Our mission is to equip and train believers, and fit them with the Gospel, so that they may obey the Great Commission, to make disciples, to baptize them, and to teach them to obey the holy scriptures, all while serving the LORD with proper respect and reverence, as redeemed servants of Christ.

   We seek to equip followers of Christ so that they are firmly grounded in the truth, obedient to Christ, not because they have blindly trusted in someone or something which "looks better" than their current circumstances, but because they have checked out the claims of the the Bible, have trusted in God and His promises, and know that what they believe is reality, and not fantasy. We want to see a revival in the church, a body that is willing to go out into the world, and share the Gospel, that the lost may be saved from their sins. After people get saved, someone needs to mentor these new believers on how to share the Gospel. Currently, less than about 2% of the people who claim to be Christian believers ever take the time to do this. Wouldn't it be nice it 100% of the church were fervently committed to the cause of reaching the lost?

   The essentials of the Christian faith are as follows...

• There is only one God, and He is the Creator of the Universe. We believe in the Trinity nature of God.

• Jesus Himself is LORD. As the scriptures say, He has always existed with His Father, and He has always been Divine.

• All of mankind has sinned against God, and needs to be saved from sin. There is nothing that mankind can do to save himself from his sinful condition. We are saved only by faith, by putting our trust in Jesus to save us from our sins, and we are justified only by Jesus' death on the Cross, and not by anything we can do. In order to be saved, one must be spiritually regenerated, or reborn.

• All scripture contained within the 66 cannonized books of Holy Bible is the infallable and inerrant Word of God, without error in their original writings. The books of the Apocrypha, which came later are not recognized to be inspiried by God.

   The copies of manuscripts (the text from which we get the 66 canonized books of the Holy Bible) in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek are the infallible, original autograph, that is, the original messages communicated from God to the writer. We are certain of this because there are thousands of copies which still exist. Because we have so many copies, we can be certain that the Bible was not concocted by people who had an agenda to deceive the world. While nobody has the very first original copies (they have in time been lost because of decay) that were written, the numerous copies of the originals have been preserved and studied, and have been verified authentic. The 66 canonized books (the 39 Old Testament books, and the 27 New Testament books) of the Holy Bible have been thoroughly tested and verified in good faith by both the church, and by archeology, and they have passed all tests for authenticity. Science has more than sufficiently demonstrated that the existing copies of the original writings are virtually unaltered and are faithfully preserved reproductions of the originals. All of the evidence concludes that the Holy Bible's message is inspired by God, and is authentic and trustworthy in it's content.

   Above all, we affirm that the Holy Bible is God's Word, and on it's teachings we shall stand. We believe that the teachings of the Holy Bible are the truth, and that the Holy Bible accurately reflects reality. The Bible tells us the truth. By reading it, we find out what truth is. We don't believe it is the truth just because it is in the Bible. It is in the Bible because it is the truth. Our faith is not based on blind acceptance. The smartest thing one can do before accepting any teaching is to investigate the doctrine and it's claims to see how well it stands up against the truth. We shall continue to do this. What the Bible says is verifiable in the world around us. An honest review of all creation and the reality which surrounds us verifies this. The Holy Bible teaches fact, not fiction.

   We know that the Holy Bible is divine, and is not of human origin. The Bible is historically accurate, and the overwhelming amount of archeological evidence supports it's claims. The Holy Bible includes records which were written by eye witnesses, and by trusted associates of eye witnesses, soon after the events recorded actually happened. The prophesies contained in the Holy Bible prove to be true. Bible prophesy does not find it's fulfillment by accident, or by any human manipulation or effort - the fulfillment of all Bible prophesy is the work of God. And above all, the Bible's message is not something man would honestly want to concoct on His own anyway. Scripture bears the authentic stamp of God's authorship. The sinful state of mankind is evidenced by the fact that man will naturally in his sinful state stand in opposition to the Bible and it's teachings. Even so, God is not limited by man's disobedience. In the end, God and His Word will be proven right in all things.

   All scripture comes from God. By definition, all scriptures are inspired, or "God breathed". But not all scriptures are inspired in exactly the same way. Everything written in the Bible is there because God wants it to be. God's Holy Spirit stands behind His Word. What is recorded in the Bible was in fact written by human hands by God's direction and inspiration as a witness about God, what He is doing with mankind, and what His plans for the future are.

   In the Old Testament, when God inspired someone to speak, or to write a message, He sent His Holy Spirit upon a prophet, and the Holy Spirit took control of the prophet. The prophet would speak exactly what God was saying to the people. In this way, God made a direct link of communication by direct inspiration.

