CORE VALUES We Are Fellowship Bible Church

Grace is a difficult, perhaps impossible, concept to understand. (So Great Salvation: What It Means to Believe In Jesus Christ) Grace is unmerited favor. Grace is not cheap. Grace is difficult to accept. Charles Ryrie Grace changes you.

God is the gracious initiator in our relationship with Him.

Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? Romans 2:4 (NASB)

God s grace is the motivation of spiritual formation.

Fellowship invites people to enter God s story, equipping and releasing them to become reproducing disciples of Jesus Christ. Mission Statement

Responding to the Grace of God 1. God is the initiator in our relationship with Him. 2. Theologically, this means we are more Calvinistic because we emphasize the initiation of God. 3. We are responding to God s already-present love for us. 4. We are in no way seeking approval - this is a response to present approval by grace. 5. Christ has already made us acceptable, and we are so blown away that we love in response. 6. This makes guilt off limits as a motivation. 7. This makes authenticity with God possible and necessary. 8. This also allows us to minister authentically as well, without pretending that we have it together. 9. Trying to impress God and others is evidence that you don t understand grace.

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. Philippians 2:12-13 (NIV)

Spiritual Formation God s Work My Cooperation Spiritual Growth

Responding to the Grace of God Romans 2:4; Ephesians 2:1-10; Philippians 2:12-13

Responding to the Grace of God in Salvation

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:1-10 (NASB)

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. Ephesians 2:1-10 (NASB)

Grace Grace (χάρις) is the unmerited favor of God.

Grace in the Old Testament First, a careful study of the usage of grace (ח ן) and its verb, to be gracious (ח נ ן) clearly shows that the idea is unmerited favor. In fact, the recipient of grace normally deserves just the opposite of God s favor (see Ps 51:1). A related adverb (ח נמ) illustrates the point nicely, for it means gratuitously, without a cause. Allen Ross

Grace in the New Testament Grace (κάρις) characteristically denotes in the NT God s unmerited favor in providing salvation for sinners through Christ s sacrificial death (e.g. Rom. 3:23-23; Eph. 1:7; 2:8) and enablement for the believer to live acceptably before God (1 Cor. 15:10; Eph. 4:7, 29). Harold Hoehner

Saved Salvation (σῴζω) is a rescue from danger or destruction. Theologically it means to be saved from the consequences of sin.

Faith Faith (πίστις) is conviction that something is true and trust in the reality of it. It is to know, believe, and trust.

Works Works (ἔργον) are any actsor deeds performed in our own strength. These find no merit before God.

Workmanship Workmanship (ποίημα) is something that is made by a creator and demonstrates his purposeful craftsmanship. In classical Greek it is used of making a crown or fine piece of art. The word is the base for our word poem and is something like a magnum opus.

It is grace from start to finish. [Ephesians] 2:1-10 demonstrates that though people were spiritually dead and deserving only God s wrath, God, in His marvelous grace, has provided salvation through faith by making us alive, raising us, and seating us in the heavenlies with Christ Jesus. The origin of salvation is God, the basis is grace, the means is faith. Harold Hoehner

Our salvation is not only a one-time act of conversion, but also includes that activity of His workmanship in whom and through whom He performs the good works He has already prepared in advance. Harold Hoehner

Responding to the Grace of God in Sanctification

For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face, that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument. For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ. Colossians 2:1-5 (NASB)

When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him. Colossians 2:13-15 (NASB)

No More External Rules Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. Colossians 2:16-17 (NASB)

No More External Rules If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch! (which all refer to things destined to perish with use) in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence. Colossians 2:20-23 (NASB)

No More Spiritual Experiences Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God. Colossians 2:18-19 (NASB)

No More Special Knowledge See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. Colossians 2:8 (NASB)

Live in Him Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude. Colossians 2:6 (NASB)

Severe Mercy That death, so full of suffering for us both, suffering that still overwhelmed my life, was yet a severe mercy. A mercy as severe as death, a severity as merciful as love. C.S. Lewis

Fellowship Bible Church emphasizes the grace of God as the motivation for salvation and sanctification.

God is the gracious initiator in our relationship with Him.

God s Grace is the motivation of spiritual formation.

CORE VALUES We Are Fellowship Bible Church