Doctrine of the Church
Our Beliefs
We believe in all the doctrines taught in the Old and New Testament of the Holy Scriptures, primarily those in which the Faithful Church, throughout the centuries, has always believed, in particular those referring to the Trinity, to the plan of salvation by grace through faith in the person of and in the work accomplished by the Lord Jesus on the cross of Calvary.We also believe in the Pentecostal doctrines of baptism with the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts and the direction of the Lord Jesus of His Church.
We believe that the Church must be attentive to the biblical doctrines in order to live in sanctification and in obedience to God’s will.We believe that the exercise of the Holy Scriptures’ teachings, especially those referring to the importance of using the resources of grace, are sufficient for any church to be awakened from a state of spiritual sleep.
Our Message
Our first objective is to announce the Work that the Holy Spirit is in charge of doing in this last hour, revealing that the Lord Jesus is alive, manifesting the real presence of Christ in the midst of the Church and preparing the Bride for the rapture. We are living in a prophetic moment that is close to the return of the Lord Jesus in glory to rapture His Church. We don’t know the day, nor the hour, but we have an obligation to discern the signs of the times.
The Lord Jesus spoke of many signs in his Sermon on the Mount and left the book of Revelation for us to be able to understand the prophetic moment in which we live. We understand that, as the Bride of Jesus, the Church is attentive to the moment of the Lord’s return, with lamps filled with oil, that is, filled with the Holy Spirit, because besides being baptized with the Spirit, the Lord’s faithful servants are continually filling themselves with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18-21).In this prophetic time, the Church must preach the Gospel of Jesus with power and the Word/Message must be accompanied by signs that confirm it.
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Therefore, the need for the Church to seek the baptism with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8) and the spiritual gifts. The spiritual gifts manifestations are used by the Lord to show the world that Jesus is alive!Moreover, proclaiming that the Lord Jesus is alive, the Church has the great responsibility to announce that soon we will return! Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
The Church Body of Christ and Baptism with the Holy Spirit
Jesus Christ is the Head (Eph. 5:23) and the Church is His body. This doctrine has been a reality in the Maranatha Christian Church not only as a belief, but as a way of life, with outstanding experiences lived daily.One of the Lord’s reasons to baptize His servants with the Holy Spirit – youth, adults, elders – was to allow the Lord Jesus to rule over His Church. As the consequence of this baptism, according to the prophet Joel, those servants would receive visions, dreams and prophecies (Joel 2:28), that is, all the gifts that allow the Lord to reveal His will to his servants.
At the time of the apostles, it is observed that the gifts were used specially to reveal God’s will for His Work.
There are examples of this in the spiritual gifts through which the Lord revealed to Cornelius that he should call Peter to his home (Acts 10:3-6), guided Philip to preach to the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26,29), directed Ananias to visit Paul and pray for him (Acts 9:10-16), revealed to
Peter that he shouldn’t hesitate but preach the Gospel to the gentiles in the house of the centurion (Acts 10:9-16 and 19-20), forbid Paul to preach the Gospel in Asia and did not permit him to preach in Bithynia, but in Macedonia (Acts 16:6-10), revealed to the Church that Old Testament statutes were to be observed by the converted gentiles (Acts 15:28-29), guided Paul to go up to Jerusalem to communicate his teachings to the apostles (Gal. 2:1-2), and revealed that the Lord had chosen Timothy for the ministry of the Word (I Tim 4:14), etc.
In our days, the Church still has similar experiences because she understands that the Lord Jesus must become effectively – not only in theory – the Head of the Church. Through His written Word we have the necessary doctrine and guidelines for the building up of the Church.
Confession of Faith
The main points of the MCC Confession of Faith, its biblical basis and the understanding of the Scriptures that support each point are described below:
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1. The only living, true, and almighty God eternally exists in three persons, all with the same glory and power: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14). God is perfect in holiness (Isaiah 6:3), wisdom (Romans 16:27), justice (Revelation 15:3-4) and love (1 John 4:8). He created and upholds all things (John 1:3; Hebrews 1:3) by his Word. Man was created to worship and serve Him. Only God is to be worshiped or exalted (Exodus 20:4-5; Acts 10:25-26).
