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"the Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners' (Isaiah 61:1)..............'...if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land' (2 Chronicles 7:14)
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| That there is only one God, that he has always existed and that He is a God of perfect goodness, love, truthfulness and purity. |
| That God created everything, as a natural thing to do because of His creativity; as an expression of His glory and character, for the express enjoyment of all people, and that when He made it, it was perfect. |
| That when God created us (men and women), we had the privilege of being the greatest of all that God created, in that uniquely in His creation, we shared His image. |
| That God gave us a responsibility in creation, to acknowledge that it is His, to worship Him, to take care of it, to enjoy it and in doing so, to obey the small number of commands that He gave us. |
| That in His creation, there are spiritual beings (e.g. angels) as well as physical beings (people / animals). |
| That in His creation, although it is a mystery to us, there was a rebellion amongst the spiritual beings, and that they decided to tempt human beings into rebellion as well. |
| That we, after being tempted by the devil, a spiritual being, chose to doubt God’s truthfulness and character, and disobeyed God. |
| That this disobedience caused a change in us, whereby the image of God that we shared was marred (affected negatively / altered), where we became mortal (they would die in old age whereas before they were immortal), and that the close relationship that we had enjoyed with God, without guilt or fear, was ruined. |
| That despite this disobedience, God loved us, and decided that He would rescue us and the rest of His creation from the affect of our decision, one day restoring His image in us. |
| That over a long period of time, God started to show us the way that He was going to rescue us, in clearer and clearer ways, by speaking through various men and women, and that their words were written down and put together in what we generally call the Old Testament. He did this so that when He finally did come and rescue us, we would understand what was happening, and that God has maintained the purity and truthfulness of this record for us to this day. |
| That about 2,000 years ago, God sent His own Son, called Jesus, to be born as a human being, in relative obscurity in what we now call Palestine, to rescue us from our alienation from Him, and to start the process of restoring the unique image of God in us. That the record of this event, and the life of Jesus, and some of the effect that this has had on us, is recorded in what we call the 'New Testament'. |
| That when He came, He (Jesus) divested (left behind) all of His unique power and glory (as He is also God), and that He explained to us in various ways that He had come to be the light of the world, to show us the true character and heart of God, and ultimately to voluntarily give His own life as a sacrifice in order to free us from the guilt and condemnation of our sin, and to restore our relationship with Father God. |
| That Jesus did indeed physically die on the cross, by crucifixion, at the hands of the Roman authorities, and after three days, rose again, physically, showing that the things He had been saying and teaching were true. |
| That as a result of what God did, we now, by putting our whole faith and trust in Jesus as the only way to be forgiven by God, can have our relationship with God restored, our sins (the ways in which we have disobeyed God in our thoughts and actions) forgiven. |
| That when we do this, a new life starts (the Bible calls this being ‘born again’) and that we have a new purpose, to know God, and to have our characters transformed into the likeness of Jesus (the word Christian means ‘Little Christ’). |
| That we need to recognise that the ability to put our faith and trust in Jesus is not because we are more clever than anyone else, but that this is a gift of God, what we call ‘Grace’. |
| That at the moment that we commence this new relationship with God, He puts something of Himself in us (the Holy Spirit, who is also God) that starts to enable to enable us to be transformed, not by our own strength and power, but by His. |
| That as followers and believers in Jesus, God also gives to each Christian what the Bible calls Spiritual Gifts, abilities that are beyond the scope of natural ability, that are for the building up and encouragement of the church, and to help us help others, and that these Spiritual Gifts are for use both in the church situation and outside of it. |
That Christians are called by God to be people who worship, pray, show love and compassion, meet together regularly, and who actively submit their lives to the rule of God, a loving Father. |
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| That when Jesus rose to life after the crucifixion, he broke the power that Satan had had over mankind, and this brought to earth the rule of God, which is known in the Bible as the Kingdom of God, and that we are to actively pursue it, both in our own lives and the lives of others. The Kingdom of God comes in greater measure as we seek God’s help in prayer and worship, as we pray for the sick to be healed, as we share the good news of God’s Kingdom and as God works through us to release others from spiritual bondage. |
| That although God works through His people to expand His Kingdom, the fullness of what God’s Kingdom will look like has not yet been seen. The reason for this is that God’s loving patience is giving people time to recognise their own rebellion against Him in their heart, and to ask Him for forgiveness. Once His Kingdom comes in all it’s fullness, there will be no more opportunity to do this. |
| That at the time God chooses, He will put an end to all evil by extending His Kingdom over all of creation, restoring the full perfection of the creation when He made it, and that at that time, all will face God’s judgement. Those who have died in the past will come to life for this purpose. |
That those who in this life have recognised their sin, and put their faith in Jesus for forgiveness, will go and live with God forever, in joy and peace, with a restored body and mind, and that those who have rejected God’s offer of forgiveness and peace, will bear the responsibility of their rejection of God’s grace and their own sin, for all eternity. |
| End. |
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