What We Believe

Harvest Fellowship Baptist Church holds to the latest statement of faith, The Baptist Faith & Message, adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention in 2000.  Among those foundational doctrines are the following:

 

Our foundation is solid, our faith is sure.

The Scriptures:

The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God's revelation of Himself to man. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error for its matter. Joshua 8:34; Psalm 119:11, 89, 105, 140; Isaiah 40:8; Matthew 5:17-18; Luke 24:44-46; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; Hebrews 4:12

God:

There is only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the Universe. God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections. The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as a Father, Son, and Holy Spirit with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.

God the Father: 

God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His grace. Genesis 1:1; Matthew 6:9; John 20:17

God the Son: 

Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He perfectly revealed and did the will of God, taking on the nature of humanity, yet was without sin. He died a substitutionary death on the cross, making provision for the redemption of man from sin. He was raised from the dead and appeared to his disciples before ascending into heaven, where he is now exalted at the right hand of the Father. Matthew 26:63-64; John 1:1; John 4:25-26; Romans 3:25-26; Colossians 1:16-17; Hebrews 9:26-28

God the Holy Spirit: 

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures and enables men, through illumination, to understand truth. He convicts of sin, righteousness and judgment, and baptizes every believer into the Body of Christ upon regeneration. Luke 24:49;  John 14:16-18; Acts 1:8; Ephesians 5:9; Galatians 5:22-23

Salvation: 

Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord. John 3:16; Romans 3, 5:8, 10:9-10; Galatians 4:4-5; Ephesians 2:8-10

Man: 

Man is the special creation of God, made in His image. In the beginning man was innocent of sin, but through the temptation of Satan, fell from innocence and inherited a nature and an environment inclined toward sin. Only the grace of God can bring man into holy fellowship with Him. Since God created man in His own image, every person of every race possesses full dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love. Genesis 1:27, 2:7, 3:19; Psalm 8:5; John 3:18; James 2:9-11

The Church: 

A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the Gospel, observing the two ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper. The Church is the Body of Christ, which includes all of the redeemed of all the ages, believers from every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation. Matthew 28:18-20; Luke 24:44-49; Acts 1:8, 1 Peter 2:4-10