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I
BELIEVE
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| 1. | God | IT IS WRITTEN | |
| Spirit, eternal, infinite — therefore: all-knowing, omnipresent and omnipotent; Who has revealed Himself as a plural personality whose moral character is the absolute of selfless love. Within human history He has revealed Himself as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as detailed below. | Genesis
21:33 Psalm 90:2 John 4:24 1 John 4:8 & 16. |
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| 2. | The Father | ||
| For | the sake of all that is created, He is the source of all authority, governing all things from the Throne above. He became Father when Jesus stepped down to create all things and so became His Son. | Ephesians
3:14-15 John 17:5 & 24. |
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| 3. | The Lord Jesus Christ | ||
| He |
is the self-humbling, self-limiting of divine infinity in order to create
all things finite, and Who, through His second step down, entered
fully into our humanity — • sacrificed Himself to fully receive all guilt before God through complete separation from His Father on our behalf; • was resurrected, confirming the full sufficiency of His sacrifice, by which new life was given to all who trust in Him; and, • exalted to the right hand of the Father to corporately represent all those who are His, until the work of His Church is completed in her spiritual maturity. Contrary to the arguments of Church History, He is not eternally 'generate' from the Father, for He is intrinsically equal to the Father in all things. |
John
1:3 Colossians 1:15-17 Philippians 2:6-8 2 Corinthians 5:21 Ephesians 2:5-6 Ephesians 1:20-22 Psalm 110:1. Ephesians 4:13. |
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| 4. | The Holy Spirit | ||
| He | is the presence of God — • by Whom the creative words of the Jesus in Genesis One were implemented; • is the power Who ministered through Christ in the days of His flesh; and, • Whom at the Christian Pentecost entered into the same relationship to all believers in Christ as He had to Christ Himself between Christ's baptism by John and His ascension to the Father. Contrary to the arguments of Church History, He does not eternally 'proceed' from the Father or from the Son, for He is intrinsically equal to the Father and the Son in all respects. |
Isaiah 59:19 Matthew 3:16 John 14:16-17 & 26 John 15:26 Acts 1:8 Matthew 12:28. |
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| 5. | The Christian Church | ||
| It | is — • individually – every one in every race, place and time who has trusted God Most High more than him/herself (as in Abraham's defining moment, Gen.15:6; Gal.3:6); • corporately – all those who share in the one Holy Spirit given at Pentecost and whose full spiritual maturity, expressed in the completed task of spreading Christ's gospel as a testimony, will precipitate His return; and, • physically – fully expressed in each local congregation through their united worship and confession of their mutual identity in Holy Communion/Eucharist as Christ's representative Body. |
2
Corinthians 5:17 Ephesians 2:19-22 Galatians 3:26-28 1 Corinthians 10:17 1 Corithians 11:29. |
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| 6. | God's Judgment | ||
| It | brings this present world order to an end, beginning at the simultaneous resurrection of the Church of Jesus of all ages into His glory according to their obedience to Him. It completes in the individual judgment of the unrighteous, after the completion of all things, before the End. | John
5:22 Revelation 20:11-15. |
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| 7. | The End | ||
| The | beginning of the future which makes all that has gone before worthwhile
and was its preparation, in which – • the Son of God Himself becomes again as He was before anything existed that was created; • the resurrected Church of Jesus takes Christ's place as the visible expression of the invisible God; and, • the human race continues to grow and spread throughout God's expanding universe. |
1
Corinthians 6:3 Revelation 21:22-27 1 Corinthians 15:28 Ephesians 1:10. |
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