About River Oaks

The Gospel is the announcement that God has fulfilled His promise to reconcile His rebellious people to Himself through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In order to uphold God’s Law, Jesus lived the righteous life required by the Law. He then died on the Cross as our substitute in order to satisfy the penalty required for breaking the Law. His resurrection was proof that He alone has overcome both sin and death. On the basis of Christ’s saving Work, God now calls everyone everywhere to repent of their rebellion against Him and trust Jesus alone as Savior and Lord. Those who embrace Jesus Christ by faith are declared righteous by God, reconciled to Him and receive the gift of eternal life from Him. As Christians we are not only saved by the Gospel, we are also transformed by the Gospel, therefore we seek to live lives that put the Gospel of God’s grace and forgiveness into practice. The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel for it is the power of God for the salvation to everyone who believes.”

The Bible is God’s word to humanity. In the Bible God reveals Himself, His nature, His character, His plan for the universe, and His will for His people. Without the Bible we would be ignorant of all these things. Therefore, we place the study of the Bible at the very heart of all that we do, as individuals, as families and as a Church. Without a knowledge of the Bible we would be unable to please God so we place the teaching of the Bible at the center of our Worship services, and every one of our ministries. The Apostle Paul instructed Timothy with these words, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16–17).

The Bible teaches that Jesus is God’s King and as such all rule, authority, and power are His. We are intentionally and joyously focused on Jesus. As fully God and fully man in one person, Jesus holds the place of highest importance over creation and over the church. We seek to extend the rule of Christ to every nation and to bring every aspect of society under His redeeming influence. Because Christ possesses all authority, we gladly submit to Him and recognize that we are totally dependent upon Him, for truly, apart from Him we can do nothing. Paul, speaking of Christ wrote, “And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent” (Colossians 1:17–18).

In the Bible we learn that God created all things for His own glory. Simply put, we exist to worship God. Through the transforming power of the gospel we have been rescued from worshipping ourselves and other lesser pleasures, to worship the true and living God. We now understand that all of life is to be lived before God. We make meeting with God’s people a priority because worship on Sunday, the Lord’s day, is the public and corporate expression of our private and personal worship. Again Paul wrote, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Romans 12:1-2).

Jesus said, “By this all people will know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). When God calls a person to Himself He also calls them into a new family called the church. The Bible teaches that Christians are members of the Body of Christ and are called to live as a witness to the Kingdom of God in the world. Because we have a mutual responsibility to care for one another, to build one another up in our faith, to encourage one another and to teach and exhort one another we gather together regularly in a variety of contexts. The church is comprised of families, so the health and strength of the church is dependent on the health and strength of our members and families. Therefore, we are committed to the development of the family as the fundamental unit of both society and the church.

During His earthly ministry Jesus proclaimed the nearness of the Kingdom of God. He also demonstrated the reality of the Kingdom by healing many people, by feeding thousands and calling children into His arms to be blessed. As the body of Christ we seek to carry on His ministry in both word and deed, demonstrating to the world both His power to redeem and His merciful care for our needs. So we seek to address the social ills that continue to cripple individuals with intentional and loving engagement in our community. Jesus said, “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice’” (Matthew 9:13).

The church does not exist in a vacuum, nor does the church exist exclusively for self-preservation. The church brings glory to God by intentionally and prayerfully engaging the world with the gospel. We are on a mission to make disciples of all nations, therefore, we must fight the propensity to look inward and raise our eyes to the horizons, to fields that are ready for harvest. “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’” (Matthew 28:18–20).

No church is perfect. No church is perfect because it is made up of imperfect people who are both sinners and saints at the same time. A Christian is a work in progress, growing in likeness to Christ by God’s grace. Although we have to wait for perfection until we are in heaven, nonetheless, we strive to be authentic people, who speak truthfully and act openly. We realize that hypocrisy is a great weight around the neck of the church and so we are committed to hold one another accountable to the clear standards of the Bible. The Apostle Peter taught, “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:14–16).

Throughout the Bible God encourages and even commands His people to pray. Our personal relationship with God grows as we spend time with Him in prayer. Prayer is also one of the primary means God has ordained to further His will in His world. While on earth Jesus modeled a life of dependency upon His heavenly Father in prayer as well as taught us how to pray with the Lord’s Prayer as our pattern. Prayer therefore is an essential and necessary expression of a humble dependent faith. (“…do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God”; Philippians 4:6).

The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, “…and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (1 Timothy 2:2). In other words the church has the responsibility of training the next generation of leadership. Leadership training in the church focuses on passing on the gospel to those who will be qualified to teach the gospel to the next generation. So from our Sunday school teachers, to small group leaders to our Elders we must be equipping people to both model a gospel life and pass on the gospel message.