If you are looking for a church that believes that God is real and alive then Oakland Baptist Church is for you!\u00a0 We offer all the benefits of a small country church where members are family as well as dynamic preaching and outstanding fellowship.\u00a0 Here at OBC, Christianity is not just a title, but a way of life as we seek to experience the fullness of God’s relationship with us (Phil. 3:12-15).<\/p>\n
If your life seems to be lacking and you desire to experience Christianity the way God intended, then need to join Oakland Baptist Church.\u00a0 Here you can experience spiritual and emotional healing and growth.<\/p>\n
If you are interested in becoming a member at OBC, please let the pastor know.\u00a0 Membership in OBC is attained by profession of faith, completing of the New Members Class and any one of the following:<\/p>\n
God’s Plan for Salvation: If you are looking for a church that believes that God is real and alive then Oakland Baptist Church is for you!\u00a0 We offer all the benefits of a small country church where members are family as well as dynamic preaching and outstanding fellowship.\u00a0 Here at OBC, Christianity is not just a title, but a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.obcanton.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/43"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.obcanton.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.obcanton.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.obcanton.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.obcanton.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.obcanton.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/43\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":643,"href":"https:\/\/www.obcanton.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/43\/revisions\/643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.obcanton.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nI<\/strong>n today’s culture, it is popular to believe that there are many ways to go to heaven.\u00a0 After all, God is a loving God and is not willing for anyone to go to hell, so it makes sense that God would accept well meaning, good people to heaven right?
\nU<\/strong>nfortunately, well meaning and good people cannot go to heaven, only the unrighteous will make it there.\u00a0 This may seem strange but it is true.\u00a0 People who think they are righeous in and of themselves and believe that they deserve to go to heaven will surely miss it.\u00a0 Only those who recognize that they are unrighteous and unworthy of heaven have any chance of getting there.\u00a0 This is where the love of God is demonstrated.\u00a0 While we are sinners and deserve eternal punishment for our sins, God made a way of salvation for us!\u00a0 There are many today claiming that God seeks to save us from poverty, pain, suffering, political unrest, and eventually hell.\u00a0 But, those who proclaim such things miss the gospel altogether.\u00a0 For Christ did not die on the cross so we would not suffer (or else he owes the apostles and 2,000 years of Christianity an apology).\u00a0 Rather, Christ died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins.
\nT<\/strong>he disturbing truth is that until we realize that we are sinners in need of salvation from the power and penalty of sin, we cannot be saved.\u00a0 Or else, what will we be saved from?\u00a0 Once we recognize that we are sinners who cannot do enough good deeds to merit righteousness (Rom. 3:10-23), only then\u00a0will we truly call out for a savior.
\nW<\/strong>hen we do call out for a savior, who should we call out to?\u00a0 According to Scripture, Jesus is the only true savior (John 14:6; Acts 4:12).\u00a0 He is such a savior, that while we hated Him, He still paid the penalty of our sins on the cross (Rom. 5:8; I John 4:10).\u00a0 Through Christ’s propitiation (turning away of God’s wrath), we have the opportunity to be reconciled back to God (which is what salvation is really about).\u00a0 However, the payment for our sin is not automatically applied to our account.\u00a0 It is a free gift (Rom. 6:23) but it must be received in order to be applied.\u00a0 How does one receive the free gift of salvation?\u00a0 According to Romans 10:9-13 all we have to do is “call” upon the name of Christ.
\nS<\/strong>ounds simple enough right?\u00a0 And it is, it is so simple that even a child can do it (Matt. 18:3).\u00a0 But there is a catch.\u00a0 To call upon the name of Christ does not mean that we simply acknowledge the existence of Christ and just say, “Yo! Jesus! Save Me!”\u00a0 For example, Matthew 7:21-23 reads, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.\u00a0 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’\u00a0 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'”\u00a0 You may be saying, “Now hold on a minute!\u00a0 Doesn’t Romans 10:13 say, ‘Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved’?”\u00a0 And you would be right, but there is a difference in wording between the two passages.\u00a0 In Matthew you will find that the Greek words for ‘say’ are lego<\/em> (to call) in vs. 21 and ereo<\/em> (to speak) in vs. 22.\u00a0 This refers to people who acknowledge the existence of Christ but fail to allow that knowledge to make any real difference in their lives (just as that knowledge did not make any saving difference in the lives of demons (eg. James 2:19).\u00a0 In the Romans passage, the phrase ‘call upon’ in the Greek is epikaleomai<\/em> which means to call upon for one’s self.\u00a0 In other words, if you were drowning in a lake and were calling out for someone to ‘save’ you, you would not lego<\/em> or ereo<\/em> them, but rather you would epikaleomai<\/em> them.
\nC<\/strong>alling upon the name of Jesus is a confession of faith (Rom. 10:9-10).\u00a0 It is the first outward manifestation of choosing the life of Christ.\u00a0 For salvation is not about getting out of hell and going to heaven, it is about dying to yourself so that Christ may live through you.\u00a0 Christianity is about Christ, not us.\u00a0 It is about us having a personal relationship with the God and Creator of the world and not about going to heaven (although eternal life is a nice perk).
\nT<\/strong>here are many in the world today, even life-long church members, who have failed to actually accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.\u00a0 As a result, their lives are empty and lack any hope or joy.\u00a0 They have a form of godliness, but no power (II Tim. 3:5).\u00a0 Fortunately, Christianity is not about us, it is about Christ in us (Col. 1:27).\u00a0 And we can all live a full and rewarding life once we decide that doing it our way just isn’t working and we really want to do it God’s way!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"