i-Praise Internet Church Core Beliefs

Bible

We believe the Bible to be the complete Word of God.

• That the 66 books of the Old and New Testament were inspired by the Spirit of God as originally written
• That the Bible is the final authority in all matters of faith and conduct

God

We believe in one God, Creator of all, holy, sovereign, eternal existing in three equal persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit

John 3:16-18 says,

"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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son."

Jesus Christ

We believe in the absolute and essential deity of our Lord Jesus Christ

• In His external existence, with the Father in pre-incarnate glory;
• In His work of creation, in His virgin birth, sinless life, substitutionary death and bodily resurrection;
• In His triumphant ascension, His ministry and personal return.

Matthew 8: 16-20 (MSG) I love the Message Bible version of the Great Commission, it says,

"Meanwhile, the eleven disciples were on their way to Galilee, headed for the mountain Jesus had set for their reunion. The moment they saw him they worshiped him. Some, though, held back, not sure about worship, about risking themselves totally.

Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: “God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.”

The Holy Spirit

We believe in the absolute and essential deity, and in the personality of the Holy Spirit

• Who convinces of sin, of righteousness and of judgment;
• Who regenerates, indwells, seals, sanctifies, illuminates and comforts those who believe in Jesus Christ;
• Who baptizes believers at conversion into the Body of Christ and bestows upon them His gifts sovereignty as He wills and fills those yielded to Him.

Romans 8: 2-6 (MSG) says,

"because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life, has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh,in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace."

Mankind

We believe that Adam was divinely created in the image of God

• That by the sin of disobedience he fell from that state;
• That all his posterity inherited spiritual depravity and defilement;
• That all men therefore are guilty before God and condemned to physical and spiritual death.

Genesis 1:27 says,

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."

Salvation

We believe that salvation is by the sovereign grace of God

• That by the Father, Christ voluntarily suffered a sacrafical death;
• That justification is by Faith alone in the all-sufficient sacrifice and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ;
• That those whom God has effectually called shall be divinely preserved and ultimately perfected in the image of the Lord.

Titus 2: 11-12 says,

"For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age."