What We Believe

The following are the core beliefs of Harvest Baptist Temple  based on the foundational truths taught in the Bible. All of our teaching and ministry is rooted in and flows out of these biblical doctrines.

We believe the Old and New Testament Scriptures are the verbally and plenarily inspired Word of God.  The Scriptures are inerrant, infallible, and God-breathed.  They are, therefore, the final authority for faith and life.  The sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments are the complete and divine revelation of God to Man.  The Scriptures shall be interpreted according to their normal grammatical-historical meaning, and all issues of interpretation and meaning shall be determined by the pastor.  Because the Bible teaches that God’s Word is divinely inspired (every word God-breathed) and divinely preserved (in the Hebrew Masoretic and Greek Received Text), the King James Version of the Bible shall be the official and only translation used by the church (2 Tim 3:16-17) (Matt 5:18) (1 Pet 1:23-25) (2 Pet 1:20-21)

We believe in one triune God, eternally existing in three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—each co-eternal in being, co-identical in nature, co-equal in power and glory, and having the same attributes and perfections. (Deut 6:4) (Matt 3:16-17) (Matt 28:19) (John 14:10, 26) (2 Cor 13:14) (1 Jn 5:7)

We believe that Jesus Christ is both true God and true man, that He was born of the virgin Mary, that He lived a sinless life, that He provided substitutionary atonement for lost man through His death on the cross, that He physically rose from the grave, and that He is coming again. (Is 7:14; 9:6) (John 1:1-2, 14) (2 Cor 5:19-21) (Phil 2:5-11) (I John 2:1-2)

We believe that the Holy Spirit is the person who convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; and, that He is the Supernatural Agent in regeneration, baptizing all believers into the body of Christ, indwelling and sealing them unto the day of redemption. (John 16:8-11) (Rom. 8:9) (1 Cor 12:12-14) (2 Cor 3:6) (Eph 1:13-14)

We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God; but that in Adam’s sin the human race fell, inherited a sinful nature, and became alienated from God. Man is totally depraved and, of himself, utterly unable to remedy his lost condition. (Gen 1:26-27) (Rom 3:22-23; 5:12; 6:23) (Eph 2:1-3; 4:17-19)

We believe that salvation is the gift of God apart from any human merit.  This salvation is brought to man by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ Whose precious blood was shed on Calvary for the forgiveness of sins. (Jn 1:12) (Acts 4:12) (Eph 2:8-10) (1 Pet 1:18-19)

We believe that once a person is saved, he is kept by God’s power and remains secure in Christ forever (Jn 6:37-40; 10:27-30) (Rom 8:1, 38-39) (Eph 4:30) (1 Pet 1:4-5)

We believe that the local church, which is the body and the espoused bride of Christ, is solely made up of born-again believers. (1 Cor 12:12-14) (2 Cor 11:2) (Eph 1:22-23; 5:25-27)

We believe in the autonomy of the local church free of any external authority or controls.  Any affiliations, societies, organizations, associations, or agencies that this church affiliates with to further their purpose are not authoritative in matters of church practice or belief. (Acts 13:1-4; 15:19-31; 20:28) (Rom 16:1, 4) (1 Cor 3:9, 16; 5:4-7, 13) (1 Pet 5:1-4)

We recognize Believer’s Baptism (water baptism by immersion as an outward sign of inward salvation) and the Lord’s Supper as the Scriptural ordinances of obedience for the church in this age. (Matt 28:19-20) (Acts 2:41-42; 8:36-38) (1 Cor 11:23-26)

We believe that believers should maintain a godly testimony and live in such a way that that their lives do not bring reproach upon their Savior. God commands His people to separate from all religious apostasy, all worldly and sinful pleasures, practices, and associations. We stand against any and all worldly philosophies that seek to destroy or undermine the truth of Biblical Christianity. (Rom 12:1-2) (1 Cor 6:19-20) (2 Cor 6:14-7:1) (2 Tim 3:1-5) (1 John 2:15-17) (2 John 9-11)

