Statement of Faith
Souls Harbor
Free Will Baptist Church

Section 1: The Bible
We believe the Bible, comprised of the Old and New Testaments, to be the inspired, infallible, and authoritative Word of God (Matthew 5:18; 2 Timothy 3:16-17). While still using the individual writing styles of the human authors, the Holy Spirit perfectly guided them to ensure they wrote precisely what He wanted to be written, without error or omission (2 Peter 1:21). We also believe the KJV Bible to be preserved (Ps. 12:6-7), inerrant, and the complete and final authority for faith and practice for English-speaking persons. (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Psalm 12:6-7, The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever. Preservation of Scripture, Preservation of the Sanctified. Jude 1:1 Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:

Section 2: God
We believe in one God, who is Creator of all (Deuteronomy 6:4; Colossians 1:16), who has revealed Himself in three distinct Persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 13:14), yet who is one in being, essence, and glory (John 10:30). God is eternal (Psalm 90:2), infinite (1 Timothy 1:17), and sovereign (Psalm 93:1). God is omniscient (Psalm 139:1-6), omnipresent (Psalm 139:7-13), omnipotent (Revelation 19:6), and unchanging (Malachi 3:6). God is holy (Isaiah 6:3), just (Deuteronomy 32:4), and righteous (Exodus 9:27). God is love (1 John 4:8), gracious (Ephesians 2:8), merciful (1 Peter 1:3), and good (Romans 8:28).

Section 3: Jesus Christ
We believe in the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is God incarnate, God in human form, the express image of the Father, who, without ceasing to be God, became man in order that He might demonstrate who God is and provide the means of salvation for humanity (Matthew 1:21; John 1:18; Colossians 1:15).

We believe that Jesus Christ was conceived of the Holy Spirit and was born of the virgin Mary (Matthew 1:23); that He is truly fully God and truly fully man (John 1:1,14); that He lived a perfect, sinless life (1 John 3:5); that all His teachings are true (John 14:6). We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross for all humanity (1 John 2:2) as a substitutionary sacrifice (Isaiah 53:5-6). We hold that His death is sufficient to provide salvation for all who receive Him as Savior (John 1:12; Acts 16:31); that our justification is grounded in the shedding of His blood (Romans 5:9; Ephesians 1:7); and that it is attested by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead (Matthew 28:6; 1 Peter 1:3).

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to Heaven in His glorified body (Acts 1:9-10) and is now seated at the right hand of God as our High Priest and Advocate (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25).

Section 4: The Holy Spirit
We believe in the deity and personality of the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3-4). He regenerates sinners (Titus 3:5) and indwells believers (Romans 8:9). He is the agent by whom Christ baptizes all believers into His body (1 Corinthians 12:12-14). He is the seal by whom the Father guarantees the salvation of believers unto the day of redemption (Ephesians 1:13-14). He is the Divine Teacher who illumines believers' hearts and minds as they study the Word of God (1 Corinthians 2:9-12).

We believe that the Holy Spirit is ultimately sovereign in the distribution of spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12:11). We believe that the miraculous gifts of the Spirit, while by no means outside of the Spirit’s ability to empower, no longer function in exactly the same manner they did in the early development of the church (1 Corinthians 12:4-11; 2 Corinthians 12:12; Ephesians 2:20; 4:7-12).

Section 5: Angels and Demons
We believe in the reality and personality of angels. We believe that God created the angels to be His servants and messengers (Nehemiah 9:6; Psalm 148:2; Hebrews 1:14).

We believe in the existence and personality of Satan and demons. Satan is a fallen angel who led a group of angels in rebellion against God (Isaiah 14:12-17; Ezekiel 28:12-15). He is the great enemy of God and man, and the demons are his servants in evil. He and his demons will be eternally punished in the lake of fire (Matthew 25:41; Revelation 20:10).

Section 6: Humanity
We believe that humanity came into existence by direct creation of God and that humanity is uniquely made in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26-27). We believe that all humanity, because of Adam’s fall, has inherited a sinful nature, that all human beings choose to sin (Romans 3:23), and that all sin is exceedingly offensive to God (Romans 6:23). Humanity is utterly unable to remedy this fallen state (Ephesians 2:1-5,12).

