Our Beliefs

The Story

The Eternal Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit were forever happy, perfectly happy. In all things they were equal and in and of themselves holistically self-sufficient. Equal in power, in beauty, in wisdom, in love, in majesty. They truly delighted in one another, in the truest sense of the word. All they thought, said, and did was selfless and outward. Because in a world above time, at the foundation of His nature, God was a loving Father, and outward flowing — kind of like a fountain. This Fountain contained so much good that it began to infinitely flow outward. In the overflow of His goodness, a plan was born to create and redeem the world. The Triune God would make a covenant between Themselves to execute this plan together. In so doing They would showcase Their glory before all creation and share with an innumerable multitude of others the indescribable delight in Themselves They forever knew.

The Setting

Hence, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit working together in perfect harmony, created the universe and placed a planet within it. This planet was extraordinarily unique and complex. They pieced it together just so, that mankind, the peak of His creation, could have life and see and know the weight of God’s goodness, power and beauty!

They created every living creature. There were spiritual beings and physical beings. The spiritual beings were made quite glorious, but mild in comparison to the limitless indescribable glories of their Makers. They placed man in the Garden of Eden who was also made glorious and wonderful, in the very likeness of God Himself. Adam, the name of this first man, his name meaning “man”, tended to the garden and walked with God in the cool of the day. His helper would be a woman, Eve, whose name meant “life”.

The Hero

God is the hero of our story. The story is all about Him from beginning to end. Many have come and gone who have attempted to be heroes. Some bad men and some relatively better men would seek to exalt themselves, according to their fallen nature, however all of them in the end would come to understand that God was far mightier and good than they.

By one act of naïve rebellion, the race of man, represented by Adam, would soon fall an infinite distance from their Maker, forfeiting their original glory and plummeting themselves into spiritual death. In this plight no man could save them. It would take a God-sized hero to provide a way of escape.

God emptied Himself of His Kingly throne, entered time, descended to earth and took on the form of a man so that He might rescue them! As a man, Jesus displayed His wonder by the words He spoke and His power over creation. Though tempted in every way, being without sin He raised the dead, healed the sick, walked on water, calmed storms, fed the hungry, and forgave sins! Hateful fallen men would not recognize Him for who He was and some attributed His acts to Satan, accused Him of blasphemy and sentenced Him to death for crimes He did not do.

The Antagonist

The most beautiful of all God’s spiritual beings was named Lucifer. Lucifer, to his own detriment, grew proud because of his beauty. Blinded by self-deceit he sought to exalt himself as god. After stirring up a mutiny Almighty God cast him, along with a third of His angels, from Heaven. Lucifer would go by many names, the Father of lies, the accuser of the brethren, the serpent of old, Beelzebub, and Satan. It was through his trickery that mankind would be ensnared. Little did he know, he was merely a pawn for God’s own purposes.

Supporting Characters

People, originally created in the image of God, had this image scarred and twisted in Adam’s rebellion. Throughout the ages they have followed in the footsteps of the very one who seeks to destroy their souls by elevating themselves to the position of god.

The doomed to be Satan in his rage seeks to destroy them through various means of attacks upon their souls. When Adam, as mankind’s representative, rebelled against God by eating the forbidden fruit, he brought a deadly curse upon the entire human race.

The Plot

God, knowing all things perfectly past,present, and future, allowed the fall to take place in order that He might show forth His attributes before all created beings, His servants seeing this would respond in worship and find ultimate joy in Him. Once people have placed their faith in the true Christ, and His death and resurrection, they become united with Christ, are cleansed of all sin, and baptized into the Church.

The Church would now have access to God through Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit! In Sovereign indelible grace they would be made alive, have their blinders removed and receive the ability to know and adore the true God. Completely underserving of such mercy, their lives would be forever altered, thwarting the devil, fighting sin, growing in godliness, denying their personal dreams and agendas and forcefully taking the good news of Christ’s victory over sin and death to the whole world!

The Climax

Jesus, their Creator, the Godhead in physical form, was mocked as a lowly criminal and blasphemer, and sentenced to a gruesome torture and a slow terrifying death on a cross. Satan seemingly won the battle for the moment. Greater than the physical pain Jesus bore, He would suffer excruciating emotional torment, being separated from the Father He eternally loved. However, face set firm like a rock, he endured, knowing the unspeakable ever-increasing joy set before Him! He humiliated death, shame, and all His enemies when He rose from the grave, revealing that His death on the cross was part of His flawless plan from eternity past.

After His triumphant resurrection, Christ ascended to the Father’s right hand. The Holy Spirit was then sent to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment, pointing all men to Jesus. Through the Apostles, twelve men discipled and ordained by Christ, Scripture would be written as the means by which the Truths of Jesus’ person and works would be communicated to men by the Holy Spirit. These written words were perfect and have been miraculously preserved generation after generation. This was done so God’s children might know Him. Through Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit, and the power of prayer, the gates of Hell would not prevail.

The Resolution

By Jesus pure and precious blood the Church was set free and redeemed from their fallenness and all works of the enemy! Not only would they receive the righteousness of Christ in exchange for their exceeding sinfulness, but in their union with Christ they would be adopted into the family of God, made to judge angels, seated with Jesus on His throne and blessed with all spiritual riches to be had in Christ! Made co-heirs of the King they would unendingly share in His glory!

Sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, hearts abounding in gratitude they now await the finality Christ secured. They exist presently in an evil world surrounded by those whose sin has blinded the eyes of those still dead in their sin. Redeeming what time remains they live lives of worship, striving to use every resource to bring glory to God and make Him famous throughout all the world, if by any means they might save some and rescue them from certain everlasting destruction.

For their offenses against a holy God, the infinite price Christ paid will be paid by finite beings who cannot pay it, for in a world ruled by a perfect and good God justice must be net. In hardness and unbelief their debt will forever haunt them in what has been called Hellfire, a place of eternal separation from God and the gifts He granted them in life, a place of eternal conscious torment where the worm never dies.

Finally, Christ will return to reign victorious over all creation, as those who overcome the world are resurrected and made co-heirs to reign with Him! Satan, that serpent of old, will be placed under His foot once and for all and cast into the fire, never to deceive or harm anyone again.

To be continued…

 

For a more in depth look at what we believe please refer to The Foundation Documents of The Coalition, the Lausanne Covenant, this detailed explanation of the Gospel, and the Chicago Statement of Biblical Innerrancy.