Our hope is to simply be Christians in Christ’s church… SHAPED BY SCRIPTURE.
God Offers Salvation to All People
We are the supreme object of God’s creation. We are made in the spiritual image of God, to be like Him in character while exercising free moral choice. Unfortunately, we have all chosen to sin and thus have become separated from God. This is the dangerous condition from which we need to be saved.
Genesis 1:27Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 9:6 Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image. Psalm 8:3Psalm 8:3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? 5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet. Isaiah 53:6aIsaiah 53:6a All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned – every one – to his own way;… Romans 3:23Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Isaiah 59:1Isaiah 59:1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
God offers all of mankind a way back into His Kingdom through covenant relationship.” Jesus offers us His “New Covenant” for the Christian age which began on the day of Pentecost and continues today.
Ezekiel 36:24Ezekiel 36:24 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. Hebrews 8:8-13Hebrews 8:8-13 For he finds fault with them when he says:’Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 9 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord. 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 11 And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. 12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.’ 13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. 1 Timothy 2:31 Timothy 2:3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus….
Salvation is God’s free gift to us. We can never make up for our sin by self-improvement or good works. We avoid separation from God only by accepting God’s forgiveness through Jesus Christ .
Though salvation is a free gift to us, we still must choose to accept it. When we turn from our self-ruled life and turn to Jesus in obedient faith, we are saved and receive the promise of eternal life in heaven. In spite of our many mistakes, we remain secure in God’s grace. Only if we turn in rebellion may we be lost.
Romans 5:1Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 6:23Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Ephesians 2:8Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. John 1:12John 1:12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. John 14:6John 14:6 Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’ Titus 3:5Titus 3:5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. Galatians 3:26Galatians 3:26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 2 Peter 2:202 Peter 2:20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. 22 What the true proverb says has happened to them: ‘The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.’
Faith begins with choosing to believe what we learn from scripture concerning the Good News of Jesus Christ: that He is the Son of God, that He died for our sins, that He was buried, and was raised from the dead.
John 3:16John 3:16 ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.’ John 6:45John 6:45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me — John 8:24John 8:24 ‘…I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.’ 1 Cor 15:31 Cor 15:3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.
Faith includes a change of mind or heart, produced by grief concerning our separation from God because of our own sin. This grief leads to a willing change in the way we think and act. Our will becomes that of doing our Heavenly Father’s will.
Luke 13:3Luke 13:3 ‘No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.’ John 7:17John 7:17 If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. Hebrews 12:1Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Acts 17:30Acts 17:30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
Faith in the heart finds expression in the verbal confession that Jesus is the Son of God. This confession includes faith in God having raised Jesus from the dead, a belief central to Christianity.
Matthew 10:32Matthew 10:32 So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven. Romans 10:9Romans 10:9 Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Faith culminates in baptism of the penitent believer. Baptism (immersion) is a reenactment of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Baptism is the time at which God pronounces forgiveness and where our guilt of sin is removed from God’s view of us. In light of this, we recognize that baptism is essential for salvation. The blood that Jesus shed on the cross provides the sacrificial payment required by God for our sins and is the power of baptism. As God created us to be children in His eternal Kingdom, our new birth at baptism begins life in His family.
Matthew 3:16Matthew 3:16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him. Matthew 28:19Matthew 28:19 ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’ John 3:3John 3:3 Jesus answered him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ 4 Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?’ 5 Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.’ Acts 2:38Acts 2:38 And Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’ Acts 8:36Acts 8:36 And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, ‘See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?’ 38 And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. 39 And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. Acts 22:16Acts 22:16 ‘And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.’ Romans 6:1Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. 1 Peter 3:211 Peter 3:21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1:5Ephesians 1:5 He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.
At the moment of baptism, we can know we have passed from spiritual death into spiritual life. We have passed from Satan’s realm into the “In-Christ” realm.
Ephesians 2:4Ephesians 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Colossians 1:12Colossians 1:12 … Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.
We know at the moment of baptism that His Holy Spirit indwells our heart. This promise of the New Covenant empowers us to live according to God’s way.
Colossians 1:27Colossians 1:27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Romans 8:9Romans 8:9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 1 Corinthians 3:161 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 1 Corinthians 12:131 Corinthians 12:13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. Galatians 5:22Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Salvation Requires us to be Transformed Followers of Jesus Christ
Salvation is just the beginning of a lifetime of Christian growth better known as discipleship.
John 15:8John 15:8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.
Acts 6:7Acts 6:7 And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.
Just as in a marriage relationship, a covenant relationship has to be nurtured in order to be healthy.
Hebrews 8:9Hebrews 8:9 … Not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.
Providing our mind with constant interaction with the Word is vital to our continued growth, health, and greater faith.
1 Peter 2:21 Peter 2:2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—
2 Timothy 2:152 Timothy 2:15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
Romans 10:17Romans 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Putting our faith into practice strengthens our spirit. We do not participate in good works in order to be saved; rather, we participate in good works out of gratitude for our salvation. Good works is now a part of who we are. Failure to grow in good works leads to spiritual weakness and eventual death.
Hebrews 5:14Hebrews 5:14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
James 2:17James 2:17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
Jesus asks us to grow beyond our comfort zone. This growth is sometimes difficult and requires spiritual discipline to achieve. The Holy Spirit helps us in a special way with this life of discipline that leads to purity, maturity, and Christlikeness.
1 Cor 9:241 Cor 9:24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
Ephesians 4:13Ephesians 4:13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.
All scripture quotations in the Beliefs section use the English Standard Version (ESV®).
|
