What we believe:
Three Rivers Presbyterian Church is a PCA church (Presbyterian Church in America) meeting in Grove, Oklahoma.
We are a group of saved sinners who rejoice in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We embrace the Christian faith as revealed in the Bible and expressed in the historic creeds and confessions of the Christian church, including the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds. As an evangelical and reformed congregation, we submit to the Westminster Confession of Faith, along with the Larger & Shorter Catechisms.
Three Rivers is also a member congregation of the Acts 29 Network.
Brief Summary of Our Faith:
Scripture: We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are the holy, inspired, infallible, and inerrant Word of God, and therefore are a perfectly sufficient guide for what we ought to believe, how we ought to live, and how we ought to worship (2 Tim. 3:16-17).
God: We believe in the Trinity, which is to say we believe there are three persons in the Godhead (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit), and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory, and who have loved, enjoyed, and blessed one another for eternity (Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14; 1 John 4:8).
Creation: We believe that God created the universe out of nothing, in the space of six days, and all very good (Gen. 1:1, 13).
Providence: We also believe that God governs all that comes to pass according to his infinite wisdom and that everything that comes to pass will result in his glory and the good for his elect people (Eph. 1:11; Rom. 8:28).
Humanity and Sin: We believe that God originally created man in His own image, in knowledge, righteousness and holiness. All human beings are image-bearers of God and therefore should be treated with dignity and respect. God entered into a special covenant relationship with him. However, the first man, Adam, broke this covenant with God by turning his heart to sin and disobedience (Gen. 3:6-8; Eccl. 7:29; Rom. 5:12). As a result of Adam’s disobedience, all of his descendants (which is all of humanity) are born in bondage to sin, are under the guilt of a broken covenant with God and are so enslaved to corruption that no human being can freely stop sinning, love God, or obey his commandments (Eph. 2:1-3; Rom. 3:9-20).
Jesus Christ: We believe that God the Son took on human flesh (John 1:14), entering this world in the person of Jesus Christ in order to save humanity from their sin and ultimately to renew all creation (1 Tim. 1:15; Rev. 21:5). Jesus Christ is a single person with two distinct natures, one fully divine and the other fully human. As a man Jesus, obeyed the law of God perfectly and paid the full penalty for human sin, suffering the wrath of God on the cross and dying in the place of his people, his bride, the church (Matt. 1:21; Rom. 5:19). Jesus Christ was raised from the dead on the third day, demonstrating his victory over death itself (1 Cor. 15:1-4). After his resurrection, He ascended to heaven, where he sits as the Father’s right hand and reigns as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Acts 1:10; Rev. 19:16).
Salvation: We believe that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone (Eph. 2:8-9; Gal. 2:16). Salvation is not earned or merited. In fact, we do nothing and contribute nothing to salvation. It is all by God’s free unmerited grace (Titus 3:5-7). Even faith is a gift granted to those whom God has chosen for life from before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:3-5; Rom. 8:30). The recipients of salvation cannot lose their salvation but may have an assurance of salvation that they are children of God, destined to be with him for eternity (John 6:37-40; Rom. 8:35-39).
The Holy Spirit and the Church: We believe that the Holy Spirit is God. He is the third person in the Holy Trinity. After Jesus Christ ascended to heaven, he was endowed with the authority to send the Holy Spirit to empower believers to bear witness to Christ as a community of worshipers (John 15:26; Luke 3:16; Acts 2:1-4). The work of the Holy Spirit includes teaching us by turning our hearts to the Word of Christ (John 14:26; 1 John 2:27); giving spiritual gifts to believers with which to mutually edify and bless the church (1 Cor. 12:4-11); empowering his people to pray, even to the point of granting us the right words to speak (Rom. 8:16; Gal. 4:6); strengthening the church to boldly bear witness to the Gospel before unbelievers (Matt. 10:19-20; Acts 4:31); and producing godly characteristics within us, enabling us to become more and more conformed to the image of Christ (Gal. 5:22).
Sacraments: We believe that God has granted His people special “means of grace" through which we receive and rest in the grace of Jesus Christ. The sacraments are signs and seals of the covenant of grace. They both point us to Christ and confirm his promises to us. Therefore, they should be incorporated into worship on a regular basis.
Baptism: This sacrament signfies and seals our ingrafting into Christ. God uses baptism to unite believers’ children and adult converts to Christ and His people (Acts 2:41; 16:15; 16:31-34; 1 Cor. 12:13). It is a pledge that our children and adult believers belong to the Lord and a pledge of the Lord's promise to them (Acts 2:38; 22:16).
Lord’s Supper: God uses the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper as a means of grace to strengthen our faith, to remind us of Christ’s death, to unite believers to one another as one body in Christ, and to empower us as participants in the resurrected body and life of Christ (1 Cor. 10:16-17; Luke 22:14-22; 24:30-35).
Word of God: God uses the preaching of the word to convert sinners, to convict believers, to inspire obedience, to assure us of salvation, and to disclose to us the most profound truths about heavenly things (Jer. 31:10; Matt. 4:4; Heb. 4:12; Rom. 10:14-15; Acts 2:41; 1 Tim. 3:16).
Prayer: God uses prayer as a means by which our wills are conformed to his holy will, teaching us daily dependence on him, and also drawing us near to contemplate His holy nature, and the ends of his kingdom. God has ordained prayer as a way to confess our sins, acknowledge his abundant mercies, and to come before his throne of grace, making our petitions and supplications known (Heb. 4:16; Phil 4:6)). He has given us the gift of prayer so that through it we may advance the kingdom of God, be unified as one church with a common mission, make know to him our griefs and joys (2 Thess. 3:1; Ps. 68:1)
The Great Commission and Last Things: We believe that it is the duty of the church to fulfill the great commission by making disciples, by baptizing them in the name of the Triune God, and by teaching them the whole counsel of God (Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 20:27). As the church obeys the Great Commission, God has promised that his gospel will continue to go forth until "the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea" (Hab. 2:14). As the people of God worship Him, evangelize, plant churches, send out missionaries, we believe that Christ will fulfill his promise to bring all his enemies under his feet (Ps. 110:1; 1 Cor. 15:25-26) and renew and restore his creation in the new heavens and new earth (Rev. 21:5). At the last day, all people will be resurrected from the dead (John 5:28-29), and will stand before a holy God as their judge. All those who reject God's offer of salvation will die in their sins, and will be cast out of God's presence for eternity. All of God's elect will enjoy eternal communion with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Acts 17:31; Matt. 25:31-46; Rev. 20:11-15).