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Coastal begins with the Bible. It is our textbook; it is our map; it is our foundation. Our understanding of spiritual truth is shaped by its teachings. The Coastal mission is simply to communicate relevantly and powerfully the realities the Bible uncovers. For thousands of years people in many different cultures and in the face of new challenges have turned to it again and again for a new experience of God's presence and direction. Our task is to mine its depths for a fresh word for the 21st century.
Coastal identifies itself as an evangelical church.
This means that it hold to three essentials that shape our ministry:
1. The full and final authority of the Bible alone.
2. The necessity of a spiritual rebirth. Christianity is not merely a better, higher code of ethics, though it certainly does teach the highest and best of truths. God's design is not to reform us. It is to re-create us, making us children of God-with all the privileges, rights and possibilities of those who are adopted into God's family. This is another way of saying that God changes us from the inside out, the only kind of lasting change.
3. This new birth results from believing and trusting in Jesus Christ rather than in human effort. Christians are those who by a free and voluntary act believe in Jesus of Nazareth as God's Sent One, who entrust themselves to Him for the forgiveness of sin and the gift of an abundant and eternal life. Subsequently, they become fully-devoted followers of Christ. We are not made Christians by where we are born or who we are born to. We are not made Christians by going to church or trying to live a better life. We become children of God by a personal decision to say yes to God's offer of a fresh start.
Our statement of beliefs comes down to 1,2,3,4,5. We hold to one source of authority, the Bible. We believe that the Bible is composed of two parts, the Older Testament and the Newer Testament. Both are revelations by God of Himself. We hold to the formulation of Christian truth summarized in the three great creeds of the church (the Apostles, Nicene, and Athanasian), truths that came to be held through the deliberations of the four truly ecumenical councils of the church during the first five centuries of the Church. Coastal has not invented nor found new beliefs. We stand united with the historical Church.
CONCERNING GOD
We believe that there is a God. We believe in one God. We believe in a personal God. He can be known and experienced. He is eternal Spirit, perfect, infinite and unchangeable in all of his attributes. We hold that this one God exists in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, commonly called the Trinity. All Persons have precisely the same nature, attributes and perfections, and are worthy of the same worship, confidence and obedience. We do not believe that there are three Gods but one only. Back to Top
CONCERNING THE FATHER
We believe in God the Father as Creator of heaven and earth, perfect in holiness, infinite in wisdom and measureless in power. We marvel and rejoice that He concerns Himself mercifully and lovingly in our affairs; that He hears and answers prayer; and that He delivers us from the power of sin over us and the penalty for sin due to us. He rules over all things, so that the child of God can be assured that all things work together for good. Human suffering does not contradict or disprove the existence of a loving and personal God. The world may be full of suffering, but through God's power and love, it is also full of the overcoming of it. He takes the fear out of physical death for all who come to Him through the name of His Son, Jesus, who is the Christ (meaning "God's Sent One"). Back to Top
CONCERNING JESUS CHRIST
We believe that Jesus is God the Son. He is not a lesser God or a greater man. He is of the very nature of God. We believe He is eternal and therefore existed before time. We also believe that He became a man to deliver us, being born of a woman without a human father, conceived by the Holy Spirit. He is unique, not because He is God, for He shares His deity with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Nor is He unique because He is a man, because He shares this nature with us. He is unique because He alone shares both those natures at the same time in one person. This enables Him to accomplish His unique work: to bring God to us and to raise our nature up to God. We believe that He died upon the cross according to the plan of God conceived in eternity to be a sacrifice for the sins of the world. He took upon Himself the penalty due to sin so that all who are "in Christ" through faith and trust are no longer under the sentence of death. He rose again from the dead bodily (and not in some vague mystical sense), demonstrating that the penalty of death has been overturned. He liv
es today, and is in heaven, from which He will return at the end of time to judge the living and the dead. In heaven He now acts for believers as their Advocate and Priest, applying all the benefits that flow from His life and death to all who trust Him. Back to Top
CONCERNING THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead and is not merely a vague spiritual force. He possesses the attribute of personality. He is God's agent now at work in the world to represent Christ and to bring all to believe in Him. He inspired the writing of the Bible. He indwells and fills believers, producing in them the likeness of their Savior, Jesus Christ. Believers receive from the Holy Spirit a gift for service which enables each one to make a special contribution to the health and extension of the Church. It is the Christian's duty to seek to live under His daily control. Back to Top
