorized. Violence on any level is detested by God, and war is the ultimate, systematic expression of violence and murder. Instead, God's plan for humanity is that we "be fruitful, and multiply." A planet that is filled with people is a world that is filled with God's glory. If one truly believes this, they will honor human life in all of its forms; whether it be your countryman, your enemy, life in the womb, or those in nursing homes. On the opposite side of the same coin, belief in the image of God and the goodness of His plan for multiplication will cause deep sorrow at the loss of human life in any form, including the loss of an enemy.

This Memorial Day, be thankful for the country we have and remember the fallen soldiers who paid the ultimate price. But more so, be thankful for each and every person that is alive to enjoy this nation. Because ultimately, a country wouldn't be a country, if not for its people.

Visited The Wall that Heals tonight in Oneonta. Powerful, especially at night. #twth #MemorialDayWeekend #travelingwall @VVMF pic.twitter.com/Qtr7zPWnRK

— P.J. (@softball29) May 29, 2017

A Call for Unity Among Churches

On Sunday, August 14, Pastor Ryan Alsheimer of Community Gospel Church invited me to share with his congregation, Anchor Oneonta, and continue their teaching series "This I Believe," by going over church unity, as expressed in the line of the Apostles' Creed "I believe in the holy catholic church and the communion of the saints." What follows is the sermon preached that night to the good folks of CGC. Enjoy!  

Here’s the deal, when you become a Christian by giving your life to Christ, you’re uniting yourself to the body of Christ, i.e., the church, and you automatically become a part of something much bigger than yourself: “the holy catholic church, the communion of saints.”

Now, don’t get confused by the word “catholic,” in this creed, it actually means “universal,” so you're saying, “I believe in the universal church.” Therefore, when you confess this creed, you’re affirming the scope and size of the church that you’re a part of (or you're in communion with), which essentially includes every Christian from around the world.

This large fellowship is what is meant by “communion of the saints."

Again, don’t get confused by the word “saints.” This is not referring exclusively to the official saints of the Roman Catholic Church, instead, this is referring to every follower of Christ. Meaning that, if your identity lies in the righteousness of Jesus Christ instead of your own merits, then, going by the Bible’s definition of a saint, you are one. I am a saint. Those who are confessing Christians are all saints, and when the saints come together, there’s union with each other and with God--which is a great picture of what "communion" is.

Now, this communion extends to all the saints from all around the world. And it gets bigger and better: the communion of the saints extends to the “church universal," which is a church that includes all of the saints who have gone before us.

The application here is profound. Did you know that the Bible paints a picture of Christians in Heaven as cheering on the saints here on earth as they push forward with the mission of the church and do God’s will “on earth as it is in heaven?” For your part, viewing Heaven as a continual communion with the body of Christ on Earth has incredible ramifications as to how you live out your faith today.

Therefore, Heaven isn’t some place of harps, clouds, mansions, family pets, and soft lighting. No, in Heaven you see clearly the eternal ramifications of the mission of the church on present day earth. Consequently, now that you finally get it and see the big picture (or have the blinders removed), you watch intently from Heaven the mission of the church on earth and cheer on the saints and missionaries from around the world in a display of passion that far surpasses the excitement, unity, and diversity of even the Rio Olympics.

Let that eternal reality sink in for a moment and think of the ramifications this means for your finite actions that equate to only a sliver of your existence, yet these actions will help determine the eternal destinies of so many souls.

How is this connection to such a massive church even possible?

The creed alludes to this answer in line number 1; “I believe in God the Father, almighty.”

You see, the church universal isn’t some organization that’s determined by participants having a membership card issued by a single denomination. Instead, the church universal is one giant spiritual family where the saints are brothers and sisters who have God as a Father. A saint is grafted into this family tree that dates back to Abraham, allowing for adoption by God himself, all thanks to the work of the Holy Spirit (the previous line in the creed). This happens upon one’s confession of faith in Jesus Christ--who is our brother in this family, the true and only son of God. And, because of Jesus’ victory on the cross, we can be adopted sons and daughters of God with full family rights and privileges, including communion with this awesomely-large and loving family.

Practically speaking, this means that you, me, and every believer in this community and planet, are connected in a deeper way than each of us probably realize. Herein lies a major obstacle to the mission of the church that the enemy loves to use against us: for us to be sooo distracted with our own affairs (like our day-to-day routines, and even the agenda of our own local church or denomination), that we totally lose sight of this spiritual reality. Or worse, we understand the concept that we’re all one big family of God, but we don’t really think anything of it other than, “Oh, that’s a nice thought.”

