Beliefs
Beeville Baptist Church is a fundamental, independent, separated, pre-millennial local church which stands with the King James Bible in opposition to humanism, worldliness, new evangelicalism, Calvinism, and the Charismatic movement.
ARTICLES OF FAITH
ARTICLE I- OF THE SCRIPTURES
We believe the Bible is the very Word of God. We believe the author of the Bible is God and the Holy Spirit, and that the 66 books of the Bible are the complete revelation of God's will to man. We believe the Bible is the inspired, infallible, and preserved Word of God. By inspiration we mean the plenary and verbal inspiration; that Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost as is revealed in 2 Peter 1:21. We believe the only correct translation is the King James Version. We reject any paraphrased versions as well as any modern common versions. We believe the Bible is the final authority in all matters of faith and practice.
Deut. 18:19; Psa. 12:6,7; 119:105; 119:130,160; 138:2; Pro. 13:13; Hos. 4:6; Matt. 5:18; Luke 24:44-45; John 12:48; 17:17; Acts 1:16; Rom. 3:4; II Tim. 3:16-17; I Pet. 1:23-25; II Pet. 1:19-21; Rev. 22:19
ARTICLE II-OF THE GODHEAD
We believe that there is one, and only one, living and true God, an infinite, intelligent Spirit, the maker and supreme ruler of heaven and earth; inexpressibly glorious in holiness and worthy of all possible honor, confidence and love; that in the unity of the Godhead there are three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, equal in every divine perfection, and executing distinct but harmonious offices in the great work of redemption.
Gen. 17:1; Psa. 83:18; 90:2; Jer. 10:10; Matt. 28:19; Mark 12:30; John 15:26; Rom. 11:33; Eph. 2:18; Phil. 2:5-6; I Tim. 1:17; I John 5:7.
A. God the Father
We believe in God the Father, perfect in holiness, infinite in wisdom, measureless in power; that He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of men, that he hears and answers prayer, and that He saves from hell all who come to Him through Jesus Christ.
John 4:24; I John 5:7; Isa. 46:10; Rom. 8:29; Eph. 1:5; I Pet. 1:16; Psa. 89:14; Isa. 9:7; 45:21; Zeph. 3:5; John 5:30; Rom. 3:26; Rev.15:3.
B. God the Son
We believe that Jesus Christ is as much God as God the Father and God the Spirit. He was virgin born and incarnate in the flesh. He lived a sinless life and is the only true Saviour of mankind by His vicarious death on the cross. He resurrected bodily from the tomb, ascended into Heaven, and is now the believer’s High Priest, ever interceding for them. Is. 9:6; Heb. 10:11-14; Heb. 4:12; 2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 3:13; 1 Pt. 3:18; Gen. 3:15; John 1:1-5; Col 1:13-17
C. God the Holy Spirit
We believe the Holy Spirit is a Divine Person; that He is equal with God the Father and God the Son; he is of the same nature and was active in creation. In relation to the unbelieving world, He restrains the evil one until God’s purpose is fulfilled. He convicts of sin, judgment, and righteousness. He is the agent of the new birth and indwells, seals, guides, comforts, and directs the believer.
2 Cor. 13:14; John 16:7-11; John 14:16-17; John 15:26-27; Eph. 1:13-14; John 14:26; Rom. 8:16; Rom. 8:26-27
ARTICLE III-THE FALL OF MAN
We believe that man, in the person of the first Adam, was created in the image of God, in innocence under the law of his maker, but by reaon of his voluntary sin, fell from his innocent state: that as a result the whole race plunged into condemnation and death, so that now all human beings are born with a sinful nature: and that all who reach the age of moral understanding become willful sinners in thought, word, and deed, and so are without excuse before God.
Gen. 1:26; 3; Isa. 64:6; Jer. 13:23; 18:9; Eze. 18:4; Rom. 3:10-18; 5:12,15; 6:23; Eph. 2:1-3; Rev. 21:8.
ARTICLE IV-THE CHURCH
We believe that a church of the Lord Jesus Christ is a local congregation of baptized believers associated by a covenant of faith and fellowship of the Gospel; observing the ordinances of Christ; governed by His laws; exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word; to occupy as His virgin bride till He comes; that its officers of ordination are pastors and deacons whose qualifications, claims and duties are clearly defined in the Scriptures.
We believe the true mission of the church is found in the Great Commission; First, to make individual disciples; Second, to build up the church; Third, to teach and instruct; and Fourth, to support Missions at home and abroad, as He has commanded. We do not believe in the reversal of this order; we hold that the local church has the absolute right of self government, free from the interference of any hierarchy of individuals or organizations; and that the one and only superintendent is Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit; that it is scriptural for true churches of like faith to cooperate with each other in contending for the faith and for the furtherance of the Gospel; that every church is the sole and only judge of the measure and method of its cooperation; on all matters of membership, of policy, of government, of discipline, of benevolence, the will of the local church is final.
