Freedom Church Denton

God exists eternally in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are distinct in person, yet of the same substance, one God. This is a divine mystery. The Son proceeds (not in chronology, but in the communication of essence) from the Father and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son. They are coequal and coeternal, living in perfect submission and in perfect love.

The eternal Son of God became incarnate in the Lord Jesus Christ, being born of the virgin Mary, and is true God and true man. He died physically on the cross, was bodily resurrected three days later, and thereafter bodily ascended to heaven. (John 1:1, 14, 18; 5:18; Heb. 1:1-9; 5:8, 1 John 5:20; 1 Tim. 2:5, 1 Cor. 15:1-5)

The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead. He is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Truth, and the Spirit of Holiness. He regenerates, indwells, baptizes, seals, and empowers believers that are in Christ Jesus. He illuminates the Word of god, encourages and comforts the saints, and convinces and convicts of sin and righteousness. In these last days, He has been poured out on all flesh, empowering His sons and His daughters to bear witness of Jesus Christ and the gospel. He is the source of true spirituality, true spiritual fruit, and all the spiritual gifts that have been appointed for the church (Matt. 28:19, 3:16; Rom. 8:9; John 16:13; Rom. 1:4; Tit. 3:5-6; 1 Cor. 3:16, 12:13; Eph. 1:13; John 14:16-17; John 16:8; Acts 2:17; Gal. 5:22; Rom. 12:4).

Man was originally created in the image and likeness of God. He retains that image, although it has been marred by the fall. In Adam, all mankind fell into sin with the result that all men are sinners. God created them male and female, in that order. Woman was created to be his help meet, from his side, his equal, yet subordinate. Equal in worth and value, yet distinct in form and function.

We believe that all matters of faith and conduct must be evaluated on the basis of Holy Scripture, which is our infallible guide (2 Tim. 3:16-17). We are committed to the home and family as set forth in the Scriptures. We believe God has ordained and created marriage to exist between one man and one woman, with absolute marital fidelity. The Bible sets forth specific home and family values, which include the distinct roles of husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, and children. It is our conviction that we uphold the dignity of each individual as we embrace the unchanging and longstanding principles of Scriptural truth.

Salvation is received by grace through faith alone in Christ. The only means to salvation is belief in Christ’s substitutionary death and resurrection, which satisfied the wrath of God against the sin of the individual. There is an eternal state of punishment for the unsaved and an eternal state of blessing for the saved. (Acts 4:12; 13:38-39; 16:31; 1 Cor. 15:1-4; Rom. 4:4-5; 8:28-29; 5:1; John 3:16; Eph. 2:8-9)

The Church is the corporate body of Christ that is composed of all truly regenerate believers. It is universal as well as particular and local. It can find its simplest expression in the company of two or three gathered in the name of Jesus Christ. It also finds its more normative and ecclesiastical expression in the local assembly that is the primary vehicle that God has prescribed for His praise, worship and exaltation, the edification and equipping of the saints, and the propagation of the gospel of Jesus Christ to all nations. The local assembly is characterized by minimal organization, godly governance, ordinances and functions, offices, gifts, and marks of health. It is more of an organism than it is an organization, that receives its direction, power, purpose, and principle from its head, Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:22-23; 5:24-30; 1 Cor. 12:4-13,27; Matt 18:20; Eph. 4:12; Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; Matt. 16:18; Acts 6).

The spiritual gifts or, charisma, are divinely conferred gifts or powers bestowed by the Holy Spirit. They are appointed for the church for the purpose of edifying and building up the body of Christ, and they serve as signs for believers and unbelievers alike. They will find their cessation when the perfect has come, which is none other than the Second Coming of Christ. The gifts are good, are to be desired earnestly, and stewarded humbly, to the praise, honor, and glory of Jesus Christ and for the edification of the saints. They are properly gifts of the Holy Spirit and not of men. They are not to be prohibited nor quenched. They are not to be abused or misused for one’s own glory. They consist of “ordinary” and “extraordinary” manifestations. Gifts of the Holy Spirit will always serve to glorify the person and name of Jesus and not any individual because the Spirit exists to glorify the Son in the same way that the Son exists to glorify the Father (1 Cor. 12:4,7,8-12,28; 14:1, 39; 1 Thess. 5:19; John 16:14; Eph. 4:12).

Believers are called to live a holy life of service and consecration to God. They are accountable to the local church and to the propagation of the faith. They are called to live as sojourners in this world prepared for the imminent return of their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. They have been entrusted with the sacred responsibility and privilege of making disciples of all nations (1 Pet. 1:15-16; Acts 1:8; Matt. 28:18-20; 1 Cor. 3:12-17; John 14:1-3).

The Word of God sets forth two ordinances for the church. they are the Lord’s Supper and Water Baptism. The Lord’s Supper is to be celebrated routinely in remembrance of the finished work of Christ Jesus and in expectancy of His imminent return. Water Baptim is the initiatory rite into the Christian faith much in the same way that circumcision was in the Old Testament. It should be the first evidence and fist act of obedience of a truly repentant heart that has expressed saving faith in Christ Jesus. The water itself is not what saves, but the appeal that is made to a clean conscience (Matt. 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16; Acts 8:12, 36-38, 9:18, 10:47; 1 Cor. 11:23-26; 1 Pet. 3:21).

Angels were orinally created holy, but now, because of Satan’s rebellion, there is also an unholy angelic kingdom (Col. 1:16; Job 38:6-7; Ps. 148:2-5; Jude 6; Matt. 25:41; Eph. 6:11-12; 1 Tim. 5:21; Rev. 12:9).

The blessed hope of the church is the imminent return of Jesus Christ. He will return as a thief in the night, not as a Lamb, but as a Lion. He will judge the living and the dead, separating the wheat from the chaff, the wicked and the righteous. The unbelieving will experience the second death being thrown into the lake of fire that was created for Satan and his angels. He will destroy this present world order and establish a new heaven and a new earth where the elect will reign with Him for eternity (Tit. 2:13; 1 Thess. 5:2; 2 Tim. 4:1; Matt. 3:12; Rev. 20:12-15; Rev. 21-22).