Vision and Doctrine
Vision
That all may know Jesus Christ as Lord and walk with Him in these last days before His return.
Mission
Teach the Bible inductively and examine current events thru the lens of Bible Prophecy
Purpose
Living Word Ministries is a non-profit corporation designed to share the gospel of Jesus Christ, to teach His truths and prophecies through in-depth Bible studies, conferences, tours, classes, resources and radio/tv ministries, and to encourage people in their spiritual growth and walk.
Living Word Ministries is a Bible teaching ministry that is not affiliated with any church or denomination though we do participate with and support the local church in the sound teaching of the Bible. All donations to Living Word Ministries are tax-deductible according to the IRS 501 (c) (3) code.
Doctrine
The Scriptures
We believe …that all Scripture, consisting of the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament and the twenty-seven books of the New Testament, is the verbally and plenary inspired work of God. By that, we mean that the Holy Spirit supernaturally influenced the holy men of God, using their own personalities, to produce every word in every part of the Scripture as God intended (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21);
…That the Scriptures in the original languages are inerrant, which means they are without error and fully truthful in all the teachings (John 10:35);
…That the Scriptures are infallible, which means they are trustworthy and the only authoritative governance for the Christian life, the Holy Spirit illumining the understanding of the hearer (John 17:17; I Thessalonians 2:13).
God
We believe…that there is one God (Deuteronomy 6:4), Who eternally exists (I Timothy 1:17), Who manifests Himself in three Persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - Who has three different roles (Genesis 1:1, 26; & Matthew 3:16 – 17; Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14), and Who is worthy of equal honor, obedience, and worship (John 5:23; Acts 5:3-4; Philippians 2:9-11);
...That God is the Creator of the universe and all things and humans in it (Genesis 1:1-31); and He is spirit (John 4:24), not limited by a human body, and as such is immanent within his creation and transcendent to it;
…That God the Father, the First Person of the Triune God (John 6:27; Ephesians 4:6), is Father of Jesus Christ (Matthew 3:17; Mark 14:36), Israel (Exodus 4:22), and all those who put their faith in Jesus Christ as Savior (Galatians 3:26; Ephesians 1:5).
Christ: His Person and Work
We believe…that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Triune God (Matthew 28:19), is fully and totally God (John 1:1; & John 10:30; & Hebrews 1:3);
…That Jesus Christ is one Person with two natures (John 17:21-22; Galatians 4:4, I Timothy 3:16), that He eternally exists as God and He is also fully man (Colossians 2:9; Hebrews 2:14). He was conceived by the supernatural influence of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18; Luke 1:35) and born of Mary, who was a virgin at the time and remained so until after Jesus’ birth (Matthew 1:23, 25);
…That Jesus gave Himself in death upon the cross for our sins (Philippians 2:8; I Peter 2:24), as foretold in Scripture (Genesis 3:15), as the sacrifice to pay the price of the penalty for sin (Hebrews 9:6-15), as the propitiation or satisfaction of God with the death of Jesus for sin (I John 2:2), as the substitution, dying in the place of the sinner (2 Corinthians 5:21), as the reconciliation between God and man so man can be saved (2 Corinthians 5:18, 19);
…That Jesus rose from the dead on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:4) in the transformed body which was laid in the tomb (John 20:25-29), ascended to heaven (Acts 1:9), is our High Priest (Hebrews 5:10) Who lives to make intercession for us before the Father (Hebrews 7:25; 9:24), and will come again (Acts 1:11) to receive His followers unto Himself at the rapture (John 14:3) and to visibly return to earth at the end of the tribulation to establish His kingdom on earth (Revelation 19:11-16; 20:4).
The Holy Spirit
We believe…that the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Triune God (Matthew 28:19), is completely God (Acts 5:3-4), was active in creation (Genesis 1:2), permanently indwelt the followers of Jesus Christ on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4; John 14:16), bestows gifts to believers (I Cornithains 1:7; I Peter 4:10), and continues to indwell those who believe (I Corinthians 6:19);
…That the Holy Spirit convicts people of their sin, showing the truth of the gospel so people acknowledge it, and also convicts them of righteousness and judgment (John 16:8-11). He regenerates or transforms the believer (Titus 3:5), He seals the believer with the certainty of eternal life with God (Ephesians 1:13; 4:30), He teaches the truth (John 16:12-15), He intercedes for the saints to the Father (Romans 8:26-27), and He sanctifies believers, which is the process of making the person holy (2 Thessalonians 2:13).
