Heritage Baptist Church Service

About Heritage Baptist Church
http://www.heritagebaptistminot.org/about.html
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Heritage Baptist Church
Minot, North Dakota
Statement of Faith

The Holy Bible. We believe that the Bible is the verbally inspired Word of God in its original penned manuscripts of Hebrew and Greek. The Lord has preserved His Word in faithful translations throughout the world in languages of the common man. By “The Holy Bible” we mean the collection of sixty-six books contained in the Old and New Testament from Genesis to Revelation. This Bible is the complete and final revelation of God’s will and, therefore, is the believer’s sole authority for faith and practice. (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21)

Theology. We believe that God is spirit, triune, and the one and only eternal, immutable, invisible, transcendent, and self-sufficient One who is also omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, holy, loving, faithful, righteous, merciful, gracious, longsuffering, and good. He is a God of judgment and jealousy, and He is the Creator, the sustainer, and Lord of all things. In the 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 and in the accomplishment of His eternal plan and purpose. (Deuteronomy 6:4; John 4:24; 2 Corinthians 13:14; 1 John 5:6-12)

Jesus Christ. We believe that Jesus Christ is the second person of the Godhead, the promised seed of the woman, of Abraham, and of David. (Luke 3:23-38) He is God incarnate, equally God and man, the creator of all things. (John 14:7) Jesus Christ is and always was God, and that He came to earth and became a man without ceasing to be God. (John 10:30) He was born of Mary, a virgin . (Genesis 1:1; Matthew 1:18-25; John1:1-5, 14; Colossians 1:16, 2:9) He lived a perfectly sinless life and willingly gave Himself as the sacrificial payment of man’s sin with His broken body and shed blood. (2 Corinthians 5:21; Romans 3:25) He died, was buried, and bodily rose again three days later. (Mark 15:37-39; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, 14) He ascended back to heaven where He presently sits at the right hand of His Father acting as our intercessor and awaiting the subduing of all things under His feet. (Ephesians 1:20-21; 1 Peter 3:22) The Lord Jesus Christ will judge all men, both saved and lost, rewarding the faithful believers and judging the wicked. (Matthew 25:33-46; Revelation 20-22)

The Holy Spirit. We believe the Holy Spirit is a divine person, eternal and equal with God the Father and God the Son. (John 14:15-21; 1 John 5:7) He was active in the creation. (Genesis 1:2) He convicts of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. (John 16:8-14) He bears witness of the truth of the Gospel in preaching and testimony and He is the agent in the new birth. (Matthew 24:14; Romans 8:9-13; John 3:6) The Holy Spirit seals, regenerates, indwells, guides, baptizes, teaches, bears witness with, sanctifies, gives spiritual gifts, and illuminates concerning spiritual truth. (John 14:16, 26;Romans 8:14-27; 2 Corinthians 1:22). The believer should walk righteously because the Holy Spirit can be both grieved and quenched. (Ephesians 4:30; 1 Thessalonians 5:19)

Angels. We believe that all angels were created by God, that they are spiritual beings ordained to be God’s ministering spirits and messengers. (Hebrews 1:14) We believe that angels will not bring any other gospel than what is revealed in God’s Word. (Colossians 2:18; Galatians 1:8) We believe that angels are not to be worshipped or exalted. (Exodus 20:1-5; Revelation 22:8-9)

Satan and Demons. We believe that Satan was once holy and enjoyed heavenly honors; but through pride and ambition to be as the Almighty, fell and drew after him a host of angels and is now the malignant prince of the power of the air and the unholy god of this world (Ezekiel 28:12-17; Isaiah 14:12-25; 2 Corinthians 4:4). We hold him to be man’s great tempter, the enemy of God and Jesus Christ, the accuser of the brethren, the father of alllies, the author of all false religions, the chief source of the present apostasy, the lord of anti-christ, and the ruler of all the powers of darkness. (1 Peter 5:8-9; Revelation 13) We believe that demons are all angels that chose to leave their first estate with God in heaven and actively oppose the work of God and His saints. Satan and his demons are under condemnation of future eternal judgment. (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6; Revelation 12:4, 9; 20:10)

