Our Three Basic Beliefs

 1. Salvation

During His three-year ministry on this earth, Jesus answered many questions asked Him by many people. As recorded in John 3, one evening a man named Nicodemus came to Jesus to talk with Him. Because he was one of the Pharisees and he believed in Jesus, he came secretly. Nicodemus began their conversation by declaring, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

Jesus replied once again, “I tell you the truth, unless a man is born of water and the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, You must be born again.” A little later in their conversation, Jesus added,  “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

Therefore, God sent Jesus Christ in due time to become “the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.”  (Hebrews 9:15) Jesus has become the high priest of salvation. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin.”  (Hebrews 4:15) “How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!” (Hebrews 9:14)

As Jesus told Nicodemus, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son."  (John 3:16-18). And “. . . To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” (John 1:12, 13)

1. Now that we have established that God has exalted His Son Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior of the world, how does a person receive salvation from His Creator? God has made it very simple: A person must first recognize his sinful nature and his need for salvation: “. . .for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. . .” (Romans 3:23).
    

2. After he acknowledges his sin, he must decide to repent and turn away from it. “In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.”  (Acts 17:30,31).
    

3. Now the person must recognize God’s loving provision for his salvation: “. . .God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners,Christ died for us.”  (Romans 5:8).
    

4. Once he recognizes God’s provision, the person must choose between death and life, between sin and Jesus. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  (Romans 6:23).
    

5. When a person chooses Jesus, he simply does these two things: “That if you confess with your mouth ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, ‘Everyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame'."  (Romans 10:9-10)

2. Baptism in the Holy Spirit

The second chapter of Acts records the coming of the Holy Spirit to the disciples on the day of Pentecost. “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” (v. 4)  Peter explained to the wondering crowd in Jerusalem that: “. . . This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.”  (v. 16-18). Peter then concluded his message with these words: “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of the Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, for all whom the Lord our God will call.”  (v. 38, 39).

Jesus, however, lived 30 years before He undertook His ministry. And even then, He did not begin without receiving the anointing of the Holy Spirit from His Father who was in Heaven.

“Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?’ Jesus replied, ‘Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then John consented. As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased’.”  (Matthew 3:13-17). This interaction with the Holy Spirit corresponds to the baptism in the Holy Spirit. God offers the baptism to anyone who has received salvation.

Other scriptural accounts from the book of Acts appear briefly below: 

1. Philip in Samaria: “Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there . . . When they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of  God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the work of God, they sent Peter and John to them. When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.”  (Acts 8:5, 12, 14-17).
    

2. The disciples in Ephesus: “While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?’ They answered, ‘No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.’ So Paul asked, ‘Then what baptism did you receive?’  ‘John’s baptism,’ they replied. Paul said, ‘John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance.’ He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. There were about twelve men in all.”  (Acts 19:1-17)

There are three compelling Biblical reasons why every Christian needs the baptism in the Holy Spirit:

1. To become a witness, He [Jesus] said to them [the disciples]: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  (Acts 1:8)
    

2. To become anointed with power: “. . . How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.”  (Acts 10:38)
    

3. To become effective: “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness (literally in the Greek, takes hold with us against our inabilities to produce). We do not know what we ought to pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express” (alludes to praying in the Spirit, or in tongues. (Romans 8:26).

 3. Water Baptism

Water baptism sometimes evokes quite acontroversy among various groups of Christians. In all things, however, the church should view the example of the Lord Jesus Christ as the final authority. He alone provides the pattern to follow.

The book of Hebrews states that Jesus “Had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God . . .” (2:17). God originally instructed Moses how to consecrate every priest before he assumed his new position. During the process, a recognized messenger of the Lord or another consecrated priest had to wash the new priest before he could put on the priestly garments. Moses ceremonially washed Aaron and his sons before the put on their new priestly garments. In the same manner, John the Baptist “washed” Jesus through water baptism before He put on His priestly garment, the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus knew His need to experience the necessary parts of priestly ritual, and He approached John the Baptist for his help. John protested, but Jesus persuaded him as recorded below: 

“Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, ‘ I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?’ Jesus replied ‘Let it be so now; it is proper for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then John consented. As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased’.” (Matthew 3:13-16).

For the Jews during Jesus’ day and time, anyone who considered himself a disciple of another individual would have himself baptized in the name of that individual. Baptism constituted a public action that confirmed a public profession. It represented that the disciple had died to his own desires, and he buried those desires when he went under the water as though he had been buried underground. When he was raised up, he came up as a new person solely identified with the name and cause of the individual in whose name he was baptized.

Besides fulfilling the requirements of the Mosaic Law, Jesus' baptism in water likewise provides a picture of commitment. He committed to His Father's cause - the salvation of mankind. He publicly portrayed that He had poured out all of His own desires for the sake of His Father. God then confirmed Jesus' righteousness by clothing Him with the Holy Spirit.

The disciple of Christ, therefore, should not take baptism lightly or view it as an optional experience. Jesus declared just before His ascension into heaven, "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." (Mark 16:16).

Paul emphasized the role of water baptism in the believer's life: ". . . don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried, with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."  (Romans 6:3, 4)

"In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead."  (Colossians 2:11, 12)

"You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ."  (Galatians 3:26, 27).

Water baptism is an act of obedience to the command given by Jesus to be baptized. "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."  (Matthew 28:19). It is a public demonstration of the condition and intent of one's inner being.