Gospel Plan of Salvation

Plan of Salvation Synopsis

How does God save lost people?  To answer such a question, we need to examine a few Bible basics.  Let us simply allow the Bible to speak for itself.  Toward that goal, let us consider the following:

·           All accountable people have done wrong, and thus fall short of God’s perfect glory (Rom. 3:23).

·           God’s love sent Jesus to bear the quilt and punishment for the sins that separate us from God (I Pet. 2:24-25).

·           Through faith in Jesus we can choose life rather than death (John 3:16).

·           The answer is grounded in God’s grace (an undeserved gift) and not from any response we could make to “earn” our salvation (Eph. 2:8-10).

Now we come to the question, “if we are going to be saved, what kind of response does God ask of our faith?” (Rom. 1:5, 16:26). Obedience to the faith is necessary!

·           To one that does not have faith, the first step toward salvation is to believe that Jesus is the Savior (Acts 16:31).

·           To those who believe that Jesus is the Christ, repentance (a change of thinking) and baptism for the remission of sins are both instructed (Acts 2:36-38, Luke 24:46-47).

·           Biblically, both belief and confession are inseparably linked with salvation (Rom 10:8-10; 1 Tim. 6:12).

·           To the believers who have repented, baptism is prescribed as the way to call on the name of the Lord and have their sins washed away (Acts 22:16).

·           Baptism (immersion) as a response of faith is clearly linked to entering into a saving relationship with Jesus (Rom. 6:3-4; Gal. 3 26-27; 1 Pet. 3:21).

·           We are making a life-long commitment to walk in the new life of God’s light (Rom. 6:4; 1 John 1:7).

·           In all of these things, we must respond in faith to receive the gift of grace (James 2:26); any response, however, from an attitude of boasting, or of trying to earn our salvation, would not be acceptable (Rom. 3:27; 4:1-2).

Many religious people believe a response of some kind on the part of man is required for salvation, although they differ on the nature of the required response.  The real issue, however, is not what men teach or think (Jer. 10:23 “It is not in man to direct his own steps”)                                                                                                                it is about what the Bible teaches.  Jesus has been sent, the Bible reveals the way of forgiveness, the decision to act is yours and yours alone.  

Update Letter-October 2011

Oct. 31, 2011

Dearest Friends, Brethren and Supporters,

            It is with absolute joy that as I compose this update letter, Summer and I are entering our final quarter at the East Tennessee School of Preaching and Missions.  We are very excited to be near completion of what has certainly been a life changing endeavor for our family.  The last two years have been very challenging, as well as rewarding for our family.  The decision to enter into ministry for the Lord’s church has truly been the best decision of our lives.  Our time so far at school has been a complete blessing.  We have had the opportunity to grow spiritually in the knowledge of faith and service, and have learned how to better teach others the gospel of Christ.  We have also been blessed to make and develop friendships that will never be broken.            

            As a student at ETSPM, I have enjoyed the opportunity to study bible and ministry under the direct instruction of godly men who by many are considered legends in the brotherhood.  The wisdom imparted by these men go far beyond their bible knowledge, which is vast, and reaches into the training and development of men who will serve in the kingdom as ministers.  I appreciate the training I have received from these fine men, and Summer feels the same about the instructors’ wives and wives classes.

            With that being said, there are hardly words to express the appreciation that we have for all of those who have supported our efforts.  With the financial support of 9 congregations and 11 individual families, I have been able to focus on schoolwork without being stressed over providing financially for my family.  Summer has been my biggest supporter! She has worked full time, carried the wives class workload, and kept the home and kids the entire time without complaining one time, only praising God for the opportunity put before us.  I have submitted an application to move back home in January, I hope she approves it!

            Our intention is to visit each supporting congregation in the spring after I finish classes.  Please review your March, April, and May calendars and find a place to pencil us in for a Sunday to visit and preach so that we may personally thank your members.  We look forward to seeing all of you again!

            As for the budget, please consider for your budget meetings that our family support will be needed through the end of January.  Our full time pay from Dayton will begin in February. Thank you so much for the financial and moral support that you have helped us with during our stay at ETSPM.  We could not have done it without you! Our promise to you is to do our best to make sure that the investment you have made goes far to spread the gospel and to teach others about Jesus.  Currently, that focus will be on the lives of young people at Dayton.  As many of you know, upon completion of school I will begin full time work at Dayton church of Christ where we have been attending for a year now.  My primary focus will be youth work and associate ministry.  Our time at Dayton has been very fruitful already, and we are very happy there.  We look forward to getting started full time in February.  

           

            Once again, Thank You. Your love and contribution has changed our lives.  I will forever be indebted to you, and will never forget what each of you has done for us.

Sincerely in brotherly love,

Thomas L. Bowling and family

           

Tyler didn't want in the car with that hair! Lol

Bradley tbought his hair looked cool. I didn't argue...

Maybe not so far away.....

I built this more for Bowling (That's Tom) to use but I may have done it a little early since he doesn't have time for much of anything other than school. The secondary reason I built this blog was because I thought we may be getting ready to move south (further south) to Florida and believe it or not, some of our family isn't on facebook!
We are very happy for the congregation we were looking at there because they got the Tate's. Brad and Christy lived in Cleveland for a short time before Brad went to "Preacher School" and seem to (based on what I've seen on facebook) be happy with their new congregation.
Also while looking at Florida congregations, Bowling realized leaving his part time work at Dayton was going to be harder than he thought it would be. It was just supposed to be part time until he finished school, right? Nope... He say's he isn't "finished" there and thankfully the elders saw fit to keep him/us a little longer. Not only are we excited to get to stay there but we are also excited that we know WHERE we will be in 6 months when he is finished with school. This is a huge benefit since we could go ahead and get the kids transferred to their new schools at the beginning of the school year rather than the middle AND we are still close to family.
I hope everybody can make plans to come to graduation next July. Bowling has worked hard to get there!!

Test post from phone...

5th Grade Graduation

Bradley graduated 5th grade at Oak Grove Elementary. He was asked to lead the prayer and did such a good job. I am trying to figure out how to add the pictures I took....