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Graceway Baptist Church "You'll always find a
friend at Graceway"
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What We Believe GRACEWAY BAPTIST CHURCH - STATEMENT OF FAITH
1. THE SCRIPTURES We believe that the Bible, consisting of
sixty-six books in both the Old and New Testaments is God’s holy Word. It was
inspired of the Holy Spirit, without error in the original manuscripts,
uniquely preserved for us by the Holy Spirit, and is our sole authority for
faith and practice. We believe that because the Bible is God’s sufficient
Word for our salvation and sanctification, we reject all extra Biblical
revelation. (2 Pet. 1:19-21;
2Tim. 3:16,17; Rev.22:19) 2. THE GODHEAD
We believe that there is only one living
and true God, eternally self-existent in three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. While He is one in essence and equal in every divine perfection, each
person of the Godhead is distinct in role and responsibility. (Deut. 6:4; Matt.
3:13-17; Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14).
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3. JESUS CHRIST
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is
the eternal Son of God, who became a man, without ceasing to be God. He was
conceived by the Holy Spirit and was born of a virgin, that he might both
reveal God to us and redeem every sinful man to a God. Jesus Christ died a
substitutionary death upon a cross for all who will believe. He was buried,
bodily arose from the dead on the third day, was seen by men, and is now
ascended into Heaven where He sits on the right hand of the throne of God,
interceding on behalf of all those who have accepted Him as personal Saviour.
We await His Imminent return which will, we believe, occur prior to the
dreaded Tribulation period. (Matt. 1:18-20; Jn 1:1,2,14; Phil.2:5-11; 2
Cor. 5:21; 15:3; Rom. 3:21-26; 5:9; Heb. 2:9; 1 Jn. 2:2; Matt. 28:1-10; Acts
1:9; Heb. 7:25-28; Dan. 9:24-27; 1 Thes. 4:14-17; 1 Cor. 15:51-53; 1 Thes.
5:9) 4. THE HOLY SPIRIT We believe that the Holy Spirit, is
co-equal and co-eternal with God the Father and God the Son. Following His
active role in Creation He continues to convict men of sin, restrain evil,
indwell believers and perform various ministries i.e. regenerating sinners,
sealing believers till the Day of Redemption, guiding them into all truth,
sanctifying, strengthening and empowering them for acts of service by
bestowing upon each believer certain spiritual gifts. While we believe that
certain gifts were temporary sign gifts, each believer has been given at
least one spiritual gift to be used for the edification of the body of
Christ. (2 Thes. 2:7; John 3:6; 16:7-11; Rom. 8:9;
Eph. 4:30, 5:18; 1 Cor. 12:11, 30; 13:8; 1 Pt.4:10)
5. CREATION We believe in the Genesis account of a
literal six, twenty-four hour day creation by an infinitely wise and holy
God. We believe that while man was created in innocence, he sinned, thus
causing sin and its effect to fall upon all of God’s creation. As a result of
man’s sin, God's promise of a future judgment rests upon all that was
created. (Gen. 1:1-2:25; Neh. 9:6; Ps. 33:6-9; John
1:3; Heb. 11:3; Col. 1:16-17; Ex. 20:11; 31:17; Gen. 1:11, 12, 21, 24, 25;
Gen. 1:26-27; 5:20)
6. SATAN We believe that Satan, while created as a
perfect angel of God, chose to rebel against his appointed place, and led
many other angels against God. While Satan himself is the "accuser of
the brethren," his fallen angels or demons roam the earth to oppose God,
His plan, purposes and people in whatever way possible. While Satan has
already been judged, God controls yet allows Satan to function upon this earth,
while he awaits his eternal punishment in the (Isa. 14:12-15; Ezekiel 28:14-17; Job 1- 2; Heb. 1:6,14; Rev.12:9-10; 20:1-3, 10; 1Thess. 3:5; Mat.4:1-3; Eph.6;12 ) |
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7. SALVATION We believe that despite being created in
perfection, Adam's sin plummeted the entire human race into sin, and incurred
upon all mankind God's judgment of both physical and spiritual death. We believe however that salvation as
presented through the Gospel, is freely available to all who will accept
Jesus Christ as personal Saviour, by grace through faith. God’s gift of
salvation enables anyone to be forgiven by God; regenerated by the Holy
Spirit; imputed with the righteousness of Christ and declared justified
before a Holy God. We believe that following man's salvation
from the punishment of sin, he will by the empowering ability of the Holy
Spirit be able grow in grace, being saved from the power of sin in his life.
