Statement of Faith
WE BELIEVEAt Oak Grove Church, we believe the Bible is the inspired, inerrant word of God. God is the Author through humans willing to be used by Him and guided by the Holy Spirit to record His message and the history of His chosen people (1 Corinthians 14:37; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21; 2 Peter 3:15-16). The Scriptures are about Jesus Christ (Luke 24:25-27; John 5:39-40) and Jesus held the Scriptures in the highest regard (Matthew 4:4; Matthew 5:17-19; John 10:35). No one should add to God’s Word or take from it.
THE GOSPELThe gospel is the good news of salvation. God’s rescue plan, as set in motion in Genesis 3, was to send His Son, Jesus, as a holy sacrifice to take upon Himself the sins of the world. Sin requires a sacrifice: blood must be shed for the forgiveness of sins (Genesis 3:21; Leviticus 17:11; Hebrews 9:22) and Jesus was the only pure and clean sacrifice to take on the sin of the world and serve as a substitute for humanity. Jesus’ resurrection proved His claims that He was God in the flesh, the promised Messiah to come (John 8:58; Isaiah 53; Romans 1:1-4; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; 1 Peter 2:24), and it proved His power over death and the grave. Jesus is The Way—the only Way to God the Father (John 14:6). Jesus’ message when He started his ministry was, “Repent of your sins and turn to God for the Kingdom of Heaven is near” (Matthew 4:17). Repentance is a requirement for all who wish to receive forgiveness and enter into the Kingdom of God.
THE TRINITYWe believe in the Holy Trinity. God exists eternally, the uncaused first cause, uncreated Creator, but not alone and by himself. He is three persons in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Genesis 1; Psalms 33:6; Jeremiah 27:5; Jeremiah 32:17; Matthew 3:16-17). God is love (1 John 1:8). In Him we find mercy, righteousness, and perfect justice. God makes Himself known through His creation (Psalms 19:1-6; Romans 1:18-23), through His Son (the second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ), and through the written word of the Holy Scriptures.
Jesus was with God in the beginning. He is the Son of God, the second Person of the Trinity (Genesis 1:26; John 1:1-4; John 17:5; Philippians 2:5-11; Hebrews 1:1-4; Revelation 1:8). He is equal to God, one with God, and fully God (John 10:30; John 14:7-9). Jesus put His glory in heaven aside to become a man in order that He may save His people from their sins. (John 1:14; Galatians 4:4-5; Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:26-38; Luke 19:10; Acts 2:23-24). Jesus lived a sinless life (Hebrews 4:15; 1 Peter 1:18-19) and was the perfect sacrifice for our sins (Matthew 5:17; Mark 10:45; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:13). After His undeniable death on the cross, Jesus rose from the grave three days later (Mark 10:34; John 10:17-18). He is now seated at the right hand of the Father, interceding on our behalf as our High Priest (Acts 1:9-11; Hebrews 7:25; 1 John 2:1-2). Jesus is the only way and salvation is only found in Him by the confession and repentance of sin (1 Timothy 2:5; John 14:6; Acts 4:12). Jesus will hold all accountable to Him at the end of time when we face the judgement (Matthew 25:31; John 5:22-23; Acts 17:30-31; Romans 14:10).
The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity, the essence of the Father and Son. There is only one God who exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 13:14). The Spirit of God was there in the beginning (Genesis 1:2; Deuteronomy 32:1-6; Colossians 1:15-20). The Spirit was active in God’s people throughout the Old Testament and was poured out on the believers on the day of Pentecost (Judges 14-15, Exodus 31, Isaiah 63:10, Luke 24:49; Acts 2). The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin (John 16:8), guides us in the truth (John 14:26; John 16:13-14), grants new life to sinners resulting in salvation (John 3:1-8; 1 John 5:1), produces fruit within the lives of those the Spirit indwells (Galatians 5:22-25), sanctifies believers in the Word (John 17:17), and intercedes for us as we pray (Romans 8:26-27). Jesus said it was better that He go to the Father so that the Spirit may come (John 16:7) because God in us is better than God with us. The entire story of the Bible is the story of God moving closer and closer to His people: first in presence, then in person, then in indwelling Spirit.
MANKINDHuman beings, which consist of two genders—male and female—are made in God’s image and have been given authority over His creation to lovingly care for the plants and animals (Genesis 1:26-31). God created two genders and two genders only: male and female (Genesis 1:27). God designed males and females to procreate together, one man and one woman. God gave His creation free will because free will is the only thing that makes love possible. When He placed Adam and Eve in the Garden, He placed a tree from which they were forbidden to eat. This was to give them the choice to disobey—because without the choice to disobey there is no real obedience, it’s just compliance. Adam and Eve chose to disobey, and sin entered the world. This sin caused a separation between God and man, a separation God was prepared to repair. The Bible teaches that all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory; we are all in need of being saved from sin (Romans 3:23, 1 John 1:8). Man was created for eternity so we will either live eternally in Heaven with God if we have placed our faith in Jesus and accepted His payment for our sins—or we will spend eternity separated from God, cast out from the presence of Him who is everywhere and out of the knowledge of Him who knows all (Isaiah 66:22-24; Matthew 7:21-23; Mark 9:42-48; Revelation 20:11-15).
SINAll people are guilty of sin (Romans 3:23), which is breaking God’s Holy and perfect law and falling short of His standards. Only a blood sacrifice can pay for sins (Genesis 3:21, Genesis 15, Genesis 22, Exodus 12). Jesus has paid for our sins, once and for all (1 Peter 3:18). Either you can accept Jesus’ payment for your sin which results in eternal life with God, or you can pay for your sin at the end of time which will result in eternal death, separated from God.
SALVATIONSalvation is found in Christ alone and it is received by faith. Sin makes us spiritually dead; thus, salvation is an act of God’s grace, which we don’t deserve (Ephesians 2:8-9). Only God, through His rescue plan and Jesus’s willing sacrifice, can save us from sin. This is nothing we do and nothing we can earn. It is only through surrender to God and His will by confessing and repenting of sins that we can hope to have salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6; Ephesians 2:8-9; 1 John 2:18-25).
THE LORD'S SUPPERThe Lord’s Supper, or communion, is a commemoration of Jesus Christ’s atonement on the cross and it is a confirmation of the covenant He made with His believers in the upper room at the Last Supper. The cracker and juice we take at communion represent Jesus’s body and blood as He proclaimed at the Last Supper. We take the elements once a month in remembrance of Jesus, so that we are sure to never forget or lose sight of what Jesus did for us on the cross.
BAPTISMParents can dedicate their children to the Lord and vow to raise them to know the Lord, but the decision to be baptized, to declare and demonstrate a repentance of sin and faith in Christ, must be made by the individual. The water does not wash your sins away nor does it make you spiritually clean. Jesus lived a perfect life and had no sins to be forgiven and yet He was baptized. Since Jesus modeled this baptism, so should His followers, to publicly identify with Jesus in His death, burial and resurrection (Romans 6:1-11; Colossians 2:9-12).