What We Believe – Olivet Baptist Church

Statement of Faith

About the Bible

We believe the Bible to be the complete Word of God; that the sixty-six books, as originally written, consisting of the Old and New Testaments were verbally inspired by the Spirit of God and are entirely free from error; that the bible is the final authority in all matters of faith and practice and the true basis of Christian union. (Psalm 119:152, 160; 2 Timothy 3:16, 17; 2 Peter 1:21)
About God
About Christ

We believe in the absolute and essential deity of Jesus Christ, in His eternal existence with the Father in pre-incarnate glory, in His virgin birth, sinless life, substitutionary death, bodily resurrection, triumphant ascension, mediatorial ministry, and personal return.
(John 1:1-4; 1 Peter 1:18-21)
About the Holy Spirit

We believe in the absolute and essential deity and personality of the Holy Spirit Who convinces of sin, of righteousness and of judgment; Who regenerates, sanctifies, illuminates and comforts those who believe in Jesus Christ.
(John 14:16, 17, 25, 26; John 16: 7-15)
About Satan
About Man
About Salvation

We believe that salvation is by the sovereign, electing grace of God; that by the appointment of the Father, Christ voluntarily suffered a vicarious, expiatory, and propitiatory death; that justification is by faith alone in the all-sufficient sacrifice and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and that those whom God has effectually called shall be divinely preserved and finally perfected in the image of the Lord.
(Romans 5:6-8; Ephesians 1: 4-8, 2:8, 9)
About the Future Things

We believe in the personal, bodily and glorious return of the Lord Jesus Christ; in the bodily resurrection of the just and the unjust; in the eternal blessedness of the redeemed and in the judgement and conscious, eternal punishment of the wicked and those who don’t put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ.
(Acts 1:11; 2 Timothy 4:1; Matthew 25:41, 46; John 14:1-4)
About the Local Church

We believe that a church is a company of believers, called out from the world, separated unto the Lord Jesus, voluntarily associated for the ministry of the Word, the mutual edification of its members, the propagation of the faith and the observance of ordinances. We believe it is a sovereign, independent body, exercising its own divinely awarded gifts, precepts, and privileges under the Lordship of Christ, the Great Head of the church. We believe that its officers are pastor/elders and deacons/stewards.
(Acts 2:42, 46, 47; 1 Timothy 3:1-13)
About Ordinances

We believe that there are only two ordinances for the church regularly observed in the New Testament, in this order:

1. Baptism, which is the immersion of the believer in water, whereby he obeys Christ’s command and thereby sets forth his identification with Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection.
(Acts 8:36-38; Romans 6:3-5)

2. The Lord’s Supper (or communion), which is the memorial wherein the believer partakes of the two elements, bread and wine, which symbolize the Lord’s body and shed blood, proclaiming His death until He comes again.
(1 Corinthians 11:23-26)
About the Church and the State
About Religious Liberty
About the Lord’s Day
About Civil Government

We believe that civil government is of divine appointment for the interest and good order of society; that our elected officials magistrates are to be prayed for, conscientiously honoured and obeyed, except only in the things opposed to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the only Lord of the conscience and Prince of the kings of the earth.
(1 Timothy 2:1-4)

God's Word

We will unapologetically preach truth from God’s Word.

Prayer

We will align ourselves with the Spirit of God in prayer.

Community

We will stay accountable and encourage one another.

Service

We will allow the Word of God to equip us for the work of God.