What We Believe

GOD

We believe that the Bible teaches that God is spirit (John 4:24) and three in one (Psalm 110:1, John 10:30). God is the Father (Acts 13:33, Galatians 4:6), the Son, Jesus Christ (John 8:58, Hebrews 1:8 – 9) and the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3 – 4) Who are individually God and together, God (Matthew 3:16 – 17). Each person of the Godhead, whether Father, Son or Holy Spirit, is an individual person with unique thoughts, feelings (Ephesians 4:30), a personality and will (Matthew 26:39). All three persons of the Godhead never act outside of each other.

The Holy Spirit seeks to lift up the Name of Jesus Christ (John 16:13 – 15). The Son seeks to glorify the Father and the Father seeks to glorify the Son (John 17:1).

JESUS CHRIST

We believe that Jesus Christ is God, the Word in the flesh (John 1:1 – 2, 14), born of Mary as the Holy Spirit came upon her and she conceived (Luke 1:30 – 35). We believe that through Jesus Christ all things were made (John 1:3, 10, Ephesians 3:9, Colossians 1:16, 1 Corinthians 8:6, Hebrews 1:1 – 3)

We believe that while the Word was in flesh as the man, Jesus of Nazareth, the Word emptied Himself of certain abilities that God has (omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence) and became just like man ( Philippians 2:5 – 8, Hebrews 2:14 – 17), able to be tempted and to disobey God, but He resisted temptation and obeyed God in all things (Hebrews 4:15, Hebrews 5:2).

We believe that the Bible teaches us that the man, Jesus of Nazareth (God in the flesh) lived for around 30 years before He was anointed by the Holy Spirit as He was baptised by John the Baptist (John 1:29 – 34), and that Jesus, being anointed with the Holy Spirit and power (Acts 10:38), was then enabled as a man to perform miraculous deeds throughout Judea, Samaria, Galilee and the surrounding areas, thereby establishing God’s Kingdom and destroying Satan’s.

We believe that Jesus conducted three years of ministry that shows us as His Body, how we are to function on Earth, by preaching with authority, healing the sick and broken and destroying the works of the Devil. This is further confirmed when Jesus commanded His disciples to do the same things that He had done and even greater (John 14:12) before He went to the cross.

After rising from the dead and returning to Heaven, Jesus Christ is now our Great High Priest (Hebrews 3:1, Hebrews 4:14 – 15, Hebrews 9:12), the Head of the Church (Ephesians 5:23, Colossians 1:18) and the only Mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5).

HOW WE ARE SAVED FROM SIN

We believe that the Bible reveals Jesus Christ’s death on a cross at the hands of the Romans as the ultimate sacrifice to make atonement for the sins of humanity (Leviticus 16, John 14:6, Romans 6:10, 1 Corinthians 5:14, Colossians 2:13, 1 Peter 3:18). We believe that while on the cross, Jesus was condemned and punished for the sins we have committed and deserve judgement for (Isaiah 53:4 – 6, 10, Acts 8:32 – 33, Romans 4:23 – 25, 1 Peter 2:21 – 25) and because He has suffered the consequences of our sin, we can be free of those consequences and made right with God by our faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:22 – 26).

Every member of humanity has sinned (Romans 3:23) and without Jesus Christ is dead in their sin (Ephesians 2:1), which means that we are unable to fulfil the perfect requirements of a holy God. We believe that Jesus Christ is the Great Substitute, in that He took our place so that we can take His place. Jesus fulfilled every aspect of God’s perfect law on our behalf and died the death of a sinner. He rose from the dead and returned to Heaven where He is seated at the right hand of the Father, having the name that is above all other names (Acts 4:12, Philippians 2:9 – 11).

We are made right with God (Romans 3:21 – 22), made alive with Christ, seated with Him in Heavenly places (Ephesians 2:4 – 6) and made a joint heir with Jesus Christ (Romans 8:16 – 17, Romans 8:29) as we place our faith in His death and resurrection by believing in our hearts that Jesus Christ is Lord and confessing with our mouths that God raised Him from the dead (Acts 4:12, Romans 10: 9 – 10, Ephesians 2:8).

THE BENEFITS OF JESUS CHRIST’S DEATH AND RESURRECTION

We believe that the Bible teaches that through the work of the cross, Jesus Christ has made freedom from sin and all of its consequences available to humanity (Ephesians 2:1 – 10). Before sin entered the world and humanity through the disobedience of Adam (Romans 5:12, Romans 8:20 – 22), Adam and Eve experienced uninterrupted connection with God, fullness of life and complete health and strength in their bodies and minds (Genesis 1:27 – 31). This changed when sin entered the world (Romans 5:12, Romans 6:23). Sin brought with it separation from God, eternal death, life that is far from God’s original plan and sickness and weakness in our bodies and minds so that we are unable to understand the things of God without the help of the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:10, 14).

