God's Plan Of Salvation
The Bible reveals God’s heart and it is a heart that is filled with love for you! The Bible also reveals that God not only speaks about His love, but that He shows it in loving action. Perhaps the most familiar of all Bible passages, John 3:16-17 communicates it best, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.”

Page after page of God’s Word, the Scriptures, unveils His loving plan for your life. Formulated before the creation of the world and fulfilled in human history, God’s plan is one of rescue and salvation for a world and for individuals who have sinned, having chosen to go our own way rather than to walk with God.

The book of Romans clearly reveals the truth of God’s love for you in some key passages which have become known as the “Romans’ Road” to salvation in Jesus, our Messiah. The passages are shared below so that first, you may believe in the One God sent to rescue you because of His love for you and second, that you may know what is at the heart and ministry of Ascension Lutheran Church.

Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners Christ died for us.”

Romans 10:9-10 “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

Romans 10:13 “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Our prayer is that you will travel down this road of truth and confess Jesus as Lord of your life and that we as Ascension Lutheran Church will be ever faithful to share this simple, yet profound message of God’s unconditional love.

Major Lutheran Teachings

We Believe We Are Saved By Grace Alone.
There is nothing that we can do to be saved. We are saved by God’s love for us and by His grace alone. Grace is free but never cheap. It came at Jesus’ expense. He bore our sin so we might be reconciled to God. An acrostic for Grace is God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.

Ephesians 2: 8-9 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.”

We Believe We Are Saved Through Faith Alone.
We are saved by believing in Jesus Christ, not by doing good works or obeying the law. Faith is given to us by the Holy Spirit and is made stronger as we regularly are connected to His means of grace (Word and Sacrament), as we practice Christian living, and through prayer, as we ask that our faith be strengthened.

Romans 10: 9-11 “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in Him will never be put to shame.”

Our Teaching Is Based On Scripture Alone.
The Holy Word of God, the Bible, was given to us by men who were inspired by the Holy Spirit to write. It is without error and therefore, the only truly reliable source of knowledge about God, His will, His forgiveness, and His Son Jesus Christ.

2 Timothy 3: 15-17 “...the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

We Believe In Absolute Truth.
We believe that there is only one truth, the Word of God. We believe that the study of God’s Word is important and should be a routine event in our daily lives. All that we do, that we say, and that we believe can be and should be guided by the Word of God.

John 8: 31-32 “...Jesus said, “If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

John 17: 17 (Jesus said) “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth”

We Believe In God’s Means Of Grace.
We believe that God has chosen to channel His grace to us through simple, yet powerful means: His Word and Sacraments (Baptism and Holy Communion). We believe in the regenerating power of Baptism and that in Communion Christ Jesus comes to us in, with and under the bread and wine to offer us His very body and blood (real presence). In both Sacraments, the forgiveness of sins is offered and conveyed.

Romans 1:16-17 “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.”

We Believe In Creation.
We believe that the earth was created and did not evolve. All that was created was given to man by God. Man acts not as an owner but as a manager of creation.

Genesis 1: 1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

Isaiah 45:18 “For this is what the Lord says - He who created the heavens, He is God; He who fashioned and made the earth, He founded it; He did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited - He says: ‘I am the Lord, and there is no other.’”

We Believe In God’s Plan Of Sexuality.
We believe that any sexual activity outside of the marriage of a man and a woman is sin.

Ephesians 5: 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”

1 Corinthians 6: 18-20 “Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your body.”

We Believe In The Sanctity Of Human Life.
We believe that every human being is created by God from conception. Human life is to be protected and therefore we do not support abortion except in an emergency where the life of the mother is at risk. We do believe that a Christian, in good conscience, can let the natural process of death occur. We do not believe in physician assisted suicide or any effort to shorten an individual’s life by human means.

Psalm 139: 13-14 “For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”