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2. The eternal Son of God, to save the Church, became perfect man, though equally perfect in divinity, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ (John 3:16). He was born of a virgin by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18, 23), lived a sinless, perfect life, fulfilled the law, was crucified for the sins of mankind, was raised from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:3- 4) and ascended into heaven (Acts 1:9), from where he intercedes continually before the Father for the Church (Hebrews 7:25). As a result of his perfect obedience (Philippians 2:8-11) the Lord Jesus received all authority in heaven and on earth from the Father (Matthew 28:18) and became the Savior (Acts 4:12) of all those who trust in Him. 'He (Acts 16:31) is the only Mediator between God and men (1 Timothy 2:5). Believers are thus privileged to approach and pray to God the Father (Matthew 6:9), assisted by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:26) and in the name of Jesus Christ (John 14:13-14).
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3. The Bible, composed of the Old and New Testaments, is the Revealed Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Its original manuscripts were wholly inspired by the Holy Spirit. Consequently they contain no error (John 17:17). The Bible is the only rule of faith and conduct for the Church (2 Timothy 1:3). The Church teaches no doctrines other than those clearly taught in the Holy Scriptures (1 Timothy 6:3-5) as believed by the faithful Church throughout its history. Such doctrines must be believed, obeyed, (1 Peter 1:22) and lived by the Church (2 Timothy 3:15). The same Spirit who inspired the Bible provides the illumination needed for the Church to understand the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 2:10-12). The Holy Spirit quickens the Scriptures (John 6:63) and uses them to reveal Jesus Christ to man (John 15:26) and glorify Him (John 16:14).
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4. All men are sinners and therefore subject to eternal damnation (Romans 3:23). They can be saved only by the grace of God, through faith in Jesus (Ephesians 2:8-9; John 6:47), as the Son of God, as the Christ (Matthew 16:16-17) and as the only and sufficient Savior. The death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus - typified by His blood shed on the cross (Ephesians 1:7; 2:13) - for the salvation of everyone who believes is the sum and essence of the Gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1- 4) and the only source of all spiritual life (John 6:53-54; 7:37-39). Believers are elected according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 2:13; Ephesians 1:4), to obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:2).
5. Believers manifest their faith in Jesus and their love for Him through a life of obedience (John 14:21-23) and good works (James 2:17-18; John 15:8), which God prepared beforehand. beforehand so that they would walk in them (Ephesians 2:10). Believers strive to live in fellowship with Jesus (John 15:7), walk in the Spirit (Romans 8:9-13; Galatians 5:16), and live by faith (Romans 1:17). They are led by the Spirit of God (Romans 8:14) and bear the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:18, 22-25). As they continue to listen and follow the Good Shepherd, not one of them will be snatched out of God's hand (John 10:27-28). The Holy Spirit enables the elect to persevere to the end in faith (Revelation 2:10, 26), in sanctification (Hebrews 12:14), in obedience (John 10:27; Romans 6:17; Luke 8:15) and in service to the Church (Hebrews 6:9-12).
6. The Lord baptizes into the Church all those who believe in Jesus (1 Corinthians 12:13). The Church is God's instrument for manifesting to the world the manifold wisdom of God (Ephesians 3:10) through carrying out, in our day, the ministry of Jesus (John 14:12). The Church must carry out the Work of God on earth, preach the Gospel (Matthew 28:19-20), support its members (Ephesians 6:18; Galatians 6:2, 10), worship God (Acts 2:46- 47), baptizing believers in water (Matthew 28:19), and celebrating the Lord's Supper (Acts 2:41-42). The Lord wants His Church to constitute one Body, that all its members be united by the same Spirit (Ephesians 4:3), hear the voice of the same Spirit (Revelation 3:22), be guided by the same Spirit (Galatians 5:18; Romans 8:14), have one faith and submit in true obedience to one Lord, the Head of the Church (Ephesians 1:22-23; 4:1-6).
7. The Lord Jesus baptizes believers