Grafted Together is a Sabbath-Keeping Christian Church in Greenville, SC. We are a community focused on loving God and the people in our community by living out His commands and instructions in our lives. We believe that from our obedience through faith, God’s love in us will overflow unto others which is essential to the Christian faith. We feel comfortable worshiping with and welcoming people who hold a variety of views on Biblical subjects and enjoy friendly discussions on a wide range of Biblical topics. But, every church has to draw the line on what it believes and the perspective that will be taught. We have laid out where Grafted Together leadership stands on certain areas of contention within the world of Torah-Observant Christians and Christianity in general.
The Gospel: Man was created by God to be kings and priests in the Garden of Eden, but man disobeyed God and brought the curse (or law) of sin and death onto all of creation as a result. God, in His great love for mankind, came in the flesh, born of a virgin, and dwelt among humanity in the person of Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah (Christ) to free mankind from this curse. To this end, He gave his own life as a sacrifice so that anyone who puts their faith in Yeshua, claims Him as their Lord, Master, and King, and repents of their sins will be saved, cleansed from all unrighteousness, and granted the gift of the Holy Spirit. Those who are redeemed through the sacrifice of Yeshua will have their calling as kings and priests returned to them and will be granted new bodies and eternal life at the resurrection. Those who reject Yeshua and seek to live on their own terms will be subject to the curse for eternity. Now we wait and hope for the day when the risen Yeshua will return to the Earth to establish His kingdom among men.
Scripture: God has revealed Himself, His plans, and His expectations for mankind in the 66 books of the Bible. While other books outside of the Protestant canon might be beneficial for Christian growth and understanding, only the 66 books in the Protestant Bible are to be considered “Scripture,” and are to be treated as such. When it comes to living out scripture in the life of a believer, nothing beyond scripture is binding in our relationship with God.
God: The God of the Bible is the One and only true God and He has existed eternally in the persons of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is the source of creation, life, morality, and hope. He is the one and only source of salvation for mankind. God draws and responds to the intention of a person’s heart and will answer all who earnestly seek Him. He interacts with the world according to His character traits of Mercy, Grace, Patience, Covenant Loyalty, Faithfulness, Forgiveness, Justice, and Love.
Man: In the beginning, mankind was created male and female. When mankind disobeyed in the Garden of Eden, we fell under the curse. Since the day man listened to the serpent in the garden, we have become subject to our sinful nature and we are, as a result, natural enemies of God. The only hope for salvation lies in the gift that God has graciously extended to us in the person and sacrifice of Yeshua. Apart from this free gift, there is no hope for salvation.
Covenant: The God of the Bible is a God of covenant, and His covenants are binding and sure. The covenants that God has cut with mankind build upon each other, refining and defining the covenants that have gone before, not replacing them. God demonstrates His loyalty to those who are part of His covenants by graciously providing for and seeking the good of His covenant partners. He has also given us a model of covenant that we can live experientially within the institution of marriage.
The Church: The church includes all individuals, past, present, and future, who have accepted the sacrifice of Yeshua as the free gift of salvation from God and have entered into His covenants. The church is not based on any bloodline or ethnicity and includes people from all nations and languages. The Holy Spirit indwells His church and equips and enables us to take the message of the Gospel of Salvation to all creation. It is through His divinity and the church, which is the body of the Messiah in this age, that God seeks to reverse the curse of Eden and redeem the world and those who are in it.
The Torah: God has a standard by which those who are His people are expected to live, and that standard was made clear when God rescued Israel out of Egypt, brought them to Mt. Sinai, and gave them His fatherly instruction. This standard has never changed and is still expected of mankind today. The Torah is not a way to gain salvation, for the Torah could never save anyone from its inception, but as a way to live out that salvation and demonstrate God’s love to a dark world. According to the terms of the New Covenant, the Torah is more than words written on a page or mentally assented to but describes a way of life that is holy and pleasing to God that is internalized in the heart of a believer. The expectation to keep the Torah was not done away with at the death of Yeshua, but rather, Torah observance is affirmed in the NT and has become easier to accomplish due to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and Scripture which equip His church for every good work. These good works are not limited to only part of the Torah but include traditionally discarded parts of the Torah, such as the Sabbath, Festivals, dietary restrictions, etc.
The Mission: The church’s mission is to spread the Gospel to all nations and to be a light in this dark world. By doing this, we demonstrate God’s love for the world and love for our neighbors, and we bring real hope, light, and life that is only available through Yeshua. This mission is enabled and equipped by the Holy Spirit through the gifts of the Spirit that He gives to the church for the common good. This mission will one day be accomplished when Yeshua returns in power to exert His sovereignty over the world.
Definitions
Any time that a person or organization communicates, they will use language that has a very specific meaning for themselves and their organization. Because of this, we find it necessary to define what we mean when we use charged words that are primarily used in religious conversations and are easily misunderstood or miscommunicated.
Faith: Saving faith is the allegiance that a person declares for Yeshua upon their salvation. Faith then leads to action as their allegiance is lived out in obedience to God in all areas of life.
Hope: Hope is an expectation that God will accomplish all that He has said that He will do. This is not ephemeral or wishful thinking, but a certainty of outcome that what has been promised will be accomplished.
Love: Love is not primarily a feeling but a choice to seek out the good of others over our own personal desires.
Grace: Grace is best understood as the gift that a Patron gives a Client who does not have, and cannot gain what is needed to be successful. The Grace of God is expressed towards man in the salvation that He has extended towards us through the sacrifice of Yeshua.
Sin: Sin is anything that is done in disobedience to God’s commands that have been expressly stated in Scripture. We are all born with a nature that seeks to sin, and sin can only be cleansed through the blood of Yeshua.
Marriage: A covenant bond between a man and a woman in which the two individuals are united together and become a unified force in the world.
The Curse: When mankind disobeyed in Eden, we became subject to the curse or law of sin and death. This curse and law rules over men from their birth to their death and can only be broken by the sacrificial blood of Yeshua.