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.
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