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PJLHosting.com
Statement of Faith
(Thanks Pastor Samuel Ling of
China
Horizon Ministries!)
The staff of PJLHosting.com recognize that
there are excellent expositions of Christian doctrine such as the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, the
Westminster Confession and Catechisms (1647), the Lausanne Covenant
(1974), the Declaration of the Chinese Congress on World Evangelism
(1976), the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy (1978), and the
Cambridge Declaration (1996). We subscribe to the following summary of
our Biblical faith.
- SCRIPTURE
The Bible of the Old and New Testaments is the inspired Word of God,
is infallible and inerrant in its original manuscripts in all it
affirms, in matters of faith, conduct, history and science, and is
the only authority for every believer and the church. Scripture
alone can bind the human conscience. Christians receive the Bible as
the Word of God because of the testimony in Scripture by the Holy
Spirit, Who is its Author.
II Timothy 3:16-17
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking,
correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may
be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
II Thessalonians 2:15
So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on
to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.
II Thessalonians 2:13
But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the
Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through
the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.
II Timothy 3:15
How from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able
to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
Isaiah 55:8-11
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my
ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the
earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than
your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and
do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and
flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the
eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return
to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the
purpose for which I sent it.”
John 14:26
But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my
name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I
have said to you.
John 15:26
When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father,
the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify
about me.
- GOD
There is only one true, living and Triune God, existing eternally in
three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Who is infinite,
eternal, and unchanging in His being, wisdom, power, holiness,
justice, goodness and truth. The three persons of the Triune God are
equal in glory and power, and worthy of worship.
John 17:3
Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
John 4:24
God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in
truth.
Exodus 15:11
Who among the gods is like you, O LORD? Who is like you - majestic
in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?
Matthew 28:19
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
II Corinthians 13:14
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the
fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Psalm 147:5
Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no
limit.
Psalm 139:7-10
Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your
presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed
in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if
I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide
me, your right hand will hold me fast.
Psalm 90:2
Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and
the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
James 1:17
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the
Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting
shadows.
Daniel 2:20-21
Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are
his. He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes
them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.
Revelation 4:11
You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and
power, for you created all things, and by your will they were
created and have their being.
Ephesians 1:11
In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the
plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose
of his will.
Isaiah 6:3
And they were calling to one another: Holy, holy, holy is the LORD
Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.
Exodus 15:11
Who among the gods is like you, O LORD? Who is like you - majestic
in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?
Psalm 89:14
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love
and faithfulness go before you.
Psalm 145:17
The LORD is righteous in all his ways and loving toward all he has
made.
Psalm 86:5
You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who
call to you.
Psalm 118:29
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.
Nehemiah 9:17
They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles you
performed among them. They became stiff-necked and in their
rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery.
But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to
anger and abounding in love. Therefore you did not desert them.
Numbers 23:19
God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he
should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he
promise and not fulfill?
- CREATION
God created the universe out of nothing by the power of His Word,
and created man male and female in His own image, to rule over the
world for His glory.
Psalm 33:6
By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by
the breath of his mouth.
John 1:1-3
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all
things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
Genesis 1:26-28
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and
let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air,
over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures
that move along the ground.” So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in
number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea
and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves
on the ground.”
Genesis 9:6
Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for
in the image of God has God made man.
Genesis 2:15
The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work
it and take care of it.
Isaiah 43:6,7
I will say to the north, “Give them up!” and to the south, “Do
not hold them back.” Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from
the ends of the earth - everyone who is called by my name, whom I
created for my glory, whom I formed and made.
Psalm 19:1
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of
his hands.
- SIN
In Adam’s one sin all humanity sinned and fell into death, and is
subject to God’s eternal judgment and curse. Only by the grace of
God in Christ can men and women be redeemed from sin, and reconciled
with God.
Romans 5:12
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death
through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all
sinned.
Romans 5:18, 19
Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation
for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was
justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the
disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also
through the obedience of the one man the many will be made
righteous.
I Corinthians 15:21, 22
For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead
comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all
will be made alive.
Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can
understand it?
Ephesians 2:5-9
[God] made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in
transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised
us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in
Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the
incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in
Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith
- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by
works, so that no one can boast.
- JESUS CHRIST
Jesus Christ is God the Son, eternally begotten by the Father. Fully
God and fully man, he took on human nature, was born of a virgin,
and lived a sinless life among us. He died on the cross as a
substitutionary, propitiatory* sacrifice for the sins of God’s
people. Jesus Christ bodily rose from the dead, ascended to heaven,
and will physically, visibly and imminently return to judge the
living and the dead.
* to turn aside God’s wrath
John 1:1-3
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all
things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
Philippians 2:5-11
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being
in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to
be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a
servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance
as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even
death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and
gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of
Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the
earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the
glory of God the Father.
Galatians 3:13
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for
us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
Galatians 4:4, 5
But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman,
born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the
full rights of sons.
John 1:14
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen
his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father,
full of grace and truth.
Romans 8:3
For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the
sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of
sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful
man.
Isaiah 7:14
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be
with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
Isaiah 53:4-9
Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we
considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But
he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our
iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and
by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did
not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as
a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of
his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for
the transgression of my people he was stricken. He was assigned a
grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had
done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
I Corinthians 15:20
But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of
those who have fallen asleep.
Luke 24:51
While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into
heaven.
Ephesians 1:20
Which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and
seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms.
Acts 1:11
“Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking
into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into
heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into
heaven.”
Revelation 1:7
Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even
those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn
because of him. So shall it be! Amen.
- SALVATION
Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation. Salvation is by the grace
of God alone, and received through faith alone.
