What We Believe

Faith is more than a warm, fuzzy feeling we get, or a simple mental assent to a historical fact or belief system.  Faith is an active dependence, trust, and belief rooted in a person!  Faith is what will carry you through difficult times even when you don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.  When you are full of faith, you will be faithful.  With faith, you will be able to endure difficult times in your marriage, family, job and church, because you are not looking to your circumstances or within yourself to find answers.  Your confidence, hope, and trust is in Someone greater who knows the end from the beginning!

• Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
• Romans 8:24-25 For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.
• II Corinthians 5:7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.
• James 2:17-18 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

The Word of God
At Abundant Life, we hold to the standard of the Bible as the infallible, immutable Word of God.  Since we believe the entire Bible, both the Old Testament and New Testament (all 66 books) is God’s word, we understand, submit to, and will defend it as such.  If it tells us to do something we do not feel like doing, we acknowledge that God knows better than us and we should do what He says!  We at Abundant Life Tabernacle do not see the Bible as a dusty, boring, old book that is a drudgery to read.  We see it as priceless treasure and are excited to dig into it as Proverbs 2 describes!  We are committed to deep and insightful study, keeping in mind the context of the writing, human authors God used, original audience, and the hermeneutics of the Greek and Hebrew words, so that we can accurately discover what God is trying to say.  The Scripture is not a pliable tool we can interpret however we want to justify the way we live our lives. If a person does not recognize the value, it will simply be an old, dusty book. If a person does recognize the value of the Bible as the Word of God, they will study it, read it, obey it, and live it!

• Proverbs 30:5-6 “Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.  Do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar.”
• II Timothy 3:16-17 “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
• II Peter 1:20-21 “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”
• II Timothy 2:15 “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

Jesus
Our faith is focused and anchored in one person: Jesus Christ!  We believe that everything in our lives relate back to Him and His death on the cross!  It is not enough to believe just for the sake of believing.  Our faith is not in our faith, but in a real person who loves us and can be trusted with our lives and future!  We know about God’s love for us, because Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins, and reconcile us back to God–to redeem our lives from destruction.

• Colossians 1:18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
• Hebrews 12:2 Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
• Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
• Colossians 2:9-10 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.

Here is the great news! Jesus did not die on the cross to save us, stay dead, and allow us to tell stories about Him.  After three days in the grave, He rose from the dead, and invites us to participate in this new life with Him–a life in which death has already been conquered!  We no longer need to go through life fearing death, because He has already taken care of that!  Because He is alive, we can come to Him with our needs.  He also promises to live inside of us and fill us with HIS Spirit so that we can have constant access to Him!  He invites us to apply the gospel to our lives by dying with Him (Repentance), being buried with Him (Baptism), and rising again to walk in newness of life with Him (being filled with the Holy Spirit)!

• II Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
• Acts 2:38-39 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” 
• Romans 6:4-5 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
• Acts 1:8 “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

So when you visit Abundant Life, expect to have an encounter with Jesus Christ, the one who gives us Abundant Life!  
If you need:

• Healing in your body
• Peace for your mind
• Reconciliation in your marriage
• Restoration of your family
• Salvation from your sins
• Life to be fulfilling and meaningful
• Rest for your weary soul
• Power of God in your life

Come to Jesus!  He still does all of these things!  He offers that we will have life – not just any life, but Abundant Life!

• John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
• Jeremiah 29:11-13 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
• Romans 5:1-2 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
• Ephesians 2:8-10 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
• Romans 3:27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith.

(NKJV)