What is the Gospel?
STATEMENT OF FAITH
Being principally in agreement with the Fellowship Prairies Inc. "Statement of Faith" (2018), Bethany Baptist Church adopts the following as its Statement of Faith:
A. BIBLE
We believe the Bible to be the complete Word of God; that the sixty-six books as originally written comprising the Old and New Testaments were verbally inspired by the Spirit of God and were entirely free from error. The Bible is the final authority in all matters of faith and practice and the true basis of Christian union. (Isaiah 40:8; Matthew 5:18; Matthew 24:35; II Timothy 3:16-17;
II Peter 1:19-21)
B. GOD
We believe in one God, Creator of all, holy, sovereign, eternal, existing in three equal Persons: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. (Deuteronomy 4:35, 39; 6:4; II Samuel 7:22; II Kings 19:15; Psalm 86:10; Isaiah 43:10-11; 44:6, 8; 46:9; Mark 12:29-34; John 17:3; Galatians 3:20)
C. GOD THE FATHER
We believe in God the Father, an infinite, personal Spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, power, and love. We believe He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of mankind, hears and answers prayer, and saves from sin and everlasting death all who come to Him through Jesus Christ.
(John 16:23-27; Galatians 4:4-6; Ephesians 1:3, 17-23)
D. GOD THE SON
We believe that Jesus Christ is God’s eternal Son. He is true God and true man conceived by the holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. We also believe in His sinless life, His death for our sins, His bodily resurrection from the dead, His ascension into heaven, His prayers on behalf of His people, and His personal visible return from heaven. (Matthew 1:18, 23; Luke 24:1-8; John 1:1, 14; 8:58; 10:30; Acts 1:11; II Corinthians 5:19-21; Hebrews 4:14-16; 7:24-25; I John 2:1)
E. GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe in the absolute and essential deity and personality of the Holy Spirit. He indwells, empowers, and convinces of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He also regenerates, sanctifies, illuminates, comforts and seals those who believe in Jesus Christ. (John 3:5; 14:17, 16:13; Acts 1:8; 5:3-4; I Corinthians 2:12, 6:11, 19; 12:4-13; Galatians 5:22-23; Ephesians 1:13; 3:16; 4:11-16, 30)
F. SATAN
We believe that Satan exists as an evil personality, the originator of sin, and the archenemy of God and man. (Isaiah 14:12-15; Matthew 4:1-11; 25:41; II Corinthians 4:4; 11:14; I Peter 5:8; Revelation 20:10)
G. MAN
We believe God created man, male and female, in the image of God and free from sin. We further believe that man, because of Adam’s sin, became guilty before God, resulting in total depravity, thereby incurring physical and spiritual death; that he is a sinner by nature and choice and is therefore in need of salvation and eternal life. (Genesis 1:26-27; 2:7-3:19; Romans 3:23; 5:12-21; 6:23)
H. SALVATION
We believe that salvation is by the grace of God alone, that Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world, that each person who repents of his/her sin to God and believes that Jesus Christ died to save him/her is given eternal life which is the gift of God. We further believe that everyone, once saved, is kept by God’s power and is secure in Jesus Christ forever. (John 1:12; 3:3-7, 16-17; 5:24; 14:6; Acts 4:12; Romans 1:16; 5:10; 9:16; 10:9-10, 13; I Corinthians 15:3-4, 17; Ephesians 1:7, 13, 2:5, 8-10; I Timothy 2:5)
I. FUTURE THINGS
We believe in the personal, bodily, and glorious return of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the bodily resurrection of the just and unjust, in the eternal blessedness of the redeemed, and in the judgment and conscious eternal punishment of the wicked, including Satan and his angels, in the lake of fire. (Matthew 25:41; John 3:16, 5:28-29; I Corinthians 3:11-15; 15:51-58; II Corinthians 5:6-10; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; II Thessalonians 1:9; II John 8; Revelation 19:20, 20:10, 14-15)
J. THE CHURCH
We believe that the church is the spiritual body of which Jesus Christ is the head. The true church is composed of all persons who through saving faith in Jesus Christ have been born again by the Holy Spirit. This body expresses itself in local assemblies whose members have been baptized by immersion upon a credible confession of faith and have associated themselves through worship, nurture and evangelism. (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; 2:41-47; Romans 12:5; Ephesians 5:23; Hebrews 10:24-25)
K. ORDINANCES
We believe there are only two ordinances for the church which are regularly observed in the New Testament in the following order: 1. Baptism which is the immersion of the believers in water whereby they obey Christ’s command and set forth their identification with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. 2. The Lord’s Supper which is the memorial wherein the believer partakes of the two elements, bread and cup, which symbolize the Lord’s body and shed blood proclaiming His death until He returns. (Matthew 28:19; Acts 2:41; Romans 6:3-5; I Corinthians 11:23-26)
L. CHURCH AND STATE
We believe in the entire separation of church and state. (Matthew 22:21; Romans 13:1; I Timothy 2:1-6)
M. RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
We believe in religious liberty; that each is free to worship God according to the dictates of his/her conscience. (I Corinthians 5:10-11, 18-20, 10:3-4)
N. CIVIL GOVERNMENT
We believe that civil government is of divine appointment for the interest and good of order of society, and that its leaders are to be prayed for, conscientiously honoured and obeyed, but not in the things opposite to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the only Lord of the conscience and Prince of the kings of the earth. (Romans 13:1; I Timothy 2:1-2)
O. CHRISTIAN CONDUCT
We believe that the supreme task of all believers is to glorify God in their lives. Believers should live blamelessly before the world, be faithful stewards of their possessions, and seek to witness the gospel of Jesus Christ by word and deed. (Matthew 5:16; I Corinthians 10:31; II Corinthians 9:13; Colossians 1:28; I Timothy 6:6-9; Titus 2:7-8, I Peter 1:14-15, 2:12, 3:15; II Peter 3:14)