Statement of Faith
PACIFIC ISLAND MINISTRIES STATEMENT OF FAITH
I. We believe in one living and true God, Who is Spirit, personal, infinite, and eternal. He is everywhere present, the Almighty Creator and Sovereign Lord of all; perfect in wisdom, justice, truth and love; most merciful and gracious; in Whom only we trust and Whom only we worship and obey.
II. We believe God makes Himself, clearly and fully known to us in His Holy divine Word, which did not come by the will of men, but from who spoke from God being moved by the Holy Spirit. We hold the canonical Scriptures to be the only True Word of God.
III. We believe the Scriptures teach that in the unity of the divine Godhead there are three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, of one substance, and equal in power and glory.
IV. We believe that Almighty God, for His own glory and loving purposes, created the heavens and earth from nothing, by the Son, His eternal Word; He also made man in His own image, that he might glorify and enjoy God, subduing the earth and having dominion over all creatures, to the praise of His Maker's Name.
V. We believe that God the Creator upholds all things by the Word of His power, preserving and providing for all His- creatures; that He governs all-events for His own purposes; that He is not the author of sin; nor has He removed the responsibility of man; neither is His sovereign liberty bound since He works when, where and how He pleases.
VI. We believe that the common human nature of mankind has become so corrupt that we are all conceived and born in sin because of the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in paradise; that all mankind lies under condemnation, subject to the penalty of death; that our inherited sinful nature, is the source of all actual transgressions; and that we are unable to deliver ourselves.
VII. We believe that God, who is both perfectly just and also rich in mercy, was moved by sovereign grace and love to hold forth to man a promise of redemption; that He confirmed, unfolded and accomplished His gracious purpose by sending His son to be Saviour of the world; Wherefore our salvation out of sin and misery is ever ascribed to free and sovereign grace.
VIII. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, who is and continues to be true and eternal God, took oh Himself the very nature of man of the flesh and blood of the virgin Mary, by the power of the Holy Spirit, that He might be the Second Adam, like us in all things except sin; that He is our Mediator before God by whom alone we must be saved.
IX. We believe that the Mediator Jesus Christ was anointed with the Holy Spirit to proclaim the coming of God's Kingdom among men; that He declared the Father by perfect work and saving Word; that He fully satisfied divine Justice, obtaining for us reconciliation with God and the gift of eternal life, through His obedience on our behalf to the will of His Father and by offering Himself up a sacrifice without spot to God.
X. We believe that Jesus Christ was crucified, died and was buried, but was raised the third day for our justification, in whose risen life we live anew and have the pledge of our own blessed resurrection; that lie now in His resurrection body makes continual intercession for us as our High Priest and that He sits at the right hand of God as Head of the Church, clothed with authority and power as Lord of all.
XI We believe that God, who wills that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth, has, by His Son, commissioned the church to preach to all nations the Gospel of His grace, wherein He freely offers all men forgiveness and eternal life, calling them to receive and to rest by faith upon Jesus Christ.
XII. We believe that the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, works freely as He wills; that without His quickening grace there is no salvation, and that the Father never withholds Him from any who ask for Him; that He spake by the prophets; that He being sent of the Father and the Son convicts the world of sin and enables Christ's chosen sheep to obey the call of the Gospel; that He abides with the Church, dwelling in every believer as the Spirit of truth, of holiness-and of comfort.
XIII. We humbly believe that God the Father, before the foundation of the world, was pleased of His sovereign grace, to choose to Himself in Christ, a people, Whom He gave to the Son, and to Whom the Holy Spirit secretly and irresistibly imparts spiritual life using the ordinary means of the truths of His Word; so that, being born from above, they are children of God, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.
XIV. We believe that everyone who through the grace of the Holy Spirit repents and believes the Gospel, confessing and forsaking his sins and humbly relying upon Christ alone for salvation, is freely pardoned and declared to be righteous before God, solely on the ground of Christ's perfect obedience and atoning sacrifice.
XV. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has placed His people by His grace under the obligation to keep, the perfect will of God in the spirit of childlike love; and we rejoice that although the obedience and life of Christians is imperfect, yet, being a fruit of their union with Christ, it is accepted for His sake and is made well pleasing to God.
XVI We believe that the Holy Spirit, purifies and motivates the hearts of Christ's people, enabling them to freely and cheerfully obey the will of God, so that in the measure in which they surrender to the Spirit of Christ and follow His Word, they receive strength for daily service, and grow after the image of Him who created them; of if, having departed from God, any fall into grievous sin, yet by the mercy of God who abideth faithful, they are not cast off, but being chastened for their disobedience, they are, through repentance, restored to His favor so that they perish not.
XVII. We believe that the Son of God, out of the whole human race, from the beginning to the end of the world, gathers, defends and preserves for Himself, by His Spirit and Word, in the Unity of the true faith, a Church chosen to eternal life; and that this Church exists on earth in a visible holy brotherhood of those who profess faith in Jesus and obedience to Him and are organized for the confession of His Name, the public worship of God, the upbuilding of the saints and the proclamation of the Gospel.
XVIII. We believe that on a day known only to God, the Lord Jesus Christ will suddenly come again from heaven with power and great glory; this is the blessed hope of His Church, for which we ought always to wait in sober watchfulness and diligence, that we may be found ready at His coming.
XIX. We believe that the souls of the righteous dead enter rest and blessedness with their Lord; that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust at the last day, through the power of the Lord; and that the bodies of those who are asleep in Christ as well as those who are- alive at His coming, will be fashioned anew and conformed to the body of His glory.
XX We believe that God will judge the world in righteousness by Jesus Christ, before whom all must appear, who will separate the righteous from the wicked, making manifest the secrets of the heart, and rendering to every man according to the deeds which he has done in the body, whether good or evil; and that then the wicked shall enter eternal punishment but 'the righteous shall inherit eternal life.
XXI. We believe that in the life everlasting; the redeemed shall receive their inheritance of glory in the heavenly kingdom of their Father, and be made fully and eternally blessed in the glorious presence and service of God, whom they shall see, serve and enjoy forever and ever. AMEN
