Our Faith

What we teach is not new.  We teach straight out of the Bible.  Our teaching is based on the words written by the prophets of the Old Testament and the apostles of the New Testament. The Bible tells us about Jesus, who is our Savior and God's answer to sin.

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We are a Lutheran Church that teaches and emphasizes these three great truths:

By grace alone.  We are forgiven and saved solely as a result of God's undeserved love - for the sake of Jesus' life, death and resurrection for us.  There is nothing human beings can or must do to contribute to their salvation.
Through faith alone.  All that Jesus did to restore us to a right relationship with God is ours personally through faith in Jesus.  The Holy Spirit creates and confirms in us this faith or trust in Jesus solely through the Gospel, in the Bible and in the Sacraments.
On the basis of Scripture alone.  Christian truth and life are established solely by the 66 books of the Bible, God's word-for-word revelation, inspired by the Holy Spirit and without error.

God

The World Teaches:
The Christian God is simply one in a million, and all religions have equally valid ways of getting to know Him.  This Christian God in particular is an outdated social construct.

But Jesus Teaches:
From nature and our consciences, we learn only that there is a higher power that demands we be perfect (Rom. 1:20).  But from the Bible, we learn that there is one, Triune God (Father, Son and Spirit) fully revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ (Isa. 44:6, Matt. 28:19).  In the past two-thousand years since Christ, the church has produced several short statements to help distinguish true teaching about Jesus from distortions.  Three of these "creeds" - the Apostles', the Nicene, and the Athanasian - are recognized by Christians as accurate summaries of basic truths about Jesus.  Besides this, the Lutheran Confessions, collected during the 1500s, are also reliable expositions of true Christian teaching. 


Jesus

The World Teaches:
Although maybe a wise or an inspiring moral teacher, Jesus was just a human being who ultimately died a death like any other person.

But Jesus Teaches:
When our imperfect natures made us unable to keep God’s law, Jesus was sent by the Father to fulfill the Law for us (Matt. 5:17). Since God is Jesus’ father, Jesus is one-hundred percent God and completely sinless.  At the same time, being born by the virgin Mary, He became one-hundred percent human at the same time as he was and always has been 100% God.  Even though completely God, Jesus took on the form of a servant and laid aside His full godly powers. Therefore, He endured suffering, temptation, and humbled Himself to a shameful death (Phil. 2:7,8). By suffering and dying, Jesus took the punishment that should have been ours.  Through His perfect obedience He became a ransom for us (Isa. 53:6, Matt. 20:28). For this reason, Christians proclaim that the forgiveness of sins has been gained entirely through Jesus - that God has literally justified all people (2 Cor. 5:21). On the third day after His death, He rose from the dead and ascended, assuring us that He was who He claimed to be and that our sins were certainly forgiven (Rom. 4:25).


The Bible

The World Teaches:
The Bible is simply an old document like any other and thus fundamentally flawed and in need of constant reinterpretation.

But Jesus Teaches:
The Bible was verbally inspired by the Holy Spirit (2 Tim. 3:16), is perfect and unified in every way, and is entirely sufficient for every spiritual need (2 Tim. 3:17).  This Bible contains two fundamental messages that both revolve around Christ: Law and Gospel.  The Law is the message of what God demands from us (and what we know we can't do), and the Gospel is God's revelation of what Jesus Christ has done for us (John 5:39).


Salvation

The World Teaches:
If there is, in fact, something wrong with people, we need to save ourselves; and people have the ability to save themselves. If there is a God, deep down there is enough good in each one of us to dig ourselves out of our problems or at least contribute something to save ourselves, even if that means at least committing our lives to Him.

But Jesus Teaches:
Because Christ paid the penalty for our sins on the cross, God now looks on us as His innocent children. Although we continue to struggle with sin, in God’s eyes we are completely justified. This forgiveness of sins that Christ won for us on the cross is completely and totally a free gift from God (Eph. 2:8,9). In no way, shape, or form do we deserve the gift; there is nothing we can do to accept the gift; and we cannot even cooperate with God in the reception of the gift (Eph. 2:8-9). Instead, God the Holy Spirit works faith in our hearts to receive this gift of justification (1 Cor. 2:14). Paul solidifies this fact when he says that we have been saved “by grace” (Eph. 2:8). Christ teaches that believers were chosen for salvation before creation (Eph. 1:4-6), but Christ does not teach that unbelievers were chosen for damnation before creation. Rather, the rejection of this gift is entirely the result of each person’s own will and has nothing to do with God’s will.  Christ wishes all to be saved and gave His life for every person in  the entire world (John 3:16).


Questions? 

You're always welcome to ask.  In addition, we offer Starting Point.  It is an individual or small group Bible study designed to help you learn more about God's answers to life's biggest question. It is a great time to ask questions and to get answers from God's Word.