There is only one living and true God. He is Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer of all things. The eternal God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.

The Father is all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present, and all-wise. God is sovereign over all creation and Father to those who place their faith in Jesus Christ. In Him, we have our being. He is loving, gracious, merciful and just. (Genesis 1:1, 26, 27; 2:7; 3:22; Psalm 90:2; Matthew 28:19; 1 Peter 1:2; 2 Corinthians 13:14)

Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God. Sent by the Father, He joined us here on earth, conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin, becoming fully man while remaining fully God. He lived a perfect, sinless life while on earth. He died on the cross to pay for the sins of the world, was buried and rose victorious over sin and death on the third day. He is now seated at the right hand of God, will return to earth to rescue His church, and reign over His new creation. (Matthew 1:22, 23; Isaiah 9:6; Hebrews 4:14, 15; John 1:1 - 5; 14:10 - 30; 1 Corinthians 15:3, 4; Romans 1:3, 4; Acts 1:9 - 11; 1 Timothy 6:14, 15; Titus 2:13; Rev. 21:1 - 5)

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He brings awareness of our sin and our need for Jesus. The Holy Spirit lives in each person at the moment of salvation. He provides the believer power for living, understanding of spiritual truths, guidance to do what is right in our daily walk, and a spiritual gift to serve the church. (2 Corinthians 3:17; John 16:7 - 13; 14:16, 17; Acts 1:8; 1 Corinthians 2:12; 3:16; Ephesians 1:13; Galatians 5:25; Ephesians 5:18)

The Bible is God's Word to us. It is the supreme source of truth, inspired by the Holy Spirit, written without error by man in its original form. It is the final authority in all matters of faith, practice and truth. (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20, 21; 2 Timothy 1:13; Psalm 119:105,160; Psalm 12:6; Proverbs 30:5)

I want to read the Bible

People are created in the image of God, male and female, to be like God and with God. Although every person has tremendous potential for good, from the fall of humanity in Genesis 3 until now all are born with a sinful nature that separates us from God. We are incapable of repairing this relationship apart from the salvation of Jesus. (Genesis 1:27; Psalm 8:3 - 6; Isaiah 53:6a; Romans 3:23; Isaiah 59:1, 2)

Salvation is God's free gift to us, but we must accept it by faith alone. We can never make up for our sin by self-improvement or good works. Only by turning to Jesus Christ and trusting in the sacrifice He made on the cross can anyone be saved from sin's penalty. Eternal life begins the moment one receives Jesus Christ into their life by faith. (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8, 9; John 14:6; Titus 3:5; Galatians 3:26; Romans 5:1)

I want to commit my life to Jesus

Because salvation is born of grace, it is kept by grace. While all believers were given the gift of salvation, we are called to persevere in the faith. Ultimately, salvation is sealed by the Holy Spirit and protected by the power of God's hand. When a person receives Jesus by faith and commits to follow Him, his/her salvation is eternally secure. (John 10:9, 29; 2 Timothy 1:12; Hebrews 7:25; 10:10, 14; 1 Peter 1:3 - 5)

We believe that those who have received the free gift of salvation will experience eternal life with God. God will make all things new. Those who have received Jesus will ultimately be made new, and there will be a new heaven, new earth, and God will live with His people forever. Those who have not received Jesus will be separated from God in Hell. (John 3:6; John 14:17; Romans 6:23; Romans 8:17 - 18; Revelation 20:13 - 15; 1 Corinthians 2:7 - 9)

The church is global, made up of believers of all nations. Jesus calls us to gather to pray, study the Bible, build community, and worship. The church is called to be the hands and feet of Jesus, providing hope to a broken world. (Revelation 5:9, Acts 1:8, Colossians 1:18; Matthew 28:18 - 20; Matthew 16:18; Ephesians 4:15 - 16; Hebrews 10:24-25; Acts 2:42; 1 Corinthians 14:26)

We affirm that the doctrines of the Trinity (God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), the deity of Jesus Christ, the atoning, liberating work of Christ on the cross, the bodily resurrection of Jesus, and salvation by grace through faith make up the essential, distinctive nature of Christianity. We acknowledge that there are peripheral, nonessential doctrines that are important to fellow believers but may not be critical to salvation. While our church may hold positions on these nonessentials, we will not allow these doctrines to cause division within the church. We will accept into our body those who have differing views on the nonessential doctrines but will not allow those of a different opinion to become a distraction and divide the church.

• In essential beliefs, we have unity. (Ephesians 4:4-6)
• In non-essential beliefs, we have liberty. (Romans 14:1-22)
• In all our beliefs, we show love. (1 Corinthians 13:2)

We believe in the biblical view of marriage and sexual expression; namely, that marriage is a lifelong one-flesh covenant union between two sexually different persons (natural born male and female) from different families, and that all sexual relationships and expressions outside of marriage are sin.

We believe that living in the way of Jesus means embracing His vision of faithfulness in sexuality. This practically looks like abstaining from all sexual relationships outside of the biblical vision of Christian marriage expressed in lifelong covenant union between a man and woman, avoiding pornography, inappropriate relationships that compromise our witness, and pursuing life giving holiness by the grace of God. Practicing this vision of faithfulness in sexual expression should come from a deep inner transformation of the heart (Matthew 5:27-28).