We believe that God’s answer to this problem is two-fold. Firstly, to help humanity with the problems of sin, separation from God and sickness and weakness of mind and body, God put Jesus Christ on the cross and Jesus carried all of these things so that we don’t have to (Isaiah 53:4 – 5, 1 Peter 2:24). Through Jesus substitutionary work on the cross, the grace of God is poured out towards humanity, both Jew and non-Jews (Romans 1:16). We believe that the Bible teaches that we receive God’s grace by our faith (Romans 4:16, Romans 5:2, Ephesians 2:8) and that this is a reflection of how all of God’s Kingdom is entered into – by faith.

– We are saved from sin as we receive God’s grace by our faith (Romans 10:9 – 10).
– We are filled by the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues as we receive His work in our lives by faith (Acts 10:44 – 46, Acts 19:5 – 6).
– We are healed of sickness and empowered to live beyond the weaknesses of our bodies and minds as we receive the power of the Holy Spirit by faith (Matthew 8:13, Matthew 9:29, Matthew 17:20, Matthew 21:21, Mark 1:22 – 25, Mark 9:23, 1 Corinthians 2:4 – 5, 16).

THE HOLY SPIRIT

We believe that the Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is God (Acts 5:3 – 4) and not an impersonal force or substance (John 14:16 – 17, John 16:12 – 15). We believe that the Holy Spirit is present on the Earth to equip and enable the Body of Christ to do the work of God on Earth (Luke 24:49, Acts 1:8). We believe that the Holy Spirit anoints (viz. equips and sets apart) individual members of the Body of Christ to function uniquely in the Body (Ephesians 4:23, 1 Corinthians 12:12 – 31, 1 John 2:20).

We believe that the Holy Spirit comforts, strengthens and leads us (John 14:16, John 16:12 – 13) and that as we submit to the Person of the Holy Spirit, He will transform us into the likeness of Jesus (2 Corinthians 3:18), help us to speak with authority (Matthew 10:19 – 20, Acts 4:8) bring power to the gospel that we preach (Acts 4:29 – 31, 1 Corinthians 2:1 – 5, 1 Corinthians 12:7 – 11) and help us to live god-honouring lives (Romans 8:6, Romans 15:13, Galatians 5:16, 22 – 25).

GOD’S KINGDOM

We believe that God’s Kingdom is being established in part at present (Matthew 6:10, Luke 11:20, Luke 17:20) and will be fully established at the return of Jesus Christ. As much as we believe that there is much to look forward to regarding God’s future complete reign on Earth, what we have access to through God’s Kingdom and the Lordship of Jesus Christ in the life of believers presently, should be pushed into with much effort.

We believe that the Church is the means through which God is establishing His Kingdom and that Jesus gave His first disciples the model for establishing His Kingdom in the Earth (Matthew 28:18 – 20) by teaching them to proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom, heal the sick and cast out demons (Luke 9:1 – 2, Luke 10:1, 9, 17). As they did so, successfully, Jesus told His disciples that they were to let those who had experienced these things know that God’s Kingdom had come near them.

As the Church of today, we believe that until God’s reign on the Earth is fully restored, we will see God’s Kingdom established on Earth as we preach the Gospel of God’s Kingdom so that people believe and are saved (Romans 10:14 – 15), bring God’s Kingdom to their lives as they are healed and made whole by the power of God (Luke 10:9) and set people free from the captivity and deception that the enemy holds them in, through the Name of Jesus.

SATAN’S KINGDOM

We believe that this world, with its systems and set of beliefs is being run by Satan and his demons (John 14:30, 2 Corinthians 4:3 – 4, Ephesians 2:1 – 2, 1 John 5:19) and that Satan’s kingdom/reign is seen in the Earth more than God’s Kingdom/reign. This is due, in part, to Satan’s kingdom being established at an extremely rapid rate as Satanists, followers of false religions and even Christians embrace his deception and establish his will in and through their lives. For this reason, much of what we see in the lives of the people around us can be attributed more to the will of Satan being established than it can be to the will of God being established.

We believe that it is misleading to teach that “God is in control.” We believe that God is supreme, in that His will is being done throughout the universe as His word holds it together, and that the Earth is His footstool, but where man has free will to choose against what God says and as Satan rules in his kingdoms on this Earth, we are not seeing God rule and reign (the Kingdom of God). It is for this reason that Jesus commanded his disciples to pray that God’s will would be done on Earth, thereby showing us that God’s will is not being done on Earth.

The Bible teaches us that Satan is furious, seeking to devour people (1 Peter 5:8) but that his rule will come to an end (2 Corinthians 15:24, Revelation 12:12).

We believe that it is the Body of Christ’s job to pray for God’s will to be done on this Earth and to cooperate with Him as He works in and through us to bring His will to pass on Earth. We believe that if God’s will is not being done on Earth, it is mainly because His Church is not taking her place as the ones through whom God is working on this Earth.

