What do we believe?
We are created in the image of God.
God created human beings. We are His idea and His work. And God has a plan for each person on this world. He made us with a twofold purpose: to enjoy God and worship him forever. In the depth of our heart we have the desire to know God and find fulfillment in his presence. We are able to think, feel, evaluate. We can do things. And each person is responsible before God for the thoughts and convictions in the heart and for our actions. God is perfect and cannot tolerate any imperfection.
As a consequence of the first people’s rebellion and disobedience against God we human beings lost the intimate relationship with our creator. We often know what’s right but we do not do it. Our motives are mixed at best. We care more for our own desires than for those of the people around us. We focus more on our own prestige, power, money and fun than on loving and fearing God. We have a tendency to be proud, self-sufficient and arrogant rather than humble, dependent on God and serving. We cannot keep God’s standards, even if we try hard. We often fail. And we will be held responsible and judged for our thoughts and actions. As humans beings we do not have the power to change this condition. Even our good deeds cannot make our sins undone or provide payment for our guilt. In this condition we are unable to approach God or relate to him.
God knows everything about us. He knows that we are unable to save ourselves.
Because or his great love and mercy he himself provided a way out of this dilemma. In the Messiah Jesus He provided a sacrifice for the sins of all mankind. God sent Him down from heaven and had Him crucified like a criminal on a cross. He accepted the Messiah’s suffering and death as the penalty for our sins. Now God invites everyone to believe in the Messiah as God’s sacrifice for their own sins. Nobody on this earth deserves it. Nobody can repay God for the Messiah’s work. But people with a humble heart, who know that they cannot save themselves and are truly sorry about their sins can come to God. They can tell Him that they believe in God’s Messiah Jesus, accept his sacrifice for their sins and invite the Messiah Jesus to be the Lord of their life.
The new life
The Word of God promises that people who start believing in the Messiah Jesus in this way will become a new person, with a new life. They will,
- have forgiveness of their sins
- enter into a personal relationship with their creator
- be adopted in God’s worldwide family of believers, (God calls them his children)
- receive God’s Spirit in their hearts
- have assurance of going to heaven after they die
- learn to live their life in a way that pleases God
- receive the power to resist selfish desires and temptations of Satan
- experience joy and peace even in difficult circumstances
- be under God’s love and care in each circumstance
- receive spiritual gifts which are to be used to serve God and others
The new task
God loves and wants to give this new life to everybody in this world. He is working towards the day when people from all the different cultures, languages and ethnic groups in our world will praise Him for His salvation. Every follower of Jesus becomes part of this universal task to share the good news of the Messiah.