Hope 101

Hope 101 2020-08-06T16:03:58-04:00

“I’m new! I need God in my life! Where do I start?” You’ve come to the right place! We look forward to meeting you. Until then, please check out the helpful information on this page! Getting started with God is as simple as 1-2-3-4:

1. Have faith in God! Turn to Him, believing in His word. Accept His trustworthy promise to save you and help you!
2. Turn away from sin. (The Bible’s word for this is “repent.”) When your old sinful ways end that’s the “old you” dying off.
3. Bury the “old you” in a watery grave through baptism in Jesus name, thus fulfilling Mat. 28:19 by obeying Acts 2:38.
4. Become the “new you” by God’s help, through the baptism of His Holy Spirit (see Acts 2, 8, 10, 19). You’re in His church!

Shelly's BaptismOur members come from all walks of life, including professionals like engineers, business owners and managers, as well as hardworking common folks. We all have one thing in common: We need God. We all came to the same conclusions: No amount of money or worldly possessions can bring real, lasting happiness. And we all needed deliverance from sin by being born again of the water and Spirit, according to God’s word (John 3:3-5, Acts 2:1-4, Acts 2:36-39, and many other verses). Thus we all share the same experience of initiation into God’s community: Faith and obedience resulting in our sincere repentance, our water baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the receiving (infilling) of the Holy Spirit, with the initial, physical evidence of speaking in a language other than our mother tongue, as the Spirit of God gives the utterance. Following that foundational experience, each CAC member pursues after peace, holiness, the fruit of the Spirit, and the gifts of the Spirit, seeking to become a stalwart disciple of Jesus Christ.

You can join us in this miracle of new birth, not by signing a card, but rather by being born into the Lord’s Church by responding in faith to the gospel of Jesus Christ. In short, the gospel (I Corinthians 15:1-4) is that:

  • Jesus died for all (as a substitution for our punishment, paying the price for our sin);
  • He was buried (signifying the death was not feigned but real, and the purchase complete);
  • He was resurrected on the third day (signifying victory over death, hell, and the grave, not for Himself only, but also for all who follow Him in faith).

In our reply of obedient faith:

  • By faith we respond to His death by repenting (through repentance our old, sinful lifestyle dies) (see Acts 2:38, Matthew 4:17 and 9:13, Mark 1:15, 2:17, and 6:12, Luke 5:32, 13:3-5, 15:7, and 24:47);
  • By faith we respond to His burial by being water baptized in Jesus name (see Acts 2:38, Acts 4:12, and Acts chapters 8, 10, 19 & 22, as well as Colossians 2:12, Ephesians 4:5, and I Peter 3:21). We become identified with Jesus Christ by taking His name upon us. “We are buried with by baptism” (Romans 6:4).
  • By faith we respond to His resurrection by receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost (see Acts 2:1-4, Acts 2:36-39, and Acts chapters 8, 10, & 19). Just as Christ received power to live anew, so also we are endued with power to live a “new life” (a life of purity and spiritual power) after we are filled with the Holy Spirit. “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you” (Acts 1:8). “…Like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4).

Life magazine has noted that the Pentecostal phenomenon of receiving the Holy Ghost and speaking with tongues is one of the most significant events of the last hundred years. Millions upon millions of people worldwide have now been born again according to God’s Word.  Have you? The promise of real freedom awaits those who are ready to be free:

“For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call” (Acts 2:39).

Read more about being born again according to God’s Word…