ABOUT GOD
God is the Creator and Ruler of the universe. He has eternally existed in three persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. These three are co-equal and are one God. Genesis 1:1,26,27; 3:22; Psalm 90:2; Matthew 28:19; 1 Peter 1:2; 2 Corinthians 13:14
ABOUT MAN
Men and women are made in the spiritual image of God, to be like Him in character. He is the supreme object of God´s creation. Although mankind has tremendous potential for good, we have been marred by an attitude of disobedience toward God called "sin". Sin is simply missing the mark, God desires for our best existence. This "sin" attitude separates mankind from God.
Genesis 1:27; Psalm 8:3-6; Isaiah 53:6a; Romans 3:23; Isaiah 59:1,2
ABOUT ETERNITY
Man was created to exist forever. He will either exist eternally separated from God by sin, or in union with God through forgiveness and salvation. To be eternally separated from God is Hell. Hell is primarily about separation from God and all that is good. To be eternally in union with Him is eternal life. This is Heaven, His Kingdom, where life is all it was created to be before sin caused a fallen-ness and broken hurtful world. Heaven and Hell are places of eternal existence.
John 3:16; John 2:25; John 5:11-13; Romans 6:23; Revelation 20:15; 1 John 5:11-12; Matthew 25:31-46
ABOUT JESUS CHRIST
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is co-equal with the Father. Jesus chose to take on flesh of mankind, He lived a sinless human life and offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all men by dying on a cross. He arose from the dead after three days to demonstrate His power over sin and death. He ascended to Heaven´s glory and will return again to earth to reign as King of kings, and Lord of lords. Matthew 1:22,23; Isaiah 9:6; John 1:1-5, 14:10-30; Hebrews 4:14,15; 1 Corinthians 15:3,4; Romans 1:3,4; Acts 1:9-11; 1 Timothy 6:14,15; Titus 2:13
ABOUT SALVATION
Salvation is a gift from God to man. Man can never make up for his sin by self-improvement or good works. Only by trusting in Jesus Christ as God´s offer of forgiveness can man be saved from sin´s penalty. Trusting in Jesus for salvation begins with the recognition of sin. We trust only the sinless one could pay the penalty for the sinful ones, and continue that trust by seeking God's Will, changing any sinful direction as we recognize, and living in a desire to be all God desires us to be. Eternal life bound for God's Glory, begins the moment one receives Jesus Christ into his life by faith. Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8,9; John 14:6, 1:12; Titus 3:5; Galatians 3:26; Romans 5:1
ABOUT ETERNAL SECURITY
Because God gives man eternal life through Jesus Christ, the believer is secure in salvation for eternity. Salvation is maintained by the grace and power of God, not by the self-effort of the Christian. It is the grace and keeping power of God that gives this security. John 10:29; 2 Timothy 1:12; Hebrews 7:25; 10:10,14; 1 Peter 1:3-5
ABOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT
The Holy Spirit is equal with the Father and the Son as God. He is present in the world to make men aware of their need for Jesus Christ. He also lives in every Christian from the moment of true salvation. He provides the Christian with power for living, understanding of spiritual truth, and guidance in doing what is right. The Christian seeks to live under His control daily. 2 Corinthians 3:17; John 16:7-13, 14:16,17; Acts 1:8; 1 Corinthians 2:12, 3:16; Ephesians 1:13; Galatians 5:25; Ephesians 5:1
We also believe the Bible teaches that, at the moment you believe in Jesus, you are baptized and sealed by the Holy Spirit. This one time experience that comes at the moment of salvation is God's powerful way of declaring, "You're in my family and I'm not going to let you go." The baptism of the Spirit happens the moment you are saved, so you do not need a second experience.
Yet Eph. 5:18 teaches us that we must be FILLED with the Spirit on a continual basis as believers... allowing Him, in a fresh and new way, to cleanse and control our lives. Many believers have a number of experiences throughout their lives of trusting the Spirit to fill them in a deeper way than they ever have before. For some, this can FEEL like a second experience of somehow getting "more" of God's Spirit. We believe, you receive all of God's Spirit the moment you are saved, and throughout your life will learn to trust more and more of yourself to Him opening ourselves to more guidance, comforting, power, and more.
From the first days of the church, people have always been more impressed with the spiritual gifts from the Holy Spirit that are more spectacular (healing, tongues, etc). God tells us in 1 Corinthians 12-14 that He is more impressed with the less noticeable gifts, and that He is most impressed with love. Those chapters are filled with warnings about using those more spectacular gifts in ways that draw attention to ourselves rather than to the Lord. Paul says that he would rather speak in a few words that people would understand than in thousands of words in tongues. That is why we don't speak in tongues in our worship services - we want to speak in ways that people understand. At home or when alone a few of our church family members occasionally pray in tongues (an ecstatic or spiritual language) as this is what they learned in a past local church setting. We do not condemn; however, it is not our way in public settings at Lifeway Church.
God's Word reminds us: Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Ephesians 5:18 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 1 Corinthians
ABOUT THE BIBLE
The Bible is God´s Word to all men. It was written by human authors, under the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is the supreme source of truth for Christian beliefs and living. Because it is inspired by God, it is truth without any mixture of error. There is only one ultimate authority at LIFEWAY Church and it is God’s Word. Leadership is always to be verified and accountable to Scripture.
2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20,21; 2 Timothy 1:13; Psalm 119:105,160, 12:6; Proverbs 30:5