CONCERNING THE BIBLE
We believe that the Bible is God's word to us. ("Bible" actually means "book"). Because it is God's word, it has the same characteristics as God-it is truthful; it is authoritative; it is trustworthy. Though the Bible was written over a period of 1600 years by 44 different human authors, it has one Source and tells one story: the creation of man, his fall into sin and its misery, the promise of a coming Deliverer sent by God, preparation for His arrival, and the arrival of that single source of salvation in the person of Jesus Christ. There is no other book like the Bible! We believe that the human writers of the Bible were moved by God's Spirit in such a manner that their personality, writing style and vocabulary expressed the very thoughts of God. We hold to this formula: "The Bible says equals God says." With one Source and one Story the Bible also has one purpose: that Christ may be known in a personal way and trusted for abundant and eternal life. It is not primarily a history book, though it is historical and reliable in its details. It is not essentially a book of philosophy, though it contains the highest and truest of ideas. It is not even a book on morals, though it is a light to guide every conscience. It's the story of a personal God, who came to us in a personal way through Christ, to accomplish a personal salvation which he offers to all. To read the Bible is to be personally addressed by the living God who desires that no one should perish. It is a living Book. It's words jump from the page and connect with matters of the heart. It is the medicine we must have, the road we must take, the life we must receive.
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CONCERNING PEOPLE
We believe that humankind began by a creative act of God and not the result of chance. They were made in God's image and free from sin. As the image of God they possessed the capacity to think and decide, the ability to exercise moral responsibility, and the power to live in holiness before God. They were made for God and found their purpose in glorifying Him by enjoying Him and doing His will. We believe that it is impossible to satisfy men and women only with the things of this life since they have a God-shaped hole within that only God can fill. Humankind fell into sin by a voluntary act of defiance of God. As a consequence, all are born into sin, subject to the wrath of God both in this life and the life to come, and morally incapable of delivering themselves out of this condition. While people's goodness may vary from one to another so that some may be designated "good" by comparison, yet they completely fall short of the standard by which God is pleased. We believe that if they are completely left to their own tendencies and nature, they will choose the will of the creature over the Creator. While all are free to choose God and the good, they find an irresistible law at work which means that the good they would do, they do not do and the bad which they would not do, they do. But all people, because they are made in God's image, can be delivered from the law and given victory over death through the grace and mercy of God. All who call upon God will be rescued. Back to Top
CONCERNING SALVATION
Self-improvement or good works can never make up for the wrong we have done. Nor can they measure up to the good that God demands, for His ways are perfect. Our best efforts at moral reformation and true change fall short. We believe that deliverance comes from God as a gift through Jesus Christ. The Bible calls this GRACE: God's Riches At Christ's Expense. Through God's unmerited favor we are immersed into life and have all the resources of heaven for a life of confidence and power. The focus shifts from what we can do to the God-setting-things-right-for-us. And if God is the focus and not human ability, then salvation can be guaranteed to all. Experience and the Bible teach that all Christians still struggle with sin and must wage war daily with its power. Though the Christian is given a new nature capable of obedience and fellowship with God, the old, sinful nature remains and cannot once and for all be eradicated in this life. Spiritual growth is that process by which the believers daily more and more dies to sin and lives to God. By the power of the Holy Spirit the believer can live life with the experience of joy, contentment and power over life-destroying habits, hurts and hang-ups. However, the spiritual journey retains the characteristics of personal effort, deepening repentance, and sorrow over failings. It is the privilege of each Christian to seek daily forgiveness for sin and to renew obedience unto God. We believe Christians will experience full deliverance from sin when Christ comes again to usher in His full rule. Back to Top
CONCERNING THE CHURCH
