We believe that there is one God, who created all that exists, and that he is good.  That means he loves and cares for his creation, which includes us.

We believe that God has revealed himself to us in several ways:  through the order and beauty of nature, through direct revelation to various people through the centuries, through his prophets, through the written scriptures -- the Holy Bible -- and through Jesus Christ his son.

The first part of the Bible -- the Old Testament -- records many things but centers on God's dealings with one man, Abraham, and his descendents, the Jewish people.  The second part of the Bible -- the New Testament -- focuses on God's son, Jesus Christ, his work of redemption of mankind, and what happened to and through those who followed him.

One of the greatest stories in the Old Testament relates the deliverance of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt.  And the turning point of that story was the application of lamb's blood to the doors of the Jewish homes so that the Death Angel would pass them by, when he descended to slay the firstborn children of Egypt.  God commanded that the Jews commemorate this miraculous rescue of their people each year, by celebrating the Passover.

The significance of this was not just that the Jews remember how great and glorious God has been in the lives of their people, but also as a foreshadowing of God's ultimate redemption of all people through the Jewish Messiah to come.

From the beginning of man's history, we have had a sin problem.  Sin is what separates us from God.  It is our failings, our tendency toward evil, our outright rebellion against God.  When we sin, we participate in Satan's rebellion against God (who has been the enemy of God and of all humanity from the beginning). 

The Bible says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."  (Romans 3:23)  And, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord."  (Romans 6:23)

Because of our sin, we die.  And not only that, but after death our soul will live through all eternity separated from God.  This is called Hell.

What can we do??

Nothing.  There is nothing whatsoever that a man can do to save himself.  No amount of prayer, no amount of good works, no amount of compensation of any kind can save your soul.

Only God can save us.
And he did.

In the Passover, God was pointing the sons and daughters of Abraham to the sacrifice to come, when Jesus Christ would lay down his perfect life as a payment for sin.  Just as the perfect lamb had to die, so Jesus died.  And just as the lamb's blood caused the Death Angel to pass by, so Jesus' blood applied to our spirit causes us to have life when we deserve death.

I started by saying there is one God, and there is.  But just as a man or woman is a three-part being -- body, soul, and spirit -- so God is three parts, but on an infinitely greater scale.  One God, three persons:  God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  Even at the very beginning of the Bible, God refers to himself in the plural:  "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness…"  (Genesis 1:26)

Jesus is God the Son, who came voluntarily to pay the price for our sin.  The Holy Spirit overshadowed a young Jewish girl and she became pregnant, totally apart from sex.  Because her child had no human father, he did not inherit the sin nature of Adam, the first man.  When Jesus grew to be a man, and went down to the river where the prophet John the Baptist was baptizing, John cried out, "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"  (Gospel of John 1:29)  All the Jews standing around knew what a lamb was for -- it was a sacrifice for sin.  But in Jesus was something different:  a permanent sacrifice for sin, because he was God's lamb.

When Jesus had walked this earth for 33 years, his enemies had him put to death, nailed to a cross.  Even then, he told them, "You do not take my life from me, I give it willingly."  And when he was suffering excruciating agony on the cross, he cried out to God, "Father!  Into thy hands I commit my spirit!"  And he died.  One of the Roman centurions, when he saw how Jesus died, said, "Surely this man was the son of God!"  (Matthew 27:54)

Three days after his death, Jesus rose from the dead, because Hell could not keep one who is innocent of sin.  He appeared to various people over the course of 40 days, and then ascended into Heaven bodily, in the sight of them all.  At his parting, he told them to remain in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit he had promised was poured out on them.
When the Holy Spirit came, some days later, he filled those who were believers in Jesus, and transformed them into radical witnesses of the redemption of God through Jesus Christ.  They were never the same again!

If you don't want to be the same any more -- if you want to know God -- then simply repent of your sin, speak to God asking him to forgive you your sin, and ask Jesus to be your Savior and Lord.  Then ask for the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Nothing will ever be the same again!