Statement of Faith of David J. Klanderman

 1.  THE LIVING GOD

I believe in God the Father Almighty. God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is our Creator and Creator of all things. There is nothing that God's perfect handiwork has not made. He is, was, and ever shall be in three persons, separate and distinct from one another, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is also One being in power, might and glory, having distinct yet the same attributes.

 2.  HIS SON JESUS CHRIST

I believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. He is very God of very God. He was in the beginning with God the Father. He was in the beginning as The Gospel of John clearly states, "In the beginning was The Word." He was, and is, and always will be God, and he is God Incarnate, come down from heaven that he might reveal God to us all and to save us all, all those who believe on Him.

Jesus came to earth to show us the way, and all our sins to pay. He became God in the flesh in the personhood of Jesus Christ. He was born of the Virgin Mary and was conceived by the Holy Spirit. He is all God and all Humanity in One. In His humanity he remained Perfect God of Perfect God. All he did, all he was, and all he said he would be, came to fruition. He told us many, many times, "I tell you the truth!" He embodied all truth. All he said, all he did, all he taught, and all he spoke was true.

I believe Jesus died on the cross for all humankind. His death was a substitute for mine and for all those who believe upon him as their Lord and Savior. We are justified by grace through faith. It was God's grace that through His Son Jesus death on the cross, he took my place. I should have been on that cross for all my sins. I should have died a thousand times. But it would be to no avail. Yet through faith in God and Son Jesus, I am saved, I am justified by God's grace through faith. Jesus died for MY sins. I am justified not of my own doing, but by the shedding of His blood. As Paul alludes in Romans, by his stripes we are healed. And He rose from the dead three days later and ascended to heaven to be with God the Father Almighty.

 3.  THE DYNAMITE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

I believe in the power and being of the Holy Spirit, just as I believe in God the Father, and God the Son. I believe in Jesus' promise to send the Comforter, one who would come to be with us and to do through us, not by our own doing but by the Holy Spirit's power, greater and mightier things in God's name than we ever thought possible. It is that Holy Spirit's voice that convicts us, that tells us that we all fall short of the glory of God. We are sinful by nature, since the fall of the first man and woman, Adam and Eve. But through the re-generation power (or dynamite/"dynamos" in the Greek) of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and minds, by his indwelling in us, we are saved. It is the Holy Spirit that convicts us. It is the Holy Spirit that baptizes us as believers in to the Body of Christ. He is the sign and the seal that God puts on our foreheads. It is Holy Spirit power that speaks to us as we read God's Holy Word and opens up our hearts and minds to received God's perfect word and direction for our lives.

We are constantly, continually called to be filled with Holy Spirit power. We are commanded and called to yield our life to the Holy Spirit on a day to day basis. We are in a battle all of our lives between the power of God's Good and Satan's evil. When we are in the power of the Holy Spirit, we are victorious over evil. We submit our lives as we walk in the truth and under the control of the Holy Spirit, who calls us to his service, to live in the fruits of his Spirit, and provides for us gifts that we are called to use. Each member of the Body of Christ is given gifts by the Holy Spirit's power. We are called to use these gifts, such as leadership, faith, prayer, hospitality, service, and many more for the purpose of constantly and continually building up the Body of Christ. I also believe that there have been and perhaps are extra-ordinary gifts that have been and are given by the Holy Spirit.

 4.  THE BIBLE, GOD'S HOLY AND INSPIRED WORD

God's written word to us, The Holy Scriptures, of both the Old Testament and the New Testament, are the inspired Word of God. The Bible is perfect in its original writings, complete, authoritative for all faith, practice, and applicable for each and every day of our lives in all situations and circumstances. God used a variety of people, with distinct and distinguished personalities, to share his very own words with us. God chose just the right time and the right people to interpret His Words and reveal that which is divine, good, and perfect for working out God's Divine purpose for the lives of we his people.

However we do not have the Bible in order that we may believe in Jesus Christ, rather we believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior by God's Grace through faith. In so doing, God has given to us His divinely inspired Holy Word that we may live out our life and carry out this very plan of salvation brought about by the death, resurrection, and ascension back to the Father of Jesus the Christ. The Scriptures gives us a perfect road map, as it were, for our imperfect lives that strive for perfection, so to live our life by God's Law, the Prophets, through the history and life of The Bride of Christ, the church.

 5.  MAN

God made man in his own image/likeness. Man and woman fell short of the glory of God.

 6.  SATAN

Satan was/is a fallen Angel who rebelled against God. Satan is our greatest, gravest, and perhaps only enemy we have to fear, since Satan is ultimately responsible for everything that is evil, bad, and sinful in this world today. Satan will not win, but rather be destroyed in the final battle. Satan will be punished forever in the Lake of Fire in the last days. Until that day, we must constantly be on our guard because the closer we walk with God and proclaim the love, truth, and salvation in Jesus Christ, the harder and more tenacious Satan will be toward us in the hopes that we will turn away from God's love and saving grace found in Jesus Christ. Paul says over and over that we are "In Christ", and that is our hope, our strength, our guide, and our stay.

