"Who will have all men to be saved, and to come to
The Mission
The mission of our church is simple: please the Lord. Colossians 1:9, 10, says, "...we...desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;" AMEN! That is our desire: to live a life that pleases the Lord, that is fruitful, and that abounds in the knowledge of God. But, how do we do that? The verse tells us that we have to be "filled with the knowledge of his will." Meaning, to please God we have to know what he wants done. We have to do what he is doing. How do we know what he is doing? The Bible! But, what part of the Bible? Should we build an ark? That's in the Bible. Should I bring a lamb for a sacrifice for my sin? God told some people to do that. Should I sell all I have, give to the poor, and follow Jesus? What about repent and be baptized for the remission of sins? God told some people to do that, too. We teach that God's will for man today can be found in the epistles of Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles (Romans-Philemon). Romans 16:25, 26, says, "Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest..." We now have a truth that had been hidden and God has revealed it through the letters of apostle Paul. Read Ephesians 3!! The knowledge of this truth is our church mission and passion. Finally, we can understand God and his will for our lives! Only when we know what God wants for us can we walk worthy and be fruitful in him!
The Vision
When we believe and acknowledge our mission's truth, how clear our vision becomes! We now can see how God sees and can be helpers together with him. From 1 Timothy 2:4 we learn that God wants "all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth." And, what word defines the way God is saving men today? GRACE! God sees through glasses of grace, speaks through a megaphone of grace, and hears through hearing aids of grace...and so do we. We proclaim salvation by grace alone through faith alone in the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2:8, 9, says, "By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast." 1 Corinthians 15:1, 3, 4, says, "I declare unto you the gospel...how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures;" We also proclaim grace in our day to day living, knowing that we possess nothing good in our flesh, and that all our help and sufficiency must come from the Lord. (Romans 6&7) We desire to take this knowledge to our families and community. We want to please the Lord. We want to edify and be there for each other and create a strong sense of commitment to our church, the Lord, and his word. We praise God for his grace, which alone makes this possible.