We believe in that blessed hope, the personal, imminent return of Christ, Who will rapture His church prior to the seven-year tribulation period.  At the end of the Tribulation, Christ will personally and visibly return with His saints, to establish His earthly Messianic Kingdom, which was promised to the nation of Israel. (Ps 89:3-4) (Dan 2:31-45) (Zech 14:4-11) (1 Thess 1:10; 4:13-18) (Titus 2:13) (Rev 19:11-16; 20:1-6)

We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men, the saved to eternal life, and the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment. (Matt 25:46) (John 5:28-29; 11:25-26) (Rev 20:5-6, 12-15)

We believe that the souls of the redeemed are, at death, absent from the body and present with the Lord, where in conscious bliss they await the first resurrection, when spirit, soul, and body are reunited to be glorified forever with the Lord. (Luke 23:43) (2 Cor 5:8) (Phil 1:23; 3:21) (1 Thess 4:16-17) (Rev 20:4-6)

We believe that the souls of unbelievers remain, after death, in conscious punishment and torment until the second resurrection, when with soul and body reunited, they shall appear at the Great White Throne Judgment, and shall be cast into the Lake of Fire, not to be annihilated, but to suffer everlasting conscious punishment and torment. (Matt 25:41-46) (Mark 9:43-48) (Luke 16:19-26) (2 Thess 1:7-9) (Jude 6-7) (Rev 20:11-15)

We believe that Satan is a fallen created being, opposed to all that is holy, and destined for eternal punishment in the lake of fire. (Isaiah 14:12-17) (Matt 4:2-11; 25:41) (Rev 20:10)

We believe that God created the universe ex-nihilo (from nothing).  We believe that the Genesis account of creation is neither allegory nor myth, but a literal, historical account of God’s creation of the universe in six literal, 24-hour periods. We reject evolution, the Gap Theory, the Day-Age Theory, and Theistic Evolution as unscriptural theories of origin. (Gen. 1-2) (Ex. 20:11) (Col 1:15-17) (Jn 1:1-3)

We believe that God has ordained and created all authority consisting of three basic institutions: 1) the home, 2) the church, and 3) the state. Every person is subject to these authorities, but all (including the authorities themselves) are answerable to God and governed by His Word. God has given each institution specific Biblical responsibilities and balanced those responsibilities with the understanding that no institution has the right to infringe upon the other. The home, the church, and the state are equal and sovereign in their respective Biblically assigned spheres of responsibility under God. We believe that we must obey the state unless it requires us to act contrary to our faith at which time, we must obey God rather than the state. (Matt 22:15-22) (Acts 5:29) (Rom. 13:1-7) (Eph 5:22-24) (Titus 3:1-2) (Heb 13:17) (1 Pet 2:13-14)

We believe that God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as male or female.  These two distinct, complementary genders reflect the image of God and are equal in position before God while being unique in the roles, responsibilities, and functions given from God (Gen 1:27; 5:2) (Matt 19:4) (Gal 3:28) (Col 3:18-19) (1 Tim 2:8-15; 3:4-5, 12).

We believe that the term marriage has only one meaning: the uniting of one naturally-born man and one naturally-born woman in a single, exclusive union, as delineated in Scripture.  We believe that God’s gift of sexual intimacy is then strictly reserved for the confines of marriage.  Any expression of human sexuality outside of this (including, but not limited to fornication, adultery, homosexuality, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, and pornography) is a sinful perversion of God’s gift and is expressly forbidden by Scripture (Gen 2:18-24) (Eph 5:22-23) (Lev 18) (Rom 1:26-29) (1 Cor 5:1; 6:9-11) (1 Thess 4:1-8) (Heb 13:4).

We believe that all human life is sacred and created by God in His image. Human life is of inestimable worth in all its dimensions, including pre-born babies, the aged, the physically or mentally challenged, and every other stage or condition from conception through natural death. We are therefore called to defend, protect, and value all human life. (Job 3:16) (Ps 51:5) (Ps 139:14-16) (Is 44:24) (Jer 1:5) (Lk 1:44) (Ex 20:13)

The Statement of Faith does not exhaust the extent of our faith.  The Bible itself is the sole and final source of all that we believe.  We do believe, however, that the foregoing Statement of Faith accurately represents the teachings of the Bible and, therefore, is binding upon all members.