THE BIBLE

We believe that Bible is made up of writings that harmonise with each other and were written by godly men to outline, amongst other things, God’s interactions with people, people’s interactions with God and people’s interactions with each other. We believe that the Bible contains God’s words as they have been recorded by those who have faithfully followed and obeyed Him, but that not every word in the Bible is God’s words or thoughts. There are many thoughts in the Bible that are man’s thoughts rather than God’s (e.g. Job 1:21, 1 Corinthians 7:12, 1 Corinthian 7:25, 2 Corinthians 11:17, 2 Corinthians 12:7 – 12). Because of this, we believe that the Bible is best understood as the Holy Spirit reveals God and His will to us through it. We also believe that the Bible explains itself as it is studied in its entirety, rather than by section.

The Old Testament shows us God’s relationship with His people, the Jews, revealing God’s character and will regarding His creation, godliness and sin. The New Testament shows us God’s plan for the world through Jesus Christ and His Church, and how God desires His creation to be restored to His original plan and for Satan and his demons’ reign to end.

The Gospels help us to understand God’s character and will as revealed through Jesus Christ’s actions, however, the letters in the Bible that were written to first-century churches (Epistles) give us much-needed revelation into what Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection mean for humanity and how to conduct ourselves as Christians.

As modern-day Christians, it will do us well to believe that Paul, James, Peter, John and the writer of Hebrews were inspired by the Holy Spirit to write regarding Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit and the Church. It will also help us to believe that those who collected the writings that constitute our Bible were guided by the Holy Spirit to do so, and that part of that guidance was to reject other “holy writings” that conflicted with the nature of God and His plan for humanity (e.g. The Infancy Gospel of Thomas, Apocalypse of Peter, etc.).

We believe that it is possible for a person who submits themselves fully to the ways of God to be guided by the Holy Spirit to write His words as He speaks them and for His thoughts to permeate that person’s thoughts to the place, not of complete control, but of the highest cooperation between God and human.

We also believe that if a person will apply Jesus’ words as found in John 14:21, they will come to know God as God reveals Himself to them. We believe that the Bible teaches that God hides Himself by making Himself and His Kingdom a mystery to those who trust in their own understanding rather than the leading of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:7). We believe that those who choose to trust in God’s Words and surrender themselves to Him before they have evidence that His words are true, will find God and the keys to His Kingdom (John 14:21).

We understand that the Bible does not comprehensively deal with every area of humanity, since that is not what the writers of the books of the Bible were aiming to do as they wrote. With this in mind, as much as we believe that our words and actions should never contradict what the Bible teaches, we understand that the Holy Spirit will sometimes guide us to do things that are not covered by the Bible (e.g. the Bible does not give instructions on how to deal with demons when they will not leave as we resist them in the Name of Jesus). In these areas, we must learn to be led by the Holy Spirit as the Bible directs and then rely on Him to guide us in these “silent areas” (John 16:13, Romans 8:14).

WHO WE ARE AS CREATIONS OF GOD

We believe that the Bible teaches that as human beings, we consist of three main divisions: body, soul and spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:23, Hebrews 4:12) and that our soul consists of our mind and emotions.

The Bible commands us to submit our body to God as a living sacrifice, which is our reasonable service to Him. As individuals and as the Body of Christ our bodies are the temple/temples of the Holy Spirit (Romans 12:1, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 1 Corinthians 6:19 – 20). Our bodies are mortal and within them we have a carnal nature that we are to put to death (Romans 8:13, Galatians 5:16 – 17). We are instructed to walk in the things of the Spirit of God by setting our mind (part of our soul) on the things of the Spirit (Romans 8:5 – 6), which we are to no longer submit to the patterns of this world, but to set on the things of God (Romans 12:2).

We believe that the Bible teaches that we have been made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26), Whom is Spirit (John 4:24) and that before we are a body or a soul, we are a spirit. To this end, the vast majority of our physical and mental endeavours should bring focus to who we are as a spirit-being, recreated in Christ. Imbalance in this area causes us to be carnal in nature, which leads to death (Romans 8:6).

We believe that the Bible teaches that when we are conceived, our spirit is dead in sin (John 3:3 – 7, Ephesians 2:1, Colossians 2:13) but made alive in Christ when we receive salvation by putting our faith in Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection (being born again) and we are recreated in Christ by the Holy Spirit. This does not mean that our spirits do not exist until we become a Christian. That would imply that we are not in God’s image when we are conceived and that if we die as a non-Christian, we stop existing.

We believe that the Bible teaches that we are separated from God because of our sin (Ephesians 2:12, 2 Thessalonians 3:9) and that the consequences of not believing and receiving Jesus Christ’s redemptive work on the cross so that we are freed from our sin, is eternal punishment (Matthew 25:46, 2 Thessalonians 1:3 – 10).

We believe that the Bible teaches that we will be given a new body, similar to our current body (2 Corinthians 5:1 – 5). This will happen at the end of the age, when Christ returns (John 6:39 – 40, 44, 54, 1 Corinthians 15:22 – 23, 51 – 54, 1 Thessalonians 4:14 – 16). Death is God’s enemy and the final enemy to be destroyed by Him (1 Corinthians 15:25 – 26) and until that happens, we will experience death in these mortal bodies.