This page will eventually contain various materials for study. There will be courses to help you grow in knowledge of God, the Bible and further the efforts of spiritually minded people to become more like Jesus Christ.
God
One must believe in God. Look around at the world we live in, the earth’s life sustaining systems and the precise order of the universe. Could all that order have happened by random chance? Consider life itself. No way living organisms all just developed by a series of random events. It’s too amazingly precise to have happened without a powerful and intelligent God in charge. The farther we peer into space or the closer we examine atoms, we clearly see God’s amazing intelligence and power.
The Bible
One must believe that the Bible is His divine will for mankind. Only then can a person really begin to understand what is required to rid ourselves of the guilt and brokenness that our own sin has caused. The whole world has a sin problem that cannot be resolved without help. God knew that people would mess up and need help. He made a grand plan culminating in salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ. His story is what the Bible is all about.
Coming into compliance with God’s instructions for saving mankind is not a single step event, but it is a simple multi-step process. The Bible does not articulate a single action that captures the entirety of salvation. We offer the following scriptural references to illustrate why we believe the way we do. We have collected these scriptures from throughout the New Testament describing the various elements involved in salvation. There are several required actions (things to do) and we encourage you to read them and think about them on your own. They are contained in the next tab, “The Plan of Salvation.”
Why do we need a plan for salvation?
Everyone has sinned. (Romans 3:23)
Salvation: The Gift of God
We all come into a relationship with God through His only Son, Jesus and only through Him. Salvation is God’s gracious gift through Jesus Christ, and humans cannot add conditions to it. We can’t earn it. We can’t buy it. All we can do is reach out and accept it from the hands of God. Here is how to accept that gift.
Faith is essential. (Galatians 3:6-9)
Faith is belief in Jesus Christ. There is salvation in Jesus Christ and no one else. (Acts 4:12) You get faith by hearing about Jesus in the word of God, the Bible. (Romans 10:14-17) Who is this Jesus? He is a man born about 3-4 B.C. in Roman Israel to a woman named Mary, but his father was God Himself. He is human, but also of the same nature as the Father and the Holy Spirit and the three in one make up one sovereign God above all, in all, and through all (Ephesians 4:6).
…but more than faith is required. (James 2:14-26)
Repentance is essential.
The concept of sorrowful repentance for past sin is throughout the New Testament. In Acts 2:38 it is coupled with baptism as a condition for “being saved.” Also in Acts 17:30 God was patient in times past, but now commands us to repent. He doesn’t kindly suggest it. He commands it.
Confession is essential.
In Romans 10:9-11, Paul definitively ties confession, a verbal statement, of belief in Jesus Christ to salvation. If you are not willing to confess that Jesus is the Son of God, as seen in Matthew 10:33, he will not be willing to advocate for you with the Father. Remember, it is through Jesus, and only Him, that we can go to Heaven, Acts 4;12.
Baptism is essential. (Acts 2:38; 8:26-39; Romans 6:1-4)
Baptism places a person “in Christ”. (Galatians 3:27) How can one be saved unless he or she is in Christ? We certainly can’t be saved if we are outside of Christ, right? When we are “in Christ” we are no longer under the condemnation of sin. (Romans 8:1-14) Wouldn’t the converse of that statement also be true, “When we are NOT “in Christ” we ARE under condemnation of sin.
Commitment is essential.
Committing ourselves to Jesus and serving him for the rest of our lives is essential. (Revelation 2:14) This service is not burdensome. It is simply learning more about Jesus and the way of life he promoted. It is about loving our friends, family, and acquaintances enough to show them the pathway to heaven. It means resisting the temptations to sin and it means sorrowfully returning to Jesus, repenting, when we mess it up, and we will mess it up.
Start this journey. I promise that you will be amazed at the changes Jesus can make in your life.