Our
Beliefs: Biblical Basis
Rice BowlsTM Beliefs have been prayerfully derived from Biblical teaching, including the following Scriptures.
Click here to view Biblical basis for all statements of Belief.
All verses from the New International Version (NIV)
translation.
We believe that all Christ followers are connected
invisibly through their faith and visibly in the local church. It is through the body life of the church that
believers experience maximum growth as they celebrate and serve the Lord with
one another.
Just as each of
us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same
function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs
to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If
a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it
is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is
encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others,
let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is
showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
– Romans 12: 4-8
The body is a
unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many,
they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one
Spirit into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free--and we were all
given the one Spirit to drink. Now the body is not made up of one part but of
many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to
the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And
if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the
body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the
whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were
an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the
parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they
were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but
one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the
head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" On the contrary,
those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts
that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts
that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable
parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body
and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should
be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for
each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is
honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each
one of you is a part of it. – I Corinthians 12:12-27
Click here to view Biblical basis for all statements of Belief.