New Bethel House of Prayer, Inc.

What We Believe

New Bethel House of Prayer, Inc. is committed to service through teaching and preaching of the word of God, and encouraging the application of the Word through faith. The Bible, from Genesis to Revelations, is the foundation for all teaching at New Bethel House of Prayer Inc.  We recognize and emphasize the relevance of both Old and New Testament principles in modern day worship and service to God.  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness(2 Tim 3:16).  The church is led through the guiding biblical principle "with God nothing shall be impossible" (Luke 1:37).

God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit

In Genesis 1, God references himself with the term “our”, saying “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” (Genesis 1:26, NIV). The term ‘our’ refers to ownership among a group – God in concert with His Word and the Holy Spirit.

  • We believe in the oneness of the Creator – “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” (Deuteronomy 6:4, NIV)
  • The Old Testament says that the Messiah would be called God and the Everlasting Father:
  • Isaiah 9:6-7 (KJV) For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
  • John 1:1-5 describes Jesus as the manifestation of God’s word, the tool for all created things, the light of all mankind shining in darkness.
  • John 1:14 says “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
  • “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever. He is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive him because it doesn’t see him or know him. But you do know him, because he remains with you and will be in you” John 14:16-17.

The Holy Spirit is the presence of God, who leads God’s children into all truth, and guides them in living a life unto God.

  •  “When he comes, he will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment.” John 16:8.

Salvation

Salvation is a gift of God according to Ephesians 2:8. It is not earned or worked for. According to Romans 10:9-10, salvation is received by faith confession ‘If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.’

Baptism

Baptism is an outward sign of an inward commitment to follow Jesus Christ. John the Baptist baptized those who had repented and sought to be identified with the coming Messiah. When Peter addressed the people in the upper room on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:38, he directed them to “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

  • Water baptism is a form of renewal in that one is submerged into a watery grave and rises from that grave as a new creature according to Romans 6:4.
  • Baptism by immersion is reflected through Matthew 3:16 where Jesus was in the water and came up “out of the water” inferring that He was submerged during John’s baptizing of Him.

Diet

God established diets for His people over time. In the Garden of Eden, a plant-based diet was given (Genesis 1:29). After the flood, Noah was permitted to eat meat alongside plants (Genesis 9:3). The dietary laws in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 were the final guidelines for His people, serving to distinguish them from among others that they dwelt(Leviticus 20:24-26). There is no indication that these laws changed thereafter.

While some Christians reference Mark 7:18-23, Matthew 15:10-20, and Acts 10:17 to argue that Jesus abolished the dietary law, these passages emphasize rejecting man-made traditions and judgments, not the law itself. We see observing the dietary law as a means to continue to honor God’s will.

7th Day Sabbath Observance

Before there was a nation of Israel, God set apart the seventh day as a day of rest. Later, through the Ten Commandments, He revealed how we are to honor it. Jesus, His disciples, and early Christians faithfully observed the seventh-day Sabbath for centuries. Nowhere does Scripture show a change in this God-given command. That’s why we continue to follow God’s instruction and Christ’s example: “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.”

  • “and on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”  (Genesis 2:2-3, KJV).
  • “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.  In it you shall do no work…for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day.  Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” (Exodus 20:8-11, NKJV).
  • For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day. (Matthew 12:8, KJV).
  • And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: (Mark 2:27, KJV).
  • And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up : and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read (Luke 4:16, KJV).
  • And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. (Acts 18:4, KJV).

The Lord’s Feast Days

In Leviticus chapter 23 God identifies specific days that He calls His feasts. The days He provided for His people to commemorate marked mighty works He did on their behalf throughout history.

  • Passover – 14th day of the first month 
  • Feast of Unleavened Bread – 15th day Abib/Nisan
  • Shavuot/Pentecost – Sivan 6 (50 days following the 15th day of Abib/Nisan)
  • Feast of Trumpets – Tishri 1
  • Day of Atonement – Tishri 10
  • Feast of Tabernacles Tishri 15 – Tishri 22

Jesus declares in Matthew 5:17 “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.” Where the Old Testament Law provided salvation through the blood of animals, the application of the Law that changed provided salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ who became our blood sacrifice and our Passover. The early church continued to recognize the observance of the Lord’s feast days, even after Jesus died. The spectrum of the Feasts days depicts God’s plan of salvation.

  • The spring Feast days—Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits—serve as annual reminders of God’s deliverance: from Egypt for Israel and, through Christ our Passover, from spiritual bondage and the chains of this world for all who receive Him. (Exodus 12, 1 Corinthians 5:7, 1 Corinthians 15:20).
  •  Pentecost commemorates God sharing how He desires for His people to live in relation to him and one another, giving the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 to the giving of the Holy Spirit to the Church,  which empowered believers to declare the works of God to many nations (Acts 2).
  • Fall Feast Days- Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles prophetically speak to things to come.
    • The Feast of Trumpets is celebrated with the command to memorialize the blowing of the trumpet (Leviticus 23:24). Historically, the sound of the trumpet was a signal that something was about to happen. 1 Thessalonians 4:16 says “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.”
    • Day of Atonement – The Day of Atonement in the Old Testament was a solemn day dedicated to repentance and and forgiveness with blood sacrifice in the Holy of Holies, the sins of the community being placed on a scapegoat with fasting, prayer, and self-reflection. In the New Testament, we have received our atonement through Jesus Christ (Romans 5:11). Romans 14:10-12 and 2 Timothy 4:1, say we will all be judged before God.
    • Feast of Tabernacles – In the Old Testament, this feast commemorates God’s provision during the Wilderness journey from Egypt to the promised land. It was also a time of ingathering of the agricultural harvest. Zechariah 14:16 prophesied of a time when all nations would keep the Feast of Tabernacles. As New Testament believers, we recognize that this world is not our home, a temporary dwelling place. Jesus went away to prepare a place for us. When Jesus returns, he is coming to gather those who are his. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, Matthew 24:31).