“Committed to the deeper life in Christ as a teaching and as a lifestyle”
We Believe,
1. That our good and loving God has made one provision for our receiving forgiveness of all past sins, for our entry into His Kingdom of Heaven and for our receiving His eternal life – that is by believing in our hearts the truth of His Gospel words that say Jesus Christ, God’s Son came in the flesh 2000 years ago to be judged on our behalf for our sins. That He died for those sins but on the third day was raised from the dead by God’s Spirit and is alive today. We believe that when this initial truth from the Bible is made alive to and enters into a person’s heart they are born again spiritually, meaning their spirit or heart is recreated, and they pass spiritually from darkness to light and from death unto life. We believe that this invitation by God to receive Jesus Christ, His living Word, is available and open to every member of the human race.
2 Corinthians 5:19 …God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself not counting their sins against them…
Mark 16:16 He (or she) thatbelieves and is baptized shall be saved…
2. That just as is the case with natural human life there is much more to spiritual life than merely being born (again). Accordingly we believe that the first priority in the life of a new believer is spiritual growth, that is growth in Christ by an increasing knowledge of God that can only be brought about as a person’s heart receives and genuinely believes more of God’s words made alive and brought to them by the Holy Spirit.
1 Peter 2:2 As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby…
Matthew 6:11 (Father) …give us this day our daily (spiritual) bread.
3. That in order for a person’s heart to continue to receive God’s word and therefore grow, it must remain either clean from sin or be quickly restored to cleanness after sin, by receiving through faith God’s ongoing forgiveness based solely on Jesus having borne on the cross that sin too. That two of our most common sins are (1) unforgiveness towards others, usually as a result of pride, and (2) worry, which is a form of fear. That the new believer early in their Christian life must receive into their hearts, by faith, the truth of God’s words concerning these two sins so that the power of God’s words then in them can enable the new believer to overcome these sins.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins He (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Matthew 6:12 (Father) Forgive us our sins as we also have forgiven those who have sinned against us… (and likewise have forgotten their sins)
1 Peter 5:7 Casting all of your cares (worries and fears) upon Him (God) for He cares for you.
4. That in order to advance beyond spiritual infancy a Christian will need to be weaned from receiving the milk of God’s word exclusively through others and begin to receive the solid food of the deeper truths of God’s word both through others and directly from God’s Spirit. That for this to happen a person must be brought to that blissful place of humility in recognizing their spiritual impotence apart from Christ, their absolute dependence on God and then consciously make a full and unconditional surrender of their will and life to God.
Isaiah 28:9 To whom shall He (God) teach knowledge and to whom shall He make to understand doctrine (the Bible)? Those who are weaned from the milk…
John 15:5 (Jesus speaking)…without me you can do nothing.
1 Cor 6:19-20 Don’t you know you are not your own? For you were bought with a price…your body and your spirit …are God’s.
We believe or we desire to believe and expect to be enabled by God to believe,
5. That the promise of The Father, The Holy Spirit, is given in fullness to those of His children who in humble obedience are willing to deny themselves and make a full surrender of their will and lives to God. That this Baptism with, the infilling by or the coming upon a Christian of the Holy Spirit and then that Christian remaining under the control of the Holy Sprit is: The Spirit of anointing to witness, preach and teach the full gospel; the Spirit of sanctification to overcome sin; the Spirit of prayer to pray in accordance with God’s will; the Spirit of revealed knowledge to enable us to understand God’s written words that cannot be fully understood as sense knowledge by our natural faculties; the Spirit of sonship whereby a believer knows that God is his Father; the Spirit of fellowship and intimacy living in the presence of God; and the Spirit of righteousness, peace and joy, in whom, we dwell in God’s Kingdom, abiding in Christ.
Acts 5:32 …The Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.
Acts 1:8 You will receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you…
Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.
6. That the fully surrendered to God and Holy Spirit filled and led life is the normal Christian life apart from which the Christian will continue to live in the flesh as a carnal Christian where it is impossible to please God or remain in His will. That only by the renunciation of the self-life and accepting by faith the government of God through His Spirit will a believer begin to learn how to: walk in the Spirit, mortify the deeds of the flesh through the Spirit; speak by the anointing of the Spirit and so bear fruit by the Spirit and thus be enabled to live the Christ-life.
Galatians 5:16 …Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh
1 Peter 4:11 If any man speak let him speak as the oracles of God…
Philippians 2:13 For it is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.
7. That God’s primary mission for His Church, that is those born into His family, is twofold (a) When equipped and filled by the Holy Spirit, to go into all the world and preach the Gospel and (b) In submission to the Holy Spirit to make disciples of Jesus Christ of all nations. That every individual member of the body of Christ walking in their particular calling and living wholly in the Spirit is essential to the health and effectual working of the whole body and the maximum penetration of God’s Kingdom in an earth still largely ruled by God’s and our enemy, Satan.
Mark 16:15 Go into all the world and preach the gospel…
Matthew 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of every nation…
Ephesians 4:13 Until we all come in the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. (living in His body)
1 John 5:19 …The whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.
8.That the Bible is the book of God’s written words to mankind given through appointed men who were at the time under the control of the Holy Spirit. That without the aid of the Holy Spirit these words can only be seen as law or as a rule book, by both the unbeliever and the carnal Christian. As law it is not capable of being kept by natural human ability and when viewed this way it will only strengthen sin and insure separation from God. In contrast when the dead letter of the written word is made alive by the Holy Spirit and communicated to the tender heart or spirit of a Christian that has spiritual ears to hear what the Spirit is saying through the now living Word, then the Bible becomes: the light that lights the Christian’s way; the power of God unto a full salvation; the truth that sets a person free; living seeds that spring up into the life of God within a Christian, the very nature of Christ by which a person is progressively transformed into His image and likeness; the ability from God to trust Him unwaveringly for the fulfillment of such promises as He makes to the Christian (the faith of Christ); the love of God shed abroad in a person’s heart.
2 Corinthians 3:6 The letter (of the word) kills but the Spirit gives life… (to the letter)
1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man (or the natural part of the Christian) cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned.
2 Peter 1:4 …Exceedingly great and precious promises (God’s words) that by these (when they enter the heart) you might become partakers of the divine nature.
9. That those who live in God’s spiritual household discover that God’s house is a house of prayer. That to live in one’s own spirit, filled by God’s Spirit, is to abide in Christ and dwell in God’s presence in constant spiritual communion with Him – this is called praying without ceasing and rarely involves words that are audible to the natural ear. Distinct from fellowship prayer but often emerging out of it is the prayer of petition for oneself or increasingly in intercession for others. For such a prayer to be effective (meaning that it will always be answered) the prayer must be inspired by the Spirit of prayer and therefore in accordance with God’s will, often based on a revealed truth from God’s word and prayed with the faith received from God by having heard with the heart His living word. It is this kind of true prayer that God needs for His will to be done on earth and without which His will cannot be done.
Matthew 21:13 …My house shall be called a house of prayer…
Luke 18:1 …Men ought always to pray…
Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit helps our weaknesses for we do not know what we should pray for as we ought…
1 John 5:14-15 …If we ask anything in accordance with His (God’s) will…we know that we have the petitions that we asked of Him.
Matthew 21:22 And all things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.
Romans 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing (with the heart) and hearing by the word of God. (brought by the Spirit of God)
