What We Believe

We here at Graham Bible strive to know Christ and to make Him known. This simple purpose statement stands as the centerpiece of what our church believes.

A wider view of what we believe is contained in our Doctrinal Statement which lists those elements of the Chritian faith which we consider to be the essentials of a biblical belief system. Anyone desiring to be a member of Graham Bible would need to hold these core beliefs.

The Christian faith contains many different doctrines relating to all that God has revealed in the Scriptures. While all of these are important, some are more central than others. We here at Graham Bible consider the below doctrines to be the core of the Christian faith and necessary for someone to hold before becoming a member of our fellowship.

Doctrinal Statement of Faith

GOD
• There is One true God (1 Cor 8:5-6), who is the creator of Heaven and Earth (Gen 1).
• God is Eternal (Ps 41:13), Holy (Isa 6:3, Rev 4:8), Sovereign (Is 43:13), All-knowing (Ps 139:1-4), All-powerful (Matt 19:26), personal (Jn 1:14; Heb 1:2), and loving (Jn 3:16, 1 Jn 4:8), yet transcendent (Dt 29:29, Isa 55:8-9).
• This God of glory has eternally existed as three distinct persons (Matt 28:19): Father (Matt 6:9), Son (Jn 1:34), and Holy Spirit (Jn 14:26).

JESUS
• Is both fully God (Jn 1:1-5) and fully man (1 Tim 2:5). (Matt 28:19)
• He eternally existed as the Son of God (Jn 1:1-5), but was born of a virgin (Matt 1:24-25), lived a sinless life (2 Cor 5:21; Heb 4:15), died upon a cross for the sins of the world, was buried, and rose physically from the dead (1 Cor 15:3-4).
• He appeared to many after His resurrection (1 Cor 15:5-8) until His ascended to heaven (Acts 1:9) as the Lord above all (Acts 2:32-36).
• Jesus now intercedes for His church (Rom 8:27; Heb 4:14-16), and awaits the Father’s command at which He will physically return (Acts 1:10-11; Rev 19:11-19).
• At His return Christ will set up a literal Kingdom (Rev 20:1-6) and reign until He judges Satan and all evil (Rev 20:7-15). He will then hand the kingdom over to the Father for the rest of eternity (1 Cor 15:28).

HOLY SPIRIT
• The Holy Spirit is a fully divine and unique person. (Matt 28:19)
• He inspired God’s prophets and led men to write the inspired Scriptures (2 Pet 1:20-21).
• He draws people to the Savior (Jn 16:7-11); and at the moment of salvation regenerates (Titus 2:5-6), indwells (Jn 14:17), and baptizes all believers into the Body of Christ (1 Cor 12:13).
• His baptism gifts (1 Cor 12:4-12), empowers (Acts 1:8), and seals all believers until the day of redemption (Eph 1:13-14).

SCRIPTURES
• Are God’s revelation to men about His person, promises, and purposes. (2 Tim 3:16; Psalm 119)
• The Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, are inspired and inerrant as written in the original manuscripts (2 Tim 3:16). They have been preserved by God for all generations as the standard by which we believe and live.

PEOPLE
• People are created in the likeness of God’s image (Gen 1:26-27). We were created to know, love, and worship God as His representative on earth (Micah 6:8; Matt 22:36-37; Heb 2:6-7).
• As a result of Adam’s sin (Gen 3), all people are guilty of rebellion against their creator (Rom 5:12-19).
• All people are justly condemned (Rom 3:23) and apart from faith in Christ (John 14:6; Acts 4:12) will suffer the eternal judgment of hell (Rom 6:23).

SALVATION
• Salvation is the deliverance from sin’s present enslavement, total corruption, and future condemnation (Rom 6; 8:1-4).
• Salvation is a gift from God ( Eph 2:8) given to all who believe (Rom 1:16-17) in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31).
• Those who believe have been chosen by God the Father (Eph 1:3), called by the Holy Spirit (1 Pt 1:2) and should respond by persevering in faith until they see Christ face to face (1 Cor 15:1-2; Col 1:21-23).

SANCTIFICATION
• Sanctification is promised to all believers who persevere in faith.
• Believers in Christ are expected to “walk in the Spirit” by yielding to the leading of the Holy Spirit and not after their sinful desires (Gal 5:13-26). Those who believe should walk in obedience to God’s commands (1 Pet 1:14-16), commit themselves to His purposes (Matt 28:18-20), confess and repent from sin (1 Jn 1:9).
• Christians are called to grow in their personal walk with Christ (Phil 3:13-14) and also in fellowship with the saints (Heb 10:23-25) as a witness to the world (Matt 5:13-16).
• The Christian will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and give an account for their life and deeds (1 Cor 3:11-15, 2 Cor 5:9-11).

CHURCH
• The Church, which consists of people from all races, nations, tribes, and languages (Gal 3:28-29), is the Body of Christ whose mission is to build up itself in holiness through the power of the Holy Spirit (Eph 4:15-16), worship God in obedience (Rom 12:1-2), and witness to a lost and hopeless world (Acts 1:8).

*Graham Bible Church affirms many of the historic, Christ-centered creeds of the faith. To download the .pdf document containing the Nicene Creed, the Definition of the Council of Chalcedon (A.D. 451), and the Athanasian Creed, all of which Graham Bible Church affirms, click here.

*More about what GBC believes can be seen in our Foundations Class resources available at this link (Foundations Resources).