Acts 4:12
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under
heaven given to men by which we must be saved.
John 14:6
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one
comes to the Father except through me.”
Ephesians 2:5-9
[God] made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in
transgressions- it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised
us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in
Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the
incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in
Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith
- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by
works, so that no one can boast.
Acts 11:18
When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised
God, saying, “So then, God has granted even the Gentiles
repentance unto life.”
Isaiah 55:7
Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let
him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God,
for he will freely pardon.
Acts 17:30
In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all
people everywhere to repent.
Ezekiel 33:11
Say to them, “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I
take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they
turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why
will you die, O house of Israel?”
Romans 3:23-26
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are
justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by
Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through
faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because
in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand
unpunished - he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present
time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have
faith in Jesus.
- THE NEW LIFE
True repentance and faith will bear the fruit of obedience and good
works. Faith and its fruits are not meritorious before God, but are
the results of the Spirit’s gracious work in men and women. Born
again men and women are exhorted to live holy lives in obedience to
the Word of God, to the glory of God.
James 2: 17-18, 20- 22
In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accomplished by
action, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith; I have
deeds.” …You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith
without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham consider
righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the
Altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together,
and his faith was made complete by what he did.
John 15:4-6
Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by
itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit
unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a
man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from
me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a
branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up,
thrown into the fire and burned.
Ezekiel 36:26, 27
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will
remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees
and be careful to keep my laws.
Micah 6:8
He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD
require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly
with your God.
I Peter 1:15, 16
But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for
it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
Romans 12:2
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to
test and approve what God’s will is - his good, pleasing and
perfect will.
- THE HOLY SPIRIT
The Holy Spirit indwells every believer in Christ. All believers are
filled by the Spirit as they yield in repentance and faith to His
sovereign and gracious rule. The Holy Spirit is the giver of all
gifts for the work of ministry in the Kingdom of God.
Romans 8:9
You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the
Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not
have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.
Ephesians 4:4-7, 10-16
There is one body and one Spirit - just as you were called to one
hope when you were called - one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one
God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it…
He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the
heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) It was he who gave
some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists,
and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for
works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until
we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of
God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the
fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back
and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of
teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful
scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things
grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the
whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament,
grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
- THE CHURCH AND THE FAMILY
The Church is the people of God and the Body of Christ, instituted
by God to worship Him, proclaim His Word, evangelize the lost and
instruct His people, for His glory. All who have professed faith in
Christ should belong to a local church. They and their children need
to submit under the church’s teaching and discipline. While God
has called some to be single for the kingdom’s sake, marriage is
ordained by God, and should be held in high honor by all. Children
are a heritage of the Lord; Christian parents and churches are
obliged to pray with and for their children, and to bring them, by
the Word of God, to fear and know Him, and to repent and trust in
the Lord Jesus Christ. We affirm the spiritual unity of all
believers in Christ throughout history.
I Peter 2:4-5, 9
As you come to him, the living Stone - rejected by men but chosen by
God and precious to him - you also, like living stones, are being
built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering
spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ …But
you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people
belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called
you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Genesis 2:24
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united
to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
Matthew 19:6
“So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined
together, let man not separate.
Matthew 19:12
“For some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were
made that way by men; and other have renounced marriage because of
the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”
Hebrews 13:4
Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure,
for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.
Ephesians 6:1, 4
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right…
Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in
the training and instruction of the Lord.
Deuteronomy 6:6, 7
These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.
Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home
and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get
up.
- CULTURE
Culture is the product of men and women created in God’s image, as
they carry out the mandate to rule over the earth. Thus all culture
bears the marks of God’s image. Since all humanity has fallen in
Adam, all cultures have been marred by sin, and are judged in the
light of the Word of God.
Genesis 1:26-28
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and
let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air,
over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures
that move along the ground.” So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in
number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea
and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves
on the ground.”
Romans 1:18-21
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the
godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their
wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them,
because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the
world God’s invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine
nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been
made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God,
they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their
thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Genesis 2:15
The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work
it and take care of it.
Acts 17:22-26
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men
of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I
walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I
even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now
what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.
The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of
heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he
is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he
himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one
man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole
earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places
where they should live.”
II Corinthians 10:4, 5
The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the
contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We
demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against
the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it
obedient to Christ.
- THE GOSPEL AND CULTURE
As men and women mature as the church of Jesus Christ, the Holy
Spirit illumines and equips them by His Word to engage their
culture. In this process, some elements in culture will be affirmed
and retained; some will be modified and adjusted for use in life and
ministry; and still others will be rejected as contrary to the
principles of the Word of God. We reject any belief and conduct
built on the mixture of the Christian gospel and the philosophies
and religions of the world.
Acts 17:22-26
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men
of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I
walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I
even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now
what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.
The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of
heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he
is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he
himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one
man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole
earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places
where they should live.”
Revelation 21:24, 26
The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will
bring their splendor into it… The glory and honor of the nations
will be brought into it.
- HISTORY
History is the record of God’s redemption of His people, His
revelation of truth, and the response of mankind in obedience and
disobedience to Him. History will be consummated with the return of
Christ to gather His people, judge the world, and usher in a new
heaven and new earth.
Ephesians 1:10
To be put into effect when the times will have reached their
fulfillment - to bring all things in heaven and on earth together
under one head, even Christ.
Revelation 21:2-5
I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven
from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling
of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his
people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will
wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or
mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed
away. He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making
everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words
are trustworthy and true.”
Revelation 21:24, 26
The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will
bring their splendor into it… The glory and honor of the nations
will be brought into it.
I Corinthians 15:28
When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to
him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.
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