What We Believe
Statement of Faith
Our goal at Central Bible Baptist Church is to spiritually impact every individual God sends us. We want to help you experience the power of a genuine conversion and to help you believe, understand and daily apply the bible for God’s glory.
GOD
We believe in one triune God, eternally existing in three persons-—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—each co-eternal in being, co-identical in nature, co-equal in power and glory, and having the same attributes and perfections. Matthew 28:19; John 14:16-17, 16:23-27; 2 Corinthians 13:14
GOD THE FATHER:
We believe that God the Father is the Creator of heaven and earth. By His word and for His glory, He freely and supernaturally created the world out of nothing.
Through the same word, He daily sustains all His creatures. He rules over all and, together with the Son and the Spirit, is the only Sovereign. In His unfathomable grace, gave His Son, Jesus Christ, for mankind’s redemption. He made all things for the praise of His glory and intends for man, in particular, to live in fellowship with Himself. Genesis 1; Matthew 7:7, 12:50; Ephesians 4:6; 2 Corinthians 6:18; 1 Timothy 2:4-5
GOD THE SON:
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man, without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful men. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through His death on the cross as a representative, vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice; and, that our justification is made sure by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to Heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where, as our High Priest, He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate. Matthew 1:18-23; Luke 24:1-8; John 1:1-5, 1:14, 3:16, 3:18, 11:25, 14:6-7, 14:9-11, 14:16; Acts 1:9-11; Romans 1:3-4, 5:8-11, 6:23; 1 Corinthians 15:3-6; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Hebrews 4:14-16, 7:24-25; Titus 2:13-14; Revelation 19:20, 20:15
GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT:
We believe that the Holy Spirit is a person who convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; and, that He is the Supernatural Agent in regeneration, baptizing all believers into the body of Christ, indwelling and sealing them unto the day of redemption.We believe that He is the divine Teacher who assists believers to understand and appropriate the Scriptures and that it is the privilege and duty of all the saved to be filled with the Spirit. We believe that God is sovereign in the bestowal of spiritual gifts to every believer. John 14:15-17, 14:25-26, 15:26, 16:5-15; Acts 1:8; 1 Corinthians 12:4-31
CHURCH
We believe that the local church, which is the body and the espoused bride of Christ, is solely made up of born-again persons and that the establishment and continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament Scriptures. We believe in the autonomy of the local church free of any external authority or control. We recognize water baptism and the Lord’s Supper as the Scriptural ordinances of obedience for the church in this age. Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16; Acts 2:38-41, 42-47, 38-41; Colossians 1:18; Hebrews 10:24-25, 13:17; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, 12:12-13
THE BIBLE
We believe that the King James Bible, composed of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testament, is the verbally and plenary inspired word of God and is inerrant, infallible and God-breathed and, therefore, is the final authority for faith and life. It reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation. 2 Timothy 3:15-17; 1 Peter 1:25; 2 Peter 1:19-21
SALVATION
We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God; but that in Adam’s sin the human race fell, inherited a sinful nature, and became alienated from God. Man is totally depraved and, of himself, utterly unable to remedy his lost condition. We believe that salvation is the gift of God brought to man by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, Whose precious blood was shed on Calvary for the forgiveness of our sins. We believe that all the redeemed, once saved, are kept by God’s power and are thus secure in Christ forever. Romans 3:23-24, 5:12, 5:16, 6:23; Psalms 51:4-5; John 3:16, 14:6; Acts 4:12, 10:43; Ephesians 2:8-9; Colossians 1:13-14; 1 John 5:11-13
JUSTIFICATION
We believe that the great Gospel blessing, which Christ secures to such as believe in Him, is justification; that justification includes the pardon of sin and the promise of eternal life in principles of righteousness; that it is bestowed not in consideration of any work of righteousness which we have done, but solely through faith in the Redeemer's blood, by virtue of which His perfect righteousness is freely imputed to us of God; that justification brings us into a state of most blessed peace and favor with God. See John 1:16; Acts 13:39; Romans 4:4,5: Romans 5:1,2,9.
What We Believe
SANCTIFICATION
We believe that sanctification is the process by which, according to the will of God, we are made partakers of His holiness; that it is a progressive work; that it is begun in regeneration; and that it is carried on in the hearts of believers by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, the Sealer and Comforter, in the continual use of the appointed means - especially the word of God, self-examination, self-denial, watchfulness, and prayer. Sanctification will be complete only when the body of sin shall be destroyed and a new body in the likeness of Jesus Christ is awarded to the born-again believer. See I Thessalonians 4:3; I John 2:29.
SEPARATION - PERSONAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
We believe the believer should be separated from the world while being present in the world; that he should abstain from all appearances of evil as a testimony to the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; that the local church should maintain a position of separation from all forms of apostasy, modernism, ecumenism and any other departure from the written principles of the word of God. We believe that II Corinthians 6:14-18 and II John verse 10 prohibits the joining together of believers with unbelievers in the Lord's work, such as in ecumenical organizations or in cooperative evangelistic efforts. It shall continue to be free from any government outside of itself whatsoever, except legal requirements necessary to lawful operation. See I Corinthians 10:20; I Thessalonians 5:22; II Timothy 2:15-18; II Timothy 4:1-3; Titus 1:9-11; Titus 2:10-15. (See R. Civil Government below.)
THE RETURN OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
We believe in Jesus Christ's personal, imminent, pre-tribulational return to this earth for those who have been born again, and made part of His Body, the church. This event, termed "the rapture", removes the Body of Christ before God's wrath is poured out on the earth during the great tribulation, "the time of Jacob's trouble" (Jer. 30:7). We believe the church has no part whatsoever in this period of time, also known as Daniel's 70th week. We believe the "mid-trib," "pre-wrath," "post-trib," and other similar variations on the doctrine of the rapture are mistaken due to confounding Israel with the Body of Christ. We also believe in the pre-millennial return of Jesus Christ after the great tribulation to set up His literal, visible, physical, 1000-year reign over the kingdoms of this earth. See John 14:1-3; Philippians 3:20; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; Revelation 20.
DISPENSATIONS
We believe in the moderate dispensational division of the Scriptures as a basis for study. Call it "rightly dividing"; call it "reading, and believing what you read"---God says different, sometimes opposing, things to different individuals and groups of people throughout the Scriptures. It is absolutely impossible to understand the Bible without the proper division of Scripture. II Timothy 2:15.
GIVING
We believe that every Christian, as a steward of that portion of God's wealth entrusted to him, is obligated to support his local church financially. We believe that God has established the tithe as a basis for giving, but that, every Christian should also give other offerings sacrificially and cheerfully to the support of the Church, the relief of those in need, and the spread of the Gospel. We believe that a Christian relinquishes all rights to direct the ultimate use of the tithe or offering once the gift has been given. See Genesis 14:20; Proverbs 3:9-10; Acts 4:34-37; I Corinthians 9:13, 14; 16:2; II Corinthians 9:6-7; Galatians 6:6; Ephesians 4:28; I Timothy 5:17-18; I John 3:17.
MISSIONS
We believe that God has given the Church a Great Commission to proclaim the Gospel to all nations so that there might be a great multitude from every nation, tribe, ethnic group, and language group who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. As ambassadors of Christ we must use all available means to go to the foreign nations and not wait for them to come to us. Our ambassadorship must include an effort to win the lost locally as well. See Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-48; John 20:21; Acts 1:8; II Corinthians 5:20.
What We Believe
BAPTISM AND THE LORD'S SUPPER
We believe that Christian baptism is the immersion in water of a believer, in the name of the Father, the Son, and Holy Ghost to show forth in a solemn and beautiful emblem our faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Saviour with its effect in our death to sin and resurrection to a new life. We believe that the Lord's Supper, in which born-again believers by the use of bread and new wine are to commemorate together the dying love of Christ, is to be preceded always with solemn self-examination, as oft as it is partaken of. We also hold to the Scriptural truth that NEITHER of these ordinances have anything to do with salvation whatsoever. Matthew 28:19; Acts 2:41,42; Acts 8:36-39; Romans 6:4,5; I Corinthians 11:26-28.
SUNDAY SERVICES
We believe that the first day of the week is reserved for the Lord, and is to be set aside for Biblical practices by (if at all possible) abstaining from secular labor, except works of mercy and necessity, and is a day of spiritual activity to set the pace for the rest of the week. Psalm 118:24; Acts 20:7; Hebrews 10:24,25.
CIVIL GOVERNMENT
We believe that civil government is of divine appointment for the interests and good order of human society, and that magistrates are to be prayed for, conscientiously honored and obeyed, except only in things opposed to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ, as set forth in His word, who is the only Lord of the kings of the earth. Matthew 22:21; Matthew 23:9,10; Acts 5:28,29; Romans 13:1-7.
THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED
We believe that there is a radical and essential difference between the righteous and the wicked; that such only as through faith are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and sanctified by the Spirit of our God are truly righteous in His esteem; that all such as continue in impenitence and unbelief are in His sight wicked and under the curse; and that this distinction holds among men both in and after death and throughout all eternity. Malachi 3:18; Luke 16; 19-31; John 3:14-21,36; Romans 1: 17,18;
I John 5:19.
