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Statement of Faith
CONCERNING
THE SCRIPTURES
We believe that the Bible,
sixty-six books in the Old and New Testaments, is without error; its author is
God, using Spirit-guided men, being thereby verbally and plenarily inspired; it
is the sole authority for faith and conduct.
Pr. 30:5,6; Jn. 17:17;
Rev. 22:18,19; II Pet. 1:19-21;Acts 3:21; Jude 3; II Pet. 1:19-21; 2 Sa. 23:2;
Acts 1:16; I Cor. 2:13,14; II Tim. 3:16; Mt. 5:18; Gal. 3:16; II Tim. 3:17; Rm.
1:16; I Cor. 10:6-12; Eph. 6:17; I Tim. 5:18; 2 Tim. 3:17; 2 Pet. 3:15,16; Jn.
10:35; Acts 17:11; I Jn. 4:1.
CONCERNING
THE TRUE GOD
We believe that there is one, and only one, living and true God, an infinite,
eternal, self-existing, perfect Spirit; He is a personal Being, the creator and
upholder of the universe; in the unity of the Godhead there are three persons,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, equal in essence and in every divine
perfection, but having distinct functions.
Deut. 6:4,5; Jer. 10:10; Jn. 4:24; Jas. 1:17; Hab. 1:12; Heb. 3:4; Ps.
139:1-16; Mt. 28:18,19; Mt. 3:16,17; 2 Cor. 13:14; Ps. 2:2; Isa. 63:10; Jn.
10:30; Jn. 17:5;
Phil. 2:5,6; I Cor. 8:6; Jn. 3:16; Jn. 15:26.
CONCERNING
CREATION
We believe in the Genesis account of Creation and that it is to be accepted
literally and not figuratively; that man was created directly in God's own image
and after His own likeness and did not evolve from any lower form of life; that
all animal and vegetable life was made directly and God's established law is
that they bring forth only "after their kind."
Gen. 1:1-2:25; Heb. 11:3; Gen. 1:2; Gen. 1:11,12,21,24,25.
CONCERNING
THE FALL OF MAN
We believe that man, although created without sin, by one transgression fell, so
that all mankind are now sinners by state, disposition, and act, justly under
condemnation.
Gen. 1:27,31; Eccl. 7:29; Gen. 2:16,17; Gen. 3:6,7; 2Rm. 5:12,19; Eph. 2:2,3;
Isa. 53:6; Ps. 51:5; Rm. 3:9-18,23; Rm. 5:15-19; Rm. 8:7; Jn. 3:6; Gal. 3:22; Jn
3:18; Ezek. 18:20; Rm. 1:20,32; 2:1-16; 3:19; Gal. 3:10; Jas. 2:10
CONCERNING
CHRIST AND THE WAY OF SALVATION
We believe that the only way of salvation for sinners is by grace made possible
by the substitutionary death of the Son of God, who, though eternally God, was
born of the virgin Mary, lived a perfect, sinless life, shed His precious blood
on the cross, arose bodily from the grave, and ascended to reign on high.
Eph. 2:8; I Jn. 4:10; Acts 15:11; Jn. 14:6; Acts 4:12; Jn. 3:16; Isa. 53:4,5;
Mt. 18:11; Heb. 2:9,14; Mt. 20:28; Rm. 3:25,26; I Cor. 15:3; Heb. 9:14,15; 2 Cor.
5:14,15; Jn. 8:58; Phil. 2:6,7; Jn.1:1,14; Jn. 17:5; Mt.1:29-25; Lk. 1:30-35;
Isa. 7:14; Gal. 4:4,5; II Cor. 5:21; Heb. 5:8,9; Phil. 2:8; Eph. 1:7; I Pet.
1:19; Mt. 28:1-10; Mk. 16:6; Lk. 24:6,7; Jn. 20:9; Rm. 4:25; I Cor. 15:4-8; Acts
1:9; Heb. 7:25; Heb. 4:14; Heb. 1:3; Heb. 8:1; Heb. 7:25; Rm. 8:34
CONCERNING
THE BENEFITS OF SALVATION
We believe that all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ are justified, their
sin is pardoned and the perfect righteousness of Christ is imputed to them; that
they are regenerated or born again, and are given spiritual life manifesting
repentance and faith; and that such true believers grow in grace and shall
endure to the end.
