Cornerstone Baptist Church
Statement of Faith
PURPOSE
1. To Glorify the Saviour
2. To Edify the Saint
3. To Evangelize the Sinner
ARTICLES OF FAITH
1. THE DIVINE AUTHORITY, INSPIRATION AND PRESERVATION OF THE SCRIPTURES
We believe that the God Who inspired the Scriptures is powerful enough to preserve them in the manner for which He intended us to have them. We believe in the providential PRESERVATION of the word of God; that the purpose of this is to preserve the infallibility of the inspired original text. We believe that the providential preservation of the Old Testament is from the traditional Masoretic text coming to the English speaking people through Wycliffe, Tyndale, and the King James Bible translators. We believe that the providential preservation of the New Testament concentrated itself on the Greek text within the sphere of the Greek church through Antioch of Syria, and that the text of the majority of the manuscripts from this area is the providentially preserved and Authorized text; the majority is the standard text. This text is the Textus Receptus of the Syrian (Byzantine) extraction coming to the English speaking people through the Reformation of the Balkans and Germany. The final and outstanding representation of this text is the Authorized King James Bible of 1611. We also believe the A.V. 1611 to be the absolute, final, and sole authority in all matters of faith and practice.
(Ps. 12:6,7; II Pet. 1:17-21; II Tim. 3:15-17; Deut. 8:3; Matt. 24:35)
2. THE DEITY AND VIRGIN BIRTH OF CHRIST
We believe in the deity and virgin birth of our Lord Jesus Christ; and that all the Scriptures from the first to the last center about Him, in His Person and work, and in His first and second coming; and hence, that no chapter, even of the Old Testament, is properly read or understood until it leads to Him.
(Matt. 1:18-25; Luke 1:26,27; Luke 24:44; John 5:17, 25-29; Acts 17:2,3; Acts 18:28; Acts 26:22,23; Col. 1:15-19)
3. THE TRINITY
We believe that the Godhead eternally exists in three persons--the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and that these three are one God, having precisely the same nature, attributes and perfection, and are worthy of precisely the same homage, confidence, and obedience.
(Mark 12:29; John 1:1; Matt. 28:19; Acts 5:31; II Cor. 13:14; Heb. 1:1-3; Rev. 1:4-6)
4. THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe that the Holy Spirit as a Divine Person is the source and power of all acceptable worship and service; and that He is our abiding Comforter and Helper; and that He never takes His departure from the His church, nor from any of His saints, but is ever present to testify of Christ, seeking to occupy us with Him, and not with ourselves or our experiences.
(John 7:38,39; John 4:16,17; John 15:26; John 16:13,14; Acts 1:8; Rom. 8:9; Phil. 3:3; Eph. 4:30)
5. THE PERSONALITY OF SATAN
We believe that Satan is a person, the father of all lies, a murderer from the beginning and the great deceiver of all the nations; that he will finally be overcome by the Lord Jesus Christ as the Seed of woman, and that he will be cast into the bottomless pit for one thousand years, and finally shall be committed to the Lake of Fire with all his angels to be tormented forever and ever.
(Job 1:6-12; John 8:44; II Cor. 4:4; Eph. 6:12-16; Rev. 20:1-3, 7-10; Isa. 14; Ezek. 28:12-19)
6. THE CREATION
We believe the Genesis account of creation as being neither allegory nor myth, but a literal, historical account of the direct, immediate creative acts of God without any evolutionary process; that man, made up of spirit, soul, and body, was created by a direct work of God; and that all men are descended from the historical Adam and Eve, first parents of the entire human race.
(Gen. 1-2; Col. 1:16,17; Matt. 19:4; John 1:3)
7. HELL
We believe that there is a literal hell and a literal fire of hell as a place for the eternal and conscious punishment of Satan and all his angels (for whom it was originally created) and of all unsaved persons.
