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What We Believe

First Baptist Church Doctrine
(As stated by the Baptist Faith & Message of the Southern Baptist Convention)

The Scriptures: The Bible is God's Word to us. It was written by human authors, under the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and is truth without any mixture of error. It reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried.

God: There is one and only one living and true God. He is the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections. The eternal God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Father: God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His grace. He is all powerful, all loving, and all wise.

Jesus: Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will of God, taking upon Himself the demands and necessities of human nature and identifying Himself completely with mankind yet without sin. He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His death on the cross. He made provision for the redemption of men from sin. He was raised from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His disciples as the person who was with them before His crucifixion. He ascended to heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God. He will return in power and glory to judge the world and reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Holy Spirit: He is the third person of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. He inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures. Through illumination, He enables men to understand truth. He exalts Christ. He convicts of sin, of righteousness, and judgment. He calls men to the Savior, and effects regeneration. He cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and bestows spiritual gifts by which they serve God through His church. He enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship, evangelism, and service.

Human Beings: Man was created by the special act of God, in His own image, and is the crowning work of His creation. In the beginning man was innocent of sin and was endowed by his creator with freedom of choice. By his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. Due to sin, man has lost fellowship with God. Only the grace of God can bring man into His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God.

Salvation: Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. We believe that salvation is a gift received through repentance of sins to God and faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Eternal Security: Because God gives us eternal life through Jesus Christ, the true believer is secure in that salvation for eternity. If you have been genuinely saved, you cannot "lose" your salvation. Salvation is maintained by the grace and power of God, not by the self-effort of the Christian. It is the grace and keeping power of God that gives us this security.

Eternity: People were created to exist forever. We will either exist eternally separated from God by sin or eternally with God through forgiveness and salvation. To be eternally separated from God is Hell. To be eternally in union with Him is eternal life. Heaven and Hell are real places of eternal existence.

Baptism by Immersion: We believe that Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer's faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior, the believer's death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead.

Lord's Supper: This is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the juice, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.

Evangelism and Missions: It is the duty and privilege of every follower of Christ and of every church of the Lord Jesus Christ to endeavor to make disciples of all nations. The new birth of man's spirit by God's Holy Spirit means the birth of love for others. It is the duty of every child of God to seek constantly to win the lost to Christ by personal effort and by all other methods in harmony with the gospel of Christ.

The Church: A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is a local body of baptized believers who are associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel, observing the two ordinances of Christ, committed to His teachings, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. The church is an autonomous body, operating through democratic processes under the lordship of Jesus Christ. In such a congregation, members are equally responsible and serve with scriptural officers of the church, the pastor, and deacons.