Confession of Faith

This is a brief overview of our Confession of Faith.  What we believe in these key areas is very important.

 

We believe that the Bible is the literal word of God inspired by the Holy Spirit. (Absolute Truth)

(2 Timothy 3:16) All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.

 

The Bible is relevant to today’s world and reveals God and His plan for living. It is absolute truth.

 

We believe in one God who exists eternally in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

The nature of the Father is love (1 John 4:8, 16) 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 16  So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. He is revealed through Jesus Christ in the New Testament.  He becomes Father to all who receive Jesus Christ as Savior.

 

Jesus was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life as a man, died on the cross and was raised from the dead by the power of God.  He is true God, Deity from the beginning.

 

The Holy Spirit brings us to a place of recognition of our sinfulness and the need for salvation. Every person who is born again is indwelled by the Holy Spirit.  Additionally, Jesus promised to baptize believers with the Holy Spirit in order to fill them with God’s power for life and ministry.

 

The belief that God is one God expressed in three persons is important. Cults and false religions deny the deity of both Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

 

We believe that man was created in the image of God, but since Adam sinned all humankind has been born sinful. Sinful man is doomed to eternal separation from God in a literal hell. The only salvation from our sinfulness is through Jesus Christ.

We are born with a sin nature that we can do nothing about. Our life without Jesus Christ is a life of rebellion against God. The consequence of our rebellion is eternal separation from God. No one is good enough or can do enough to take care of our basic sinfulness.  Our sinfulness is taken away only through trusting in Christ for our salvation. Everyone comes to God through Jesus Christ and only through Jesus Christ.

 

What We Believe-The Sacraments

The sacraments are natural acts with spiritual significance. The Bible instructs us on the issues of water baptism and the Lord’s supper (communion). The sacraments become a meaningful expression of our heart relationship with God. The communion sacraments are available weekly at Grace.  Please feel free to partake as you feel led during the service.  We also celebrate communion together corporately several times a year on special services such as Good Friday and Christmas Eve. Baptisms are held throughout the year and incorporated as part of our worship services. If you are a follower of Jesus and would like to be baptized, please contact the church office.

 

Water Baptism

Water baptism in the Bible is always mentioned in context of repentance.  Since baptism is always a subsequent experience to repentance and salvation, we do not baptize infants. The most significant teaching on baptism is found in (Romans 6:1-4) 1 What Then are we to say?  Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  4 Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.  and (Colossians 2:12-13) 12 when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses. Through baptism we identify with Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection.  Just as Jesus died and was buried, so we go under the water. Just as He was raised alive, so we also come out of the water.

 

One of the common questions about baptism is this, “Do I need to be baptized to be saved?”.  Baptism does not save us, however to be obedient to God’s plan, we must be baptized. 

 

Communion

What we call communion is referred to the Lord’s supper in the Bible.  Jesus commands us to observe the memorial of the bread and the cup (Luke 22:19) Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.” Communion is for those who are trusting in Jesus for their salvation (1 Corinthians 11:17-34) Now in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. 18 For, to begin with, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you; and to some extent I believe it. 19 Indeed, there have to be factions among you, for only so will it become clear who among you are genuine.  20 When you come together, it is not really to eat the Lord’s supper. 21 For when the time comes to eat, each of you goes ahead with your own supper, and one goes hungry and another becomes drunk. 22 What! Do you not have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you show contempt for the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I commend you? In this matter I do not commend you!  23 For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you, Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood."  26  Do this, as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.  27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord.  28 Examine yourselves, and only eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For all who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgment against themselves.  30 For this reason many of you are weak and ill, and would not be judged.  32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. 33 So then, my brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. 34 If you are hungry, eat at home, so that when you come together, it will not be for your condemnation. About the other things I will give instructions when I come.

 

The sacraments do not save us. Salvation is through Jesus alone.