DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH

SECTION 1.    THE HOLY SCRIPTURES

        We believe the Holy Scriptures to be the verbal, inspired Word of God; authoritative, and without error in the original manuscripts.  We further believe that the Scriptures of both the Old and New Testaments are designed for our practical instruction in faith and conduct.  (II Timothy  3:16-17; II  Peter 1:21 )

SECTION  2.    THE GODHEAD

       We believe that the Godhead eternally exists in three persons; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and that these three are one God.  (Deuteronomy 6:4;  Genesis 1:26;  Matthew 28:19)

SECTION 3.  THE PERSON AND WORK OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST

      We believe that the  Lord Jesus Christ,  the Eternal Son of God, came  into the world that He might manifest God to men, fulfill prophecy, and become the Redeemer of a lost world.  To this end,  He was born of the Virgin  Mary, received a human body and a sinless human nature without ceasing to be God. (Luke 1:30-35;  John 1:1,14,18;  Hebrews 4:15;  Philippians  2:5-11)

       We believe that,  in infinite love for the lost, He voluntarily accepted  His Father’s will and became the divinely provided sacrificial Lamb and took away the sins of the world.   (Romans 3:25-36;  II  Corinthians 5:14;  Hebrews 10:5-14)

     We believe that He arose from the dead in the same body, though glorified,  in which He had lived and died, and that  His resurrected body is the pattern of the body which ultimately will be given to all believers.   (John 20:20;  Philippians 3:20-21)

       We believe that, on departing from the earth, He was accepted by His Father and that the Father’s acceptance is a final assurance to us that Christ’s redeeming work was perfectly accomplished.   (Hebrews  1:3)

      We believe that He became  Head over all things to the church, which is His  body, and in this ministry He does not cease to intercede and to be an advocate for the saved.   (Luke 1:35;   I  Corinthians 15:1-3;  Ephesians 1:23;  Philippians 2:6-8;  I Timothy 2:5;  I John 2:1-2)

SECTION 4.    THE HOLY SPIRIT

     We believe that the  Holy Spirit, the Third person of the Trinity,  dwells in every believer immediately after he places his faith in the  Lord Jesus Christ and that God provides, through the Holy Spirit, power to live the Christian life, and to intimately know and exalt JESUS CHRIST, our LORD.   (Romans 5:5,  8:9-1;  Galatians 5:16-25)     

       We  believe that every believer receives grace from God in the form of a spiritual gift which enables him to function as a member of the body of Christ.   (Romans 12:6;  I Corinthians 12:7;  Ephesians 4:7)

SECTION 5.    THE PERSONALITY OF SATAN

       We believe that Satan, the devil, is the prince of demons and is the declared adversary of God and man.  However, when the Lord Jesus Christ died on the Cross, He limited the power of the devil and guaranteed the ultimate triumph of God.   (Ephesians  2:2;  I Peter 5:8;  Revelation 20:10;  Colossians 2:13-15)

SECTION 6.    SALVATION

     We believe that no one can enter the kingdom of God unless born again spiritually, and that the new birth of the believer comes only through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  We believe, also, that our redemption has been accomplished by the blood  of our Lord Jesus Christ and that this redemption is by the  grace of God, an unmerited gift, given in love by  God and not the  result of any human works.   (John 3:7-18;  II Corinthians 5:21;  Galatians 3:13;  Romans 4:4-5)

     We believe that upon receiving the Lord Jesus Christ by faith, the believer passes immediately out of spiritual death into spiritual  life, and into fellowship with God.   (John 1:12,  5:24)

     We also believe that once this salvation is accomplished, we and all true believers everywhere shall be kept saved forever.  (John 10:28-29;  Romans 3:24,  8:35-39;  II Timothy 2:11-13;  Galatians 2:16;  Ephesians 2:5,  8-9)

SECTION 7.    THE CHURCH

      We believe that all who are united to the risen and ascended Son of God are members of the Church which is the body of Christ.   (I Corinthians 12:12-27;  Acts 2:42-47)

       We believe that the explicit message of our  Lord Jesus Christ to those whom He  has saved is to make Christ known to the whole world and that this is the purpose of the Church through the individuals within it.   (Matthew 28:18-19;  Acts 1:8;  II Corinthians 5:11-21)

          We believe that local churches, such as Resurrection Fellowship Church, gather together for practical instruction in the Scriptures, for fellowship with God and with other  believers, and for corporate witness to the unsaved world.  Our common spiritual goal is to grow toward Christ’s likeness.   (Matthew 28:18-20;  Acts 2:42-47;  Romans 12:5;  Ephesians 4:13-16)

SECTION 8. THE RAPTURE AND THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST

          We believe that a future period of great tribulation on the earth will be climaxed by the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to the earth as He went in person in the clouds with power and great glory  to establish His millennial kingdom.  But prior to this tribulation, we believe there will be the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in the air to receive to Himself into Heaven both His own who are alive and  remain until His coming and also, all who have died in Christ Jesus.   (I Thessalonians 4:13-17;  Zechariah 14:4-11;  Revelation 3:10)

SECTION 9.    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 glorified body when Christ comes for his own, whereupon soul and body reunited shall be associated with Him forever in glory.  All those who rejected Jesus Christ will eternally be separated from God to endure His eternal wrath forever.   (II Corinthians 5:8;  Revelations 20;11-15,  21:1-27)

SECTION 10.   THE RESPONSIBILITY OF LEADERS

       We believe that all believers should seek to walk by the Spirit, separating themselves from worldly  practices and witnessing by life and by word to the truths of the Holy Scripture.   (Romans 12:;  Galatians 5:16,  25;  II Corinthians 5:9-17)

       We believe that all believers will be judged at the judgment seat of Christ and rewarded based on their faithful obedience to Him in this life.   (I Corinthians 3:10-17)

SECTION 11.   CHURCH ORDINANCES

       We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ instituted the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper to be observed by all believers until His return.   (Matthew 28:19;  Luke 22:19-20;  Acts 10:47-48)

       We believe that the ordinance of baptism is immersion of the believer in water as it sets forth the essential facts in redemption--the death and resurrection of Christ and the essential resurrection to newness of life.  (Romans 6:4;  Acts 8:26-39)

       We believe that the Lord’s Supper is a privilege afforded to all believers in commemoration of our Lord’s death until He comes.   (I Corinthians 11:23-28)