What We Believe

The Bible

We believe that the 66 books of the Bible are God’s inspired revelation to man. They are the very word of God, without error, completely authoritative, essential, sufficient, and trustworthy, and constitute the only infallible rule for truth and life. It is our constant privilege to read, study, teach, obey, and model God’s word in order to be

truthful and loving ambassadors for Christ to our world.

Psalm 19:7-14; 2 Timothy 3:15, 17; 2 Peter 1:20, 3:14-16; Matthew 5:18; John 10:35; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; John 17:17; Hebrews 4:12; John 19:36, 37; Romans 9:17, 10:1, 11:2

 

The Triune God

We believe there is only one God, eternally existing in three equally divine Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Our God is an intelligent, spiritual, and knowable personal being. He is infinite and unchanging in all his attributes. He is supremely powerful and knows all things exhaustively in one eternal moment,

including the free future decisions of all humanity.

Genesis 1:1; 1 Kings 18:39; Psalm 100:3; 115:1-3; Matthew 28:19, 20; Acts 5:3, 4; John 1:1, 14, 18; 8:58, 59; 10:31-33; Isaiah 46:8-11; Ephesians 1:9-11; Daniel 4:34, 35; Romans 11:33-36

 

God the Father

We believe God the Father is the creator and sustainer of all things. He is infinitely good, perfectly holy, and boundless in His love. He is a loving Father, always available to those who, through faith in Christ, call upon Him in truth. Having brought all creation into existence through His word, He is sovereign over all things so that,

ultimately, His purpose will be fulfilled and His glory fully displayed.

Psalm 145:8, 9; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Genesis 1:1; Ephesians 1:4-6; 3:9; 4:6; Psalm 103:19; Romans 11:33-36; 8:14, 15; 2 Corinthians 6:18, Ephesians 1:11; 1 Chronicles 29:11; Habakkuk 1:12; Psalm 50:14, 15; Matthew 11:28-30; John 6:38, 42; 8:38-47; 1 Peter 1:14-16; 1 John 3:1-3; John 1:11-13; Galatians 4:5; Hebrews 12:5-9

 

God the Son

We believe that Jesus Christ is God the Son through whom all things were created and now are held together. He is fully human and fully divine. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He took on all human attributes yet lived a sinless life. He gave over the independent use of his divine attributes to the Father but retained his divine essence. He died on the cross as a substitute for all believers, rose from the dead, and ascended to the right hand of God where He intercedes for His people. He now dwells in all Christ-followers as their Lord and Savior. He will return one day in power and glory to judge the world and consummate his redemptive mission.

John 1:1-3; Colossians 1:15-17; Hebrews 1:1, 2; Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians 2:9; Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23-25; Luke 1:26-35; John 1:14, 18; Psalm 2:7-9; Isaiah 9:6; John 1:29; Hebrews 7:25, 26; 9:24; 1 Peter 2:24; 3:18; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Colossians 1:27; 1 Corinthians 15:3, 4; Acts 1:9-11; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 2 Peter 3:11-13; Revelation 20:1-6; Isaiah 9:6, 7

 

God the Holy Spirit

We believe that God the Spirit was sent by the Father and the Son to glorify Jesus Christ. He convicts the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment. By His powerful and mysterious work, He regenerates spiritually dead sinners through the Gospel, awakening them to repentance and faith. In Him, they are baptized into union with Christ and His body, the Church. By the Spirit’s power, believers are illuminated, sanctified, comforted, and adopted into God’s family and gifted for service. God the Spirit indwells and fills each Christ-follower for godly living and is the seal of their promised inheritance.

John 14:16, 17, 26; 16:7, 8, 13-15; Romans 8:9, 11, 14; 1 Corinthians 2:13, 14; Ephesians 4:30; Galatians 4:6; 1 Peter 4:10, 11; 1 Corinthians 12:4-6; Romans 15:16

 

Mankind

We believe mankind is the special creation of God, intentionally designed as male and female to bear His image as the crowning work of His creation. Adam and Eve were created without sin to worship God in obedience, care for His creation, and populate the world with worshipers. Through Adam’s sinful act, they failed and brought death into the world. All human beings inherit a sin nature from Adam and are alienated from God due to sin’s pervasive corruption. Though God's eternal attributes and divine power are clearly seen in creation, sinful humanity suppresses that truth in their unrighteousness. They are spiritually blind and both unwilling and unable to see the light of the Gospel apart from the regenerating power of God. As those who bear His image, all humanity stands in relationship to Him, either in belief, obedience, and humble worship, resulting in eternal life, or in unbelief, rejection, and rebellion, resulting in eternal punishment.

Genesis 1:26-28; 5:1; James 3:8,9; Genesis 2:15, 16; 3:17-19; Romans 1:18-20; 3:23; 5:12-14; 8:8; Ephesians 2:1-3; 2 Corinthians 4:3, 4; John 3:16; Matthew 25:44-46; Revelation 20:12-14; 2 Peter 3:11-13

 

Salvation

We believe that salvation from the wrath of God for sin is accomplished by God the Spirit through the Gospel. This salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in the promises of God concerning the work of Christ alone. All who repent of their sins and place their faith in God the Son are brought from death into life, adopted into God’s family, indwelt by God the Spirit, and kept by God the Father eternally.

