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This We Believe

08.30.09 | Faith

Speaker | Ronnie Norman

Tags | faith, creed, truth, fccc, beliefs, belief

We Believe Jesus Christ is the head of His church (Ephesians 1:22-23) and that authority for life and doctrine rests in Him (Hebrews 1:1-14).

We Believe the Bible to be the only inspired, infallible, and authoritative Word of God. We accept the Old Testament writings as the history of God's dealings with His people, preparing the world for His presence in the person of His Son, Jesus. We also accept the New Testament, in conjunction with revelations recorded in the Old Testament, as the sole authoritative source of information concerning the will of God manifested in the person, life and teaching of Jesus Christ.

We Believe there is one, true God who is the creator of the heavens and the earth. God is eternally existent in three personalities: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

We Believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, His virgin birth, sinless life, miracles, atoning death on the cross, bodily resurrection, bodily ascension into heaven, and His personal return once again in power and glory.

We Believe that salvation cannot be gained by human effort, but only through God's grace in the redemption He provided in Jesus Christ, a redemption which is responded to by faith and which leads to a life devoted to obeying God.

In essentials, we have unity:
"There is one Body and one Spirit...there is one Lord, one faith, Baptism, and one God and Father of us all..." Ephesians 4:4-6

In non-essentials, we have liberty:
"Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters...stop passing judgment on one another...each of us will give an account of himself to God... so whatever you believe about these things [non-essentials] keep between yourself and God." Romans 14

In all things, we show love:
"...If I have faith to move mountains but have no love, I amount to nothing at all..." I Corinthians 13

We Believe in the ordinances authorized for the Church in the New Testament, namely Baptism(immersion in water) and the Lord's Supper. Immersion, as commanded and exemplified in the New Testament, is a burial in water with Christ and resurrection to a new life with Him in the Spirit (Romans 6:3-4). The Scriptures record that the early Church frequently observed the Lord's Supper as instructed by Jesus (1 Corinthians 11:23-26; Acts 2:42; 20:7). We, therefore, take communion each Sunday.

We Believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life. The Holy Spirit also empowers believers for service and seals them unto the day of redemption.

We Believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost: they that are saved unto the resurrection of life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of condemnation.

We Believe that all who by faith are Baptized into Jesus Christ are immediately placed by the Holy Spirit into one united spiritual Body, the church, of which Christ is the head. The purpose of the church is to glorify God by building its members up in the faith, by instruction of the word, by fellowship, and by advancing and communicating the gospel to the entire world. The formation of the church, the Body of Christ, began on the Day of Pentecost and will be completed at the coming of Christ.

We Believe that we should cooperate in all possible ways in God's work with our fellow believers, being patient with one another in our differences.