WALL LAKE GRACE CHURCH WHAT WE BELIEVE

The Holy Scriptures

We believe that the Bible, in its original documents, is the verbally inspired Word of God. It is complete, inerrant, and man’s final authority (I Cor. 2:13; II Tim. 3:15-17; II Pet. 1:19-21).

We believe the Scriptures are God-breathed, infallible and inerrant. They are the final authority for life and faith..

These sixty-six books of the old and New Testament are the complete revelation of God to man. (2nd Timothy 3:16-17; 2nd Peter 1:20-21)

The Godhead

We believe in one triune God, eternally existing in three persons, The Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Each co-eternal in being, co-identical in nature, co-equal in power and glory, and having the same attributes and perfections. (1st John 5:7, Matthew 3:16-17, 2nd Corinthians 13:14

The Person and Work of Christ.

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, is fully man and fully God

He having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, so as to reveal God and redeem sinful men. (Isaiah 7:14; 9:6; Luke 1:35; John 1:1-2:14:2; 2nd Corinthians 5:19-21; Galatians 4:4-5; Philippians 2:5-8)

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through his death on the cross as a vicarious substitutionary sacrifice.

Our justification is made sure by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead. (Acts 2:18-36; Romans 3:24-25; Ephesians1:7; 1st Peter 2:24; 1st Peter 1:3-5)

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to heaven and is at the right hand of God as our Savior, Mediator, and Glorified head of the body of Christ. (Titus 2:13; 1st Timothy 2:5; Colossians 1:24)

The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit.

We believe that the Holy Spirit is who convicts the world of sin, judgment, and righteousness.

He is the Supernatural Agent in regeneration, baptizing all believers into the Body of Christ, then indwelling and sealing them unto the day of redemption. (John 16:8-11; Romans 8:9; 1st Corinthians 12:12-14; Ephesians 1:13-14; Ephesians 4:30)

We believe that the sign gifts, such as speaking in tongues and healing, were temporary. (1st Corinthians 1:22; 13:8; 14:21-22)

We believe that God is sovereign in the giving of spiritual gifts to every believer. God uses evangelists, pastors, and teachers to equip believers in the church to do the work of the ministry. (Romans 12:3-8; Ephesians 4:7-12)

We believe that he is the divine Teacher who assists believers to comprehend and appropriate the Scriptures and that all the saved are filled with the Spirit. (Ephesians 1:17-18; 5:18; 1st John 2:20,27)

The Total Depravity of Man

We believe that man was created in the image of God; that in Adam's sin the human race fell, through that fall all men are by nature evil, inexcusable, and at enmity with God. We are under God’s wrath, and inescapably accountable to Him (Romans 1:18, 2:1, 3:10-12, 5:12, 14:12).

Man is totally depraved and, of himself completely unable to remedy his lost condition. (Genesis 1:26-27; Romans 3:22-23; 5:12; 6:23; Ephesians 2:1-3; 4:17-19)

Man can do nothing in and of himself to satisfy God’s righteousness, Rejecting God’s free provision for salvation results in everlasting destruction (2Thessalonians 1:7-9, Revelation 21:8, Hebrews 9:27).

Salvation

We believe that salvation is the gift of God brought to man by grace and received by personal faith in the sacrificially shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary (Romans 3:21-26, Ephesians 2:8-9, 1 Corinthians 15:1-4).

And that all sins are forgivable based on the finished work of Christ on the cross. (Ephesians 1:7; 2:8-10; 1st Peter 1:18-19; Colossians 2:13)

Salvation is a completely undeserved free gift bestowed upon all who simply believe (Romans 5:12-21, 4:5).

The Eternal Security and Assurance of Believers.

We believe that once a person is saved, he is kept by God's power and remains secure in Christ forever. (John 6:37-40; 10:27-30; Romans 8:1, 38-39; 1st Corinthians 1:4-8; 1st Peter 1:4-5; Ephesians 1:13; Ephesians 4:30)

We believe that all saved people during the dispensation of grace are eternally saved and complete in Christ (Romans 5:1, Colossians 2:10).

Salvation is the work of God and not of man. Therefore, it is impossible for anyone who has trusted in Christ to ever be lost again. We are sealed by the Holy Spirit and are not our own – we are bought with a price (Colossians 3:1-4, Romans 8:29-39, Ephesians 1:13-14, 4:30, 1Corinthians 6:19-20).

The Church

In this dispensation, there is only one true church composed of all saved people, which is called the body of Christ (1Corinthians 12:13, Ephesians 1:22-23, 2:11-16).

We believe that the establishment and continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the Pauline Epistles. (1st Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-11)

We believe in the autonomy of the local church free of any external authority or control, and any affiliations, societies. Any organizations, associations, or agencies this church affiliates with is to further the objectives stated in the Purpose Statement these groups are not authoritative in matters of church practice or belief. (Acts 13:1-4; 15:19-31; 20:28; Romans 16:1,4; 1st Corinthians 3:9,16; 5:4-7,13; 1st Peter 5:1-4)

The ”church”, the body of Christ, is made up of both Jews and Gentiles, who together are joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 3:6).

We believe the local church is an assembly of believers in Jesus Christ, united around the seven unities of Ephesians 4:4-6 and associated for worship, labor, and fellowship.

The body of Christ does not appear in prophecy (Ephesians 3:3-8) and is separate and distinct from the prophesied earthly kingdom of Christ, which is yet future (Daniel 2:44, Acts 3:19-21).

We believe that God has laid upon the members of the local church the primary task of preaching the gospel of grace to a lost world.

Our Dispensational Position

We believe in mid-Acts dispensational theology.

We believe the Scriptures are to be interpreted in their natural literal sense and that they reveal divinely determined dispensations. These dispensations express man's responsibility in the different ages.

We believe that this present dispensation of grace (Ephesians 3:2) was a mystery hid from ages and generations until the Lord Jesus Christ revealed it to the Apostle Paul.

The church of this mystery dispensation, the body of Christ, has a heavenly purpose that is distinct and separate from God’s earthly program for the nation of Israel.

We believe this, the dispensation of the grace of God, the body of Christ, began no earlier than Acts 9, before Paul wrote his first epistle and prior to Acts 28. (Romans 16:25, 1 Corinthians 2:7, Ephesians 3:2-10, Colossians 1:25-26, I Timothy 1:15-16, 2nd Timothy 2:15)