CONFESSION OF FAITH OF GILEAD BAPTIST CHURCH OF OWOSSO, MICHIGAN

THE TRINITY

The Triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, three persons equal in every Divine perfection, exercising distinct but harmonious offices in the great work of redemption, yet there being not three gods but ONE, John 10:30; 4:24; I Cor. 8:6; 1 John 5:7

INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES

The Scriptures of God of the Old and New Testament as verbally inspired of God and inerrant in the original writings, and that they are the final authority in faith and practice. The King James Version of 1611 is God's preserved Word for English speaking people. The KJV shall be used exclusively at the Gilead Baptist Church. Psa 119:89; Matt 24:35; II Tim 3:16-17; Matt 5:19

CREATION

The Genesis account of creation is true and man came by direct creation of God and not by evolution. Gen. 1&2; Col. 1:16, 17; John 1:3.

DEPRAVITY OF MAN

Man was created in the image of God, that he sinned and therefore incurred not only physical death but also spiritual death which is separation from God; and that all human beings are born with a sinful nature and in the case of those who reach moral responsibility become sinners in thought, word and deed. Gen. 1:26; Romans 3:9-23; 5:15-21.

PERSONALITY OF SATAN

Satan has personality; he is the god of this age and the author of all the powers of darkness and that he is destined to the judgment of eternal justice in the lake of fire. Job 1:6,7; Matt. 4:1-3; II Cor. 4:4; Rev. 20:10.

VIRGIN BIRTH

Jesus Christ was begotten by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, and is both the Son of God and God the son. Gen. 1:1; John 1:1,3,14; 10:30; 4:24.

BLOOD ATONEMENT AND JUSTIFICATION

The Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice. All. Who receive Him by faith are justified on the ground of His shed blood and are children of God. I Cor. 15:3,4; Rom. 3:24; 5:1, 9, 10; John 1:12,13.

PERSON AND WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

The Holy Spirit is a Divine Person; equal with God the Father, and God the Son, that He was active in creation; that in His revelation to this Godless world He convicts of sin, restrains the evil one until God's purpose is fulfilled; that He is the agent in the new birth; sealing, guiding, teaching, helping the believer. John 14:16, 17, 26; 16:8; Gen. 1:1-3; Rom. 8:16; Eph. 4:30.

RESURRECTION

We believe in the bodily resurrection and Lordship of Jesus and the resurrection of the saved unto life, and the lost unto condemnation. Acts 2:32; I Cor. 15:4; I Thess. 4:13-18; I Cor. 15:52; Rev. 20:12-15.

THE SECURITY OF THE SAINTS

All who are truly born again have “eternal life; and they shall never perish,” and that they are “kept by the power of God. Through faith unto Salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.” John 10:28,29; Rom. 8:35-39; Phil. 1:6; I Peter 1:5.

SEPARATION FROM THE WORLD

We believe every saved person is called into a life of separation from all worldly and sinful practices. James 4:4; I John 2:15, 16; Romans 12:2; II Cor. 6:14-17.

BAPTISM AND THE LORD'S SUPPER

Baptism is the immersion of the believer in water to show forth his faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Savior, with its effect in our death to sin and resurrection to a new life. The Lord's supper is the commemoration of His death until He comes, and should be always preceded by a solemn self-examination. John 3:23; Acts 8:36-39; Matt. 3:16; I Cor. 11:23-28.

SECOND COMING OF CHRIST

We believe that “blessed hope,” the personal, premillenial, pretribulation and imminent return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Titus 2:13; Acts 1:11; I Thess. 4:16, 17; 5:9.

SANCTIFICATION

We believe that sanctification is both instantaneous and progressive, beginning at conversion. In its instantaneous sense it is positional, and has to do with our standing. In its progressive sense it is experiential and has to do with our walk and state. Heb. 10:10-14; I Thess. 4:1-7; 5:23.

TONGUES

We believe that since God has vindicated Himself by miracles and we now have the complete Word of God, the gifts of Evangelists, Pastors, and Teachers are sufficient “for the perfecting of the saints, for the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” The apostolic signs, including tongues, ceased as the New Testament approached completion. Eph. 4:11, 12; I Cor. 13:8-13. But that God does answer the prayer of faith, according to His own will, for the sick. James 5:14-16; II Cor. 12:7-9; I John 5:14-16.

THE CHURCH

We believe in the Church universal and the Church local. In the universal sense the Church consists of all those who, in this dispensation, have been born of the Spirit of God and have by that same Spirit been baptized into the body of Christ. I Peter 1:3, 22-25; I Cor. 12:13. In the local sense the word “Church” is used of the group of professed believers in any one locality. Thus we read of the Church in Jerusalem, Acts 8:1; 11:22; The Church in Antioch, Acts 13:1; The Church at Corinth, I Cor. 1:2; II Cor. 1:1, etc.