Statement of Purpose
II Corinthians 4:6-7
To be earthen vessels, that the Excellency of the power of God may shine in our hearts through Jesus Christ.
II Corinthians 4:6-7
6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
II Corinthians 5:18-20
To be ministers of reconciliation…beseeching the lost to be reconciled to God.
II Corinthians 5:18-20
18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.
II Corinthians 3:6
To be ministers of the New Testament through the spirit, which gives life, and not through the letter which kills.
II Corinthians 3:6
6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
I Corinthians 1:18, 2:1-5
To preach the cross, foolishness to the lost, but the power of God to us who are saved. Not with excellency of speech or enticing words, so that a person’s faith does not depend on the ability of man, but on the power of God.
I Corinthians 1:18
18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
I Corinthians 2:1-5
1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
2 For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
3 And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
Romans 3:21-28
To teach that there is a righteousness of God for us that does not depend on our righteous acts, but rather, on our belief in the righteous acts of Jesus Christ.
Romans 3:21-28
21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.
28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
Ephesians 1:13-14
To teach that we are saved when we trust in Jesus Christ through hearing the word of truth, which is the gospel of our salvation.
Ephesians 1:13-14
13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
Ephesians 2:8-10
That we are saved by the grace of God alone without any merit of our own. He then works in us to bring about the man and the works that are His will.
Ephesians 2:8-10
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Galatians 3:1-3
To teach that once we are saved by faith through the Spirit, it is foolishness to return to trying to make ourselves worthy before God by our effort.
Galatians 3:1-3
1 O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
Galatians 5:1-5
To teach people to stand fast in the liberty that Christ earned for us, and not allow ourselves to be entangled again in that bondage, which takes us back to thinking that we can somehow make ourselves righteous. No, through the Spirit, we wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
Galatians 5:1-5
1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
2 Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
II Timothy 2:15
To teach people how to “rightly divide” the word of God so that we will be able to distinguish between what God is saying directly to us in this age of grace, and what no longer applies to us.
II Timothy 2:15
15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Philippians 1:6
To help people understand that God, who started a good work in us, will continue it until the day that Jesus Christ comes for us.
Philippians 1:6
6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
I Thessalonians 4:13-18
To comfort one another with the assurance, from God, that one day the Lord will come for us, and we will be with Him forever.
I Thessalonians 4:13-18
13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
II Corinthians 3:18
To teach that we are changed into the image of the Lord by the Spirit of the Lord, not as we work for Him, but as we see His glory.
II Corinthians 3:18
18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Colossians 3:1-2
To remind us all to set our minds and our desires on things above, and not on things of the earth.
Colossians 3:1-2
1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.