Mal. 3:8-12; Matt. 16:16-18; 28:18-20; Acts 2:41-42; 5:11; 20:17; Rom. 16:5; I Cor. 11:23-34; 12:13; II Cor. 8; 9; Eph. 4:3,11-16; Col. 1:18; 4:15; I Tim. 3:1-16; Tit. 1:6-9; Rev. 19:7-9; 22:16-21.
ARTICLE V-THE ORDINANCES (Baptism and the Lord's Supper)
A. Baptism
We believe that scriptural baptism is the immersion of a believer in water, setting forth, in symbol, his union with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection: that every believer should be baptized because of the example and command of our Lord; and that while ther is no saving power in water baptism, it is an act of obedience by those who are already saved to picture their death burial and resurrection to walk in newness of life with Jesus Christ and that blessed hope of bodily resurrection.
Romans 6:3-5; Matthew 3:13-17; Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 8:36-39; Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5; John 5:24
B. The Lord's Supper
We believe that the Lord’s Supper is the commemoration and remembrance of His death on Calvary, to be practiced until His return, and that it is always to be preceded by a solemn self-examination. The exercise of the Lord’s Supper has no redemptive nor preferential qualities in respect to acquiring the grace of God. However, an individual that partakes of the Lord’s Supper unworthily shall surely bare their guilt.
I Corinthians 11:24-32; Mark 14:22-26; Luke 22:14-20
ARTICLE VI-OF THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST
We believe in the literal, bodily, personal, pre-millennial and imminent coming of our Lord in the air to catch away all belivers unto Himself before the Tribulation period, also, in the personal, visible and glorious return of Christ to the earth, with believers at the close of the Tribulation period to judge the living nations and to set up His Millennial kingdom on earth.
Zech. 14:4-11; John 14:3; Acts 1:11; I Cor. 5:51-53; II Cor. 5:10; I Thes. 1:10; 4:13-18; 5:9; II Thes. 1:7-10; Heb. 9:28; James 5:8; Rev. 19:11-16; 20:1-15.
ARTICLE VII-THE RESURRECTION
We believe in the bodily resurrection of the dead, the saved to everlasting blessedness at the coming of Christ and(one thousand years later) the lost to the judgment at the Great White Throne and then to everlasting, conscious punishment in the Lake of Fire.
Matt. 28:6-7; 1 Cor. 15:42-52; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; 1 Cor. 15:1-11; Heb. 9:27-28; John 20:27; Revelation 20:5, 6, 11-15
ARTICLE VIII-SATAN
We believe that the Devil is an actual being, the author of sin, and not an imaginary influence. We believe that he once enjoyed high heavenly honors and glorious heavenly privileges; that he through pride, ambition, and self will betrayed God and as a result brought down upon his head the judgment of God. He operates today as the god of the world and the Prince of the Power of the air; that he is the arch deceiver, and the father of all lies; that he is the greatest enemy, the great tempter, and the opposition of the saints. His final abode shall be the lake of fire which is the eternal place of punishment prepared for the Devil and his angels.
Gen. 3:15; Isa. 14:12-20; Eze. 28:11-19; John 8:44; I Pet. 5:8; Rev. 12:8,9; 20:2,10.
ARTICLE IX-THE GRACE OF SALVATION
We believe and teach that salvation is by God’s grace and that salvation is free to all through the Gospel: that it is the duty of all to accept by faith that salvation. We believe that those who voluntarily reject salvation will face eternal separation from God in a literal place of punishment called Hell in Scriptures. When a sinner repents and receives Jesus Christ as His personal Saviour, he receives eternal life. The eternal purpose of God in salvation is first of all to preserve the believer forever in Christ; the believer is saved eternally. It is also the eternal purpose of God that the believer will conform to the image of His Son. This salvation wrought by grace then assures us that we are preserved in Christ by the power of God and no man can pluck the saved out of the Father’s hand.
John 3:15-16; 1 Pt. 1:5; John 1:12; John 5:24; John 10:27-30
ARTICLE X-THE CHRISTIAN WALK
We believe that we are called with a holy calling to walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, and so to live in the power of the indwelling Spirit that we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh; but we are able to exercise the bestowed gifts of the Spirit in loving service for Christ. We believe that all the saved should live in such a manner as not to bring reproach upon their Saviour and Lord; and, that separation from all religious apostasy, all worldly and sinful pleasures, practices and associations is commanded of God
ARTICLE X1-CREATION
We believe the Genesis account and record of creation as literal and not allegorical or figurative; that God personally created the Heaven and the earth in a direct act; that He bought forth all original matter out of nothing. We believe that man was created directly in God’s own image and not by the hypothesis of any kind of evolution. God’s established law says that all species shall bring forth after their kind. We believe the all things were created in six literal 24 hour days and that God rested upon the seventh day.
Gen. 1; 2; Psa. 19:1-3; 33:6; 119:89-91; Matt. 19:4; John 1:3; Col. 1:16,17; Rev.3:14.