Pastor Marc Bertrand

  Do you believe what the Apostles believe ? The Apostles’ Creed is a statement of Christian belief that starts with the idea of belief. It places trust in God as the Father of everything. The Apostles believed that the Word who became Jesus Christ was also a member of the God family. Apostolic doctrine is authoritative and vital to our understanding of what God has done for us. How do you think of God? As a Trinity? Do you think what you believe about God would agree with what Jesus’ disciples believed and taught about God? For centuries after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, theologians, priests and bishops debated the most fundamental questions about the nature of God the Father, God the Son and the Holy Spirit. What? These things had to be debated? Didn’t the apostles know what God was like and teach others about God? Why weren’t these things known from the earliest times? What has come down to us today is the result of numerous church councils held by men over hundr...

  Where did your divine nature come from? Believers, throughout Scripture, are described as having two distinct natures: one rooted in the legacy of human fallenness (“the old self” or “the flesh”) and the other flowing from a transformative, Spirit-empowered renewal (“the new self” or “the Spirit”). The first problem that comes up with this question is one of semantics. For example, many prefer "sin nature," others prefer "sinful nature," and still others prefer the ambiguous "flesh." Whatever the specific names used for the warring parties, what is relevant is that an ongoing battle rages within the Christian. These two natures form a central aspect of Christian teaching on sanctification, directly informing how one relates to God, the world, and oneself. This topic appears most clearly in the New Testament, especially in the writings of Paul, though it is foreshadowed in the Hebrew Scriptures as well. The concept of the "Divine Nature" is cent...