A summary of what we believe is as follows:
- God is bigger and better and closer than we can imagine.
- The Bible is God’s perfect guidebook for living.
- Jesus is God showing himself to us.
- God lives in and through us now through His Holy Spirit.
- Nothing in creation “just happened”; God made it all.
- Grace is the only way to have a relationship with God.
- Faith is the only way to start this relationship and to grow.
- God has allowed evil to provide us with choices.
- God can bring good even out of evil events, and God promises victory over evil to those who choose Him.
- We will all live forever somewhere. God’s desire is that everyone would live forever with Him in heaven.
- Death is the beginning, not the end.
- The church is to serve people like Jesus served people.
- Jesus is coming again!
You will find the following core purposes at FIRST Baptist Church of Walnut Creek:
- Fellowship with other. We are there for mutual encouragement and support in one’s faith.
- Intercession with God. We are desirous to come together for worship, endeavoring to meet the need of all true worshipers.
- Reaching the Lost. We want our growth to come from reaching those who need Christ in our community and world.
- Service to others. We help people discover and use their spiritual gifts.
- Training in godliness. We are committed to helping people become more like Jesus Christ in character, actions, attitude and words.
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH STATEMENT OF FAITH
(Adopted at Annual Meeting, 2004)
1. THE SCRIPTURES
We believe the Bible is the inspired word of God and without error in the original
writings.
We believe that this divine inspiring extends equally to each word and to all parts of the
sixty-six books of the Bible.
We believe that all the Scriptures center on Jesus Christ, both the Old and New
Testament and that they are the believer’s sole authority.
We believe that all Scripture is to be taken in its natural and literal sense, all the while
recognizing the interpreter must take into account the metaphors of the Bible.
We believe that all Scripture were designed for our practical instruction.
2. THE TRUE GOD
We believe there is only one living and true God existing as three persons, the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit.
We believe that the members of the Godhead have the same nature and attributes and are
worthy of the same worship and honor.
We believe that the Father is the source of all things and the one who sent the Son as His
gift into the world.
We believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, eternal and equal with the Father, born of
the Virgin Mary, and that He is both true God and true man.
We believe that Jesus Christ died for our sin on our behalf.
We believe that Jesus Christ rose physically from the dead and ascended to the right hand
of the Father, where He is now ministering on our behalf.
We believe that Jesus Christ will receive us unto Himself at His coming and will return to
establish His earthly kingdom.
3. MAN/SIN
We believe that man is the product of the direct creative act of God, made in the image of God.
We believe in the sanctity of human life that begins at the point of conception.
We believe that all sexual relationships must pattern themselves after a faithful heterosexual relationship within marriage.
We believe that man fell from his original position through sin, and, as a consequence, became separated from God in fellowship and became subject to the power of Satan.
We believe that sin has been transmitted to the entire human race so that every child of Adam is born into the world with a fallen nature devoid of spiritual life and no power to recover oneself from this condition.
4. SALVATION
We believe that salvation is entirely of God, by grace, through personal faith in the death of Christ, wholly apart from any human merit, works, or foreseen faith.
We believe that believers were chosen sovereignly by God before the foundation of the world for salvation and are enabled by the Spirit to believe.
We believe that the new nature and eternal life are communicated to believers by a supernatural work of the Spirit.
We believe that believers have a right standing before God in that their sins were put on Christ and His righteousness was accredited to us.
We believe that all believers were set apart at the point of salvation and the believer is progressively brought closer to conformity to the holiness of God, a process culminating at the return of Christ.
We believe that all who are truly born again will be kept by Christ and will persevere in faith unto the day of complete redemption.
5. THE CHURCH
We believe that all who are united to the risen and ascended Son of God are members of the church that began fifty days after the crucifixion.
We believe the local church is a congregation of immersed believers, associated in the faith, the body of truth embodied in Scripture, for the spreading of the gospel, and worship of God.
We believe that the ordinances of the church are baptism by immersion as the identifying symbol of one’s belief in Christ’s death and resurrection, and communion that is a commemoration of Christ’s death until He comes.
We believe the church has the responsibility to take the gospel message to all nations of the earth and to be a voice for justice and truth in the world.
We believe in separation from all sinful practices and all spiritual apostasy.
6. ANGELS
We believe angels are spirit beings created to serve and worship God.
We believe Satan was created holy but rebelled against the Creator, involving numerous angels in his fall, and introducing sin to the human race by the temptation of our first parents.
We believe Satan was defeated in the death of Christ and will be tormented forever.
We believe Satan’s control over Christians is limited to external influences that may be resisted by the believer.
7. FUTURE EVENTS
We believe in the any moment coming of Jesus Christ for His church at which time all church saints will be raised, glorified and rewarded.
We believe that Christ will return at the second coming to set up His kingdom, to overthrow Satan, and to re-gather Israel to their promised land.
We believe in the physical resurrection of all the dead; the saved to life eternal, the unsaved to eternal judgment and separation from God in the lake of fire.
We believe the eternal state will begin following the judgment for the lost with believers of all time enjoying God forever.
Doctrinal Statement verses:
1.THE SCRIPTURES
2 Timothy 3:15-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21, 3:15-16; 1 Corinthians 2:13; John 14:26, 16:13, 17:17; Hebrews. 1:1-2.
2. THE TRUE GOD
John 4:24; Deuteronomy 6:4; Genesis 1:1; Colossians 2:9; Hebrews 1:1-2; John 1:1, 14-18; John 8:58; Philippians 2:5-8; 1 Peter 2:24, 3:18; Hebrews 7:25; Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13-14; Matthew 1:18-25; John 14:26, 16:7-14; Psalm 139:7-12; Acts 5:3,4; Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 6:19, 12:13; 2 Corinthians 12:12.
3. MAN/SIN
Genesis 1:26-27, 2:7; Romans 3:1-24, 5:12-14.
4. SALVATION
Ephesians 2:1-8; Titus 3:5-6; Acts 16:31; John 3:3-7; 2 Corinthians 5:17; 1 Peter 1:23; 2 Peter 1:4; Eph. 1:4-11; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; Romans 5:1; 1 Cor. 1:2; Philippians 1:6; Romans 8:33-39; John 10-27-29.
5. CHURCH
2 Corinthians 6:14; Matthew 6:15-16; Ephesians 1:22-24, 4:11-12; 1 Corinthians 11:23-28; 1 John 2:15-16, 4:1-3; 2 Corinthians 5:20; Matthew 18:15-17; Acts 2:41-42; Matthew 16:18.
6. ANGELS
Hebrews 1:6; Revelation 5:11; Genesis 3:1-5; Matthew 4; 1-11; Revelation 20:10.
7. FUTURE EVENTS
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:22-24; Revelation 1:5-7, 19:11-16, 20:1-7;
John 5:22, Romans 14:10-13; Revelation 21-22; John 14:1-3.