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[Baptist Faith and Message 2000]
The
Holy Scriptures
We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the
verbally and plenary inspired Word of God. The Scriptures are inerrant,
infallible and God-breathed, and therefore are the final authority for
faith and life. The sixty-six books of the Old and New Testament are the
complete and divine revelation of God to man. The Scriptures shall be
interpreted according to their normal grammatical-historical meaning (II
Timothy 3:16-17; II Peter 1:20-21).
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Dispensationalism
We believe that the Scriptures interpreted in their natural, literal sense
reveal divinely determined dispensations or rules of life which define
man's responsibilities in successive ages. These dispensations are not
ways of salvation, but rather are divinely ordered stewardships by which
God directs man according to His purpose. Three of these dispensations
- the law, the church, and the Kingdom - are the subjects of detailed
revelation in Scripture (Genesis 1:28; I Corinthians 9:17; II Corinthians
3:9-18; Galatians 3:13-25; Ephesians 1:10, 3:2-10; Colossians 1:24-25,
27; Revelations 20:2-6).
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The
Godhead
We believe in one Triune God, eternally existing in three persons - Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit - each co-eternal in being, co-identical in nature,
co-equal in power and glory, and having the same attributes and perfections
(Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 28:19; II Corinthians 13:14; John 14:10, 26).
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The
Person and Work of Christ
1. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became
man, without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit
and born of the virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem
sinful men (Isaiah 7:14, 9:6; Luke 1:35; John 1:1-2, 14; II Corinthians
5:19-21; Galatians 4:4-5; Philippians 2:5-8).
2. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished
our redemption through His death on the cross as a representative, vicarious,
substitutionary sacrifice; and, that our justification is made sure by
His literal, physical resurrection from the dead (Acts 2:18-36; Romans
3:24-25; I Peter 2:24; Ephesians 1:7; I Peter 1:3-5).
3. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to
Heaven, and is now exalted at the right hand of God, where, as our High
Priest, He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate
(Acts 1:9-10; Hebrews 9:24, 7:25; Romans 8:34; I John 2:1-2).
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The
Person and Work of the Holy Spirit
1. We believe that the Holy Spirit is a person who convicts the world
of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; and, that He is the Supernatural
Agent in regeneration, baptizing all believers into the body of Christ,
indwelling and sealing them unto the day of redemption (John 16:8-11;
Romans 8:9; I Corinthians 12:12-14; II Corinthians 3:6; Ephesians 1:13-14).
2. We believe that He is the Divine Teacher who assists
believers to understand and appropriate the Scriptures and that it is
the privilege and duty of all the saved to be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians
1:1-17, 5:18; I John 2:20, 27)
3. We believe that God is sovereign in the bestowal of
spiritual gifts to every believer. God uniquely uses evangelists, pastors,
and teachers to equip believers in the assembly in order that they can
do the work of the ministry (Romans 12:3-8; I Corinthians 12:4-11, 28;
Ephesians 4:7-12).
4. We believe that the sign gifts of the Holy Spirit,
such as speaking in tongues and the gift of healing, were temporary. We
believe that speaking in tongues was never the common or necessary sign
of the baptism or filling of the Holy Spirit and that the ultimate deliverance
of the body from sickness or death awaits the consummation of our salvation
in the resurrection, though God frequently chooses to answer the prayers
of believers for physical healing (I Corinthians 1:22, 13:8, 14:21-22;
Acts 1:8).
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The
Total Depravity of Man
We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God, but
that in Adam's sin the human race fell, inherited a sinful nature, and
became alienated from God; and, that man is totally depraved, and, of
himself, utterly unable to remedy his lost condition (Genesis 1:26-27;
Romans 3:22-23, 5:12, 6:23; Ephesians 2:1-3, 4:17-19).
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Salvation
We believe that salvation is the gift of God brought to man by grace and
received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, Whose precious blood
was shed on Calvary for the forgiveness of our sins (John 1:12; Ephesians
1:7, 2:8-10; I Peter 1:18-19).
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The
Eternal Security and Assurance of Believers
1. We believe that all the redeemed, once saved, are kept by God's power
and are thus secure in Christ forever (John 6:37-40, 10:27-30; Romans
8:1, 38-39; I Corinthians 1:4-8; I Peter 1:4-5).
2. We believe that it is the privilege of 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 (Romans 13:13-14; Galatians 5:13; Titus 2:11-15).
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The
Church
1. We believe that the local church, which is the body and espoused bride
of Christ, is solely made up of born-again persons (I Corinthians 12:12-14;
II Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 1:22-23, 5:25-27).
2. We believe that the establishment and continuance
of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament Scriptures
(Acts 14:27, 20:17, 28-32; I Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-11).
3. We believe in the autonomy of the local church, free
of any external authority or control. We recognize and sustain the obligation
of mutual counsel and cooperation which are common among Southern Baptist
Churches. It shall be the policy of this church, to the fullest extent
possible, consistent with the independent character of a Southern Baptist
Church, to support all the missionary and benevolent undertakings of the
Southern Baptist Convention, the Florida Baptist Convention, and the Pensacola
Bay Baptist Association, to whose doctrinal and missionary beliefs, we
declare our allegiance (Acts 13:1-4, 15:19-31, 20:28; Romans 16:1, 4;
I Corinthians 3:9, 16, 5:4-7, 13; I Peter 5:1-4).
