By His Grace Church

By HIS Grace Church is a small Gath­er­ing of Friends who came together to cre­ate a place for their spir­i­tual growth.
As a com­mu­nity we are work­ing on our Core Val­ues. We are ask­ing our­selves questions.

• What are you com­mit­ted to?
• We value…?
• What are the stan­dards that influ­ence your lives?
• What are your bib­li­cal core beliefs?

We accept all to wor­ship as they are.

Our church: gives glory to God by reach­ing out to ALL peo­ple and lifestyles to wel­come them into the beloved com­mu­nity to worship.

There are many paths to come to God.

• It is never too late to become what God’s wants you to be.
• God does not choose a few but is open to all and in wait­ing to be born again renewed.
• Every­one can know God and be known by God directly

We value all human life

• We respect and value each other, no mat­ter where we are on our faith journey
• We believe that we need to assist peo­ple in dis­cov­er­ing their God given gifts. Every per­son has received a gift from the Holy Spirit.

We all have God within.

• John 1:5 [show]John 1:5 [5]The light shines in the dark­ness, and the dark­ness has not over­come it. (ESV)
  says; “And the light shines in the dark­ness, and the dark­ness com­pre­hended it not.” In every human soul there is implanted a cer­tain ele­ment of God’s own spirit and divine energy. In the words of John; “The Light that enlight­ened every man who comes into the world.”
• That the more we know, the more we know that we do not know. Wis­dom lies in know­ing how much we do not know. I will try to not limit God by my knowl­edge and dogma.
• I believe that the Divine Spirit entered mankind and made us human. This Divine in each of us in the Chris­tos as the ancient Greeks meant it and as the early Chris­tians meant it.

We believe that we are to Serve.

• We are about help­ing and serv­ing peo­ple become all they may be in Christ.
• We believe that we find true ful­fill­ment as we are healed and blessed and become part of the heal­ing and bless­ing of the world through fol­low­ing the direc­tion of the Spirit.
• We believe that we min­is­ter to the wider com­mu­nity through many activ­i­ties of this church and the inter­ac­tion of our daily lives
• We believe in serv­ing com­pas­sion­ately. We value serv­ing oth­ers as needed of need, fol­low­ing the exam­ple of our Lord Jesus.

We are Christian.

• “Chris­t­ian” means we per­ceive in Jesus the divine qual­i­ties of love, peace, joy and jus­tice. Fol­low­ing the teach­ings of Jesus is a path to God
• We believe that the mes­sage that Christ is Eter­nal. The Holy Spirit is with us for­ever. Religion/​Faith con­tin­ues to grow and evolve.
• Christ died for all our sins, even those we have not yet com­mit­ted. We need to ask for­give­ness of the sins we know about and those we do not.
• Jesus loves me

We believe in the Bible

• While some reli­gious groups have empha­sized the Bible as the final and fin­ished chap­ter of Spir­i­tual life, I believe in a “con­tin­u­ing rev­e­la­tion.” We believe that we explore the Bible for its spir­i­tual wis­dom con­tained in sym­bol, metaphor, and his­tory. We find in this Sacred Book sto­ries that echo our own lives and struggles.
• The Bible, the writ­ten Word, is divinely inspired by the spirit of God and writ­ten by man. It is the spirit and not the word which is the final author­ity of truth.
• There are many trans­la­tions of the Bible and all have honor and value. The Bible helps us to inter­pret our lives and our world. The Bible is the pri­mary teach­ing text of our faith.
• Man should not place a period where God has placed a comma. God is still speaking.
• That the more we know, the more we know that we do not know. Wis­dom lies in know­ing how much we do not know. I will try to not limit Gods teachings.

We believe in Peace.

