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STATEMENT OF
FAITH,
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"As you therefore have received Christ Jesus
the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and established in the
faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with
thanksgiving." (Colossians 2:6,7) |
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So I will not be negligent to
remind you always of these things, even though you know them and are firmly
established in the present truth you now have.
-2 Peter 1:12 This Calvary Chapel church has been
formed as a fellowship of believers in the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Our
supreme desire is to know Christ and to be conformed into His image by the
power of the Holy Spirit. We are not a denominational church,
nor are we opposed to denominations as such, only their over-emphasis of the
doctrinal difference that have led to the division of the Body of Christ. We believe that the only true basis
of Christian fellowship is His (Agape) love, which is greater than any
differences we possess and without which we have no right to claim ourselves
Christians. WE BELIEVE: (A) We believe
the Bible to be the inspired and only infallible and authoritative Word of
God. We believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament as being verbally
and completely inerrant in the original writings and of supreme and final
authority in faith and life. We believe that God has not added to, deleted
from, or altered the canon of the Bible with subsequent writings and
revelations. (B) We
believe there is only one God, eternally existent in three persons: God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Each are
distinct from the Other, and Each are fully God, yet They are perfectly
harmonized in Their Triune Being. (C) We
believe in the deity of our Lord, Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His
sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death, in His
bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, in His
future return to this earth in power and glory, and His present life for us
as High Priest and Advocate. (D) We
believe that the lost and sinful man must be saved, and that man's only hope
of redemption is through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. We
believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the
Scripture as a representative and substitutionary
sacrifice, and that all who believe in Him are redeemed and justified on the
grounds of His shed blood. (E) We
believe that salvation is by grace, through faith, and is a free gift from
God. It is not attained by our own works. Therefore it cannot be earned by
good works apart from faith. We believe that regeneration by the Holy Spirit
is absolutely essential for personal salvation. (F) We
believe in the threefold work of the Holy Spirit: that He seeks out and
brings the lost to salvation; that He sanctifies the believer; and that He
baptizes the believer into the body of Christ, giving spiritual gifts to the
Christian for service. We believe the continuance of gifts as found in 1
Corinthians 12:4-11. (G) We
believe that God utilizes ALL the spiritual gifts as given in Scripture, in
accordance with His perfect will. We believe each Christian is endowed with
both general gifts and specific gifts. Each believer is unique unto the Lord,
and each is uniquely gifted. It is our job as believers to discover our gifts
and use them in our service both to God and to each other. We believe that the filling of the
Holy Spirit is a baptism of power and is given to all believers who ask for
it. The primary, initial characteristic of the filling of the Holy Spirit is
a release of LOVE in and through the life of the believer. Other signs may
accompany this, but Love is the essential one. We believe in the sanctifying power
of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a
holy life. (H) We
believe in the bodily resurrection of both the just and the unjust; the
everlasting blessedness of the saved, and the everlasting conscious
punishment of the lost along with Satan and his fallen angels. (I) We
believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ. (J) We
believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible, taking exception only for
the obvious metaphors and similes that God has not yet shed His light upon.
We act on this belief by putting forth the entire word of God before the body
in a book by book fashion, giving His people the entire counsel of His
revealed Word to us. (K) We
believe in the blessed hope, which is the rapture of the church at Christ's
coming in the air. We believe that we will go to Him before the Tribulation
(pre-trib) and that Christ will return to the earth
physically to set up His kingdom before the millennium begins (pre-mil). (L) We
believe that man was created in the image of God; that man sinned and thereby
incurred not only physical death but also spiritual death (separation from
God) and that all human beings are born with a sinful nature
, and, in the case of those who reach moral responsibility, become
sinners in thought, word, and deed. (M) We
believe that the Holy Spirit is our Comforter and Teacher. (N) We
believe that the redemptive work of Christ on the cross provides healing of
the human body in answer to believing prayer, yet only in accordance
with God's perfect will. (O) We
believe in a literal devil and his host of fallen angels, and that he is at
work in the world today. We believe that Satan is a created being, and as
such he is limited in presence and power. (P) We
believe that we should walk in the victory that was afforded us by Jesus
Christ on the cross. We believe that satan has no
power over true believers. He can affect his confusion on Christians only as
permitted by God, through which we are to be tested and
found true, and by which we are to grow in faith and wisdom,
to the praise and glory of our LORD. (Q) We
believe that God is worthy of all praise, reverence, and love; and that the
highest calling of a Christian is to worship Him. (R) We
believe that our supreme desire is to know Christ and to be conformed into
His image by the power of His Holy Spirit. WE REJECT:
1. ... the
teaching of "positive confession". 2. ... the
belief that Christians can be possessed by demons. 3. ... "dominion theology"
or "kingdom theology". 4. ... a
fatalistic Calvinist view, which allows no room for free
will. 5. ...
prophesy that overrides or supersedes Biblical Scripture. 6. ... the
incorporation of humanistic psychology or philosophy into Biblical teaching. 7. ... "charis-MANIA"
(the over-emphasis upon spiritual gifts, experiential signs and wonders, etc) Concerning evangelism, we
participate and support evangelistic outreach ministries in communities all
over the world. We collectively work together every year hosting evangelistic
"crusades" throughout the However, our main belief concerning
evangelism is that "sheep beget sheep". We are convinced that as we
continue to feed the flock of God by teaching them the Word of God, they will
"naturally" lead others to Christ. ORDINANCES The church will observe regularly the
two New Testament ordinances of water baptism and the Lord's Supper. These
ordinances are observed in obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ, as acts of
love and devotion, and are not considered to be necessary for our salvation. DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES In our services we focus on a "personal
relationship" with God through song, worship, prayer and the clear
teaching of the Word of God. We teach both expository and topical studies. We
do not allow speaking loudly in tongues or the interruption
of our services with prophesy if there is a Bible study in progress.
It is not that we do not hold to the using of these gifts, but we believe
that everything should be done decently and in order. We believe that God
will not interrupt Himself. WE BELIEVE:
worship of God should be Spiritual. Therefore:
We remain
flexible and yielded to the leading of the Holy Spirit to direct
our worship. WE BELIEVE:
worship of God should be Inspirational. Therefore:
We give a great place to music in our worship. WE BELIEVE:
worship of God should be Intelligent. Therefore:
Our services
are designed with great emphasis upon the teaching of the Word of God that He
might instruct us how He would be worshipped. WE BELIEVE:
worship of God is Fruitful. Therefore: We look for His love in our lives as the supreme manifestation that we have truly been worshipping Him.
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