Points of Faith.
One of the most important elements to any professing body of Christians is what they believe. Our lives are centered around faith- as the scripture says "The just shall live by faith." (Rom. 1:17)
Its vital to know what that faith says!
The Confession of our Christian Faith:
We believe in one God, Father almighty, creator of heaven & earth, and of all things visible & invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all ages; light of light, true God of true God, begotten, not created, of one essence with the Father through Whom all things were made. Who for us men & our salvation came down from heaven & was incarnate of the Holy Spirit & the virgin Mary & became man. He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried and rose on the third day, according to the scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father; and will come again with glory to judge the living & the dead. His kingdom shall have no end.
And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the creator of life, Who proceeds from the Father, Who together with the Father & the Son is worshipped and glorified, Who spoke through the prophets.
In one, Holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.
I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.
The Point of Grace is a ministry intent on explaining the life & freedom that all Christians are free to enjoy in Christ.
Every Christian should know that they're:
1. Justified (At once) by their faith in the finished work of Christ (Rom. 3:28, Rom. 5:1).
2. Completely washed of all sin by His blood (Jn. 13:8, 1 Cor. 6:11, 1 Jn. 1:7).
3. Dead to the law (Rom. 6:7-11, Gal. 3:23-25, Col. 3:3).
4. Sanctified (John 17:17, Heb. 10).
5. Born Again a new Creation in Christ (Jn. 3:3, Rom. 7:4-6, 2 Cor. 5:17).
6. Made alive- regenerated (John 10:10, Eph. 2:4-5).
7. Sealed with the Holy Spirit (Jn. 10:27-29, Eph. 1:13-14).
8. Enjoined permanently with God (John 17:21, 1 Cor. 6:17).
9. Free (John 8:36, Gal. 5:1).
10. Eternally Secure (Jn. 10:27-29, Rom. 8:38-39, 1 Jn. 5:13).
A Defense for the 4 Steps to Life:
1. Hear.
The first step to faith is hearing (Rom. 10:17)- and what we hear must be sound & true doctrine, understood according to scripture, and preached by the Apostles.
If you hear wrong, you're going to believe wrong. If you hear correct doctrine, the result of that is going to be a correct faith. A correct faith should open the door to communion with the Holy Spirit, and "The Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty..." (2 Cor. 3:17)
2. Believe.
One of the hardest thing to do in the human life is to just believe the gospel. Humans always want to complicate it & turn salvation into a system of behavioral modification telling us how to live. But, the good news of our salvation which Christ has provided for us through His perfect life & sacrifice on the cross is that eternal life is a gift! It's free! To believe that gospel means repentance: setting aside our religions, dogmas, and man-made righteousness and accepting Christ's finished work for our salvation. But, don't be fooled. It's hard. It's not easy. There's a natural part of us that's always going to want to work our way to heaven. We want to earn it- that's why Jesus was intentional when He addressed this question: "Then said they unto Him (Jesus), 'What shall we do that we might work the works of God?' Jesus answered and said unto them, 'This is the work of God, that ye believe on the one Whom He hath sent..." (Jn. 6:28-29) And from that true belief, we should find...
3. Rest.
Normally we think of rest as the opposite of work- however, in Christ, a beautiful paradox, rest is our work. Rest is setting aside our efforts to be righteous & trusting God for our salvation. Rest is knowing that the work is finished. More than that, rest is worship because through rest we tell God that we believe Him. We trust Him when He says "Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ..." (Gal. 4:7). This is why Christ said that, by coming to Him, we would find rest. We rest because the work is finished. This is why Christ said "ye shall find rest for your souls..." (Mt. 11:28)
4. Live.
Now, having heard the gospel of our salvation, believed it, and found rest therein, we're fully sanctified (Acts 26:18), sealed with the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13), and free to live (Gal. 5:1)! However, freedom comes with responsibility. "For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another..." (Gal. 5:13) There's still such a thing as a bad idea in the Christian life- so be mindful of that. However, "stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage..." (Gal. 5:1) Don't spend all your time trying to regulate good & bad ideas to the point of them becoming a law that you've got to obey- that's a trap! You've been made righteous already through faith in Christ- you don't have to work for it. Therefore, live! Don't get bogged down by the rules of men and miss out on this opportunity to be alive!
Does anybody actually believe this?
Everybody who holds to the orthodox confession of the Christian faith & believes in the gospel for their salvation, is a part of the Church- the body of Christ! "For the scripture saith, whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed..." (Rom. 10:11) Check it out: