Faith Baptist Church is an old-fashioned, fundamental, KJV, soul-winning and mission-supporting church located in the heart of Avon, Indiana. Here is a list of the things we believe.
SECTION 1 - The Holy Scriptures
We believe that the Holy Bible, consisting of the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, is in its entirety verbally, plenarily inspired and without error in the original writings, infallible, and God-breathed. It is the final revelation of the will of God to man and is the only standard by which all human conduct, creed, faith, practice, and fellowship should be tried.
Ref.: Matthew 5:18; II Timothy 3:16, 17; II Peter 1:19-21; 3:15-16.
SECTION 2 - The Godhead
We believe in the one triune God, the Maker, Preserver, and Ruler of all things, eternally existing in three persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, co-eternal in being, co-identical in nature, co-equal in power and glory, each with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.
Ref.: Deuteronomy 6:4; Genesis 1:1, 2, 26; 6:3; John 1:1, 2; 10:30; Philippians 2:6.
SECTION 3 - The Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary; that He became man without ceasing to be God, visible in a fleshly form; that He lived a life wholly apart from sin, being perfect in all His ways, sinless; that He, through His death as our sacrifice, made full and complete satisfaction to God for our sins, dying as a voluntary substitute for our transgressions; that He physically rose from the dead on the third day, confirming God's satisfactions with His payment for sin; and that He ascended bodily into Heaven. We hold that the imminent return of Christ to rapture His saints is personal, pre-tribulational, and pre-millennial; that Christ is now preparing a place for the believer in Heaven; and that He will come a second time to establish His kingdom on the throne of David.
Ref.: Matthew 1:20-23; 19:28; 25:31; Luke 1:35: John 1:1, 12; 3:5; 16:7-11; Acts 1:9-11; 7:55-56; I Cor. 6:19; 12:13; II Cor. 5:21; Phil. 4:13; I Thess. 4:13,16-18; I Tim. 2:5; Hebrews 4:1, 4-15; 10:1-10, 12.
SECTION 4 - The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit
(A) We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine person equal with the Father and Son and of the same essence and nature; that He was active in the creation; that, in His relationship to the unbelieving world, He restrains the evil one until God's purpose is fulfilled; that He convicts of sin, righteousness, and judgment; that He bears witness to the truth; that, in His relationship to the believer, He is the agent of the new birth; that He is the Seal of our salvation; that He endues with power and wisdom, guides, teaches, witnesses, sanctifies, helps, and comforts believers; that He indwells every true child of God in this Church Age; and that He presently serves the believer in intercessory prayer.
Ref.: John 16:7-11, 13, 14; 14:16, 17; Romans 8:14, 27; II Thessalonians 2:7.
(B) We believe that He is sovereign in the bestowment of His gifts upon all believers for ministries as members in the body of Christ and that the specific gifts of evangelist, pastor, and teacher are provided for the equipping of saints for the working of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. We believe that the speaking in tongues and the working of sign miracles ceased as the New Testament scripture was completed and its authority established and that they were given as signs to Israel in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy but were not signs of spiritual superiority.
Ref.: I Corinthians 12:4-11, 13; 13:1-3; 14:22, 23, 33; II Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13; 4:7-12; 5:18; Isaiah 28:11-12; Deuteronomy 28:49; Jeremiah 5:15; Joel 2:28.
SECTION 5 - The Personality of Satan
We believe that Satan was once a holy angel who enjoyed heavenly honors but that through pride and ambition to be as the Almighty, he fell, drawing after him a host of angels; and we believe that he is now the malignant prince of the power of the air and the unholy god of this world. We hold him to be man's great tempter; the enemy of God and of His Christ; the accuser of the saints; the author of all false religions, the chief power behind the present apostasy; the lord of the anti-christ; and the author of all the powers of darkness…destined, however, to final defeat at the hands of God's Son and to the judgment of an eternal justice in Hell, a place prepared for him and his angels.
Ref.: Isaiah 14; Ezekiel 28; II Corinthians 4:4; Genesis 3:1-15; Matthew 4:1-11; John 8:44; Luke 10:18-19; John 13:2, 27; I Peter 5:8; Revelation 12; 20:1-3; 20:7-10.
SECTION 6 - Hell
We believe in a literal Hell and the Lake of Fire and Brimstone, which shall be the place of eternal punishment of Satan, fallen angels, demons, and the unbelieving dead.
Ref.: Revelation 20:10, 15; 21:8; 19:20; Luke 16:26; Mark 9:43-48; Matthew 26:24.
