Statement of Faith
Truth-Missionary Baptist Church, accepts the Scriptures as the revealed will of God, the all-sufficient rule of faith and practice.The spiritual activities and practices of this church shall be at all times, consistent with the following Statement of Faith.
Preamble
We believe the Bible to be inspired of God; the infallible Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16). The Bible is the only God-given authority which man possesses, therefore, all doctrine, faith, hope, and all instruction for the church must be based upon, and harmonize with, the Bible. It is to be read and studied by all men everywhere, and can only be clearly understood by those who are anointed by the Holy Spirit (1 John 2:27; 2 Peter 1:20,21).
Section 1: The Scriptures
The Scriptures: We believe the Old and New Testaments to be verbally inspired by God, inerrant in the original writings, and that they are of supreme and final authority in faith and life (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:19-21). We reject all modern translations of the Word of God and insist that the King James Version translation of the Bible be used in both the Sunday School and from the Pulpit and in all other meetings associated with this church.
Section 2: The Godhead
We believe the Godhead eternally exists in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that these three are one God, having precisely the same nature, attributes, and perfections - (Genesis 1:1; 1:26; Matthew 3:16-17; Matthew 23:19-20; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Romans 8:9).
Section 3: The Lord Jesus Christ
The Lord Jesus Christ: We believe in: 1) His eternal existence as God (Hebrews 1:8); 2) His incarnation by means of the Virgin Birth (Luke 1:35; Isaiah 7:14); 3) His death on the cross as the substitutionary atonement for sin (Romans 3:25; Hebrews 8:1-2); 4) His literal bodily resurrection from the dead (Luke 24:36-43; Acts 10:40-41); 5) His present ministry of intercession in Heaven (Acts 1:9; 1 John 2:1; Hebrews 8:1-2), 6) His personal return to earth (Acts 1:11; 1 Thessalonians 4:16; Colossians 2:9; Matthew 26:64).
Section 4: The Holy Spirit
We believe the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Godhead, convicts men of sin (John 16:8), regenerates, indwells, seals (1 Corinthians 3:16; Ephesians 1:13-14), and sets believers apart unto a holy life: that He keeps and empowers believers day by day: that He is the teacher of the Word of God and guide for our daily life. Anyone who does not have the spirit living in his heart is not a child of God (Romans 8:9).
Section 5: Man
1) Man was created innocent and pure (Genesis 1:26); 2) Adam fell through the sin of disobedience (Romans 5:19); 3) Thereby, all men are corrupted in body, mind, and soul (Romans 5:12); 4) Therefore, all are in need of redemption.
Section 6: Satan
We believe in the reality and personality of Satan (Job 1:6-9; Job 2:3; Matthew 4:1-11; 1 Peter 5:8; James 4:7).
Section 7: Salvation
We believe - 1) That salvation is solely by grace through faith in the Blood sacrifice, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ the Son of God. 2) All who receive Him are regenerated by the Holy Spirit and become children of God. 3) All who are truly saved are kept forever. 4) However, God cannot overlook sin in His children and will chasten and correct them in love (Hebrews 12:5-8).
Section 8: The Church
We believe - 1_ That the local church is composed of regenerated baptized believers, voluntarily united together for hte purpose of worship, edification, fellowship of believers, spiritual growth and service. 2) It has been commissioned by Christ to propagate the Gospel unto the uttermost parts of the earth. 3) That the local church has absolute right of self-government free from interferences of any heirarchy of individuals or organizations - and that the one and only superintendent is Christ, through the Holy Spirit. 4) That on all matters of membership, of policy of government, of benevolence, the will of the local church is final (Acts 2:41-47; 4:33-37; 5:1-20).
Section 9: The Ordinances
We believe that Christ gave only two ordinances to the Church to be observed "til He come."a. The Lord's Supper. It was left us as an ordinance by the Lord Himself (Matthew 26:26; Mark 14:22-24 and others) for a memorial of His death until He comes and should not be taken unadvisably, but with the examination of one's life.b. Believers Baptism. We practice baptism because of the example of our Lord Jesus while He was here on earth (Matthew 3:13) and because of the command given by Him to be baptized (Matthew 28:19). We accept as Scriptural, Baptism by immersion. (It should be made clear that there is no saving power in baptism - it is meant for those who are already saved - giving a clear picture of the fact that the believer is dead, buried, and raised spiritually with Jesus Christ by faith in Him.)
Section 10: The Future
We believe - the personal premillennial, second advent of Jesus to earth. We believe - the pretribulation reapture of all born-again believers. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
Section 11: Separation
We believe it is our duty to call the attention of believers to the Scriptural teaching of separation and that we should abstain from worldly practices and live a life devoted unto the Lord (Romans 12:1-2).
Section 12: Missions
Because all men everywhere without Christ are lost and bound for the eternal punishment (Romans 1:18-20), and because men cannot believe in Him of whom they have not heard (Romans 10:14), we believe that we are debtors to all men and have the responsibility of giving them the Gospel. Jesus left us the command that we should be witnesses for Him (Acts 1:8) and should take the good news of the Gospel to every place where men are to be found (Matthew 28:19-20 and others). We believe that to carry out his command we must ourselves be witnesses by life and word to tell all lost men about Christ and we must support by prayer and financial aid those who go out under missionary agencies to represent us in other parts of the world.