Our Foundation

What we believe, and what everything we teach is built on.

What we believe

God’s Word is the cornerstone

Everything we believe is built on it.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.John 1:1-4 (NIV)

And we did see him. The Word became flesh, and Christ Jesus himself is the chief cornerstone.

built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.Ephesians 2:20 (NIV)
The Cornerstone · Truth One

The Authority of God’s Word

Everything we believe starts here. We cannot see God, but he has spoken, and we have his Word. But we did see Jesus, and he is the Word. If this stands, everything built on it stands. If this moves, nothing else can be trusted.

In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.Hebrews 1:1-3 (NIV)

And that Son did not stay unseen. John tells us who he is.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.John 1:14 (NIV)

Look at what these verses give us. In the past, God spoke through the prophets. Now he has spoken through his Son, and the Son is the exact representation of God’s being. He is the Word who was with God and was God, and we saw him. It is one God, speaking through time, from the beginning to now. What God says is what goes. His Word is not one voice among many, and it is not ours to improve.

Because God does not change, his Word does not change. It is immutable, sovereign, and one, and it carries the full authority of God himself. We measure everything against it, and we do not vary from it.

Scripture

Deuteronomy 4:2 · Psalm 119:89 · Isaiah 40:8 · Matthew 24:35 · John 1:1-14 · John 17:17 · Ephesians 2:20 · 2 Timothy 3:16-17 · 2 Peter 1:20-21

Built on the cornerstone

The Foundation

From the cornerstone, we build. These are the truths we stand on, in the order the story is told: from creation to eternity.

Truth Two

God Our Creator

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. He spoke, and it was so. He made everything in a seven-day creation week, six days of work and a day of rest, and he called it good. Nothing made itself, and nothing exists apart from him.

Creation is not a side issue. It tells us who God is, who we are, and that there is a purpose behind everything we see.

Scripture

Genesis 1:1 · Genesis 1:31–2:3 · Exodus 20:11 · Psalm 33:6-9 · Isaiah 45:18 · John 1:1-3 · Colossians 1:16-17 · Revelation 4:11

Truth Three

The Fall of Man

God made humanity good, and he made us for himself. But Adam and Eve chose their own way over God’s Word, and sin and death entered the world. We have all followed. We are sinners by nature and by choice, and no one can fix that on their own.

This is why we need a Savior. Without the fall, the cross makes no sense. With it, the cross makes all the sense in the world.

Scripture

Genesis 2:16-17 · Genesis 3:1-24 · Psalm 51:5 · Isaiah 53:6 · Romans 3:23 · Romans 5:12 · Romans 6:23

Truth Four

The Love of God

God is love. He did not wait for us to get ourselves cleaned up. He loved us first, and he proved it by sending his Son while we were still sinners. His love is not a feeling that comes and goes. It is who he is, and it is the reason there is a way back.

Scripture

1 John 4:8 · 1 John 4:9-10 · John 3:16 · Romans 5:8 · Romans 8:38-39 · Ephesians 2:4-5 · Jeremiah 31:3

Truth Five

Christ Our Lord and Savior

Jesus Christ is the Son of God, fully God, who became flesh and lived among us. He lived without sin, died on the cross in our place, was buried, and rose bodily on the third day. He is the exact representation of the Father: whoever has seen him has seen the Father.

He is our Savior because he paid what we owed. He is our Lord because we belong to him. Salvation is a gift of grace, received by faith, and it cannot be earned.

Scripture

John 1:1, 14 · John 14:6, 9 · Acts 4:12 · Romans 10:9-10 · 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 · Ephesians 2:8-9 · Colossians 1:15 · Colossians 2:9 · Philippians 2:9-11

Truth Six

Our Identity: Made in His Image, Found in Christ

God created us in his own image, male and female. Every person carries that image and has worth because of it. Sin marred it, but in Christ we are made new. Our identity is not what we have done, what has been done to us, or what the world says about us. It is who we are in Christ: forgiven, accepted, and children of God.

Scripture

Genesis 1:27 · Genesis 9:6 · Psalm 139:13-14 · John 1:12 · Romans 8:15-17 · 2 Corinthians 5:17 · Galatians 2:20 · Colossians 3:9-10

Truth Seven

Oneness

God is one. There is one truth, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one body, one God and Father of all. Jesus prayed that his people would be one as he and the Father are one, so that the world would believe. Oneness is not something we invent. It is something God gives, and we are called to guard it.

Scripture

Deuteronomy 6:4 · Psalm 133:1 · John 17:20-23 · 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 · Ephesians 2:14-16 · Ephesians 4:3-6 · Philippians 2:1-2

Truth Eight

The Church

The church is the body of Christ: everyone who belongs to him, called out of the world and joined together under one Head. It is people, not a building. We are meant to gather, to teach the Word, to encourage one another, and to carry the gospel to the world until he returns.

Scripture

Matthew 16:18 · Matthew 28:18-20 · Acts 2:42-47 · 1 Corinthians 12:27 · Ephesians 1:22-23 · Ephesians 4:11-13 · Hebrews 10:24-25

Truth Nine

Eternal Life

For everyone in Christ, death is not the end. Eternal life is a gift from God, and our salvation is eternal. One day Jesus will return, the dead in Christ will rise, and God will make all things new and live with his people forever.

The One who began it all will finish it. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. We started in his hands, and we end in his hands.

Scripture

John 3:16 · John 10:27-28 · John 11:25-26 · Romans 6:23 · 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 · 1 John 5:11-13 · Revelation 22:12-13

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.”Revelation 21:3-6 (NIV)
The seal

Nothing added. Nothing changed.

The Bible opens with God speaking and closes with a warning to guard what he said. We hold to his Word exactly as it was given. We do not add to it. We do not take away from it. We do not change it to fit the times, or to fit ourselves.

This is what we stand behind.

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.Revelation 22:18-19 (NIV)
Scripture

Deuteronomy 4:2 · Deuteronomy 12:32 · Proverbs 30:5-6 · Matthew 5:18 · Galatians 1:8-9 · Revelation 22:18-19

ONE WORD. ONE TRUTH.

Keep going. The teaching library takes each of these truths deeper.

Explore the teaching library