 7.  SIN

I believe that through Adam, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. I didn't say that, Paul says that still. By nature, we are sinful due to the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Although a gracious and merciful God felt such love for his creation, that after the fall, he put clothes on us to hide our guilt and shame, we were banished from that perfect garden. We are all guilty and sinful by nature. A wall, a chasm was built by us between us and the God who created us, loved us so much, and was and is willing to do anything to get us back into his fold and love. I believe in the total depravity of humankind. Because of this grave and grievous human condition, there is nothing, nothing, that we can do of or by ourselves to change or rectify this sinful, human condition. Again we all fall short of the glory of God.

 8.  SALVATION

Therefore, and I love this therefore, God sent his one and only son, Jesus, by His grace through faith, to save us from this sin that can be washed away by none other than Jesus Christ, God's Son. By his stripes, we are healed. Jesus Christ finished the greatest work that was ever done, when he died on the cross for us and brought about the once and only sacrifice necessary to save us from our sins and offer to us as a free gift, eternal life with God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in heaven. Paul says, "Therefore, therefore, we are justified by grace through faith." We are redeemed from our sins. God reconciles us to him, draws all of us who believe in him. Simply put in Romans, "that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Paul goes on, "If, (IF, what an understatement as to think God is NOT for us) God is for us, than who can be against us." No one can be against us, and if they are, they will NOT win the battle.

I believed as the songwriter put it long ago, "Redeemed how I love to proclaim it, redeemed by the blood of the lamb." I am saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior. And once I am saved, I am saved, brothers and sisters. I am held now and always in the arms of my Lord, the Good Shepherd. God's love, power, and strength will keep me safe and secure forever.

Now once I am saved, I do love to proclaim it. I shout it from the roof-tops. We are called to share the Good News too good not too be true. So good that our hearts and minds cannot help but tell this great old story that continually is new. We tell our stories to one another and they become God's story and together our stories and God story grow in grace and truth. We are sinners saved by grace. We are sanctified, called and set apart to share God's Word and Work. The Holy Spirit grows in us and our God becomes bigger to us each day as it were. God's Spirit grabs hold of us as we grow and respond more and more in faith, building us up more and more every day.

 9.  THE CHURCH

There is nothing I love to preach about more than Pentecost. The Church of Jesus Christ was born on Pentecost Day. The Church has continually been rebirthing ever since. I think of the skyline of Chicago. It's huge and awesome. The Sears Tower is like the Tower of Babel that goes up and up and up. It could never be the stairway to heaven, even if it wanted to be. The motivation is all wrong, just like to Tower of Babel. It's WIIFM! What's in it for me? The Tower of Babel was like the glorified licensed plates of today. It's all about US! The people of God failed, the people scattered, and the tower ended. The message is this: if God is not at the center of a project, any project, then there is no spirit! We change locations to the Upper Room in Jerusalem. Jesus' Disciples are waiting. No committees, not building plans, no fishing ··· just doing what Jesus told them to do. WAIT! WATCH! PRAY! We wait until we are united, until we are one with a single purpose, until we are ready for a tower of power. And what happens is not in us, it is outside of us. The Holy Spirit comes. We as Jesus' disciples are enabled by the power of the Holy Spirit to do great things. Jesus sends a mighty breath (RUAH) to we his chosen people. The Psalmist says, "Let everything that has breath ··· praise the Lord!" We, Christ's Church, is baptized with the Holy Spirit. Whereas language was a confusing issue at the Tower of Babel, there were many languages but no confusion at Pentecost because all people were hearing in their own tongues the mighty acts of God. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, God makes Jesus known. The Holy Spirit's first real gift was SPEECH. We are God's people and we are called to make Jesus known to the nations. When we are most filled with the Holy Spirit we are telling the story of Jesus Christ to the nations. That is our Great Commission and that is the great command Jesus gave to his disciples (and that is you and me) before he ascended to be with his Father in heaven. This is the story of the birth of Christ's Church. (I do not know a better way to speak about Christ's Church. My passion is to grow the church of Jesus Christ because we are losing ground. We do not seem to be taking the Great Commission command seriously. There is but one command and it is to "make disciples"! I believe each church is a family of God and should be free as an entity unto Christ, God the Father, and the power of the Holy Spirit alone.

10.  THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM AND HOLY COMMUNION

I believe that God through his Holy and Inspired Word has instituted two sacraments. One is the joy of celebrating Baptism. I hold ardently and boldly to water baptism as the visible sign and seal of the invisible means of grace that God provides to us. Baptism can be by sprinkling (a little water) or immersion (a lot of water). The other sacrament is The Lord's Supper. Again this too is the great and joyful feast of remembrance of Christ's death that we might have life, not only forever more in heaven, but life abundantly on earth. We are called as a people to celebrate the great sacrifice of Jesus death once and for all time on the cross, that we should have life, now and forever more. Amen.

11.  THE SECOND COMING

I believe that one day, we know not when, (Jesus does not know, only the Father knows), there will be a grand and glorious home going to heaven. Jesus Christ will come again, lifting up His saints in glory and taking His Church in His arms. Christ's return will be as real as real can be, not a vision or a sight for only a few to see.

Jesus says that he will lift all of us up to Him. We are going home to heaven to live in peace, joy, and love forever and ever. Those who do not believe, who have continued to live in sin and unbelief will live in pain and sorrow. This in itself is reason enough for all of us who love the Lord Jesus Christ, to take his message of love, hope, peace, and joy into the world with a sense of urgency like no other. We are indeed in the life saving business, because life and death is inevitable.

My Weekly Message is available.