Forgiveness is what we experience when we confess our sins and accept Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. The ability to forgive those who have sinned against us is the result of Christ living in us.

Being forgiven reminds us that we have no right to judge or condemn others; we have no right to be arrogant or self-centered. Rather, we are now free to love and encourage those who are enslaved by sin and need Jesus as their Savior.

In Matthew 6:14-15, Jesus tells us, “If you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

At Rocky Mount we are well aware that none of us is perfect and that the first step for everyone is to admit that they have sinned against God and need to be forgiven. We do not ignore sin, nor do we justify it or excuse it. We confess our sins and ask for God’s forgiveness and His power to overcome.

We are also aware that we must learn to be as forgiving as Christ. We must be honest about our strengths, weakness, and our need for God. Life is too short to condemn one another. Rather, we choose to love, encourage, forgive and help one another grow in Christ.

At Rocky Mount we practice a lifestyle of forgiveness, remembering that we too still have a long way to go.

Freedom from sin is what we experience as we walk with Christ daily. Freedom is the result of being forgiven and learning to forgiving others.

Freedom is being led into a spacious place where the voice of God has more weight and power than the noise of a sinful world. Freedom is the realization that only God has the right to define who we are.

God gives us the freedom to be who He created us to be. He gives us the ability to live a new and better life, and to do things through the power of the Holy Spirit that we never thought possible.

Galatians 5:1 & 13 Says, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery…You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.”

Sin enslaves all of us, but the forgiveness of Christ sets us free. We are now free from the power of sin to do what is right and good, to do what is best, to walk with Christ daily, to worship Him and serve those in need. We are now free to go to God and ask Him for His help every day.

Family is who we are now that we know Christ. Jesus died on the cross to forgive us, to set us free from sin, and to make us part of His family. God is a family man; He created the family and He loves the family, and so do we.

As Jesus says in Mark 3:35, “Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

All of those who do the will of God are part of God’s family. Trying to live a holy life in a sinful world is not easy. That is why God gives us a family of believers to support us. At Rocky Mount, we are not alone as we seek to live for Christ; we have an awesome family that walks with us.

Friendship is what we have now that we know Christ. There is nothing more important in life than our relationships. The reason Christ died on the cross was to restore our relationship with God and to heal our relationships with one another. Because of Christ, our relationships now have an eternal nature and will last forever.

1 John 1:7 tells us, “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”

Living the way Jesus lived creates a supernatural bond of friendship between us. If we are one with Christ then we are also one with each other. Therefore, we have the power to live in peace and unity with one another every day; nothing can separate us.

At Rocky Mount we encourage Christian friendship. Our people love each other and have fun together regardless of their age or background, etc. We simply love spending time together as often as possible.