Sacraments
The Bible teaches that God's most important means of communicating with us is the announcement of the gospel, the message of Jesus' life, death and resurrection. Ordinary spoken words in the service of this gospel are the instruments God uses to create the faith in us that God demands. With this gift of faith, we are saved. To receive all that God intends you to have - forgiveness of sin, life, and salvation - it is enough for you to hear this message and trust God's Word.

In order to encourage and strengthen our confidence that the message of Jesus' life and death and resurrection is true and that it can deliver what it promises, Jesus twice connected physical signs to his spoken words. He connected water to his promise of life and right before he died, he took the simple elements of bread and wine and bound them to the promise of the forgiveness of our sins.

The church gave the name sacrament to both of the promises to which Jesus attached physical signs - water, bread, and wine. These sacraments are called Baptism and the Lord's Supper. They are God's promises to us. The sacraments are "visible words" for us to see and feel as well as to hear.





Sharing the Victory