God is uncreated, eternal, all knowing, all powerful and loving. God is creator and He desires for you to know Him. He is actively working out His plan to restore humanity into a love relationship with Him. God exists in three persons as the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) but is a singular Holy being. There is no other God.
Jesus is the most clear and vivid picture of the character of God. Jesus has always existed and according to the Bible He is the Agent of creation, the one through whom all things were made. He is the second person of the Trinity. When Jesus left heaven, took on flesh and all the weaknesses of humanity, He became like us.
He was both fully God and fully man. Because of His perfect nature, Jesus was uniquely able to serve as the perfect and sinless sacrifice for mankind. God takes sin so seriously, that God Himself suffered to restore humanity. Through the death of God’s son, Jesus, the price of our sin was paid, something we could never do ourselves.
Jesus’ body was real, and He was beaten, broken, tortured, and crucified to make it possible to for mankind to be in right relationship with God. Three days after He was crucified, just as Jesus promised his disciples, He was resurrected from the dead and is now sitting at the right hand of God, ruling as king over humanity and acting as a mediator between the Father and those who believe in His name. Jesus will return in power and glory to judge the world and complete His redemptive mission.
The Holy Spirit is God’s Spirit and He is with us now. He lives in the heart of the believer. He shows what is right and wrong. The Holy Spirit leads the believer as they live their life on earth.
The Bible is God’s word. The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God’s revelation of Himself to mankind. God inspired human writers, using their personality, time, and culture, to show and teach exactly what he desired to be recorded and passed on through scripture over thousands of years. All scripture is true and trustworthy. Through the Bible, we can know about God and understand how He desires for us to live in relationship with Him.
The Purpose of Church is to look, act, and love like Jesus, together. A church is a group of people you belong to — a family — not only a place you go. The church has been commissioned to love God, love each other, and share the Good News of what Jesus has done for us. The church exists to carry out God’s mission to make disciples of all the nations. That means we are to walk with each other on life’s journey learning how to follow, love, and obey God and live life to the fullest.
Sin is anything that goes against God’s will and commands. God created mankind in His own image beginning with Adam and Eve. God walked and talked with them every day. He desired a relationship with them, as he does with each of us. When Adam and Eve broke God’s one rule for them, it separated them from God. Sin in our lives today has the same effect. As humans, we are imperfect, but we can trust that Jesus who is sinless and perfect is the answer to our brokenness and separation from God. Through Him we can ask for forgiveness from our sins and be restored into relationship with God.
Salvation is being redeemed from the penalty of sin. God’s saving grace made this possible through Jesus’ sacrifice. There is nothing we can do to earn our salvation or make ourselves good enough before God. When we trust in the price that Jesus paid for our salvation and accept it as a gift, we receive His gift of salvation. What are we being saved from? Eternal separation from God. God is the greatest thing that exist. In hell, you are completely separated from God and all of his goodness. Why would God force people who do not want a relationship with Him to spend eternity in His presence? There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.
Jesus said, “This is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” Life in God’s kingdom is both present now and a reality we can and should eagerly await. Heaven is not heaven because of the streets of gold, the angels, or even because you might be there. Heaven is Heaven because God is there, and those who trust in Jesus get to be there with Him.
© 2020 Shadycrest Baptist Church.
