1 JOHN 5:13

River of Life is a family of believers who holds dear the following beliefs:

1 – The Word of God – We believe the Bible is God’s only written word.  The Bible is the inspired, infallible, inerrant Word of God.  The Scriptures are complete and sufficient and are the sole authority for faith and practice in the believer’s relationship with God.  (Ps. 119:160; 12:6-7; Prov. 30:5; 2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:19-21)

2 – The One True God – The Bible teaches that there is one Triune God, eternally existing in three Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit; three distinct persons but without division of nature, essence or being.  Co-equal in power and glory and having a distinct ministry in God’s relation to His creation and people.  (Gen. 1:1; Ex. 15:11; Deut. 6:4; Ps. 83:18; 139:7-9; Matt. 28:19; John 10:30; 15:26; Acts 5:3-4; 2 Cor. 13:14)

3 – The Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ – The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is the second Person of the Triune God.  Jesus is God in the flesh, the “God Man,” begotten of the Holy Spirit, was born of the Virgin Mary, was tempted as we are, yet without sin.  Jesus became man without ceasing to be God.  Being the perfect “Lamb of God,” He freely gave His life to redeem the sins of man.  He gave Himself in death on the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice, arose from the grave conquering death and ascended into Heaven as the intercessor and the advocate before the Father for all those that will receive Him as Savior.  He is the only way by which anyone can go to Heaven.  (Is. 7:14; Matt. 1:18-25; John 1:1, 14; 3:16; 14:6; Acts 4:12; Gal. 4:4, 5; Col. 2:9; Phi 2:6-10; 1 Cor. 15:3-7; Heb. 4:14-17; 1 John 2:1, 2)

4 – The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit – The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is the third divine Person of the Triune God.  The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment.  He regenerates, indwells, seals, anoints and baptizes all believers into the body of Christ at the moment of salvation.  He is the divine Teacher who guides believers into all truth.  It is the privilege and duty of all believers to be filled with the Spirit.  (John 3:5; 14:16, 17, 26; 16:7-14; Rom. 8:9; 1 Cor. 12:12-14; 2 Cor. 3:6, 18; Eph. 1:13, 14; 5:18; Matt. 28:29; 1 Pet. 1:2)

5 – Mankind – Man was created in the image and likeness of God.  By choice man sinned and disobeyed God, and is by nature, born in sin and sinful.  As a result, man is alienated from a relationship with God and is under the condemnation of God with no means of salvation within himself.  Only the grace of God can bring man into a right relationship with a Holy God.  (Gen. 1:27; 2:17; 3:6; Ps. 51:5; 58:3; Rom. 3:23; 5:12-21; 1 Cor 2:14; Gal. 3:11)

6 – Salvation – Man’s salvation and redemption was purchased by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary.  Because of His love for mankind, Jesus paid the sin debt for man by His vicarious death.  Man’s only obligation is to admit his helplessness in his sin nature, repent of his sins, and by faith, trust solely in the finished work of the cross and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.  Salvation cannot be earned.  It is the gift of God brought to man by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  (Eph. 2:8, 9; Titus 3:5; John 1:12; 3:14; 10:28, 29; Rom. 8:1; Phi. 1:6; 2 Pet. 3:9; 1 John 2:2; 1 Cor. 15:1-4; Rev. 22:17)

7 – Assurance – Those who trust in the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ are sealed unto the day of redemption and are eternally saved.  (John 3:8, 16; 6:36-40; Gal. 3:24-26; 1 John 5:11-13)

8 – Satan – Satan is a literal and personal being who was created holy but, through pride and wicked ambition, rebelled against God and was cast from Heaven and given limited reign of the earth with evil spirits.  He was defeated at Calvary; therefore, followers of Christ have the power of resistance and victory through the blood of Jesus.  His doom is certain.  (Is. 14:14-21; John 16:11; Eph. 2:1-4; Rev. 20:10)

9 – The Local Church – The Bible teaches that the Church is the body of Christ made up of all born again believers worldwide.  The Bible teaches the assembling together within a local church of born again, baptized believers that worship the Lord in spirit and truth in unity and harmony without confusion.  Each local church is to carry out the Great Commission and observe baptism by immersion and the participation in Communion.  (Acts 2:38; 16:30-33; 1 Cor. 11:23-32; 12:13; Eph. 1:22, 23; 4:11-15; Gal. 1:22)

10 – Missions and Evangelism – The local church is to actively support the spread of the Gospel to the nations, thus having a part in fulfilling the Great Commission given by the Lord.  It is the obligation of every believer to witness by life and by word to the truths of the Bible and to seek to proclaim the Gospel to all mankind.  (Matt. 28:19, 20)

11 – Eternity – The Bible teaches there is a literal Heaven being prepared for the followers of Christ and a literal hell for those who reject Christ.  (John 14:1-6; Matt. 31:34; Rev. 20:11-15; Matt. 25:41, 45, 46; Luke 16:19-31)

12 – Christ’s Return – The Bible teaches the pretribulational, premillennial and imminent return of the Lord.  First is the “catching away” of the saints that we call the Rapture of the Church, then a seven-year period of tribulation, then the Second Coming of the Lord to rule and reign the earth for the Millennium.  (Matt. 24:44; John 14:1-3; 1 Cor. 15:51-57; 1 Thes. 4:13-18)

13 – The Family – God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society.  It is composed of persons related to one another by marriage, blood or adoption.

ALL SCRIPTURE IS GOD-BREATHED AND IS USEFUL FOR TEACHING, REBUKING, CORRECTING AND TRAINING IN RIGHTEOUSNESS, SO THAT THE SERVANT OF GOD MAY BE THOROUGHLY EQUIPPED FOR EVERY GOOD WORK                2 TIMOTHY 3: 16-17

And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.  And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

1 Thessalonians 4: 16-17

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life

Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing and a gift from God.  Parents are to teach their children spiritual and moral values and to lead them through a consistent lifestyle and loving discipline to make choices based on biblical truth.  Children are to honor and obey their parents.  (Gen. 1:26-28; 2:15- 25; 3:1-20; Ex. 20:12; Matt. 5:31-32; Mark 10:6-12; Rom. 1:18-32; 1 Cor. 7:1-16; Eph. 5:21-33; 6:1-4; Col. 3:18-21)

​May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.                                                                                2 Corinthians 13:14

And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

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Matthew 28: 19

Matthew 25:46

FOR BY GRACE YOU HAVE BEEN
SAVED, THROUGH FAITH - AND
NOT OF YOURSELVES.  IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD - NOT BY WORKS, SO THAT NO ONE CAN BOAST.       Ephesians 2: 8,9

Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime.  It is God’s unique gift to reveal the union between Christ and His Church.  The husband and wife are of equal worth before God since both are created in God’s image.  The marriage
relationship models how God relates to His people.  A husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the Church.  He has the God-given responsibility to provide for, to protect and to lead his family.  A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the Church willingly submits to the headship of Christ.