We strive to express this belief in accordance with the way of Jesus, which is full of grace and truth. We welcome all people, regardless of their beliefs and practices, to attend Highlands and to hear the good news of Jesus.

In the New Testament, one of the ways that the church is described is as the Body of Christ. We are a community of people who are to embody Jesus collectively, and to express the good news of Jesus purposefully to the world. Therefore, we believe that our beliefs and expression of those beliefs should mirror the way of Jesus.

In regards to those who both align and do not align themselves with our beliefs, we practice love, generosity, service, hospitality, and mercy.

Love is an intentional act of the will to put others ahead of ourselves.
Generosity is the practice of giving to those who are in need.
Service is intentionally using our spiritual gifts, goods, and strength - to help someone in a non-transactional way without the expectation of reciprocation - for God's purpose of human flourishing.
Hospitality is creating an environment in which others feel belonging, moving them from stranger to guest to friend to family.
Mercy is practicing kindness and concern for people, especially those who are in serious need.

We invite all people to come as you are and experience the new life Jesus offers. We pray each person who walks through our doors feels welcome and leaves transformed by finding salvation and forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ. We see something beautiful about Jesus in that the people who often lived in disagreement with His teachings were the same people who felt invited to sit in Jesus's presence around the table and to discover a better way. These included tax collectors, prostitutes, adulterers, and others deemed as the lowest of the low on the moral ladder. Many of those people decided to follow Jesus as their Lord and Savior, turning from a life of sin, and finding forgiveness and transformation in Christ. We aspire to be a church that is uncompromisingly committed to the teaching of Jesus in our beliefs, and who welcome all people that they may find the love of Jesus just as compelling as we do. Come as you are and leave transformed by experiencing life with Jesus!

The Gospel as a Story

We want for you to experience life with Jesus more than anything else. Therefore, we want to share the gospel or good news of Jesus with you. No one statement can include all of the enormity of the good news of Jesus, but we want to describe the story of the gospel that is conveyed throughout the entirety of the Bible in a simple and meaningful way.

Why am I here?

God.

We were created by God and for God.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. - Genesis 1:1

Then God said, "Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground." So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. - Genesis 1:26-27

It begins with God. He has always been and spoke everything into existence. Of all of the beauty of God's creation, human beings alone were created in the image of God. We were created with the capacity to love, decide, create, and have relationships. We were created with the purpose of being loved by God, loving God, serving God, and enjoying a relationship with God. In the beginning, by God's design, there was complete peace and harmony. There was no sickness and death. There was only love, acceptance, and a close relationship between God and the first people, Adam and Eve. This brings us to the next question:

What went wrong?

Distrust and Disobedience

For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. "So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. - Gen. 3:5-6

God had given Adam and Eve opportunity and responsibility. They had the opportunity to decide and the responsibility to manage creation. The tree mentioned in those verses of Genesis 3 existed not to trip them up, but to represent the love and trust in the relationship between God and people. However, Adam and Eve distrusted God and decided to disobey Him. We refer to this distrust and disobedience as sin. When they sinned, the consequences were impactful. Sin entered into all of creation and has impacted every person.

Here's what sin is: A natural tendency and condition. It is each of us breaking God's commands in thoughts, words, and actions; trying to be self-righteous; replacing God with other created things.

Here's what sin does: It brings guilt, shame, and brokenness in people. Spiritually we are disconnected from God. Physically we experience sickness and death. Socially it causes conflict and hatred. Emotionally we feel anxiety and depression. Morally there is a decaying sense of right and wrong.

So, all of this overwhelmingly leads us to the next question:

Is there any hope?

The short answer is - yes! But it's not because we are powerful enough to undo or fix anything. It is only because of Jesus! Jesus gave his life for our sins, just as God our Father planned, in order to rescue us from this evil world in which we live. - Galatians 1:4

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. - 1 Peter 3:18

Just as God had promised, as recorded in the Old Testament of the Bible more than 300 times, the Savior of the world, Jesus, came to rescue. The story of His birth, life, death, resurrection, and beyond are recorded in the Bible. The entirety of the Bible points to Jesus. He is our only source of hope and rescue.

How does Jesus make hope possible? He lived a sinless and perfect life (2 Corinthians 5:21), died on the cross for our sin (Romans 5:8), and rose from the dead on the third day as He predicted (1 Corinthians 15:3-5). He did everything that we needed, but could not accomplish on our own.

How should I respond?

Considering this good news of hope in Jesus, how do I respond? There are no magical words to say or a book to sign. The response in receiving Jesus and beginning a relationship with Him is a personal one. We want to help guide you through this response, which involves the following:

Trust in Jesus Alone

Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life." (John 6:47)

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Belief and faith in Jesus is trusting that He alone can save you.

Admit your Need to Jesus

As we read earlier, we each have sinned, fallen short, are imperfect, and in desperate need of hope.

Ask Jesus to forgive you

Jesus said, "Repent and believe in the gospel." (Mark 1:15) When we ask Jesus to forgive us, we are also agreeing with Him that we have done wrong. This doesn't mean that we will not ever struggle again, but this means that we are replacing our past patterns with a new life based on the good news of Jesus.

Follow Jesus

Now, because of what Jesus has done in your life, you are a Jesus-follower. Your allegiance and commitment is to Him. This influences every area of your life as you live to worship, honor, and obey Jesus as "the Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords" (1 Timothy 6:15).

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. - John 3:16

I want to commit my life to Jesus