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Our Beliefs |
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First Baptist Church Hugo is a Purpose Driven Southern Baptist Church. We believe God has created everyone for 5 specific purposes: Worship We believe . . . The Bible The sole basis of our belief is the Bible. We believe that Scripture in its entirety is revelation from God. It contains truths only God knows; truths we are incapable of learning without God's help. The Bible is not just a record of God's word, it is the Word of God in written form. The Holy Spirit exerted His supernatural influence upon the writers of the Bible. Therefore, we believe the original manuscripts are without error and incapable of error, since God neither lies nor makes mistakes. Every word in the original is fully and equally inspired in all that it deals with, including science and history. God We believe that there is one true, Holy God, eternally existing in three persons; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit each of whom possesses equally all the attributes of deity and the characteristics of personality. The Bible begins with the phrase, "In the beginning, God.." God has always existed. His nature and being are eternal. Because the Bible clearly teaches there is only one God (not three Gods), we understand that these three persons must fully share the one and only divine nature. We use the term "Trinity" as a label for the teaching that God has a singular nature but a plural personality. Jesus Christ is the eternal second person of the trinity, coequal with the Father and the Holy Spirit from all eternity, who was united forever with a true human nature by a miraculous conception and virgin birth. He lived a life of perfect obedience to the Father and voluntarily atoned for the sins of all by dying on the cross as their substitute, thus satisfying divine justice and accomplishing salvation for all who trust in Him alone. He rose from the dead in the same body, though glorified, in which He lived and died. He ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of the Father, where He, the only mediator between God and man, continually makes intercession for His own. He shall come again to earth, personally and visibly to consummate history and the eternal plan of God. The third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, was sent into the world by the Father and the Son to apply to mankind the saving work of Christ. The Holy Spirit is God. He works behind the scenes to prepare people to hear the Gospel and then convicts men of sin and guides the believer to all truth. He dwells within the believers and confirms that we belong to God. He enlightens the minds of sinners, awakens in them recognition of their need of a Savior and regenerates them. At the point of salvation He permanently indwells every believer to become the source of strength and wisdom and uniquely guides believers in understanding and applying the Scripture. Jesus promised the Spirit's presence to all His followers assuring us He would actually dwell in us in a permanent union. Salvation Salvation is God's plan to restore man to a right relationship with Him. Salvation is necessary because all have sinned (Romans 3:23) and the penalty for sin is death - that is, everlasting separation from God in hell (Romans 6:23). Salvation is totally the work of God's grace apart from any human effort. Jesus took upon Himself all the blame and punishment for our sin when He died on the cross. When we receive Christ, God pardons us of our sins. God drew us with His love and convicted us of sin. We have repented of our sins and accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. As a born-again believer we are a child of God. The Church There is one true Church universal, comprised of all those who acknowledge Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. The Scripture commands believers to gather together in the local church to devote themselves to worship, prayer, the teaching of the Word, the observance of baptism and the Lord's Supper, fellowship, service to the body through talents and gifts, and to bring others into knowledge and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. The church is first and foremost an organism, the living body of Christ, made up of all people everywhere who are His followers. The local expression of this body is found wherever his children gather in His name. Scripture describes some of the activities of a church but it is Christ in our midst that makes us His church, not anything we do. Baptism and the Lord's Supper Christian Baptism is the immersion of a believer in water. Baptism is an act of obedience symbolizing: The believer's faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior; The burial of the old life and the resurrection to walk in the new life that Christ Jesus gives to us; and The believer's faith in the future resurrection of the dead. Every followers of Jesus Christ should be baptized, not in order to be save but because they are saved. The Lord's Supper is a symbolic act of obedience through which believers remember the death of Jesus and anticipate His second coming. This is done by eating the bread symbolizing Christ's broken body and drinking the fruit of the vine symbolizing His shed blood at Calvary. It is a commemorative act for believers only. The Church We believe that the church is not a building but "a people", not primarily an organization but an organism. We therefore place a high priority on attending the corporate gatherings of the church for the purpose of worship. teaching and participation in the ordinance of the Lord's Supper. Within the corporate gatherings we become connected relationally to other believers for the purposes of mutual encouragement, support and accountability. God gave us different gifts and abilities so we would do different things and need each other. He picks the gifts He gives us so that we have focus, so we can be truly fulfilled. Like a body with different organs, our different roles and activities bring life to the church. If we become separated from each other, we suffer like a limb out of joint within a body. We recognize that the church is composed of interdependent members, each of us uniquely gifted by the Holy Spirit for the purpose of building up the body and furthering the ministry of the church. We therefore seek to discover, develop and deploy those God-given gifts and seek a place of service within the church. Baptist Faith and Message The Holy Bible was written by divinely inspired men and is without any mixture of error. Our understanding of Scripture is in essential agreement with other Southern Baptist Churches. There is only one living, true and eternal God, who is revealed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Man was created by God in the image of God. Salvation is for all who freely choose the grace of God, believe in the sacrifice of Christ and accept Him as Lord and Savior. Those who have accepted Christ will never fall from grace. The church is a local body of baptized believers operating as an autonomous body, through democratic processes under the direction of Jesus Christ. This church is subject to the control of no other church body or group. As far as possible, this church will cooperate with and support the association, the state convention and the Southern Baptist Convention. The scriptural offices of the church are pastors and deacons. Members are to be faithful in attending the services of this church, giving regularly for its support and sharing in its work. Baptism is immersion in water as a testimony of faith in the final resurrection of the dead and as a church ordinance is required for church membership and participation in the Lord’s Supper. The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience where members of the church remember the death of Christ and anticipate His second coming.
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