Kilgore Bible Church Doctrinal Statement

Ratified June 7, 1984

The Bible

We believe that the words of the Old and New Testaments are verbally inspired by God and without error in the original manuscripts. The Bible is authoritative and without error in any category of knowledge, including science and history, and is of supreme and final authority in all matters about which it speaks. We also believe that all scriptures center around the Lord Jesus Christ in His person and work in His first and second coming, and therefore that no portion, even of the Old Testament, is properly read or understood until it leads to Him. We believe the Bible is to be interpreted in a normal and/or literal way and that it is understood as the believer is guided by the Holy Spirit of God.

Matthew 5:18; Mark 12:26, 36; Luke 24:27, 44; John 5:39, 16:12-15; Acts 1:16, 18:28, 26:22-23; I Corinthians 2:13-16; II Timothy 3:16; II Peter 1:21; Psalm 138:2

The Triune God

We believe in one Triune God, existing in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, eternal in being, identical in essence equal in power and glory and having the same attributes and perfections.

Isaiah 48:16; Matthew 28:18-19; Mark 12:29; John 1:14; Acts 5:3-4; II Corinthians 13:14; Hebrews 1:1-3

God the Father

We believe that God the Father is a spirit without flesh and bones whom no man has seen. It is the Father who was the author of the plan of God and who sent the Son to this world.

Psalm 2:7-9; John 1:18, 5:37

God the Son

We believe that God the Son existed in eternity past, became flesh in Jesus Christ, was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary and is both God and Man.

Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:35; John 1:14, 8:40; I Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 1:8, 2:14

We believe Jesus Christ perfectly revealed and did the will of God, taking upon Himself the demands and necessities of human nature and identifying Himself completely with mankind yet without sin.

Isaiah 53:9-12; Matthew 1:18-25, 3:17, 16:16; Mark 3:11; Luke 1:35; John 17:4; Romans 5:18-19; Hebrews 4:15

We believe that Jesus Christ died for the sins of all humanity as a substitutionary sacrifice and that all who believe in him are declared righteous on the basis of His shed blood.

Mark 10:45; Romans 3:24-26, 5:8-9, 10:9-10; II Corinthians 5:14; Ephesians 2:8-9; I John 2:1-2

We believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ, in His ascension into heaven, and in His present life there for us. Jesus now serves as high priest, intercessor, and advocate in our behalf with the Father.

Mark 16:19; John 20:25-27; Acts 1:9-11; Romans 1:4; Hebrews 7:25; I John 2:1

We believe in the personal, bodily return of Jesus Christ, in the glory of His Father to set up on earth a kingdom in which He shall reign in righteousness and peace.

Matthew 24:30; Acts 1:11; Revelation 20:4-6; Isaiah 9:6-7, 11:2-5

God the Holy Spirit

We believe that the Holy Spirit is a person, possessing all the distinctively divine attributes. He is God. He convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He regenerates, seals, and sets apart the believer to a holy life. At regeneration He baptizes the believer into the body of Christ and comes to indwell him permanently. He bestows spiritual gifts to all believers for the edification of the Church. His purpose is not to glorify Himself but rather Christ and build up His body.

Psalm 139:7, 8; Isaiah 40:13, 14; John 3:5-8, 14:16, 15:25; 16:7-15; II Thessalonians 2:13; Titus 3:5

Man

We believe that mankind was created in the image of God and thus has great value in God’s sight. But man sinned and consequently experienced not only physical death but also spiritual death which is separation from God. The consequences of this sin affect the entire human race. We believe that the human race is therefore dead in trespasses and sins and under the power of the devil, and that every child of Adam, the man Christ Jesus alone being excepted, is born into the world with a nature which is essentially and unchangeably sinful apart from divine grace.