Acts 13:39; Rm. 5:9; Rn. 5:1,2; Isa. 53:11,12; Rm. 8:1; Zech. 13:1; Acts
10:43; Titus 3:7; I Jn. 2:12; 2 Cor. 5:21; Rm. 5:1 7,19; Phil. 3:9; Rm. 3:24-26;
Rm. 4:22-25; I Cor. 1:30; Jn.3: 3-8; I Pet. 1:23; I Cor. 2:14; Ezek. 36:26; Rm.
5:5; 001. 3:10; Rm. 8:9; Acts 3:19; Rm. 10:9-13; Ps. 51:3-7; Rm. 1:17; Acts
16:31; Acts 17:30; 20:21; Lk. 18:13; 2 Cor. 7:11; Heb. 11:6; 2 Pet. 3:18; I Pet.
2:2; Col. 3:1,2,8-17; Rm. 6:22; Eph. 4:24; Gal. 5:16; Gal. 5:22-25; Phil.
2:12,13; Jn. 8:31; Phil. 1:6; Jn. 6:39; I Jn. 2:19; Jn. 10:27-29; Jude 24,25; 2
Cor. 13:5
CONCERNING
SANCTIFICATION
We believe that sanctification is presented in three phases in Scripture: that
believers have been made partakers of Christ's holiness, that they are being
progressively sanctified, and that they will be completely sanctified at His
glorification; that there is no complete eradication of the old nature in
progressive sanctification, and that speaking in tongues is not a sign of either
regeneration or sanctification, nor is the New Testament gift of tongues in
existence today, but has ceased.
Heb. 10:10; I Cor. 6:11; I Cor. 1:30; Jn. 17:17; Phil. 1:9-11; Eph. 4:15;
Eph. 5:26,27; I Thes. 4:3; Rm. 1:17; 2 Cor. 3:18; Col. 3:4; Phil. 3:21; Pr.
4:18;
Phil. 2:12,13; Eph. 1:4; 2 Pet. 1:5-8; I Jn. 3:2; Phil. 3:12-16; Gal. 5:17; Rm.
7:18-25; Acts 2:8; 10:46; I Cor. 14:19; I Cor. 12:11,30; I Cor. 13:8.
CONCERNING
THE LOCAL CHURCH
We believe that a local, visible church, financed by tithes and offerings, is a
congregation of baptized believers associated together by a common faith and
fellowship in the Gospel; observing the ordinances of Christ and governed by His
Word; seeking to extend the Gospel to the ends of the earth; that its only
Scriptural officers are pastors and deacons, whose qualifications, claims and
duties are defined in the Epistles to Timothy and Titus.
Mt. 18:17; Acts 5:11; 8; I Cor. 16:1-2; Mal. 3:8-10; Acts 2:41,42; Mt.
28:19,20; I Cor. 11:23,24; 2 Tim. 3:15,16; Mt. 28:19,20; I Tim. 3:1-16; Titus
1:5-9
CONCERNING
A BAPTIST CHURCH IN ITS INDEPENDENCE AND RELATIONSHIPS
We believe that the local visible church of Christ is a voluntary and
independent autonomous group of baptized believers; that it is a theocracy,
which organically can join nothing, and that it has the power and right within
itself to confess its own faith in accordance with the New Testament; and that
each congregation recognizes its own theocratic self-containing government as
its highest authority for carrying out the will of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Mt. 18:15-18; I Cor. 5:4,5,13; I Tim. 3:15; Jude 3; Rev. 2,3; Mt. 18:15-18;
Acts 6:3-5; I Cor. 5:4,5,13; I Tim. 3:15.
