(no subject)

1 Corinthians 13:13
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Matt. 22:37-39
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b]

Luke 9:23
23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.

1 John 4:8
8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

1 Corinthians 13:1-4)
13 If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

Matthew 5:46
46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?

Romans 12:20
20 On the contrary:

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”[a]

John 15:5
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

1 Peter 4:8
8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

1 Cor. 13:4-8a
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

Romans 12:9
9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.

1 Pet. 1:22
22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.[a]

These are my beliefs, too.

Beliefs
Scripture
We believe the Bible alone (the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments) is the Word of God. It is “God-breathed” and therefore verbally inspired and completely without error (historically, scientifically, morally, and spiritually) and is the final authority on all issues pertaining to life and faith.

God
We believe in one infinitely perfect, holy, eternal and unchanging God, who is the Creator and sovereign Sustainer of the universe. This one God is Triune, existing eternally and simultaneously as three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All three persons in the Godhead share equally and completely the one divine nature, and are therefore the same God, coequal in power and glory.

Person of Christ
We believe that Lord Jesus Christ is both true God (the second Person of the Trinity) and true man (the Incarnate Son of God). We also believe in the great events surrounding His life and ministry, including: His eternal preexistence, His virgin birth, His attesting miracles, His sinless life, His sacrificial death on the cross, His glorious bodily resurrection from the dead, His ascension into heaven, and His return in power and glory.

Person of the Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity, coequal with the Father and the Son. We also believe in the ministry of the Holy Spirit in salvation. This ministry includes convicting people of their sin through the Word, bringing about regeneration of the lost and empowering them for godly living.

Man
We believe God created man in His image as a rational and moral being, endued with knowledge, righteousness and holiness for His own Glory. Human beings are therefore the crown of God’s creation (possessing inherent dignity and moral worth), and thus distinct in kind from all other life on earth. Adam and Eve, the first human beings, rebelled against God by disobeying His commandment. This rebellion was an attempt by man to be autonomous or independent from God. As a result of Adams sin, all of mankind fell from their original state, and the image of God in man is now distorted and this sinful nature is passed on to all their offspring. Because of original sin, unregenerate human beings are incapable of pleasing or commending themselves to God, and apart from the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit they are unable and unwilling to repent and believe.

Redemption
We believe God has acted sovereignly to restore men who have been separated from Himself as a result of Adams original transgression. He sent His Son, born of a virgin, attested by miracles and by a sinless life, to bear the full penalty for sin. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ suffered and died a vicarious death, thus satisfying the Father’s just wrath against sin. We believe that the atoning death of Christ, both God’s love and God’s justice are fully manifested in Christ. We believe that the sins of man were imputed to Christ, and that Christ’s righteousness, by perfectly fulfilling the law of God, has been graciously imputed to all believers. Therefore, redemption (faith and repentance) is solely a work of God’s grace, received exclusively through faith in Jesus Christ, and never by any works or human merit.

Justification
We believe justification is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Justification is a judicial act of God’s grace wherein He declares a person righteous in His sight because of the imputed righteousness of Christ. The individual who is thus legally restored has a right standing with God and all his sin has been forgiven.

The Church
We believe the Church is the spiritual body of Jesus Christ who is its Founder, Head, and Shepherd. We believe that the Church encompasses all true believers, past and present, both Old and New Testament saints (commonly referred to as the universal or invisible church). The function of the visible church is to carry out the Lord’s will (found in the Bible alone) through the power of the Holy Spirit. The purpose of the Church is to glorify God and for edification of the body.

Future Things
We believe that Jesus Christ will come again to the earth — personally, visibly and bodily — to consummate history and the eternal plan of God. We also believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; those who are saved unto the resurrection of life, and those who are not unto the resurrection of damnation.

http://www.wordoftruthcc.org/beliefs/

(no subject)

I go to a different church physically, but online I always appreciate their interpretation of The Word. http://www.wordoftruthcc.org/aboutus/


Word of Truth Community Church · 31 like this
18 hours ago ·
TODAY’S TRUTH
August 20, 2013

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:13

It is possible to engage in a lot of religious activities without love. Many individuals strive to be religious and put time and energy in performing good deeds so that they can feel better about themselves. This “self-love” is not the type of love that the Bible says we are to practice. Love is to be focused on God and others…not self (Matt. 22:37-39, Luke 9:23). Biblical love is the only type of love that matters.

When a believer’s actions are motivated by love, they are demonstrations of God in them. On the flip side, when a person’s actions are motivated by selfish motives, their lack of Biblical love demonstrates that the person does not know God. The Bible explains this clearly: “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:8).

The apostle Paul explained that good deeds done without love do not please God. He said that if love is not the motivator it does not matter whether someone speaks in the tongues of men and of angels, has prophetic power, understands all mysteries and all knowledge, has all faith as to remove mountains, and even delivers up their body to be burned…they gain nothing by their deeds (1 Corinthians 13:1-4).

Love is the identifier that someone is a child of God. Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35). Not only is the believer commanded to love, they are specifically commanded to love others the way that Jesus has loved them. Christ laid down his life for us. Thus we should lay down our lives for others (e.g. our rights, our feelings, our liberties, our desires, etc.).

Biblical love is not confirmed by loving those who love you…or those who are easy to love (Matt. 5:46). Biblical love is confirmed when you love those who hate you and/or treat you unjustly (Matt. 5:43-45, Rom. 12:20). Loving those who treat you with such contempt is the absolute evidence of Christ in you (John 15:5, 12). More important than any other deed, we are commanded to love others because love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8).

Did God demonstrate his love towards us because we were perfect! Absolutely not! We know that “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). Even while we were sinning against him, God demonstrated his love towards us in the most sacrificial way...giving the life of his only son in order that we may live.

Precious saint, may your love for others be imitating God’s love for you. Let your Savior’s amazing demonstration of laying down his life for others motivate you to lay down yours for others as well. Remember, all of your good deeds do not matter to God if they are without love: “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends” (1 Cor. 13:4-8a). Brothers and sisters, go and love others and let your love be genuine (Rom. 12:9, 1 Pet. 1:22)!
Like · · Share