This process is called progressive sanctification. We further believe that man will one day be
saved from the very presence of sin when following the Rapture he will be
rescued by God from this present world and given a new glorified body in
Heaven. It is because man is saved from the punishment
of sin by the righteousness of Christ, and not by any human merit, that all
who are saved are eternally secure and will never see the wrath of God in
Hell. (Gen. 1:26, 27; 3:1-24; Rom. 5:12-21; Eph.
2:1-6; 2:8,9; John 1:12; 3:5-7,16; John 10:27-30; Rom. 8:31-39; Eph. 4:
22-28; Rom 3:24; I Tim. 2:4; 4:10; 8-9. Acts 16:31; I Peter 1:23; 2 Cor.
5:21; 2 Pet. 3:18; John 10:27-30; Luke 16:19-26; Matt. 25:34-41) 8. THE CHURCH We believe that the church is the Body of
Christ, consisting of both a larger body and a local body. The larger body is
an invisible body, not yet formed or functioning, composed of all true
believers, who have been baptized into Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit at
salvation. We believe this body is distinct from We believe the local body is a visible
organized assembly of born-again believers, who upon the basis of a credible
profession of faith, have been baptized by immersion in water. The local
church functions as a self-governing body of believer priests, under the
servant leadership of Pastors and deacons for the glory of God and the God of
others, in light of the Judgement Seat of Christ. We believe the local body is God’s program
during this dispensation of grace and is accountable only to God for its own
affairs i.e. worship, edification, evangelism, discipline of it's members,
ownership of it's own property, conducting the two ordinances of believer’s
baptism and the Lord's supper; support of missionaries etc. (Heb. 12:23; 1 Cor.12:13; Eph. 5:23-32;
Acts 2:41-42; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; Matt. 28:19-20; I Cor. 11:23-28; 2 Tim. 3:1-16;
Titus 1:5-9; Matt. 18:15-18; Acts 6:3-5; I Cor. 5:4-5, 13; I Tim. 3:15; Rom.
6:3-4; I Cor. 11:26. Acts 8:36-39; Matt. 28:19; Rom. 6:3-4; Matt. 26:29; 1
Cor. 13:1-3)
9. SEPARATION We believe that in the last days, many
shall depart from the faith. It is therefore the responsibility of every
believer and every congregation in the light of the Judgement Seat of Christ,
to not identify with, affiliate or fellowship with, that which would be
harmful to their spiritual walk or witness for our Lord Jesus Christ. For the individual believer this involves
separating from any worldly passion or practice that dishonours or casts
doubt upon their love for Christ. For the local church it involves separating
from all those who have deviated from the Word of God, who no longer walk in
like faith and practice and from those who knowingly are content to do so. (2 Tim. 4:1-3; 2 Pet. 2:1-3; I Jn. 4:1; Ps.
1:1; Rom. 16:17; 2 Cor. 6:17; Tit. 1:13; Gal. 2:11-21; 2 Thes. 3:6-12; Rom. 6:17; Eph. 5:11; Jude
3 )
10. END TIMES We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ could
return at any time to rapture his people to Heaven, where all true believers
will stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ and enjoy the marriage Supper
of the Lamb. Upon the Earth, the Rapture will begin
God's prophetic time clock of events i.e. the unveiling of the anti-Christ;
seven years of Tribulation; the return of Jesus Christ to the earth; the
Battle of Armageddon; judgement of the nations; the captivity of Satan; the
Millennial reign of Christ upon the Earth; a short release of Satan; a final
conflict with God and the Great While Throne Judgement. We believe in the bodily resurrection of
all mankind. The saved will be raised to receive a glorified body and eternal
rejoicing in Heaven with Christ. Those who have never trusted Christ as
Saviour will be raised to eternal punishment in Hell. We believe in a literal
heaven and a literal hell. (John 14:1-3; 1 Cor. 15:51 - 52; 1 Thess.
4:13- 18; Dan. 9:24-27; Matt. 24: 21; Rev.4;1-2; 19;11-16; 20:11-15;)
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