Doctrinal Statement

The following outline gives the detailed Covenant of Fellowship, Doctrinal Statement and Tenets for Lost Pines Bible Church. This information is also included in our constitution. To view or hide the text for each section of the outline simply click the title of that section.

1. Covenant of Fellowship
   By the help of the Holy Spirit, we covenant:

   1. To walk together in Christian love.
   2. To exercise Christian care and watchfulness over one another.
   3. To pray with and for one another, sharing our burdens, sorrow, and joys.
   4. To be thoughtful and courteous to one another, to be slow to take offense, and to be quick to forgive and to seek forgiveness.
   5. To guard the spiritual and scriptural purity, peace and prosperity of the Church and its growth in scriptural knowledge and godliness.
   6. To assist, as the Lord enables, in the work of the Church, and to promote its usefulness as a witness to the saving grace of God in Christ Jesus.
   7. To contribute, as the Lord directs, to the financial support of this church and the evangelization of all peoples.
   8. To love and to pray for all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.
   9. To engage regularly in personal Bible reading and prayer, and to establish family devotions where possible.
   10. To bring up such children as may be entrusted to our care in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
   11. To walk circumspectly in the world, to provide things honest in the sight of all men, to be faithful in engagements, exemplary in behavior, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts.
   12. To endeavor by example, by word and by prayer to win others to an acceptance of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
2. Statement of Doctrine
   The Bible, the Word of God
   We believe the Holy Scriptures (the sixty-six books of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation) to be the verbal, plenary inspired Word of God, authoritative, inerrant, and God-breathed (2nd Timothy 3:16-17; 2nd Peter 1:20-21; Matthew 5:18).
   The Godhead
   We believe in one Triune God, existing in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19), eternal in being, identical in nature, equal in power and glory (Colossians 2:9), having the same attributes and perfections (Deuteronomy 6:4; 2nd Corinthians 13:14). The Father is the Author of the Divine Plan (Ephesians 1:11; 3:11), the Son is the Executor of the Divine Plan (Hebrews 10:7; 1st Timothy 2:5; John 4:34; 17:4), and the Holy Spirit is the Revealer of the Divine Plan (John 16:13; 1st Corinthians 2:10; John 14:26).
   The Person and Work of God the Father
   We believe God the Father is the author of the Divine Plan who, in eternity past, planned out every aspect of His creation from the beginning to the end of time, including every aspect in the angelic and human realms (Ephesians 1:3-10; 3:11). God the Father performs His work in our salvation when He makes us alive together with Christ, and raises us up to be seated at His right hand, with Christ, in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:4-7). God the Father continues to accomplish His work in and through believers (Philippians 2:13) as He supplies grace provisions (Philippians 4:19), establishes priorities (Isaiah 55:8-9), confirms peace (Philippians 4:9), and offers protection (Nahum 1:7) in the believer’s life.
   The Person and Work of Jesus Christ
   We believe the Lord Jesus Christ to be the pre-existent, eternal Son of God who became man without ceasing to be God or in any way diminishing His Deity (John 1:1-5, 14, 18), having been conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary (Luke 1:27, 34, 35), in order that He might fulfill the Divine Plan of God the Father and redeem sinful man (1st Peter 1:18-21). The Lord Jesus Christ is the unique person of the universe, His person being the eternal, inseparable union of two natures: undiminished deity and true humanity (Philippians 2:6-11). He died bearing our sins to pay ransom price for our redemption (Matthew 20:28), to secure our reconciliation to God (2nd Corinthians 5:18-19), and to propitiate (satisfy) God the Father with respect to our sins (1st John 2:2). In His death He was our substitute (Mark 10:45; Romans 5:6-8). This death was for all members of the human race (1st John 2:2; 2nd Corinthians 5:15; Titus 2:11; 1st Timothy 2:6; Hebrews 2:9) so that all men are now able to be saved by believing in Him. His literal, physical, bodily resurrection from the dead proves Him to be the Son of God (Romans 1:4) and guarantees both eternal redemption and personal resurrection for all believers (Hebrews 10:9-14; 1st Peter 1:3-5; 2nd Corinthians 4:14). He ascended in a glorified resurrection body into Heaven and is now seated and exalted at the right hand of God where as High Priest for His people, He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate (Acts 1:9; Hebrews 7:25; Romans 8:34; 1st John 2:1-2).
