Grace Bible Church

1. THE BIBLE

The Bible, consisting of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, in the autographs, is the inerrant, unalterable and complete Word of God, the final authority in all matters of faith and practice. We believe in the normal, literal, and consistent interpretation of the Scriptures; and a dispensational understanding of God's progressive revelation.

[2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21; Jude 3]

2. GOD

There is one God, eternally existing in three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

[Deut. 6:4; Matt. 28:19; Luke 3:21-22]

3. JESUS CHRIST

The Lord Jesus Christ became man without ceasing to be God, is the only begotten Son of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, and is true God and true man.

[Luke 1:30-35; John 1:18; 3:16; Phil. 2:5-11]

4. MAN

Man was created in the image of God and is a tri-part being, spirit, soul and body. Man sinned and thereby not only incurred physical death but also spiritual death, which is separation from God. As a consequence all men are declared by God to be totally depraved, having inherited a sinful nature and having become sinners in thought, word and deed.

[Gen. 1:22-27; 2:16-17; 3:6-19; Rom. 3:10-23; 6:23; 7:18; 11:32; Gal. 3:22; 1 Thess. 5:23]

5. ATONEMENT

The Lord Jesus Christ died as a substitutionary and complete sacrifice, an unlimited atonement (propitiation) for the sins of the whole world. Only those who believe (receive, trust) in Him are saved on the ground of His shed blood.
[Rom. 3:24-25; 5:8-10; 1 Tim. 2:5-6; 1 John 2:1-2]

6. RESURRECTION OF CHRIST

The Lord Jesus Christ arose from the dead in the same body, though glorified, in which He was crucified; He ascended into heaven and is now at the right hand of the Father as head of the Church and our Great High Priest, our Intercessor and Advocate.

[John 20:1-29; Acts 1:9-11; Eph. 1:20-23; Heb. 1:3; 4:14-16; 7:25; 1 John 2:1]

7. SECOND ADVENT OF CHRIST

The Lord Jesus Christ will come again personally and bodily; His coming is imminent (at any moment), pretribulational and premillennial; He will first come in the air prior to the seven year Tribulation, to receive the Church, His Body, to Himself in heaven. Following the Great Tribulation spoken of by the prophets, He will return visibly to the earth with His saints to inaugurate His thousand year kingdom of universal peace and righteousness.

[Acts 1:11; 1 Cor. 15:51-58; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; 2 Peter 3:1-13; Rev. 19:11-16; 20:1-6]

8. HOLY SPIRIT

The Holy Spirit is the Person of the Godhead who in this present age convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment; who regenerates and baptizes into the body of Christ those who believe; and who indwells and seals them unto the day of redemption. The Holy Spirit is the Divine Teacher (Anointing) who guides believers into all truth. It is the privilege of believers to be filled with, and their duty to walk in, the Holy Spirit.

[John 16:13; Galatians 5:16; Ephesians 5:18; 1 John 2:20, 27]

The Holy Spirit bestows spiritual gifts, which are supernatural enablements for Christian service and the edification of the Church. The foundation of the Church was laid by the apostles and prophets with their sign gifts confirming their message. The sign gifts (i.e., tongues, healing, miracles) and revelatory gifts (i.e., prophecy, knowledge, wisdom) ceased with the completion of the written revelation.

[Romans 12:6-8; 1 Corinthians 13:8-10; 2 Corinthians 12:12; Ephesians 2:20; 1 Peter 4:10-11]

9. THE TWO RESURRECTIONS

The souls of the redeemed are, at death, absent from the body and present with the Lord, where in conscious bliss they await the first resurrection, when spirit, soul, and body are reunited and glorified. The souls of unbelievers are, at death, absent from the body and in conscious misery until the second resurrection, when with soul and body reunited they shall appear at the Great White Throne Judgment. They shall be cast into the lake of fire, not to be annihilated, but to suffer everlasting conscious punishment.

