Missions in Australia - Wesley and Erin Pittman, Your Ambassadors to Australia 

Preaching Christ to the Cities of Australia

HomeNewsletterTestimony of WesleyGoals and ItineraryAustralia InformationSermonsAudioAustralian SceneryErin's ThoughtsPlan of Salvation
 


Our Faith

There is only one true God who has always existed: He had no beginning and He has no end. He created all things and continues to hold His creation together by His power. He has made Himself known to men in three distinct but united personalities: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God is in control of all things. He is holy and worthy of complete devotion as One who is perfect in goodness and righteousness. He never changes. He has unlimited authority. He has complete knowledge and understanding of all things. He is present in all places at all times.

After God created man and woman in His own image, he placed them in the Garden of Eden. The "right" of their unique creation was the gift of ruling over all created things both on the land and in the seas as well as the skies above. All creation was put under their stewardship, with one qualification—they were not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It was a test of their obedience. Adam and Eve made a deliberate choice to disobey God and reject His authority when they took of the fruit of that tree. They chose their actions, but they could not foresee or understand the consequences. Through Adam, sin came into the world. Because of this, all people have received the sin nature of our first father and mother, Adam and Eve. However, God began immediately to redeem what seemed like a hopeless situation.

He began by reintroducing men to Himself and His character through His Law, His prophets, His promises and His people, Israel. This is recorded in the Old Testament Scriptures. In the New Testament, He fulfilled that Law, approved the message of the prophets, made-good on His promises and sent to His people and to the entire world His only Son, Jesus Christ. Just as by one man (Adam) sin entered the world and has effected every person, so by one Man (Jesus) the power of sin is cancelled. Through acceptance of Christ's sacrifice (the death that He died in our place), all persons can be set free from their spiritual prison of death and the penalty of sin. God continues to show us Himself by His Holy Spirit through the Bible, His Church and prayer.

Jesus Christ was a real, historical person who was born in Bethlehem and reared in Nazareth in the country of Israel. As God foretold, He caused a virgin named Mary to conceive and give birth to a son. This son was the only Son of God. This was necessary. The Christ, the perfect sacrifice, must be conceived without the "human inborn" nature of sin. By faith, we accept the Bible's teaching that He was completely God and completely man. His life was truly a miracle.

The Bad News is that all people are sinners and do sin. We are all guilty of breaking the Holy Law of God, and it is by that Law that our deeds will be judged—we will be held accountable for our actions and for the lives that we have lived. One must evaluate his life in the light of God's Law asking himself: Have I ever "lusted" for another person? God considers this to be adultery of the heart. Have I ever hated? If so, the Bible says that I have committed murder in my heart. Have I bowed to or served a god that I formed with my own hands, purchased with my own money or conceived in my own mind? This is idolatry. Have I used God's name in vain? Have I carelessly used or cursed God and His Son Jesus Christ? Then I am a b.phphemer. Have I honored my parents, kept the Sabbath holy, always put God first, or been greedy? The obvious conclusion to such an evaluation (if it is an honest one) is that we all stand guilty before God. We deserve our sentence of spiritual death, which is separation from God forever in a real place called Hell after our physical death. One may wonder why God's law is so harsh—so impossible for any person to obey. The Bible tells us that the Law is our teacher—a teacher that will lead us to grace. God knows and considers our weakness. By learning His Law we become aware of our inability to live according to such a standard, and this discovery causes us to recognize and receive the good news with gladness when we hear it.

The Good News is that God loves us and does not want any person to die and go to Hell. He takes no pleasure in the person who dies without having their sins forgiven. In fact God has an inheritance waiting for those who accept the gift of everlasting life—that gift is offered through His Son Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ lived a perfect life and did not sin. Because he lived this perfect life, he became the perfect scapegoat, taking on the death penalty that we deserved—paying the sin-debt man owned to God through His own physical and undeserved death on a cross. By this, he gained the victory over death once and for all. He proved this by rising bodily from his grave after three days. Many witnesses saw him at that time and afterward. Forty days later He returned to Heaven.

The Gospel message in its simplest form is this: We have sinned. Our sin has a price. The price is death. Jesus Christ died in our place so that our relationship with God could be restored. Jesus took our place on the cross—the Innocent died for the guilty. Because of Him everyone can be saved from the eternal punishment of sin, so that the one who accepts Christ can say with confidence, "Jesus paid the price for MY sin. He served MY death sentence." This is a personal salvation and is also called "being born again," or "saved." Apart from Jesus we cannot be saved. This salvation is a free gift available to all people who believe—placing their personal faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, whose death on the cross of Calvary paid their sin-debt in full.

