God's Plan for Salvation

God wants all people to know the truth and be saved, and this was part of His eternal purpose in Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:4, Ephesians 3:11). He does not want anyone to perish, but for all to have eternal life-- and He has established His plan of salvation that you may be saved. Let us look into the Scriptures and explain this plan.

Hear the Gospel. Paul establishes in Romans 10:17 that faith comes from hearing-- if you don't hear the message, you can't believe in it! The message you need to hear is the one we want to show you-- the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Scriptures show that, like all people, you have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:20-23). Salvation is not something you can earn. Even though you are in sin and cannot bridge the divide, God has bridged the divide for you by offering His grace-- the death of Jesus on the cross for your sin (Romans 3:24-25). This is the same message that has been preached since the day of Pentecost as recorded in Acts 2!

Believe in Christ. Acts 16:31, Romans 10:9-10, and many other passages show the need to believe in Christ to be saved. Disbelief leads to condemnation (Mark 16:16)!

Believing involves more than just agreeing that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, it also requires trusting in Christ and doing His will. Your faith, which is the state of believing, must be obedient faith to lead to salvation (Romans 1:5).

Confess Christ. Matthew 10:32 and Romans 10:9-10 show that you need to confess Christ. We can confess Christ by simply saying that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and then by living and speaking in accordance with that confession. If we ever act as if we do not know Christ or deny Christ, He will deny us before the Father (Matthew 10:33)!

Repent of sin. When the Jews first heard the Gospel of Christ on the Day of Pentecost and believed, they asked the Apostles what they should do. Peter first told them to repent (Acts 2:38). Repentance includes the idea of being sorry for sins you have committed, but it also includes a complete change of your mind! You cannot live a new life as a child of God without first deciding to change; likewise, you must also do works in keeping with repentance to be pleasing to God (Acts 26:20)!

Be baptized for the remission of sin. The second thing Peter told those Jews on Pentecost to do was "be baptized for the remission of your sins" (Acts 2:38). In many places the Bible demonstrates the need to be immersed in water for the remission of sin (Mark 16:16, Romans 6:3-7, 1 Peter 3:21). The baptism is not a bath, but an appeal to God for cleansing through the blood of Christ (1 Peter 3:21). Baptism allows you to put to death the man of sin and to rise to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:3-7).

Be obedient. Baptism is not an end-- it is the beginning! You now have begun your walk with Christ, and you are called to be a servant of righteousness (Romans 6:17-18). Jesus says that the ones who endure to the end are those who will be saved (Matthew 10:22).

God has laid out this plan for you so that you can know how to be saved. We encourage you to consider the Lord's invitation. Become a Christian today!

Ethan R. Longhenry
evangelist@norwalkchurch.org

The church of Christ in Norwalk, Ohio

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you and help you get to know the church of Christ in Norwalk, Ohio, better.

We are a group of Christians and Christians only. We seek to follow the New Testament, and the New Testament only, as the standard for our faith and practice. We do not accept the creeds of men or accept any man's judgment as authoritative.

The only head of our church is Christ. We are blessed to have three men serving as elders, shepherding the flock, along with a deacon to help serve the church.

We encourage you to join us and get to know us better. All we want is to get to Heaven, and do whatever we can to help you get there also!

Ethan R. Longhenry
evangelist@norwalkchurch.org

The church of Christ in Norwalk, Ohio

Thank you for reading the electronic version of our bulletin, Good News for Norwalk. If you live in Norwalk or happen to be traveling in the Norwalk area, we would certainly love to have you visit one of our assemblies!

Our location:

386 North Edgewood Drive (just off US 250 just north of Norwalk's city limits)
Norwalk, Ohio 44857

Our assemblies:

Sunday morning assembly: 10:30am
Sunday evening assembly: 6:00pm

Our Bible studies:

Sunday morning Bible study: 9:30am
Wednesday evening Bible study: 7:00pm

For More Information

If you have any questions or comments about anything you have read here, or desire more information, please contact our evangelist, Ethan Longhenry, at evangelist@norwalkchurch.org.

Please click here to return to the 2006 archive of Good News for Norwalk, or click here to return to the main page of Good News for Norwalk. Thanks!