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Why does Grace Bible Church (GBC) exist?

To see those who visit or are a regular part of the church -

Believing the gospel,

The amazing and compelling truth of the gospel is that God sent his Son Jesus into the world to rescue us from the punishment our sin deserves. All human beings are rightly under the wrath of God because of our failure to honor God and enjoy him as he deserves (Rom. 5:12; 3:23), but Jesus took God’s wrath on himself, died in the place of sinners, and rose from the dead. God’s love planned an amazing exchange: Jesus endured what we deserved so that we might enjoy what he deserved - eternal life. We can enjoy this life by believing the gospel - embracing these truths by turning from sin and trusting completely in Jesus (John 6:47, Luke 8:12, 2 Cor. 5:21). Guiding people to belief in the gospel is the goal of all Grace Bible Church is and does.

We call non-Christians to believe the gospel and to embrace God's gift of salvation. But we also emphasize believing the gospel to Christians - even those who have known Jesus for many years.

Why? Because we are not justified by the gospel and then sanctified by obedience, but the gospel is the way we grow (Gal. 3:1-3) and are renewed (Col. 1:6). We do not just need to “believe” at one particular point in our lives, but to live lives of ongoing, continual, “believing.” Most problems in life stem from a practical failure to believe the gospel. Thus our goal in ministry is to continually strive to grasp the gospel and apply it. When we are living out our belief in the gospel, we will be worshipping God and giving him all the glory in our lives. We will be convicted of sin in a way that leads to repentance. We will be humble, forgiving, patient, and motivated by love in our dealings with others. We will be faithful in our mission to the world, seeking for others to know the good news we have received.

Obeying the Savior,

Jesus is not content with mere profession or mere knowledge, he demands obedience. The church must be about obeying and teaching others to obey all that he commanded (Mat. 28:20).

We call unbelievers to obey Jesus by believing the gospel and becoming his disciple. We call believers to obey all of Jesus’ commands as they live a life of belief in the gospel.

Why do we need to obey Jesus? Our ultimate goal is not simply good works, but hearts that glorify God and show his worth to others (Mat. 5:16). We do not obey in order to earn God’s acceptance, but we obey because we have been accepted by God. How can we obey Jesus? “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Mat. 19:16). Obedience is possible on the basis of the atoning death of Jesus (Mark 10:45), and the work of the Holy Spirit (John 14:26), and prayer (Mat. 6:13), and is brought about through teaching (Mat. 28:20).

But why obeying “the Savior”? What about the rest of scripture? We believe all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16). We believe that all of the Old Testament points to Jesus Christ (Luk. 24:27) and is fulfilled in Him (Matt 5:17–20), and that the rest of the New Testament represents Jesus’ first followers calling people to obey Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 1:2) and expounding what that means. Because of that, as we seek to “obey Jesus Christ” we will be obeying all of scripture.

Discipling the world,

Jesus commissioned his followers to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28:19), and we believe this is the mission he has given to us. Making disciples is not the task of an elite few in the church, but is the call of all.

Discipleship is an ongoing process of learning to believe the gospel and obey all that Jesus commanded. This process will never be complete during any person’s life on earth, because belief and obedience will never be fully realized. Yet even as we walk the road of discipleship ourselves, it is our mission to lead others down this road.

We make disciples of non-Christians by entering into their lives, patiently teaching them the significance of Christ and his gospel, and calling them to believe and then learn to obey. We disciple our fellow Christians by directing them, in the particular situations of their life, to believe the gospel and obey Jesus Christ.

We seek to disciple “the world,” underscoring that Jesus calls all people, regardless of whether or not they are yet a Christian, whether or not they look like us, whether they live near us or around the world, to either become his disciple or grow in their discipleship. GBC will be involved in making disciples both within our church and outside, both in our local neighborhood and around the world.

For the glory of God,

What is our motivation for those three goals? The apostle Paul summed it up well in 1 Cor. 10:31, “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

The ultimate reason why God does anything is the advancement of his own glory and excellence. Jesus commanded us in the Great Commission (Mat. 28:18-20) to go and “make disciples,” which means that our goal is that people are “believing the gospel.” He told us to teach these disciples to observe all that he has commanded, which is “obeying the Savior,” and he told us to make disciples of all the nations, which is summed up in “discipling the world.” Jesus knew that if we faithfully did these things we would be glorifying God in our lives.

See also: "Believing the gospel, Obeying the Savior, Discipling the world, for the glory of God" (download .mp3)

Note: This document is indebted to the following sources:
John Piper, What Jesus Demands from the World, Crossway, 2006.
Tim Keller, The Centrality of the Gospel (.PDF ), unpublished paper.