Articles of Faith

In the bylaws, we have the preamble, purpose, our mission, and then all the articles of the bylaws. So, we, the founding members of our local assembly at Houston, California, recognize and acknowledge our biblical calling to organize and ensure the viability of our work to organize and efficiently deliver the whole gospel to all we can and to properly conduct business in such a way.

Favor is gained among the people and community which we serve. This is the whole purpose of why we even formed a church. The purpose of this document is to provide clarity in which the assembly will be governed as described in Scripture so that we may advance the will of God.

Our mission, which you guys see it displayed on our banner week in and week out, is to walk in the Spirit with the anointing, to preach the gospel, heal the brokenhearted, preach deliverance to captives, recover sight to the blind, to set at liberty those that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord by being ambassadors for and making disciples of Jesus Christ through the ministry of reconciliation.

And the first article here is the assembly. So, it describes what our name is going to be, which is Disciples of Jesus Christ, the United Pentecostal Church.

And then section two is the purpose. And that's what I wanted to really focus on mainly out of our bylaws tonight. And so, let's go over these.

The first thing in our purpose is to fulfill our mission by publishing at home and abroad the whole plan of salvation. Which we're very familiar with Acts 2.38, right?

Where Peter said unto them, Repent, be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins. And for each one of these points, there's several verses that support the reason why we have that purpose or why we do what we do.

The second one, the second purpose here is to make disciples of Jesus Christ, teaching them to observe the apostles' doctrine. The third is to establish fellowship.

And the fourth is to break bread. That's what we did tonight already before our meeting tonight. It's important.

It's actually in the Scripture. And so, Mario, if you would read Acts 2.42. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers.

So, right there, Acts 2.42 gives us quite a bit of where our purposes come from. You see that Scripture referenced in a lot of these points.

To establish fellowship. To break bread. To establish a house of prayer. Right? If you could read Isaiah 56 and 7 for us. Even them will I bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer.

Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar. For mine house shall be called a house of prayer for all people.

Right. And so, that's the fifth purpose is to establish a house of prayer. And so, we have a place to fellowship. We break bread together. We have a place that we come together and pray.

And the sixth is to exhort and edify the body of Christ through spiritual teaching. And if you could read Ephesians 4.11-13. And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers.

For the perfecting of the saints. For the work of the ministry. For the edifying of the body of Christ. So, we all come in the unity of the faith.

And of the knowledge of the Son of God. Unto a perfect man. Unto the measure of the stature. Of the fullness of Christ. Right.

So, we come together to exhort and edify the body of Christ. Through all the spiritual teaching. And we want what's called the five-fold ministry.

The apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers. Doing their part. And also the body of Christ. And it's all for the work of the ministry.

For edifying of the body of Christ. And it says right there. Until we all come in the unity of faith. And the knowledge of the Son of God. Unto a perfect man. Unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

That's not going to happen until Jesus comes. And so, from now until Jesus comes. There should be these ministries operating inside the church. And so, that's the purpose of why we come together.

The seventh purpose is to meet, to worship God in spirit and in truth. If you could read John chapter 4 verse 24 for me. God is a spirit.

And they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. That's one of the biggest and greatest reasons why we come together. It's not just for the edifying of the body through the five-fold ministry.

But also, so we can come together as a church body and worship God. And as spirit-filled believers, we have the purest form of ability to worship him.

Because as it says, God is a spirit. And they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth. There's something extra special about a Holy Ghost-filled, a hot Holy Ghost service of worship to God.

The atmosphere, that's where lives can be changed in that kind of atmosphere. And so, Holy Ghost-filled people worshiping the one true God is an amazing thing. And that's part of our purpose for being a church, establishing a church, having a church in this city.

And that this city can have the opportunity to experience these things. And when we go to Article 2, it starts talking about membership. And so, I'm going to read through this real quick.

And we're not going to go too deep into this. And then we're going to end on the bylaws after this. And then go into the Articles of Faith. It says, not everyone that attends or supports the assembly is a member of the assembly.

Those that attend or support the assembly who are not members of the assembly are considered friends of the assembly. Only those that meet the eligibility requirements are candidates to become members.

Anyone is eligible to be a member of this assembly who has accepted and put into practice faithfully the apostles' doctrine as put forth in the Word of God.

To be eligible for membership, one must, one, believe there is one God. And a reference to Deuteronomy 6, 4-5 and Hebrews 11, 6. Secondly, believe that Jesus is God.

And there's a whole list of Scriptures there. Thirdly, believe that the Bible contains the infallible Word of God and commit to conform to the Word of God's teachings and not to the world.

Several Scriptures there. And number four, believe and adhere to the articles of faith for this assembly, which we're going to go over in a minute. Fifth, be born again of the water and of the Spirit by fulfilling Acts 2.38.

So you have to repent as described in the Word of God, be baptized in the name of Jesus as described in the Word of God, and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost as described in the Word of God.

Sixth, be spirit-led. Seventh, be an active participant in fulfilling the assembly's mission by being ambassadors for and making disciples of Jesus Christ through the ministry of reconciliation.

Seventh, have shown faithful in these stated works for a period of three months. And there's support for why someone wouldn't just come in and right away be inducted into the church as an official member.

Now as an official member, you get the vote. And so that's why we have to be very careful and have very clear rules laid out in our bylaws about the difference between friends of the assembly, people that can come and support, they can give an offering, pay their tithes, do all sorts of things.

