Our Beliefs

JESUS CHRIST

We believe in the total deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe He is the manifestation of God in the flesh. We believe He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. We believe Him to be true God and true man (John 1:1, 1:14, 1:18; John 14:8-9; 1 Timothy 3:16).

HOLY SPIRIT

We believe in the total deity of the Holy Spirit and that His ministry is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ (John 16:14). The Holy Spirit regenerates the sinner upon belief in Christ, baptizing the believer into one body of which Christ is the head. The Holy Spirit indwells, guides, instructs, fills, comforts and empowers the believer for godly living (Mark 13:11; John 14:26; John 16:13; Romans 5:5; 1 Corinthians 3:16). The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, of God’s righteousness and of coming judgment (John 16:8-11).

While we believe that the Scriptures do not teach that certain gifts have ceased, they indicate that use of the gifts vary according to the need that each gift meets. Redemption Bible Chapel does not encourage the use of “sign gifts.” Instead, we seek to emphasize the more excellent way of love as well as zeal for the more edifying gifts (John 16:8; 13:15; Titus 3:5; Ephesians 1:22; 4:11-12; Romans 8:9-17; 12:4-8; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 12:4-5, 12:11-13, 12:19; Galatians 5:25; Hebrews 4:1-4; 2 Corinthians 12:12).

SCRIPTURES

We believe the Scriptures of the Old Testament and New Testament are verbally inspired by God and inerrant in their original writings. We believe the 66 books of the Old Testament and the New Testament are God’s complete and sufficient revelation and therefore carry God’s authority for mankind and we believe the English translations we have available today are accurate to the originals and therefore authoritative in all areas (Psalm 119:97-104; Psalm 119:160; Matthew 5:18; John 5:46-47; John 10:35; 2 Timothy 3:15-16).

MAN

We believe man was created in innocence under the law of his Maker but, by voluntarily transgressing, fell from his sinless and happy state. Consequently, all mankind is sinful. All people are sinners not only by inheritance, but by their own choice and therefore are under just condemnation without defense or excuse. We believe that without exception every man and every woman is totally depraved and needs a Savior (Genesis 3:1-6; Romans 3:10-19; Romans 1:18, Romans 1:32; Romans 5:1-2).

SALVATION

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice. He bore the wrath of a most holy God in punishing our sin upon Christ.  When God’s holiness and righteousness was satisfied He declared it finished.  We believe that each person who by faith receives Him as personal Savior and Lord is justified on the basis of Jesus Christ’s shed blood on Calvary. Each person who commits to follow Jesus Christ is born again of the Holy Spirit and thereby becomes eternally secure as a child of God. We believe the Holy Spirit baptizes each believing person into the body of Christ at the moment of salvation and empowers followers to follow and serve Him (Romans 8:37-39; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Corinthians 12:13).

RESURRECTION

We believe in the resurrection of the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, His ascension into heaven and His present life for us as High Priest and Advocate (Acts 1:3; Acts 1:9; Hebrews 7:25-26).

HEAVEN, HELL AND THE RETURN OF CHRIST

We believe in the “blessed hope”: the personal, imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ. His return has a vital bearing on the personal life and service of the believer (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). We believe in the bodily resurrection of both the saved and the lost. The saved are raised to eternal life in heaven which will be a bodily existence on the new heaven and earth enjoying this world renewed without sin and full and wonderful unhindered intimacy with God (Matthew 25:34; John 14:2; 2 Corinthians 5:1; Revelation 2:7). The lost are raised to eternal torment in hell in conscious separation from God. (Matthew 8:11; Matthew 10:28; Matthew 13:49-50; Mark 9:47-48; Luke 12:5; Revelation 21:8).

CHURCH

Upon committing to follow Jesus as Lord, a believer becomes part of His body, which is the church (the people, not the building, and not the gathering). There is one universal church, composed of all those throughout the world who acknowledge Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. The normal practice of the church since New Testament times has been to gather as the local church – those who are living in the same area – to be the expression of the universal church in that area.

This normally involves coming under local elder leadership (Acts 14:23), the mutual ministry to edify (build up) one another using the spiritual gifts God has given to each (Romans 12, 1 Cor. 12 – body life, Eph. 4:16), for prayer, teaching and the study of God’s Word (Rom. 15:30, 1 Tim. 2:1, James 5:16, 1 Tim. 5:17, 2 Tim. 4:2), for worship (Eph. 5:19, Col. 3:16), for fellowship (Acts 2:42, Heb. 10:24-25), and for the ordinances of baptism and communion (1 Cor. 11:17-34). The mission of the church is the great commission, to make disciples, this is the focus of all we do, for God’s glory (Matthew 28:16-20, Romans 12:1-2).  The working of all believers, in a local setting is toward unity and oneness in Christ Jesus by humility and considering others more significant than ourselves (Phil. 2:1-13).