“The Christian faith is the most exciting drama that ever staggered the imagination of man—and the dogma is the drama.”
We Believe and Confess
Above all else in this life, we believe the Good News, what we Christians call the Gospel. The Good News is that although we all deserve, on account of our sin and rebellion against our Creator, to stand condemned, cursed, corrupt, and cast out from his favor and fellowship, God’s unfathomable love for us was able to overwhelm all our misery. In love God the Father decided to save us from ourselves, from Satan, from death, and from his just and holy wrath. In exchange, he now offers us forgiveness, righteousness, adoption as his sons and daughters, transformation, and eternal life with him forever. How has God been able to do this?
To accomplish this salvation once and for all, the Father sent his beloved Son into the world to rescue and to recreate us fallen sinners whom he has made in his image. God’s Son, though he is himself Almighty God, humbled himself and became human, conceived as a helpless baby in the womb of a virgin. When he was born he was given the name Jesus and was like us in every way except this: he never sinned. He was filled with the Spirit of God, and worked, taught, healed, and served like no one had before. Jesus obeyed God’s will perfectly on our behalf, and yet was betrayed into the hands of men who put him to death on a cross. In his body on that cross he carried the weight of our sins, our guilt, our death, and our condemnation as he offered to his Father through the shedding of his blood the full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice for our sins.
But because of his faithfulness and great love, on the third day after his death God the Father sent his Spirit into the tomb and with great power raised his Son Jesus from the dead; and, after he was witnessed alive by his disciples, he ascended up to heaven until the Last Day when he will come again to judge the living and the dead. He is King of kings, and Lord of lords: his Kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his Dominion will never pass away. Until he comes, he has sent his Holy Spirit into the hearts of believers and bound them together as members of his body, the Church, his Bride who is anxiously awaiting his return. And though he is in heaven, he will never leave us nor forsake us.
So, this is the Good News: that Jesus has won, conquering sin, guilt, death, and all of our enemies, and today he promises to forgive us, transform us, keep us, and guide us if we turn away from our sins and trust him alone for our salvation. He has a purpose for each of us, and he promises to send the Holy Spirit into our lives not only to seal in our hearts and minds the fruit of his redeeming work, but also to empower us to become more like Jesus day by day as we offer ourselves in service to our heavenly Father. And he promises that on the Last Day, when he comes again in power and glory, he will raise us up guiltless from the dead, and we will reign with him forever and ever.
This is what we believe. This is what we confess. This is what we preach.
