This question has caused much controversy in the church. It is also the reason for the separation between churches and denominations that believe that baptism should be only in the name of Jesus, and those that believe in baptism in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In Matthew 28:19, Jesus told his disciples to baptize in the name of the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), but in Acts 2:38, Peter told thousands of new believers that they needed to be baptized only in the name of Jesus. Many arguments support both views, but at Global Grace Ministries we believe the following. In Matthew, Jesus was telling the people who were going to baptize new believers how to baptize them. In Acts, Peter told unbaptized Jews (candidates for baptism) in whose name they should be baptized. In Matthew, Jesus was speaking to the church establishing a principle. In Acts, Peter was talking to Jews who needed to see Jesus as their Messiah, as their Lord. We do not need to make a “separation” doctrine on this issue, but we must understand that water baptism is important. It is our declaration to the world that we are dead to sin and have resurrected to a new life in Christ. Baptism does not save us, but it establishes us as believers in Jesus Christ. Unless you are a Jew who did not believe that Christ is the Messiah before coming to Him, you must be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Many people live in fear of losing their salvation. They are afraid that if they do something wrong their ticket to heaven will be lost. That point of view bases salvation on what we do and not on what Christ did for us. Acts 15:31 tells us that if we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, we will be saved. We are not saved by what we do, since nothing we do is good enough to earn us heaven. If we could earn heaven by our behavior, Jesus did not have to die for us. Isaiah 64:6 tells us that we are all unclean people and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags. Therefore, we are not saved by what we do, but by our faith in Christ. In other words, our salvation is not something but “Someone”. Our salvation depends on our faith in Christ and our relationship with Him. A product of that relationship is our spiritual maturity and holy life. The more we walk with Christ, the more we look, act, and talk like Him. Since we cannot find our salvation, we cannot lose it, but we can abandon Christ and therefore lose our relationship with Him. Unfortunately, many turn away from Him.

“And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes”. 1 Corinthians 11:24-26 (NIV) We do not believe that when we are taking communion we are eating and drinking the actual body and blood of Christ. We believe that the bread and wine (grape juice) represents His body and His blood. We believe that every person who is saved, including children, is able to take communion. We take it in remembrance of the death and resurrection of Christ. Just as the circumcision of every male was the sign of the covenant the Israelites had with God, we now have communion as the sign of our new covenant with Him. We believe that we can take communion at any time and everywhere where believers congregate. Therefore, we can take it in our homes and churches any time we want to remember Christ’s death and resurrection.

All throughout the Bible, God refers to Himself as “us” and “our”. In the Old Testament, He chose to reveal Himself as Jehovah or God the Father to the people of Israel, but we see all three persons of the Trinity throughout the entire Bible. The word trinity comes from "tri" meaning three and "unity" meaning one. God is three in one (God the Father, God the Son Jesus, and God the Holy Spirit). The following are just a few of the verses that reveal God as a trinity. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. 2 Corinthians 13:14 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Matthew 28:19 For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and the three are in agreement. 1 John 5:7-8 It is hard to understand God as three in one. One of the best explanations of the trinity is that God is one in being and three in persons. “Being” makes us what we are and “person” makes us who we are. If you think about it, every person on earth is a human being, but each one of us is different. We all have different personalities, functions, and characteristics. Each one of us is one human being and one person. God is one being and three persons, but like us, each one of the “persons” of God has a different personality, different function, and different characteristics. A simple illustration of that is an egg. One egg is composed of three parts (yoke, white, and shell). Each part is different, each part can be separated, but they all form one egg.

Many Christian denominations do not consider the ministry of the prophet today as biblical for the church. John the Baptist is considered the last of the biblical prophets. In part, this is due to the lack of knowledge, and in part to the lack of order shown by some "modern" prophets. The truth is that the office of the prophet is biblical and necessary in today's church. Obviously, the functions of the New Testament prophets are different from the functions of the previous prophets because the needs of the church are different from the needs of God's people in the Old Testament. However, that does not nullify the ministry of the prophets. The following verses speak of the ministry of the prophet in the church today. So Christ himself gave the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to prepare his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be edified. Ephesians 4: 11-12 And God has placed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of help, of guidance, and of different types of languages. 1 Corinthians 12:28 But the one who prophesies speaks to people to strengthen, encourage, and comfort them. 1 Corinthians 14: 3 In these verses, Paul was not speaking to Old Testament Jews, but to the body of Christ (the church). According to Paul, Christ gave the church the five offices for its edification. If we accept the ministry of the pastor and the ministry of the evangelist as biblical for today, we must accept the ministry of prophets, apostles, and teachers. Not accepting them is against the Bible.

There are believers who do not know that every Christian has the right and the authority to pray for the sick. Because of verses like James 5:14, which tells us that if we are sick we are to call the elders of the church to pray, some people believe that only ministers can pray for the sick. However, James was not telling believers not to pray for one another. He simply was inviting them to benefit from corporate prayer and the anointing with oil. Jesus in Matthew 10:8 tells us to heal the sick and bless people freely just as we have also been blessed. He also tells us in John 14:12 that whoever believes in Him will do the works he did and even greater things because He was returning to the Father. Therefore, every believer in Christ has the authority to pray for the sick. The only condition the Bible gives us to do it is to believe in Christ.

He is God. He is part of the Trinity. Just like God the Father, and God the Son, He is eternal. He has always existed. The first time He is mentioned in the Bible is in Genesis1:2, where we find Him hovering over the waters. Throughout the Bible, we see Him represented as a dove, fire, oil, wind, and Water. Jesus introduced the Holy Spirit to His disciples in John 15:26-27 as the one who will testify about Him. Jesus also told them that the Holy Spirit would guide them unto all truth and remind them of His words. Later on, Jesus instructed the disciples not to leave Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit had come. Since, the Holy Spirit is God he is also omnipresent, which means that He was already on earth, but Jesus was speaking about his active manifestation in the daily life of the church. The coming of the Holy Spirit is described in Acts chapter two. The Holy Spirit is now living in every Christian. The Bible tells us that we are His temple (1 Corinthians 6:19). It is through the power of the Holy Ghost that Christians can perform miracles. He is also the one who helps us interpret the Bible. He is our teacher, our comforter, our guide, and He is who convicts us from sin. He will stay with the church until the church leaves earth.