At Envision Live Center we believe the following:
1. There is one God who manifests Himself In the Trinity, Father, Son, & Holy Spirit.
2. That Jesus is Emanuel. God with us. He was born of the Virgin Mary, shed His blood on the cross to pay for your sins and mine and the sins of the whole world. Jesus died, was buried and on the third day rose bodily from the grave.
3. He is coming back again visibly and bodily as He went into heaven to consummate History, fulfill God's perfect plan and rule and reign forever.
4. That we are given as a free gift when we call on Jesus, forgiveness of sins, adoption into God's family, eternal life, and access to the abundant life God planned uniquely for us from the beginning of the earth.
5. That all of the gifts and callings of the Holy Spirit are for today, that everyone should desire and seek the full measure of the Holy Spirit in their lives and that the cannon of Scripture both old and new testaments is exactly and completely what God intended for us to have for instruction and guidance from Him.
6. That intimacy with God achieved through extravagant, costly Worship both corporate and private, taking in the Word of God in a pursuit of intimacy with its author, relational prayer and fellowship with others that reflect God's glory, produces Fruit of the Spirit, God's Holiness, and all other truly good things in life and eternity.
7. That taking responsibility for our mistakes and asking forgiveness as well as forgiving others are the keys to living a life of wholeness, favor and blessing.
8. That sowing your time, talent, and treasure into what God has called you to do for His Kingdom will come back to you in a bountiful harvest of blessing and prosperity with purpose.
9. That God is a good God whose plans for us are awesome. He is worthy of our trust and praise even when we are experiencing suffering or hard times, knowing that if we love Him and are called according to His purpose, He will work all things together for our good.
10. That God created each of us for fellowship with Him and has a unique mission for every one of us. Finding and fulfilling that mission is the only thing that will give our lives the meaning and purpose we long for.
As many of you know, Orthodox Jews keep the law. They keep both the Torah or the Old Testament law and laws of Rabbinic tradition which are laws in addition to the laws of the Old Testament. Orthodox Jews consider these additional laws to have the same force and value as the Old Testament law. Jesus on the other hand said they were man made and had the effect of enslaving God's people with man made rules. Churches of various stripes have mountains of man made rules. Amish prescribed dress, food, transportation, power supply, roof lines, buttons or no buttons etc., etc. Every church has different ways they look at God's word and there is a tendency in man's nature to expand on what God has said with a variety of regulations. They are not absolutes but often are treated that way. Below are the ways we look at some issues that have in many churches caused controversy and division. We want to be up front about how these issues will be handled at Envision.
Rules of the House:
1. Divorce. God hates divorce, we hate divorce, and Sherry and I are divorced and remarried. However, we are living out God's full and complete mission for our lives. As you know, God also hates liars and in fact all liars will be thrown into the lake of fire. But liars can be forgiven and completely fulfill God's plan for their life and so can the divorced, pregnant outside of marriage, bankrupt, homosexual, drug user etc. etc. We will sanction and bless second, third or more marriages. Believing that divorce has many sins all around and through it but all sin can be washed clean and all things become new.
2. If you commit adultery, homosexual sin, use drugs or are accused or convicted of a crime, or if you are pregnant outside of marriage, living with your partner unmarried, or a host of other behaviors that are not what God's best is for you, you are welcome to attend church, in fact we absolutely want you there. However, when God allows these things to be exposed, leadership roles must be suspended or not begun until repentance is evident and a time of healing has passed. The duration of time would be determined by each individual situation.
3. Drinking alcohol within the boundaries of the law of the land and without abusing it is acceptable.
4. Smoking does not relegate anyone to second class status. However, addictions of any sort including but not limited to, smoking, drinking, gambling, pornography, eating, gossiping, drugs etc, are not God's best and deliverance is available in intimacy with Christ.
5. Dancing, playing cards, gambling, going to the movies, theater, ball games, watching TV, dressing fashionably, etc. all are activities that are banned in some Christian circles, under their set of rules. We do not believe they are prohibited by scripture and are all acceptable when done by a person with a heart that truly wants what God wants. All of these behaviors can be abused (as well as many others) and when done with no thought of God's view, only self or flesh then it obviously becomes wrong.
6. Similarly, having resources (money, talent, personality, beauty or intelligence) are a good thing when used for God's purposes but are not good when used for the purposes of the world, the flesh or the devil.
7. Communion should be done regularly. We will plan for once a month but the time is not a hard and fast rule. Either wine or grape juice is fine and we may use both from time to time, as well as various ways of administering it.
8. Baptism is an outward sign of an inward act. It is a public profession of taking Christ as your savior. It should be done after you have made Jesus your savior. We believe you should be baptized by immersion but sprinkling or pouring is acceptable as long it was done after you received Christ as your savior.
9. We believe for building a relationship with God, the most beneficial way to read scripture is in the easiest to read and understand versions of the scripture. Thus we recommend the New Living and the Message Bibles for that purpose. For serious study of exact meanings the Amplified, New American Standard and NIV are what we recommend.