(Matt. 25:41-46; Mark 9:43-50; Rev. 20:14,15; Rev. 21:8)
8. THE FALL OF MAN
We believe that man, originally created by God in His image and after His likeness, fell from his high and lofty estate by eating the forbidden fruit, and as a consequence of his disobedience, the threatened penalty of death was then and there inflicted, so that his moral nature was not only grievously injured by the fall, but he totally lost all spiritual life, becoming dead in trespasses and sins and subject to the power of Satan.
(Gen. 1:26; Gen. 2:17; John 5:40; John 6:53; Eph. 2:1,2; I Tim. 5:6; I John 3:8)
9. THE TOTAL DEPRAVITY OF MAN
We believe that this spiritual death or total corruption of human nature (with the exception of the will) has been transmitted to the entire human race of men, the Man Christ Jesus alone excepted; and hence that every child of Adam is born into the world with a nature which not only possesses no spark of divine life, but is essentially bad, being enmity against God, and incapable by an educational process whatsoever of subjection to His law.
(Gen. 6:5; Ps. 14:1-3; Ps. 51:5; Jer. 17:9; John 3:16; Rom. 5:12-19; Rom. 8:6,7)
10. REGENERATION BY THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe that owing to the universal death and depravity in sin, no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless he is born again; and that no degree of reformation, however great, no attainment in morality, however high, no culture, however attractive, no humanitarian and philanthropic schemes and societies, however useful, can help the sinner take even one step toward Heaven; but a new nature imparted by the Holy Spirit through His Word is absolutely essential to salvation.
(John 3:5; John 3:16-18; Gal. 6:15; Phil. 3:4-9; Titus 3:5; James 1:18; I Pet. 1:23)
11. ATONEMENT BY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST
We believe that our redemption has been accomplished solely by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, the perfect Passover Lamb of God, Who was made to be sin and a curse for us, dying in our stead; and that no repentance, no feelings, no faith, no good resolutions, no sincere efforts, no submission to the rules and regulations of any church or of all the churches that have existed since the days of the apostles can add in the very least to the value of that precious blood, or to the merits of that finished work, wrought for us by Him, Who united in His Person true and proper diety with perfect and sinless humanity.
(Lev. 17:11; Matt. 26:28; Rom. 5:6-9; II Cor. 5:21; Gal. 3:13; Eph. 1:7; I Pet. 1:18, 19)
12. SALVATION
We believe that salvation is the unmerited gift of God given to man by grace and received by repentance toward God and personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, Whose blood was shed on Calvary for the forgiveness of sins.
(Eph. 1:7; Eph. 2:8-10; I Pet. 1:18,19; John 1:12; Acts 13:38; Acts 16:30,31; Acts 20:21; Heb. 6:1))
We believe that the shed blood of Jesus Christ and His resurrection provided the only grounds for justification and salvation for all who believe; and only such as receive Jesus Christ as their only Saviour are born of the Holy Spirit, and thus become children of God.
(John 3:16; Rom. 5:11; Heb. 7:25; Heb. 9:22)
13. THE ASSURANCE OF BELIEVERS
We believe that all the redeemed are kept by God's power and are thus secure in Christ forever.
(John 6:37-40; John 5:24; John 3:36; John 10:27-30; Rom. 8:38,39; I Cor. 1:4-8; Eph. 4:30; II Tim. 1:12; I Pet. 1:5; I John 5:13)
We believe that it is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God's word; however, the word of God forbids the misuse of Christian liberty as an occasion to sin.
(Rom. 8:12,13; Rom. 12:13,14; Gal. 5:16,25; Eph. 4:22-24; Col. 3:10; I Pet. 1:14; I John 3:5-9)
14. SANCTIFICATION
We believe that believers are called with a holy calling to walk, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit; and so to live in the Spirit that we should not fulfill the lusts of the flesh; every saved person possesses two natures, with the provision made for victory of the new nature through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit and that all claims to the eradication of the old nature in this life are unscriptural.