John 3:36; 16:8; Romans 1:16, 17; 8:9; Ephesians 2:4-10; Titus 3:5; John 1:11-13; Acts 16:31; 1 Peter 1:3, 4; Mark 1:15; Acts 2:38; 3:19; 8:22; Proverbs 3:5,6; John 5:24; Romans 8:9-11; Ephesians 1:13, 14; John 10:27-29; Romans 8:31-39

 

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, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, with the authority of the local church, to show forth in a solemn and beautiful emblem our faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Savior, with its effect in our death to sin and resurrection to a new life; that it is prerequisite to the privileges of a church relation and to the Lord’s supper; in which the members of the church, by the sacred use of bread and wine are to commemorate together the dying love of Christ; preceded always by solemn self-examination.

Acts 8:36-39; Matthew 3:6; John 3:23; Romans 6:4-5; Matthew 3:16; Matthew 28:19; Romans 6:3-5; Colossians 2:12; Acts 2:41-42; Matthew 28:19-20; I Corinthians 11:23-28.

 

The Gospel

We believe the Gospel is the great news that God will save sinners from the eternal judgment they deserve through the life, death, and resurrection of God the Son when they repent of their sins and turn in faith alone to follow Him.

Mark 1:14, 15; Romans 1:16, 17; 1 Corinthians 15:3, 4; Acts 2:37-39; 4:12; Romans 6:1-11; 10:9-17; Luke 9:23

 

The Church

We believe that all those whom God the Spirit regenerates through the Gospel are immediately brought into union with God the Son and become part of his Body, the universal church. As a local representation of the universal church, our Church is united with Christ-followers everywhere under the Lordship of God the Son. We celebrate our union with Christ and our unity with one another by observing baptism and the Lord's Supper. The Church of which Christ is the Head is distinguished by an unswerving commitment to God’s truth and a vibrant love for God, one another, and the world. The church lives to show the world the power of God’s transforming grace through the Gospel

and through their unity, love, and service.

Ephesians 1:4; Romans 8:1; 12:5; Acts 2:41; Ephesians 1:22, 23; 3:10; 4:3; 5:23, 24; Colossians 1:24; 4:15; Galatians 1:1, 2; Matthew 16:18; 1 Timothy 3:14, 15; Matthew 28:19, 20; Acts 8:36-39; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; John 13:34; 15:12-17; 1 Timothy 1:5, 19; 4:6, 7; 6:20; 2 Timothy 1:13, 14; 2:15; 4:1, 2

 

Human Sexuality

We believe that God created human sexuality to be an expression of love and unity between a biological man and a biological woman within the covenant of marriage. (Genesis 2:18-25, Matthew 19:3-6, I Corinthians 7:2-4, Ephesians 5:22-33) We believe that any heterosexual sexual activity outside the bond of marriage (including fornication and adultery), any homosexual sexual activity, and any other form of sexual immorality (including bisexual conduct, bestiality, incest, and use of pornography) is an abomination to the Lord (Leviticus 18:19-23), is an indication of sin's decaying effects, deserving of God's righteous judgment (Romans1:26-32), excludes one from inclusion in the

kingdom of God if continually practiced and can be conquered through Christ's sacrifice on the cross resulting in lasting change (I Corinthians 6:9-11).

 

Marriage

We believe that the term “marriage” has only one meaning: the uniting of one biological man and one biological woman in a single, exclusive, permanent, covenantal union, that displays God's redemptive work for His church. (Genesis 2:18-25, Matthew 19:3-6; Ephesians 5:22-33) We believe that scripture condemns all homosexual activity and that marriage, by God's design, can only be entered into by a heterosexual couple.

 

Gender Identity

We believe that God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as male or female. These two distinct, complementary genders together reflect the image of God.

(Genesis 1:26-27) Rejection of one’s biological gender is a rejection of the purpose of God for that person's gender and a repudiation and denial of the glory of God

in His creation of that person. (Psalm 139:13-16)

 

Christian Love

We believe that every person must be afforded compassion, love, kindness, respect, and dignity for the sake of the gospel. (Mark 12:28-31; Luke 6:31) We believe that the most loving thing one can do is share the truth of what the Bible says about sinful behavior and the hope that the gospel brings (Romans 6:15-23). Hateful and harassing behavior or attitudes directed toward any individual is to be repudiated and is not in accord with Scripture, the message of the Gospel, nor the doctrines of Armuchee Baptist Church.

 

Last Things

We believe that God will bring all things to their appropriate end for His glory at the right time. God the Son will return, visibly and bodily as He promised. The dead will be raised, and every account settled. For those in Christ, the reward will be eternal life in the new heavens and new earth. But eternal conscious punishment in hell will be the just sentence for all those who reject God’s gracious offer of salvation.

Isaiah 46:8-10; Ephesians 1:11; Mark 8:38; 14:62; Philippians 3:20, 21; 2 Peter 3:9-13; Revelation 20:11-15; 21:22-27