Heights Cumberland Presbyterian Church

Contents
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Confession of Faith
1883 Preface
1883 Intro
1984 Preface
1984 Intro

    1.00
    2.00
    3.00
    4.00
    5.00
    6.00
    7.00

The Constitution

Rules of Discipline

Directory for Worship

Rules of Order

1.00 GOD SPEAKS TO THE HUMAN FAMILY
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The Living God
The Holy Scriptures
God's Will
Creation
Providence
The Law of God

The Living God      Top
     1.01  We believe in the only true and living God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; who is holy love, eternal, unchangeable in being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.
     1.02  The one living God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Holy Trinity, speaks through the holy scriptures, the events of nature and history, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, but uniquely in Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.
     1.03  By word and action God invites persons into a covenant relationship. God promises to be faithful to the covenant and to make all who believe his people. All who respond with trust and commitment to God's invitation find the promise sure and rejoice in being members of God's people, the covenant community.
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       1.01 Dt. 6:4-5, 32:3-4; 1 Ch. 29:10-12; Ps. 33:4-5, 89:5-18, 99, 102:25-27, 103, 111, 145:8-21; Is. 6:1-3; Mal. 3:6; Jn. 3:16; 1 Co. 8:4-6; 1 Ti. 2:5-6; 1 Jn. 4:7-10; Rev. 1:8, 15:3-4.
       1.02 Ex. 3:1-6; Ps. 19:1-6; Mt. 28:18-20; Jn. 1:1-18, 3:16-17; Ac. 7; Ro. 1:18-20; 1 Co. 1:30-31; 2 Co. 13:14; Eph. 4:11-13; Ph. 2:5-11; Col. 1:13-20, 2:8-10; 2 Ti. 3:14-17; He. 1, 2, 5:5-10; 2 P. 1:19-21.
       1.03 Ca. 9:8-17, 17; Dt. 7:9; Ps. 36:5, 89:1-5; Jer. 31:31-34; 1 Co. 1:4-9; 2 Co. 3:4-18; He. 8, 9:11-28, 10:19-25.

The Holy Scriptures      Top
     1.04  God's words and actions in creation, providence, judgment, and redemption are witnessed to by the covenant community in the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.*
     1.05  God inspired persons of the covenant community to write the scriptures. In and through the scriptures God speaks about creation, sin, judgment, salvation, the church and the growth of believers. The scriptures are the infallible rule of faith and practice, the authoritative guide for Christian living.
     1.06  God's word spoken in and through the scriptures should be understood in the light of the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. The authority of the scriptures is founded on the truth contained in them and the voice of God speaking through them.
     1.07  In order to understand God's word spoken in and through the scriptures, persons must have the illumination of God's own Spirit. Moreover, they should study the writings of the Bible in their historical settings, compare scripture with scripture, listen to the witness of the church throughout the centuries, and share insights with others in the covenant community.
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       1.04 Gn. 1-3, 6-8, 11:1-9, 19:1-29, 37, 39-50; Ex. 1:19; 1 K. 17:1-6, 19:4-8; 2 K. 22; Is. 53, 55; Am. 2; Ac. 7; Ro. 4; Gal. 3:6-14; Eph. 1:3-14.
       1.05 Gn. 1-3; Ex. 24:3-4; Dt. 31:9-13; Jos. 8:30-35; Jn. 3:16-17, 20:30-31; Ac. 1:16; 1 Co. 2:11-13; Eph. 4:11-16; 2 Ti. 3:14-17; 2 P. 1:19-21, 3:18.
       1.06 Ps. 119:142, 151-152; Mt. 5:21-48, 17:4-8; Jn. 16:12-15, 17:7-8; He. 1; 1 Jn. 5:9.
       1.07 Jn. 14:25-27, 16:12-15; Ac. 15:15-18; I Co. 2:9-13.

*Old Testament


Genesis	I Kings	Ecclesiastes	Obadiah
Exodus	II Kings	Song of Solomon	Jonah
Leviticus	I Chronicles	Isaiah	Micah
Numbers	II Chronicles	Jeremiah	Nahum
Deuteronomy	Ezra	Lamentations	Habakkuk
Joshua	Nehemiah	Ezekiel	Zephaniah
Judges	Esther	Daniel	Haggai
Ruth	Job	Hosea	Zechariah
I Samuel	Psalms	Joel	Malachi
II Samuel	Proverbs	Amos

*New Testament


Matthew	II Corinthians	I Timothy	II Peter
Mark	Galatians	II Timothy	I John
Luke	Ephesians	Titus	II John
John	Philippians	Philemon	III John
Acts of the Apostles	Colossians	Hebrews	Jude
Romans	I Thessalonians	James	Revelation
I Corinthians	II Thessalonians	I Peter

God's Will      Top
     1.08  God's will for people and all creation is altogether wise and good. Although revealed in the scriptures and in the events of nature and history, God's will is made known supremely in the person of Jesus Christ, who did God's will even to death.
     1.09  God's will is sufficiently disclosed for persons to respond to it in worship, love, and service, yet they should hold in reverence and wonder the mystery of divine ways.
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       1.08 Dt. 18:15-19; Ps. 33:4-5, 34:8; Mr. 26:36-46; Jn. 5:30-47, 10:11-18; Ro. 1:18- 23, 2:4; Eph. 1:3-14, 3:1-12; He. 5:7-10.
       1.09 Is. 40:12-18, 45:9-11; Ro. 1:18-23, 2:12-16, 11:33-36.