4. We recognize water baptism and the Lord's Supper as
the Scriptural ordinances of obedience for the church in this age (Matthew
28:19-20; Acts 2:41-42, 18:18; I Corinthians 11:23-26).
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Separation
We believe that all the saved should live in such a manner as not to bring
reproach upon their Savior and Lord; and, that separation from all religious
apostasy, all worldly and sinful pleasures, practices, and associations
is commanded of God (Romans 12:1-2, 14:13; II Corinthians 6:14-7:1; II
Timothy 3:1-5; I John 2:5-17; II John 9:11).
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The
Second Advent of Christ
We believe in that "blessed hope", the personal, imminent return
of Christ Who will rapture His Church prior to the seven-year tribulation
period. At the end of the Tribulation, Christ will personally and visibly
return with his saints, to establish His earthly Messianic Kingdom which
was promised to the nation of Israel (Psalms 89:3-4; Daniel 2:31-45; Zechariah
14:4-11; I Thessalonians 1:10, 4:13-18; Titus 2:13; Revelations 3:10,
19:11-16, 20:1-6).
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The
Eternal State
1. We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men, the saved to eternal
life, and the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment (Matthew
25:46; John 5:28-29, 11:25-26; Revelation 20:5-6, 12-13).
2. We believe that the souls of the redeemed are, at
death, absent from the body and present with the Lord, where in conscience
bliss they await the first resurrection, when spirit, soul, and body are
reunited to be glorified forever with the Lord (Luke 23:43; II Corinthians
5:8; Philippians 1:23, 3:21; I Thessalonians 4:16-17; Revelations 20:4-6).
3. We believe that the souls of unbelievers remain, after
death, in conscience punishment and torment until the second resurrection,
when with 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 conscience punishment and torment (Matthew 25:41-46;
Mark 9:43-48; Luke 16:19-26; II Thessalonians 1:7-9; Jude 6-7; Revelation
20:11-15).
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The
Personality of Satan
We believe that Satan is a person, the author of sin and the cause of
the fall of man; that he is the open and declared enemy of God and man;
and, that he shall be eternally punished in the Lake of Fire (Job 1:6-7;
Isaiah 14:12-17; Matthew 4:2-11, 25:41; Revelation 20:10).
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Creation
We believe that God created the universe in six literal, 24-hour periods.
We reject evolution, the Gap Theory, the Day-Age Theory, and Theistic
Evolution as unscriptural theories of origin (Genesis 1-2; Exodus 20:11).
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Civil
Government
We believe that God has ordained and created all authority consisting
of three basic institutions: 1) the home; 2) the church; 3) the state.
Every person is subject to these authorities, but all (including the authorities
themselves) are answerable to God and governed by His Word. God has given
each institution specific Biblical responsibilities and balanced those
responsibilities with the understanding that no institution has the right
to infringe upon the other. The home, the church, and the state are equal
and sovereign in their respective Biblically assigned spheres of responsibility
under God (Romans 13:1-7; Ephesians 5:22-24; Hebrews 13:17; I Peter 2:13-14).
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Human
Sexuality
1. We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity
be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a women. We believe
that any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality, incest,
fornication, adultery, and pornography are sinful perversions of God's
gift of sex. (Genesis 2:24, 19:5, 13, 26:8-9; Leviticus 18:1-30; Romans
1:26-29; I Corinthians 5:1, 6:9; I Thessalonians 4:1-8; Hebrews 13:4).
2. We believe that the only legitimate marriage is the
joining of one man and one woman. (Genesis 2:24; Romans 7:2; I Corinthians
7:10; Ephesians 5:22-23).
3. 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 (Galatians 3:28; Colossians
3:18; I Timothy 2:8-15, 3:4-5, 12).
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Divorce
We believe that God hates divorce and intends marriage to last until one
of the spouses dies. As a divorce preventative effort, we are committed
to building strong families that will adhere to principles given in the
Word of God. It is also our intent to love and minister effectively to
all victims of divorce, restoring their marriage if possible (Malachi
2:14-17; Matthew 19:3-12; Romans 7:1-3; I Timothy 3:2, 12; Titus 1:6).
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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. We reject any teaching
that abortions of pregnancies due to rape, incest, birth defects, gender
selection, birth or population control, or the mental well-being of the
mother are acceptable (Job 3:16; Psalms 51:5, 139:14-16; Isaiah 44:24,
49:1, 5; Jeremiah 1:5, 20:15-18; Luke 1:44).
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Missions
We believe that God has given the church a great commission to proclaim
the Gospel to all nations, so that there might be a multitude from every
nation, tribe, ethnic group, and language group who believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. As ambassadors of Christ, we must use all available means
to go to the foreign nations and not wait for them to come to us (Matthew
28:19-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-48; John 20:21; Acts 1:8; II Corinthians
5:20).
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Giving
We believe that every Christian, as a steward of that portion of God's
wealth entrusted to him, is obligated to support his local church financially.
We believe that God has established the tithe as a basis for giving, but
that every Christian should also give other offerings sacrificially and
cheerfully to the support of the church, the relief of those in need,
and the spread of the Gospel. (Genesis 14:20; Proverbs 3:9-10; Acts 4:34-37;
I Corinthians 16:2; II Corinthians 9:6-7; Galatians 6:6; Ephesians 4:28;
I Timothy 5:17-18; I John 3:17).
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