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What we believe at
Grace Baptist Chapel
Regarding
Scripture
We believe in the verbal and plenary
inspiration of the Old and New Testaments. We believe these Scriptures
are inerrant, infallible, and complete. We believe the Bible provides the
absolute and true basis and standard for Christian unity. It is the
supreme authority for evaluating all human conduct, creeds, beliefs, and
opinions. We hold that God has preserved His word to this moment and in
the Authorized King James Version, we have a true, faithful, and accurate
translation of Holy Scripture. This translation shall be the exclusive
English version used in all preaching and teaching in the church
ministries. [Psalm 12: 6, 7; 119:89; Isaiah 40:8; 2 Timothy 3:16; 1
Peter 1:23; 2 Peter 1:19,20].
Regarding God
We believe there is but ONE living and
true God. He is infinite and sovereign Spirit and is the Creator and
Ruler of Heaven and earth. He eternally exists in three Persons---
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit ...each identical in nature, equal in power
and glory, and possessing the same attributes and perfections. [Matthew 3:
16,17; 28:19; John 4:24; 1 Corinthians 12: 4-6; 2 Corinthians 13:14; 1
John 5:7]
Regarding
Origins
We believe the Genesis account of creation
is a literal and historical account of the direct and immediate creative
act of God without any organic or theistic evolutionary process. Adam is
a historical person and was created (spirit, soul, and body) by a direct
work of God and all humanity is descended from him and the biblical Eve.
[Romans 5: 12-14; 1 Corinthians 15: 21,22]
Regarding
Satan
We believe Satan is a real creature who is
the unholy god of this age and the ruler of all unsaved humanity. He is
the relentless enemy of God, the saved, righteousness, and truth. He
controls all the powers of darkness and is destined to the judgment of an
eternal punishment in the Lake of Fire. [Matthew 4: 1-11; Revelation 20:
1-10]
Regarding Sin
We believe the first man, Adam, was
created sinless, but with an equal disposition to choose to obey or not to
obey God his Maker. By willful transgression Adam and Eve fell from their
sinless state. Consequently, all humanity has genetically inherited from
them a fallen nature and is separated from God and lost in rebellion and
sin. Every descendant of Adam then is a sinner by nature, conduct, and
choice and under deserved divine condemnation without defense or excuse.
We believe that Hell (and ultimately the Lake of Fire) is the eternal
destiny of every unsaved person. [Romans 3:23; 5:12-14; 1 Corinthians 15:
21,22; Revelation 20:15]
Regarding
Salvation
We believe that salvation is by grace
alone through personal trust in the finished work of Christ. We believe
this faith results in the new birth which is instantaneous and not a
process. Salvation means a sinner receives eternal life, a divine
nature, and is made a new person by the act of God. This event is
accomplished by the Holy Spirit and is beyond human comprehension.
Salvation results in a sinner’s voluntary obedience and submission to God
and His word and is accompanied by a newness of life, faith, and good
works. We hold that those who truly are saved are eternally safe in Christ
and will never perish. [John 10:28; 14:6; Acts 4:12; 2 Corinthians 5:21]
Regarding
Jesus Christ
We believe that God, the eternal Son, was
made Flesh and dwelt among us, in that, Jesus was conceived of the Holy
Spirit by the virgin Mary in a miraculous manner as no other man is, or
ever will, be conceived. We believe that Jesus Christ is both the Son of
God and God the Son. We believe that in Him dwells all the fullness of
the Godhead bodily and that He is both God and the Man Christ Jesus. [John
1: 1-3; Colossians 1: 14-19; 2:9]
We believe He lived a sinless life and
that He fulfilled the Divine law by His perfect obedience. Moreover,
through His shed blood and death on the cross, He has made a full and
vicarious atonement for our sin by the voluntary substitution of Himself
in the sinner’s place. This is the Just dying for the unjust and has with
this offering of Himself, Jesus Christ has placated God’s righteous anger
and has made available to humanity, reconciliation to God. [2 Corinthians
5:21; Colossians 1:14]
We believe His literal bodily
resurrection assures our justification and is the promise of our own
glorious resurrection. Jesus Christ is now ascended to God’s throne where
He sits at the right hand of the Father and makes intercession for us.