(Rom. 6:13; Rom. 12:13,14; Gal. 5:16, 25; Eph. 4:22-24; Col. 3:10; I Pet. 1:14; I John 3:5-9)
15. THE ETERNAL CONDITION OF THE SAVED AND THE LOST
We believe that the souls of those who have trusted in Christ for salvation, do, at death, immediately pass into His presence, and there remain in conscious bliss until the resurrection of the body at His coming, when soul and body reunited shall be associated with Him forever in glory; and that the souls of unbelievers remain after death in hell until the final judgment at the Great White Throne at the close of the Millennium, when soul and body reunited shall be cast into the Lake of Fire, not to be annihilated, but to be punished with everlasting torment from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power.
(Luke 16:19-23; Luke 23:43; II Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23; II Thess. 1:7-9; Jude 1:6,7; Rev. 20:11-15)
16. THE PRETRIBULATIONAL/PREMILLENNIAL COMING OF JESUS CHRIST
We believe that the world will not be converted during the present dispensation, but is fast ripening for judgment, while there will be a fearful apostasy in the professing Christian body and that the Lord Jesus Christ will come to redeem His church before the Tribulation and shall return at the end of the Tribulation to execute wrath and judgment and to introduce the Millennial Age, when Israel shall be restored to their own land and the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, and that His personal and premillennial advent is the blessed hope set before us in the Gospel for which we should be constantly looking. While the Lord tarries, He has left us a commission to be His witnesses and to preach the Gospel of the grace of God to every creature.
(Zech. 14:4-11; Matt. 28:18-20; Luke 18:1; Acts 15:14-17; Rom. 1:14-17; I Thess. 1:10; 4:13-18; 5:9; II Thess. 2:3-8;
II Tim. 3:1-5; Titus 2:11-15; Rev. 3:10; 19:11-16)
17. THE CHURCH
We Believe the Church is Made of Two Parts:
Part I---We believe the true church is likened unto "one body" (I Cor. 12:13), and that the believer is baptized into this body "by one Spirit", not by any man, including any born-again, Bible-believing pastor, whether he be a Baptist or of any other denomination, because this baptism is an operation made without hands (Col. 2:11-13). We believe that this baptism into the body of Christ is not water baptism, but rather is by the Holy Spirit upon salvation, therefore only saved people are in this body, and there is only one (Col. 2:9-19; Rom. 12:4,5; Eph. 4:30)
Part II---We believe that the local church is made up of an "assembly" of believers in a local area, that preaches and teaches the word of God. The local church sends out missionaries, preachers, evangelists, etc., and is God's plan for this age. We believe it is God's perfect will for every believer to be a part of a local assembly in order to be obedient and to fulfill God's will for their lives.
In conclusion, we believe in the unity of all true believers in the church which is the Body of Christ, which was established on the day of Pentecost, and that all believers from Pentecost to the Rapture, both Jews and Gentiles, are added to this church by the baptism of the Holy Spirit at the exact time that they trust in Jesus Christ as Saviour. We believe that this church is manifested through the local church which is a congregation of immersed believers associated by a covenant of faith and fellowship of the Gospel, observing the ordinances of Christ. We believe that the true mission of the local church is for the edification, perfection, exhortation and comfort of its members in spiritual matters; the faithful witnessing of Christ to all men as we have opportunity. We hold that the local church has the absolute right of self-government, free from the interference of any hierarchy of individuals or organizations; that as the one and only Head of the body of Christ and Chief Shepherd of the flock is the Lord Jesus Christ, a God-called, Spirit-filled pastor is the head and under-shepherd of the local church. We believe it is Scriptural for true churches to cooperate with each other in contending for the faith and for the furtherance of the Gospel; that each local church is the sole judge of the measure and method of its cooperation; and in that all matters of membership, of polity, of government, of discipline, of benevolence, the will of the local church is final.