But if they don't, for example, if they don't want to be baptized in Jesus' name or they don't believe in the Holy Ghost or they don't receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, well, we wouldn't necessarily want someone that's not spirit-filled helping us make decisions on the future paths of the church.

And so we have to have these certain things, requirements to be voting members of the church. And if these things are fulfilled, then you're eligible to be a voting member of the church.

And we have quarterly business meetings. And at the quarterly business meetings that we have, we vote on things. We determine the path and the future of the church and the things that we do for the next quarter.

Also, if it comes to a point where in the future where somebody needs to be voted in as pastor of the church, at some point in the future, then the voting members are the ones that vote in who's going to be the next pastor.

So there's a lot of different things that is important for there to be voting members and to be eligible for that. So I want to move on from the bylaws and go to the articles of faith.

And there's several more articles in there, in the bylaws, and there's a copy there for you guys to be able to take and have and look through. And if you ever have any questions, you can always reach out to me.

So we're going to move on to our disciple of Jesus Christ, articles of faith. And the preamble here, the way we start out is we believe the Bible to be inspired of God and the infallible Word of God.

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, correction, for instruction and righteousness. 2 Timothy 3.16. The Bible is the only God-given authority which mankind possesses.

Therefore, all doctrine, which means teachings, all faith, hope, and all instruction for the church must be based upon and harmonized with the Bible.

It is to be read and studied by all people everywhere and can only be clearly understood by those who are anointed by the Holy Spirit. 1 John 2.27.

No prophecy of the Scripture is for any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of men, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved on by the Holy Ghost.

2 Peter 1.20. Verse 21. Our fundamental doctrine. The basic and fundamental doctrine of this organization shall be the Bible standard of full salvation, which is repentance, baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

We shall endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit until we all come into the unity of the faith, at the same time admonishing all brethren that they shall not contend for their different views to this unity of the body.

What that means is that we're agreeing that we're going to always try to maintain unity if we have differences of opinions or about what the Scripture means.

There's certain things that we're going to lay out here in these articles of faith that these are just non-negotiable things for us. And so there's no argument for that.

And so there shouldn't be any disunity. We don't have that custom here. The first one I want to talk about is the one true God.

And so let me have you read 1 Corinthians 8 and 6. All right.

We believe in the one ever-living eternal God, infinite in power, holy in nature, attributes and purpose, and possessing absolute indivisible deity.

There's no split deity. There's no three persons or no two persons or multiplicity. There's one indivisible deity. There's no one true God. There's no one true God. There's no one true God.

There's no one true God has revealed Himself as Father through His Son in redemption and as the Holy Spirit by emanation. Okay? And if you could read Ephesians 4 and 6 for us.

One God and Father of all who is above all and through all and you all. And if you could read 2 Corinthians 5 and 19.

To wit that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not in putting their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the world of reconciliation.

God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself. Okay? That's what we believe. We believe that Jesus is God. When you saw Jesus, you saw a man that was born of a virgin.

But inside of that man was the fullness of God. Full deity. And it was God. It wasn't God's eternal Son that He created sometime, you know, many years before, created the earth or whatever others may try to indicate or believe.

But it was God Himself, robed in flesh. It was God that came to us. It was God that was in Christ. Reconciling the world to Himself. And committed unto us now the word of reconciliation.

Okay? The Scripture does more than attempt to prove the existence of God. It asserts, assumes, and declares that the knowledge of God is universal.

God is invisible, incorporeal, without parts, without body, and therefore free from all limitations. He is spirit. He is spirit. He is spirit. John 4, 24.

And his spirit hath not flesh and bones. Okay? I'm going to have you read Joel 2 and 28. And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh.

And your sons and your daughters shall prophecy. Your old men shall dream dreams. Your young men shall see visions. And so we see that He is also the spirit.

And that spirit that is poured out. This is God speaking through a prophet Joel in the Old Testament. It shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh.

This isn't a third person of a tritrinity. This is God Himself. God's spirit. He's saying, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh.

And that's what we receive when we receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost. It's not a third part of a trinity. The first of all commandments is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.

And one God, one Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all. Which we've read in Ephesians 4 and 6. This one true God manifested Himself in the Old Testament in diverse ways.

In the Son, while He walked among men as the Holy Spirit after the ascension. All through the Old Testament, He manifested Himself through visions and through angels.

And then in the New Testament, He came as the Son of God, the Son of Man. Because He was born of flesh. And then once He ascended back into heaven after He accomplished His mission on the cross, He came back to us as a spirit.

These aren't three separate parts of God. They are God. It is God. So let's talk about the Son of God. The one true God, the Jehovah of the Old Testament, took upon Himself the form of man.

And as the Son of Man, He was born of the Virgin Mary. As Paul said, and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up to glory.

That's 1 Timothy 3.16. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. John 1 and 11. This one true God was manifest in the flesh, that is, in His Son, Jesus Christ.

God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. 2 Corinthians 5.19. We believe that in Him, Jesus, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, as states in Colossians 2.9.

For it pleased the Father that in Him should the fullness dwell. Colossians 1.19. Therefore, Jesus in His humanity was man, and His deity was and is God.

His flesh was the Lamb, or the sacrifice of God. He is the only mediator between God and man. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus.

1 Timothy 2.5. And I was talking about the flesh. The flesh that was to be the sacrifice for all of humanity. It was to be our kinsman and redeemer. We're human.