Guys, communion with the saints of the church universal, means that you’re completely overjoyed when meeting someone new and finding out that they too are a Christian! It’s like finding out that you have a long lost brother (only it’s not because of some weird adulterous affair your parents had back in the day). Or, better example, it’s like when you travel out of state and you meet someone from your hometown. You instantly hit it off and you're excited to run into each other and you spend time chatting about what you have in common. Yet, while living in your hometown, you may see this person routinely and take them for granted.

God, forgive us for not viewing our brothers and sisters in this light, as one body. Forgive us for taking for granted being surrounded by so many Christians, and not celebrating this reality or doing enough to unite for the sake of the mission of the church and to work together in the ripe harvest fields.

Ask yourself, if every Christian is united by the Holy Spirit and made into one big spiritual family with God as the Father, then what is God’s will for how different Christians from different churches treat each other? It's that we be united, that we get along, that we love each other, and that we work together.

For an example of this I can look to my own family. I am a new dad and the experience has changed me immensely in how I relate to God the Father, by giving me a father’s perspective with my two sons. Currently, my boys are 2.5 and 7 months, and do you know what brings my heart more joy than most anything? It's seeing my two sons interact with each other. To see them laugh and play and enjoy each other’s company--and, I’m sure I have years ahead of being saddened to see the two brothers fight and not get along. 

Similarly, this is God the Father’s perspective as he watches all of his beloved children interacting with one another. He’s smiling big when Christians (from all different backgrounds and churches) get along and fellowship together and work together to advance the Kingdom of God, and he’s saddened and disappointed when churches avoid each other and fight with each other.

How do we know that this kind of unity is what God longs for?

It’s because these were the very words that Jesus prayed to God the Father before he gave himself up to the authorities to be crucified in John 17. Which, you’d think the final recorded prayer of Jesus before his arrest would be about himself and his unthinkable sacrifice, but instead, he was praying for the unity of the future church--the very thing he was willfully about to die for!

I do not pray for these alone (the apostles), but also for those who will believe in Me through their word: that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us.  -Jesus, John 17:20-21a, NKJV

Truly, an incredible prayer that also serves as a challenge for every person who considers themselves to be part of the body of Christ.

Sadly, from the very moment this prayer left Jesus’ lips, the challenge to live in the reality of unity has only grown harder over time.

• As Jesus prayed, with his divine perspective, he could have had in mind 2,000 year’s worth of Christians and you and me when he said, “but for all those who will believe in Me.” But I think that when he said, “through their word,” he was praying primarily for the 1st generation of Christians that will grow out of the apostles’ testimony. Because, if this first generation can’t get along, then the Jesus movement dissipates and the impending sacrifice is all for naught.
• Fast forward a year or so: If the Apostles really did get together to pen this creed before they all went on seperate missionary journeys (as the tradition goes), then the “holy catholic church universal” at this time is nothing more than themselves and their homies. Unity is an easy task for such a small group. 
• If the 4th Century church authored and finalized this creed, then they did so to try and unite the various churches scattered throughout different cities full of house churches being overseen by one bishop in each city. Again, not a terribly difficult situation to bring unity to.
• No, today is the most difficult time in church history to unite with the Christian church splintered off into thousands of denominations (many because of hostile or petty reasons). This, is an incredibly sad reality because the world stands to gain a powerful witness that would change civilization as we know it for the better if all the Christians united under one purpose and one mission.

Kaler and Ryan are serious about church unity.

This is why unity is so important to Jesus. It’s not for the sake of unity that Jesus wants God's children to unify. No, this mission, this harvest of souls for an eternal Kingdom and an eternal family is the primary reason why Jesus prayed that his brothers and sisters would "be one." Jesus himself gives this as the very reason for unity in John 17:21b when he says that the church should be one, “that the world may believe that You sent Me.”

Do you realize how much the world mocks religion and the claims of Christ when they see thousands of different denominations and nobody seems to be getting along? However, there’s hope. Whereas hundreds of churches fighting with each other draws mocking from the world, all it takes is few churches to unite to create a powerful witness and change a community. This unity then spreads to more churches in more communities, and, before you know it, it steamrolls into a powerful movement and a revival that the world clearly sees--and believes!

