What is the Gospel?
Is the Bible trustworthy?
What is Repentance?
What is Eternal Security?
What is the relationship between Israel and the Church?
What is Election?
What does the Bible say about Creation?
Where is the Kingdom?
What is Baptism?
What is Communion?
What is Church Discipline?
Is the Gift of Tongues for today?
What about the King James Version (KJV)?
Gospel
When reading through the New Testament, one quickly notices the exhilaration and passion with which the apostle Paul preached the gospel (e.g. Romans 1:14-17; 1 Corinthians 9:16). Likewise, anyone in the company of Christians for some time will surely hear phrases such as “gospel ministry,” “gospel-centered,” “preach the gospel,” “believe the gospel,” and “the power of the gospel.” It is easy to see that the gospel is of utmost importance to the Christian. Why is this true? What exactly is the gospel and why does it carry so much significance?
Is the Bible trustworthy?
The truthfulness of the Bible has come into question from many, even those who call themselves Christians.
We believe the Bible is completely truth in everything it teaches, whether explicitly or implicitly. It more than accomplishes its purpose without failure; it does so without communicating erroneously. If the belief in the inerrancy of Scripture is in anyway denied or limited …
Repentance
Repentance is an essential element of the gospel message. God calls us to repent of our sins in order to receive the forgiveness of our sins in Christ (Luke 24:47; cf. Acts 2:38). Repentance therefore is a mark of a true Christian.
Because the heart of man is deceitful …
Eternal security
The doctrine of eternal security is the belief that once a person becomes a Christian, they cannot lose their salvation. It is sometimes referred to as “once saved, always saved.” Mankind naturally believes that we have free will to decide our eternal fate. But the issue at hand is …
What is the relationship between Israel and the Church
God designated Israel to be “My own possession among all the peoples… and to be … a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:5-6) Israel’s display of holiness was to attract the surrounding nations (cf. 1 Kings 10:9). Israel, however, did not remain faithful. God has not “rejected his people… [He] has not rejected his people whom he foreknew” (Romans 11:1-2). They have stumbled but not “in order that they might fall… Rather through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles so as to make Israel jealos.” (Romans 11:11) Scripture is not confusing, “if their [Israel’s] transgression is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the Gentiles [non-Jews], how much more will theur fullfillment be!” (Romans 11:12). The “riches for the Gentiles” and “for the world” have come in the form of a spiritual organism called the Church.
Election - the decree of God
The doctrine of election teaches that God sovereignly chose before creation those whom He desired to be saved. This is a difficult doctrine for people to embrace because it appears to conflict with our responsibility to receive Christ. Because our experience was that we chose to believe in God, it is typically difficult to accept that God unconditionally chose us from before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). The fact that many churches oppose the doctrine of election …
Creation
Over 145 years ago Charles Darwin wrote Origin of the Species, which began an intense theological-philosophical war between Scripture and science. What was at stake is the significance of life, especially human life. Is mankind the result of a divine plan and action to make creatures in God’s own image? Does history have a rationale and purpose so that it is heading toward some divinely appointed goal? Or are humans the result of …
The Kingdom Among You: Luke 17:
Jesus stood before the Pharisees as King and said, “the kingdom will suddenly be in your midst.” The gospels repeatedly declare the kingdom is “near” (Matt. 4:17; 10:7) and even on two occasions, “has come upon you” (Matt. 12:28; Luke 11:20). The kingdom was so near that only a lack of repentance and submission to the King stood in the way of the Mediatorial Kingdom being established in Israel. The failure of Israel to repent resulted in a change of relationship temporarily away from Israel to the Gentiles.
Baptism
Water Baptism is the act in which a believer in Jesus Christ is immersed in water and raised up from it by another believer. Baptism was instituted by God to be the first step of obedience to demonstrate our reception of the gospel of Christ. This initial act of baptism identifies the believer as a follower of Jesus Christ.
Communion
Christians have been celebrating the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:20), known also as communion, together for about two thousand years, ever since Christ instructed His disciples to continue to do so until He returns. This is done by partaking in bread and juice, or wine, together in a local church setting. However …
Church discipline
Christ Bible Church is committed to understanding and applying what the Bible teaches. We believe the Word of God is authoritative, infallible and inerrant. It is our sincere desire to apply its teachings to our individual lives and to the corporate life of the church.
Since the topic of church discipline can strike many as being harsh and unloving, we trust that you will read this …
Gift of tongues
Perhaps the most notable aspect of the charismatic movement is the claim of speaking in tongues. In common charismatic theology, speaking in tongues follows the special filling or baptism of the Holy Spirit. They base this belief on the examples in Acts 2, 10 and 19. They believe that the practice of tongues speaking brings great benefits for the Christian’s spiritual life and vitalizes one’s prayer life.
King James Version
The King James Version was completed in 1611 as an attempt to have the Church of England use one Bible translation. As the years went by it became the primary version used in the English speaking world for hundreds of years. It is an excellent, literal translation that has served the church well for many years. However language changes over time. This is the reason for the popularity of more modern translations.