1. OUR HEAVENLY FATHER
Our heavenly Father is the Supreme Being, co-ruler with Christ and sustainer of the entire universe. The Father is ever-present and all-powerful. He is eternal, perfect, loving, kind, and merciful. His goal is to have a family with children. The Father is the first person in the God Family, he gives us his Holy Spirit to lead us, and we pray to the Father in Christ’s name.
Reference scriptures: Eph. 4:4-6 Matt 6:9; Luke 11:13, John 14:26; Rev 19:7-9,
2. JESUS CHRIST
Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God. He is also referred to in the scriptures as Jesus Christ, Son of Man, or The Word, and he is the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament. The New Testament describes Jesus Christ as being both fully human and fully divine. He is eternal with the Father and the second person in the God Family. Jesus Christ is our loving and merciful Savior. He divested himself from his celestial glory and became human to live a perfect life and to die as a sacrifice for the sins of mankind. He resurrected and ascended into heaven and is now our Lord and high priest. Jesus Christ will return again to receive his bride, the church, and will establish the Kingdom of God on Earth and rule with his saints as King of Kings forever.
Reference scriptures: Matthew 16:15-17; John 1:1-14; John 3:16; Romans 5:8; Philippians 2:7; Hebrews 4:14-15;
3. THE BIBLE
God gave us the Bible through his inspiration. It is the foundation of true wisdom. It reveals the nature of God the Father, Jesus Christ, and their plan for our salvation, and it teaches us how to live righteously. The Bible declares God’s law, reveals our history, and prophesizes our future. We could not have discovered this knowledge on our own without the Bible.
Reference scriptures: 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20; Isaiah 48:17; Proverbs 29:18; Matthew 6:33; Jeremiah 29:13; Joshua 22:5
4. THE HOLY SPIRIT
The Holy Spirit is God’s manifested divine power; it is a gift from God and actively works in his servants. A person can receive the Holy Spirit by obeying God’s commandments, becoming baptized, and receiving the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is a guarantee of eternal life for God’s servants.
Reference scriptures: Romans 15:13, 19, 8:11; Acts 2:38, 8:17; 2 Corinthians 1:22, 5:5
5. ANGELS
God created the Angels to be ministering spirits on his behalf. They are his messengers to us and serve as our spiritual guardians. However, angels have free moral agency and may choose whether or not to serve God. A third of the angels were deceived by Satan and elected to rebel against God.
Reference scriptures: Colossians 1:16-17 Psalm 148:1-6; Daniel 7:9-10; Gen 19:15-16, Heb 1:14
6. SATAN
Satan is an angel, the leader of the angels in rebellion against God, and the adversary of those that serve God. As the present ruler of this world, he uses his power to deceive and tempt us to sin, and he is the source of evil in the world. Although Satan is powerful, his influence remains subject to the will of God and will ultimately perish at the hand of the Father after being defeated by Jesus.
Reference scriptures: Revelation 12:4, 12:9, 20:9-10; Ezl. 28:15-18; Eph 2:2, John 12:31; Matthew 4:3; John 8:44; Job 1:12, Job 2:6
7. FAITH
Faith is a gift from God. It is “the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen.” We live by our faith, and without faith, it would be impossible to please God.
Reference scriptures: Eph. 2:8; Heb. 11:1, 2 Cor. 5:7; Heb. 11:6; Hab. 2:4
8. LAW OF GOD
Keeping the law of God is an act of spiritual obedience to God, and it is how we authenticate our love to God. The law of God includes the Ten Commandments, and God reveals his law throughout the Old and New Testaments. Jesus Christ taught obedience to the law and came to fulfill the law, not to destroy it.