(Eph. 1:10,22,23; 3:1-6; Gal. 3:26; I Cor. 12:12,13; Acts 1:5; 2:4, 41, 47; I Cor. 11:2; Eph. 4:11-16; Acts 20:17-28; I Tim. 3:1-7; I Pet. 5:1-4; Heb. 13:7, 17; Col. 1:18; Eph. 5:23; Acts 15:13-18)
18. SPIRITUAL GIFTS, MIRACLE, SIGNS AND WONDERS
We believe the gifts of the Spirit in I Corinthians 12 are given, today, for the ministry to all parts of the body of Christ with the exception of those gifts which are specifically called "signs". Those gifts which are signs, wonders, or miracles, were given by the Holy Spirit during the beginning of the church in the book of Acts for these purposes: (1) to identify an "apostle" (2) as a sign to the unbelieving Jews (3) to confirm the word of Scripture that was being spoken by the apostles, but not yet in the written form that we have today. Since there are NO apostles present today and that the Gospel ministry is almost totally to the Gentiles, and because we have a complete Bible, we reject "speaking in tongues" and "supernatural healing" as found in the apostolic ministry. However, we do believe that God heals today in accordance with His word and divine will through faith and confession. We do believe that "signs and wonders" as being practiced today is heresy and are "lying signs and wonders" produced by Satanic power in these last days to deceive the whole world.
(I Cor. 11:30-32; 12:1-11; Mark 16:17,18,20; Acts 2:4,5,43; 3:7,12; 5:12; II Cor. 12:12; I Cor. 1:21,22; 14:21,22; Heb. 2:3,4; James 5:14-16; II Thess. 2:8,9; I Tim. 4:1,2; Matt. 24:11,24)
THE ORDINANCES OF THE CHURCH
1. BAPTISM
We believe that Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water to show forth our faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, with its effect in our death to sin and our resurrection to a new life in Christ.
(Matt. 3:13-16; Rom. 6:1-5; Acts 8:36-38; I Pet. 3:21)
We do not believe that baptism is a means to heaven or is in any way a part of one's salvation. (I Cor. 1:17)
We believe that baptism is the act of a good conscience towards God. (I Pet. 3:27)
2. THE LORD'S SUPPER
We believe that the Lord's Supper is the commemoration of His death until He comes, and should be preceded always by solemn self-examination. The Lord's table is not a barrier to separate believers, but rather a sacred place where all true Christians meet in His remembrance; therefore, we do not adhere to any "closed" communion. (I Cor. 11:23-26)
1. To Glorify the Saviour
2. To Edify the Saint
3. To Evangelize the Sinner
ARTICLES OF FAITH
1. THE DIVINE AUTHORITY, INSPIRATION AND PRESERVATION OF THE SCRIPTURES
We believe that the God Who inspired the Scriptures is powerful enough to preserve them in the manner for which He intended us to have them. We believe in the providential PRESERVATION of the word of God; that the purpose of this is to preserve the infallibility of the inspired original text. We believe that the providential preservation of the Old Testament is from the traditional Masoretic text coming to the English speaking people through Wycliffe, Tyndale, and the King James Bible translators. We believe that the providential preservation of the New Testament concentrated itself on the Greek text within the sphere of the Greek church through Antioch of Syria, and that the text of the majority of the manuscripts from this area is the providentially preserved and Authorized text; the majority is the standard text. This text is the Textus Receptus of the Syrian (Byzantine) extraction coming to the English speaking people through the Reformation of the Balkans and Germany. The final and outstanding representation of this text is the Authorized King James Bible of 1611. We also believe the A.V. 1611 to be the absolute, final, and sole authority in all matters of faith and practice.
(Ps. 12:6,7; II Pet. 1:17-21; II Tim. 3:15-17; Deut. 8:3; Matt. 24:35)
2. THE DEITY AND VIRGIN BIRTH OF CHRIST
We believe in the deity and virgin birth of our Lord Jesus Christ; and that all the Scriptures from the first to the last center about Him, in His Person and work, and in His first and second coming; and hence, that no chapter, even of the Old Testament, is properly read or understood until it leads to Him.
(Matt. 1:18-25; Luke 1:26,27; Luke 24:44; John 5:17, 25-29; Acts 17:2,3; Acts 18:28; Acts 26:22,23; Col. 1:15-19)
3. THE TRINITY
We believe that the Godhead eternally exists in three persons--the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and that these three are one God, having precisely the same nature, attributes and perfection, and are worthy of precisely the same homage, confidence, and obedience.