#OneontaRides @Anchor!

As the pastor of a different church here in town, I want you to know that this is my heart. I planted The Redemption Movement not to divide other churches or to show that we got it right and others got it wrong. No, RM is on a mission to reach this community for Christ. My wife and I moved to New York from Missouri as missionaries because God laid the vast needs of this area on our hearts--particularly in regards to the huge opportunity to reach the town’s “active” nightlife. 

Now, as missionaries and as ambassadors for Christ, uniting God’s people and the universal church is a major part of this mission, which is why I stand before you today. Brothers, sisters, we share the same calling, to reach these same people (your neighbors). Oneonta’s mission field is ripe with so many people who have nothing to hope for and do not believe that Jesus is the risen Lord. If the local churches united in a clear way and shared in the missionary work of spreading the Good News of the Gospel, the community would take notice of our witness and more lives would be changed than we could ever dream of seeing if one church was doing it on their own.

• Related: "Local Churches Unite Outreach Efforts for Saint Patrick's Day 2015." 

What We Believe

The Bible

We believe the Bible to be the inspired Word of God. To summarize the Bible, it is a special revelation of the character of God and His plan to redeem the world through Jesus Christ. The original writings were inerrant, infallible, and God breathed. God has purposed the Bible to be the final authority for faith and life, and He has overseen the events of history to piece together the canon (the 66 books) as we have it today. The revelation of the Bible is complete and no other teachings are to share in the same authority.

2Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21; Matthew 5:18; John 16:12-13; Psalms 1:1-3; 1 Corinthians 14:37

The Triune God

We believe in one God who has revealed Himself in three eternally existing persons-the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit co-eternal in being and in nature, co-equal in power and glory, having the same attributes and perfections.

Deuteronomy 6:4; 2 Corinthians 13:14; 1 Peter 1:2; John 1:1-4; Matthew 3:16-17; 28:19

God the Father

We believe God the Father is uncreated, eternal in nature, unchanging, and the Creator of all things, both seen and unseen. He is omnipotent (He has all power and authority), omnipresent (fully present everywhere), and omniscient (all knowing). God is Holy (all good) and He is over all creation as well as involved personally in the lives of every person and all events. God reveals himself to every person through His creation and peoples’ consciences, and He has specially revealed Himself through His Word and His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus and the Holy Spirit share equally in these attributes, and are both in submission to God the Father.

Romans 1:20; Isaiah 6:3; Psalms 19:1-4; 90:2; 139:7-10; Revelation 1:8; Deuteronomy 10:14

Jesus Christ

We believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God, uncreated, eternal and co-equal with the Father. Being obedient to the Father, Jesus temporarily set aside His divine glory and fully took on human flesh, while at the same time remaining fully God. Jesus did this with the purpose of sacrificing his life as an act of final atonement for the sins of man, making forgiveness and citizenship into God’s Kingdom possible through belief and submission unto his Lordship.

Jesus was born of Mary, a virgin birth, conceived by the Holy Spirit. He spent his life ministering to people, preaching the Kingdom of God, fulfilling the Old Testament prophesies regarding the Jewish Messiah, and discipeling the believers who would make up His church.

He was crucified on a cross after being condemned by the Jewish and Roman authorities. After three days he rose bodily from the dead, appeared to his disciples and ascended into heaven where he is now exalted at the right hand of God.

Jesus currently ministers as our high priest before God as our representative, intercessor, and advocate.

Luke 1:35; Romans 3:22-26; 1 Peter 1:3-5; Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Acts 1:9-10; Hebrews 7:25-26; Luke 24

The Holy Spirit

We believe the Holy Spirit is a person of the God-head and as such, is co-equal with the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; and, that he is the supernatural agent in regeneration, baptizing all believers into the body of Christ, indwelling and sealing them unto the day of redemption.

The Holy Spirit ministers to the church today, continuing the ministry of Jesus Christ. He empowers believers to minister the Gospel, and bestows spiritual gifts to the church for the purpose of edification and evangelism. These supernatural giftings and the personal experiences a believer has with the Holy Spirit are always consistent with the testimony of Scripture.

