FIRST BAPTIST
Church of Waupaca
ABOUT
Scripture
We believe the Holy Scriptures, consisting of the Old and New Testament only, to be the plenary, verbally inspired Word of God; inerrant in the original manuscripts, authoritative, infallible and God-breathed: and that they are authority for faith and practice (II Timothy 3:16-17;
Matthew 5:18; II Peter 1:20-21; I Corinthians 2:10-13).
ABOUT
God
We believe in one triune God, existing in three persons; Father, Son and Holy Spirit, eternal in being, identical in essence, equal in power and glory, and having the same divine attributes and perfections; yet exercising them in various offices
(Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 28:19; John 14:7-12, 16:7; and II Corinthians 13:14)
ABOUT
Jesus
We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, whose humiliation in the days of His flesh did not include laying aside His deity (Matthew 1:18-19; John 1:1-14).
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, died for our sins according to the Scriptures, as a substitutionary sacrifice, and that all who receive Him are justified on the grounds of His shed blood (I Corinthians 15:3-4; II Corinthians 5:21; Romans 3:21-26).
We believe in the resurrection of the crucified body of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His bodily ascension into heaven, in His present life there for us as High Priest and intercessor (Matthew 28:5-6; Acts 1:9; Hebrews 7:25-26).
We believe in “that blessed hope” the personal, visible, pretribulational, premillennial, and imminent return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ (I John 3:2-3; I Thessalonians 4:14-17; I Corinthians 15:51-53).
ABOUT
Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit is eternally one of the God head; equal with God the Father and God the Son, and has the same nature; that he was active in creation (Psalm 104:30); that in His relation to the unbelieving world, He restrains the evil one until God’s purpose is fulfilled (II Thessalonians 2:7), that He convicts of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment to come (John 16:8-11); that He bears witness of the truth of the Gospel in preaching and testimony (Acts 5:30, 32); that He indwells the believer (I Corinthians 6:19); that He baptizes into the body of Christ (I Corinthians 12:13); that He seals the believer “until the redemption of the purchased possession” (Ephesians 1:13-14) that He confers gifts and graces upon the body of Christ (I Corinthians 12:7-11); that He empowers for service (Acts 1:8); that He bears witness to the believer’s son ship (Romans 8:16-27).
We believe that some gifts of the Holy Spirit were temporary. We believe that speaking in tongues was never the common or necessary sign of the fulfilling or baptism of the Spirit. We believe that God, in accord with His own will, does hear and answer prayer for the sick and the afflicted (I Corinthians 12:1; II Corinthians 12:11, 30; James 5:14-16).
WHAT WE BELIEVE
ABOUT
Man
We believe that man was created by an immediate act of God in His own image, as given in the Genesis account, and not by process of evolution; that through disobedience to God, lost his first estate and thereby became a sinner in need of a Savior; and that since that time all men are born sinners, spiritually dead, alienated from God, and stand in need of personal redemption that is in the Lord Jesus Christ alone (Genesis 1:26, 27; 3:1-14; Romans 5:12; 3:23-24; Psalms 51:5; Ephesians 2:1; Colossians 1:21; Hebrews 9:11; Colossians 1:14).
ABOUT
Family Relations
We believe that God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society. Men and women are spiritually equal in position before God, but God has ordained distinct and separate spiritual functions for men and women in the home and the church. The husband is to be the leader of the home, and men are to be the leaders (pastors and deacons) of the church. Accordingly, only men are eligible for licensure and ordination by the church. (Gal. 3:28; Col. 3:18; 1 Tim. 2:8-15, 3:4-5, 12)
ABOUT
Marriage
We believe marriage is ordained by God as one naturally born male and one naturally born female becoming one flesh. We believe it is God’s design that a man and woman enter the marriage union for life. We believe that God disapproves of and forbids divorce and intends marriage to last until one of the spouses dies. Divorce and remarriage is regarded as adultery except on the grounds of fornication. (Genesis 2:18-25; Mal. 2:14-17; Matthew 19:3-12; Romans 7:1-3; Ephesians 5:22-32; 1 Tim. 3:2; Titus 1:6)
ABOUT
Salvation
We believe that in order to be saved, all men, being sinners, must be born again. We believe that all who receive, by faith, the Lord Jesus Christ are born again by the Holy Spirit. We believe that this new birth is instantaneous, not a process; and that it is brought about in a manner above comprehension; solely by the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. We believe that in the new birth God justifies the believer and that the Holy Spirit indwells the believer with power for holy service.
ABOUT
Eternal Security
We believe that the salvation of every believer is secure for all eternity from the moment of regeneration. This security is guaranteed to each believer by the fact that the life received is eternal life, by the keeping power of God, and by the sealing work of the Holy Spirit
(John 5:24; 10:27-30; Romans 8:1,29-30,38-39; Ephesians 4:30; Hebrews 7:25).
ABOUT
Justification
We believe that justification is a judicial act of God by which He imparts to the born-again believer complete pardon of sins, the gift of eternal life, and imputes to the believer His own righteousness. We believe that justification is bestowed not in consideration of any works of righteousness which the believer has done, but solely because of his faith in the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:6-8; Acts 13:38-39; John 5:24, 6:40; and Romans 3:25, 5:9).
ABOUT
End Times
We believe in the imminent return of Christ to raise the bodies of departed saints and to translate His church, followed by a seven-year period of tribulation upon all the earth, after which He shall again return with His saints to establish the promised Davidic Kingdom. He shall reign for a thousand years; peace and righteousness shall cover the earth; Satan shall be bound and Israel shall be established in her own land; following which, Satan shall be loosed to again deceive the nation against Christ, only to be forever banished to the lake of fire. The wicked dead shall be raised for the Great White Throne judgment and condemned to everlasting conscious punishment in hell. The righteous shall enjoy conscious blessedness with the Lord
(John 14:3; Matthew 24:21; Revelation 19:11-21, 20:1-15; Ezekiel 39:25-29; I Thessalonians 4:15)