The Church of God, Gaithersburg Maryland, believes the Bible to be the inspired and infallible holy written word of God. We are a Sabbath Keeping church, denominationally, teaching the relevance of both the Old and New Testament principles pertaining to doctrinal practices and current day worship. The seventh-day Sabbath and God’s Holy Feast Days are taught and kept holy in accordance with biblical instruction. Instituted at Creation, reaffirmed to Israel as part of the covenant at Sinai and taught by Jesus Christ who is the Messenger of the New Covenant. The observance of the Sabbath is considered basic to a Christian’s relationship with God.
“I am the Lord your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God” (Ezekiel 20: 19-20)
We believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins and after three nights and three days, rose from the dead. Jesus Christ is our Lord, Savior and our High Priest. We believe in the hope of Jesus Christ and his return as prophesied in God’s Word. We believe in the keeping of the Ten Commandments and God’s Holy Feast Days as described in the book of Leviticus 23. We believe we should live a Holy and separated life in this present World. We believe in the oneness of the creator. We believe in the Repentance of our sin. We believe in Baptism by submergence in water through Jesus Christ for the Remission of sins. We believe in the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit, as received (Acts 2), and it spiritually strengthens Christians, converting their minds to be like Christ in obedience to His Word.
The law of God as revealed in the Bible is a good, right and perfect system of eternal directives and principles which reflects God’s character and serves as a means of expressing His love toward man. God’s law teaches man how to properly worship God, how to love his fellow man, how to live life abundantly, and, at the same time, how to prepare for an eternal spiritual life in the family of God. The law of God is represented in both the Old and New Testaments and is expressed by both physical actions and spiritual motivations.
The Church of God International looks to the whole Bible, both Old and New Testaments, as its fundamental source of doctrine and teachings. We accept Christ’s statement that “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). We are the descendants of God through the covenant He made with Abraham who was a Hebrew. This covenant include the promises of both natural and spiritual blessings. By believing God, Abraham became the father of faith. Jesus is the promise seed of Abraham. Our faith in Jesus Christ brings us into harmony with the promises of the covenant (Galatians 3:25-29). The foundation of our doctrine spans the scope of both the old and new covenants. The commandments, statues and judgments of God, which were the foundation of the first covenant, have been removed from the stones, and through God’s Holy Spirit, they are now written in our hearts. The promise of the Holy Spirit was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost.