Doctrinal Beliefs

Every one on this earth holds to certain doctrines.  Whether they call it doctrine or not, all humans are quite doctrinal.  

 

Doctrines are beliefs.  And beliefs--as you know--are very important.  Because of this, we think it is important to let people know our beliefs.  Some religious groups are secretive about their beliefs.  They keep quiet about the weird stuff until they have you roped into their system.  We don’t like this sort of religious hoopla.  Added to this, we don’t have any weird stuff to hide.   So, to understand what we believe one can look to the Bible or to the early creeds of historic Christianity.  To save you some time, we’ve jotted down the major beliefs of the Christian faith which we hold to be true.

 

Del Rey Church believes that the historical figure, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, is the key to everything.  We wholeheartedly believe in Jesus and the importance of living for Him, by loving God and all people regardless of race, gender, or religion.  We believe that it is possible to have real knowledge of Christ, not to mention knowledge about reality.  

 

In speaking of Jesus, we need to make a qualification.  Nowadays, saying you believe in Jesus is not enough to tell you about what a person believes.  So many people say they believe in Jesus, yet they can mean just about any thing by it, because there are lots of different views about Jesus.  And just because there are different views, does not mean that there is not an answer.  In fact, many of the most important questions we face in life are clouded by views about reality that are simply mistaken.  At Del Rey Church we believe in the Jesus Christ of the Bible as understood by true Christianity since the first century all the way up until today.  We are a part of the historic and global confession concerning Jesus Christ.  We believe in the Bible and the ancient creeds of the church, which explain that Jesus is fully God and fully man, for He is the Son (the second member of the Trinity) in the flesh.

 

 

WE BELIEVE IN GOD:

Father, Son and Spirit

 

We believe that there really is a God who has always existed and is so powerful that He made the world out of nothing.  God is not only powerful, but also loving and good.  God is so in love with humans, that He made them in a special way to reflect His image.  Humans are both physical (they have bodies) and spiritual (they have souls), with a God-given ability to be self-willed.  Through this ability, humans have been given the opportunity to have a spiritual relationship with God that is very real and life-changing.

 

We believe that God is amazing and beautiful.  He is also powerful and eternal.  Furthermore, there is only one God who has always existed without beginning or end.  This God created the world out of nothing and He sustains it by His incredible power.  And just as God’s power is mind-boggling, so is His nature.  While there is only one God, He indivisibly exists in three distinct and co-equal persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit (this is known as the Trinity).  Because God loves us, He enjoys telling the world about who He is and what He is up to.  Thus, we believe that God works in human history in supernatural ways to disclose facts to us.  One of the most important ways God has communicated to us is through the Bible. 

 

WE BELIEVE IN THE BIBLE:

Inerrant and Inspired by God

 

We believe that the Bible is a supernatural book that God has written through various human authors providing us with an error free inside-scoop to the things that really matter.  Thus, the Bible is to be read literally (of course, in its proper historical and grammatical context) as our definitive guide for living and knowing truth. 

 

Belief in God and the Bible are not mindless things that we accept without reason.  We believe that Christian faith is rooted in historical and scientific facts that can stand up to the scrutiny of the world’s greatest minds.  In other words, we don’t believe this stuff because we are crossing our fingers and hoping it’s true.  We are actually convinced that our beliefs are really real and that there is evidence to back it up.  This is good news because it means that those who are seeking God can actually discover intellectually verifiable things if they are open to what’s out there.

 

WE BELIEVE IN JESUS:

Deity and Incarnation

 

Of all of things we believe God has done in human history, nothing is as important as what He has done in Jesus Christ.   Jesus was more than a mere historical figure.  He was the Son of God in the flesh.  Thus, Jesus was (and is) fully God and fully human, so He is one person with two natures (God and man).  Jesus was (and is) an amazing man, full of love, truth, knowledge and compassion.  Virtually all of the major world religions acknowledge the figure Jesus, though they have drastically different views about Him.  The Christian view is different from all views because it alone is rooted in real history, affirming that Jesus is fully God and fully man, that He died for our sins on a cross, He rose from dead in an imperishable resurrected human body and that forgiveness for our sins is found by faith alone in Him. 

 

WE BELIEVE IN SIN:

Depravity of man and Justice of God

 

God is perfect and doesn’t make mistakes.  He is in charge of the universe and one day, we will all have to answer to Him.  The troubling thing about this is that we realize that we have all made mistakes.  Even worse than mistakes, we have all rebelled against God in various ways and this we refer to as sin. 

 

Since God is holy and just, He does not allow any rebellion in His presence.  In fact, in His justice God punishes sin.  The price for rebellion against God is death and everlasting separation from Him.  The good news is that God does not want us to suffer this punishment, nor to be separated form Him.  Because of His love, God decided to offer His forgiveness to anyone who wants it and it costs us nothing – it’s free!  But, someone still had to pay the price for our rebellion, so God paid it Himself.  God became an actual human being in Jesus Christ. 

 

WE BELIEVE IN SALVATION:

By grace through faith in Christ alone

 

Jesus lived a perfect life free from any sort of rebellion against God and then died on a cross in our place to pay the price for our sins.  To prove that He was indeed God, Jesus was born to a virgin, fulfilled hundreds of detailed prophecies about Himself, lived a sinless life, performed miracles, rose bodily from the dead and ascended into heaven.  These incontestable and undeniable evidences were witnessed by thousands of people.  Their eyewitness testimony has now led countless millions to be convinced that the historical figure named Jesus was no other than God in the flesh who died for our sins and rose from dead, so that we could be forgiven of sin’s penalty, have power over sin’s mastery through Him and have a genuine relationship with God.  This relationship begins the moment the Holy Spirit lovingly gives life to our dead and depraved souls, so that we come to God in faith and repentance asking forgiveness of our sins and proclaiming our allegiance to trust and follow Jesus as our Lord, Teacher, Savior and supreme treasure. This act of coming to God in faith is really miracle, it occurs because God Himself gives us new life.

 

Those who trust (which is what it means to have faith in) Jesus have been freed from the penalty of their sins and the power of the depraved life.  Hence, such persons are referred to as having been “saved.”  They have been saved from the penalty they deserved and given the forgiveness and freedom they did not deserve, because such blessings are not attainable by human merit. 

 

Christians follow Jesus and call Him their Savior, because they acknowledge that He has really and truly saved us.  As the only true Savior, Jesus offers (among many things, most notably) forgiveness, new life, divine joy, a personal encounter with the Holy Spirit, and hope for what the future has in store.

 

WE BELIEVE IN HOPE:

Resurrection, Return and Kingdom

 

We believe that our future is safe in the hands of Jesus.  The Bible teaches us that those who are true followers of Christ should not fear death because their souls will enter heaven when they die.  Since Christ has paid for their sins, they have the hope of being in heaven with the holy and perfect God.  The Bible further teaches that neither death nor heaven are the end of the story.  Jesus promised that one day in the future (at an unknown hour) He will miraculously snatch the physical bodies of believers (both the living and the dead) out of this world into to heaven to be with Him.  Shortly thereafter God will eradicate evil from this world through His divine punishment on all of the earth.  Then Christ will return to earth along with everyone in heaven raised from the dead to set up His own kingdom of peace and righteousness.  God will inaugurate this era of human history by raising all of the dead, physically raising their bodies and joining their souls to them for the purposes of establishing peace through justice.  The kingdom of God will be a taste of what is to come, for it will end and God will then create a new heavens and new earth for His redeemed to inhabit and live in the perfection He intended for His original creation.  God will resurrect and punish the justly guilty and give mercy to those covered in Christ.  There will be an everlasting separation of those who have sinned against God and refused His payment for their sins.  We hope that all who come into contact with Del Rey Church would trust in the good news of Jesus, receive everlasting life and a future of unimaginable joy and majesty with God and His people in the coming Kingdom of God and the new creation. 

 

WE BELIEVE IN MISSION:

Commission and Church

 

Since this life is passing and the future is imminently around the corner, we understand that our lives are not centered on the now, but on the future.  Hence, we are a people on mission, living for the future by being faithful in the present.  In the present time, we have received an amazing commission from Jesus Christ.  Further, we have received an amazing power and union by the Holy Spirit for this commission.  The commission is our purpose to make disciples of Jesus for the glory of God.  The power we have received is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, who gives us—as Christians—a spiritual unity that we call the Church.  The Church is not a mere human organization or another example of organized religion.  On the contrary, the Church is the community of the Holy Spirit, who have been sealed by Him and being prepared as a bride for the groom Jesus who is coming back soon.  The Spirit has inspired the Bible to guide the Church in this age and has raised up men to be pastors who authoritatively shepherd the community in teaching sound doctrine, preaching the Bible, praying for their lives, defending the faith and by modeling the Christian life.  These pastors are fellow sheep in God’s flock, who receive authority from God and in accordance with the Scripture for loving, educating and equipping the Church in the commission of Christ.  The Church is the herald of the Christ, the celebrator of the gospel ordinances, the spiritual restraint on evil forces, the disciple-making community of the Spirit and the prophetic voice of the Father calling for justice and peace in the world.  Ultimate justice and peace will be established when our Lord Jesus Christ returns and until then we will be on mission, joyfully worshipping God and living out the gospel together in discipleship for His glory.