Welcome to Walk of Grace!
What do we believe?
First and foremost, as a church we believe it is our duty to share the good news about Jesus Christ to the world, starting with, but not limited to, the Council Bluffs/Omaha area that we are located in.
We teach the Gospel, which is in simple terms, the great news that even though we have all sinned, or broken the laws that God has given us, He loved us so much that He sent his son Jesus to take the punishment for those sins, to die, and to rise from the dead… and that all we have to do is accept and acknowledge the fact that Jesus made that sacrifice for us, and that without him we would be hopelessly lost.
Because of those sins that we have all committed, we are not worthy of spending eternity with a perfect God. But because God loves us… literally more than we are capable of ever imagining… He made a way through His son Jesus. Jesus came to earth as a man, even though He was God, and lived a perfect life completely free of sin. But at the end of His life here on Earth, he was beaten, tortured, and killed even though He had never done anything wrong. 3 days later, Jesus rose from the dead and conquered sin and death, proving that He was exactly who He said He was. The reason He took that punishment is so that we wouldn’t have to. A loving God showed mercy on us by sparing us from a punishment that we deserved. But even more amazing than that is that he went further and poured out his loving grace on us by then allowing us to spend eternity with Him… something that we could not earn…. and he offered it as a free gift to anyone that would be willing to accept it.
(Romans 3:23) (Romans 6:23)(Romans 10:9-10)
We also teach that by the same belief in that Gospel we are drawn to a closer relationship with God Himself. God doesn’t just want us to blindly serve Him or follow Him. He wants a relationship with us. He wants us to know Him better, just as a father would want of a child. The good news of the sacrifice that Jesus made not only rescues us from our sins, but it is in learning about that good news, and growing in our understanding of it that allows us to grow closer to God.
(Galatians 3:1-3) (Romans 1:16)(Romans 1:17)
We believe that when we accept Jesus and the sacrifice he has made for us, God makes us part of His family. We become part of the “body of Christ”. We were born with a nature that was full of sin, but when we became part of the body of Christ, that sinful nature died with Him. Because of that we took on a new nature, one that is dead to sin. That sin doesn’t have aymore!
(1 Corinthians 12:13)
That is the main message we teach at Walk of Grace Chapel. We believe that God poured out his amazing love and amazing grace on us, meaning even though we deserved punishment for our sins, He took that punishment for us, and even though we don’t deserve to spend eternity with Him, He made a way for that to happen.
It is, however, not our only message. We are “evangelical fundamentalists”. To put that in basic terms, it means we believe that the only way to Heaven is through Jesus, which is the Gospel mentioned above, and it means that we believe that the Bible is 100% accurate, and it is the very word of God Himself.
Here are some of the things we believe and teach:
- We believe that Adam and Eve were real people, and when Adam sinned, that sin was passed on through human nature to everyone that was ever born on earth again. Because of that, we are all hopelessly lost without the free gift of salvation that Jesus gives to those who trust Him and believe that He died for us.
- We believe that Jesus was, and is, and always will be God.
- We believe that God exists in Three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
- We believe that Jesus was born of a virgin, who became pregnant by a miracle of the Holy Spirit, never having slept with a man until He was born. Truly, He is the Son of God!
- We believe that Jesus lived an absolutely perfect life, never breaking the Law that God himself handed down centuries early to Moses. Because of that, He was worthy of taking our place in the punishment we deserved. The Law of Moses required sacrifices to cover our sins, but Jesus was the perfect sacrifice, and the only one that could remove those sins forever.
- We believe that Jesus died for our sins, rose again the third day, and ascended to Heaven, where He still is and always will be, literally praying to God the Father on our behalf.
- We believe that one day Jesus will return to Earth to set up His kingdom here. We believe that before that happens, He will take the Christians away to be with Him. This event is commonly known as the “rapture.”
- We believe that an evil man will rise to power, commonly known as the anti-Christ, who will strive to rule the world after the rapture of the church, but will be defeated by the Son of God at His return.
- We believe in a thousand years of peace when Jesus returns to rule the world, but after those thousand years a final battle occurs when Satan is loosed from the bottomless pit to deceive the nations one final time. We believe that Christ then gloriously defeats him, and sets up His eternal Kingdom, as the New Jerusalem descends to Earth.
- We believe that we Christians will live and reign with Him, during the one thousand years, then throughout eternity.
- We believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit, meaning that God has sent the Holy Spirit to dwell inside of those of us who follow Him.
- We believe in the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 12:4; I Corinthians 12:7-11).
- We believe in the five administration gifts (I Corinthians 12:5; Ephesians 4:11).
- We believe in the seven motivational gifts (I Corinthians 12:6; Romans 12:6- 8).
- We believe that loving God is the greatest commandment, and therefore, not loving God is the greatest sin.
- We believe that loving your fellow man in the second greatest commandment, and therefore, not loving your fellow man is the second greatest sin.
- We believe that the whole Bible is the inspired, completely accurate Word of God.
- We believe that good solid spiritual teaching is a result of studying God’s Word, making sure the things you believe are supported by God’s Word, and asking God to help you understand it.