On the cross, Jesus Christ said, "It is finished." Salvation is perfect and complete in Him alone. Men cannot add to it or subtract from it. Men cannot earn their salvation by good works. The Bible says that our good works compared to God's holiness are like filthy rags. We cannot choose how we want to be saved or make up our own way, rather, we accept The Way, which God has provided through His Son Jesus Christ, which is by grace through faith alone.

At the moment we believe, God's own presence, in the Person of the Holy Spirit, begins to live in us as a Guide that teaches us to understand the Bible: giving us a special ability to live a life that pleases Him in a way that we could not do before we believed. For this reason, we are unable to "clean up" our life or change our inner character (which results in changed behavior) before we believe. It is to be expected that someone who has not believed will not desire a changed life in Christ or even think it possible. It is God Himself who gives us the ability to obey His Word. His Presence, which gives us comfort and assures us of His promise, is the guarantee of our salvation. A salvation that can never be lost because it does not depend on men. Rather, salvation depends on God alone, Who never changes, and the work of Christ, which is finished.

Because of the finished work of Christ, the Christian does not fear death. However, unbelievers greatly fear death because for them it is unknown. There is an appointed time for everyone to die, and there are no second chances after death. Our lifetime is the opportunity to accept Christ and follow Him. The Bible strongly encourages us that NOW, today, is the acceptable time for salvation for we do not know the day or hour when our life will end or when Christ will return according to His promise.

My wife and I have a hope to share this good news with all who will listen. We encourage those who may be reading this online—if you have not trusted Christ alone for your salvation, will you do so now? If so, you can talk to God about your decision through prayer. Agree with God about your sinful condition. Tell Him you have chosen to accept the gift of His forgiveness and eternal life, which He has promised and provided through His only Son Jesus Christ. Accept Jesus as your Savior. Your journey of faith can begin now.

The Inspiration of the Bible

We believe the Bible is the verbally inspired Word of God. We believe the writings of the Old and New Testaments are fully God-breathed to the extent that the very words were chosen by God from the human writers vocabulary so that the Bible is the very word of God, inerrant in all its assertions and teachings. The Bible is therefore the only infallible authority for both doctrine and life. Since this is true, it is the special revelation of God to man and the only basis for true Christian unity. (II Timothy 3:16-17; Matthew 5:18; Acts 1:16; Mark 12:36; II Peter 1:19-21; Hebrews 4:12; John 10:35;16:12,13;17:17).  We only use the King James Bible for all preaching, teaching, and studying and believe it to be the only Bible required for all English speaking countries of the world.

The Person of God the Father

We believe God is supreme in His Person, eternal in His being, absolute in His attributes, and glorious in His Perfection. We believe in the Trinity. We believe in one Triune God, the creator of heaven and earth. We believe that in the unity of the Godhead there are three distinct persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, equal in power and glory. God is personal, spirit, omniscient, sovereign, perfect, immutable, eternal in His being, holiness, love, wisdom, and power. We believe that God is absolutely separate and above the world as its creator, yet every where present in the world as the sustainer of all things. God is self-existent and self-revealing in His relationship with His creation. (Genesis 1:1; Matthew 28:19; Deuteronomy 4:35; 6:4; I Corinthian 8:6; John 1:1-3; Romans 1:2-4; Ephesians 4:3-6)

The Person of Jesus Christ

We believe in the virgin birth of Christ, His Deity, and sinless life, His vicarious death, along with His bodily resurrection and ascension, and in His personal, pre-millennial return. We believe the Lord Jesus Christ is the second person of the Godhead, God in the flesh, virgin born as no other man has ever been born nor ever will be born. He lived an absolutely sinless life and became the sinner's voluntary substitute on the Cross by His vicarious death for man's sin. Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the third day, giving eternal assurance of redemption's full payment and the satisfaction of God's righteous indignation toward sin. He ascended bodily into heaven and he will come to rapture His saints to be with Himself. His coming for His saints is imminent and will be personal, pre-tribulational, and pre-millennial. (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18; John 1:1; 14:3; I Thessalonians 4:16; Luke 1:35; I Peter 2:22; 3:18)

The Person of Holy Spirit

We believe the Holy Spirit is the executive of the Godhead. We believe that He executes the Plan of God for our conviction and salvation. Christians are partakers of the Holy Spirit and empowered for service by Him. We believe the Holy Spirit is a person possessing all the attributes of Deity. He convicts the unbelieving world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. He regenerates, seals, indwells, fills the believer and bestows gifts upon believers for service. He teachers the believer and sets him apart for a holy life. We believe the Bible repudiates the charismatic emphasis upon the experiential oriented tongues and ecumenical practices as any ministry of the Holy Spirit. We believe the Holy Spirit is the Commander-in-Chief of missions and that His testimony is not of Himself but Jesus Christ and the redemptive truths centered in Christ. (John 14:16,17; 16:8; I Corinthians 3:16; Acts 5:3,4; Ephesians 1:13,14; Romans 8:9)