CONCERNING
BAPTISM AND THE LORD'S SUPPER
We believe that both Christian baptism and the Lord's Supper are each a
memorial, a symbol and a prophecy. We believe that Christian baptism is the
immersion in water of a believer, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Ghost; to show forth, in a solemn and beautiful emblem, our faith in the
crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, with its effect in our death to sin and
resurrection to a new life; that it is prerequisite to the privileges of a
church relation; and a prerequisite to the Lord's Supper; in which the members
of the church by the use of unleavened bread and unfermented grape juice commemorate together the
death of Christ; preceded always by solemn self-examination.
Rm. 6:3,4; I pet. 3:21; Acts 8:36-39; Jn. 3:22,23; 4:1,2; Mt. 28:19; Mk.
16:16; Acts 2:38; 8:12; 16:32-34; 18:8; Mt. 28:19; Rm. 6:4; Col. 2:12; I Pet.
3:20,21;
Acts 22:16; Acts 2:41,42; Mt. 28:19,20; 1 Cor. 11:26; Mt. 26:26-29; I Cor.
11:28; 5:1,8; 11:17-32.
CONCERNING
CIVIL GOVERNMENT AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
We believe that civil government is of divine appointment, for the interests and
good order of human society; and that magistrates are to be prayed for,
conscientiously honoured and obeyed; except only in the things opposed to the
will of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only Lord of the conscience, and the
Prince of the kings of the earth; and that church and state should be separate,
the state owing the church protection and full freedom; no ecclesiastical group
or denomination should be preferred above another by the state; the state should
not impose taxes for the support of any form of religion; a free church in a
free state is the Christian ideal.
Rm. 13:1-7; Mt. 22:21; Titus 3:1; I Pet. 2:13,14; I Tim. 2:1-3; Acts 5:29;
Acts 4:18-20; Mt. 23:10; Ps. 72:11; Ps. 2; Rm. 14:9-13; I Tim. 2:1,2; Jas. 4:12;
Mt. 22:21.
CONCERNING
THE STATE OF THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED
We believe that there is a radical and essential difference between the
righteous and the wicked; that such only as through faith are justified in the
name of the Lord Jesus, and sanctified by the Spirit of our God, are truly
righteous in His sight; while all such as continue in impenitence and unbelief
are in His sight wicked, and under condemnation, and that there will be
resurrection of the righteous and a resurrection of the unrighteous.
Mal. 3:18; Rm. 1:17; Jn. 3:18; Dan. 12:2; Mt. 7:13,14; Lk. 9:23-26.
CONCERNING
FUTURE EVENTS
We believe the Scriptures teach that at death the spirit and soul of the
believer pass instantly into the presence of Christ and remain in conscious joy
until the
resurrection of the body when Christ comes for His own; the blessed hope of the
believer is the imminent, personal, pre-tribulational, premillennial appearance
of Christ to rapture all believers, His righteous judgments will then be poured
out on an unbelieving world during the Tribulation, the last half of which is
the Great Tribulation; the climax of this fearful era will be the physical
return of Jesus Christ to the earth in great glory to introduce the Millennial
kingdom; Satan will be bound and
the curse will be lifted from the physical creation; following the Millennium,
the Great white Throne judgment will occur, at which time the bodies and souls
of the wicked shall be reunited and cast into the Lake of Fire.
II Cor. 5:8; I Cor. 15:51-57; Titus 2:13; I Thes.4: 14-17; Mt. 24:21; Rev.
19:11-16; Rm. 11:26,27; Rev. 20:2,3; Rev. 20:11-15.
CONCERNING
HERESY AND APOSTASY
We believe in total and complete separation as taught in the Word of God from
all forms of heresy and ecclesiastical apostasy. We believe the Scripture
teaches that we are to: 1. Try them. 2. Mark them 3. Rebuke them. 4. Have no
fellowship. 5. Withdraw ourselves. 6. Receive them not. 7. Have no company with
him. 8. Reject them. 9. Separate ourselves.
1 Jn. 4:1; Rm. 16:17; Titus 1:13; Eph. 5:11; II Thes. 3:6; II Jn. 10:11; II
Thes. 3:14; Titus 3:10; 2 Cor. 6:17.
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