Beliefs

What we believe at Calvary Church about Jesus, the Bible, and the Church

WHAT DO WE BELIEVE?

Our Beliefs in a video

The Bible

The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were given by inspiration of God, and are our infallible rule of faith and practice.

God

There is one living and true God, revealed in nature as the Creator, Preserver, and Righteous Governor of the universe and in the Scriptures as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost yet as one God, infinitely wise and good, whom all intelligent creatures are supremely to love, adore, and obey.

Jesus Christ

Christ is God manifest in the flesh in His divine nature truly God, in His human nature truly man. The mediator between God and man, once crucified, He is now risen and glorified, and is our ever present Savior and Lord. He mediates between God and man and who gives us access to the Father through His intercession. None can come to the Father unless they come through Him.

The Holy Spirit

The Scriptures assign to the Holy Spirit all the attributes of God. It is He who convicts and convinces men of their sin. He also convinces man of that which is right, and that a final day of judgment will come. He, it is, who comes to live in us at conversion, to open our understanding to the Scripture, and to lead us into the truth.

Man

Man was created innocent, but by disobedience fell into a state of sin and condemnation. His posterity, therefore, inherit a fallen nature of such tendencies that all who come to years of accountability, sin and become guilty before God.

The Government of God

God exercises a wise and benevolent providence over all beings and all things by maintaining the constitution and laws of nature. He also performs special acts, not otherwise provided for, as the highest welfare of men requires.

Salvation

Man receives pardon and forgiveness for his sins when he admits to God that he is a sinner, when in godly sorrow he turns from them and trusts in the work of Christ as redemption for his sin. This acceptance of God’s great salvation involves belief in Christ’s death on the cross as man’s substitute and the fact of God’s raising Him from the dead as predicted. It is a salvation by grace alone and not of works.

Terms of Salvation

The condition of salvation is faith! What is biblical faith?

  1. Repentance or sincere sorrow for sin and hearty renunciation of it.
  2. Trust or the unreserved committal of one’s self to Christ as Savior and Lord with purpose to love and obey Him in all things.

In the exercise of saving faith, the soul is renewed by the Holy Spirit, freed from the dominion of sin, and becomes a child of God. 

Free Will

The human will is free and self-controlled, having power to yield to the influence of the truth and the Spirit, or to resist them and perish.

Free Grace

The Son of God by His incarnation, life, sufferings, death, and resurrection effected for all a redemption from sin that is full and free, and is the ground of salvation by faith.

Free Salvation

God desires the salvation of all, the Gospel invites all, the Holy Spirit strives with all, and whosoever will may come and take of the water of life freely.

Election

God determined from the beginning to save all who should comply with the conditions of salvation. Hence by faith in Christ men become His elect.

Who Can be Saved?

It is God’s will that all be saved, but since man has the power of choice, God saves only those who repent of their sin and believe in the work of Christ on the cross. Those who refuse in this life to repent and believe have no later chance to be saved and thus condemn themselves to eternal damnation by their unbelief.

Perseverance

All believers in Christ, who continue in faith, led by the grace of God, to the end of life, have promise of eternal salvation. In other words, the condition of a believer’s security is faith.

Gospel Ordinances

BAPTISM, or the immersion of believers in water, and the LORD’S SUPPER, are the ordinances to be perpetuated under the Gospel. FEET WASHING, an ordinance teaching humility, is of universal obligation, and is to be ministered to all true believers.

Tithing

God commanded tithes and offerings in the Old Testament Jesus Christ endorsed it in the Gospel (Matthew 23:23), and the apostle Paul said, “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him” (I Corinthians 16:2a).

The Christian Sabbath

The divine law requires that one day in seven be set apart from secular employments and amusements, for rest, worship, holy works, and activities, and for personal communion with God.

Resurrection, Judgment, and Final Retribution

The Scriptures teach the resurrection of all men at the last day. Those who are saved will come forth to the resurrection of life, and those who are lost unto the resurrection of damnation then the wicked will “go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.”

Church Government

 Free Will Baptist churches enjoy local church autonomy (self-governing). The local church is the highest authority in the denomination. Local churches voluntarily organize themselves into quarterly meetings, district, state, and national associations for the purpose of promoting the cause of Christ on the local, state, district, national, and world-wide level.

Christ’s Second Coming

 The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ, who ascended on high and sits at the right hand of God, will come again to close the Gospel dispensation, glorify His saints, and judge the world.

Missions

Free Will Baptists believe that Jesus commanded the church to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. For an in-depth study of Free Will Baptist beliefs and practices, ask for a copy of the Free Will Baptist Treatise.

Got questions?

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