And God is a spirit. In order for God to give His own blood for us to pay for our sins, He had to have a form of a man.

He had to become a form of a man. A spirit doesn't have blood. A spirit doesn't have flesh and bone. And so He had to, it was always His plan to come as a man and die for our sins.

Jesus on His Father's side was divine, on His mother's side human. Thus He was known as the Son of God and also the Son of Man, or the God-man.

For He hath put all things under His feet, but when He saith all things are put under Him, it is manifest that He is expected, which did put all things under Him.

1 Corinthians 5.15-27. And when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him, that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.

1 Corinthians 15.28. And then when you look in Revelation 1.8, it says, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is and which was and which is to come, the Almighty.

That was Jesus speaking. That's the Son of God. Okay, and so let's look at the name. We're talking about the doctrines, the teachings that we believe, the different things, teaching points that we believe about the Word of God.

Now, what about the name? God used different titles such as God Elohim, El Shaddai, Jehovah, and especially Jehovah Lord, the redemptive name in the Old Testament.

For unto us a child is born, and unto us a son is given, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9.6. This prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled when the Son of God was named. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.

Matthew 1 and 21. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.

And so that's why we preach and teach the name of Jesus. When we pray for things, we do it in the name of Jesus.

All power and authority is given unto that name. Okay. Now, another fundamental doctrine that we believe in that we need to be okay talking about and understanding is the creation and the fall of mankind.

If I can have you read Romans 3 and 23. Because we definitely are a fallen humanity. We definitely need Jesus.

For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That's something that everyone has at some point in their lives come to accept and realize is that we've all fallen short of the glory.

And we all need, in all our centers, and we all need God. We all need that salvation experience. In the beginning, God created man innocent, pure, and holy.

But through the sin of disobedience, Adam and Eve, the first of the human race, fell from their holy state. And God banished them from Eden. Hence, by one man's disobedience, sin entered into the world.

Genesis 1, 27. Romans 3, 23. And 5 and 12. Let me have you read Romans 5 and 12 for us.

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin. And so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.

And so, again, we have to accept the fact that as soon as we're born, we're born into sin. That which is born of flesh is flesh. That which is born of spirit is spirit.

When we're born of the flesh. And that sin is laid upon us. And we were born in sin.

So we need repentance. We need to have repentance. We need to have conversion. Okay? That's the next portion here. Repentance and conversion. Pardon and forgiveness of sins is obtained by genuine repentance, a confessing, and a forsaking of sin.

We are justified by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5 and 1. Let me have you read Romans 5 and 1. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Okay? So the way we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ is we apply what? The whole purpose of why God came in the flesh, and that's to die for our sins.

And so we have to apply the blood. And the way we do that is through repentance and water baptism, as we've talked about. Okay? It says we are justified by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

John the Baptist preached repentance. Jesus proclaimed repentance. And the apostles emphasized it to both the Jews and the Gentiles. The word repentance comes from several Greek words, which mean change of views and purpose, change of heart, change of mind, change of life, change of direction, to transform, and a lot of others.

You get the point. Jesus said, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish in Luke 13 and 3. Luke 24 and 47 says, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations beginning in Jerusalem.

Okay? And so it's important that we also understand water baptism as well. As we know in Acts 2.38, Peter said, and repent, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins.

Okay, so let's look at water baptism. The scriptural mode of baptism is immersion and is only for those who have fully repented, having turned from their sins and a love of the world.

It should be administered in obedience to the word of God in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to the Acts of the Apostles, in Acts 2.38, 8.16, 10.48, 19.5, thus obeying the fulfilling of Matthew 28.19.

And so if I can have you read Acts 19 and 5. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Yeah, so all through the Acts of the Apostles, all through the book of Acts, the only way you're going to ever find a baptism in the Bible is in the name of Jesus.

And it'll be in the New Testament. It'll be in the book of Acts. And it's always in full submersion of water. And it's always in the name of Jesus. And that fulfills Matthew 28.19, when Jesus taught His apostles to go and baptize in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

We know that name is Jesus. Okay. And so there's also a baptism of the Holy Spirit. And I'll have you read Matthew 3.11.

I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but he that cometh after me is mighter than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear.

He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. Okay, so this is John the Baptist. If you're familiar with that story where he was the forerunner of Christ and his job that God laid on him was to preach repentance and to baptize people to repentance.

And so he was baptizing people. That's why he's known as John the Baptist because it wasn't because he was a Baptist, you know, today's Baptist, but it was because he was baptizing people.

That's how he became known as John the Baptist. And he's out there baptizing people and telling them, I'm baptizing you in water, but there's someone that's coming after me that's mightier than me whose shoes I'm not even worthy to bear, and he's going to baptize you with the Holy Ghost.

And so there's two different baptisms that we're talking about here. We've talked about the water baptism, which is part of your repentance experience, which you shouldn't be baptized in the name of Jesus until you have fully repented.

Repentance is the death. Baptism is the burial. And so you wouldn't want to be buried alive, right? You're not going to bury somebody until they're dead.

So we have to become dead to sin, dead to our old lives, and that's part of repentance. And then we would be baptized. But this is now making a clear difference between baptism in water and baptism in spirit.

He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. Jesus in Acts 1 and 5 said, Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence.

And if I can just have you read Acts 1 and 5 in its entirety. For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence.

So this is right before his ascension. He's telling his apostles to go wait in Jerusalem for the promise. And there's kind of this overlap between the last verses of Luke and the first verses of Acts.

