The particular purpose of Reaching Higher Ministries is to help people understand and strengthen their relationship with God, as well as with others. This is accomplished utilizing the Word of God via teaching, preaching, discipling, and Biblical Counseling (see definition: www.reachinghigherministries.org/biblical-counseling).
The cultural context of the Twenty First Century makes it popular, and politically expedient, to adjust traditional views of counseling on a variety of topics, including, among other things, gender, sexuality, marriage, abuse, and others. Many fashionable views abound. In particular, numerous voices in our culture embrace, as normal and proper, same-sex desires and behavior, same-sex marriage, transgender identification, etc. and malign—as evidence of ignorance and cruelty—efforts to counsel people away from such behaviors.
Reaching Higher Ministries is a private, non-profit, Christian ministry confessing that the Bible is the only authoritative rule for faith and practice. As such, we are not bound by the counseling standards of other organizations, states, or licensing agencies. We are, furthermore, not required to adjust our conceptions for and practice of biblical counseling in light of any current cultural practice.
Reaching Higher Ministries leadership, counselors, and/or staff are authorized to prioritize the below religious, ethical, and moral principles in carrying out its ministry.
The Holy Scriptures
We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the verbally, fully inspired Word of God; the final authority in all matters of doctrine, faith, and conduct. (II Tim. 3:16-17; II Peter 1:20-21; Mt. 5:18; John 16:12-13).
The Godhead
We believe in one Triune God, eternally existing in three persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – co-eternal in being, co-identical in nature, co-equal in power and glory, and having the same attributes and perfections. (Deut. 6:4; II Cor. 13:14).
God the Father
God the Father is the sovereign authority, who is the Father of all creation, who authored the divine decrees, who gave His Son for our redemption and His Holy Spirit for our sanctification, in order to glorify Himself. He is loving and just, “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (Ps. 139; Deut. 10:14-15; John 17:1-6, 15:26; I Pet. 1:16; II Pet. 3:9).
The Lord Jesus Christ
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Eternal Son of God, became man, without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful man. (John 1:1,2,14; Luke 1:35).
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through His death on the Cross as a representative, vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice and that our justification is made sure by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead. (Romans 3:24,25; I Pt. 2:24; Eph. 1:7; I Pt. 1:3-5).
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to heaven, and is now exalted at the right hand of God, where as our High Priest, He fulfills the ministry of representative Intercessor and Advocate. (Acts 1:9,10; Heb. 9:24; Rom. 8:34; I John 2:1,2).
We believe in the “Blessed Hope,” the personal, imminent, pretribulational and premillennial coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for His redeemed ones; and in the subsequent return to earth with His saints, to establish His Millennial Kingdom. (I Thes. 4:13-18; Zech. 14:4-11; Rev. 19:11-16, 20:1-6, 3:10; I Thes. 1:10; 5:9).
The Holy Spirit
We believe the Holy Spirit, a Person of the Godhead, convicts the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment; and that He is the Supernatural Agent in regeneration, baptizing all believers at conversion into the body of Christ, indwelling and sealing them unto the day of redemption.
We believe, as the Author and Interpreter of the Holy Scriptures, He is the Divine Teacher who guides believers into all truth and that it is the joyous responsibility of all believers to be filled with the Spirit. (II Peter 1:20-21; John 12:8-11; II Cor. 3:6; 1 Cor. 12:12-14; Rom. 8:9; Eph. 5:18; I John 2:20,27; John 16:7-11; Psalm 51:10-11; Titus 3:5; I Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 1:13).
Man
We believe that man was created by God in His image and likeness. In Adam’s sin the race fell, inherited a sinful nature, and became alienated from God; and we believe that man is totally depraved and, of himself, utterly unable to remedy his lost condition. (Gen. 1:26,27; Romans 3:22,23; Romans 5:12; Eph. 2:1-3, 12).
