Jesus & The Gospel

What is The Gospel, who is Jesus Christ, and what is our response to Him?

We believe first and foremost that the historical Jesus and the Christ of faith are one in the same.
We believe that Jesus Christ is God, and that God is the Gospel.  We believe that Jesus is the Message and the Messenger.
Christ is precious to the people of Ecclesia and is the center of our affections.  Our allegiance, love and loyalties belong to him alone.

Jesus Christ
We believe in Jesus Christ, God's only unique Son, conceived by the Holy Spirit. We believe in His virgin birth, sinless life, miracles, and teachings. We believe in His substitutionary atoning death, bodily resurrection, ascension into heaven, perpetual intercession for His people, and personal, visible return to earth.
Matthew 1:18-25, Luke 1:26-38, John 1:1,20,28, Romans 9:5,8:46, II Corinthians 5:21, 1 Peter 2:21-23, John 20:30-31, Matthew 20:28, Ephesians 1:4, Acts 1:11, Romans 5:6-8,6:9-10; Hebrews 7:25,9:28, 1 Timothy 3:16

Salvation and Regeneration
We believe that man was created by God in His own image, that he sinned and thereby incurred physical, spiritual, and eternal death, which is separation from God. As a consequence, all human beings are born with a sinful nature and are sinners by choice and therefore under condemnation. We believe that those who repent and forsake sin (confessing Jesus as Lord) and trust Jesus Christ as Savior are regenerated by the Holy Spirit and become new creatures, delivered from condemnation and receiving eternal life.
Genesis 1:26,2:17,3, 5:2, 3;19, Ecc. 2:11, John 3:14, 5:24, 5:30, 7: 13, 8:12, 10:26, Romans 9:22, II Thessalonians 1:9; Rev 19:3, 20; 20:10, 14, 15; 21:18; Psalm 51:7; Jer.17:9; James 1:14; Rom 5:19, Prov 28:13, 1 John 1;9, John 3;16; John 1:13, II Cor 5:17, Rom 8;1,10;9,13

Our Response
In order to be saved (redeemed, rescued, reborn, reconciled, forgiven, justified) one must trust in Jesus Christ as the only sufficient substitute who has absorbed the just wrath of God against one's sin, thereby taking away one's guilt before God.
One is guilty before God because God created man to worship Him in perfect holiness, and no one has met this standard. Because man was created to meet the standard of perfect righteousness, any righteous deeds a man may do (if it is indeed possible for any man to do a perfectly righteous deed) at best meets and cannot ever exceed God's standard. It is therefore impossible for any man to "pay back" God or redeem (save) himself.
Jesus Christ is able to pay for the sins of mankind because He Himself committed no sin. Having no sin of His own for which to suffer the wrath of God, He is able to absorb God's wrath on the behalf of mankind (substitution). The requisite for benefit from this substitution is trust (faith) in Christ.
Repentance is a gift from God that accompanies salvific faith.

To learn more about what our church believes,
visit the About Us page.