I Believe

• I believe in a God flowing with an endless supply of love, mercy, and grace.

Psalm 13:5 (NIV) But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.
Nehemiah 9:31 (NIV) But in your great mercy you did not put an end to them or abandon them, for you are a gracious and merciful God.

• I believe in a God who sent us the perfect gift, His only Son, who humbled himself and came as a servant , not robed as a strong and mighty king

Luke 2: 6-7 (NIV) While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. 
Matthew 20:28 (NIV) "Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

• I believe that Jesus has suffered and feels our pain, and knows personally our temptations of the flesh, but lived a holy and perfect life without sin.

Matthew 4:1 (NIV) Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil.
Matthew 4:10 (NIV) Jesus said to him, "away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only."

• I believe that Jesus spent his time with the sinners (the homosexuals, prostitutes, tax collectors, and those with repentant hearts who need to be save (me), not the "righteous").

 Matthew 9:9-13 (NIV) As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the  tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and sinners came and are with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" On hearing this, Jesus said, "it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.

• I believe God the Father is the ultimate judge, we are all sinners and have no right or ground to judge others, all sins are equal.

Luke 6:37 (NIV) "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven."
James 4:12 (NLT) God alone, who gave the law, is the Judge. He alone has the power to save or destroy. So what right do you have to judge your neighbor?
John 8:2-11  At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group  and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.  In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”  They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.  When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”  Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.  Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

• I believe in a savior who died a brutal and horrible death for my sins, so that I may have everlasting life.

John 3:16 (NIV) For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Matthew 27: 27-44 ² Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him. As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. Above his head they placed the written charge against him: this is jesus, the king of the jews.

• I believe in a savior who conquered death and rose again. The enemy has been DEFEATED!

Matthew 28: 1-7 After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.  He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.  Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

• I believe we are called to give thanks daily, love one another and love well, and be the blessing to others as Christ has been a continuous blessing to us.

Romans 12:10 (NIV) Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.
John 13:34-25 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
*They will know we are Christians by our LOVE!
Luke 10:27 He answered, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself."
Matthew 20:28 (NLT) For the son of man came not to be cared for. He came to care for others.