Beliefs

BELIEFS:

 

Below is a brief summary of the primary Biblical beliefs of ValleyView Baptist Church:

 

THE WORD OF GOD - We believe that the 66 books of the Bible are the Word of God, full inspired and without error in the original manuscripts, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and that it has final authority in all matters of faith and conduct.

THE TRINITY - We believe that there is one living and true God, eternally existing in three persons;  God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

GOD THE FATHER - We believe in God the Father, an infinite, personal spirit, perfect in the divine attributes.  We believe that He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of men, that He saves from sin and eternal death all who come to Him through Jesus Christ.

LORD JESUS CHRIST - We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten (i.e., unique) Son, conceived by the Holy Spirit.  We believe in His virgin birth, sinless life, miracles and teachings.  We believe in His substitutionary atoning death, bodily resurrection, ascension into heaven, perpetual intercession for His people, and imminent return to earth.

THE HOLY SPIRIT - We believe in the personality and deity of the Holy Spirit who convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment.  He is the Supernatural Agent in regeneration, who from the moment of salvation indwells, seals and baptizes every believer into the body of Christ.  We believe that the Holy Spirit sanctifies, guides, empowers,, preserves and enlightens all who are believers “in Christ.” The Holy Spirit testifies concerning Jesus Christ and never leads any person at any time contrary to the word of God. Only the “serving” gifts of the Spirit are in operation today; “Supernatural” gifts have ceased. 

SPIRIT BEINGS - We believe that God created a vast number of sinless spirit beings to serve and worship Him.  As created beings, angels are not to be worshiped but rather, along with believers, are powerful servants of God.  One of the foremost of these spirit beings, Lucifer, sinned and became the author of sin and provoked the fall of man. Satan (Lucifer, or the Devil) lead a host of spirit beings in rebellion against God.  He is “the ruler of this world” and of all the powers of darkness.  Satan and his host are destined to eternal punishment in the lake of fire.

CREATION - We believe that the early chapters of Genesis are literal and accurate history.  And furthermore, Genesis 1:1 is the solid, immoveable foundation of all subsequent Biblical truth.

MAN - We believe that all people are created by God in His image, for His pleasure and His glory. Because the first couple, Adam and Eve, disobeyed God, they and all people since are alienated from God and are sinners by nature and by choice, Jesus Christ being the only exception.  Because God is holy and cannot tolerate sin, all people are under His condemnation and totally unable to save themselves.


SALVATION - We believe that Jesus Christ was crucified, buried and resurrected to bear the condemnation of all people, and that nothing prevents anyone’s salvation except his rejection of Jesus Christ as his sin-bearer. Salvation is the gift of God freely offered to man by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  All who believe are regenerated and receive the perfect righteousness of Christ, eternal life, and are secure in Christ forever.

CHRISTIAN CONDUCT - We believe that spiritual growth is the natural and expected result of receiving spiritual life.  The Bible admonishes each and every believer to live a life of increasing holiness, becoming more and more like our Lord Jesus Christ, through obedience to the Word of God and by the enabling power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

THE CHURCH - We believe in the universal church, a living, spiritual body composed of all regenerated believers, having Christ as the head.  We believe in the local church, consisting of a company of believers in Jesus Christ, who are Scripturally baptized, and then joined together for worship, instruction, outreach and support, and governed by the Word of God.

 

LAST THINGS - We believe in the personal and visible return of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth and the establishment of His Kingdom.  We believe in the bodily resurrection of all people, believers to eternal life and glory and unbelievers to eternal punishment.  We believe that the souls of believers in Christ are, at death, absent from the body and in conscious presence with the Lord.  The souls of unbelievers are, at death, in conscious torment until their bodily resurrection and final judgment.

 

STATEMENT OF BELIEFS – This summary of Beliefs does not exhaust the extent of our faith. The Bible itself is the sole and final source of all that we believe.

 

 

Statement of Faith and Covenant