WE BELIEVE IN…
1. A COVENANT-KEEPING GOD –
He was before creation and ordered all of the processes in Earth. He formed a relationship with humans. Abraham was the first one with whom He “cut” covenant in the Earth. From His covenant with Abraham He formed a land and a people, Israel, to fulfill His plans in the Earth. God will not violate His covenant.
2. ISRAEL, AS GOD’S COVENANT NATION AND PEOPLE –
God came to His covenant people first to redeem and restore communion to Himself. The people of Israel, the Jews, even in times of unbelief, are still His covenant people. When they rejected Him, He came to the Gentiles. We, “wild olive branches,” are grafted into the root of Abraham to share in Israel’s blessings. God has promised great blessing to the land of Israel and its people (Dt. 28), and we can share in those blessings by faith. We have not replaced Israel, but are called to intercede for Israel’s full restoration. God’s goal is for Jew and Gentile to be united in faith as “One New Man,” enjoying together the fullness of Abraham’s blessings. As those who have been grafted into God’s covenant, we are called to stand with God’s covenant land. Every nation will be reconciled around this land (Ephesians 2:11-18).
3. OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN –
The covenant keeping God is the Father of all humankind. The Father loves us and has a good plan for our lives! God is the Father of our spirit (Hebrews 2:1). God loves us enough and is committed to us to accomplish His plan for our lives. If we will agree with God, He is faithful to bring us into the fullness of our individual unique, destined plan (Phil. 1:6).
4. JESUS, YESHUA, THE MESSIAH –
God loves us so much that He sent His Son (John 3:16). He was born of a virgin and dwelt among us to reveal the Father. Yeshua, Jesus of Nazareth, for 40 days withstood the enemy and adversary of our soul, Satan, and overcame every temptation that would be known to humankind. He submitted Himself to the Father of creation and became a sacrifice upon a tree for all humankind. This liberated us from the curse of death and destruction. This also caused the schism between Father-God and humankind to be reconciled. Because of the shedding of His blood, we now have access to come boldly before Father. Jesus perfectly represented the Father of creation to the earth realm. Through our relationship with Yeshua, Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, we can now know our Father and have eternal Life.
5. HOLY SPIRIT –
Jesus overcame death, hell and the grave, and ascended to sit at Father’s right hand. In ascending, He left Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity, here in the earth. The Holy Spirit comes to release the life and holiness of God to us. He points us to the fullness of Jesus. He desires to make us supernatural creatures, equipped to do the works of God in the earth. The Holy Spirit, working through humans, is the force that restrains evil in the earth realm.
6. THE WORD –
Jesus was and is the Word incarnate. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The whole Bible is ours. All Scripture (Old and New Testaments) is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for us today. The Old Testament is just as much a revelation of the Father’s heart as the New Testament.
7. COMMUNION WITH GOD through DEMONSTRATIVE AND INTIMATE WORSHIP–
In the beginning, God planted a garden and made humans the tenders of that garden. This was God’s place where He could commune with humans. That is still His goal. He told Moses to prepare a special place where He could dwell among His people. We are called to establish God’s manifest presence and power in a place so that from that place we can be sent forth. This is God’s principle of tabernacling with humans. Because of our belief in Jesus’ resurrection, we are called to worship. Our worship is linked into His resurrection power. God wants the worship that takes place in heaven to be manifested in the earth. Our highest call is to be worshipers of the true and living Creator-God. As we worship Him, His presence is manifested in our midst. As we praise, He inhabits our being and our place. Our worship is an expression of faith. Worship unlocks revelation.
8. SPIRITUAL WARFARE –
Because we represent a Kingdom, we are at war to enforce Kingdom principles and plans in the earth. We are at war and must be equipped to stand against the enemy. Accomplishing God’s purposes on earth is not without opposition. We are called to stand against the enemy and set his captives free. To enable us to stand in warfare, God provides His spiritual armor and weapons. We war from our abiding place in God. We ascend in worship and then descend in war.
9. THE COMMISSION TO DISCIPLE and HEAL NATIONS –
From the beginning of God’s covenant with Abraham, His plan was to bless all the nations. One of the purposes of the nation of Israel was to show the other nations how they could relate to God. They were to live in such a way that the glory of the Lord would be on them and Gentiles would be drawn to them (Is. 60). His House was to be a joyful House of Prayer for all the nations (Is. 56:6-7). Through Jesus, the Messiah, there is a remnant that has formed, called the Church. This group is called to be a light to the nations to all that unredeemed Israel did not reach. Through the gifts and power of the Holy Spirit, the Church can display the power and glory of God for sinners to be drawn to salvation and equipped to do the works of Jesus in the earth. Before He ascended, Jesus sent His disciples out to fulfill this promise and commanded them to disciple the nations – helping whole nations to be disciples of the Lord. From generation to generation, the Lord develops His Church to disciple the nations until the fullness of His plan has been completed and all nations have been restored. This is the outworking of God’s covenant promise to Abraham. Because Gentiles are grafted into this covenant, we can fulfill our commission.