THE GOSPEL ABC’s: God created us to be with Him. (Genesis 1 and 2) Our sin separates us from God. (Genesis 3) Sin is not removed by the good that we do. (Genesis 4 – Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew – Luke) Eternal life is found only in Jesus (John) Life eternal means following Christ now and spending eternity in heaven with Him (Acts –Revelation) Admit that you have sinned. Turn from sin and turn to God for help. (Romans 3:23) Believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for you. (John1:12) Commit to Jesus Christ as Lord of your life and follow Him. Romans (10:9-10) If you have more questions about a relationship with Christ email Mark Epps at markepps@journeysite.net I. The Scriptures The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God's revelationof Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has Godfor its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error,for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. Itreveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is, and willremain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and thesupreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinionsshould be tried. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself thefocus of divine revelation. There is one and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent,spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler ofthe universe. God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections. God is allpowerful and all knowing; and His perfect knowledge extends to all things,past, present, and future, including the future decisions of His freecreatures. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. Theeternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, withdistinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, orbeing. A. God the Father God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, Hiscreatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to thepurposes of His grace. He is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and allwise. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faithin Jesus Christ. He is fatherly in His attitude toward all men. B. God the Son Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ He wasconceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Jesus perfectlyrevealed and did the will of God, taking upon Himself human nature with itsdemands and necessities and identifying Himself completely with mankind yetwithout sin. He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in Hissubstitutionary death on the cross He made provision for the redemption of menfrom sin. He was raised from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to Hisdisciples as the person who was with them before His crucifixion. He ascendedinto heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where He is the OneMediator, fully God, fully man, in whose Person is effected the reconciliationbetween God and man. He will return in power and glory to judge the world andto consummate His redemptive mission. He now dwells in all believers as theliving and ever present Lord. C. God the Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He inspired holy men ofold to write the Scriptures. Through illumination He enables men to understandtruth. He exalts Christ. He convicts men of sin, of righteousness, and ofjudgment. He calls men to the Saviour, and effects regeneration. At the momentof regeneration He baptizes every believer into the Body of Christ. Hecultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and bestows the spiritualgifts by which they serve God through His church. He seals the believer untothe day of final redemption. His presence in the Christian is the guaranteethat God will bring the believer into the fullness of the stature of Christ. Heenlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship, evangelism, andservice. Man is the special creation of God, made in His own image. He created themmale and female as the crowning work of His creation. The gift of gender isthus part of the goodness of God's creation. In the beginning man was innocentof sin and was endowed by his Creator with freedom of choice. By his freechoice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. Through thetemptation of Satan man transgressed the command of God, and fell from hisoriginal innocence whereby his posterity inherit a nature and an environmentinclined toward sin. Therefore, as soon as they are capable of moral action,they become transgressors and are under condemnation. Only the grace of God canbring man into His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creativepurpose of God. The sacredness of human personality is evident in that Godcreated man in His own image, and in that Christ died for man; therefore, everyperson of every race possesses full dignity and is worthy of respect andChristian love. Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely toall who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, who by His own blood obtainedeternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includesregeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. There is nosalvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord. A. Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God's grace wherebybelievers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wroughtby the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds inrepentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and faithare inseparable experiences of grace. Repentance is a genuine turning from sin toward God. Faith is the acceptanceof Jesus Christ and commitment of the entire personality to Him as Lord andSaviour. B. Justification is God's gracious and full acquittal upon principles of Hisrighteousness of all sinners who repent and believe in Christ. Justificationbrings the believer unto a relationship of peace and favor with God. C. Sanctification is the experience, beginning in regeneration, by which thebeliever is set apart to God's purposes, and is enabled to progress towardmoral and spiritual maturity through the presence and power of the Holy Spiritdwelling in him. Growth in grace should continue throughout the regenerateperson's life. D. Glorification is the culmination of salvation and is the final blessedand abiding state of the redeemed. Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which He regenerates,justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners. It is consistent with the freeagency of man, and comprehends all the means in connection with the end. It isthe glorious display of God's sovereign goodness, and is infinitely wise, holy,and unchangeable. It excludes boasting and promotes humility. All true believers endure to the end. Those whom God has accepted in Christ,and sanctified by His Spirit, will never fall away from the state of grace, butshall persevere to the end. Believers may fall into sin through neglect andtemptation, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their graces and comforts,and bring reproach on the cause of Christ and temporal judgments on themselves;yet they shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous localcongregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith andfellowship of the gospel; observing the two ordinances of Christ, governed byHis laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by HisWord, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. Eachcongregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democraticprocesses. In such a congregation each member is responsible and accountable toChrist as Lord. Its scriptural officers are pastors and deacons. While both menand women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limitedto men as qualified by Scripture. The New Testament speaks also of the church as the Body of Christ whichincludes all of the redeemed of all