And right before his ascension, Jesus is saying, You know that John was baptizing with water. You guys are going to be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days from now. And we know that was 10 days later on the day of Pentecost when the Spirit was poured out in Acts 2.

And so we saw where in Matthew 3, where John the Baptist is baptizing with water and saying there's going to be someone else that's come that's mightier than me that's going to baptize you with the Holy Ghost.

And then Jesus is about to ascend into heaven. He's saying for John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. And so this is the culmination of that. Luke tells us in Acts 2 and 4, they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

The terms baptized with the Holy Ghost and fire, filled with the Holy Spirit, and the gift of the Holy Ghost are all synonymous terms used interchangeably in the Bible. It is scriptural to expect all who receive the gift, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, to receive the same physical initial sign of speaking with other tongues.

The speaking with other tongues as recorded in Acts 2.4, 10.46, and 19.6. And the gift of tongues as explained in 1 Corinthians 12.14 are the same in essence, but different in use and purpose, which we've talked about recently on our Thursday nights.

The Lord through the prophet Joel said, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. We read it earlier in Joel 2.28. And then Peter in Acts 2.33, he explained all this.

Peter in Acts is explaining this phenomenal experience. He said, Having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He, Jesus, has shed forth this which ye now see and hear.

And he reminded them in Acts 2.2 that this was what the prophet Joel had promised. Further, the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call, which is Acts 2.39.

And so there are denominations out there that teach that there was a ceasing of the Holy Ghost, that people quit receiving the Holy Ghost after the apostles were gone.

And there's a whole bunch of different denominations out there that teach and believe that there is no Holy Ghost to be received anymore. But here we have a Scripture that plainly says, The promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

And so it continues still today. And everyone in here has experienced that experience already and can attest and be witnesses to that. So the next fundamental doctrine that I want to talk about and that we proclaim and believe is in divine healing.

Divine healing. The first covenant that the Lord Jehovah made with the children of Israel after they were brought out of Egypt was a covenant of healing.

The Lord said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord Jehovah Rapha, the Lord that healeth thy God, and will do that which is right in his sight, and will give ear to his commandments, and keep his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee which I have brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord that healeth thee.

That's Exodus 15, verse 26. And when you read different translations, some translations read, For I am Jehovah thy physician. He being our physician or doctor, we have the most capable in the whole world.

Our Lord Jesus Christ went about Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing all manner of sickness and disease among the people. If I can have you read Matthew 4, verses 23 and 24.

And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.

And his fame went throughout all Syria. And they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy.

And he healed them. And he healed them. Okay. And Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. Hebrews 13 and 8. Jesus said of believers, they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.

Right? Okay. This is Mark 16. Verse 18, if you could read that. They shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them.

They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. Okay. And later, James wrote in his epistle to all churches, James 5, 14 through 16, if I can have you read that.

Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

And the prayer of the faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up. And if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults to one another and pray for another, that ye may be healed.

The effectual prevent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. And so we have the great physician, and the healing is still, the divine healing is something that we still have available to us today.

And that's why in service, we need to, this is an untapped thing that we really need to get a better understanding of in our church services because there's no reason for us to live in pains or having physical ailments and things like that when we have the Holy Ghost inside of us and we come to a Pentecostal church that believes in divine healing and we believe the Word of God.

And right there it says in James, if there's any sick among you, let them call for the elders of the church and let them pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. That's what we do. That's what we offer in our church services in a time of prayer, usually right after the songs and right before the offering.

And so we have to take advantage of that. We shouldn't live beneath our means as children of God. And it takes faith, yes. It says in the prayer of the faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise them up.

And in addition to being healed of physical ailments and of anxieties and things associated with the mind and all these things, it says that if we've committed sins, that they're going to be forgiven.

So confess our faults one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. So it's like this, it works in conjunction together at that point in the service. That's our opportunity to be prayed for.

Like the Bible says, be anointed with oil. And that's what was incorporated within the church and it works. And I believe it. I've been healed under those pretenses.

So the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availed much. All these promises are for the church today. These haven't gone away. James wrote this for the church.

Okay. And so let's move on to a sacrament or what others, what's also known as communion. On the night of our Lord's betrayal, he ate the Passover supper with his apostles, after which he instituted the sacrament.

And he took bread and gave thanks and break it and gave unto them, saying, this is my body, which is given for you, this doing remembrance of me. Likewise, also the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the New Testament and my blood, which is shed for you.

Luke 22, 19 through 20. Paul instructed the church on how to observe it in 1 Corinthians 11, 23 through 34, which we go over when we take communion. Thus was instituted the use of literal bread and the fruit of the vine, which are partaken of literally as emblems of his broken body and shed blood.

There's also spiritual significance and blessing in partaking of sacrament. If I could have you read Luke 22, 19 through 20, which I kind of already did, but I'll have you read it in totality.

And he took bread and gave thanks and break it and gave unto them, saying, this is my body, which is given for you, this do in remembrance of me.

Likewise, also the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you. I guess I did read it in its full totality, but we heard it twice.

But the communion is very important. There's a direct command there. It says, this is my body, which is given for you. And then what does it say? This do in remembrance of me.

So this is something that the church continues to do today in remembrance of him and what he did for us. Okay? So we do take communion. We do eat of literal bread.

We do eat or drink of literal fruit of the vine. Another fundamental doctrine that we believe and we haven't practiced in this year is foot washing.

