Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Statement of Faith

1. We believe in the bible as the inspired Word of God without error and as final authority for our Christian life. (2 Tm. 3:16)

2. We believe in One God in Three Divine Persons: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

3. We believe that Jesus Christ is the begotten Son of God the Father, who was made flesh by the power of the Holy Spirit through the virginal womb of Mary. We believe that Jesus Christ is true God and true Man.

4. We believe that the Holy Spirit is a Divine Person who convicts man of sin and judgment, that He is our Teacher of righteousness and our Comforter. He is not a force, an energy or thing.

5. We believe that man is created in the image and likeness of God but fell into sin and lost his divine character, attribute and innocence and that salvation is through Jesus Christ alone and only through the regeneration of the spirit that salvation and forgiveness of sins are attained.

6. We believe the shed blood of Jesus Christ as the basis and ground for justification and salvation of all believers.

7. We believe that the Church is an organized group of people who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Lord of the Church.

8. We believe that Jesus Christ, although God who was made flesh, allowed Himself to experience the pain of human suffering; that He assumed man’s human nature in order to redeem man; that He took upon Himself the sins of mankind and bought man by His blood. He was crucified, died and was buried but rose again on the third day as a sign of His victory over death and hell. And after 40 days He ascended into heaven and sat onto the right hand throne of God the Father.

9. We believe that all the believers of Jesus Christ who died will be resurrected on the last day to inherit glorified bodies of immortality and eternal life while the believers who remain on earth on that Day will never taste death but will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air for His coming while the unbelievers who died will also be resurrected to receive judgment of eternal punishment in the lake of fire.

FREE PEOPLE AND SLAVES

Christians are not slaves by anybody or anything. They are free people who choose those things that would only glorify God while worldly people, unknown to them, are slaves by their own passions that would eventually lead them into destruction. They are claiming they are free people but in reality, they only want to get out of their own passions that enslave them.
A man who is a habitual drinker for example claims he is free to drink as long as he wants, yet when all alone by himself, he really wants to get out of the vice because it enslaves him but he does not know how. On the other hand, Christians do only what God wants them to do not because God wants to make them slaves but because they are happy to do what God pleases. They are free people because they are no longer slaves by their own passions. Worldly people think Christians are slaves because they do not do what the world expects but only what God wants. On the contrary, they are the one who are slaves because they do not do what they want but only what the world wants because they are afraid to be branded as “corny” or “conservative” or the like; they follow the systems of the world. 
Now, who do you think are really free people and slaves? Unknown to them they are slaves of the world.
Now if you think you are a Christian and yet you are a slave of your own passions, think again. Christians should not be slaves of their own passions because God had already set them free from the slavery of sin through Jesus Christ when they have accepted Him as their Lord and Savior and have served Him. The supreme sacrifice of Jesus at the cross had already freed them from the penalty of sin which is death.
8Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

11In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 14For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

15What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. 18You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
19I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. 20When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:8-23).
Therefore, Christians must rejoice for they were already free by the blood of Jesus Christ that freed them from the slavery of sin.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Three Kinds of People In This World With Regards To Faith

1.) SKEPTICS: These people do not believe anything regarding God: the working of miracles, healing, working of the Holy Spirit, prophecy about the future, God answering prayers, the future life, the authority of Bible and even God Himself. They only believe in the things of this world. They are worldly and always want to satisfy their own passions and flesh. They would rather believe the theory of the scientists than the sayings of the Word of God and the ministers of the Gospel. They believe the teachings of intelligent men based on their judgment and understanding alone. In other words, they just believe in this present life and question the truth about the future life / next life / eternal life. Their slogan is ‘’to see is to believe.’’

2.) CREDULUOUS PEOPLE:
These people are exactly the opposite of the SKEPTICS. They will almost believe anything that they hear. If someone says there is a ‘’miracle’’ in the near barrio or town they will easily believe him and will rush to the said barrio or town. They easily get fooled by people who just want to take advantage of them. Filipinos are naturally religious and when they are in great trouble they would seek some Higher Beings to help them. Before the Spaniards came, they had already been worshipping spirits and nature that’s why they were called ‘’animists.’’ Today, you will see Filipinos in both the urban and rural areas gathering in one place, seeking cure of their illnesses from a ‘’psychic healer’’ or the like. They would easily believe these ‘’healers’’ because it is free of charge. Don’t get surprised if you even see respectable men and women looking for cure from these so-called ‘’healers.’’ It is said that if a person is desperate to find a solution to a certain problem, he would look for anything possible in order to solve his problems. They also claim that they have been really healed by these ‘’healers.’’ ‘’My people perish for lack of knowledge’’ (Hos.4:6). These so-called ‘’psychic healers’’ can really cure sickness and disease but through the aid of evil spirits who help these mediums. 

3.) BELIEVERS: These people are the Christians. They are neither skeptics nor credulous people. They examine every situation with regards to faith based on God’s Word. They are not skeptics because they believe in God through faith, trust in His Word, healing, miracles, the authority of the bible and eternal life. On the other hand, they are not like the credulous people who easily believe anything that they hear and see. Christians look for answers with their problems in the light of God’s word and through the help of mature Christian believer or a pastor. They pray first to guide their decision-making before they make any decision. Although they still sin, they are striving hard with God’s help and grace to live a holy and righteous life. People sometimes ridicule them because of their faith but they still continue to fight and deepen their faith in God. In the end, they stand victoriously.