[John 5: 28,29; Romans 5:8]
Regarding
Justification
We believe that justification is the
judicial act of God in which He declares a sinner is righteous.
Justification means sin is pardoned and Christ’s righteousness is imputed
to the sinner. Justification is bestowed solely on the condition of the
sinner’s trust in the blood of Christ to atone for his sin. [Romans 4:
21-25; Colossians 1:14,20]
Repentance and
Faith
We believe that repentance is godly
sorrow. It is a change of mind, heart, and purpose toward God that is
prompted by the Holy Spirit. It is the heart cry of the sinner who
perceives his absolute inability and helplessness to please God.
Repentance causes sin to be recognized as offensive to God and damning to
the soul. We believe that biblical repentance is always accompanied by
true faith in Christ. [Matthew 4:17; Acts 17:30]
The Holy
Spirit
We believe the Holy Spirit is the third
Person of the Godhead. He is coeternal with the Father and the Son and is
of identical nature. He convicts the sinner of sin, righteousness, and
judgment. He is the acting Agent in the new birth experience and then,
seals, endues with power, bestows gifts, guides, teaches, comforts and
keeps the believer. [John 14: 15-31; 16:7-15]
The Holy Spirit sanctifies (sets apart)
the believer in Christ at the moment of the new birth. He also
progressively sanctifies him throughout his earthly life by means of the
Word of God, self-examination, self-denial, prayer, soul-winning and the
preaching, teaching, and fellowship found in a scriptural church. [Acts
2:41-47]
We believe that some gifts of the Holy
Spirit were meant for those early churches existing before the completion
of the Scriptures. These churches which were without the complete Word of
God were provided with temporary special gifts to help validate and
confirm their ministries. With the completion of the perfect Word of God
those formerly necessary helps became obsolete and irrelevant and were
ended. [1 Corinthians 13: 8-12]
The
New Testament Church
A
church is an assembly of immersed believers who are united in doctrine and
observe the ordinances of Christ. Its members obey the great commission
and exercise the gifts and privileges given them by the Word of God and
Holy Spirit. Its officers are pastors and deacons whose qualifications,
claims, and duties are clearly given in the Word of God. Each local
assembly is the body of Christ whose one and only Head is the Lord.
[Ephesians 1:22; 5:23]
We believe a church has the right of
complete autonomy and that on all questions of membership, polity, and
discipline, the will of the church is final.
Baptism
and Communion
Baptism is the single immersion of a
believer upon the authority of the church. This ordinance pictures the
believer’s faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Savior and portrays
that the believer, likewise through Christ, has died to sin and is risen
to a new life. Baptism after conversion is prerequisite to membership and
the Lord’s table.
The Lord’s Supper is the church’s special
commemoration of the Lord’s death which will continue until He comes
again. Moreover, it portrays the abiding communion of Christ with His
people and they with Him and each other. [1 Corinthians 11: 17-32]
Associations
Christians are commanded to depart from
every form of wickedness, apostasy, compromise and worldliness. Moreover,
the Word of God exhorts us to identify and oppose all heresies and other
departures from the truth and sound doctrine. [Romans 16: 17; 2
Corinthians 6: 14-18]
This church must perpetually continue as
an independent, sovereign, and biblical Baptist church. It is subject
only to Jesus Christ, its Head. This church may fellowship with any
sister church that is in agreement in both doctrine and conduct. However,
no organic union is to be entered with any denomination, association, or
confederacy.
Eschatology
We believe in the imminent, pre-millennial
coming of Christ in the air to rapture the saints before the Tribulation.
The glorious return of Christ to the earth will occur at the end of the
seven-year great Tribulation. He will then establish His millennium
kingdom upon the earth. [1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18]
We believe in the bodily resurrection of
the dead. We believe the saved will be resurrected to everlasting
blessedness at the Rapture and the lost to everlasting punishment in a
literal Lake of Fire at the time of the Great White Throne Judgment.
[Revelation 20: 10-15]
We believe that at death, the souls of
the redeemed are with the Lord and souls of the lost go to a literal Hell
to await the judgment of the Great White Throne. [2 Corinthians 5: 6-8;
Philippians 1:21-24] |
