What I Believe.
I was raised in the Christian church (Restoration Movement), went to a Christian college, married a Restoration Movement man, and spent the next 12-13 years doing ministry in Christian churches. I was taught and believed wholeheartedly that I could lose my salvation (since it was my free will right to accept or reject Christ) and that I was the one who decided if I wanted to be saved or not. This theology took me down other false trails: having a works-based mentality, a very skewed view of grace, a weak understanding of God’s Sovereignty, and a completely false belief about what actually took place at the cross. It was after watching AMERICAN GOSPEL that God took me on a transformative journey and I haven’t been the same since. I now consider myself Reformed and believe that the doctrines of grace are 100% Biblical Truth.
I believe that Jesus is THE Christ: The Son of God and One with the Father and the Spirit. I believe the Biblical revelation that He is the one and only Triune God: 3 persons and yet 1 being it essence. I believe every prophecy that was made about Jesus was fulfilled in Jesus: the God-Man. I believe what He set out to do on the cross – He accomplished fully. I believe that those He died for are saved by Grace, through Faith; both from God and for God. John 6 & 10 teach clearly that no one comes to Jesus unless the Father draws them to Him, that He will raise them up on the last day, and will NOT lose any of them. I believe Jesus was resurrected from the dead on the 3rd day and has promised to come back again and will. The Lord is completely Sovereign. No one can thwart His will. He does the work in salvation and we only provide the sin that made it necessary. (Jonathan Edwards).
The doctrines of grace are so called because these five major headings of theology, often identified as the five points of biblical Calvinism, contain the purest expression of the saving grace of God. Each of these five doctrines—radical depravity, sovereign election, definite atonement, irresistible call, and preserving grace—supremely display the sovereign grace of God. These five headings stand together as one comprehensive statement of the saving purposes of God. For this reason, there is really only one point to the doctrines of grace, namely, that God saves sinners by His grace and for His glory. These two realities—God’s grace and glory—are inseparably bound together. Whatever most magnifies God’s grace most magnifies His glory. And that which most exalts God’s grace is the truth expressed in the doctrines of grace. – Steve Lawson
WITH LOVE JILLIAN 