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Articles Of Faith

Paragraph I - of the Scriptures

We believe that the Holy Bible as originally written was a complete revelation, verbally inspired and the product of Spirit-controlled men, and therefore has truth without any admixture of error for its matter. We believe the Bible to be the true center of Christian union and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds and opinions shall be tried. We accept the King James Version of the Bible as a good and reliable English translation of the original Hebrew and Greek Scriptures.

John 17:17; II Timothy 3:16; I Peter 1:19, 20

Paragraph II - of the True God

We believe that there is one, and only one, living and true God; an infinite, intelligent, perfect Spirit and personal Being, the Creator, Preserver and Supreme Ruler of the Universe; inexpressibly glorious in holiness, and all other perfections, and worthy of all possible honor, confidence and love; that in the unity of the Godhead there are three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; equal in every divine perfection, and executing distinct but harmonious offices in the great work of redemption.

Exodus 20:2, 3; Deuteronomy 6:4; I Corinthians 8:6; Revelation 4:11

We believe that Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God became man, without ceasing to be God, having been supernaturally conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the virgin Mary; that He is one Person possessing two natures and thus is true God and true man; that He lived a sinless life and gave Himself as a perfect substitutionary sacrifice for the sins of all men; that He arose bodily from the grave, ascended into heaven where He is seated at the right hand of God interceding for His people; and will return to the earth in keeping with His promises.

Matthew 1:18, 25; Luke 4:12; John 1:14; Acts 1:9; Hebrews 7:25

We believe that the Holy Spirit is a Divine Person; equal with God the Father and God the Son and of the same nature; that He was active in creation; that in His relation to the unbelieving world He restrains the evil one until God's purpose is fulfilled; that He convicts of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; He bears witness to the truth of the gospel in preaching and testimony; that He is the agent of the new birth; that He seals, endues, guides, teaches, witnesses, sanctifies, indwells and helps the believer.

John 14:16, 17; Acts 5:30-32; Genesis 1:1-3; Romans 8:14-16, 26, 27; Hebrews 9:14; Luke 1:35; John 3:5, 6

Paragraph III - of the Spirit Realm

We believe that God created an innumerable company of sinless spirit beings known as angels; that many of these continued in their holy state and are ministers of God, that Lucifer (now known as Satan or the devil) and many others rebelled against God, that some of these fallen angels, though defeated in the cross of Christ, still continue to oppose God and His work. We believe in the personality of Satan, that he is the god of this world and author of all the powers of darkness, and is destined to judgment and eternal justice in the lake of fire.

Isaiah 14:12-14; Ezekiel 28:12-19; Matthew 26:53; Colossians 1:16-17; Hebrews 1:14; I Peter 2:4; Revelation 12:9, 19:20

Paragraph IV - of Creation

We believe the Genesis account as being the historical, literal record of creation and believe that the universe with all that is in it was created by God, and not produced by some process of evolution.

Genesis 1:1-31; Job 38:4; Psalm 33:6; Isaiah 40:28; John 1:1-14; I Corinthians 8:6; Colossians 1:15-17; Hebrews 1:1,2

Paragraph V - of Man

We believe that man was created in a state of innocence, under the law of his Maker, but through the temptation of Satan he voluntarily transgressed and fell from his innocent state, in consequence of which all mankind are now sinners, not by constraint, but by choice, being by nature utterly void of that holiness required by God, totally depraved, positively inclined to evil, and therefore under just condemnation to eternal ruin, without defense or excuse.

We believe that man was created by a special act of God, as recorded in Genesis.

Genesis 3:1-7; Isaiah 53:6; Romans 1:18, 32; 3:9-20

Paragraph VI - of Salvation

We believe that salvation is all of Grace through the substitutionary work of Jesus Christ who paid the full redemptive price, fully satisfied God's righteous demands by suffering the death penalty for man's guilt, and imputed to man His perfect righteousness reconciling him to God, thus salvation is made effective to man only upon his exercise of personal faith in Jesus Christ, which faith is not a meritorious work but possible only by the grace of God.