The Fall of Man

We believe that man was created in the image of God and by choice fell into sin and death. Hence, every person is sinful and under condemnation to eternal judgment. We believe that man was created by a direct act of God in the image and likeness of his Creator. By disobedience to the revealed will of God, man forfeited his reign over the earth and fell from his created state and standing with God. Therefore, all men are universally sinful both by nature and choice, and are void of the righteousness of God. All men are thus alienated from the life and family of God, without excuse, under the righteous judgment and wrath of God, and have within themselves no possible means of salvation. (Genesis 1:27; Romans 3:23; 5:12-19; Isaiah 53:6; Ephesians 2:1-3).

The Salvation of Sinners

We believe that the salvation of sinners is wholly of Grace, and that Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation. We believe in the salvation of man by grace through faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross. We believe that salvation is the free gift of God, neither merited nor secured in part nor in whole by any virtue or work of man, but received only by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, in Whom all true believers have as a present possession the gift of eternal life, a perfectly righteous standing, sonship in the family of God by a new birth. We believe that the cross of Christ is redemptive, substitutionary, propitiatory and the only basis of reconciliation for all lost men who believe and that there is no possible salvation outside of Jesus Christ and His shed blood. (John 3:3-6, 16;10:28-29; Acts 16:31; Ephesians 2:8-10; I Timothy 2:5,6; I Peter 1:18-23).

The Free Gift of Salvation

We believe that the blessings of salvation are made free by the Gospel, that nothing prevents the salvation of the greatest sinner but his own inherent depravity and voluntary rejection of the Gospel. We believe that salvation was accomplished on the cross by Jesus Christ and is extended to all men as a gift to be received by faith. The basis of this salvation is totally the grace that provided the cross. Although all men are responsible to receive the gift of salvation in Christ, only those who respond to the ministry of the Spirit of God in the presentation of the Gospel will be saved. Salvation is the free and completed gift of God to all who will believe. (John 1:12; 3:16; 5:24; 12:46; Acts 16:31; Romans 10:11-13).

The Security of a Believer

We believe that those who receive Jesus Christ as Savior are eternally secure. Our security rests on the finished work of Jesus Christ. As a result, we have assurance. We believe that the true believer is forever secure as a redeemed possession of God. This security is founded on the full payment of the believer’s sin by the cross of Christ in His substitutionary atonement and God’s proof of receipt of that payment in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The sole condition of salvation is faith in Jesus Christ and His redemptive work. This positive expression of faith has as its negative side repentance and rejection of any other basis of salvation. Therefore, the security of the believer is not conditioned upon his circumstances nor emotional experiences nor strength but it is an acceptance of that basis of reconciliation which has already been accepted by God. The believer is in the possession of God, which is the opposite of lost. He is secure because God has taken the responsibility for His own. (John 10:27-30; I John 2:1-2; Romans 8:31-34, 38-39; I Corinthians 6:19; Hebrews 2:10).

The Church

We believe that the visible church is a congregation of baptized believers, practicing New Testament principles, believing its doctrines, observing its ordinances, and exercising its autonomy. We believe that a local church is an organized body of believers immersed upon credible confession of faith in Jesus Christ, recognizing only two offices (filled by pastor and deacon), sovereign in polity, and bonded together for work, worship, mutual edification, observance of the ordinances and the worldwide proclamation of the Gospel. The church is distinct from Israel in the Old Testament, autonomous, with Christ as its head. (Matthew 28:19-20; Ephesians 1:22,23; Acts 2:41-47; Ephesians 4:11-13; I Corinthians 12).

Heaven and Hell

We believe in the eternal blessedness of the saved in Heaven and the eternal punishment of the lost in Hell. We believe in the bodily resurrection of both the saved and lost, secured by the bodily resurrection of Christ. The spirits of the saved at death go immediately to be with Christ in heaven, their lives and works shall be evaluated at the Judgment Seat of Christ for the determination of rewards which will take place when Christ comes for His own in the rapture. They will experience the blessedness of God’s presence for all eternity. The spirits of the unsaved at death descend immediately into Hades where they are kept under punishment until the Great White Throne Judgment. At this time, their bodies shall be raised from the grave and be cast into the eternal lake of fire, the place of final and everlasting punishment. (John 5:28,29; 14:2; Revelation 20:14,15; 21:4; Matthew 25:46).

Current Trends in Theology

As a fundamental group of believers, we take our stand regarding the current trends that lead to discrediting the Bible and undermining the fundamentals of the faith. We takes a separatist stand against Neo-orthodoxy, Neo-evangelicalism, the Ecumenical movement and the modern tongues movement.