CHURCH IN CHICAGO
As members of the church in Chicago, we, like the early New Testament believers, have a work of faith, a labor of love and an endurance of hope (1 Thes. 1:3).
Our work of faith is simply our holding to the common faith that was once delivered to the saints by the apostles (Jude 1:3; Titus 1:4. Along with all genuine Christians, our faith is based on the Bible, the book of books containing the complete and only divine revelation of God.
The Bible reveals to us the one unique God, who is eternally the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These three are distinct, but not separate.
The focus of the Bible is on Christ, the complete God who became a perfect man. Christ was divinely conceived in a human virgin, and as a man, lived a genuine human life on the earth. He died an all-inclusive death on the cross for man’s redemption, and in three days rose from the grave victoriously. He ascended to the heavens, and as God and man He is now enthroned as the Lord of all in glory. Today this Christ is realized as the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45), reaching us and giving us life. The Bible tells us that Christ will come again with God’s kingdom to reign over the earth in the next age and in eternity.
As far as man is concerned, the Bible tells us that “all have sinned” (Rom. 3:23). As sinners we are unable to fulfill God’s righteous requirements, and we are in need of God’s salvation. Through Christ’s death on the cross, these requirements have been fulfilled. God forgives, reconciles and accepts all those who believe into and receive Jesus Christ.
Believers are those who have received Christ and have been born of God. As children of God we enjoy the Spirit as grace in order to grow in the life and nature of God for our daily salvation and for His expression. In eternity, we will participate in a fuller enjoyment of God’s salvation by dwelling together with Him and His redeemed in the New Jerusalem.