Salvation
We believe that man’s salvation is the gift of God brought to him by God’s grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose precious blood was shed on Calvary for the forgiveness of our sins. (Eph. 2:8-10; John 1:12, Eph. 1:7; I Peter 1:18, 19).
The Eternal Security and Assurance of Believers
We believe that all the redeemed, once saved, are kept by God’s power and are thus secure in Christ forever. (John 6:37-40; John 10:27-30; Romans 8:1,38,39; I Cor. 1:4-8; I Pet. 1:5).
We believe it is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God’s Word; which, however, clearly forbids the use of Christian liberty as an occasion to the flesh. (Rom. 13:13-14; Gal. 5:13; Titus 2:11-15).
The Two Natures of the Believer
We believe that every saved person possesses two natures, with provision made for victory of the new nature over the old nature through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit and that all claims to the eradication of the old nature in this life are unscriptural. (Rom. 6:13, 8:12,13; Gal. 5:16-25; Eph. 4:22-24; Col. 3:10; I Pet. 1:14-16; I John 3: 5-9).
Separation
We believe that the scripture clearly teaches that it is the will of God for every believer to be set apart by the Word of God, through the agency of the Holy Spirit, unto God; not conformed to the world but fully consecrated to the will of God, thereby, receiving power for holy living and effective service. The Christian is further exhorted to be separate from religious apostasy and binding yokes with unbelievers. (Rom. 12:1-2; I Cor. 6:14-18; II Peter 2:1-3; I John 2:15-17; II John; Jude 3, 4).
The Ministry and Spiritual Gifts
We believe that God is sovereign in the bestowment of all His gifts and that the offices of evangelists, pastors, and teachers are given for the equipping of the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body, and that manifestation sign gifts of speaking in tongues and the working of miracles gradually ceased as the New Testament Scriptures were completed and their authority became established. (I Corinthians 12:4-11; II Corinthians 12:12; Ephesians 4:7-12).
We believe that God does hear and answer all prayers of faith in accordance with His own will, including those for the sick and afflicted. (I John 5:14-15; Matthews 21:21-22; James 5:14-15).
The Church
We believe that the church, which is the body and espoused bride of Christ, is a spiritual organism made up of all born-again persons of this present age. (Eph. 1:22-23, 5:25-27; I Cor. 12:12-14; II Cor. 11:2).
We believe that the establishment and continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament Scriptures. (Acts 14:27, 20:17 & 20:26-32; I Tim. 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-11).
Believers, who regularly assemble for worship, praise, prayer, study of the Word, observance of the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, fellowship, enjoy the leadership of pastors, teachers, deacons and evangelists constitute a local church. (Mt. 16:16-18; Eph. 1:22, 5:25-27; Col. 1:18; I Cor. 12:12-13; Acts 2:42-47; John 14:1-3; Phil. 1:6; I Thes. 4:13-18; Ti. 2:11-14).
The Personality of Satan
We believe that Satan is a person, the author of sin and the cause of the fall, that he is the open and declared enemy of God and man and that he shall be eternally punished in the Lake of Fire. (Job. 1:6-7; Isa. 14:12-17; Matt. 4:2-11, 25:41; Rev. 20:10).
The Eternal State
We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men, the saved to eternal life and the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment. (Matt. 25:46; John 5:28-29, 11:25-26; Rev. 20:5,6,12,13).
We believe that the souls of the redeemed are, at death, absent from the body and present with the Lord, where in conscious bliss they await the first resurrection when spirit, soul, and body are reunited to be glorified forever with the Lord.
We believe that the spirits of unbelievers remain, after death, in conscious misery until the second resurrection when with soul and body reunited they shall appear at the great White Throne Judgment and shall be cast into the Lake of Fire, not to be annihilated, but to suffer everlasting conscious punishment. (Luke 16:19-25; Rev. 20:11-15; Matt. 25:41-46; II Thes. 1:7-9; Jude 6-7; Mark 9:43-48; Luke 23:43; II Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23).