(Mark 12:29; John 1:1; Matt. 28:19; Acts 5:31; II Cor. 13:14; Heb. 1:1-3; Rev. 1:4-6)
4. THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe that the Holy Spirit as a Divine Person is the source and power of all acceptable worship and service; and that He is our abiding Comforter and Helper; and that He never takes His departure from the His church, nor from any of His saints, but is ever present to testify of Christ, seeking to occupy us with Him, and not with ourselves or our experiences.
(John 7:38,39; John 4:16,17; John 15:26; John 16:13,14; Acts 1:8; Rom. 8:9; Phil. 3:3; Eph. 4:30)
5. THE PERSONALITY OF SATAN
We believe that Satan is a person, the father of all lies, a murderer from the beginning and the great deceiver of all the nations; that he will finally be overcome by the Lord Jesus Christ as the Seed of woman, and that he will be cast into the bottomless pit for one thousand years, and finally shall be committed to the Lake of Fire with all his angels to be tormented forever and ever.
(Job 1:6-12; John 8:44; II Cor. 4:4; Eph. 6:12-16; Rev. 20:1-3, 7-10; Isa. 14; Ezek. 28:12-19)
6. THE CREATION
We believe the Genesis account of creation as being neither allegory nor myth, but a literal, historical account of the direct, immediate creative acts of God without any evolutionary process; that man, made up of spirit, soul, and body, was created by a direct work of God; and that all men are descended from the historical Adam and Eve, first parents of the entire human race.
(Gen. 1-2; Col. 1:16,17; Matt. 19:4; John 1:3)
7. HELL
We believe that there is a literal hell and a literal fire of hell as a place for the eternal and conscious punishment of Satan and all his angels (for whom it was originally created) and of all unsaved persons.
(Matt. 25:41-46; Mark 9:43-50; Rev. 20:14,15; Rev. 21:8)
8. THE FALL OF MAN
We believe that man, originally created by God in His image and after His likeness, fell from his high and lofty estate by eating the forbidden fruit, and as a consequence of his disobedience, the threatened penalty of death was then and there inflicted, so that his moral nature was not only grievously injured by the fall, but he totally lost all spiritual life, becoming dead in trespasses and sins and subject to the power of Satan.
(Gen. 1:26; Gen. 2:17; John 5:40; John 6:53; Eph. 2:1,2; I Tim. 5:6; I John 3:8)
9. THE TOTAL DEPRAVITY OF MAN
We believe that this spiritual death or total corruption of human nature (with the exception of the will) has been transmitted to the entire human race of men, the Man Christ Jesus alone excepted; and hence that every child of Adam is born into the world with a nature which not only possesses no spark of divine life, but is essentially bad, being enmity against God, and incapable by an educational process whatsoever of subjection to His law.
(Gen. 6:5; Ps. 14:1-3; Ps. 51:5; Jer. 17:9; John 3:16; Rom. 5:12-19; Rom. 8:6,7)
10. REGENERATION BY THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe that owing to the universal death and depravity in sin, no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless he is born again; and that no degree of reformation, however great, no attainment in morality, however high, no culture, however attractive, no humanitarian and philanthropic schemes and societies, however useful, can help the sinner take even one step toward Heaven; but a new nature imparted by the Holy Spirit through His Word is absolutely essential to salvation.
(John 3:5; John 3:16-18; Gal. 6:15; Phil. 3:4-9; Titus 3:5; James 1:18; I Pet. 1:23)
11. ATONEMENT BY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST
We believe that our redemption has been accomplished solely by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, the perfect Passover Lamb of God, Who was made to be sin and a curse for us, dying in our stead; and that no repentance, no feelings, no faith, no good resolutions, no sincere efforts, no submission to the rules and regulations of any church or of all the churches that have existed since the days of the apostles can add in the very least to the value of that precious blood, or to the merits of that finished work, wrought for us by Him, Who united in His Person true and proper diety with perfect and sinless humanity.
