New Hope Baptist Church Core Beliefs

"What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us." - A.W. Tozer

Bible

We believe the Bible to be the complete Word of God.

• That the 66 books of the Old and New Testament were inspired by the Spirit of God as originally written
• That the Bible is the final authority in all matters of faith and conduct · 2 Timothy 3:16

God

There is one eternally existing God who has three distinct persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. He is the creator of all that exists, both visible and invisible, and is therefore worthy of all glory and praise.  God is perfect in love, power, holiness, goodness, knowledge, wisdom,  justice, and mercy. He is unchangeable and therefore is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow

Jesus Christ

We believe in the absolute and essential deity of our Lord Jesus Christ

• In His eternal existence, with the Father in pre-incarnate glory
• In His work of creation, in His virgin birth, sinless life, substitutionary death and bodily resurrection
• In His triumphant ascension, mediatorial ministry and personal return
• Jesus Christ is returning one day to judge both the living and the dead and to usher in the fullness of God's kingdom on earth

The Holy Spirit

We believe in the absolute and essential deity, and in the personality of the Holy Spirit

• Who convinces of sin, of righteousness and of judgment
• Who regenerates, indwells, seals, sanctifies, illuminates and comforts those who believe in Jesus Christ
• Who baptizes believers at conversion into the Body of Christ and bestows upon them His gifts sovereignly as He wills and fills those yielded to Him

Mankind

Humans, both male and female, were created in God's image for His glory. The first humans, Adam and Eve, were created without sin and appointed as caretakers of the rest of God's creations

• That by the sin of disobedience man fell from that state
• That all his posterity inherited spiritual depravity and defilement
• That all men therefore are guilty before God and condemned to physical and spiritual death

Revelation

God has revealed himself to us through his son, Jesus Christ, who is the visible image of the invisible God, the holy scriptures, and through all of creation itself

Salvation

We believe that salvation is by the sovereign grace of God

• Jesus Christ came to reconcile us with God
• He lived a life without sin and willingly died on the cross to pay the penalty for our transgressions
• God raised him from the dead and now, by grace, offers as a free gift eternal life to all who follow Christ, by faith, as their Lord and Savior
• That justification is by faith alone in the all-sufficient sacrifice and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ
• That those whom God has effectually called shall be divinely preserved and ultimately perfected in the image of the Lord
• That is why salvation can be found in Christ alone

The Church

The Church is meant to be the visible body of Christ, sent into the world to glorify God and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