Sunday, May 22, 2011

What is a Christian?

Christians are believing sinners who follow Jesus Christ, having repented of their sins and having placed faith in Jesus believing He is the Eternal Son of God come in the flesh, who died in our place on the cross paying the sin debt of all who believe.

We believe salvation is by grace alone thru faith in Christ alone. Human merit or human effort can’t save us.

We believe Jesus was buried and rose in a bodily resurrection on the third day. We believe all the Scriptures teach about His Person and Work.

We believe Jesus is building his church thru the gospel invitation from the Scriptures and the saints to all mankind.

We believe lost people must hear the gospel, be convicted of their sins, and believe the gospel.

Then they are indwelt with the Holy Spirit, placed in the body of Christ, and worship and serve him here on earth till they go to heaven by death or rapture.

They are new creations in Christ and give evidence of their salvation by their transformed life.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

What is an Apostate?

The word apostasy comes from the Greek word apostasia, which is translated “falling away’ in 2 Thess. 2:3. The word is closely related to the Greek word for “divorce.’

Apostates are those who fall away from the true faith, abandoning what they formerly profess to believe. The term describes those whose beliefs are so deficient as to place them outside the realm of true Christianity. For example, a liberal denomination that denies the authority of Scripture or the deity of Christ is an apostate denomination.

True Christians do not apostatize. Those who fall away into apostasy demonstrate that their faith was never real to begin with [1 John 2:19].