Gospel means good news. The good news is that Jesus saves sinners. Understanding the gospel means discovering who Jesus is, what Jesus has said and done, and why it is important as has been revealed in the Scriptures.  When we communicate the gospel we need to accurately share who the person of Jesus Christ is, what he taught and did, and why he had to come as he did. Explanations include major highlights in the story of redemption, which may be summarized as: God Creates | Man Sins | Christ Redeems | We Respond. 

God Creates.

Genesis 1:1 states very clearly  that “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth…” God always has been and always will be.  He is eternal, uncreated, and far beyond our complete comprehension.  Yet he has chosen to reveal his nature and character to us through Jesus Christ as revealed in Scripture.  So “in the beginning” is not the beginning of God, but rather the beginning of creation, and that beginning is “very good.”  Yet, the “very good” state doesn’t last.  Man, the pinnacle of God’s creation, made in His image in order to reflect and represent God to all creation, rebelled against God’s way choosing disobedience, separation, and death.

Man Sins.

Beginning with Adams’ sin, the very nature of man is now fallen.  Rebellion and idolatry attached itself into the core of man and we remain unable, on our own, to set right the wrong we had done.  God gave man his law, through Moses, to guide and govern the people.  But this law had no power to save, only to condemn.  The weight of man’s sin was unbearable. Generations passed, God’s chosen people grew in number, but remained under the harsh bondage of sin. God sent prophets to speak God’s words to the people; words of correction, words of comfort, and words of hope.  Hope that redemption was coming.  Man would not live estranged from God forever, governed under a law we were unable to keep. For as Isaiah prophesied hundreds of years before Christ; “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light… for to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace…” [Isaiah 9:2-7]

Christ Redeems.

The redemption of man was not possible by works of men, not even if those works were according to God’s law. Rebellion, selfish ambition, pride; sin had infected the hearts of men and could not be undone. One may ask why. The act of rebellion from a righteous man (Adam before the fall) could not be undone by endless apparently righteous acts from unrighteous man. The undoing of sin must come from a perfectly righteous man. God himself took on flesh in order to live a life in perfect obedience to God (and God’s law), in order to be an atoning sacrifice for those whom God would save. John writes it this way:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. he was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” [John 1]

Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin, so that we may become his righteousness being saved from the power of sin, death, and hell. The apostle Paul writes:

“For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” [Romans 5:17-21]

Through the perfect obedience lived by Jesus and the final sacrifice offered by Jesus, salvation was made possible for sinful man.

We Respond.

So what now?  Scripture says that if we believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths that Jesus is who he says he is and he has done all that he has said he has done, then we will be saved.  There is a great mystery between the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man, but it is clear that salvation belongs to the Lord and is a work of the Lord, but that we are called to respond.  Our response is to put our faith in Christ.  This is more than hope or even future security.  Faith is the substance of things hoped for [Hebrews 11:1].  If it is the substance or assurance of hope, then it must run deeper than hope.  Faith is a complete confidence in the person and work of Christ Jesus to be sufficient in this life and the next.  You don’t need to repeat a scripted prayer, but you do need to confess your absolute need for Christ and all he offers, teaches, and commands.  This confession is not to be done lightly [Luke 14:27-33] but should be carefully thought through.  But this confession, if compelled by God’s irresistible grace, brings life from death.  If you would like more information about becoming a Christian, look below at “What is a Christian?”  or contact us to speak with a Pastor.

Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will of God, taking upon Himself human nature with its demands and necessities and identifying Himself completely with mankind yet without sin. He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His substitutionary death on the cross He made provision for the redemption of men from sin. He was raised from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His disciples as the person who was with them before His crucifixion. He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where He is the One Mediator, fully God, fully man, in whose Person is effected the reconciliation between God and man. He will return in power and glory to judge the world and to consummate His redemptive mission. He now dwells in all believers as the living and ever present Lord. — Baptist Faith & Message 2000

We believe that the Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired, and is a perfect treasure of heavenly instruction; that it has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth without any mixture of error for its matter; that it reveals the principles by which God will judge us; and therefore is, and shall remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and opinions should be tried. — The New Hampshire Confession of Faith (1853)

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• A collection of 66 individual writings
• Written by 40 different authors, describing their encounters with God. 
• The Bible’s central theme, woven throughout every book, is the exultation of Jesus Christ through the redemption of mankind by Jesus’ life, death on the cross and resurrection. 

The Bible is different from any other book in that it is “living and active”.  The Bible is God’s primary tool to sanctify us, teach us, and speak to us.  It teaches us everything we need to know about God to be reconciled with Him.  The Bible is the complete revelation from God.  Nothing can be taken away from it and nothing can be added.  It is the filter through which all actions, thoughts, teachings and doctrines must be passed through.  It is the final say and the authoritative voice on these matters.  When The Bible speaks, God speaks.

A Christian is a person who acknowledges their sin against God and recognizes their desperate need to be saved from it. They have repented of this sin and placed their trust in the person and work of Jesus Christ. They believe in Jesus Christ as God’s Son and have accepted His death on the cross as payment for their sin debt to God. 

We believe that the salvation of sinners is wholly of grace, through the mediatorial offices of the Son of God; who by the appointment of the Father, freely took upon him our nature, yet without sin; honored the divine law by his personal obedience, and by his death made a full atonement for our sins; that having risen from the death, he is now enthroned in heaven; and uniting in his wonderful person the tenderest sympathies with divine perfections, he is every way qualified to be a suitable, a compassionate, and an all- sufficient Savior. — The New Hampshire Confession of Faith (1853)

Having been saved by grace and given the righteousness of Christ, true Christians are forgiven from all sin; past and future. They now are granted direct access to the Father and can come to Him in prayer. They receive the Holy Spirit living within them, who guarantees their eventual inheritance as His children and eternal life in heaven with God.  

The Holy Spirit also provides the power to change and gradually become more like Jesus.  Christians are not perfect. They are works in progress. It is the work of the Holy Spirit that accomplishes this within them, in concert with their effort. The Holy Spirit gradually produces fruit in a Christian’s life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control. The word Christian literally means “little Christ”. It is the goal of every Christian to gradually become more-and-more like Jesus Christ in their desires, thoughts and actions in the context of a local church.

We believe that a visible Church of Christ is a congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the ordinances of Christ; governed by his laws, and exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by his Word; that its only scriptural officers are Bishops (i.e., Elders), or Pastors, and Deacons, whose qualifications, claims, and duties are defined in the Epistles to Timothy and Titus. — The New Hampshire Confession of Faith (1853)

As Christians, we resemble and represent God to the world, so the local church body, in a sense, is to be an outpost of the kingdom in the world today. Ministry, (e.g., missions, evangelism, discipleship, worship, teaching), flows from the local church and the church is God’s design to reach the world with the gospel.