   The 4 Gospels and the book of Revelation are the only New Testament books which contain literal "word for word" dictation. In the Gospels, people heard Jesus speak, so they recorded what He said, word for word. Jesus, since He is God, has the Holy Spirit in Himself, so what He said while incarnate was God breathed from the Holy Spirit. In Revelation, God instructed John to write word for word what He had to say. In this way, the 4 Gospels and Revelation contain word for word, what God has to say. The other books of the New Testament are inspired in another way. The Bible contains only first person testimony, written down by the people who were actually present to see with their own eyes, and to hear with their own ears, or written by people who worked side by side with the people who were actually present to see with their own eyes, and to hear with their own ears. The general letters written by Paul to the various churches are inspired as well, because Paul had the Holy Spirit working in him as he wrote. The smaller epistles by John, Peter, James and Jude were also inspired in the same way Paul was inspired. The Bible does not contain any third party witnesses, or speculations. God has worked His Holy Spirit in faithful witnesses to tell the world about Himself. This is how we got the Bible.

   We will not blindly accept just any new translation of the Holy Bible, nor will we assume that just because it has been published from a reputable source, that it is in fact a reliable translation of God’s Word. Languages are changing all the time, therefore, the definitions behind the words in those languages also change. We believe that for the most part, modern translations of the Holy Bible, which include the 66 canonized books, are faithfully translated, and that they reflect as much as is possible, God's complete Word to mankind. However, we believe in putting to a reasonable test, any new translation that may come about to see if the work actually does reflect the original autograph of the scriptures. We will not blindly accept a new translation just because the publisher claims their new translation is “accurate”.

• We recognize that in translating the scriptures, the most important thing is to transmit and preserve the original message and it's original meaning as much as is possible.

• We recognize that it is the message of the original autographs of scripture which is inspired of God. Any translations of scripture from the original languages (Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek) into any receptor languages are not "inspired" - they are merely a translation of the inspired text which was written first.

• We do not reject new translations of the Holy Bible which seek to use modern language to accurately reflect as much as is possible the complete and original content of the original autographs.

• We shall take into account that some translations of the Holy Bible are works which strive to be "word for word" accurate translations, while others strive to be "thought for thought" accurate translations. With these considerations in mind, we shall read them and understand them accordingly.

• We do however, reject translations of the Holy Bible which seek to intentionally add any content or meanings to the scriptures which were never present in the original autographs. Likewise, we also reject translations of the Holy Bible which seek to intentionally subtract any content or meanings from the scriptures which are present in the original autographs.

   God is One. He consists of three persons. He is The Father, He is Jesus the Son, and He is The Holy Spirit. All three of these persons are not different personalities. God The Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit are three distinct persons, yet They are all One God at the same time. This is what is referred to as the Holy Trinity. A concept which is difficult for our minds to fully comprehend. Here is what the Bible says about God, our Heavenly Father;

• There is one true God, and He is the Creator and Sovereign LORD over everything there is, and there is no other beside Him. God has revealed Himself as The Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit. He is one God, but at the same time, He exists as all three of these at once. He is eternal and perfect. He is the same yesterday, today, and for all time. This is the God revealed in the Holy Bible.

• We know who God is because He has revealed Himself through the holy scriptures, and through His only Son Jesus Christ. God has shown us His love and compassion personally through Him.

• God commands man to find reward in Him personally. God takes great pleasure in making all things good. God has given mankind the capacity to enjoy His creation in every way, and it is God's plan that He shall be glorified in every way, regardless of whether man chooses to seek his reward in God or not.

• God is a God of both love and justice, and He rightly keeps a proper balance between the two in all that He does. God gives us the freedom to make our own choices, because He loves us. God punishes and corrects sin, for the sake of His Holy Name, out of His love for the sinner, and His passion for righteousness. God will be glorified whether man chooses to worship Him or not. The most loving thing God can do for mankind is to reveal Himself and His plan for glory to mankind.

   Jesus is God. He is one person of the Trinity of God. Jesus is not a different personality than God The Father, or The Holy Spirit. God The Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit are three distinct persons, yet They are together One God.

   Jesus Christ is the only Son of God. He is our Priest and King forever! As is recorded in the scriptures, He was born of a virgin by the power of the Holy Spirit, He took the form of man, and was both God and man at the same time. In His humanity, He grew up in both wisdom and divine favor in the sight of God His Father. He called 12 disciples to Himself, and trained them in His ministry. According to God's plan, Jesus was betrayed and was crucified on a Roman cross, and it was on that cross He died to make atonement for the sins of mankind. He was resurrected from the grave on the third day, since death could not hold Him. After His resurrection, He commissioned His disciples to continue His ministry. Today, He sits at His Father's right hand, interceding.

   Jesus is as much a part of the Godhead as His Father and His Holy Spirit. Jesus has always existed, He has been with the Father from the very beginning. All things were created by Him. Jesus is all knowing, is omnipresent, and He is our Savior. Jesus is the only One who can intercede for sinners who repent and put their trust in Him.