the ages, believers from every tribe, andtongue, and people, and nation. VII. Baptism and theLord's Supper Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of theFather, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing thebeliever's faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer'sdeath to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk innewness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the finalresurrection of the dead. Being a church ordinance, it is prerequisite to theprivileges of church membership and to the Lord's Supper. The Lord's Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of thechurch, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorializethe death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming. The first day of the week is the Lord's Day. It is a Christian institutionfor regular observance. It commemorates the resurrection of Christ from thedead and should include exercises of worship and spiritual devotion, bothpublic and private. Activities on the Lord's Day should be commensurate withthe Christian's conscience under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. The God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to itsappropriate end. According to His promise, Jesus Christ will return personallyand visibly in glory to the earth; the dead will be raised; and Christ willjudge all men in righteousness. The unrighteous will be consigned to Hell, theplace of everlasting punishment. The righteous in their resurrected andglorified bodies will receive their reward and will dwell forever in Heavenwith the Lord. It is the duty and privilege of every follower of Christ and of every churchof the Lord Jesus Christ to endeavor to make disciples of all nations. The newbirth of man's spirit by God's Holy Spirit means the birth of love for others.Missionary effort on the part of all rests thus upon a spiritual necessity ofthe regenerate life, and is expressly and repeatedly commanded in the teachingsof Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ has commanded the preaching of the gospel toall nations. It is the duty of every child of God to seek constantly to win thelost to Christ by verbal witness undergirded by a Christian lifestyle, and byother methods in harmony with the gospel of Christ. Christianity is the faith of enlightenment and intelligence. In Jesus Christabide all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. All sound learning is,therefore, a part of our Christian heritage. The new birth opens all humanfaculties and creates a thirst for knowledge. Moreover, the cause of educationin the In Christian education there should be a proper balance between academicfreedom and academic responsibility. Freedom in any orderly relationship ofhuman life is always limited and never absolute. The freedom of a teacher in aChristian school, college, or seminary is limited by the pre-eminence of JesusChrist, by the authoritative nature of the Scriptures, and by the distinctpurpose for which the school exists. God is the source of all blessings, temporal and spiritual; all that we haveand are we owe to Him. Christians have a spiritual debtorship to the wholeworld, a holy trusteeship in the gospel, and a binding stewardship in theirpossessions. They are therefore under obligation to serve Him with their time,talents, and material possessions; and should recognize all these as entrustedto them to use for the glory of God and for helping others. According to theScriptures, Christians should contribute of their means cheerfully, regularly,systematically, proportionately, and liberally for the advancement of theRedeemer's cause on earth. Christ's people should, as occasion requires, organize such associations andconventions as may best secure cooperation for the great objects of the XV. The Christian and theSocial Order All Christians are under obligation to seek to make the will of Christsupreme in our own lives and in human society. Means and methods used for theimprovement of society and the establishment of righteousness among men can betruly and permanently helpful only when they are rooted in the regeneration ofthe individual by the saving grace of God in Jesus Christ. In the spirit ofChrist, Christians should oppose racism, every form of greed, selfishness, andvice, and all forms of sexual immorality, including adultery, homosexuality,and pornography. We should work to provide for the orphaned, the needy, theabused, the aged, the helpless, and the sick. We should speak on behalf of theunborn and contend for the sanctity of all human life from conception tonatural death. Every Christian should seek to bring industry, government, andsociety as a whole under the sway of the principles of righteousness, truth,and brotherly love. In order to promote these ends Christians should be readyto work with all men of good will in any good cause, always being careful toact in the spirit of love without compromising their loyalty to Christ and Histruth. It is the duty of Christians to seek peace with all men on principles ofrighteousness. In accordance with the spirit and teachings of Christ theyshould do all in their power to put an end to war. The true remedy for the war spirit is the gospel of our Lord. The supremeneed of the world is the acceptance of His teachings in all the affairs of menand nations, and the practical application of His law of love. Christian peoplethroughout the world should pray for the reign of the Prince of Peace. God alone is Lord of the conscience, and He has left it free from the doctrinesand commandments of men which are contrary to His Word or not contained in it.Church and state should be separate. The state owes to every church protectionand full freedom in the pursuit of its spiritual ends. In providing for suchfreedom no ecclesiastical group or denomination should be favored by the statemore than others. Civil government being ordained of God, it is the duty ofChristians to render loyal obedience thereto in all things not contrary to therevealed will of God. The church should not resort to the civil power to carryon its work. The gospel of Christ contemplates spiritual means alone for thepursuit of its ends. The state has no right to impose penalties for religiousopinions of any kind. The state has no right to impose taxes for the support ofany form of religion. A free church in a God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of humansociety. It is composed of persons related to one another by marriage, blood,or adoption. Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment fora lifetime. It is God's unique gift to reveal the union between Christ and Hischurch and to provide for the man and the woman in marriage the framework forintimate companionship, the channel of sexual expression according to biblicalstandards, and the means for procreation of the human race. The husband and wife are of equal worth before God, since both are createdin God's image. The marriage relationship models the way God relates to Hispeople. A husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church. He has theGod-given responsibility to provide for, to protect, and to lead his family. Awife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husbandeven as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ. She, being inthe image of God as is her husband and thus equal to him, has the God-givenresponsibility to respect her husband and to serve as his helper in managingthe household and nurturing the next generation. Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage fromthe Lord. Parents are to demonstrate to their children God's pattern formarriage. Parents are to teach their children spiritual and moral values and tolead them, through consistent lifestyle example and loving discipline, to makechoices based on biblical truth. Children are to honor and obey their parents.
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