• Reli­gious dif­fer­ences play a role in most wars. Reli­gion is often used as a weapon to frighten or a tool to incite vio­lence and hatred. Romans 12:21 [show]Romans 12:21 [21]Do not be over­come by evil, but over­come evil with good. (ESV)
  “Be not over­come of evil, but over­come evil with good.” We will keep pol­i­tics out of the Church.
• We believe in one Uni­ver­sal and Holy Spirit, one God, who has been called by many names, who has been loved and trusted through all of Human history.
• I believe that I treat oth­ers with respect as befits the beloved chil­dren of God, and fol­low Bib­li­cal prin­ci­ples in all rela­tion­ships. We work through out dif­fer­ences in a way that brings honor to God. (Matt 5:43 – 48 [show]Matthew 5:43 – 48 Love Your Ene­mies [43]“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neigh­bor and hate your enemy.’ [44]But I say to you, Love your ene­mies and pray for those who per­se­cute you, [45]so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. [46]For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax col­lec­tors do the same? [47]And if you greet only your brothers,(1) what more are you doing than oth­ers? Do not even the Gen­tiles do the same? [48]You there­fore must be per­fect, as your heav­enly Father is per­fect. (ESV) Foot­notes 1. [5:47] Or ‘broth­ers and sis­ters’. The plural Greek word ‘adelphoi’ (trans­lated “broth­ers”) refers to sib­lings in a fam­ily. In New Tes­ta­ment usage, depend­ing on the con­text, ‘adelphoi’ may refer either to ‘broth­ers’ or to ‘broth­ers and sis­ters’
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We believe in the Church