   The Holy Spirit is God. He is one person of the Trinity of God. The Holy Spirit is not a different personality than God The Father, or Jesus the Son of God. God The Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit are three distinct persons, yet They are together One God.

   The Holy Spirit is the One though whom the virgin Mary became pregnant with God's only Son Jesus, according to God's plan. Jesus has died for our sins, has risen again, and has returned to God The Father, and is now sitting down at The Father's right hand, interceding for the saints. As Jesus promised, He has sent His Holy Spirit to man to continue His ministry to the world. Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as the Counselor, and the Comforter. As a Counselor, The Holy Spirit reminds believers of Jesus' teachings. As a Comforter, He also convicts man of sin, working encourage all to repent and surrender to Jesus' Lordship. The Holy Spirit lives in the hearts of all who put their trust in Jesus, who turn away from sin. He is the deposit guaranteeing our resurrection, and He is the One Who continually points to and directs us in all of Jesus' Ways. The Holy Spirit is the One Who inspired everything that is contained in the Holy Bible. The Holy Spirit spoke to God's prophets and chosen servants, and they faithfully recorded what God had to say. Thanks to The Holy Spirit, we have the scriptures preserved so we can read and learn from them today.

   Nowhere in the scriptures can be found the statement, "God loves you, and He has a wonderful plan for your life...". And yet, this is how the Gospel is often presented to a lost and dying world. The world is being told, "God wants to show you His love by making your life better...by blessing you with a better job, a better salary, a better marriage...", blah blah blah. This is a false gospel, and there is no justification anywhere in the Bible for preaching it. God does not show His love by saving people from hardship and trials. Yes, God does love sinners, and He does have a wonderful plan, but that plan is for His glory, not ours. His wonderful plan does include you in it, somewhere. But be prepared. His plan for you will likely include you giving up everything, maybe even you dying for His glory.

   The scriptures are clear. The Bible plainly states what God's love really is: That while we were still lost in our sins, Christ died for us that we might be set free from our bondage to sin. God has demonstrated His love to us by His sacrifice on the Cross. By paying the penalty of our sins for us, a debt so large, that there would be nothing of us left over if we actually did try to pay it. By forgiving us of our sins despite the fact that we don't deserve to be forgiven! Wow! What a loving, generous God He is!

   So, be assured, that while you are in the midst of any hardship and/or persecution, you can know regardless of your circumstances, whether they be feast or famine, that God has demonstrated His love by dying on the Cross to redeem you.

   God is all-powerful, and He will have the last Word. Because God is so perfect and good, He cannot and will not allow anyone who does evil to have any share in His Kingdom. Since He is the original source of everything that is good and perfect, the most loving thing He can do is invite mankind to know Him.

   God’s plan for glory, including His plan to rescue sinful man is purposefully hidden from those who are in opposition to God. His will and His plan is revealed only to those whom He chooses to reveal it. We believe that the only way to understand God’s will is to first become surrendered subjects of God's will through His only Son Jesus Christ, and by obeying Him. Those who will not surrender themselves under His Lordship and obey Him cannot understand God's will or His plan because God does not unveil His plan to those who will not submit to His Lordship.

   Man dies because he is sinful. God made mankind in His holy image, but because of a choice mankind has made of his own freewill, man has used the freedom that God gave him to sin, and so now all of mankind has fallen away from God. Because of this, all of mankind has become corrupt. Because of sin, it is natural for man to want to rebel against God. Every sin man commits is a transgression against God's Law, which is His measure of morality and righteousness for mankind. Sin has rendered mankind incapable of keeping and obeying God's Law. There is nothing mankind can do that is truly good by God's standard of goodness, unless God Himself does a good work through man. In this, God shall get all the credit and glory for His good works.

   There will be a day of final Judgment when God will judge every sinner for every transgression he has made against God's Law. God will not only judge man's deeds, He will also judge every motive for what man does. Those people who are not redeemed, will be punished forever in a place called Hell, where they will spend eternity, separated from God.

   In order for any man to be able to receive the gift of salvation, he must be confronted with the truth of his transgression, and he must then make a willful choice to turn away from sin through repentance. By definition, repentance means you agree with God about what He says about sin, and you turn away from sin, and you turn back towards God. The sinner needs to be honest with himself and God about the wrong he has done.

   God's grace should never be taken for granted. The motive for wanting to be saved should be that the sinner has examined himself, and has been convicted in his heart that he has broken God's Laws, and he comes to a knowledge that he deserves punishment for his lawlessness. It is only upon an honest examination of one's self against God's holy standards that true repentance of sin takes place. The motive for wanting to be saved should not be that the sinner was just sorry he was caught sinning. God cannot be fooled since He can see the motives of every heart. True repentance involves agreeing with God that sin is wrong, and turning away from sin so that sin is no longer a normal mode of operation, or a way of living. The power to overcome sin is found only by abiding in Jesus Christ, and by obeying Him.

