WHAT WE BELIEVE at Cana Baptist Church near Wills Point, Texas.
1 There is only ONE GOD, He is the Creator of the universe, and all things exist by Him.
2 GOD IS ONE, but manifest Himself in 3 ways. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The God of the Old Testament is the same God of the New Testament. God is One.
3 There are two testaments because there are two covenants. The Old Covenant was the law given to Moses. No one has ever been justified, by the law. The purpose of the law was to prove to mankind that they were law breakers (sinners). The 10 commandments were the beginning of the Law. There are over 600 laws given to Israel, through Moses. If you are going to try to save yourself, you must keep all of them, all the time.
The New Covenant is the Covenant of Grace. Jesus, is God, and gave both testaments. The Old Covenant to the Jews and the New Covenant to the Jews but included the Gentiles. The Jews, God’s chosen people, have not been replaced by the Church. The first Churches were all Jewish. The Gentiles were added to the Church, by Jesus.
God gave two promises. A promise from God is as strong as a covenant. The two promises given were to Abraham and to King David. They apply to Israel and the Church. Abraham was promised the whole world would be blessed through his seed. David was promised his seed would sit on the throne of Israel forever.
4 The Bible is not a book; THE BIBLE is a Library containing 66 books written by about 40 authors covering thousands of years of History, from many countries, from the time of Creation (past) to the time of the New Heaven and Earth (future). The writers were all Jewish, except one, Luke. Luke was a Gentile and wrote the Book called Luke and the Book of Acts. The Bible was complete, with the last period, written by the old apostle John in the last book, The Book of Revelation. If any man takes away or adds, to the book, he will be cursed.
5 The Bible was GOD BREATHED and has no errors in the original text written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek languages.
6 A person is JUSTIFIED, SAVED, when God touches their heart, they realize they are sinners and Repent of their sins. As sinners, they have violated God's Law and are unrighteous before God the Creator. All people deserve the penalty of a painful death for violating God's commands. Jesus is God's Only Begotten Son, God in the flesh. He never sinned and did not owe a sin debt. JESUS WAS BORN OF A VIRGIN. Jesus was not born of the seed of fallen Adam. God by Miracle created a Godly seed, in Mary. Because of this, Jesus came to the earth to die the painful death as the payment for the sins of mankind. He was crucified by the Jews and Gentiles on the Cross of Calvary to pay mankind’s sin debt. He by command Jesus released His Spirit in order to die. He was placed in a rich man’s grave and on the third day, was bodily resurrected from the grave because mankind’s sin debt was paid. The penalty Jesus paid will only be accounted to an individual person if they accept it by Faith. There is nothing a person can do to earn the removal of their sins. They can only believe Jesus paid their debt by his suffering on a cross, tree, by crucifixion thereby taking away their sins and exchanging it for His Righteousness. Jesus took our sins and nailed them to His cross. He then gives us His righteousness because we don't have any righteousness. Being justified and made Right before God, we received God's Holy Spirit. Jesus did it all.
7 There is ONLY ONE WAY TO GOD THE CREATOR. It is through Repentance of sin and accepting Jesus’ penalty by Faith in the Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus, the Christ.
8 We believe a person should, as soon as possible, declare to the church to be saved by being Justified before God by being BAPTIZED BY WATER into the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus by Faith.
9 When a person is saved, they receive the HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD. This will cause the person to produce spiritual fruit. You cannot help but produce fruit, if God’s Holy Spirit is within a person, it will just start to happen. They will not enjoy their previous sinful life, which did not produce real Joy. They may not turn away instantly, but over time, they will change, they cannot help it.
10 We believe there are TWO GENDERS, male and female.
11 We believe MARRIAGE is between one man and one woman. It is Holy and only entered into by making an oath before God and witnesses. Marriage is a picture of the relationship between Jesus and His Church. Marriage is intended to last until the husband, or the wife die.
12 GIVING – is a part of worship. When a person worships, they should be joyful and praising God. A Christian should always be a joyful giver. If you are not giving joyfully, God does not want your money. Tithing (10%) is done under the law. If a Jew did not give 10% he was breaking the law and was under a curse. Jesus took away the curse of the law. As a Christian, everything you have belongs to God, but He only wants what you give joyfully. The primary purpose of giving is to help the widows and the orphans, who have no family to turn to. It is meant for getting the gospel of Jesus out to the world. It is meant to have a place to come together and worship with like believers.
TITHING was done under the law to finance the Jewish government (taxing) to support the tribe of Levi (priestly tribe), and to support the temple of God in Jerusalem. There is no longer a Temple of God, in Jerusalem, it was destroyed by the Roman Empire during the first century A.D. (CE). It was never replaced with a church building. The temple of God today is within the heart of every true believer where the Holy Spirit lives.
13 PASTORS ARE TO BE MEN. Adam was the head of his family. Jesus chose men as apostles. Women have an important place in the church, but not as pastors.