[1 Cor. 15:1-50; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; Rev. 20:11-15; 21:22]

10. SALVATION

On the sole condition of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ men are born again by the Holy Spirit. At regeneration all believers in this age are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, baptized by the Holy Spirit into the Body of Christ and sealed by the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption.

[Rom. 3:24-28; 8:9-11; 1 Cor. 12:13; Eph. 4:30]

11. SECURITY

The believer in Christ is accepted in the Beloved, kept by the power of God, and thus secure in Christ forever. Every believer may have full assurance of his salvation.

[John 10:27-30; Romans 8:1, 38-39; 1 John 5:11-13]

12. SANCTIFICATION

Sanctification, which is separation unto God, is threefold: positionally, the believer was sanctified at his conversion by virtue of his union with Christ; progressively, he is continually being sanctified through the Word as he walks in the Spirit, thereby producing the fruit of the Spirit; ultimately, he will be completely conformed to the image of Christ when he sees his Savior face to face.

[John 17:17; Eph. 5:26; Col, 3:1-4; Heb. 10:14; 1 John 3:1-3]

13. THE FLESH

Every saved person has an enemy within which hates God and will never be subject to Him. This enemy is called "the flesh." The flesh is not the body, but our sinful nature which dwells within our body. In ourselves we cannot defeat the flesh, but God has made provision for us to have victory over the flesh by giving us the Holy Spirit. All claims to the eradication of the sinful nature in this life are unscriptural.

[Romans 8: 2, 4, 12-13; Galatians 4:6; 5:16-25; Ephesians 4:22-24; 1 John 1:5-10]

14. THE CHURCH

The Church is the Body and Bride of Christ, composed of all who are born again during this dispensation of grace, which began at Pentecost and will be terminated at the rapture. This Church universal is to gather together as local churches or assemblies after the pattern of New Testament doctrine and practice, including the observance of the ordinances of water baptism by immersion and the Lord's Supper. God performs the ministry of His Church through its members to whom He has given gifts for the purpose of edifying the Body of Christ.

[Acts 2:1-47; Rom. 12:1-8; 1 Cor. 11:23-34; Eph. 1:22-23]

15. MISSION

The Great Commission was given to the Church, and this task of world evangelization is the mission of the Church today.

[Matt. 28:18-20; Rom. 10: 9-17; Eph. 4:7-16]

16. THE GOSPEL

The Good News, or Gospel, is that "Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God," who died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, He was buried, and rose the third day, according to the Scriptures. The addition of works such as water baptism or surrender to the Lordship of Christ as prerequisites are false conditions for salvation.

[John 20:31; Rom. 1:16; 1 Cor. 15:1-4]

17. ANGELS AND DEMONS

Angels are spirit beings, created by God to worship Him, and as "ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation." Satan is a created being, a fallen angel, the author of sin, the tempter in the fall, the declared enemy of God and man, and the god of this age. He employs demonic spirits, who are fallen angels in rebellion with him, to possess and manipulate the unsaved and persecute the redeemed. He and his demons will be eternally tormented in the lake of fire.

[Job 1:6, 7; Isa. 14:12-17; Matt. 4:2-11; 25:41; Heb. 1:14; Rev. 20:19]

18. CREATION

"In six days the Lord created the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them," (Exodus 20:11) by the word and command of His mouth. The days of Genesis 1 are normal, literal days, and the triune God used no secondary means (e.g., evolution) or preexisting matter to create all that now exists.

[Genesis 1-2; Psalm 33:6, 9; Hebrews 11:3]

19. DISPENSATIONALISM

The Scriptures interpreted in their natural, literal sense reveal divinely determined dispensations, which are distinguishable administrations in the outworking of God's purpose and plan of the ages. The dispensations are seven in number, as outlined in the original Scofield Study Bible. Dispensations are not different ways of salvation; salvation in every dispensation is always by grace through faith in the shed blood of Christ.

[John 1:17; 1 Corinthians 9:17; Ephesians 1:10; 3:2-10; Colossians 1:24-25; 1 Timothy 1:3-11]