Creation, Man, and Sin
We believe…that God created the whole universe and everything in it in six literal twenty-four days, and that He created it “ex nihilo.” By that I mean that He created it without assistance from anyone, without requiring preexisting matter, without effort, and through the power of the spoken word (Genesis 1; Psalm 33:6, 9; Hebrews 11:3);
…That God created man with spirit, soul, and body (Genesis 2:7; I Thessalonians 5:23) and made him in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26-27). Being made in the image of God should be thought of as substantive, referring to something we are, such as a spiritual or psychological quality, rather than something we have or do;
…That Adam and Eve were tempted by Satan (Genesis 3:1-5), they willfully disobeyed God’s word (Genesis 2:17; 3:11), through Adam, sin entered the world and physical and spiritual death were imputed for all men (Romans 5:12, 19), sin brings about disfavor with God’s punishment (Romans 1:18; Hebrews 10:30), all men are sinners by nature (Romans 3:23), spiritual death brought about the total depravity of human nature and separation from God (Jeremiah 17:9).
Salvation
We believe…That God has provided the free gift of salvation from our sins by His grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-9). It is faith in Jesus Christ alone (John 14:6), apart from works or merits, by which we must be saved (Ephesians 2:9; Acts 16:31);
…That those who believe in Jesus are saved from their sins on the grounds of His shed blood (Hebrews 9:22), are born again by the Holy Spirit (John 3:5-8; I Peter 1:23), become children of God (John 1:12), enjoy an abundant life on earth with resources necessary for life and godliness (John 10:10; 2 Peter 1:3), and receive eternal life with Jesus (John 14:3). By being born again, I mean that God regenerates or transforms individuals, bringing them to spiritual restoration;
…That God provides for the eternal security of believers through His word (John 5:24), His promise that we cannot be taken away from Him (John 10:28-29), His love (John 3:16), Christ’s intercession and advocacy in heaven (Hebrews 7:25), the indwelling and sealing presence of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers (Ephesians 1:13-14; John 14:16), and the Holy Spirit placing us in the body of Christ (I Corinthians 12:13).
The Church
We believe…That the Church is a mystical body consisting of all believers, of which Jesus Christ is the head (Ephesians 5:23; Colossians 1:18), was founded on the truth that Jesus Christ is the Messiah (Matthew 16:16-18), began on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:43-47), and will culminate with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ (I Thessalonians 4:16-17);
…That the church is recognized in two ways: the universal body of believers in Jesus Christ at all times and places (Matthew 16:18), and the group of believers meeting in a given geographical locale (I Corinthians1:2). These believers have been baptized into this body of Christ by the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 12:12-13) and have been indwelt by the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 3:16-17);
…That the Church and Israel have different roles in God’s program. God made an unconditional covenant with Abraham, and confirmed it with his sons, Isaac and Jacob, which included a blessing, a great nation, many descendants, land, and a seed – Jesus Christ (Genesis 12:1-3; 15:5-21; Psalm 105:10; Galatians 3:16). This covenant, which remains unfulfilled, was given to the people of Israel, and was never transferred to the Church. The Church has a destiny quite different, a New Covenant, found in the relationship with Jesus Christ (Luke 22:20; Hebrews 9:15).
End Times
We believe…In the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and that it will occur in two stages: the coming for the saints at the rapture ('catching up') of the Church to meet the Lord in the air prior to the tribulation period (I Thessalonians 4:16-17; John 14:1-3), and His coming with the saints to the Mount of Olives to establish His kingdom on earth after the tribulation period (Zechariah 14:4; Revelation 19:11-16);
…That the Second Coming is the next great prophetic event, it is imminent, meaning it can occur at any moment, and it is the blessed hope for the Church (Titus 2:13);
…That at the rapture of the Church, the dead in Christ and those who are alive in Christ will meet the Lord in the air and receive new immortal bodies (I Corinthians 15:51-54), will be taken to heaven with Jesus (John 14:1-3), will be judged for their works for the purpose of rewards or loss of rewards at the Judgment Seat of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10; I Corinthians 3:11-15; Romans 14:10), will prepare for the marriage of the Lamb (Revelation 19:7-8), and will return with Jesus to the earth after the tribulation (Revelation 19:14);
…That after the rapture, God will usher in a seven-year period of tribulation on the earth (Daniel 9:24-27; Matthew 24:21) which will bring forth God's righteous judgment upon the world (Revelation 6-18);
…That at the end of the tribulation period, Jesus Christ will personally, gloriously, and victoriously return to earth (Revelation 19:11-16) to bring the whole world to the knowledge of the glory of the Lord (Habakkuk 2:14), and to begin His millennial kingdom will be a thousand year reign of Christ on earth in fulfillment of the Abrahamic, Davidic, and new covenants (Genesis 12:1-3; 15:5-21; & 2 Samuel 7:12-16; & Jeremiah 31:31-34), with Jerusalem as its capitol (Isaiah 2:3);
…That God will raise the unsaved dead, judge them for their deeds at the Great White Throne judgment, and throw them into the eternal Lake of Fire because their names were not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life (Revelation 20:11-15);
…That Jesus will deliver up His Messianic kingdom to God the Father so the heavens and earth and all its works might be destroyed by intense fire (2 Peter 2:10) to prepare the way for the eternal New Heaven, New Earth, and New Jerusalem in which the Father and the Son will reign (Revelation 21:1-2; 22:3).