4964 Rome New London Rd
Rome, NY 13440
(315) 336-2963
God's love for everyone is too great for Him to leave man-kind in a mess.
The mess is caused by people choosing to rebel against God's perfect standards
and living independently from the One who created us to be His friends and His children.
All the suffering of humanity through all the ages has been the result of
people turning away from God and going their own way. The Bible calls this sin.
The Bible also says that "the wages of sin is death"
(Romans 6:23).
But God has not left us hopeless.
Out of love and compassion, He sent Jesus Christ,
His Son, to provide a way of redemption.
Jesus lived a perfect life, healed the sick and did miracles which
prove that He is the Son of God.
He said "I am the way, the truth, and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (The Bible, John 14:6).
He then died willingly but unjustly on a Roman cross.
This way, instead of punishing us for our sins, God punished His perfect Son.
Three days later He rose from the dead and forty days after
that He physically left the earth and went back to the realm
which He called Heaven.
Jesus will eventually return to this earth, not as an insignificant
Jewish carpenter, but as the Judge of the whole earth.
In His own words recorded in John's Gospel chapter 3:17-18:
"For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world;
but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on
him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already,
because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."
We believe that through faith in Jesus Christ who was punished in our
place for our sins, we can come to know God as our Father and have the
assurance of sins forgiven. The moment we turn to God through faith in
Jesus Christ, He wipes out all record of past sins and gives us new life.
This is what is meant by "being born again."
We know we are baptised with the Holy Spirit the moment we are saved.
Romans 8:9 says, "Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ,
he is none of his."
The issue is not "how much do we have of the Holy
Spirit?" -
the Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is the third Person of the
Trinity and that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise
the moment we believe. The issue that concerns God is
"how much does the Holy Spirit have of us?"
The goal of our Bible teaching at Friendship Baptist Church is to
equip believers to be dedicated, Spirit-filled servants of Jesus
Christ
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