(Lev. 17:11; Matt. 26:28; Rom. 5:6-9; II Cor. 5:21; Gal. 3:13; Eph. 1:7; I Pet. 1:18, 19)
12. SALVATION
We believe that salvation is the unmerited gift of God given to man by grace and received by repentance toward God and personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, Whose blood was shed on Calvary for the forgiveness of sins.
(Eph. 1:7; Eph. 2:8-10; I Pet. 1:18,19; John 1:12; Acts 13:38; Acts 16:30,31; Acts 20:21; Heb. 6:1))
We believe that the shed blood of Jesus Christ and His resurrection provided the only grounds for justification and salvation for all who believe; and only such as receive Jesus Christ as their only Saviour are born of the Holy Spirit, and thus become children of God.
(John 3:16; Rom. 5:11; Heb. 7:25; Heb. 9:22)
13. THE ASSURANCE OF BELIEVERS
We believe that all the redeemed are kept by God's power and are thus secure in Christ forever.
(John 6:37-40; John 5:24; John 3:36; John 10:27-30; Rom. 8:38,39; I Cor. 1:4-8; Eph. 4:30; II Tim. 1:12; I Pet. 1:5; I John 5:13)
We believe that it is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God's word; however, the word of God forbids the misuse of Christian liberty as an occasion to sin.
(Rom. 8:12,13; Rom. 12:13,14; Gal. 5:16,25; Eph. 4:22-24; Col. 3:10; I Pet. 1:14; I John 3:5-9)
14. SANCTIFICATION
We believe that believers are called with a holy calling to walk, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit; and so to live in the Spirit that we should not fulfill the lusts of the flesh; every saved person possesses two natures, with the provision made for victory of the new nature through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit and that all claims to the eradication of the old nature in this life are unscriptural.
(Rom. 6:13; Rom. 12:13,14; Gal. 5:16, 25; Eph. 4:22-24; Col. 3:10; I Pet. 1:14; I John 3:5-9)
15. THE ETERNAL CONDITION OF THE SAVED AND THE LOST
We believe that the souls of those who have trusted in Christ for salvation, do, at death, immediately pass into His presence, and there remain in conscious bliss until the resurrection of the body at His coming, when soul and body reunited shall be associated with Him forever in glory; and that the souls of unbelievers remain after death in hell until the final judgment at the Great White Throne at the close of the Millennium, when soul and body reunited shall be cast into the Lake of Fire, not to be annihilated, but to be punished with everlasting torment from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power.
(Luke 16:19-23; Luke 23:43; II Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23; II Thess. 1:7-9; Jude 1:6,7; Rev. 20:11-15)
16. THE PRETRIBULATIONAL/PREMILLENNIAL COMING OF JESUS CHRIST
We believe that the world will not be converted during the present dispensation, but is fast ripening for judgment, while there will be a fearful apostasy in the professing Christian body and that the Lord Jesus Christ will come to redeem His church before the Tribulation and shall return at the end of the Tribulation to execute wrath and judgment and to introduce the Millennial Age, when Israel shall be restored to their own land and the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, and that His personal and premillennial advent is the blessed hope set before us in the Gospel for which we should be constantly looking. While the Lord tarries, He has left us a commission to be His witnesses and to preach the Gospel of the grace of God to every creature.
(Zech. 14:4-11; Matt. 28:18-20; Luke 18:1; Acts 15:14-17; Rom. 1:14-17; I Thess. 1:10; 4:13-18; 5:9; II Thess. 2:3-8;
II Tim. 3:1-5; Titus 2:11-15; Rev. 3:10; 19:11-16)
17. THE CHURCH
We Believe the Church is Made of Two Parts:
Part I---We believe the true church is likened unto "one body" (I Cor. 12:13), and that the believer is baptized into this body "by one Spirit", not by any man, including any born-again, Bible-believing pastor, whether he be a Baptist or of any other denomination, because this baptism is an operation made without hands (Col. 2:11-13). We believe that this baptism into the body of Christ is not water baptism, but rather is by the Holy Spirit upon salvation, therefore only saved people are in this body, and there is only one (Col. 2:9-19; Rom. 12:4,5; Eph. 4:30)
Part II---We believe that the local church is made up of an "assembly" of believers in a local area, that preaches and teaches the word of God. The local church sends out missionaries, preachers, evangelists, etc., and is God's plan for this age. We believe it is God's perfect will for every believer to be a part of a local assembly in order to be obedient and to fulfill God's will for their lives.
