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Stewardship
Services Foundation Doctrinal Statement
1. We believe in the Scriptures
of the Old and New Testaments as verbally inspired by God and inerrant
in the original writings, embracing all matters which the Biblical
authors address, and believe that they are of supreme and final
authority in faith and life. II Timothy 3:16,17; II Peter 1:19-21.
2. We believe in one
God-eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, existing as three
Persons-Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one in nature, attributes, power,
and glory. Genesis 1:1,26; Proverbs 30:4; Mark 12:29; Matthew 28:19; II
Corinthians 13:14; John 1:1-4, 14,18; Acts 5:3,4.
3. We believe that the Lord
Jesus Christ was begotten by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary,
and that He is both true God and true man. Matthew 1:18-25; Luke
1:26-35; Philippians 2:6-11; Isaiah 7:14; John 1:14.
4. We believe in the literal
6-day account of creation, that the creation of man lies in the special,
immediate, and formative acts of God and not from previously existing
forms of life. Genesis 1:26,27; 2:7-9,16,17; 3:1-19.
We believe that man was created perfect in the image of God, that he
sinned and thereby incurred not only physical death but also that
spiritual and eternal death which is separation from God, and that all
human beings are born with a sinful nature, and we are sinners in
thought, word, and deed. Genesis 3:1-6; Romans 1:18,32; 3:10-19;
5:12,19.
5. We believe that the Lord
Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures as a
representative and substitutionary sacrifice and rose again for our
justification; and that all who believe in Him are justified on the
grounds of His shed blood and are saved by grace through faith wholly
apart from human merit and works. Acts 13:39; 16:31; Romans 3:21-28;
Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 3:3-8.
6. We believe that all who
receive by faith the Lord Jesus are born again by the Holy Spirit
through the Word of God and thereby become the children of God forever
and are eternally secure. John 1:12,13; 3:3-16; 5:24; 10:28,29; I Peter
1:23; II Peter 1:4-11.
7. We believe that the Holy
Spirit is a divine Person, equal with God the Father and God the Son;
that He was active in creation; that He convicts of sin, righteousness,
and judgment; that He is the Agent in the new birth; that He baptizes
all believers into the body of Christ at conversion; that He indwells,
seals, endues, guides, teaches, witnesses, sanctifies, and helps the
believer. Psalm 139:7-12; John 14:16,17; 16:13,14; Romans 8:9; I
Corinthians 6:19.
We believe that the sign gifts of the Holy Spirit are completed and are
not applicable to the work of the Holy Spirit today. I Corinthians
12:8-10, 28-30; 14:1-40.
8. We believe in the imminent
"Blessed Hope," the Rapture of the church before the tribulation, when
the "Lord shall descend from heaven" to catch up His bride to meet Him
in the air and "so shall we ever be with the Lord." John 14:1-3; I
Thessalonians 4:13-18; I Corinthians 15:15-58.
9. We believe in the literal,
bodily resurrection of the crucified Lord, His ascension into Heaven,
His present life there as our High Priest and Advocate, and His
personal, bodily, visible return to the earth at the end of the
tribulation to establish His millennial Kingdom on earth, and to reign
as the only Potentate, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. Luke
24:36-43; John 20:24-29; Acts 1:9-11; I Corinthians 15:25; Revelation
1:5-7; 19:11-16; 20:6.
10. We believe in the bodily
resurrection of all the dead: the saved to a life of eternal glory and
bliss in Heaven with God; the unsaved to eternal judgment of conscious
suffering and woe in the lake of fire. John 5:28,29; Revelation
20:6,11-15; 21:1-8; Matthew 10:28; 18:8,9; 25:41,46; Mark 9:43-49; II
Thessalonians 1:6-9.
11. We believe in personal
separation from all practices and influences of the world which hinder a
spirit-filled life. We believe in Biblical separation from all forms of
ecclesiastical apostasy. Romans 12:1; James 4:4; I John 2:15-17; II
Corinthians 6:14; 7:1; Colossians 3:1-17; Romans 6:1-14; Galatians
5:16-25.
12. We believe that it is the
privilege and responsibility of every believer to be a personal soul
winner and to do his utmost to give the gospel of Christ to the whole
world. Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8; John 17:18; 20:21; II Corinthians 5:20.
13. We believe that the local
Church is an organized congregation of immersed believers, associated by
covenant, observing the ordinances of Christ, having the offices of
pastor and deacon, exercising the gifts, rights, privileges, and
responsibilities given them by His Word, and that it has the absolute
right of self-government. We believe that the Church which is His Body
includes all New Testament believers. Matthew 18:15-17; I Corinthians
1:2; 7:17; 11:16; I Timothy 3:1-15; I Corinthians 12:28; Ephesians
1:22,23; 2:14,15; 5:23-32.
14. We believe that the
Scriptural ordinances of the local church are Baptism and the Lord's
Supper; that Baptism, by immersion, should be administered to believers
only, as an identifying symbol of their belief in the death, burial, and
resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and our death to sin
and resurrection to a new walk in life, and that it is a prerequisite to
local church membership; that the Lord's Supper is a commemoration of
His death and should be preceded by believer's baptism and solemn
self-examination. Matthew 28:19,20; Acts 8:36-39; 18:8; Romans 6:3-5;
Colossians 2:12; I Corinthians 11:23-32.
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