• We believe in alle­giance to Christ. Because Christ is the head of the church, we man­age our affairs in Har­mony with oth­ers. Like the churches of the New Tes­ta­ment, we coöper­ate with other churches in var­i­ous min­istries, but no other church or orga­ni­za­tion con­trols our affairs. (Eph. 1:22 – 23 [show]Eph­esians 1:22 – 23 [22]And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, [23]which is his body, the full­ness of him who fills all in all. (ESV)
  ; Col 1:18 [show]Colos­sians 1:18 [18]And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the begin­ning, the first­born from the dead, that in every­thing he might be pre­em­i­nent. (ESV)
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• The church may become affil­i­ated with oth­ers of like minded churches.
• The church is the vehi­cle; the reli­gion is God who is the only destination.
• We value lov­ing God. Our ulti­mate pur­pose as a church is to declare our ado­ra­tion for God. We are cen­tered around God the Father, founded on God the Son, and led by God the Spirit. (Jn. 14 [show]John 14 I Am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life [14:1]“Let not your hearts be trou­bled. Believe in God;(1) believe also in me. [2]In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to pre­pare a place for you?(2) [3]And if I go and pre­pare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. [4]And you know the way to where I am going.”(3) [5]Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” [6]Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. [7]If you had known me, you would have known my Father also.(4) From now on you do know him and have seen him.“ [8]Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” [9]Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Who­ever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? [10]Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own author­ity, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. [11]Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works them­selves. [12]“Truly, truly, I say to you, who­ever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. [13]Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glo­ri­fied in the Son. [14]If you ask me(5) any­thing in my name, I will do it. Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit [15]“If you love me, you will keep my com­mand­ments. [16]And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper,(6) to be with you for­ever, [17]even the Spirit of truth, whom the world can­not receive, because it nei­ther sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. [18]“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. [19]Yet a lit­tle while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. [20]In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. [21]Whoever has my com­mand­ments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and man­i­fest myself to him.” [22]Judas (not Iscar­iot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will man­i­fest your­self to us, and not to the world?” [23]Jesus answered him, “If any­one loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. [24]Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. [25]“These things I have spo­ken to you while I am still with you. [26]But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remem­brance all that I have said to you. [27]Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be trou­bled, nei­ther let them be afraid. [28]You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. [29]And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. [30]I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is com­ing. He has no claim on me, [31]but I do as the Father has com­manded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here. (ESV) Foot­notes 1. [14:1] Or ‘You believe in God’ 2. [14:2] Or ‘In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to pre­pare a place for you’ 3. [14:4] Some man­u­scripts ‘Where I am going you know, and the way you know’ 4. [14:7] Or ‘If you know me, you will know my Father also’, or ‘If you have known me, you will know my Father also’ 5. [14:14] Some man­u­scripts omit ‘me’ 6. [14:16] Or ‘Advo­cate’, or ‘Coun­selor’; also 14:26; 15:26; 16:7
  ;26, 15;26, Gal 4 [show]Gala­tians 4 Sons and Heirs [4:1]I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no dif­fer­ent from a slave,(1) though he is the owner of every­thing, [2]but he is under guardians and man­agers until the date set by his father. [3]In the same way we also, when we were chil­dren, were enslaved to the ele­men­tary principles(2) of the world. [4]But when the full­ness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, [5]to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adop­tion as sons. [6]And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, cry­ing, “Abba! Father!” [7]So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. Paul’s Con­cern for the Gala­tians [8]Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. [9]But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worth­less ele­men­tary prin­ci­ples of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? [10]You observe days and months and sea­sons and years! [11]I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain. [12]Brothers,(3) I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong. [13]You know it was because of a bod­ily ail­ment that I preached the gospel to you at first, [14]and though my con­di­tion was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. [15]What then has become of the bless­ing you felt? For I tes­tify to you that, if pos­si­ble, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me. [16]Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?(4) [17]They make much of you, but for no good pur­pose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them. [18]It is always good to be made much of for a good pur­pose, and not only when I am present with you, [19]my lit­tle chil­dren, for whom I am again in the anguish of child­birth until Christ is formed in you! [20]I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am per­plexed about you. Exam­ple of Hagar and Sarah [21]Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not lis­ten to the law? [22]For it is writ­ten that Abra­ham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. [23]But the son of the slave was born accord­ing to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. [24]Now this may be inter­preted alle­gor­i­cally: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bear­ing chil­dren for slav­ery; she is Hagar. [25]Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia;(5) she cor­re­sponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slav­ery with her chil­dren. [26]But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. [27]For it is writ­ten, “Rejoice, O bar­ren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! For the chil­dren of the des­o­late one will be more than those of the one who has a hus­band.“ [28]Now you,(6) broth­ers, like Isaac, are chil­dren of promise. [29]But just as at that time he who was born accord­ing to the flesh per­se­cuted him who was born accord­ing to the Spirit, so also it is now. [30]But what does the Scrip­ture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.” [31]So, broth­ers, we are not chil­dren of the slave but of the free woman. (ESV) Foot­notes 1. [4:1] Greek ‘bond­ser­vant’; also verse 7 2. [4:3] Or ‘ele­men­tal spir­its’; also verse 9 3. [4:12] Or ‘Broth­ers and sis­ters’; also verses 28, 31 4. [4:16] Or ‘by deal­ing truth­fully with you’ 5. [4:25] Some man­u­scripts ‘For Sinai is a moun­tain in Ara­bia’ 6. [4:28] Some man­u­scripts ‘we’
  ;4 – 6, Eph 2:18 [show]Eph­esians 2:18 [18]For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. (ESV)
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• We value bap­tism. (Matt. 16:24 – 26 [show]Matthew 16:24 – 26 Take Up Your Cross and Fol­low Jesus [24]Then Jesus told his dis­ci­ples, “If any­one would come after me, let him deny him­self and take up his cross and fol­low me. [25]For who­ever would save his life(1) will lose it, but who­ever loses his life for my sake will find it. [26]For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and for­feits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? (ESV) Foot­notes 1. [16:25] The same Greek word can mean either ‘soul’ or ‘life’, depend­ing on the con­text; twice in this verse and twice in verse 26
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• We value the Lord’s Supper/​Communion. It is open to all who ask.
• We value prayer. Prayer is the means by which we deepen our rela­tion­ship with God, In prayer, we praise God, thank Him for His bless­ings, con­fess our sins, seek His help, and inter­cede for oth­ers. (Matt. 7:7 – 11 [show]Matthew 7:7 – 11 Ask, and It Will Be Given [7]“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. [8]For every­one who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. [9]Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? [10]Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a ser­pent? [11]If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your chil­dren, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! (ESV)
  ; Col. 4:2 [show]Colos­sians 4:2 Fur­ther Instruc­tions [2]Continue stead­fastly in prayer, being watch­ful in it with thanks­giv­ing. (ESV)
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