Section 7: Salvation
We believe that salvation is a gift of God’s grace through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross (Ephesians 2:8-9). Christ’s death fully accomplished justification through faith and redemption from sin. Christ died in our place (Romans 5:8-9) and bore our sins in His own body (1 Peter 2:24). On the third day after His death, Jesus physically rose again, demonstrating His victory over sin and death (Romans 14:9; 1 Corinthians 15).

We believe salvation is received by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Good works and obedience are results of salvation, not requirements for salvation. Due to the greatness, sufficiency, and perfection of Christ’s sacrifice, all those who have truly received Christ as Savior are eternally secure in salvation, kept by God’s power, secured and sealed in Christ forever (John 6:37-40; 10:27-30; Romans 8:1, 38-39; Ephesians 1:13-14; 1 Peter 1:5; Jude 24). Just as salvation cannot be earned by good works, neither does it need good works to be maintained or sustained. Good works and changed lives are the inevitable results of salvation (James 2).

Section 8: The Church
We believe that the Church, the Body of Christ, is a spiritual organism made up of all believers of this present age (1 Corinthians 12:12-14; 2 Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 1:22-23, 5:25-27). We believe in the ordinances of believer’s water baptism by immersion as a testimony to Christ and identification with Him, and the Lord’s Supper as a remembrance of Christ’s death and shed blood (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 2:41-42, 18:8; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26). Through the church, believers are to be taught to obey the Lord and to testify concerning their faith in Christ as Savior and to honor Him by holy living. We believe in the Great Commission as the primary mission of the Church. It is the obligation of all believers to witness, by word and life, to the truths of God’s Word. The gospel of the grace of God is to be preached to all the world (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 1:8; 2 Corinthians 5:19-20).

Section 9: Things to Come
We believe in the blessed hope (Titus 2:13), the personal and imminent coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to rapture His saints (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). We believe in the visible and bodily return of Christ to the earth with His saints to establish His promised millennial kingdom (Zechariah 14:4-11; 1 Thessalonians 3:13; Revelation 3:10, 19:11-16, 20:1-6). We believe in the physical resurrection of all human beings—the saints to everlasting joy and bliss on the New Earth, and the wicked to eternal punishment in the lake of fire (Matthew 25:46; John 5:28-29; Revelation 20:5-6, 12-13).

We believe that the souls of believers are, at death, absent from the body and present with the Lord, where they await their resurrection when spirit, soul, and body are reunited to be glorified forever with the Lord (Luke 23:43; 2 Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23, 3:21; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). We believe that the souls of unbelievers remain, after death, in conscious misery until their resurrection when, with soul and body reunited, they shall appear at the Great White Throne judgment and shall be cast into the Lake of Fire to suffer everlasting punishment (Matthew 25:41-46; Mark 9:43-48; Luke 16:19-26; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9; Revelation 20:11-15).

Concise Statement of Faith:

THE BIBLE

Both Old and New Testaments- is the inerrant, infallible, inspired Word of God.

(Deuteronomy 8:3; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21) The King James Bible is the purified and preserved Word of God for English-speaking people. (Psalms 12:6)

CREATION

God created the world, animals and man in 6 literal 24-hour day.

(Genesis 1-2; Exodus 20:11)

DISPENSATIONALISM

The Bible is to be dispensationally interpreted and rightly divided.

(Romans 16:25; Ephesians 3:3-9; 2 Timothy 2:15)

THE TRINITY

One God is revealed in three persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

(Genesis 1:1-3, 26; Matthew 3:16-17; 28:19; 1 Corinthians 8:6; 2 Corinthians 13:14)

JESUS CHRIST

The Son of God and God the Son; the perfect representation of the Father in human form.

(John 1:1; 1 John 5:20; Philippians 2:6-8; Colossians 1:14-19)

THE HOLY SPIRIT

Active in the world today, as well as in the life of the believer, gifting and equipping the saints for their ministries.

