By Scott Mosley

I was raised in a type of Baptist church that taught a works-plus-faith method of achieving salvation. My father was a ranking minister in this denomination and through self-study began discovering the error of his teaching.

About ten years before his resignation, he began teaching his seven children that he had mistakenly taught them some falsehoods and encouraged and helped us to find other places of worship. He remained in his church in an unsuccessful attempt to be a catalyst for change in their beliefs.

I wanted to be a Christian since my childhood and often envisioned myself as a preacher of the gospel. Yet this false doctrine that I was raised in only caused me to try and work my way to salvation, only to realize that I could not achieve it. I would soon return to my old self and be in a worse condition than when I started.

Finally, at the age of 29, I placed my faith wholly in the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Savior and obtained the gift that I so many times had tried to earn.

I immediately wanted to work for God, for no other reason but that I loved Him and wanted to be a useful vessel. I could not arrange a formal education because I have six people in my family to support, which takes the combined effort of my wife, myself, and God.

I was soon offered an internship with a small church that awarded me a tremendous opportunity to learn and eventually take a spot behind the pulpit. I loved this work and God graciously added to the church. I felt that I was on the fast track to being where I should be.

Then came my valley. While counseling a new convert who was experiencing a spiritual slump, the question of eternal security came up. He was unsure, not of his salvation, but the security of it, especially since he was not feeling very “saved” at the time.

He assured me that he had believed in Christ and that he knew he was saved, but he was afraid that he might lose it. I took him to the many Scriptures that I have so many times seen explained in Grace in Focus.

After our meeting he brought his problem to the attention of our elders who counseled him exactly the opposite. The elders then called me to a meeting and asked that I not teach or preach on the security of the believer.

I respectfully challenged them, yet they could produce no Scripture to uphold their viewpoint. Instead, they chose to stand on the doctrinal statements of their denomination.

I love these people and this episode broke my heart as I went home and wept like a child for a solid day. I begged God for guidance as my very spirit mourned. Then after missing work for a day, I went out in the woods and prayed again. Two questions kept coming to mind: 1) What will you do when someone else asks you about the security of their salvation? and 2) What will you do if you are preaching on a Bible text that covers this issue?

My answer was simple: I could not compromise the Word of God, even if it appeared to be setting my ministry back to square one.

I resigned at the next service. I trusted God with my ministry, even though everyone I knew seemed to think that I had really messed up. I began looking for churches, but had little success. Either they had bad doctrine and good fellowship, or good doctrine but had to be shaken to see if they were alive.

I concluded that I would form an organization with the hopes that someday it would blossom into a church. I incorporated under the name of Grace Security Baptist Church. With almost no support, we began doing small projects in the community while my wife and I continued to search for a church to worship at while GSBC was being established.

We finally found Fellowship Bible Church pastored by Brad Darr. Brad was a certain Godsend for me. He taught me many of the principles I see in Grace in Focus. I experienced such sweet growth and began to understand more deeply the importance of the Word of God. I was introduced to the ministry of GES and have learned from and enjoy it very much.

I must admit, at times I never thought that GSBC would ever be an actual worshipping church, but God stepped in and began sending people. Many had experienced similar doctrinal problems. Thanks to the obedience of Pastor Darr and organizations like GES, I was able to step up to the plate and help these people as they suffered the things that I had suffered and motivate them to stand up and be counted!

Even my own siblings that had previously disapproved of my decisions were turning away from tradition and to the Word in a new way. My younger brother Chris, who had led me to Christ, left an associate pastor position and agreed to lead our newly formed flock.

We are now in a rented building and have regular services where we challenge one another to base our beliefs not on our emotions or traditions, but on the Word.

While I am far from a pastorate of my own, I am learning under the guidance of my brother/pastor and have been given the opportunity to humbly stand behind the pulpit again.

All who simply believe in the Lord Jesus Christ are eternally secure. You can take that to the bank of Jesus Christ! All deposits are guaranteed to be secure!

Scott Mosley lives with his wife Michelle and four children near Albion, IN.