Basic Ministry Doctrines 101

1. Salvation

If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

The process of faith is believe, speak, take action, and receive. We are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). Grace is the ability to have or do what we could not in our own strength. Repentance is a change of heart and then a change of direction. Sin goes under the blood (2 Corinthians 7:10). When God forgives, He forgets it (Hebrews 8:12). You are a child, not only a servant. Sonship is access, authority, and inheritance. Water baptism expresses that faith. It does not save you. In this ministry, employees are required to be baptized.

2. Holiness

Holiness is not man’s rulebook. It is God’s Word and God’s will, received by the blood of Jesus. His law now is the Law of the Spirit and the Law of Liberty. A righteous man may fall seven times and rise (Proverbs 24:16). Staying down is what keeps you from righteousness. Restoration is the mission. It is unholy to rejoice when someone falls. You cannot be holy without love. God is love (1 John 4:8). Love covers (1 Peter 4:8). We never rejoice over the fall of the Lord’s anointed.

3. Giving

Jesus is the seed of God. When the Father sowed Him, He expected a return and intended a return. Every seed should be sown with intention. Many have been tricked into calling “giving to get” a sin. God wants the gift from the heart, and He wants you to believe He rewards those who seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). He would rather you reach heaven poor than prosper and be lost. Still, His plan is to multiply the faithful. In the talents He gave according to ability. Cornelius prayed and gave, and God stepped into his dreams (Acts 10:3). The tithe already belongs to God and protects the increase. The offering above it is the seed. Those who leave all for Him receive a hundredfold now, with persecution, and eternal life in the age to come (Mark 10:29-30).

4. The baptism of the Holy Ghost

You have the Holy Spirit when you are saved. When you are baptized in Him, He has you. The sign is speaking in tongues. The tongue is the rudder (James 3:4). Peter denied Jesus, then led three thousand in a day after he was filled. Expect the unexpected. Joy flows from the belly, not the head. You do not need this baptism to make heaven. You cannot fulfill your purpose without it (Acts 1:8).

5. The gifts of the Spirit

Ministry applies heaven’s solution to sin’s problems. A word of knowledge concerns what is or what was. Prophecy concerns what will be, and it is given to edify, exhort, and comfort (1 Corinthians 14:3). Discerning of spirits is not a license to criticize. Stephen worked wonders while he served tables. Those who attack the gifts attack the Holy Spirit.

6. The five-fold ministry

Apostles are sent with authority. Prophets speak forth. Evangelists carry the gospel. Pastors shepherd. Teachers ground the church. They equip the saints for unity (Ephesians 4:11-13). The ministry of helps is not lesser. Every task means souls. Fill the gap, even when the task does not flatter you.

7. The authority of the believer

The signs follow them that believe (Mark 16:17). There is no junior Holy Ghost. We are seated with Christ in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6). God has no darkness to give. Obey the instruction in the Word, then call it done. The Word is the sword of the Spirit. Jesus healed all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him (Acts 10:38).

8. Trials of the heart

The Lord tests the hearts (Proverbs 17:3). It is the test that brings the blessing. Abraham offered Isaac believing God could raise him. God does not send darkness to make light. After the test He intervenes, the provision He already prepared appears, and He swears the promise over your future.

9. False doctrine

God has magnified His Word above His name (Psalm 138:2). We still know in part, so the gifts have not ceased. Calling miracles the work of a devil is calling the ministry of Jesus sin. Miracles are His signature. Rome does not share authority with Scripture. We do not pray to saints, statues, or Mary. There is one mediator. Purgatory is not in the Bible. Calvinism hides behind cessationism and teaches that Jesus died only for some. The Institutes may as well be the Book of Mormon. God does not overrule His own Word.

10. The end times

The church is caught up. Believers are changed in the twinkling of an eye. Then the judgment seat, the marriage supper, the tribulation, the second coming, Armageddon, a thousand-year reign, Satan’s last rebellion, the great white throne, and a new heaven and a new earth. Jesus never loses dominion, so the body must be taken before another power seizes the earth. He is coming for a spotless bride. No Christian should fear the end times. The last days are an outpouring, then we see Him.

Know these foundations. Live them. Pass them on.

Ankit Rambabu Pinnadari · Acts of Faith Ministries