(John 14:16; Acts 1:8; Ephesians 5:18)

Believers can sin against the Holy Spirit by grieving Him by sins of commission and quenching Him. by sins of omission.

(1 Thessalonians 5:19; Ephesians 4:30)

THE CHURCH

All born-again believers in Christ (Matthew 16:18) forming the Body of Christ.

(Romans 12:5; 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, 27; Ephesians 4:12)

Israel and the church are not the same; the church has not replaced Israel.

(Romans 9-11; 1 Corinthians 10:32; Ephesians 2:12-22)

IMPUTED SIN

Every person, except the Lord Jesus Christ, is born a sinner under the bondage and judgment of death.

(Romans 3:10; Romans 3:23; Romans 5:12; Hebrews 2:15)

HEAVEN AND HELL

Everyone will live forever in one of two places: in blessing with God and the redeemed, or temporarily in hell later to be cast into the Lake of Fire with the damned.

(John 14:2; Luke 16:19-31; 2 Corinthians 5:1-10; Revelation 20:11-15)

SALVATION

By grace through faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4), who shed His blood and died for sin.

(John 3:16; Romans 6:23; Romans 8:33-34; Romans 5:8-9; 1 Timothy 2:5; Titus 3:5)

He imputes His righteousness to all believers.

(Romans 3:24-26; 4:6)

There is no other way to the Father but by Him.

(John 14:6)

All those who have placed their faith in Christ for salvation are seated in the heavenlies (Ephesians 2:6) and are eternally secure.

(John 3:16; 6:26-51; 10:28-29; Romans 8:1)

The believer can know that he has eternal life as a present possession.

(1 John 5:13)

BAPTISM

Believers in Christ identify with Him in death, burial and resurrection through baptism by immersion.

(Acts 8:12; Romans 6:3; Galatians 3:27)

THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

While a Christian cannot lose his salvation, he can, through sin, lose fellowship and incur the Father’s chastisement. God guarantees rewards and fruit to the obedient son; and chastening and loss of rewards to the disobedient son; God does not permit His children to live as they please without discipline and guidance.

(1 Corinthians 3:11-17; 5:1-5; 11:30-32; Hebrews 12:5-11)

THE TWO NATURES OF THE BELIEVER

The child of God has two births: one of the flesh and the other of the Spirit. The flesh nature is neither good nor righteous. The Spiritual nature does not commit sin. This results in warfare between the Spirit and the flesh, which continues until death or the return of the Lord. The new birth cannot change the flesh nature of man, but the flesh nature can be controlled and kept subdued by the new man. Claims to the eradication of the old nature in this life are unscriptural.

(John 3:3-7; Romans 8:8; 7:15-25; Galatians 5:17; 1 John 3:9; 5:18; 1 Peter 1:23)

MARRIAGE

God ordained marriage between a naturally born man and a naturally born woman.

(Genesis 2:21-24; Matthew 19:4-6)

MIRACLES

The days of miracle workers- not the miracle working God- ended at the completion of the Canon of Scripture.

(Mark 16:20; Acts 2:43; 4:29-31; 14:3; 1 Corinthians 13:8-10; Hebrews 2:4)

CHRIST'S RETURN

Christ will return before the Tribulation [time of Jacob’s trouble- Jeremiah 30:7] to take His church to Heaven during The Rapture.

(John 14:2-3; 1 Corinthians 15:51-53; Colossians 3:4; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-5)

Jesus will return at the end of the Tribulation with His church to set up the promised (2 Samuel 7:16) 1000 year [Millennial] kingdom in Jerusalem.

(Isaiah 65:17-25; Matthew 24:30; Revelation 20:1-6)

All of God's remaining promises and prophesies for Israel will be fulfilled during that future kingdom age.

(Ezekiel 36; Isaiah 2:1-4; Isaiah 11; Isaiah 55:12-13)

JUDGEMENT

The saved will face Christ at the Judgment Seat for rewards not condemnation.

(Romans 14:10; 1 Corinthians 3:11-15; 2 Corinthians 5:10)

The unsaved will be judged and receive eternal punishment at the Great White Throne Judgment.

(Revelation 20:11-15)