We believe that in order to be saved sinners must be born again; that the new birth is a new creation in Christ Jesus; that it is instantaneous and not a process; that in the new birth the one dead in trespasses and in sins is made a partaker of the divine nature and receives eternal life, the free gift of God; that the new creation is brought about in a manner above our comprehension solely by the power of the Holy Spirit in connection with divine truth, so as to secure our voluntary obedience to the gospel; that its proper evidence appears in the holy fruits of repentance, faith and newness of life. Some of the evidences of salvation are: (1) A love for God's Word, (2) A walk of obedience to it, and (3) A desire for fellowship with God's people.

We believe that salvation includes justification, regeneration, adoption into the family of God, sanctification (positional, progressive, and final) and glorification that all who are truly born again are kept by God for Jesus Christ for time and eternity.

John 5:24; 10:28, 29; Acts 13:39, 16:30, 31; Romans 6:23, 8:28, 29; I Corinthians 1:30; II Corinthians 5:17-21, 6:18, 8:9; Galatians 4:5; Ephesians 2:1, 8, 9; Philippians 1:6; Titus 3:5; I John 2:2, 5:1; Jude 1

Paragraph VII - of Justification

We believe that the great gospel blessing, which Christ secures to such as believe in Him, is justification:

(a) That justification includes the pardon of sin, and the gift of eternal life on principles of righteousness. (b) That it is bestowed not in consideration of works of righteousness, which we have done; but solely through faith in the Redeemer's blood, His righteousness is imputed to us.

Romans 5:1, 9; Ephesians 2:8, 9

Paragraph VIII - of Sanctification

We believe that every saved person is positionally in Christ, completely set apart for God; that in experience the saved person retains his sin nature, which is not eradicated in this life, and thus his present state is no more perfect than his daily experience, and that there is progressive sanctification wherein the saved person is to grow in grace and into Christ-likeness by the unhindered power of the Holy Spirit that when Christ appears the saved person will be fully sanctified so that his state will conform to his standing.

We believe that progressive sanctification involves separation not only from ungodly living, but also from ungodly teaching; that, though we love all men and seek their salvation, that there are areas in which we cannot fellowship with unbelievers; that in areas of ecclesiastical fellowship, it may be necessary to separate even from our brethren in Christ, if they in turn maintain fellowship with unbelievers.

Romans 8:8; ; I Corinthians 6:11; II Corinthians 6:14-18; I Thessalonians 5:23; II Thessalonians 3:14, 15; I Timothy 6:3-5; Philippians 3:21

Paragraph IX - of the Ministry and Spiritual Gifts

We believe that God is Sovereign in the bestowment of all His gifts and that the gifts of evangelists, pastors, and teachers are sufficient for the perfection of the saints today. We believe that speaking in tongues and the working of sign miracles gradually ceased as the New Testament Scriptures were completed and their authority became established.

I Corinthians 13:8-13; Ephesians 4:7-12

Paragraph X - of the Church

We believe that a local church is a congregation of immersed believers associated by covenant of faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the ordinances of Christ; governed by His laws; and exercising the gifts, rights, and the privileges invested in them by His Word; that its officers are pastor and deacons, whose qualifications, claims and duties are clearly defined in the Scriptures. We believe that the true mission of the church is faithful witnessing of Christ to all men as we have opportunity. We hold that the local church has the absolute right of self-government free from the interference of any hierarchy of individuals or organizations; and that the one and only superintendent is Christ through the Holy Spirit; that it is scriptural for true churches to cooperate with each other in contending for the faith and for the furtherance of the gospel; that each local church is the sole judge of the measure and method of its cooperation; on all matters of membership, of policy, of government, of discipline, of benevolence, and the will of the local church is final.

