We believe, very simply, that the Bible is the recorded Word of God, inspired and without error. We have the responsiblity to study the Bible and allow God's Spirit to help us understand what we have studied. God has given spiritual gifts to those who are believers, and one of those gifts is the gift of teaching. A natural setting for learning God's Word is with other believers.
Debbie says that "The Bible is God's Holy word and gives me purpose and meaning in my life. It is my guide on how God wants me to live my life and have a relationship with Him."
Ladonna states that "The Bible is the most important book in my life. In reading the Bible I find needed peace. "
Honestly, we don’t have the space, nor do you have the time to answer this question. This is how our Articles of Faith summarize the answer “There is but one God, the Maker, Preserver, and Ruler of all things, having in and of Himself all perfection, and being infinite in them all. To Him all creatures owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. God is revealed to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each with distinct person attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.”
God originally created man in His own image, and free from sin. God created each person either male or female as declared by his or her genetic makeup and is to be recognized as such. Through the temptation of Satan, humanity violated the command of God, fell from original holiness and righteousness, resulting in humanity since then being born with a sinful nature, one that is corrupt and in opposition to God. It is the act of commiting sinful behavior that makes one a sinner.
The Good News is that God has a plan for your life. John 3:16 (NLT) says “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
The Bad News is that you have sinned and there are consequences to sin. Romans 3:23 and 6:23 (NLT) state “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” and “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”
The Good News is that God has paid the penalty for our sins through Jesus' death. "When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners." (Romans 5:6-8, NLT) When Jesus died, He died on our behalf, paying the penalty for our sins. "So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding." (Ephesians 1:6-8, NLT)
The best news is that salvation is a gift, and like all gifts, we must receive salvation in order to make it ours. God desires everyone to receive His salvation. "For 'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'" (Romans 10:13, NLT). There are a couple of Bible verses before this which remind us of what it means to "call on the name of the Lord." In Romans 10:9-10, we read "If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved."
The Bible tells us in I John 3:1-2 that we are God's children, as believers in Jesus Christ "See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is."
The Bible refers to this act of becoming a child of God as being "born again." In I Peter 1:3 (NLT), we read "All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead." The Bible also refers to this act of becoming a child of God as being "adopted." In Galatians 4:4-6 (NLT) we read "But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, 'Abba, Father.'"
It is this relationship with God that makes us eternally a child of His. We have God's guarantee that we are eternally His. "The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him. (Ephesians 1:14, NLT)
When we think about the word "church" we think of the local group of people. Most of the time, this is what the Bible means. It can, however, also mean Christians throughout time, wherever they might live.
The church is referred to the Body of Christ or the Bride of Christ in the Bible. It is a living, dynamic group. It is a group of people who are held together through their possession of Jesus as Savior and Lord, a common experience of baptism, and a unity of faith.
Scripturally, we believe there are two Scriptural offices, that of Pastor and Deacon. Each is distinct, yet set apart for the work of God in the local church.
We practice two ordinances. The first is the ordinance of baptism. This is the submersion in water of an individual who has come to faith in Jesus. Hence, we would not practice infant baptism. We would dedicate a child to the Lord, along with the baby's parents, but baptism, in the New Testament, is presented as something that follows the individual's decision to become a follower of Jesus. The ordinance of communion, or the Lord's Supper as it is also called, is a time of memorializing the death of Jesus. We believe that it is a symbol of what has happened. It, too, is something that only believers would participate in. The benefit to the believer is that he or she must first reflect on life, the life with Christ, as a prerequisite for taking the Lord's Supper. In our church, we share this ordinance six times per year.
We call these two practices ordinances because they are commanded by God for us to do.
From the pastor -
You may very well be still searching for answers. Even as I have been graduated from seminary for forty years, I still search for answers. We've tried to give you some of the basics about what we believe. We are a Baptist church. Before you think "well, that's not for me", let me just say that throughout the years, there have been a lot of good Baptists. One of my favorites was Billy Graham. Having said that, yes, there are some who have worn the name Baptist who have brought shame on the name, and more significantly shame on the name of Jesus. Baptists base their beliefs solely on the Bible,and not creeds or any other documents because the Bible is the book that has its direct origins in God.
For your consideration and further studies about what we believe, let me suggest these three books at various levels of difficulty: Basic - What Baptists Believe by Herschel Hobbs; Mid Level - Christian Doctrine by William T. Conner; A tad bit more challenging - The Word of Truth by Dale Moody. All three of these are available through Amazon.
If you have questions, and it is good that you might have questions about what your potential church believes, please contact the pastor at pastorrichard@emmanuelchurchofelgin.net