Our Core Beliefs & Culture Code

"When we are intentional about trusting in the Lord with all our heart, and not leaning on your own understanding and in all your ways we seek to acknowledge him, we can trust he will make straight our paths." Proverbs 3:5-6

• Responsibility: we are to be responsible for the way we act toward others (Luke 10:30-37). We are responsible for the way we treat our families (1 Timothy 5:8). We are responsible to study God's Word (2 Timothy 2:15).
• Understanding & Wisdom: “For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.” We learn from (Proverbs 9:10) that true wisdom begins when we have reverence for God. As we continue in our walk with the Lord, we will find ourselves in many situations where our own understanding will fall short. Because of our relationship with God, we can come to Him with confidence, asking Him to grant us wisdom and lead us in the way of understanding. We know from (James 1:15) that He gives us wisdom when we ask of Him. This is because He not only possesses all wisdom, but He is wisdom embodied. When we don’t understand or when we can’t make sense of a situation, we can rest in the fact that our Heavenly Father knows what He is doing and we can trust His thoughts and ways. He isn’t stingy. He gives generously. We just have to seek, ask and be submitted to receive.
• Stewardship: God owns everything, and we get to manage it for Him. The responsible management of these God-given resources is called stewardship. One thing Jesus and the New Testament writers make abundantly clear is that God loves to bless faithfulness. Faithfulness in small matters opens the door to for us to be entrusted with greater responsibilities. When we surrender every area of our lives– including our time, talents and finances–to God, then we are free to trust Him to meet our needs. But if we would rather hold tightly to those things that we possess, then we find ourselves in bondage to those very things.
  • Time: Being a good steward of our time is not just about the activities in our schedule. It’s also about having unified, encouraging relationships with other believers and a worshipful posture toward the Lord, no matter what we are doing. With the time God gives us we can honor God, live purposefully and love others well.(Ephesians 5:8-14) “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. This is why it is said: ‘Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."

Talents & Gifts: Every Christian has some talent, ability and a spiritual gift he or she has received from God.(1 Peter 4:10) As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. (Romans 12:3-8) 3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. 4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

• • Finances: The Bible is very clear in (Leviticus 27:30) where it says “A tenth of the produce of the land, whether grain or fruit, is the Lord's, and is holy.” And (Proverbs 3:9) says, “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops.” It's critical to recognize that tithing was central to God's law. Most people think is that “tithing” is an Old Testament principle and it’s not for us anymore. However, tithing can also be found in the new testament. Jesus in (Matthew 23:23) corrects the Pharisees for how they were tithing and redirects them for what they should do with the tithe instead. By doing this, we can see it’s still clearly a New Testament principle, Jesus validates it, and makes sure the heart of generosity is present when tithing, not selfish motivations. The tithe goes to the local church. As the church accomplishes what God calls the body to accomplish, money towards those efforts come from somewhere, and it comes from the tithe. And just as a reminder, Christians are called to be a part of a local body. All of us have roles to play and church community is a command, not just a suggestion for us. We are called to be in community with others, not live our lives in isolation.

Good and faithful servants are always asking how something’s potential can be drawn out and multiplied for the Kingdom. After all, multiplication is a core biblical principle. Jesus multiplied five loaves and two fish into enough food to feed more than 5,000 people. (Matthew 14:13-20). He also said that the Kingdom of Heaven starts small, like yeast and mustard seeds, but that it will grow exponentially (Matthew 13:31-33). 

Every creative act contains boundless possibilities. We were designed with eternity in mind. When it comes to the work we have been entrusted to steward, there are many ways to have an eye for multiplication. With that truth stewardship requires a balance of contentment and risk taking. Remember, the wicked servant was chided for not taking a risk. The Master said, “Take the thousand and give it to the one who risked the most. And get rid of this “play-it-safe” who won’t go out on a limb. Throw him out into utter darkness.’” We don’t want to be “play-it-safes.” As Christians, we are to be people who take faith-filled risks. After all, God gives us dreams that are bigger than what we can accomplish alone. Risks are what create the space for His favor to move. However, we want to take wise, educated risks.

As (Ecclesiastes 3:1) says, “To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven.”

