| Article 100-1 Preamble |
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The Bible Fellowship Church has assembled these helpful guidelines for believers desiring to serve Jesus Christ. We pray that it helps you to love the Lord "with all of your heart, all or your soul, all of your strength and all of your mind mind." Read More Article 100-1 - PREAMBLE 100-1.1 The Bible Fellowship Church sets forth these Biblical Principles for Living to inform and guide disciples of Jesus Christ in making moral decisions and living lives of obedience. 100-1.2 The BFC acknowledges the Scriptures as the supreme and final authority of faith and conduct and the Holy Spirit as the source of power and guidance for the believer. These principles are summaries of the biblical truth that reveals the Lord's directives in various aspects of life. 100-1.3 Increasing ethnic and cultural diversity in many of the churches and the prospect of new congregations being formed among various people groups have prompted the BFC to seek to state the principles so that they may be understood and applied by believers in any cultural context. 100-1.4 These principles are not exhaustive in that they do not cite all that the Bible says in any of the aspects included and that they do not cover all areas of life that the Scriptures address. In the future it may become apparent that additional aspects of life need to be addressed and that the current principles may need to be reconsidered with a view to amending them after further reflection on the biblical truth. 100-1.5 Every believer is accountable to God for all that the Bible says. Moral choices and actions should be based on the whole counsel of God. Each believer must faithfully read, study and review all parts of the Scriptures (2 Tim. 3:16, 17). 100-1.6 In seeking moral guidance, the believer should study the Old Testament books of the Law with special focus on the Ten Commandments (Exo. 20:1-17). The implications of the Law are explained and applied in the rest of the Old Testament. 100-1.7 The Lord Jesus summarized the Law in the Great Commandments (Mat. 22:34-40; Mark 12:30, 31) and explained the spiritual depth of the Law in the Sermon on the Mount (Mat. 5-7). The application of the Law in the individual life of the believer and the corporate life of the church is set forth in the New Testament letters. 100-1.8 Since each believer is indwelled and empowered by the Holy Spirit, there is an enabling to obey God's requirements (Rom. 8:3, 4). The Spirit controlled person will demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22, 23). He or she will receive and employ the gifts of the Spirit (1 Pe. 4:10, 11; Rom. 12:4-8; 1 Cor. 12:1-11). Where the life and power of the Holy Spirit are present in an individual or church, the three abiding qualities, faith, hope and love, will be evident (1 Cor. 13:13; 1 Thes. 1:3, Rom. 5:1, 2). The greatest of these is love, and "love is the fulfillment of the law" (Rom. 13:10).
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