“Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day…”
- Acts 26:22
Statement of Purpose
It is our purpose to glorify God and the Lord Jesus Christ, first and foremost - nothing else matters if we don’t please Him. Secondly, Jesus Christ said that He would build His church (Matt 16:18). The first emphasis is to be on those who are already members in the church. If we don’t seek to grow spiritually ourselves, we will not be able to fulfill the role of an ambassador for Jesus Christ without it (2 Corinthians 5:20). The secondary emphasis on growing the church is winning the lost. A church that doesn’t actively seek the lost and to spread the gospel by order of the great commission found in Acts 1:8 is a church which has become self-indulgent like the world and will one day perish without a heavenly vision (Proverbs 29:18).
The Scriptures
We believe the Bible to be our final authority in all matters of faith and practice. It is to be revered as the perfect, inerrant and complete Word of God which has been providentially preserved in English (the current universal language of the day) and only found in the Authorized Version of the King James Bible produced in 1611. The Bible was given by inspiration of God (2 Timothy 3:16) and it is by this inspiration, a born-again believer can understand and comprehend the scriptures (Job 32:8, Genesis 40:8, Daniel 2:28, Luke 24:45). A non-believer cannot distinguish the Bible from any other book for lack of God-given discernment as stated in 1 Corinthians 2:14.
We not only believe in the inspiration of the Bible but also the preservation of it as well. Simply put, if you believe God can speak the heaven and the earth into existence and if he can use sinful men to pen the original manuscripts (which no one has access to today) then He most certainly can preserve the words He inspired, even through translations into other languages and eventually into the King James Bible (Psalm 12:6-7, Matthew 24:35). A perfect example of God preserving His word can be found in Jeremiah 36 where the Word of God was penned by the mouth of Jeremiah and was later destroyed by the king of Judah. Afterwards as directed by God, Jeremiah re-wrote the former Words that had been written, preserving them and then added to those Words improving them. When the author of a book adds to the words and improves them himself, he is not in error. The error comes into play when someone other than the original author changes them (Proverbs 30:5-6, Rev 22:18). While new versions of the Bible may contain scriptural principles found in the Word of God, they simply are not the Word of God.
The Godhead
We believe in the monotheistic viewpoint of God, that there is one living and true God exemplified in the trinity by God the Father, God the Holy Spirit and God the Son - the Lord Jesus Christ. (John 1:1, 1 John 5:7)
The Lord Jesus Christ
We believe Jesus Christ is not a created being but as the Bible states, “God was manifest in the flesh…” (1 Tim 3:16, 1 John 4:2-3); showing full deity and yet was “in fashion as a man” (Phil 2:8). Jesus Christ was born of a virgin through the power of the Holy Spirit, lived a sinless life and came to make full atonement for the sins of mankind. (Isaiah 7:14, Luke 1:35, John 1:14, 2 Corinthians 5:21)
The Plan of Salvation
We believe Jesus Christ’s main purpose in coming to this earth was to pay the debt of sin for all mankind (John 18:37). God’s plan from the beginning was to one day pay the penalty for sin through the blood of His own Son at Calvary (Genesis 3:15, 22:8). The Old Testament sacrifices could never take away sins but the perfect sacrifice of God’s Son could (John 1:29, Hebrews 10:1-14). The Bible states in Hebrews 9:22 that there is no remission of sins without the shedding of blood, so the sacrifice of His Son on the cross was a one-time payment that was made available to all (John 3:16, 10:10). The gospel is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and is a free gift (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). It is given to those who believe the gospel, repent of their sins and ask the Lord for forgiveness. This gift cannot be obtained by working for it or being “good enough” (Romans 3:20-24, 6:23, 10:9-10, Ephesians 2:8-10, Titus 3:5). You cannot earn your way to heaven based on your own merit or in your own righteousness (Psalm 39:5, 14:3, Isaiah 64:66).
For absurd reasons, there are some today that reject the need for repentance unto salvation. When we say that you must repent or “turn” from sin, we do not mean that you need to stop sinning and turn your own life around; that of course is impossible and is not required. However, we believe that a forgiven sinner is one who has acknowledged his/her condition before a holy and righteous God, (Psalms 38:18 “For I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin.”) and accepts the finished work of Jesus Christ at Calvary as payment for their sin Luke 5:32, Acts 20:21, 2 Corinthians 7:10, 2 Peter 3:9. Without salvation, he/she is worthy of an eternity in Hell. God does send anyone to Hell because of sin per se, but unforgiven sin is what sends them there. As we live on this earth, all the while sinning each day (even a lie is a sin), we create a debt of sin that requires payment. Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”, 1 John 5:11, 13. That payment was made by God through His son and once received, a lost sinner is forever saved from sin and guaranteed a home in heaven (Ephesians 4:30).