Creation      Top
     1.10  God is the creator of all that is known and unknown. All creation discloses God's glory, power, wisdom, beauty, goodness, and love.
     1.11  Among all forms of life, only human beings are created in God's own image. In the sight of God, male and female are created equal and complementary. To reflect the divine image is to worship, love, and serve God.
     1.12  The natural world is God's. Its resources, beauty, and order are given in trust to all peoples, to care for, to conserve, to enjoy, to use for the welfare of all, and thereby to glorify God.
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       1.10 Gn. 1-2; Ex. 20:11; Neh. 9:6; Ps. 19:1-6, 24:1-2, 95:3-7, 104; Jn. 1:1-3; Ac. 14:14-17.
       1.11 Gn. 1:26-27, 2:7, 5:1-2; Job 33:4; Ps. 8:3-8, 100:3; Gal. 3:27-28.
       1.12 Gn. 1:26; Ps. 24:1, 50:10-11; Hag. 2:8; I Co. 4:7.

Providence      Top
     1.13  God exercises providential care over all creatures, peoples, nations, and things. The manner in which this care is provided is revealed in the scripture.
     1.14  God ordinarily exercises providence through the events of nature and history, using such instruments as persons, laws, and the scriptures, yet remains free to work with them or above them. The whole creation remains open to God's direct activity.
     1.15  The purpose of God's providence is that the whole creation be set free from its bondage to sin and death, and be renewed in Jesus Christ.
     1.16  God never leaves or forsakes his people. All who trust God find this truth confirmed in awareness of his love, which includes judgment upon sin, and which leads to repentance and to greater dependence upon divine grace. All who do not trust God are, nevertheless, under that same providence, even when they ignore or reject it. It is designed to lead them also to repentance and to trust in divine grace.
     1.17  God's providence embraces the whole world, but is especially evident in the creation of the church, the covenant community. Through patient discipline, God guides this chosen community in her mission of witness and service in the world.
     1.18  God's providence is sufficiently displayed to be known and experienced, but, at the same time, it partakes of divine mystery, and is the occasion for wonder, praise, and thanksgiving. Thus even in illness, pain, sorrow, tragedy, social upheaval, or natural disaster, persons may be sure of God's presence and discover his grace to be sufficient.
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       1.13 Gn. 4, 6-9, 12-22, 27-33, 35, 37, 39-50; Ex. 1-20, 33; Job 38-41; Ps. 23, 27, 34, 37, 90-91,105, 107, 121; Is. 25:1-5, 40-45; Mt. 5:45, 6:25-34, 7:7-12, 10:29-31; Ro. 8:28-39; 2 Ti. 1;11-12, 4:14-18; I P. 5:6-11.
       1.14 Ex. 9:13-16; Jos. 1:5-9; Ps. 135:5-7; Jer. 1:4-10; Mt. 19:26; Lk. 3:8; Ac. 22:12-15, 27:22-25; Ro. 4:18-21.
       1.15 Ro. 8:18-23; Eph. 1:9-10; Col. 1:17-20.
       1.16 Ps. 94:14-19, 139:7-12; Pr. 15:3; Jet. 23:23-24; Ro. 2:1-16; 2 Co. 12:7-10.
       1.17 Mal. 3:16-18; Mt. 16:18; Ac. 20:28; Ro. 8:28-39; Eph. 5:26-27.
       1.18 Job 11:7-10; Is. 40:28-31, 55:8-9; Ro. 11:33-36; 2 Co. 12:7-10.

The Law of God      Top
     1.19  God gives the moral law to govern human actions and relations. It is the principle of justice woven into the fabric of the universe and is binding upon all persons.
     1.20  The moral law is a gift of god's grace. While it consists of the basic principles of justice revealed in the scriptures and upheld by God, it does not wholly describe the pattern of his actions toward persons. The judgment of God, in which the moral law is upheld, is, at the same time, an expression of redemptive love.
     1.21  The moral law is fulfilled in the gospel. Therefore, the behavior of Christians in human relations should reflect the pattern of God's behavior toward them, in which love and justice are intertwined.
     1.22  The purpose of the moral law is to create wholeness or health in human life--spiritually, mentally, physically, socially. Therefore, it is the intention of the moral law that the forces of human personality which create integrity of life in all its aspects be used to achieve that wholeness.
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       1.19 Ex. 20-23; Lv. 19;18; Dt. 6:49; Ps. 19:7-11; Mic. 6:6-8; Mt. 22:34-40; Ro. 2:12-16, 12:9-10; Gal. 6:7-10; 1 Ti. 1:8-11.
       1.20 Ex. 31:18; Ps. 40:8, 103:8-14; Jer. 31:33; Ro. 2:14-16.
       1.21 Mt. 5:17-19, 12:1-8; Ro. 3:21-31, 12:9-13, 13:8-10; Gal. 3:21-26; He. 8:8-13.
       1.22 Lk. 10:25-28.

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