Reference scriptures: Exodus 20:1-17, Deut. 5:7-21, 30:15-16; Matthew 5:21-22, Matt 5:17-18, Matt 22:37-40; Gal 5:16; John 14:15, 21; 1st John 5:2-3
9. SABBATH
Observing the seventh-day Sabbath sanctified at creation is essential to a relationship with God. God made the importance of the Sabbath evident when he reaffirmed it at the covenant at Sinai and when Jesus taught the Sabbath. God tells us through the Scriptures that the Sabbath is a sign between God and his people and that we are to remember it throughout our generations, and Jesus Christ reminds us that the Sabbath will remain with us until the fulfillment of all the Scriptures. Furthermore, Jesus reveals to us that the Sabbath is for our benefit, and He requires us to keep the Sabbath as a demonstration of our love for God.
Reference scriptures: Genesis 2:2-3, Exodus 20:8,23:12, 31:12, Leviticus 23:1-39, Isaiah 56:1-6, Matthew 12:8, Matthew 28:1, Acts 18:4
10. THE FEASTS OF THE LORD
God commands us to observe the seven annual Feasts of the Lord because they represent God’s plan for His creation and how we are to marry into His spiritual family. God’s people observed the feasts in ancient Israel and during the early New Testament church, and the modern church should continue to keep the Feasts of the Lord as it is a statute from God to be observed forever.
Reference scriptures:Leviticus 23; Zechariah 14:16; John 7:8-10; Acts 2:1; 12:3; 20:6, 27:9; 1 Corinthians 5:8; 16
11. CLEAN AND UNCLEAN FOOD God declares what animals He intends to be our food in the scriptures. In His perfect wisdom, He provides precise instructions in the books of Deuteronomy and Leviticus for determining which animals are clean and made to be eaten or unclean and to detestable. God requires us to adhere to these dietary instructions because we are set apart to be his people. Reference scriptures: Deut. 14:1-21; Lev 11:1-31
12. SIN
Sin is the transgression of God’s law, and the penalty for sin is death. However, God forgives our sins, because Jesus Christ paid the penalty for our sins and redeemed us through His shed blood.
Reference scriptures:1 John 3:4; Rom 6:23; Col 1:14
13. REPENTANCE
Repentance is the acknowledgment of our sin that results in obedience to God’s law. God freely forgives our sins and removes the penalty of death when we repent, because Jesus redeemed us by paying the punishment for our sins through His shed blood. Furthermore, repenting allows the Holy Spirit to work within ourselves and regenerate us.
Reference scriptures:Acts 2:21, 8:22, 3:19; 2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 3:5; I John 1:9
14. BAPTISM
We become baptized into the family of God in the name of Jesus. Furthermore, baptisms are a ceremony that represents the burying of our old selves in a watery grave and the emergence of a new, spirit led person living with the mind of Christ and following in His footsteps. Therefore, we should perform baptisms by fully immersing the new Christian in water.
Reference scriptures: Rom 6:4; Acts 2:38, 8:37, 10:48, 8:12; 1 Corinthians 12:13
15. LAYING ON OF HANDS
The laying on of hands is an action performed to invite the Holy Spirit to work within a Christian after baptism, at ordinations, or during other special circumstances.
Reference scriptures: Acts 13:3, Matthew 19:13-15; Acts 6:6; 1Timothy 4:14; Hebrews 6:2
16. BIBLICAL COVENANTS
God has made covenants with His people during important moments recorded in the Old and New Testaments. God makes certain promises in these covenants with the condition that the people meet certain requirements. These covenants define the terms of our relationship with God.
Reference scriptures: Gen 15:18, 17; Matt 26:28, Mark 14:24, Luke 22:20; Hebrews 8:6-13; Matthew 5:21-22
17. SALVATION
Salvation is a gift from God acquired by accepting this gift through faith. Salvation is not earned through merit, good works, or by any other personal effort.
Reference scriptures: 2 Thess. 2:13, Rev 7:10
18. RESURRECTIONS
God promises us that the dead, both just and unjust, will be resurrected like Jesus at certain times in the future. The first resurrection will be for the blessed and holy, and they shall reign with Jesus during the Millenial Kingdom. The second resurrection will be for remainder of those that did not partake of the first resurrection at the end of the Millennium.
Reference scriptures: Acts 24:15