"Church" is not a building. People are the Church. The word simply means "the called out ones." Called out to belong to God! The Bible uses many different words for Church. It is called the Body of Christ, an image that suggests the Church is the extension and presence of Christ Himself, doing His will in this world, and being the means by which He is known. It is also called the Bride of Christ, suggesting the deepness and exclusiveness of a believer's identification with Christ. It is called the Temple of God, picturing the Church as the location of worship, a place where God expresses His holiness in a special way. The purpose of the Church is threefold. 1) Worship. God desires to equip a people to demonstrate His worth and beauty through thoughtful, creative, and passionate adoration. 2) Education. The Church has the responsibility to train Christ-followers into a full maturity that prepares them to endure trials and grow into the likeness of Christ. 3) Extension. The last command of Christ was for His followers to go into all the world and make disciples of every nation. The Church is not a product of Western civilization. It is global and transcultural. It takes a whole world to know the whole Christ and no one church of any time or place can reveal the fullness of Christ. The Church expresses itself through local assemblies who are governed by the Bible, led by the Holy Spirit, and ruled by Christ. It is the responsibility of each church to recognize and appoint pastors/leaders to shepherd and govern. But while a church may have one or several pastors, all Christians are ministers and equipped by the Ho
ly Spirit to build up the church. Each believer has been shaped by God to express Him and His will in a unique way, and it is imperative for Christ-followers to discover their shape and receive training for the full use of their gifts. It is a biblical necessity for Christians to unite with a local church to build it up and make it strong. A Christian without a church is like a player without a team. It is a contradiction in terms. Jesus gave the Church two ceremonies to observe. Baptism is the ceremony of conversion. The Lord's Supper is the ceremony of continuing. The first illustrates a new life begun. The second pictures a new life continued. We believe that neither baptism nor the Lord's Supper operate in some mystical way to give grace to the believers apart from the presence of personal faith. They are means God has given to us to express and shape our faith. Back to Top
CONCERNING THE DEVIL AND ANGELS
The angels were all created by God as a great host of sinless spirit-beings who worship God and serve His purposes. The bible teaches that one of the angels fell through the sin of pride, seeking himself to be like God. He is known as the devil. Under his influence a large company of angels followed in his rebellion and were cast out of the heavenly realms and subsequently known as demons. Unlike fallen humans, the devil and his hosts are not redeemable and remain eternally opposed to the glory and rule of God. It is for them hell was created. The work of these evil hosts is the attempted subversion of God's work by blinding the eyes of people to the glory which belongs to Christ as the only Savior and by tempting God's children that they may be weakened and fail. We believe that the devil masquerades as an angel of light and therefore Christians are to be especially alert to his designs. Christ sealed the fate of the devil by overcoming the power of death through his resurrection from the grave. As the last judgment the devil and his hosts will be consigned forever to torment and God's justice will be vindicated. Back to Top
CONCERNING FUTURE THINGS
We believe that Christ's kingdom is growing! We believe that at a point known only to God Christ will return to the earth, not this time in humiliation but in glory to usher in the fullness of His kingdom. At this time He will judge all those who have ever lived. He will make a separation between those who have loved Him with all their heart, soul, strength and mind, and those who have loved themselves. This separation will be eternal. The Bible teaches that preceding Christ's return there will be a time of great persecution and suffering as the world is thrown under the power of the devil for a time. This is by permission of God. After the devil has done his worst, Christ will win a climactic victory that will forever destroy the devil's power. We believe that Hell is a real place, originally designed for the devil and his angels. It has also become the eternal destination of those who refuse to worship and serve the Creator. The children of God will dwell forever in a new heaven and new earth, blessed by eternal joy and the overflow of the life of God in them. In the meantime, at death the souls of God's children pass immediately into the presence of Christ and there remain in joyful fellowship. Their bodies will be raised incorruptible and in splendor on the last day and be united with spirits already made perfect. Those who die outside of Christ pass immediately into eternal suffering, there to remain until the resurrection when both soul and body are reunited and cast forever into separation from God. Back to Top
As we survey these great truths, we join the Apostle Paul in responding, "Beyond all question, the revealed truths of our faith are great." (1 Timothy 3:16) People may choose to disagree with the Bible, but they cannot charge that it deals in trifles. Here are contained the things of eternity and ultimate worth, which alone can satisfy the souls of the thirsty, the longings of all hearts.
"Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?
Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?
For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen."
Romans 11: 33-36
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