Acts 2:41, 42; 15:13-18; 20:17-28; I Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 1:22, 23; 5:23, 24; Colossians 1:18; I Timothy 3:17

Paragraph XI - of the Ordinances

We believe that there are two church ordinances: Baptism and the Lord's Supper. Baptism is the immersion of a believer in water and is properly called believer's baptism. It portrays in a beautiful and solemn way our faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Lord and Saviour, with its effects in our lives of death to sin and the resurrection to a new life. Baptism is a pre-requisite to the privileges of church membership. The Lord's Supper is the commemoration of our Lord's death until He comes and our continual fellowship with Him, should be preceded by baptism and church membership and always by careful self-examination.

Acts 2:41, 42; 8:36, 37; Romans 6:4; I Corinthians 11:27, 28

Paragraph XII - of the Righteous and the Wicked

We believe that there is a radical and essential difference between the righteous and the wicked, and that only those individuals justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and sanctified by the Spirit of our God, are truly righteous in His esteem. However, all those individuals who continue in impenitence and unbelief are in His sight wicked and under the curse; and this distinction holds among men both before and after death in the everlasting felicity of the saved and the everlasting conscious suffering of the lost.

Malachi 3:18; Proverbs 14:32; Matthew 25:34-41; Luke 6:23; John 8:21; Romans 6:23; I John 5:19

Paragraph XIII - of Civil Government

We believe that civil government is of divine appointment, for the interests and good order of human society; that magistrates are to be prayed for, conscientiously honored and obeyed; except in that opposed to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ who is the only Lord of the conscience, and the coming Prince of Kings of the earth.

II Samuel 23:3; Exodus 18:21, 22; Daniel 3:17, 18; Matthew 22:21; Acts 4:19, 20; Romans 13:1-7

Paragraph XIV - of Things to Come

We believe in the Bodily Resurrection.

Matthew 28:6, 7; Mark 16:6; Luke 24:2-6, 39 John 20:27; I Corinthians 15:4

We believe in the Ascension.

Mark 16:19; Luke 24:39; Acts 1:9-11; Hebrews 12:2; Revelation 3:21

We believe in the High Priesthood of Christ.

I Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 2:17; 5:9, 10; 8:6; I John 2:1

We believe in the Second Coming.

John 14:3; Acts 1:11; I Thessalonians 4:16; II Thessalonians 2:1-12

We believe in the Resurrection of the Righteous Dead.

I Corinthians 15:22, 42, 44; I Thessalonians 4:13-18

We believe in the change of the Living in Christ.

I Corinthians 15:51-53; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; Philippians 3:20, 21

We believe in the Throne of David.

Isaiah 9:6, 7; Luke 1:32; Acts 2:19-30

We believe in the personal, imminent pretribulational and premillennial return of the Lord Jesus Christ for His own.

Titus 2:13; Revelation 20:6; 22:12

We believe in the Millennial Reign of Christ.

Psalm 72:8; Isaiah 11:4, 5; 32:1; I Corinthians 15:25; Revelation 20:6, 14

 

 

BAPTIST DISTINCTIVES

Bible-believing Baptist churches are and have been through history patterns of the apostolic churches. Below is a summary of historic Baptist Distinctives:

B iblical authority

The Bible is the final authority for faith and practice.

A utonomy of the Local Church

The local church is entirely independent of every other church or of any denominational hierarchy, being sovereign in all matters pertaining to its function as a church.

P riesthood of the Believer

Every believer is a priest before and has direct access to God.

T wo Ordinances

Baptism and the Lord's Supper are the two ordinances ordained by Christ, observed by the churches of Acts, and set forth as symbols of the death, burial, and resurrection of the Saviour.

I ndividual soul liberty

Every Christian has the right to interpret the Scripture and worship God as he feels the Bible teaches.

S eparation of Church and State

The ideal relationship is a free and independent church within a free and independent state.

T wo officers

Pastor and Deacon are the two recognized offices today. The terms Pastor, Bishop, and Elder refer to the same office and are used interchangeably (Acts 20:17; Titus 1:5-7; I Peter 5:12).

S aved church membership

The membership of the local church must be comprised of only those who have openly confessed Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.

 

  "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."
Romans 8:28
 
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