Foundations
Below are the foundations of what we believe and preach at Sonrise Christian Fellowship
About God
I. God is a Spirit, and He is infinite, eternal and unchangeable in His being and in His wisdom and power, holiness, justice and truth.
II. There is one God, Who is eternally existing in three Persons; the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, being the same in substance, and equal in power and glory.
About God’s Revelation
III. God has revealed Himself in Nature, making known to man that He exists through what He has made and done, so that men are without excuse who claim that there is no God or who fail to glorify Him as their Creator.
IV. God has also revealed Himself in Scripture, making known His attributes and His will for our salvation by a Redeemer, so that we may know Him and glorify Him according to the word of God, in joyful fellowship through God’s Son. We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are verbally inspired by God and inerrant in the original writings, and that they are of supreme and final authority in faith and life.
About Creation
V. The Scriptures teach that God created all things from nothing, bringing everything into existence by His powerful word, forming the heavens and the earth and everything in them in the space of six days, and it was all very good.
VI. The Scriptures also teach that God has subjected this present creation to futility; that it will one day pass away in fire and fervent heat, and that God will create new heavens and a new earth, the home of righteousness where He will dwell with His people forever.
About Man
VII. God created man in His own image, male and female, in knowledge, righteousness and holiness, and with dominion over the creatures, as well as the freedom of their own will. With his wife Eve, Adam disobeyed God and fell into the state of sin and misery, incurring not only physical death, but also spiritual death which is separation from God Who is True Life.
VIII. Adam’s sin not only brought condemnation to himself, and corrupted his whole nature, but also, this condemnation and corruption came upon all his offspring, the entire human race. Because of Adam’s first sin, all human beings are born with a sinful nature, by which they are in bondage to sin and unable to do any spiritual good apart from God's spirit and do sin in thought, word and deed. Being spiritually dead, they are in themselves guilty before God and subject to His righteous judgment upon their own sin.
About Jesus Christ
IX. He is the only Redeemer of God’s people, and as such, He humbled Himself by willingly taking upon Himself a true human body and soul, being conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit, and born of her, yet without sin. Having become man, He continues to be, both God and man in two distinct natures and one person, forever.
X. As our Redeemer, He fully satisfied all the righteous requirements as well as the justice of the law of God, by living a perfectly good and righteous life, though tempted as we are, yet without any spot of sin or blemish, perfectly obeying the will of God the Father; and by offering up Himself once and for all, shedding His blood as the atoning sacrifice for the sins of His people, on the cross of Calvary
XI. As our one and only Savior, He died and rose again from the dead on the third day, victorious over the grave, as Lord of life, in accordance with the Scriptures, and after giving many convincing proofs to His chosen witnesses, that He was bodily raised from the dead, He ascended into Heaven and is now glorified and seated at the Father’s right hand, exalted on High as our reigning Lord and King. Having gone into Heaven itself as our great and merciful High priest, He continually intercedes on our behalf as our Advocate, and Representative Head, before God’s holy throne of grace.
About Salvation
XII. There is no other Name under heaven by which we can be saved other than by the Lord Jesus Christ, our Great Redeemer. Our salvation is not because of anything in ourselves. It is a free gift of God’s mercy and grace that we receive by repenting of our sins and turning to God, putting our faith in Christ alone for the forgiveness of our sins.
XIII. God is the Lord of all, and the Lord of our Salvation Who chose to give us new birth and to call us to Himself through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
XIV. Ours’ is a full salvation because God Himself will fulfill its purpose in our lives. That purpose begins with God Himself Who promised on oath by a gracious Covenant that He would rescue a people for His very own, and that He would keep them safe in Him as they live in this fallen world, until the day that He makes all things new and His people dwell with Him forever.
About the Church
XV. The Church is the assembly of God’s people who under the Old Covenant, put their faith in God and in His promised Redeemer. Under the New Covenant, the Church is the assembly of God’s people who have put their faith in Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, Who shed His blood on the cross for us, and Who has gone ahead of us into Heaven as our Great High Priest to represent us before God the Father. As our Lord and King and the Chief Shepherd and Head of His Church, Jesus rules over us and leads us by His Word and His Spirit to the glory and praise of God the Father.
About our Enemy
XVI. Our enemy from the beginning is Satan, who deceived Eve in the garden of Eden and is the father of all lies. His power over us, because of sin and death, was broken by Jesus Christ on the cross and in His resurrection victory so that our faith in Jesus Christ is the victory that overcomes the world.
Satan hates the Church, but he cannot prevail against it. He hates all God’s people, but he cannot prevail against us because the Holy Spirit dwells in us and we are kept safe in Christ, by His power to conform us to His likeness and to share in His own glory. Satan blinds the minds of unbelievers in this present age, and seeks to deceive whoever he is able, but his final destiny is the lake of fire.
About the Future
XVII. At the end of this age, Jesus will return suddenly, at the Father’s appointed time, with great power and glory and with His heavenly angels. Every eye will see Him. He will gather all His people together to meet Him in the clouds of the sky, joining with all the departed saints who have returned from Heaven with Him. All our bodies will be changed in an instant to be like His glorified body, and we will forever be with the Lord.
XVIII. At that time, Jesus will judge the living and the dead and every knee will bow before Him and acknowledge that He is Lord. He will expose the thoughts and motives of men’s hearts, and all those who are enemies of the gospel, who do not know the Lord as their Redeemer will be judged and found guilty of their sins and cast out forever from God’s presence into Hell.
XIX. At that time, this present heaven and earth will be destroyed by fire and fervent heat and God will create a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness where He will dwell with His people forever.
Scripture References
I. Psalm 139:7, John 4:24
II. Deut.6:4, Psalm 93:2, John 1:1-18, 14:8-21
III. Psalm 19:1-6, Romans 1:18-23
IV. Psalm 19:7-14, 2 Timothy 3:15-17,
Hebrews 1:1-4, 2 Peter 1:20,21
V. Genesis 1, Psalm 33:1-9, Hebrews 1:2, John 1:1-3
VI. Genesis 3:17, Romans 8: 18-25, 2 Peter 3:1-13
VII. Gen.1:26-28, Gen.3, Isaiah 59:2
VIII. John 3:36, Romans 5:12-21, Ephesians 2
IX. John 1:14, Philippians 2:1-11, Hebrews 2:14-18
X. Hebrews 4:14-16, 7:26-28, 10:1-18
XI. Acts 1, 2:22-41, Rom.8:31-39, 1Cor.15:1-11
Hebrews 7:23-25
XII. Acts 4:12, John 1:12,13, Eph.2:8-10,
Phil. 3:1- 11, Romans 6:23
XIII. Eph.1:3-14, James 1:18, Titus 3:3-8
XIV. Gen.3:15, 17:1-8, Col.1:13,14, 1 Peter 1:3-12
XV. Colossians 1:15-23, Hebrews 11, 12:22-29
XVI. Mt.16:18, 2 Cor.4: 1-6, 1Pet.5:8,9, 1 Jn.4:4
XVII. Mt. 24:30,31, 1 Cor.15:50-58, 1Thess.4:13-5:11
XVIII. Luke 12:4,5, 1 Cor.4:5, 2 Thess.1:5-12, Rev.20
XIX. 2 Peter 3:10-13, Rev. 21