Creation and Man. We believe the Genesis account of creation is to be accepted literally and not allegorically or figuratively. (Genesis 1) God created the first man, Adam, in His own image and likeness and the woman was created out of man to be his help-meet. (Genesis 1:26-27) The creation was accomplished in six (6), twenty-four (24) hour days (Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31; 2:2; Exodus 20:11). Man’s creation was not a matter of evolution or evolutionary change of species or development through undetermined periods of time from lower to higher forms. All animal and vegetable life were made directly by God and God’s established law was that they should bring forth only “after their kind.” We deny any form of atheistic or theistic evolution (Romans 1:19, 20).

Sin. We believe that sin is the transgression of the Law (1 John 3:4, Romans 3:20, 4:15), and it is the evil thought as well as the evil act. It is the commission of things we should not do as well as the omission of the things we should. (Romans 7:15-19; James 4:17) Adam sinned and brought all of creation under the curse of sin (Genesis 3). All men are dead in trespasses and sin having died in Adam. (Romans 5:12) The punishment for sin is present separation from God (i.e. spiritual death), separation of the soul/spirit from the body (i.e. physical death) in hell, and eternal separation from God in the Lake of Fire (i.e. the second death). (Matthew 25:41; Revelation 20:11-15) Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. (Hebrews 9:22) Unrepentant sin in the believer results in his separation from the local assembly and disrupts our relationship with God, but if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

Salvation. We believe that salvation is by God’s grace through personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ resulting in eternal blessings and deliverance from the eternal judgment of God in hell and the lake of fire. (Ephesians 2:8-9) Salvation is evidenced by repentance in the believer and is a necessary step for all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 13:3; Acts 2:38). At the point of faith God justifies the believer through the merits of Jesus Christ (Romans 3:21-26), redeems the believer (Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14), reconciles the believer to Himself (Colossians 1:21), regenerates the believer unto eternal life (Titus 3:5), adopts the believer into God’s family (John 1:12; Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:5), and sanctifies the believer unto good works (Eph 2:10). Jesus Christ provided atonement for our sins by His substitutionary death, shed blood, and bodily resurrection (Romans 5:11). Salvation is a work of the Spirit, is offered freely to all without discrimination, and is completely apart from the works of the Law. Those that are saved are saved eternally (John 10:28-29; 1 Peter 1:5).

The Church. While we recognize that the church encompasses all believers of the New Testament era, we also recognize the church is the visible manifestation of local assemblies of believers joined together in Christ under the New Covenant as one body. (Romans 12:5; Hebrews 12:23) The Lord Jesus Christ is the Chief Cornerstone and is its only true head visible or otherwise. (Ephesians 2:20-21; Colossians 1:18) We understand the scriptures to teach the local church is filled with saved believers, baptized by immersion, and who have willingly joined themselves together to worship and serve their Lord in holiness. (Acts 2:41; Colossians 1:21-24) The church’s mission is to carry out the Lord’s plan of edifying the saints, preaching the Gospel, and administering the ordinances of believer’s baptism and the Lord’s Supper. (Matthew 28:19-20; Romans 14:19; 1 Corinthians 11:26; 2 Timothy 4:2) Each member of the church has been given a spiritual gift(s) and a ministry to serve one another. (Romans 12:6-21; 1 Corinthians 12-13) God chooses scripturally qualified men to lead the church, and when needed, scripturally qualified men will be chosen by the congregation as deacons to serve the needs of the local church body. (Acts 6; 1 Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-9; Hebrews 13:17; 1 Peter 5:2-3) The local church is to obey the teachings of the Bible and is to be independent of external control over its internal affairs. The congregation of members is to fully participate in the affairs of the church (Hebrews 10:25). The ministries are to be supported by the tithes and offerings of its members.
Ordinances of the Church. We believe the Bible teaches two ordinances which believers are to follow in obedience to Christ: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper (also known as Communion). We believe the Bible teaches water baptism, by complete immersion, is the first step of faith for those who trust Jesus as their Lord and Savior.