   The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit
   We believe the Holy Spirit is a person, co-equal with the other members of the Godhead, who convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8-11). The Holy Spirit baptizes every believer into union with the Lord Jesus Christ at the moment of salvation (1st Corinthians 12:13), regenerates the individual and gives him/her spiritual birth (John 3:3-7, Titus 3:5), seals the believer unto the day of redemption (Ephesians 1:13), and indwells all believers in the present age (1st Corinthians 6:19). The believer is commanded to be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18) and to walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:18-26) by maintaining fellowship with God through the confession of all known sins to God the Father (1st John 1:5-9). The ministry of the Spirit is to empower the believer (in fellowship) to accomplish the supernatural Christian way of life by illuminating the Word of God (John 16:13; 1st Corinthians 2:12-14), by providing guidance (Romans 8:14; Acts 11:12) and by interceding in prayer (Romans 8:26-29).
   The Origin, Nature, and Condition of Man
   We accept the Biblical account (a) concerning creation in which God created the universe out of nothing by His spoken Word and (b) concerning the six consecutive days of re-creation (and 7th day of recreation) in Genesis 1 and 2 as the only accurate description of the origin of man and the universe (Genesis 1:1,2,25; Psalm 33:6-9; Isaiah 45:18). We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God, but when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden the human race fell, was changed by inheriting a sin nature, became alienated from God by spiritual death, and came under the Adamic curse (Genesis 1:26-27; 2:7, 18-25; 3:1-24; Romans 3:22-23; 5:12; Ephesians 2:1). The consequent condition of man is that of total depravity, i.e., absolutely unable through his own efforts (works) to retrieve his lost condition (Isaiah 64:6; Romans 4:4-5; Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5).
   The Salvation of Man
   Salvation is the gift of God brought to man by grace, based upon the finished, complete, perfect work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, in dying on the cross bearing and being judged by God for the sins of all members of the human race to provide for forgiveness of sins (John 1:29; Ephesians 1:7; 2:8-9; 1st Peter 1:18-19). Since God is unable to be unfair to any person, loves all men equally, desires all men to be saved, is not willing that any should perish, invites all men to be saved, and since Christ paid the ransom price for the sins of the whole world, it is therefore genuinely possible for any member of the human race to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved (Acts 10:34-35; Isaiah 45:21; Romans 5:8; 8:32; 10:13; John 3:16; 1st Timothy 2:4; 2nd Peter 3:9; 1st John 2:2; 2nd Corinthians 5:14). The means of appropriating salvation is faith and faith alone (Ephesians 2:8-9) and this simple act of faith is the only thing God commands a lost individual to do in order to be saved (Acts 16:19-21; 1st John 3:23). The object of saving faith is the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ (1st Corinthians 15:3-4; John 16:8-11). Each individual must make the decision to receive by faith the Lord Jesus Christ as personal Savior. When a person does not, this is equivalent to rejection, since there is no status of suspended judgment (John 1:12; 3:11, 36; Acts 4:12; 16:31; Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5).
   The Eternal Security of Believers
   When a person appropriates by faith the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, from that moment in time, the person (now a believer) is kept secure forever and cannot lose his/her salvation. The Father may discipline the believer as a beloved child when necessary, but salvation cannot be retracted because of sin (John 10:27-30; Romans 8:1, 38, 39; Hebrews 12:6-11; 1st Peter 1:3-5; Jude 24).
   The Church
   We believe that the Church, which is the body of Christ, is a spiritual organism made up of all born-again believers of this dispensation – the dispensation of the Church – irrespective of their affiliation with Christian organizations (Ephesians 1:22-23; 4:4-6; 1st Corinthians 12:12-14; Colossians 1:18, 24). In the future, the body of Christ will become the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:25-27; Revelation 19:7-8). We further believe that the local church is an assembly of believers meeting together in a specific location with Biblically ordained leadership for the purpose of Bible study, worship, prayer, observation of the Lord’s Supper, fellowship, and witnessing (Acts 2:42; 6:1-6; 1st Corinthians 1:2; 1st Timothy 3:1-13; Hebrews 10:25).
   Angels and the Person of Satan
   We believe in the existence of a creation physically superior to man called angels. These angels were created and existed before God created the earth and man (Job 38:6-7). God’s Word reveals the personality and program of Satan (one of the angels) who was an anointed cherub until he fell through an act of pride (Ezekiel 28:14-17; Isaiah 14:12-15), luring 1/3 of all the angels to follow after him (Revelation 12:4), and is the open and declared enemy of God and man (Job 1:6-7; Matthew 4:2-11; Revelation 12:7-9; 2nd Corinthians 4:3-4). He stands under the judgment of God. His certain future confinement in the lake of fire with all the fallen angels and unbelieving humans to experience eternal, conscious torment is clearly set forth in Scripture (Matthew 25:41; Revelation 20:10-35).
