Matthew 25:34-40, Matthew 28:18-20, John 17:20-23, and 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 are Scripture passages which drive the beliefs and actions of MATTHEW 25:34-40 Ministries. Beyond this, we subscribe to the Essentials and universally accepted Creeds of the Christian faith without reservation. Therefore:
We believe that we are called to work in unity with the Body of Christ to meet the needs of our neighbors, as the Lord has provided for us to accomplish, so that the Lord God might be glorified.
We believe we are to provide leadership in our communities to bring the Spirit of Christ into the center of our activities and to inspire godly wisdom and justice in community decisions. We do this through loving our neighbors and demonstrating the essentials of our faith through our daily lives.
We believe we are called to promote discipleship in Christ to build His Kingdom worldwide.
We believe the essentials of our faith can be summarized as follows:
1. The Bible is the inspired Word of God, authoritatively true. (True above every other standard of truth.) The Bible contains the revealed will of God.
2. God is One God manifest in the Trinity, the only true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
3. God is sovereign, almighty to do His will and incapable of having His will corrupted or influenced. God is good; therefore, God is providentially in control of all things.
4. God created everything out of nothing (that is visible). (The material universe exists totally within God. Thus, God is all powerful, present everywhere simultaneously, eternal, all knowing, all understanding, and all wise across all of time and eternity.)
5. Man is utterly sinful resulting from the disobedience of Adam, the original man. (There is none righteous, not even one.) Without the salvation of Christ, each man is guilty of sin and stands condemned.
6. God provided for the redemption of man from sin. Man is incapable of saving himself.
7. The redemption of man is accomplished in Jesus Christ, who is both God and man.
a. Christ was born of the Virgin Mary, having been overshadowed by the Holy Spirit.
b. Christ lived as a man, yet without sin.
c. Christ died for our sins on the cross and was buried, according to the Scriptures. (He is the propitiatory sacrifice our sins, the innocent for the guilty.)
d. Christ was raised from death in a bodily resurrection.
e. Having been raised from the dead, Christ has now ascended to the right hand of God, the Father, and holds all power and authority in heaven and on earth. He is the ultimate judge of every person – all mankind.
f. While Christ died for all, only those who have repented of sin and trusted in His life, death, burial, and resurrection for salvation are saved. This can only happen through a gift of faith by God’s grace enabled by His Holy Spirit.
g. Through trusting faith, people fully receive Christ’s victory over sin and death. Those who believe in Christ as their Lord and Savior shall be raised to eternal life in the likeness of Christ's resurrection, to be with Him in glory.
i. Believers are given spiritual gifts by the Holy Spirit to benefit them in the service of Christ and His Church, the Body of Christ.
ii. The Church has a responsibility to make disciples of Christ from all peoples.
8. Man has a (free)will by which he chooses obedience or disobedience to God, yet not transcending the will of God. (Nor making a choice that can ever surprise God.)
9. There is a moral law, which is decreed by God. (There is absolute right and wrong). The Law of God, including (or especially, but not exclusively) the Ten Commandments, is God's expressed will as to how we should live. The Law of God cannot be kept by sinful man; this points to our need for a Savior.
10. The sacraments of baptism and communion are to be held in common by all saints (true believers in Christ).
11. Christ is the head of the Church, having appointed (elders) over the individual congregations. These (elders) have the authority and responsibility to rightly divide the Word of God and to determine right conduct within the congregation. (The (elders) are especially accountable before Christ.)
12. Unbelievers are condemned and shall spend eternity in the Lake of Fire, unless they repent and come to trusting faith in Christ (i.e., become believers.) As we are charged to love one another, even our enemies, we should never desire anyone to die as an unbeliever and should work as our Lord enables us to bring them to repentance.
It is the love of Christ transparently manifest in the lives of the saints that attracts people to Him in spite of the suffering that will surely result.