SECTION 7 - Heaven
We believe in a literal place called Heaven where God's immediate presence is manifested, where the angels dwell, and where the redeemed shall ultimately dwell, from whence Christ descended and to which He ascended again, where He maketh intercession for the saints, and from whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
Ref.: Psalm 102:19; Ecclesiastes 5:2; Isaiah 66:1; Matthew 22:30; John 14:1-3; 16:28; Acts 1:11; I Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 7:25; I John 2:1; II Thessalonians 1:7-10.
SECTION 8 - The Eternal State
(A) We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men, the saved to eternal life and the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment.
(B) We believe that the souls of the unbelievers remain, after death in conscious misery until the second resurrection when, with spirit, soul, and body reunited, they shall appear at the Great White Throne judgment and shall be cast into the Lake of Fire, not to be annihilated but to suffer everlasting punishment.
(C) We believe that the souls of the redeemed are, at death, absent from the body and present with the Lord where, in conscious bliss, they await the first resurrection when spirit, soul, and body are reunited to be glorified forever with the Lord.
Ref.: Revelation 20; Acts 24:15; John 5:28-29; Luke 16:19-31; 23:4-43; II Corinthians 5:8; I Thessalonians 4:14-17; I John 3:2.
SECTION 9 - Man
We believe that man was created in innocence (in the image and likeness of God) under the law of his Maker, but that by voluntary transgression Adam fell from his sinless and happy state and that all men sinned in him, in consequence of which all men are totally depraved and positively inclined toward evil, are inheritors of Adam's fallen nature, and are sinners by nature and by conduct and, therefore, are under just condemnation without defense or excuse.
SECTION 10 - Salvation
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ "died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried; and that He hath been raised on the third day according to the Scriptures"; that He ascended into Heaven where, as our great High Priest and Advocate He ever lives to make intercession for us; that all who believe on His name are justified on the grounds of His shed blood, thereby receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit and eternal life by the grace of God.
Ref.: I Corinthians 15:3-4; Hebrews 7:25; I John 2:1; Romans 5:1-11.
SECTION 11 - Regeneration
We believe that regeneration is a divine and instantaneous work of the Holy Spirit, whereby God imparts a divine nature to one dead in trespasses and sins. In order to be saved, sinners must be born again. The new birth is a new creation in Christ Jesus; it is instantaneous and not a process. In the new birth, someone who is dead in trespasses and in sins is made a partaker of the divine nature, and he receives eternal life, the free gift of God. The new creation is brought about in a manner above our comprehension, not by culture, not by character, not by the will of man, but wholly and solely by the power of the Holy Spirit in connection with divine truth, thus securing our voluntary obedience to the Gospel. The evidence of the new birth appears in the fruits of faith, repentance, and newness of life.
Ref.: John 3; I John 5:11-12; II Peter 1:4; Ephesians 2:10; Titus 3:5; II Corinthians 5:17; I John 2:29.
SECTION 12 - Justification
We believe that justification is the non-imputation of guilt and the imputation of the righteousness of God.
Ref.: Romans 8:1,33-34; II Corinthians 5:21; I Corinthians 1:30; Romans 1:17.
SECTION 13 - Sanctification
(A) We believe that believers positionally have been "sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."
(B) We believe that sanctification is a divine and progressive work of the Holy Spirit whereby God, upon the grounds of the finished work of Christ on the Cross, His present intercessory ministry, and His divine Word, sets the believer apart and works out, in, and through him by means of a submissive will that which is well pleasing to Himself through Jesus Christ.
(C) We believe that sanctification culminates in the redemption of the body and complete conformity to the moral image of Christ.
Ref: Hebrews 10:1-10; Colossians 3:8-12; Romans 6:13; 8:13; I Peter 1:22; I John 3:2; I Thessalonians 3:13; Philippians 3:20-21.
SECTION 14 - The Church
(A) We believe in the one true Church, the spiritual body and Bride of the Lord Jesus Christ, composed of believers from Pentecost to the Rapture, into which believers are baptized by the Holy Spirit.
(B) We believe that the local church is an organization composed of professing believers instituted for the purpose of fellowship, worship, service, and discipline. In matters of administration and policy, it is self-governing.
Ref.: Acts 2; I Corinthians 12:13; II Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:22-32.
(C) We believe that a local church is a congregation of baptized 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 privileges invested in them by His Word; and that its officers are pastors and deacons.
Ref.: Acts 2:41, 42; 15:13-18; 20:28; I Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 1:22, 23; 4:11; 5:23, 24; Colossians 1:18, I Timothy 3:15.