   Eschatology (Prophecy and Last Things)
   The Blessed Hope
   We believe that the next great event in the fulfillment of prophecy will be the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in the air to receive to Himself the dead in Christ and believers who are alive at His coming, otherwise known as the Rapture and Translation of the Church (Titus 2:11-14; 1st Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1st Corinthians 15:51-57; Philippians 3:20-21; 1st John 2:2).
   The Tribulation
   We believe that the Rapture of the Church will be followed by the fulfillment of Israel’s seventieth week (the Tribulation), the latter half of which is the time of Jacob’s trouble, the Great Tribulation (Daniel 9:24-27; Jeremiah 30:7; Matthew 24:15-21).
   The Second Coming of Jesus Christ
   We believe that the Great Tribulation will be climaxed by the premillennial return of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth to set up His Kingdom for the millennium (a thousand years) in accordance with the fulfillment of Israel’s unconditional covenants (Acts 1:11; 2nd Thessalonians 1:7-10; Zechariah 14:4-11; Matthew 24:29-31; Revelation 19:11; 20:4; 2nd Samuel 7:9-16).
   The Millennium
   During these thousand years, Christ will reign over the nations of the earth with a rod of iron in righteousness and justice with peace (Revelation 20:1-10; Isaiah 9:6-7).
   The Eternal State
   We believe that the soul and spirit of all individuals who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation do at death immediately pass into His presence and there remain in conscious bliss until the resurrection of the body at His coming, when soul, human spirit and body reunited shall be associated with Him forever in glory; but the souls of unbelievers remain after death in conscious misery until the final judgment of the Great White Throne at the close of the millennium, when soul and body reunited shall be cast into the lake of fire, not to be annihilated, but to be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power (Luke 16:19-26; 23:43; 2nd Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23; 2nd Thessalonians 1:7-10; Jude 6, 7; Revelation 20:11-15).
   Spirituality
   We believe that spirituality is an absolute condition in the life of the believer in this dispensation - the dispensation of the Church, age of the local church - wherein he is filled or controlled by the Holy Spirit, walking in love and fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. A believer loses this fellowship (and becomes carnal) through any act of sin (mental, verbal, overt, or omission) and the filling of the Holy Spirit is restored solely by personal confession of that sin to God the Father. We believe spirituality is distinct from spiritual maturity (John 15:7-8; 2nd Corinthians 5:6; Galatians 5:16-18; Ephesians 5:18; Romans 6:11-13; 1st John 1:9; 2:2; 1st Corinthians 11:30-31).
   Spiritual Gifts
   We believe that God the Holy Spirit in grace and apart from human merit sovereignly bestows spiritual gifts to believers in this dispensation - the dispensation of the Church (1 Corinthians 12:4). Some of these spiritual gifts were temporary and others are permanent.
   Permanent Spiritual Gifts
   The permanent spiritual gifts which are still given today are Faith-Worker, Teacher, Helper, Administrator, Server/Minister, Giver, Leader, Mercy-Shower, Exhorter/Encourager/Comforter, Evangelist and Pastor-Teacher (1 Corinthians 12; Romans 12:4-8; Ephesians 4:11).
   Temporary Spiritual Gifts
   The temporary spiritual gifts have either ceased or been done away with (1 Corinthians 13:8-9). For example, the spiritual gift of Speaking in Languages (tongues) was given to warn the Jews of impending discipline and ceased to be distributed with the fulfillment of its purpose when Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D. (Isaiah 28:11-13; 1 Corinthians 14:20-22). The remainder of the temporary spiritual gifts including the “in part” gifts, the foundational gifts, and the sign gifts disappeared as the dispensation of the Church shifted from the age of the apostles to the age of the local church and the Canon of Scripture was brought to completion (Acts 2:43; 5:12; 1st Corinthians 13:9, 10; 2nd Corinthians 12:12; Philippians 2:25-30; 1st Timothy 5:23; Hebrews 2:2-4).
   Church Ordinances
   We believe the Lord Jesus Christ instituted the ordinance of baptism by immersion and the Lord’s Supper (communion) to be observed until His return (Matthew 28:19-20; 1st Corinthians 11:23-26). Baptism is for believers only and is a symbolic testimony of identification with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection (Romans 6:3-4). The Lord’s Supper is also for believers only and commemorates the unique, sinless person (the bread) of Jesus Christ and the perfect work (the cup) of Jesus Christ dying on the cross for our sins.
3. Tenets
   1. This church shall not at any time become a member, sanction, or support the National Council of Churches of Christ in America, the World Council of Churches, or any other such organization.
   2. This church shall not solicit anyone to become a Member. Those who desire to fellowship with this church may do so of their own volition. Those who desire to become Members of this church may do so by complying with the provisions of Article IX of the Lost Pines Bible Church constitution.
   3. This church shall not knowingly accept gifts from unbelievers nor make individual solicitation of funds or pledges among believers.