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Statement Of Faith
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Purpose
Calvary Chapel Sandpoint is a fellowship of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ; gathering together to worship Him, be taught His word, and grow in our love for one another.
We come to worship him because He is worthy to receive glory, honor and power. He has created all things; therefore we seek to emphasize songs of worship and praise.
We come to be taught by His word because it is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path, leading us to a greater knowledge of Him. We therefore emphasize the teaching of His word.
We come to grow in our love because it is His commandment that we love one another, and by this the world will know that we are His disciples. We therefore emphasize the unity and fellowship of His body. The only true basis of Christian fellowship is His agape love, which is greater than any incidental differences we may possess.
NOTE: Unity in the Lord Jesus Christ is realized by all who hold fast to the foundational truths of scripture and walk in holiness before the Lord. Man-made unity at the expense of sound doctrine and practical Christianity is to be rejected as unscriptural.
Worship
We believe worship of God should be spiritual; therefore we remain flexible and yielded to the leading of the Holy Spirit to direct our worship.
We Believe worship of God should be inspirational; therefore, we give a great place to music to our worship.
We Believe worship of God should be intelligent; therefore, our services are designed with a great emphasis upon teaching the Word of God that He might instruct us how He would be worshiped.
We Believe worship of God is fruitful; therefore, we look for His love in our lives as the supreme manifestation that we have truly been worshiping Him.
Doctrine
We believe in One God and the He is personal, transcendent, eternal, sovereign Creator of all things. We believe He alone is God, He is the first and the last, there is no other.
We believe that God is eternally self existent and has revealed Himself as a Tri-unity of three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as three persons in the Godhead and yet One Lord God Almighty who is worthy of worship and obedience.
We believe in the Bible, both Old and New Testaments to be the inspired and authoritative Word of God, without error in the original written form, providing the complete revelation of His will for the salvation of men. The Bible is sufficient in and of itself to provide us with all that pertains to life and Godliness.
We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, He is the only begotten Son of God, He himself is God incarnate and in Him the fullness of the Godhead is revealed to man. Therefore He is appropriately called God the Son.
We believe that Jesus Christ is truly God and truly man. He came in the flesh and dwelt among us. He never ceased being God and yet in His humanity was fully man. Having been conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, worked miracles, forgave sins, died on the cross as a substitutional sacrifice for our sins, rose bodily from the dead, ministered to and commissioned His disciples and ascended into heaven, where He continues His High Priestly ministry at the right hand of the throne of God.
We believe in the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, convict men, to regenerate and seal the believing sinner until the day of redemption, guide instruct and empower the believer for godly living, service and fulfill His command to preach the gospel to the entire world, and an obligation shared by all believers today.
We believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit and His operation in the Church today. We believe the purpose of these gifts is to edify the body of Christ: His Church, to empower us for the work of the ministry and above all to glorify Christ. We believe that these gifts are to be exercised as prescribed by the scriptures, should never be used to draw attention to or glorify man, should be practiced in a decent and orderly manner and must always be exercised to a spirit of love.
We believe that all men are by nature sinful, separated from God and responsible for their own sin. We believe that man in and of himself has nothing to offer God in exchange for his soul and will spend eternity in hell should he reject the salvation of redemption, justification, forgiveness, and sanctification, are freely offered to all through the grace of God by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. When a person repents of sin and makes Jesus Christ Lord of their life, recognizing Him as Savior, trusting in His finished work; that person is immediately born again and sealed with the Holy Spirit, all sins are forgiven and becomes a child of God destined to spend eternity with the Lord.
We believe that salvation is offered by grace through faith alone. Salvation is not of ourselves, it is a gift of God, not granted by any merit or work of our own. Any offering of salvation granted by human achievement, be it all or in part, is not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and should be rejected as a false gospel.
We believe obedience to the Lord follows true conversion. A live of personal growth in holiness is to be the experience of all believers.
We believe in the ordinance of baptism in water by immersion, is a public expression of our faith and identification in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We believe in the ordinance of communion the Lord's supper, consisting in the elements of bread and wine, representing the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. This serves as a memorial to His suffering and death, is a prophecy concerning His second coming and is to be enjoyed by all believers until He comes again.
We believe in the Pre-tribulation rapture of the church: the imminent and blessed hope of all believers. The dead in Christ shall rise first, and then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
We believe in the visible second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ at which time He will set up His millennial kingdom and will reign here on earth for 1000 years. We, His blood bought church, will reign with Him. At this time Jesus will be recognized by the nation of Israel as their Messiah. Many Jews will then turn to Jesus Christ as Lord. As the Prince of Peace, Jesus will, by His rod of iron rule the nations. Satan at this time will be bound for 1000 years and universal peace will be established.
We believe there will be a final judgment of the living and the dead. The believer will appear before the judgment seat of Christ where our works shall be judged and rewarded accordingly. The unbelieving shall be raised and judged according to their works and whoever is not found in the book of life, together with the devil, his angels, the beast, and the false prophet will be cast into everlasting punishment in the lake of fire.
The Church And Its Mission
We believe the Church is the Body of Christ, the habitation of God through the Spirit. Every born again believer is an integral part of His Body. We are as 1 Peter says "living stones” being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
We believe the mission of the church is to be a family of those who worship the Lord in Spirit and in truth, to be a body of believers who study the scriptures that we might grow in the grace and in the knowledge of the Lord; fashioned into the likeness of Jesus. To be a body of believers who gather together for fellowship, encouragement, and instruction. It is the job of the church to evangelize the world
We believe in a divinely called and scripturally ordained ministry provided by our Lord for the four fold purpose of leading the Church in: the worship of God, building up the body of Christ by instruction in the word of God, the facilitation and administration of fellowship and evangelization of the lost.
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