In conclusion, we believe in the unity of all true believers in the church which is the Body of Christ, which was established on the day of Pentecost, and that all believers from Pentecost to the Rapture, both Jews and Gentiles, are added to this church by the baptism of the Holy Spirit at the exact time that they trust in Jesus Christ as Saviour. We believe that this church is manifested through the local church which is a congregation of immersed believers associated by a covenant of faith and fellowship of the Gospel, observing the ordinances of Christ. We believe that the true mission of the local church is for the edification, perfection, exhortation and comfort of its members in spiritual matters; the faithful witnessing of Christ to all men as we have opportunity. We hold that the local church has the absolute right of self-government, free from the interference of any hierarchy of individuals or organizations; that as the one and only Head of the body of Christ and Chief Shepherd of the flock is the Lord Jesus Christ, a God-called, Spirit-filled pastor is the head and under-shepherd of the local church. We believe it is Scriptural for true churches to cooperate with each other in contending for the faith and for the furtherance of the Gospel; that each local church is the sole judge of the measure and method of its cooperation; and in that all matters of membership, of polity, of government, of discipline, of benevolence, the will of the local church is final.
(Eph. 1:10,22,23; 3:1-6; Gal. 3:26; I Cor. 12:12,13; Acts 1:5; 2:4, 41, 47; I Cor. 11:2; Eph. 4:11-16; Acts 20:17-28; I Tim. 3:1-7; I Pet. 5:1-4; Heb. 13:7, 17; Col. 1:18; Eph. 5:23; Acts 15:13-18)
18. SPIRITUAL GIFTS, MIRACLE, SIGNS AND WONDERS
We believe the gifts of the Spirit in I Corinthians 12 are given, today, for the ministry to all parts of the body of Christ with the exception of those gifts which are specifically called "signs". Those gifts which are signs, wonders, or miracles, were given by the Holy Spirit during the beginning of the church in the book of Acts for these purposes: (1) to identify an "apostle" (2) as a sign to the unbelieving Jews (3) to confirm the word of Scripture that was being spoken by the apostles, but not yet in the written form that we have today. Since there are NO apostles present today and that the Gospel ministry is almost totally to the Gentiles, and because we have a complete Bible, we reject "speaking in tongues" and "supernatural healing" as found in the apostolic ministry. However, we do believe that God heals today in accordance with His word and divine will through faith and confession. We do believe that "signs and wonders" as being practiced today is heresy and are "lying signs and wonders" produced by Satanic power in these last days to deceive the whole world.
(I Cor. 11:30-32; 12:1-11; Mark 16:17,18,20; Acts 2:4,5,43; 3:7,12; 5:12; II Cor. 12:12; I Cor. 1:21,22; 14:21,22; Heb. 2:3,4; James 5:14-16; II Thess. 2:8,9; I Tim. 4:1,2; Matt. 24:11,24)
THE ORDINANCES OF THE CHURCH
1. BAPTISM
We believe that Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water to show forth our faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, with its effect in our death to sin and our resurrection to a new life in Christ.
(Matt. 3:13-16; Rom. 6:1-5; Acts 8:36-38; I Pet. 3:21)
We do not believe that baptism is a means to heaven or is in any way a part of one's salvation. (I Cor. 1:17)
We believe that baptism is the act of a good conscience towards God. (I Pet. 3:27)
2. THE LORD'S SUPPER
We believe that the Lord's Supper is the commemoration of His death until He comes, and should be preceded always by solemn self-examination. The Lord's table is not a barrier to separate believers, but rather a sacred place where all true Christians meet in His remembrance; therefore, we do not adhere to any "closed" communion. (I Cor. 11:23-26)
Cornerstone Baptist Church
