“Harvest Bible Church, has been formed as a fellowship of believers in the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Our supreme desire is to know Christ and be conformed to His image by the power of the Holy Spirit. We are not a denominational church, nor are we opposed to denominations as such, only to those who over-emphasize the doctrinal differences to the point of causing division in the Body of Christ.”
Statement of Faith
A Statement of Faith is a written declaration of the church’s position on matters that pertain to the essentials of historical Christianity. The following statements comprise Harvest Bible Church’ Statement of Faith:
We believe that the Bible is inspired by God in its entirety, and is without error. It is a complete and final written revelation from God. (2 Timothy 3:15-17, 2 Peter 1:21)
A better knowledge and understanding of the Bible will naturally cause growth and maturity in a believer’s life. Our services are designed with great emphasis upon the teaching of the Word of God that He might instruct us how He should be worshiped.
We believe worship of God should be spiritual. Therefore, we remain flexible and yielded to the leading of the Holy Spirit to direct our worship. Worship of God should be inspirational. (Psalm 96:1) Therefore, we give great place to music in our worship. Worship is that place where the heart of God and the heart of His child meet. True worship always magnifies God and our outlook toward Him. (John 4:23) As God is magnified, everything else becomes insignificant. We begin to see beyond our circumstances and limitations, our fears diminish, and our spirits become refreshed.
We believe that there is only one God, who is eternal and immutable, and manifests Himself in three distinct Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (Genesis 1:1, Deuteronomy 6:4, Matthew 28:19, John 10:30)
We believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the promised Messiah (John 1:36-42), born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23, Luke 1:34-35), totally without sin (Hebrews 4:15, Hebrews 7:26), God in human flesh (John 1:1 & 14, John 20:28) the One Who died on the cross for our sins (1 Corinthians 15:3, Ephesians 1:7, Hebrews 2:9), was buried (John 19:40-42), rose again from the dead on the third day (John 2:19), and ascended to the right hand of the Father in heaven, where He now intercedes for us who believe in Him. (Mark 16:19, Acts 7:56, 1 Timothy 2:5) After Jesus ascended to Heaven, He poured out His Holy Spirit on the believers in Jerusalem, enabling them to fulfill His command to preach the Gospel to the entire world, an obligation shared by all believers today.
We believe that Jesus Christ is going to return in the clouds for His church before the tribulation that is coming upon the whole earth (1 Thessalonians 4:16), and that He will return with His saints and all His holy angels to the earth at the end of the tribulation, and set up His kingdom on earth, ruling and reigning forever and ever. (Matthew 24:30, Revelation 19:13)
We believe that all humanity is lost and born with a sinful nature, and can only be saved by a personal faith in the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and not by any human merit or performance. (John 3:16-19, John 5:24, Romans 3:10, Romans 3:23, Romans 5:8-9, Ephesians 2:8-10, Titus 3:5)
We believe in a real/literal devil, called Satan, who, along with all his fallen angels, demons, and evil spirits, are destined to spend eternity in hell, and now seek to deceive the world, defeat the believers, and destroy the work of God, but can be resisted by believers, who are protected by God, the Holy Spirit and the intercession of Jesus Christ our Lord. (Genesis 3:1, Job 1:6-12, Matthew 4:1-11, Luke 22:31-32, 1 John 4:4, Revelation 20:10)
We believe that heaven is a real place where the saved will dwell forever, and that hell is a literal place of torment where unbelievers will suffer forever. (John 14:1-3, Revelation 20:11-15, Revelation 21:8, Revelation 22:5)
We believe that genuine believers are born again by the Holy Spirit of God, and are indwelt, baptized into the body of Christ, the true church, and sealed by the Holy Spirit, and thus, unable to be separated from the love of Jesus Christ. (John 3:1-6, Acts 1:4-5, Romans 8:35-39, Ephesians 1:13-14)
We believe that all believers need to be filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit to live a godly life and to be bold in our witness for the Lord. (Romans 8:13-14, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, Ephesians 4:30, Ephesians 5:18)
We believe in the spiritual unity of all genuine believers in the Lord Jesus Christ which is manifested by the spiritual gifts and fruit of the Holy Spirit’s presence through His love. (I Corinthians 12:12-13, Galatians 5:22-23, Ephesians 4:8-12)
We believe that the nation of Israel has a special place in God’s plan, and that all of the promises of God to Israel will be fulfilled both now and in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ in His millennium. (Genesis 12:3, Psalm 122:1)
We believe marriage is a sacred covenantal union between a man and a woman that limits sexual relations to monogamous, heterosexual marriage. (Genesis 2:24)
Marriage is a sacred and profound event that shall be entered into only where the proposed covenantal union is in compliance with the Word of God. (Genesis 4:1)
Marriage between men and women of the same sex is contrary to the Word of God and is a sin before God. (Romans 1:21-27)
Our supreme desire is to know Christ and be conformed into His image by the power of the Holy Spirit.
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We Reject:
We Reject the belief that true Christians can be demon possessed and are helpless against the craft and wiles of the Devil;
We Reject any philosophy or theology which denies that human freewill can be exercised in the receiving of Christ’s free gift of salvation; specifically, we reject the belief that Jesus’ atonement was limited in its extent, instead, we believe that He died for all unrighteous people and that any perceived limitation rests in one’s free rejection of Christ’s finished work of atonement, and we reject the assertion that God’s wooing grace cannot be resisted or that He has elected some people to go to hell; instead we believe that anyone who wills to come to Christ may do so freely as a result of the Holy Spirit’s conviction and wooing persuasion of the heart;
We Reject “positive confession,” (e.g., the Faith Movement, that views faith as a force that can create one’s own reality or that God can be commanded to heal or work miracles according to man’s will and faith);
We Reject human prophecy that supersedes or is contrary to Scripture;
We Reject any introduction of psychology and philosophy which is contrary to Scripture and is in substance “according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ” into biblical teaching;
We Reject “Open Theism” or “Freewill Theism” which reduces God’s timeless, unchanging, dynamic nature, and exhaustive foreknowledge of future free decisions, to creaturely modes of being and operation;
We Reject the “Emergent Church” movement insofar as it departs from the historic orthodox Christian doctrines in favor of postmodernism, and
We Reject the overemphasis of spiritual gifts, experiential signs and wonders to the exclusion of biblical teaching.