Ps David Jones - 2024
Foundational Beliefs - What we believe at citywestchurch
There is a lot said around culture and building culture within organisations and the church. The danger here is we can easily slip into man’s culture or pattern of doing things. Kingdom culture, Jesus culture is our culture. It’s more than a one line or a motto. It is who and what we are, how we live, and it determines when we do things. Jesus is the centre of everything, and His name is continually on our lips. This is a big subject; however, we are just going to look at a few verses from Gods Word.
Jesus is the foundation and the head of his church
1 Cor 3:10 – 15 NIV
By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.
What does this scripture mean when it says “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.”? This verse sums it up, there is no other foundation. And until the day of Jesus return, we will continue to build on His foundation. Everything we do must go back to Jesus the head of His body (the church). This verse instructs us to build with care and to be constantly aware of keeping our focus on Jesus and a love for God’s Word.
Jesus the cornerstone for the Individual believer
Ephesians 2:19-22 NKJV
Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
What does it look like to be a follower of Jesus? Jesus first, and Jesus as the chief cornerstone in our life. Are we interested only in the by-products of faith in Jesus? Things like behavioural modification, prosperity, spiritual blessings, healings, our ministry or what being in church can do for us. Or are we consumed with the wonder, the beauty and splendour of Christ? Are we consumed with honouring Him, loving Him, worshipping Him, serving Him, and obeying Him? We must submit to Jesus and proclaim Him no matter what the cost. There is nothing wrong with the by-product but our praise for God and all His goodness and our relationship with Jesus must come first!
The complete finished work on the Cross
The finished works of Christ impacts every area of our lives, in the natural as well as the spiritual. The last words Jesus spoke before dying on the cross apply just as much now as they did then.
John 19:30
“When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit”.
This declaration means that our healing, deliverance, prosperity, victory, joy, peace, and everything else we need in life is already finished and ready for us to step into and claim.
Proclaiming Jesus
We believe that Jesus came to rescue the lost, and through faith in Jesus all mankind can receive salvation through the act of repentance and becoming His disciples. At citywestchurch we believe every believer is empowered by the Holy Spirit to live out and proclaim the good news of Jesus. In fact, Jesus’s last command to His disciples and to us is to proclaim Jesus. We are to go out into all the world! We are a sent people and, on a mission, to see Gods Kingdom established here on earth.
Acts 4:12
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.
Matthew 28:18-20
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
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