PENTECOSTAL M.B. CHURCH

What We Believe

 

1. The Holy Scriptures: We believe the Holy Scriptures to be the inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God, and our guide to faith and practice. (See II Timothy 3:16, 17 and II Peter 1:20,21.)

2. The Godhead: We believe in one God, existing in three persons--the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, eternal in being, identical in nature, equal in power and glory and having the same attributes and perfections. (See Matthew 28:18, 19; II Corinthians 13:14.)

3. The Person and Work of Christ: We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became Man, being conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful man. We believe that He accomplished our redemption through His death on the cross, His blood being the purchase price, and that He secured that redemption forever by His literal resurrection from the dead. (See John 1:1,2,14,18; Luke 1:35; Romans 3:24, 25 and 4:25.)

We further believe that our Lord Jesus Christ is now in heaven, exalted at the right hand of God, where as the High Priest for His people, He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor and Advocate. (See Mark 16:19; Hebrews 9:24; 7:25, and I John 2:1,2.)

4. The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit: We believe that the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, though omnipresent from all eternity, took up His abode in the world in a special sense on the day of Pentecost, according to the divine promise and now indwells every believer, and by His baptism unites all to Christ in one body, and as the Indwelling One, is the source of all power and acceptable worship and service.

We believe that the Holy Spirit's ministry to the world is that of conviction respecting sin, righteousness and judgment. (See John 14:16,17; 16:7-11 and I Corinthians 12:13.)

5. The Total Depravity of Man: We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God, but that in the transgression of Adam the whole race of mankind fell, and thereby inherited a sinful nature, became alienated from God and totally unable to retrieve his lost condition. (See Genesis 1:26,27; 3:6,7; Romans 5:12; Ephesians 2:12.)

6. Salvation: We believe that salvation is the gift of God brought to man by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. (See Ephesians 2:8-10; and John 1:12.)

7. The Eternal Security of the Believer: We believe that all true believers, once saved, are kept secure forever. (See John 10:27-30.)

8. The Church: We believe that the Church is a spiritual organism composed of all born again persons of this present age irrespective of their affiliation with Christian organizations, (See Acts 2:47b) and as such, is both the body and bride of Christ. (See Ephesians 1:22,23 and 5:25-27.)

9. The Personality of Satan: We believe in the personality of Satan, who is the open and declared enemy of our Lord Jesus Christ and thereby the enemy of all who believe in Him. (See Job 1:6,7; Matthew 4:2-11; and I Peter 5:8.)

10. The Return of Christ: We believe in the imminent, personal coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for His own, and His subsequent premillennial return to the earth to set up His kingdom. (See I Thessalonians 4:13-18; and Acts 15:16,17.)

11. The Eternal State: We believe that at death the spirits and souls of those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation pass immediately into His presence, and there remain in conscious bliss until the resurrection of the body at His coming, whereupon soul and body will be reunited to enjoy the glories and blessings of heaven forever. We believe also that the souls of those who have rejected Jesus Christ as Saviour remain after death in conscious misery until the final judgment of the Great White Throne, when soul and body reunited will be cast into the lake of fire to be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord. (See II Corinthians 5:6,8; Luke 16:19-26; Revelation 20:11-15.)

12. Church Ordinances: We believe that water baptism and the Lord's Supper are the only ordinances of the church and that they are the scriptural means of testimony for the church in this age.

We believe that baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, setting forth the essential facts in redemption - the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, also the essential facts in the experience of the believer - death to sin and resurrection to newness of life.

We believe that the Lord's Supper is a commemoration of His death until He comes and is to be celebrated at certain intervals by all the members of the church. (See Matthew 3:13-17 and I Corinthians 11:23-26.)