We believe that there is a God.

We believe that God is eternal (He had no beginning to His existence and He will have no ending to His existence).

We believe that God revealed who he was to men and women throughout history. These revelations were recorded by observers, and in some cases by the actual participants themselves. These recordings make up the whole of what we call the Bible. Though there were many of these “interventions” by God in many times and places, it is clear that God chose to reveal his purposes through one people, the historic people of Israel.

Upon reading the Bible we learn that God is a God of purpose, and that He indeed had a purpose for creating man. The scriptures record that mankind rebelled against God from the beginning and that man was responsible for driving a wedge in the relationship between himself and God. As a result, the Bible says that rebellion is now a part of our nature. The events that surround us today give evidence to that bold statement.

God however is not one to give up so easily. He didn’t want the wedge to exist between He and us, so immediately He enacted a strategy to fix the relationship. The plan called for a sacrifice to be given, a payment to be made for the wrong-doing, the rebellion that mankind is now inclined to maintain. Somebody had to make payment for wrongs-suffered, in order for there to be justice, mercy, and love in this relationship. When the time was right God enacted the plan. He enacted it in the most magnificent, awe inspiring, and somewhat ironic event in history. The plan actually called for God Himself to be the sacrifice that would pay the price to fix the relationship. God physically placed himself into history as a man. A man named Jesus. And to help us recognize this magnificent event, God went the extra step and provided us numerous and specific prophecies of the event — hundreds of years before it happened.

This Jesus, who was fully a man and fully God at the same time, lived a perfect life. He lived a life all of us should be living but none of us have. By becoming not just any normal sacrifice, but a “perfect” sacrifice, He was killed as a perfect representative in our place, a perfect punishment on our behalf. Since we believe He did this for us, we now give our allegiance to Him. He gave His life for us. Now we give and live our lives for Him. Our relationship with God has been restored!

Then, as He predicted, Jesus rose from the dead in order to bring to us a living hope that we too will rise from death into life forever with Him. The evidence is an empty tomb.

How do we know what we believe? The Bible, a collection of writings written by men, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, teach these things. These records are validated by archaeological findings, by internal evidence (what the documents themselves speak to, their consistency, their content, as well as fulfilled prophecy they contain), and external evidence (what witnesses observed and have recorded in historical documents, as well as the magnitude of manuscripts available to document the validity of these biblical writings). Beyond that, is the evidence of changed lives as people surrender their lives by trust to the living God who reveals Himself through these writings found in the Bible.

 

Does this church have a purpose?

CCLG (Christian Church of Lemon Grove) exists to help:

Searchers     COMMIT to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord,

Believers     CONNECT to Christ’s Church and His people,

Students      LEARN how to grow and be equipped,

Servants      GIVE to others what He has given to them.

 

Why a church?

The word “church” really means, “a called together assembly or meeting.” In the Bible the word is never used to mean, “a building.” The word “church” meant “the people.” We are a people that gather together to love the Lord, and love each other. One cannot be done without the other. Some people think that their relationship with God is personal and that they love and worship Him in their own way. The only problem is that God says we really cannot love Him unless we love each other. Well, that’s hard for someone to do when they don’t meet regularly with others.

Meeting with other Christians helps us move forward and get more out of our life experiences — a chain is simply stronger than one single solitary link.