My Creed - What I Believe

My Creed - What I Believe

I believe in God the Father - maker of heaven and earth
And in Jesus Christ His only Son, I believe in the virgin birth.
I believe in the Man of Sorrows, bruised for iniquities. 
I believe in the Lamb who was crucified and hung between two thieves.

I believe in the resurrection, on the third and glorious day.
And I believe in the empty tomb and the stone that the angel rolled away.
He descended, and set the captives free. 
And now He sits at God's right hand, and prepares a place for me.

I believe He sent His Spirit to comfort and to reveal. 
To lead us into the truth and light, to baptize and to seal. 
I believe that He will come back the way He went away. 
And receive us all unto Himself, but no man knows the day.

I believe He is the Judge of all men, small and great.
The resurrected souls of men receive from Him their fate.
Some to death, and some to life, some to their reward. 
Some to sing eternal praise, forever to our Lord.

This is my creed, the witness I have heard, The faith that has endured, this truth is assured.  Through the darkest ages past, though persecuted, it will last, and I will hold steadfast to this creed.

From the song "Creed" by Petra

Words and music by Bob Hartman
Based on the Apostle's Creed

My Creed – What I Believe

• God exists eternally in three persons – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  This three-in-one concept is known as the Trinity.   This theological doctrine holds that the Trinity consists of three co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial members, in which the members are one in essence, nature, power, action, and will. Matthew 28:19, 2 Corinthians 13:13, 1 Corinthians 12:4-5, Ephesians 4:4-6, 1 Peter 1:2, 1 John 5:7 and Revelation 1:4-5.

• God the Father is referred to as "Father" in both the Old and New Testaments, and directly by Jesus Himself.  God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His grace. He is all powerful (omnipotent), all knowing (omniscient), and all present (omnipresent). God is love, and God is truth.  Genesis 1:1; 2:7; Exodus 3:14; 6:2-3; 15:11ff.; 20:1ff.; Leviticus 22:2; Deuteronomy 6:4; 32:6; 1 Chronicles 29:10; Psalm 19:1-3; Isaiah 43:3,15; 64:8; Jeremiah 10:10; 17:13; Matthew 6:9ff.; 7:11; 23:9; 28:19; Mark 1:9-11; John 4:24; 5:26; 14:6-13; 17:1-8; Acts 1:7; Romans 8:14-15; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 4:6; Colossians 1:15; 1 Timothy 1:17; Hebrews 11:6; 12:9; 1 Peter 1:17; 1 John 5:7.

• God the Son is the only begotten Son of God the Father, creator of all things, Redeemer, Messiah, and Christ.  Jesus was born of a virgin and the physical embodiment of God on Earth, simultaneously fully-man and fully-God (hypo-static union). He lived a sinless life, was crucified and died, and rose again bodily on the third day.  He descended to Sheol/Hades to make proclamation to those imprisoned there.  Forty days later, He then ascended into Heaven with a promise to return some day to bring us with Him to Heaven to dwell with him forever.  

• The Holy Spirit is active in the world today, calling, convicting, and regenerating mankind.  The Holy Spirit comforts, empowers, reveals, inspires, baptizes, and seals believers.  He bestows spiritual gifts to believers equipping them for the building up of the Body of Christ.

• Heaven and Hell are real places.  Every person who ever existed will end up in one of the two places.  Heaven is the place where God dwells outside of the realm of this universe where mankind exists.  After the Great White Throne of Judgement, this universe will be destroyed by fire and a New Heaven and New Earth with a New Jerusalem will become "Heaven", the dwelling place of God.  Those who accept Jesus Christ and His redemptive act of sacrifice on the cross will dwell forever with Him in Heaven.   "Hell" is what is commonly known as the Lake of Fire.  It is the eternal place of torment created for Satan, his demons, the Antichrist, and the False Prophet.  Those who reject Jesus will be cast into the Lake of Fire at the Great White Throne of Judgement where they will experience torment and be consumed by fire (Annihilation).  They will cease to exist completely.

• Jesus will return at the rapture bringing with Him those who have already died as believers, resurrect the bodies of those believers first, and then to catch up those who are still alive and believe in Him.  All believers, the "Body" and "Bride" of Christ, will at that time receive their incorruptible, glorified bodies and be made like Him.  His coming may occur at any moment prior to the Tribulation Period. He will then escort His Bride to heaven where we will experience the marriage supper of the Lamb for 7 years.  Afterwards, He will make a visible, personal, pre-millennial return to the earth at the close of the Great Tribulation. He will establish His kingdom and reign for 1,000 years. At the end of the Millennial Kingdom will be the Great White Throne of judgment.  Those whose names are not found in the Lamb's Book of Life will be thrown into the Lake of Fire along with Satan and his demons.  Those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life will enter into the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, where we shall live and serve God throughout eternity.

• Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace.  Repentance is a genuine turning from sin toward God. Faith is the acceptance of Jesus Christ and commitment of the entire personality to Him as Lord and Savior.  Faith in Jesus Christ results in eternal life in a literal heaven, and saves us from a literal hell.

• Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God’s grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

• Justification is God’s gracious and full acquittal upon principles of His righteousness of all sinners who repent and believe in Christ. Justification brings the believer unto a relationship of peace and favor with God.

• Sanctification is the experience, beginning in regeneration, by which the believer is set apart to God’s purposes, and is enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual maturity through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. Growth in grace should continue throughout the regenerate person’s life.

• Glorification is the culmination of salvation and is the final blessed and abiding state of the redeemed.

• Election and Freewill are best understood and harmonized through the concept of Congruent ("in harmony or agreement") Election. This view holds that since God dwells in eternity, he sees all things eternally now. He sees all peoples and events, past, present and future, as if it was all right now. In this sense, God sovereignly chooses "the elect" from his eternal-now-perspective. But, because men dwell in time and make free choices, they also choose to believe in Christ from their perspective. In this way, God unconditionally chooses us in eternity, but we also conditionally choose God in time — thus, election is congruent. 

• The Bible is the inspired, infallible Word of God, without error or fault in its original manuscripts.

• The true church is comprised of all Christ followers everywhere, that have lived in the past, and will live in the future.  Jesus Christ is the head of the church.

• Water baptism and the Lord’s Supper are ordinances to be observed by Christ followers.