Our mission is to simply “Love God and Love People”
We, at First Southern, believe in the beautiful simplicity of what Jesus said was the greatest command: Love God and Love People (Matthew 22:36-40). We are a church that believes that the Gospel, and God’s love, is for all people and it is our mission for every person to know our Savior’s greatness.
Baptist Faith and Message 2000
Salvation
To understand salvation, we must first understand why it’s needed - sin. There’s no denying we are all sinners and by definition sin means to “miss the mark” (Romans 3:23/ 1 John 3:4). What mark? It means we have all ‘missed’ God’s perfect standard - His law, Word, and holiness. His Word says that the penalty of sin is death (see God’s warning in Genesis 2-3). God even warned Adam and Eve to not eat the fruit on the tree, but they broke His law and did it anyway! What was their punishment? They were banished from the garden and ultimately would experience death (Romans 6:23).
This the beauty of God’s Word: the whole Bible is about how a holy and loving God redeems (buys back) the sinfulness of mankind. The Story of the Bible demonstrates that while we all have gone astray (Isaiah 53:6), God seeks to reconcile us to himself (2 Corinthians 5:18). The Bible clearly shows us that no person could ever earn this salvation that is needed. However, God would give a promise (Genesis 3:15) of One who would! Through His chosen people, one day a Redeemer would come and right the wrongs we have done (Galatians 3:8). This Redeemer’s name is Jesus (Titus 2:14).
God sent his only Son, Jesus, to come live a perfect life (2 Corinthians 5:21), preach the good news of the Kingdom (Luke 4:43), and to become the perfect sacrifice to conquer sin and death (Hebrews 10:14). Jesus willingly died on a cross to become the ransom for us (1 Timothy 2:6). Praise be to God, however, because Jesus rose from the grave three days later. By this act, Jesus conquered the curse of sin (1 Corinthians 15), and if we believe in him, we may have a renewed relationship with God.
Scripture makes it clear: If you confess (agree with God) that by grace through faith in Jesus (Ephesians 2:8-9), as the Lord (boss) of your life, and you submit under His authority, then you are SAVED (Romans 10:9)! Saved from death… given eternal life (John 3:16). So, when a Believer/ Christian uses the word, “Salvation,” they are saying that one has been saved from sin and death by trusting their life to Jesus and following him (Matthew 16:24-26). We believe this new-birth is the work of the Father through Jesus’ sacrifice and the Holy Spirit’s convicting and drawing whereby we become new creations in Him (2 Corinthians 5:17).