   There is nothing man can do to save himself from the punishment he deserves because of his sins. Because of God's great justice, He must punish evil doers. But because of God's great love and mercy, He intervenes by sending us His only Son Jesus to pay the price of our redemption. His death on the cross pays that required price in full. To the sinner who repents of his sins, and who surrenders to Jesus Christ, God imputes His righteousness. That is, Jesus' record of righteousness is credited in full to the one who believes and trusts in Him alone. God can impute righteousness upon the redeemed because man's sins were imputed upon Jesus while He was crucified on the Cross. As God's instrument of propitiation, Jesus took the record of our sins, and died with it. This is what the scriptures are talking about when they say, "For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ". This is the gift no man can deserve!
 

   Any good works or deeds man does cannot earn him a place in God's graces. However, we believe that when one becomes saved, good works are important. The redeemed do not do good works to get saved - they do good works because they are saved. As Jesus is recorded as saying, "If you love Me, you will obey Me", obedience born of that love is just one evidence that one is saved, but it is not the means to get saved. God gives the repentant believer the gift of His Holy Spirit as a deposit guaranteeing redemption on the Day of Judgment.

     In the unregenerate state, it is normal for the soul to sin. In the regenerated state however, it is not normal for the soul to sin. The work of regeneration which God performs on the heart to cleanse the sinner from the sin nature happens from the inside out, by the indwelling and the working of God's Holy Spirit. This cleansing process cannot be accomplished from the outside in, by anything we can do. Sanctification is a progressive action of the Holy Spirit which we can only surrender to. One way that we can know for sure that one has the indwelling of God's Spirit - the Holy Spirit goes after all sins, even the hidden sins in the heart, to systematically destroy them all. As long as the believer continues to agree with God's assessment of sin, that there can be no acceptance of, or compromise with sin - especially when sin is revealed in the innermost parts - the believer can be assured this is the work of God. Three good tests to see if you are truely saved: Has Jesus changed the things which matter most to you? Does your lifestyle prove that you are in fact a different person? Are you growing in holiness? If you can honestly say "Yes" to all three of these questions, it is a good sign!

   We should be careful to make sure that our faith is not in vain. Unless one puts their faith in the One true Creator God of the Bible, then their faith is in vain, and they do not know God.

• It does not suffice to simply put your trust in ideas or concepts about God. Faith means you put your living trust in the person of Jesus Christ. Faith means you seek God - not just the things that He can give you.

• We are saved by faith alone, through Jesus Christ alone. Jesus did everything necessary to make it possible for sinners to come back into a right relationship with God, when He died on the Cross for our sins, and then rose from the dead, just as He promised He would.

• Without faith, it is impossible to please God.

• Faith in God begins by hearing the Gospel message. Knowing who God is begins by reading the Holy Bible. To believe in any god that is different from the One true Creator God of the Bible is idolatry.

• Faith is made complete when one puts their complete trust in Jesus Christ, and they believe that God is going to do what He says He is going to do, and they then act according to their beliefs. In other words, faith is made complete when one trusts and obeys Jesus Christ.

• To have faith in God also means that you agree with what God agrees with, and that you reject what God rejects, according to knowledge as God's will is revealed in the Holy Bible, and as He reveals His will personally in our relationship with Him.

• To have faith in God means the believer trusts that every good and perfect thing comes from God. It also means that the one who trusts in God expects God to answer prayer according to God's will, and not necessarily according to their own will.

   This mission and faith statement is an outline detailing our beliefs. We do not elevate these statements over the Holy Bible. We elevate scripture above our mission and statement of faith. The Holy Bible is the measure. The inspired message contained within the Holy Bible as originally written is without error. It is possible, because of our failings (and lack of understanding) that the grammar usage contained within this statement of faith could contain unintentional error(s). So, from time to time, we will review these statements, and in the event that any of these statements are found to be in error, we will strive to revise these statements so that they more accurately reflect what the Bible teaches.

   We shall continually test our faith against the Holy Bible to make sure that we really are in the faith, and not blinded by deception.

   We believe that God is a perfectly righteous Judge. Everything He does is fair and right. He rewards richly all who trust and seek after Him with their whole heart, but He also rightly punishes all who love evil, who stand away from the truth, even suppressing it. We believe that because God is absolutely good and holy, God must draw a line between good and evil. God is right to judge and punish all evil. There is nothing any man has ever done to be worthy of God's grace, so it is all we can do to thank Him and praise Him, and serve Him. We are earnestly looking for that day when God will send His Son Jesus again to restore justice and to have mercy on all who have repented from sin, and have surrendered to Jesus Christ and His Lordship.

   Until that day comes, may God bless you, and may you come to a full saving knowledge of Him who died to redeem you.

James @ Servant Heart Ministries