Consider these statistics:

• • • • 15% of Christ’s recorded words deal with money
      • 66% of his parables deal with riches and possessions
      • In the gospels, 1 in every 10 verses addresses a financial issue
      • In the Bible as a whole, financial matters are covered in 2,350 verses (more than the topics of faith and love combined!)
  • Transformation: In (John 8) Jesus exhorts His listeners that if they abide in His word they would be truly His disciples, they would know the truth, and that truth would make them free (John 8:31–32). They were a bit surprised to hear that because, as they were descendants of Abraham, they thought they had never been enslaved (John 8:33). Jesus then explained that, if a person is committing sin, that person is enslaved by sin, and slavery is not fitting for sons (John 8:34–35). But if the Son—Jesus says, referring to Himself—makes us free, then we “are free indeed” (John 8:36). He is the Son who remains forever, so what He determines shall stand. When He gives the recipe that we are “free indeed,” it is a reliable recipe because of who He is. The condition for becoming “free indeed” is that His hearers should abide (or dwell) in His word. None of us can overcome our sins and shortcomings without God's help. And God makes that help available to us daily through His Holy Spirit. We must understand what it means to be "led by the Spirit." God's Spirit doesn't drive, drag or push us around; it leads us. It will not prevent us from sinning, nor will it force us to do what is right. It leads us, but we must be willing to submit and follow.

    The Holy Spirit keeps us in contact with God's mind. God's Spirit works with our mind. The apostle John describes it this way: "Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit [which] He has given us" (1 John 3:24). Through God's Spirit, which He gives us, we can be influenced by Him for the good. This is in stark contrast to the world around us and our own nature, which influence us toward sin and disobedience.

    Holy Spirit also helps us come to a deeper comprehension of Gods word and truth. When Jesus promised the apostles He would send the Spirit to them, He said it would "guide [them] into all truth" (John 16:13).

    God's Holy Spirit inspires a deeper understanding of His Word, purpose and will. As (1 Corinthians 2:9-11) tells us: "But as it is written, 'Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.' But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God."

    Without God's Spirit a person cannot understand God's divinely expressed Word and will, "for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (verse 14).

    The Holy Spirit makes overcoming possible. Nothing is too difficult for us with the power of God working in our lives. (Romans 8:26) tells us that God's Spirit helps us in our weaknesses. Paul, who wrote the letter to the Romans, speaks for all of us when he said, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13).

    Jesus promises Christians, "With God all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26; Mark 10:27). The Christian life is to be one of overcoming and lasting transformtion. We must realize God doesn't want us to remain just as we were when He called us. Instead, we must "not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Romans 12:2). Christianity is a lifetime of overcoming and growing-of transforming our thoughts and mind to bear the fruits of the Holy Spirit so that we live and love like Jesus Christ (Philippians 2:5).

    The Holy Spirit produces godly fruit in us. Just as an apple tree produces apples, God's Spirit produces a particular type of fruit in the life of a Christian. Paul lists the fruit that should be evident in those who are led by God's Spirit as "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control" (Galatians 5:22-23).

• Heart: Whereas man places a high price on the externals God examines deep within that man for something more. Man judges one on the basis of one's appearance, but God critiques the heart. In Biblical thought, the heart was the central organ that controlled all activities thus determining one's character of living.

  “Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.” Our reputation is what others think of us, which may or may not be true, but our character is who we really are. Your character is the real you in the sense that you cannot separate what you do from who you are. 

  Everyone has a “public” face and a “private” face. Most of us tend to act with better behavior around others than we do in private. Character is the aggregate of a person’s ethical and moral qualities, and it is demonstrated through the choices we make. (Philippians 4:8) Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. According to Holy Spirit and Truth “What we do is the result of what we hold and think upon in our hearts.”  One of the great lessons Jesus taught his followers is that a man’s or woman’s character is always a matter of his or her heart. Simply stated, character matters, not just because it demonstrates what is in our heart, but because it’s the foundation for thoughts, feelings habits and behaviors which all extend from one another and or impacted by the other.

• Leadership: Leadership is the act of influencing/serving others out of Christ's interests in their lives so they accomplish God's purposes for and through them. We are called to be Sanctified, Holy, Set Apart for God’s Purposes. (1 Peter 1:6, 2 Corinthians 6:17) Wen are called for God’s Work, made righteous through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:9, Romans 1:6, Romans 11:29, Romans 8:30) As believers, we are called to lead in a way that is contrary to the world. We are called to serve others. Leadership is about the greater good. And this is exactly what Jesus did with his very life. He served people. If we want to lead with a servant heart, then we need to humble ourselves and serve others along the way. Cultivate a world that allows others to flourish. A servant leader uses their time for God's glory, not their own.

  • Jesus explained to his followers that their practice of leadership was to be distinctly different than the self-seeking, self-serving, and domineering style of leadership often found in the world: "Whoever would be first among you must be servant of all" (Mk 10:42-44; Mt 20: 25-28).
  • Good leadership motivates and mobilizes others to accomplish a task or to think with creativity, vision, integrity and skill for the benefit of all concerned. Servant-leadership serves others by investing in their development and well being for the benefit of the common good. Thus good Christian servant-leaders serve God through investing in others so that together they may accomplish a task for God's glory.