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A Word From Our Elders
Greetings! Thanksgiving is behind us. We pray that each of you had a great Thanksgiving with family, friends and great food. Each of us can celebrate God’s many blessings on our lives. As we begin the month of December, we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ and the Christmas season, we will be busy with many church, family and community activities this month.
We will have 1st Sunday lunch on the 7th this month. We will be continuing our Advent Sermon series on different Christmas Hymns. Our Christmas Eve candlelight service will be on Wednesday the 24th. Our new Sunday school classes will start December 7th. The classes this quarter include Hootie/Tony – “Knowing the Spirit part 2”, Michael – “The Parables of Jesus”, Adam – “Limited Resources, Limitless God/Sharing Jesus in a Post-Christian world”. We encourage you to pick out a class and commit to it for the next 12 weeks!
We get caught up in the fast-paced activities of the Christmas season. Christmas parades, buying/exchanging gifts we can find ourselves wrapped up in the world’s view of Christmas.
A devotional from Alistair Begg “Christmas According to Christ”
Hebrews 10:5-6
Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,
“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.
The Gospels of Matthew and Luke introduce us to a whole cast of Christmas characters with whom we’ve grown quite familiar: Joseph, Mary, the shepherds, the wise men, and so on. Sometimes we even consider those who are less known, such as Zechariah, Elizabeth, Anna, and Simeon. With each passing Christmas season, we have probably been treated to sermons and studies from the perspective of just about every cast member. Yet there is one notable exception: surprisingly few of us have pondered Christmas from Jesus’ vantage point.
In this verse, the author of the letter to the Hebrews tells us that when Jesus stepped onto the stage of history, He took the words of Psalm 40 upon His lips. Just as Cinderella’s glass slipper fit only her foot, these words fit nobody but Jesus.
God was preparing for the first Christmas throughout the centuries of the Old Testament, for all the Old Testament sacrifices were mere shadows of the reality to which they pointed. Those sacrifices involved the death of animals that had to be prodded to the altar. They had no choice in the matter; they were simply pressed into service. But before He even experienced humanity, Jesus knew His role—His sacrifice—would be different. He willingly consented. In the humblest of forms and in an unexpected setting, God the Son took on a body that was prepared for Him—prepared “as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). He looked at this broken world and its sinful people, and He said to His Father, Yes, I will go there. I will become one of them, and I will die for them.
Peter grasps the weight of Christ’s death when he writes,
“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24).
Jesus, being fully God and fully man, entered this world to do in His body what no animal sacrifice could do: He has borne our punishment, cleansed our consciences, and held out divine mercy. He perfectly accomplished all that is necessary for sinful men and women to enter into fellowship with God.
This is very different from the promise of mere religion, in which rules and effort become futile mechanisms for trying to climb into heaven. In contrast, the manger’s message is one of liberating mercy. God has wonderfully taken the initiative and come to rescue us through Jesus. We don’t need to make a long journey to find God, because Christ, the newborn King, knew His role. What is the right response? Simply to bow before Him humbly, praise Him wholeheartedly, and wait for Him expectantly all of our days.
As we begin this Christmas season, I pray that we each reflect on this season and the true meaning of Christmas. It starts and ends with Christ!
Bro Michael
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Statement of Faith
What We Teach
From the time of the Apostles to today, Christians have laid out doctrine (beliefs) in brief, definitive statements. As those who know God, we believe it necessary to set forth in a concise fashion the cornerstone truths that our church teaches as guided by Scripture. Our Doctrinal Statement summarizes essential Christian beliefs, shows unity in Christ, and affirms our belief in the Christian truths which have been held by the church throughout the ages and particularly since the Protestant reformation, including believer’s baptism, and congregational polity (government).
The Freeness of Salvation
We teach that the blessings of salvation are freely offered to all by the gospel, that it is the immediate duty of all to accept the gospel with a glad, obedient faith and Godly sorrow, and that nothing prevents the salvation of the greatest sinner on earth other than his own inherent depravity (sinfulness) by which he refuses to listen and suppresses the truth in unrighteousness thereby rejecting the gospel which makes him wholly responsible for his just condemnation.
Grace in Regeneration
We teach that in order to be saved, sinners must be regenerated, or born again. This results in the mind being spiritually and savingly enlightened to understand the Word of God which is accomplished in a manner above our comprehension by the power of the Holy Spirit and the divine truth of the Word of God. This is done in a way that brings about voluntary obedience and faith which is evidenced by fruits worthy of repentance as demonstrated in righteous attitudes and conduct.
Faith and Repentance
We teach that faith and repentance are required by Scripture and inseparably linked graces that are granted to us as a gift by the regenerating Spirit of God that deeply convince us of our guilt, danger, and helplessness, and of the way of salvation by Christ. We then turn to God with true repentance, confession of sin, and pleas for mercy while whole heartedly receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as our Prophet, Priest and King, and relying on him alone as the only and all sufficient Savior.
Adam Fitzgerald
Primary Preaching and Teaching Elder
THE CHURCH
We are a church that believes in Jesus & loves God and His people
Adam joined the elders at Oak Grove Baptist Church in August of 2022. Prior to that, he served as the Associate Pastor at Sardis Baptist Church in Swansea, SC. Before entering full-time ministry, he taught social studies and coached football in both the Bismarck and Sheridan public school districts.
Adam grew up just outside of El Dorado, AR, graduated from Ouachita Baptist University with a bachelor’s degree in secondary education, and eventually went on to complete both a Master of Arts in Theological Studies and a Master of Arts in Religion/Biblical Studies from Liberty University Online.
He and his wife Kelly have three children (AJ, Eddie, and Halle), and they all enjoy spending time doing anything outdoors, whether it be hunting, fishing, gardening, hiking, or working with the dogs or horses. They are always up for an adventure and see the greatest adventure of all as having their lives spent in service to the savior.