“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17.
One of our core values is always to be biblically focused. This means that the Bible is our final authority for life and practice. We submit to it, not the other way around.
God’s Word is His revelation to us (1 Cor. 2:10-16) – these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, who is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
The Bible is not a collection of human myth. While there will always be an ongoing struggle to interpretation there is no question that any true, bible believing church will not embrace the Bible as God’s Word. Once any group begins to depart from the truth of the Bible, they no longer are committed to the truth from it.
The foundation of understanding the will of God is the Scriptures. We know the heart of God by knowing His word. We know the mind of Christ by living by His wisdom. We know the joy of relationship with God by drinking deeply from the principles of the Scriptures. This is God’s wisdom to a those who know and love Him. We believe that the body of truth bound up in the 66 books of the Old and New Testament is God’s revelation to us.
We truly live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Jesus made this statement to the devil in His temptation experience in Matthew 4. Jesus chose to value and obey God’s Word rather than give in to the temptation to put His own needs first. The reality is the only objective reality that we can rely on is God’s Word. His Word trumps our feelings, our emotion desires, our intuition, our common sense, and our logic. The human heart is painfully deceitful and will always lead us in the wrong direction. Even living “in Christ” the precepts from the heart of God will always be the response that should lead and guide us in a broken world. It is the only reliable and trustworthy source to keep living in harmony with the Spirit of God.
God’s Word is true righteousness in a dysfunctional world. – For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession who are zealous for good works (Titus 2:11-14).
Grace is inseparable with God’s Word. Grace is the kindness of God to provide everything necessary and sufficient for life and godliness. Titus 2 explains that grace: brings salvation, teaches us to renounce ungodliness, to live self-controlled, godly lives, and to live in light of the return of Jesus. Many of our struggles spring out of a misplaced confidence that we can handle things on our own without God. Sometimes we are our own worst enemy when it comes to living out our Christian walk. Our confidence needs to be in His grace and His Word.
In His grace,
Pastor Brad
