Fundamentals

I shared in the featured post, "The Invitation", how our relationship with God is like a dance in which we learn how to follow His lead as He draws us in to receive of Him and then leans us out to release the overflow of His presence in us. Dancers, like other athletes, understand the importance of mastering the fundamentals. Once the rudimentary skills of dance are learned, there is no limit to the creative expressions of movement that can be explored and developed. The same is true in our "dance" with the Lord. Once the fundamentals of who He is, who He is for us, and how He relates to us are established, there is no limit to the creative expression of His love that can be cultivated in and released through us. 

The following is a description of fundamentals the Lord has built into my life over the years. The Scripture references I have provided are not meant to be an exhaustive list, but simply to serve as starting points for individuals to enter into their own conversation with the Word about these matters. (John 1:1). In the early days of my walk with the Lord, I believed these statements because His Word said it was so and that is reason enough. However, I have come to "know that I know" they are true because of an ever increasing fellowship with God and the history we are building together.  I believe the following fundamentals of faith:

• God is a triune God - God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Three distinct persons joined as one Godhead. (John 10:25-38, 2 Cor 13:14, Matt 28:18-20)
• God Almighty is the one true living God who created and sustains all that exists. (Gen 1, Ps 33, John 1, Col 1:15-17)
• God created mankind for the purpose of receiving His love and walking in relationship with Him for eternity. (Gen 1:26-27, Gen 2:7, Jer 31:3, Rom 8:35-39) 
• Sin entered the world through the work of Satan and separated mankind from that relationship. The wages of sin are death. (Gen 3, Is 59:2, Rom 3:23, Rom 6:23, Eph 2:1, John 15:5-6)
• Jesus Christ lived on Earth for a time fully as man and fully as God. Through His death on the cross, burial and resurrection, He fully paid the price of sin, defeated Satan, and opened the way for us to return to relationship with our Father. (Col 2:9, Phil 2:6-8, Heb 9:12-15, Rom 8:3-4, Col 2:13-15, Heb 2:14, Heb 10:19-20, John 14:6) 
• It is by faith, which is a gift of God, that we believe, accept and confess what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross. In so doing, we are restored to right relationship with our Father. (Eph 2:8-9, Rom 10:9-10) 
• Baptism by water outwardly confirms the inner reality of the death of our old self (our human nature without the Holy Spirit) and the birth of the new creation we now are through Jesus Christ. (Rom 6:3-11, Col 2:12, 1Peter 3:21, John 3:5-8) 
•  We are baptized in the Holy Spirit to receive grace - the empowering presence of God - in our lives. (Acts 1:5-8, Acts 2:1-41, John 14:15-17, John 16:5-15)
• The Bible is the inspired Word of God, revealed to men and recorded in Scripture.  His Word is alive, active and contains the power to transform our lives as it works within us. Jesus Christ is the very embodiment of the Word and the perfect representation of the Father. (2 Tim 3:16, 2 Peter 1:20-21, 1 Cor 2:13, John 1:1, John 1:14, Heb 4:12, Heb 1:3, Col 1:15) 
• God reveals Himself to us through His spoken Word and, by the presence of the Holy Spirit within us, we are enabled to hear and respond to that Word. (John 16:13-15, Rev 2:11)
• As we continually fellowship with God, we are transformed more and more into His image and likeness and bear the Fruit of His Spirit. ( 2 Cor 3:18, Rom 8:29, Gal 5:22-23, NLT & MSG) 
• The gifts of the Spirit are real and continue to be available to us for the purpose of assisting us in our own growth and maturity as well as that of our brothers and sisters in Christ. (1 Cor 12-14, Eph 4:7-16)  
• As born again believers, our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, housing the presence of God. We are to care for them with dignity, honor and respect as they are no longer our own. (1 Cor 6:19-20) 
• There is a resurrection for believers in which their physical body will die and their spirit will be joined to a new heavenly body. (2 Cor 5:1-5, 1 Cor 6:14) 
• Every individual has been created on purpose for a purpose, which can only be realized and fulfilled in relationship with God. (Ps 139:13-16, Eph 2:10) 
• God is a patient, passionate pursuer of our hearts. His door stands continually open to welcome us home as His children when we are ready to do so of our own free will. (Ps 103:7-18, Ps 23:6, Luke 15:11-32, Rom 8:14-16, John 1:10-12, John 3:16, 1 John 3:1)