Why Do We Follow Jesus?

Here at Oak Grove Baptist Church, we do our best to follow Jesus’ example. Why? Because the Bible clearly teaches “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:…” (Read 1 Peter 2:21) According to the Bible, He wasn’t just a “good person” or a prophet (See Matthew 16:16-17) and clearly, He was controversial⁠—in fact, He still is!⁠—but He was sent from God to deliver good news (the Bible word is “Gospel”). He was sent to deliver us from our own sin. He challenged even the “religious” people to follow God not just on Sundays or with shallow actions, but with our hearts. God isn’t looking for a reluctant “go-through-the motions” attitude. An all-mighty, all-knowing God loves us and He wants us to love Him back! That’s why we were created! That is our purpose. (1 John 4:19 says “We love him, because he first loved us.”)

The Problem

The Bible clearly teaches that Jesus died for us even though He knew we were going to sin. You see, we’re all in trouble. We’ve done wrong against a perfect God. He even gave us laws like the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17, Deuteronomy 5:4-21, Romans 3:20) to show us how much we had drifted from Him, and how we were bent to reject His ways. Regardless of how many good works we think we’ve done, in a perfect God’s eyes, this is how our feeble attempts compare:

But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; (Isaiah 64:6)

As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:“(Romans 3:10)

If "good works outweighing bad works" could really get us to Heaven,
then why did Jesus have to die?

The Solution

By nature and habit, we all have broken God’s laws at some point, but He wasn’t about to let us go without offering the ultimate rescue. Think of it like this: The fair and impartial Judge entered a guilty verdict, and then He paid the fine for the guilty.

Jesus, the innocent, took the place of us, the guilty.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)  

The Offer

A loving God will not force His gift upon anyone, (not everyone is automatically a “child of God”)

…but He does extend an invitation to every single person to come back, to have a restored friendship with Him.

Would you start this journey to become a follower of Jesus?

It’s not about the church someone attends, or good works we do, but it’s simply trusting that what Jesus did on the Cross was payment enough to forgive our sins, and accepting His gift of mercy.

So how about you? Would you like to become a follower of Jesus?

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation…For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:9, 10, and 13)

If you are ready to make this decision and acknowledge that to God, you can pray a prayer of your own or you can use this one:

God, I recognize that I am a sinner and need your forgiveness. I turn from my sin. Please forgive me. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that he died for my sins. Thank you. I now receive Jesus as my personal Saviour and Lord. I ask you to come into my heart and give me eternal life. I want to become your follower. I pray this in Jesus’ name.

There is nothing magical about this specific prayer. It’s just a way to express your deliberate decision to receive Christ as your Saviour and Lord. The important thing is your deliberate decision.

 

 

 

That's what Oak Grove Baptist Church is...

It’s not a building; it’s a group of imperfect people who have decided to follow Jesus. We all have different backgrounds, personalities, but we’ve each made a choice to accept God’s gift of mercy.

A phrase we use is “Know. Grow. Go.” because we want to love God, learn more about Him from the Bible, and tell everyone we can about this “Good News.”

Here's a 10-minute explanation from a friend of ours telling about God's gift...

Still have questions? Made your choice? Either way, we'd love to hear from you!