And you're wondering, what is that? But foot washing is something that Jesus taught and we believe it. Okay? So let's look at it. When the Passover supper was ended, we read in John 13, 4-5, he rises from supper and laid aside his garments and took a towel and girded himself.

After that, he poureth water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. Jesus said, If then I, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet, for I have given you an example that you should do as I have done for you.

This first example was given by our Lord and it is a divine institution. It is well to follow his example and wash one another's feet thus manifesting the spirit of humility.

I think we can all agree that one thing this world needs more of is humility. If you want to read John 13, verse 14-15, then...

If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet, for I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you.

Okay, I guess I already read that. My apologies. Alright. Alright. Now, the next fundamental doctrine I want to talk about is holiness.

And we'll just hit on this briefly. Godly living should characterize the life of every child of the Lord. And we should live according to the pattern and example given in the Word of God.

For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.

That's Titus 2.11 and 12. For even here unto where ye called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps, who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth, who when He was reviled, reviled not again, when He suffered, He threatened not, but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously.

1 Peter 2.21-23. Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. That's very direct.

I don't know how you interpret that, but I'd interpret it as if I don't keep peace with other people and I don't practice holiness, I'm not going to see the Lord.

So you can say it's a salvation issue. Holiness is a salvation issue. There's two issues in this verse. Follow peace with all men. That's how we get along with other people.

And holiness is how we get along with God. Right? But as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation, because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy.

And if you call on the Father who without respect of persons judges according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear, for as much as you know that you are not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversations received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without blemish and without spot.

1 Peter 1.15-19. This is teaching us that we need to walk carefully as we live in this world to make sure that we don't partake in things that would violate the holiness of God, especially we have the Holy Ghost inside of us.

It says, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear, which means while we're here on this earth, while we're passing time here on this earth on our journey trying to make heaven, we should do it in fear, knowing that we're not redeemed with corruptible things.

We weren't redeemed with something that's cheap or that's inexpensive, but we were redeemed with the precious blood of Jesus Christ and God Himself.

God gave His own blood for us. And so we need to understand that the, I guess, how precious it was that God, what He did for us to shed His blood for us for us to have salvation.

And that should encourage us and motivate us to live holy lives in a way that pleases God. We wholeheartedly disapprove of our people indulging in any activities which are not conducive to good Christianity and godly living.

We admonish all of our people to refrain from any worldly practices in the interest of spiritual progress and the soon coming of the Lord for His church.

Now let's talk about the grace of God. This is another one of our fundamental teachings. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.

Titus 2.11 and 12. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. John 1 and 17. A Christian to keep saved must walk with God and keep himself in the love of God.

Jude 21. And in the grace of God. The word grace means favor. When a person transgresses and sins against God, he loses his favor.

If he continues to commit sin and does not repent, he will eventually be lost and cast into the lake of fire. John 15.2. John 15.6.

2 Peter 2.10-21. Jude speaks of the backsliders of his day and their reward. Let's have you read 2 Peter 2.20-21 as mentioned.

For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome.

the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than after they have known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.

So this is actually quite in line with what I preached last week if you remember. I talked about how when the unclean spirit is gone out of a man it goes in the dry place you know searching in a desert place and if it returns to that person and finds it swept and garnished you know cleaned and decorated but not full of God's spirit then he brings back with him seven spirits worse than himself and they take up residence again and the last state of that person is worse than when he began.

This is kind of the same since after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ how do we do that? Through repentance. We become in the knowledge of Jesus and the truth through repentance baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost we escaped all the pollutions of the world now we're changed we're cleaned up we're living for God but then somehow they're entangled again and they're overcome by the world again it says the latter end is worse for them than the beginning it's the same concept same principle that we talked about last week it had been better for them not to know the way of righteousness than after they have known it to turn from the Holy Commandment delivered unto them so pray for backsliders if we if we if we have people that once knew truth and were experienced all these things and then walked away and have now rejected it and we need to pray for them because they're in a very dangerous situation for by grace that we are saved through faith and that not of ourselves it's a gift of God

Ephesians 2 8 so the grace of God we can be saved alright and I've preached about this recently too in this fundamental doctrine the restitution of all things I preached about this in May I believe it was on the day of Pentecost on Pentecost Sunday we understand that the scripture to teach the restitution of all things which God has spoken of by the mouth of his holy prophets since the world began Acts 3 and 21 but we cannot find where the devil his angels and all sinners are included meaning that there's going to be restitution for us all the things that we suffer as Christians and things that we go without and all the mess of sin that's happened there's coming a day where God is going to set things right but then there's also going to be restitution we're going to get a good payback for all the things that we've had to go through but the devil is not going to be rewarded and the devil's angels that fell with him are going to be rewarded and the sinners aren't going to be rewarded either as we find in

Revelation 20 10 let me have you read Acts 3 and 21 whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began and let's read Revelation chapter 20 and 10 where we can understand what we're trying to say here and the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever and so there's there's a lake of fire that is the intended purpose is for the devil and this Revelation 20 and 10 comes at the end of the millennial reign which we'll talk about in a second very briefly and where the beast and the false prophet had already been cast into that lake of fire when Jesus returns when Jesus returns for his church he's going to bind up the beast and the false prophet and he's going to cast them into the lake of fire we're going to get to see that happen and then at the end of the thousand year reign he's going to bind up the devil and cast him into that lake of fire and that's the beginning of the restitution of all things all right so let's jump into this other fundamental doctrine on conscientious scrupal so it's kind of a legal term scrupal