SECTION 15 - Two Ordinances
We believe that the New Testament expresses only two ordinances, which are commands from Christ as the Head to His Church. They convey no saving grace but, rather, are to be observed and obeyed as members under the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(A) Baptism We believe that baptism is only for true converts and is to be administered in accord with its literal meaning by the single immersion of the believer in water in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. It is a solemn and beautiful representation of our death, burial, and resurrection in Christ and the visible testimony of our spiritual union with Christ.
Ref.: Matthew 28:19; Acts 8:36-39; Colossians 2:12; I Peter 3:21.
(B) Communion We believe that the Lord's Table is to be observed by all believers present with us that have a pure heart before the Heavenly Father. It is the remembrance of Christ's redemptive work for us and a very special opportunity for fellowship and affection with Christ who bought us. It is to be commemorated until He comes and should always be preceded by solemn self-examination.
Ref.: I Corinthians 11:23-29; Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:19?20.
SECTION 16 - The Rapture of the Church
We believe in the personal, imminent, pre-tribulational coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to rapture His church.
Ref.: Titus 2:11-13; Acts 1:6-11; I Thessalonians 4:16-17; Luke 19:12; Matthew 24:34; I Corinthians 6:2-3; Revelation 3:10; II Corinthians 5:10.
SECTION 17 - Millennial Kingdom
We believe in the pre-millennial coming of the Lord Jesus Christ with the church (His Bride) and the establishment of His Kingdom on Earth for a literal 1,000 years.
Ref.: Revelation 20.
SECTION 18 - The Eternal Security and Assurance of Believers
(A) We believe that all the redeemed are kept by God's power and are thus secure in Christ forever.
(B) We believe that it is the privilege of the believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God's Word which, however, clearly forbids the use of Christian liberty as an occasion to the flesh.
Ref.: John 10:27-30; Romans 11:29; 5:8-10; Hebrews 7:25; Philippians 1:6; II Timothy 1:12; I Peter 1:5
SECTION 19 - Human Sexuality
(A) We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman. We believe that any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication, and adultery are sinful perversions of God’s gift of sex. We believe that God disapproves of and forbids any attempt to alter one’s gender by surgery or appearance.
Ref.: Genesis 2:24; 19:5, 13; 26:8-9; Leviticus 18:1-30; Romans 1:26-29; 1 Corinthians 5:1; 6:9; 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8; Hebrews 13:4.
(B) We believe that the only legitimate marriage is the legal joining of one man and one woman.
Ref.: Genesis 2:24; Romans 7:2; 1 Corinthians 7:10; Ephesians 5:22-23.
(C) We believe that Christians should maintain a public testimony that is above reproach. Therefore, we believe that any cohabitation between men and women not related by blood that could reasonably be construed as involving sexual conduct presents an appearance of evil and should be avoided.
Ref.: I Thessalonians 5:22.
SECTION 20 – Family Relationships
(A)We believe that men and women are spiritually equal in position before God but that God has ordained distinct and separate spiritual functions for men and women in the home and the church. The husband is to be the leader of the home, and men are to be the leaders (pastors and deacons) of the church. Accordingly, only men are eligible for licensure and ordination by the church.
Ref.: Galatians 3:28; Colossians 3:18; 1 Timothy 2:8-15; 3:4-5, 12.
(B) We believe that God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society. The husband is to love his wife as Christ loves the church. The wife is to submit herself to the Scriptural leadership of her husband as the church submits to the headship of Christ. Children are an heritage from the Lord. Parents are responsible for teaching their children spiritual and moral values and for leading them through consistent lifestyle example and appropriate discipline including Scriptural corporal correction.
Ref.: Genesis 1:26-28; Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Psalm 127:3-5; Proverbs 19:18; 22:15; 23:13-14; Mark 10:6-12; I Corinthians 7:1-16; Ephesians 5:21-33; 6:1-4, Colossians 3:18-21; Hebrews 13:4; I Peter 3:1-7.
SECTION 21 – Abortion
We believe that human life begins at conception and that the unborn child is a living human being. Abortion constitutes the unjustified, unexcused taking of unborn human life. Abortion is murder.
Ref.: Job 3:16; Psalm 51:5; 139:14-16; Isaiah 44:24; 49:1, 5; Jeremiah 1:5; 20:15-18; Luke 1:44.
SECTION 22 – Lawsuits Between Believers
We believe that Christians are prohibited from bringing civil lawsuits against other Christians or the church to resolve personal disputes. We believe the church possesses all the resources necessary to resolve personal disputes between members.
Ref.: 1 Corinthians 6:1-8; Ephesians 4:31-32. |
