What We teach

Here at Living Water Church, we stand on and teach these following biblical truths:

The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God's revelation of Himself to man by the Holy Spirit. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. Scripture reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation, of Christ, by Christ, and through Christ.

There is one and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections. God is all-powerful and all-knowing; and His perfect knowledge extends to all things, past, present, and future, including the future decisions of His free creatures. To Him, we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of His nature, essence, or being.

God the Father

God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His grace. He is all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving, and all-wise. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. He is fatherly in His attitude toward all men.

Genesis 1:1, Genesis 2:7, Exodus 3:14, Exodus 6:2-3, Exodus 15:11ff., Exodus 20:1ff., Leviticus 22:2, Deuteronomy 6:4, Deuteronomy 32:6, 1 Chronicles 29:10, Psalm 19:1-3, Isaiah 43:3, Isaiah 43:15, Isaiah 64:8, Jeremiah 10:10, Jeremiah 17:13, Matthew 6:9ff., Matthew 7:11, Matthew 23:9, Matthew 28:19, Mark 1:9-11, John 4:24, John 5:26, John 14:6-13, John 17:1-8, Acts 1:7, Romans 8:14-15, 1 Corinthians 8:6, Galatians 4:6, Ephesians 4:6, Colossians 1:15, 1 Timothy 1:17, Hebrews 11:6, Hebrews 12:9, 1 Peter 1:17, 1 John 5:7.

God the Son

Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ, He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will of God, taking upon Himself human nature with its demands and necessities and identifying Himself completely with mankind, yet without sin. He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His substitutionary death on the cross, He made provision for the redemption of man from sin. He was raised from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His disciples as the person who was with them before His crucifixion. He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where He is the One Mediator, fully God, fully man, in whose Person has perfected the reconciliation between God and man. He will return to consummate His redemptive mission in power and glory to judge the world. He now dwells in all believers as the living and ever-present Lord.

God the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He inspired spiritual prophets of old to write the Scriptures. Through illumination, He enables man to understand the truth. He exalts Christ. He convicts man of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He calls man to the Savior and enables regeneration. At the moment of regeneration, He baptizes every believer into the Body of Christ. He cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and bestows the spiritual gifts by which they serve God through His church. He seals the believer unto the day of final redemption. His presence in the believer is the guarantee that God will bring the believer into fullness of the stature of Christ. He enlightens and empowers the believer in worship, evangelism, and service.

Man is the special creation of God, made in His own image. He created them male and female as the crowning work of His creation. The gift of gender is thus part of the goodness of God's creation. In the beginning, man was innocent of sin and was endowed by his Creator God with freedom of choice. By his free choice, man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race, thus separating man from God. Through the temptation by Satan, man transgressed the command of God and fell from his original innocence whereby his descendants inherited a nature and inclination toward sin. Therefore, as soon as man is capable of moral action, he becomes a transgressor and is under condemnation. Only the grace of God can bring man into holy fellowship and enable him to fulfill his creative purpose in God. The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God created man in His own image, and in that Christ died for man; therefore, every person possesses full dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love.

Salvation given by the grace of God involves redemption of the whole man and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense, salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.

Regeneration

Regeneration, or the new birth of spirit, is a work of God's grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which a sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace.

Justification

Justification is God's gracious and full acquittal upon principles of His righteousness of all sinners who repent and believe in Christ. Justification brings the believer into a relationship of peace and favor with God.

Romans 1:16-18 | Romans 2:4 | Romans 3:23-25 | Romans 4:3ff. | Romans 5:8-10

Sanctification is the experience that begins by regeneration; the believer is set apart for God's purposes and is enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual maturity. This process happens through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. Growth in grace should continue throughout the believer’s life.
Philippians 2:12-13 | Colossians 1:9-22 | 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 | Hebrews 12:2 | 1 Peter 1:2-23

Election, that is, the enterprise by which God saves sinful man, is for the gracious purpose of God. It is consistent with the free agency of man and comprehends all the means in connection to the end. It is the glorious display of God's sovereign goodness and is infinitely wise, holy, and unchangeable. It excludes boasting by promoting humility.

A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the two ordinances of Christ which are Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes.

A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the two ordinances of Christ which are Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes.

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