John 3:5-18; 16:5-15; 1 Corinthians 12:1-11; 14:12, 26; Acts 1:5; Romans 8:9; Ephesians 5:18;

The Church

We believe the church is universal (made up of all believers from every age), and local. The church is established by Jesus and he relates to the church similar to how a loving husband relates to his wife. Jesus is the head of the church, and as such He is actively involved in the churches ministry, including the establishment of a leadership structure with the offices prescribed in the New Testament, and discipline within the church; also, as the body of Christ, the church is to be Jesus’ representative on Earth until his physical return, this includes the responsibility of making Christ known.

The church is composed of those who believe in Christ, and offers believers a community for discipleship, prayer, worship, evangelism, and fellowship. Specific ministries to be administered by the church, which are prescribed by the Bible, are the Lord’s supper and water baptism. Participation in, and submission to a local church is an essential component of a believers faith.

Ephesians 1:22-23; 4:11-13; 5:25-27; 1 Corinthians 12:12-14; Acts 2:42-47; Matthew 18:15-20

Sin

We believe mankind and all of creation were originally created by God as good, man was made special in the likeness and image of God. Due to Adams sin, and because we are all descendants of Adam, every person is born with a sinful nature that separates them from God, who is holy and perfect in nature. This sin nature makes it impossible for a person to relate to God on a one’s own strength, will, and merits. The original sin was so severe that is also affected all of creation.

Genesis 1:26-27; 3:1-19; Romans 3:22-23; 5:12, 18-19; 8:8; Ephesians 2:1-3, 12; James 2:10-11

Salvation

We believe salvation is a gift from God, made available to every person, “whosever believes.” Each member of the Godhead has a part in a persons salvation. The Father predestined those who would be saved and sent Jesus his only Son, Jesus Christ shed his blood on the cross to pay the price of salvation and intercedes to the Father on the believers behalf, and the Holy Spirit convicts a sinners heart of the truth and regenerates and baptizes them into the body of Christ upon belief in Jesus’ Lordship. Salvation is possible because the atonement sacrifice of Jesus’ blood satisfies the wrath of God, which is the penalty of sin from a Holy God. Receiving salvation justifies a believer before God, because now a person stands before God taking on the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Repentance of one’s own sins must take place before a person receives salvation. A persons decision to repent and believe, and God’s role of predestination, work miraculously and mysteriously together for salvation to take place.

Ephesians 1:4-7; John 1:12-13; 3:16-18; 1 Peter 1:18-21; Galatians 2:20; Acts 20:21; 2 Corinthians 7:10

Christian Living

We believe that after the event of salvation, the redeemed believer is kept by God’s power through the indwelling Holy Spirit, and thus the new believer has security and assurance in their salvation. This assurance stems from a persons new spiritual position found in Christ Jesus. A believer’s new standing before God should become ones new life identity and should therefore effect every attitude and decision one makes. This new identity should produce a life that looks completely different from a believer’s old life, as if one was born again. God is actively involved in the life of a believer, making salvation out to be a process. This process is called sanctification: where the Holy Spirit continually works in a persons life to shape them more and more into the image of Christ, up until the point of death where they will be free from the influences of sin.

A believer will still battle with sin and the flesh, and therefore must live a life of repentance, and submission to God. Concerning the hardships and struggles of life, God has promised to keep and never leave or forsake his children, and therefore a believer with authentic faith can endure all trials and temptations with God’s help. The believers responsibility therefore, is not to analyze the authenticity of everyone's salvation, but to instead live out their own faith by trusting God.

Christian living means always living in tension. This tension is found between the command to be called out from the world and live holy lives, and the command to go out and be a witness to the world in which one lives. Living out either extreme can produce a life of legalism, or a life that is subject to the desires of the flesh, both of these ways are contrary to the Gospel. Guidance on living out the tension of the Christian life within culture can be found in the church, in relationships with others who are also living the same tension, and the Bible.

Romans 8:1; 1 John 3:2; 1 Peter 1:22-23; John 6:37-40; 10:27-30; Romans 8:1,38-39; James 4:4

The Return

We believe Jesus has promised to physically return to earth to establish His kingdom, and His return is immanent. When Christ returns, He will come in great power and authority along with all of Heaven, and the believers will be physically transformed to take part in this new Kingdom. A universal resurrection of all people will take place, where people will stand judgment before Jesus, which will result in “every knee bowing” before the Lord; and sin, evil, and Satan will be eliminated, making possible a new creation with a new heaven and a new earth where Jesus will reign as King.

Psalms 72:8-14; Matthew 24:27-51; 1 Corinthians 15:23-28; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-5:4; Revelation 21-22