Genesis 1:26, 27, 2:17, 6:5; Psalm 14:1-3; Jeremiah 17:9; Mark 7:20-23; John 2:24-25; Romans 3:10-19, 5:12-19; Ephesians 2:1-3, 4:18; I John 3:8

We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men. Believers will be resurrected to enjoy eternal life with God. Unbelievers will be resurrected to experience judgment and then eternal suffering apart from God.

Daniel 12:2; John 5:28-29; I Corinthians 15:52; I Thessalonians 4:16; Revelation 20:4-6, 21:1-8

Salvation

We believe that salvation comes only through faith in the shed blood of Christ and that repentance (a change of mind) is a vital part of believing and is in no way, in itself, a separate and independent condition of salvation; nor are any other acts, such as confession, baptism, prayer, or faithful service, to be added to believing as a condition of salvation.

Proverbs 28:13; Isaiah 55:7; John 3:16; Acts 15:11; Romans 3:23-26; I Corinthians 15:3; Ephesians 2:8-9; I Peter 2:24

We believe that all true believers are born of God and are possessors of the divine nature which is a new creation according to holiness and righteousness. This new life that abides in the believer will oppose fleshly desires and bear fruit which is of the Spirit of God.

Romans 7:18, 8:2; II Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15, 5:17-25; Ephesians 4:24; II Peter 1:4

We believe that all true believers are kept eternally secure by the power of God through the new birth, the indwelling and sealing of the Holy Spirit, and the intercession of Christ.

John 10:28-30, 14:16, 17; Romans 8:38- 39; Ephesians 4:30; Philippians 1:6; I John 5:13

The Church

We believe that the church in its invisible form is universal and is known as the body and bride of Christ. All believers from the day of Pentecost until the church is caught up to heaven are members of the universal church regardless of organizational affiliation.

Matthew 16:18; I Corinthians 12:12-14; Ephesians 1:22-23; Colossians 1:18

We believe that God's basic organizational plan for the training, worship, and ministry of believers is the local church made up of believers called out to know Jesus Christ and to make Him known.

Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15; John 17:18-20; Acts 1:8

We believe in the imminent return of Christ for the church. All members of the body of Christ will at that time be caught up to be with the Lord forever.

I Corinthians 15:51-53; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; Titus 2:11-14

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ instituted the ordinances of water baptism and the Lord's Supper to be observed until His return. The practice of this church is baptism by immersion.

Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 2:41; I Corinthians 11:23-26

We believe that the local church is to be ruled by Jesus Christ as the head through elders having equal authority. The elders are assisted by deacons to carry out the ministry. Elders and deacons are selected according to the standards expressed by the New Testament.

Acts 14:23; I Timothy 3:1-13; 1 Peter 5:14; Titus 1:5-9

The Normal Christian Life

We believe that every believer in this church age shares the same union with and position in Christ effected once-for-all by the baptism of the Holy Spirit at the moment of regeneration, and that it is the privilege and the duty of each believer to be habitually filled, controlled, and dominated in his inner life by the indwelling Spirit.

Galatians 5:16; Ephesians 5:18; I John 1:7

We believe that the basic condition for the Spirit controlled life is the attitude of dependence on the Spirit to possess or fill every area of the believer’s life, and that when the believer sins, the one and only means of restoration and cleansing is confession (honest admission of that sin) to the believer's Heavenly Father.

Psalm 32:5; I John 1:9

We believe that each Christian is a believer priest and possesses at least one spiritual gift or ability for service and should execute that gift with spiritual power for the building up of the church body.

Romans 12:3-8; I Corinthians 12:1-27; I Peter 2:5

We believe that it is the responsibility of all believers to remember the work of the Lord in prayer and to support it with their means as the Lord has prospered them.

I Corinthians 16:2

We believe that every believer still possesses a sinful nature in this life, but that God has made full provision for the believer to reckon this sinful nature dead and to live by faith as sons of God through abiding in Christ, through renewing one's mind by the application of Bible knowledge, and through walking in the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

John 15:5; Romans 5:12-19, 8:11-13, 12:2; Ephesians 2:1-10, 4:22-24; II Peter 1:3