The Ordinance of Baptism
Baptism has been misconstrued away from sound Bible doctrine by many religions of the world. Baptism in scripture is clearly marked in the Bible as going bodily and completely into the water and coming out of the water (Acts 8:36-38). Many churches these days choose sprinkling as their method for baptism, which cannot be found in the Bible. Also, baptism does nothing to guarantee or help someone to achieve a home in heaven (1 Corinthians 1:17). The ordinance of baptism is simply a picture of what has happened to a newly saved believer spiritually. As in the gospel, we have died to world and become alive to God (Ephesians 2:1, Rom 6:11). We often say, if someone gets baptized who has not been scripturally born again; they have done nothing but gotten wet. Thus, this ordinance is done to obey the command of our Lord as a public testimony in front of a local assembly (Matthew 28:19). Lastly, baptism will also identify someone with the body of believers in a local assembly, which automatically grants membership in the church in which you are baptized.
The Ordinance of the Lord’s Supper
Heritage Baptist Church has open communion to those who are born-again. The Lord’s supper is the second of two ordinances given to the church by Paul the apostle. This doctrine has also been perverted by religion. First of all, the Lord’s supper does not constitute the eating of Christ’s literal blood and body. Second, it does nothing to absolve sins or gain His favor apart from simply obeying a Biblical ordinance. As Bible believers, we do not refer to the Lord’s supper as a sacrament, neither do we refer to the elements as the Eucharist.
The Bible does not teach or even imply that Christ’s body can be literally eaten. When Jesus said in John 6:53 “…Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.” and also in verse 55 “For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.” - it must be taken in a spiritual sense, not a literal one. While we take most of the Bible literally (especially the creation story found in Genesis), not all of the Bible is to be taken literally. Jesus Christ said that this was a spiritual exercise based on verse 63. The Lord’s Supper is to be done as often as deemed necessary by the pastor of a local church and is to be done as a memorial of what the Lord did for us. It is not to be taken lightly or approached irreverently; not to be simply a religious rote exercise to which there is no value. Paul the apostle warns against this in 1 Cor 11:27 “Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.” Paul quoted the Lord saying that the purpose of the ordinance was to be done “in remembrance of me.” Therefore those that perpetuate the error that the Lord’s supper is “…morally necessary for salvation…” (https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/holy-communion) are promoting one the greatest heresies of all time. This in fact perverts the pure truth of the gospel leading lost souls down the path of a list of do’s and don’ts as a way to obtain entrance into Heaven which places the focus on the sinner rather than that of the finished work of the Savior. Simply put, a sacrament is something you observe in order to be saved, an ordinance is something you observe because you are saved.
The Local New Testament Church
We believe the local New Testament church to be a local assembly of born-again believers which are possessing a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and who have been baptized in a local assembly. The purpose of the local church today, among other things is to grow as believers (2 Peter 3:18), to occupy as the Lord commanded (Luke 19:13), to continue in the faith (2 Timothy 3:14), to abound in the work of the Lord (1 Corinthians 15:58) and to faithfully attend services (Hebrews 10:25).
The The local church ought to be first local - a good church is hard to find these days, but you ought to line yourself up with a church that is close to home, which will promote faithfulness.
The local church ought to be autonomous - the right church will be an independent, self governing body of believers separate from any outside individual or organization. The ultimate head of the church is Jesus Christ and in accordance with the pastoral epistles; the pastor of the local church is to be the “under-shepherd” following the leading of the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Peter 5:1-4, 1 Tim 3:15).
The Baptist Faith
B The Bible is the FINAL Authority for all matters of Faith and Practice
A Autonomy of the Local Church
P Priesthood of the Believer
T Two Ordinances
I Individual Soul Liberty
S Saved and Baptized, Church Membership
T Two Offices
S Separation of Church and State
As Baptists, we do not believe that you can only be saved if you are Baptist - we are not Baptist “Briders”. But the baptist faith is one to be held in reverence for our Baptist forefathers who paved the way for many of our freedoms today.