Ambassador Presbyterian Church

There is no argument that to be a Christian is to have faith, to believe in God, and in particular to believe in Jesus Christ as Savior of sinners. But is that all that is necessary? What about obedience and good works? What about our seeking of God and desire for salvation that leads to faith? Don't those count for something? And what about faith itself? Don't we at least contribute that to the salvation equation? These questions get to the heart of the issue that shaped the Reformation debate, and led to the restoration of the biblical doctrine of justification by faith alone as a central tenet of the true gospel. Here we continue in our series on Why the Reformation Still Matters and look at Sola Fide - Faith Alone.

How do dead people come alive? How are enslaved people set free? How are condemned people forgiven and justified? In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul is clear that all of us as sinners before a holy God fall into those categories. We are spiritually dead, dominated and doomed, and thus unable to contribute anything to salvation. Which is where God's grace comes in. It is by God's grace alone that we are saved and this truth serves as the bedrock of the gospel as good news. Here we look at another great hallmark of the Reformation's return to the foundations of our faith: Sola Gratia. It is God's grace alone that saves us.

In all the heated debates that occurred during the Protestant Reformation, there was one issue that could be found at the center of all of them: were the Scriptures a sole Divine authority for God’s people? While reformers like Luther demanded this, their counterparts in the Roman Church insisted that it was both Scripture and Church tradition that were divine authorities for God’s people. Join us as we consider what it means for the church to embrace the truth of Sola Scriptura, and see that while tradition is both important and needed, only God’s Word is the ultimate authority over God’s Church.

Jesus Christ as savior of sinners has always been the foundational truth of the Christian faith. Where the church often strays is when something is added alongside or in addition to Jesus as the means of salvation. When the church has adopted a "Christ and..." view of salvation it has in the words of Paul turned "to a different gospel." (Gal. 1:6). Such was the case during the days of the Reformation, and one of the course-correcting measures of the reformers was to recover the essential gospel truth that "Christ alone" is Savior, a truth that still speaks loudly to our current culture of religious pluralism. Here we look at the first to the the five "solas" of the Reformation: Sola Christus or Christ Alone.

Can God forgive a heartless terrorist, a brutal murderer, a hate-filled racist? Sometimes we encounter people who seem so evil that they are beyond redemption, and we think there's no way God could ever change them. But God not only can, he does. Here we look at the conversion of the apostle Paul, one of the most well-known testimonies of God's abundant grace to the worst of sinners.

God often uses big moments or events to enable the gospel go out to many people at once through a powerful sermon, a well-known celebrity or athlete, a large scale or amazing event that draws the attention of many. Such was the case in the early stages of the church as the spread of the gospel was often through the drawing of crowds to hear a message. Which is why it's a little surprising when God sends one of his most effective evangelist to a remote desert for a brief encounter with a single individual. We continue in the book of Acts and see how God creates divine appointments that equal gospel opportunities for us to share the good news about Jesus.

Have you ever seen something that you just thought was so amazing or you wanted so bad that you just had to have it, only to find out that it's not for sale? How we respond when something we really want is denied us can reveal a lot about our heart. As the power of God in the gospel spread to Samaria, one man named Simon was so amazed by what was happening, he offered to pay money to get in on this deal, only to be told by the disciples to keep his money and check his heart. Here we look at what God's Word teaches us about the gift money can't buy and the danger of false faith.

The early church father, Tertullian (c. 155-240), famously wrote in his work, “The Apology” that “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” In saying this, he was speaking to the truth that while those who persecute Christians think that they are extinguishing the work of the church, they are rather serving to advance the growth of the church through the spread of the good news about Jesus Christ. This week we see this very truth illustrated in the martyrdom of Stephen from Acts 7, and learn what effect it had on the early church - and still has on the church even today.

The story of Stephen in Acts 6 and 7 is a classic example of "if you don't like the message, kill the messenger." Yet, Stephen stood in a long line of God's servants who were rejected and even persecuted for representing God, including Jesus himself. In his own defense, Stephen gives his accusers a long history lesson that ends up exposing their own rebellion against the Lord. Now we continue in Acts 7 and see how Stephen speech turns the tables on a stiff-necked people.

In the classic Christmas movie, It's a Wonderful Life, Clarence the angel finds himself about to be arrested by Bert the cop, and crying out in fear for help, he suddenly disappears. In the real life account of the early church, it doesn't happen quite like that. In Acts 6, Luke gives us the account of Stephen, a follower of Jesus described as having "the face of an angel" who when he finds himself arrested, doesn't cry out in fear and disappear, but rather stands firm in faith and proclaims the gospel. Stephen serves as a wonderful example of what is means to be an "angelic" witness for Jesus, and a sober reminder that doing so comes at great cost.