GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH
The Scriptures:
We believe that the Holy Bible as originally written was given by verbal and plenary inspiration and the product of Spirit-controlled men, and therefore is truth without any admixture of error for its entire matter. We believe the Bible to be the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and opinion shall be tried.
(II Timothy 3:16, 17; II Peter 1:19-21)
God the Father
We believe there is one and only one living and true God, as infinite, sovereign Spirit, the Maker and Supreme Ruler of Heaven and earth; inexpressibly glorious in holiness, and worthy of all possible honour, confidence, and love: that in 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; Deut. 6:4, 5; I Cor. 8:6; Rev. 4:11)
God the Son
We believe that God the Son was self-existent and pre-existent Jesus Christ. That He took upon Himself the form of man in that Jesus was begotten of the Holy Ghost in a miraculous manner, born of Mary, a virgin, as no other man was ever born or ever can be born of woman, and that He is born the Son of God and God the Son.
(Gen. 3:15; Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:18-25; John 1:1-3, 14; 10:30; Col. 1:16, 17; Titus 2:13; Heb. 1:8)
God the Holy Spirit
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; that He bears witness of the truth of the gospel in preaching and testimony; that He is the agent in the new birth; that He seals, endues, guides, teaches, witnesses, sanctifies and helps the believer. (The gift of tongues and healing were “sign-gifts” until the Scriptures were completed. These gifts ceased at that time)
(Gen. 1:1-3; Matt. 28:19; Mark 1:8; Luke 1:35; 24:49; John 1:33; 3:5, 6; 14:16, 17, 26; 16:8-11; Acts 5:3, 4, 30-32; 11:16; Rom. 8:14, 16, 26, 27; 15:19; I Cor. 13:8; Eph. 1:13; Heb. 2:4; 9:14)
Devil or Satan
We believe in the personality of Satan, that he is a created being, the unholy god of this age, the ruler of all the powers of darkness, and is destined to the judgment of an eternal justice in the Lake of Fire.
(Matt. 4:11; II Cor. 4:4; Rev. 20:10)
Creation
We believe the Genesis account of Creation as being neither allegory or myth, but a literal, historical account of the direct, immediate creative acts of God without any (organic or theistic) evolutionary process; that man, spirit, soul, and body, was created by a direct work of God and not from previously existing forms of life; and that all men are descended from the historical Adam and Eve, first parents of the entire human race.
(Gen. 1, 2; John 1:3; Col. 1:16, 17).
The Fall
We believe that man was created in innocence under the law of his Maker; but by voluntary transgression Adam fell from his sinless and happy state, and all men sinned in him, in consequences of which all men are totally depraved, are partakers of Adam’s fallen nature and by conduct; and therefore are under just condemnation without defense or excuse.
(Gen. 1:26, 27; 3:1-6; Rom. 1:18, 32; 3:10-19; 5:12, 19)
The Atonement and Resurrection
We believe that salvation of sinners is divinely initiated and wholly of grace through the mediatorial office of the Son of God who, by his death made a full and vicarious atonement for our sins; that His atonement consisted not in setting us an example by His death as a martyr, but the voluntary substitution of Himself in the sinner’s place, the Just dying for the unjust, Christ, the Lord, bearing sin in His own body on the tree. We believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ, in His bodily ascension into Heaven, where He now sits at the right hand of the Father as our High Priest.
(Matt. 28:6, 7; Luke 24:39; John 20:27; Acts 1:9-11; I Cor. 15:3, 4; Heb. 2:17; 5:9, 10; I John 2:1; Isa. 53:4-7; Jonah 2:9; Matt. 18:11; John 3:16; Acts 15:11; Rom. 3:24, 25; I Cor. 15:3; II Cor5:21; Eph. 2:8; Phil. 2:7, 8; I Tim 2:4-6; Heb. 2:14; I John 4:10)
Faith and Salvation
We believe that repentance is a change of mind and purpose toward God by conviction of the Holy Spirit; and that true repentance is inseparably related to true faith. We believe that in order to be saved, sinners must be born again; that the new birth is a new creation in Christ Jesus; and the one dead in trespasses and sins is made a partaker of the divine nature and receives eternal life, the free gift of God. We believe that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the only condition of salvation.
(Acts 16:31; Eph. 2:8, 9)
Security of the Believer
We believe that all who are truly born again are kept eternally by God the Father for Jesus Christ and sealed by the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption. (John 10:28, 29; Rom. 8:35-39; I Cor. 1:22; Eph. 1:14; 4:30; Phil. 1:6; I John 5:13)
The Church
We believe in the unity of all true believers in the Church which is the Body of Christ. That this Church is manifested through the local church which 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; exercising the gifts rights and privileges invested in the local church by His work; and that its officers are pastors and deacons, whose qualifications, claims and duties are clearly defined in the Scripture. We believe the true mission of the church is the faithful witnessing of Christ to all men as we have opportunity. We believe in the autonomy of the local church, and the call to separate from all forms of godlessness, apostasy, compromise, and worldliness
(Rom. 16:17; 2 Cor. 6:14; 2 Thess. 3:6; Matt. 16:18; Acts 2:41, 42; 15:13-18; 20:17-28; I Cor. 11:2’ 12:12, 13; Eph. 1:22, 23; 4:11; 5:23, 24; Col. 1:18; I Tim. 3:1-7)
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
We believe that Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water, to show forth our faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, and that baptism is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership.
We believe that the Lord’s Supper is always by solemn self-examination. We believe that the Biblical order of the ordinances is baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and that participants should be immersed believers.
(Matt. 3:16; 28:19, 20; John 3:23; Acts 2:41, 42; 8:36, 38, 39; Rom. 6:3-5; I Cor. 11:23-28; Col. 2:12)
The Rapture and Subsequent Events
We believe in the imminent, Pre-Tribulation, Pre-Millennial return of Christ for His Church, and that at that moment the dead in Christ shall be raised in glorified bodies, and the living in Christ shall be changed and caught up to meet the Lord in the air before the Tribulation.
(I Cor. 15:15, 42-44, 51-54; Phil. 3:20, 21; I Thess. 4:13-18; Rev. 3:10)
We believe that the Tribulation, which follows the Rapture of the Church, will be culminated by the Revelation of Christ in power and great glory to sit upon the throne of David and to establish the Millennial reign.
(Isa. 9:6,7; 11:1-9; Dan. 9:25-27; Matt. 24:29-31; Luke 1:30-33; Acts 2:29, 30; Rev. 20:1-4, 6)