I don't know if you guys are familiar with that term but it has to do with a sense of unease or like reluctance stemming from concerns of morality so you may have heard it termed as conscientious objector it usually refers to someone that might go into the military but their conscience doesn't allow them to kill somebody so they would want to take up a MOS military occupational specialty that doesn't have to do with armed fighting like maybe be a mechanic or food you know some sort of support thing and so like in World War II and other times in Vietnam when there's drafts people of faith would claim to have conscientious scrupals meaning that they're going to have a problem they wouldn't be okay killing somebody for example and so they would either find another position in the military or not serve so let's just go through this real quick we recognize the institution of human government as being of divine ordination however we take a definite position regarding the taking of human life as followers of the Lord

Jesus Christ the Prince of Peace we believe in implicit obedience to his commandments and precepts which instruct us as followers that you resist not evil that you resist not Matthew 5 39 follow peace with all men Hebrews 12 14 Matthew 26 52 Romans 12 19 James 5 6 Revelation 13 10 these we believe and interpret to mean Christians shall not shed blood nor take human life therefore we propose to fulfill all the obligation of loyal citizens but are constrained to declare against participating in combatant services in war armed insurrection property destruction aiding or abetting in or the actual destruction of human life furthermore we cannot consciously affiliate with any union boycott or organization which will force or bind any of its members to belong to any organization perform any duties contrary to our conscience or receive any mark without our right to affirm or reject the same okay so this is basically a teaching that basically just there's there's different types of things seeking employment in certain job fields going into the military things like that that can come against the teachings of the bible and so we want our people to be very conscious of that make sure they're making right decisions if you put yourself in a position in a career where you're carrying a gun and you're going to have to shoot somebody that I mean why would you want to put yourself into that type of situation voluntarily where you're voluntarily participating in a job that way secret societies etc according to the word of god we firmly believe and hold that the people of god should have no connection whatever with secret societies or any other organization or body we're in there is a fellowship with unbelievers bound by an oath so let's for that one let me have you read james 5 and 12 but above all things my brethren swear not neither by heaven neither by the earth neither by any other oath but let you let your yeah be yeah and your name nay let's ye fall into condemnation yeah so here the word of god is teaching us not to not to make oaths like not to swear so like you right away you think of like a sworn police officer they're making you take an oath this would go against us in a sense or when

Haley joined the military and when I had joined the military we had to take a note that we're going to protect our country from enemies foreign and domestic and all these other things right and so those things are kind of goes against what the bible teaches in a sense so we have to be very careful and so and it goes with other secret societies you know like the Freemasons and all kinds of other different things I'm dealing with I have somebody I know that is says he's a Christian but also wants to participate in spiritual ceremonies for Native American rituals and stuff like that because he's Native American and he wants to talk to me about whether that's biblical or not and he's probably not going to like what I have to say but that's there's things that we have to be careful what we're swearing to and what we're swearing to uphold and all these other things when we should be focused on our commitments to the mission of

Christ all right we also believe in translation of saints fundamental doctrine translation of saints also known as a rapture or catching away where we would be transformed we believe that the time is drawing near when our Lord shall appear when the dead in Christ shall rise and we who are alive and remain shall be caught up with them to meet our Lord in the air first Thessalonians 4 13 through 17 first Corinthians 15 51 through 54 and Philippians 3 20 through 21 if you want to study read those if I could have you read first Corinthians 15 51 through 54 for us behold I shew you a mystery we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump or the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised in corrupt incorruptible and we shall be changed for this corruptible must be put in incorruption and this mortal must put on immorality so when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on immorality then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written death is swallowed up up in victory yeah and so at the beginning of the year we learned a lot about the end times and if you remember this is definitely one of the scripture settings that we were talking about and when Jesus returns when at the last trump there's seven trumpets and it says that the last trump when the last trumpet sounds at the end and

Jesus is coming in out of through the clouds remember in the book of Acts chapter 1 at the end of Luke in the beginning of Acts talks about the same this Jesus the way you saw him go is the way he's going to come back through the clouds right and so we see this again he's coming in the clouds and then as he's coming the dead in Christ so if you if you've all in the past 2,000 years of the existence of the church if you if you died with the Holy Ghost inside of you that same spirit that raised Christ from the dead is going to rise you from the dead and so as he's coming back in the clouds and the moment in the twinkling of an eye all the dead in Christ is going to come up out of their graves and they're going to rise up and they're going to meet Christ in the air and all those that are alive and remain through the tribulation at the end when this is happening we're also going going to be changed in the twinkling of an eye and it says that this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality meaning that we're going to go from being flesh and blood when Jesus comes in that moment we're going to go from being flesh and blood and who can be killed and who can die to being instantly transformed into immortality and we're going to be as the angels in that moment in a twinkling of an eye and we're going to meet Jesus in the air and we're all going to land in

Israel and that's where we're going to witness the destruction of the beast and the false prophet as we talked about a few minutes ago so it's all going to happen at the second coming of Christ all right let's jump to marriage okay we believe and teach that marriage is defined scripturally as the joining of one man and one woman and if I can have you read Ephesians 5 now in inside our articles of faith it's Ephesians 5 22 to 23 and I decided to include 24 and 25 in this teaching today wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord for the husband is the head of the wife and even as Christ is the head of the church he is a savior of the body therefore as a church is subject unto

