What We Believe
THE SCRIPTURES
We believe in the Scriptures of the Old Testament and New Testaments verbally inspired by God and inerrant in the original writing. We believe the 66 books of the Old Testament and New Testament are God’s completed and sufficient revelation for the total well-being of mankind.
GOD
We believe in the only true God (John 17:3), the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19-20). He created all things (Revelation 4:11) and upholds all things by the Word of His power (Hebrews 1:3). In Him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28).He is a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He (Deuteronomy 32:4) and He shall judge the world (Psalm 9:8).
We believe that the God head eternally exists in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and that these three are one God, having precisely the same nature, attributes, and perfections, and worthy of precisely the same homage, confidence, and obedience (Mark12:29; John 1:1-4; Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 4:3-4).
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, 14, 18; John 14:8, 9; 1 Timothy 3:16).
HOLY SPIRIT
We believe that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ during this age. He convicts us of sin and regenerates the sinner upon believing in Christ, baptizing the believer into one body of which Christ is the head. He indwells guides, instructs, fills, comforts, and empowers the believer for godly living and service through individually bestowed spiritual gifts. While the Scriptures do not teach that certain gifts have ceased, it does seem to indicate that their usage would vary according to the need that each gift is designed to meet. Harvest Bible Chapel does not encourage these of the ‘sign gifts’. Instead we choose to emphasize the more excellent way of love and 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; I Corinthians 3:16; 12:4-5, 11-13, 19; Galatians 5:25; Hebrews 4:1-4; I Corinthians 12:12).
MAN
We believe that man was created in innocence under the law of his Maker, but by voluntary transgression fell from his sinless and happy state in consequence of which all mankind are now sinners; not only by constraint, but by choice and therefore under just condemnation without defense or excuse. We believe that without exception every man is totally depraved and needs a Saviour (Genesis 3:1-6; Romans 3:10-19; Romans 1:18, 32).
SALVATION
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, as a representative and substitution sacrifice. We believe that all who by faith receive Him as their personal Saviour are justified on the basis of His blood shed on Calvary. They are born-again of the Holy Spirit and thereby become eternally secure as children of God. We believe the Holy Spirit baptizes a person who believes into the body of Christ at the moment of salvation (Romans 8:37-39; II Corinthians 5:21; I Corinthians 12:13).
RESURRECTION
We believe in the resurrection of the crucified body of our Lord Jesus Christ, His ascension into heaven, and His present life for us as High Priest and Advocate (Acts 1:3, 9; Hebrews 7:25, 26).
RETURN OF CHRIST
We believe in “that blessed hope”, the personal, premillennial, and imminent return of our Lord Jesus Christ. His return has a vital bearing on the personal life and service of the believer (Thessalonians 4:13-18).
THE CHURCH
Upon accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour, all believers have therefore become part of His body, the church. There is one church universal, composed of all those who acknowledge Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. The Scriptures command believers to gather together to devote themselves to worship, prayer, teaching of the Word, observance of the ordinances (baptism and communion), fellowship, service to the body through the development and use of talents and gifts, and outreach to the world in fulfillment of the command of Christ to make disciples of all believers (Ephesians 5:23; Romans 12:1; Acts 2:42-46; I Corinthians 14:26; Matthew 28:18-20). Wherever God’s people meet regularly in obedience to this command there is the local expression of the church – under the watch – care of Elders and other supportive leadership. Its members are to work together in love and unity, intent on the one ultimate purpose of glorifying Christ (Ephesians 4:16).
MISSIONS
Realizing that the cause of Christ extends beyond any one local fellowship, we commit ourselves to an ongoing ministry of extending the call of Christ to make disciples around the world (Matthew 28:19-20).
THINGS TO COME
We believe in and expectantly await the glorious, visible, personal, premillennial return of the Lord Jesus Christ. The blessed hope of His return has vital bearing on the personal life, service, and mission of the believer (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). We believe in the bodily resurrection of both the saved and the lost. The lost will be raised to judgment and experience eternal wrath in hell. The saved will be raised to eternal joy in the new heaven and new earth in the manifested presence of God (Acts 1:3, 9; Hebrews 7:25-26).