Christ so let the wives be to their own husbands and everything husbands love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and he gave himself for it so I'm sure the ladies are happy that I included verse 25 there but this is the way we believe with marriage is that that there's it's defined scripturally and there's a we all have our roles and to the point to the extent that we maintain our roles roles roles that God gave us is how well and how happy your marriage will be and if you have a wife that's rebellious and contentious and always giving her husband trouble that's not biblical that's not good there needs to be the wife needs to be submit themselves to their husbands and it uses the church and Christ as an example it says for the husband is the head of the wife even as

Christ is the head of the church and he is the savior of the body therefore as the church is subject unto Christ so let the wives be to their own husbands and everything not some things not just when the husband's nice not just when the husband's pleasant but not but at all times and all things just like the church should be under subjection of of God okay of Christ so but also it says husband love your wives even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it so and if you actually read verse 21 it talks about being in submission to each other okay but it's very important in marriage that we have biblical marriages and that we practice these things and if we even if it's doesn't feel good in the moment to have to be in submission or be a wife to be submissive to their jerk husband you know God will honor honor that for being scriptural and for being biblical and just pray for your husband that's what I tell Deanna pray for your husband you may not like it and I may be wrong even but we but there has to be a certain order in marriage and that's how

God designed it and it will prevent a lot of issues and things from escalating and things like that but wives be in submission your husbands and husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church that he is willing to die for the for the church we should be love our wives to the point as we would be willing to die for them and and it but it ladies it doesn't give you an out and say well I don't feel like my husband loves me so I don't have to be in submission to him that's not scriptural and so not to be hard on the ladies but but men also we have to love our wives as Christ loved the church we should be very giving and very protective and just like God is the example to the church we should be that way to our wives and we'll be willing to die for them okay and divorce Matthew 19 and 9 go ahead and read it for us and I say unto you whosoever shall put away his wife except it be for fornication and shall marry another committed adultery and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery and so this is

Jesus speaking in Matthew 19 and 9 and he's basically teaching that the only biblically accepted way that God accepts and allows for divorce is if there's adultery and even then and there's plenty of other scriptures he still hates adult he still hates divorce he would still prefer you not to get a divorce he'd still prefer you to work out your marriage and because it's something that marriage is something that's sacred it's God's plan and God's design and you become one flesh and what God's joined together let no man set apart and not even the husband and we shouldn't or the wife and we shouldn't make those decisions to divorce but the one only biblical out of marriage is fornication or adultery all right I'm going to touch on this because it's in our fundamental doctrines on human sexuality now this is important because of the times that we live in we're constantly we we just got out of June which is pride month and it's always in our face it seems like it's this thing in the world and for that I'll have you read first Corinthians six and nine to start us out know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God but not deceived not neither fornicators nor idol or adulterers nor adulterers nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind so fornication is is sex outside of marriage idolaters or putting anything before God adulterers or cheating on your spouse effeminate are what we would consider

LGBTQ gay a man that's acting like a woman nor abusers of themselves of mankind that's also goes into the LGBTQ plus and other things anything that would have even I don't even really want to say it but there's where people have relations with animals okay that would be included in that so we believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of marriage between one man and one woman we believe that any form of homosexuality lesbianism bisexuality bestality incest fornication adultery transgenderism and pornography are sinful perversions of God's gift of intimacy and God's deaf and delineation of a man and a woman we believe and teach that God disapproves it of and forbids any attempts to alter one's gender by surgery chemicals or appearance okay due to the teachings and

I listed about half a dozen or more scriptures due to the teachings and the inherent inherent and inspired word of God on the subject of human sexuality and due to the fact that we the disciples of Jesus Christ the United Pentecostal Church believe and teach the same we do not allow those that would physically outwardly or verbally live support or promote any of the above mentioned lifestyles to use the property structures or facilities owned or held in trust by the disciples of Jesus Christ the United Pentecostal Church so we put that in there because of legal things around that because it's just how the world is today okay moving on from that praise the Lord tithing we believe tithing is God's financial plan to provide for his work in his and has been since the days of Abraham tithing came with faith under Abraham Moses's law and joined it and Israel practice it she was right when she was right with God and Jesus endorsed it in Matthew 23 23 which I'll have you read woe unto you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for ye pay tithing of mint and anise and cumin and have omitted the weightier matters of the law judgment mercy and faith these out ye have done and not to leave the other undone so this is a good scripture because a lot of people nowadays because they have a spirit of Judas where they where all they care about is money and things like that and they they say that well tithing is Old Testament only and it's not of the New Testament we're just going to give you know whatever we want out of the goodwill of our hearts or whatever but tithing is a commandment from God it's found in Malachi chapter 3 and many other verses of scripture but this is a good verse of scripture that shows us and indicates that Jesus was in full support of tithing he said he's talking to the Pharisees and he's he's mainly his main point here is he's telling them yeah you you practice tithing just fine you you know you make sure you pay your tenth on all your stuff that you get and increase your first fruits of but you know there's also some weightier matters of the law and judgment and mercy and faith you should have been doing those too not and not and not to leave the other undone meaning like yeah you should have your right to pay your tithes but you also need to have faith and mercy and all these other things that are heavier of weight and so it's not true that tithing is not something that's expected in the New Testament it's God's financial plan for the church and it comes it's all embedded throughout scripture now the second coming of Jesus that Jesus is coming again the second time in person just as he went away is clearly set forth by the

Lord Jesus himself and was preached and taught in early church christian church by the apostles hence the children of God today are earnestly hopefully looking forward to the glorious event okay Titus 2 13 through 14 looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all in inequity all of our sin everything that that that uh comes naturally to us as humans that that's unholy he purified us unto himself a peculiar people that doesn't mean that we're strange and weird but that means that we're set up we're set apart different from the world because of what God's done for us okay we're going to go through these real quickly because we're running out of time here the millennium more moreover we believe that the distress upon the earth is the beginning of sorrows and will become more intense until there shall be a time of trouble such as there never was since there was a nation even to that same time okay and that period of tribulation will be followed by the dawn of a better day on earth and that for a thousand years there shall be peace on the earth and good will toward men okay there's several scriptures there and and and go back to our lessons on the last days that we did um seven or eight lessons on it we did it seven or eight weeks in a row it's all recorded it's all on the website all that uh happens in the last days but if you uh i'll read revelation 21 through 5 real quick for you guys and i saw an angel come down from heaven having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand and he laid hold on the dragon that old serpent which is the devil and satan and bound him a thousand years and cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal on him that he should deceive the nations no more until that thousand years be fulfilled and after that he must be loosed a little season and i saw thrones and they that sat upon them and judgment was given unto them and i saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of jesus and for the word of god and which had not worshiped the beast neither his image neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or on their hands and they lived and reigned with christ a thousand years but the rest of the dead live not again until the thousand years was finished this is the first resurrection so the first resurrection is what we talked about earlier when jesus is coming in the clouds and that all those that have gone before with the holy ghost and died with the spirit are going to be raised from the dead and they're going to meet jesus in the air and anyone that's alive and remains through this tribulation that's going to come where the the beast and the false prophet is going to be persecuting the church and there's going to be what's called the mark of the beast and if you're not going to be able to buy or sell unless you take the mark of the beast and the bible talks about is the number of his name six six six it's going to be on the forehead or on the right hand we don't know if it's going to be a literally six six six there's going to be something that maybe it's going to be an implant where you can't we're all digital currency where you can't buy or sell without an implant and or some bio bio scan or like where you have to like do a retinal scan on your face or or a fingerprint who knows what it's going to be but there's going to be some sort

of digital currency something that you're not going to be able to buy or sell unless you have it and it's going to have a name or a number of the beast which is going to be someone that's kind of ruling the world at that point in time and this is all towards the end that we're talking about before right before jesus comes and we're instructed as the church to reject the mark of the beast we did not to accept the mark of the beast and um and so this is happening right at the millennial reign it happens right when jesus returns the dead in christ rise meets him in the air those that are alive and remain meet him in there we land in jerusalem in israel jesus takes care of business we get the witness it all and then he sets up his kingdom on earth and it says right there and i saw thrones and then i set upon them and judgment was given to them and i saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of jesus those the people that went through the tribulation people people from uh the apostles day where they were persecuted by the romans after jesus ascended um peter was crucified upside down all the apostles were were beheaded or killed um all the everything that went on all the persecution of the church from from then until now and into the future up to this point when jesus returns beheaded for the witness of jesus and for the word of god in which had not worshiped the beast neither his image neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or their hands those are going to be the ones that live and reign with christ a thousand years so there's going to be people that are alive and remain that are saved that have the holy ghost like us that are going to meet jesus in there with with those that were raised from the dead but and that's the first resurrection those that are raised from the dead that die with the spirit but there's going to also be people remaining on the earth that survived the tribulation that were not born again that were not had not received the holy ghost did not accept jesus right and we're going to be transformed remember we talked about the translation we're going to be transformed as the angels we're going to our corruptibles going to put on incorruption we're going to be as the angels and we're going to we're going to have thrones we're going to be given judgment to to there's other scriptures that we talked about in the last days studies that we did that we're going to be kings and priests and we're going to be ruling with christ for a thousand years on the earth when he returns over those people that that are are still alive and remain that never accepted christ and to be kings and priests means that we're going to have king the king's part means that we're going to have governance over certain areas probably and then um the priest part means we're going to have to be witnesses we're going to have to be teaching people that never accepted jesus about about the truth you know and and converting people even then and so that's the promise that we have of the millennial millennium reign okay we also believe in a final judgment when the thousand years are finished there shall be a resurrection of all the dead so remember the first resurrection happens all those that are passing christ are going to be raised from the dead and meet him in the air when he comes that's the first resurrection there's also going to be a second resurrection okay um when the thousand years are finished there shall be a resurrection which would be the second resurrection of the dead who will be summoned before the great white throne for their final judgment and all whose names were not found written in the book of life shall be cast in the lake of fire burning with brimstone which god hath prepared for the devil and his angels satan himself being cast in first remember that that lake of fire with brimstone that was god designed that and made that for the devil and his angels that rebelled against him and but unfortunately also humans that reject god are going to be cast into the lake of fire as well in a final judgment

and so the last two i'm not going to go over i'll let you guys um take them home and read them we're way past time thank you for your patience today sorry the food was late and uh mario thank you for reading for us and hopefully um you guys got something out of this it's a good refresher for those that have heard it all before for those that haven't heard these things um it's a good place uh to start and to if you have questions please uh reach out to me um we can go further in detail and i know i went fast through everything and um thank you all let's pray lord jesus i thank you for your word thank you for this church you