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What we believe:
ThefollowingdoctrinalstatementoffaithgovernstheteachingatHeartbeat for Georgia
1. Scripture
We believe the Bible (i.e., the sixty-six booksof the Old and New Testaments) is the Word of God,comprises the totality of Holy Scripture, is verbally inspired and inerrant in the original text, remains inerrant and infallible in all its substance, and is sufficient for salvation and sanctification. Therefore, it is the supreme, final, and authoritative standard for faith, theology,andlife.Weseek toteachtheWordofGod insuchaway thatitsmessagecanbeappliedtoanindividual’slife, leading that person to greater maturity in Christ. (CCBC affirms the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy)
2. Historicity
We believe in the full historicity and perspicuity of the biblical record of primeval history, including the literal existence of Adamand Eveastheprogenitorsofallpeople,theliteralfallintheGardenof Edenandresultantdivinecurseoncreation, the worldwide cataclysmic deluge, and the origin of the nations and languages at the tower of Babel.
3. God
WebelievethatthetriuneGod eternally existsinoneessenceandthreedistinctpersons:Father,SonandHolySpirit;that He is essentially Spirit, personal, transcendent, sovereign, life, love, truth, almighty, simple (i.e., essentially one without parts), timelessly eternal, unchangeable, wise, just, holy, relational, pure actuality, dynamic, infallible in all things, including His foreknowledgeof allfuturedecisions andevents, and that Hecreatedthe heavens and theearth insix literal days.
4. Jesus Christ
We believe that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully human, possessing two distinct natures which are co-joined in one person; that Hewasmiraculously conceivedby theHoly Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, livedasinless andmiraculous life, provided for the atonement of our sins by His vicarious substitutionary death on the Cross, was physically resurrected in the same body that was buried in the tomb by the power of the Holy Spirit; that Jesus Christ physically ascended back to the right hand of God the Father in heaven, and ever lives to make intercession for us. After Jesus ascended to Heaven, the HolySpiritwaspouredoutonthebelievers inJerusalem,enabling themtofulfillHiscommandtopreachthe gospelto theentireworld,anobligationsharedbyallbelieverstoday.(CCBCaffirmstheApostles’,Nicene,andAthanasianCreeds).
5. Holy Spirit
WebelievetheHolySpiritisthethirdpersonoftheGodhead whoseals,indwells,sanctifies,baptizes,teaches,empowers, reveals, and guides the believer into all truth. The Holy Spirit gives gifts to whom He wills, which are valid for today, and ought to be exercised within scriptural guidelines. We as believers are to earnestly desire the best gifts, seeking toexercisetheminlovethatthewholeBodyofChristmightbeedified.Webelievethatloveismoreimportantthanthemost spectacular gifts, and without this love all exercise of spiritual gifts is worthless.
6. Mankind
We believe that man is created in the image of God; however, after the fall of Adam and Eve, all people are by nature separated from God and responsible for their own sin, but that salvation, redemption, and forgiveness are offered as a free gift by the Lord Jesus Christ to all based on His grace alone. When a person repents of sin and receives Jesus Christ aspersonalSavior andLord,trusting Himtosave,thatpersonisimmediatelybornagainand sealedbytheHolySpirit,all his/her sins are forgiven, and that person becomes a child of God, destined to spend eternity with the Lord.
7. Salvation
Salvation is initiated, attained, and procured by God through the death of Christ on the cross for our sins and His resurrectionfromthedead.ThesalvationChristoffersisavailableto all,andisreceivedfreelybygracealoneand through faith in Christ alone, apart from good works, thereby justifying and sealing the believer once and for all.
8. The Church
The Christian Church is an organic body composed of all believers worldwide, both living and dead, who have been sealed by the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ for salvation. The church has the responsibility to worship the Lord and share the good news of Christ’s death and resurrection to the world, making disciples, baptizing believers, and teaching them to observe sound doctrine and live a morally pure life. We believe church government should be simple rather than a complex bureaucracy, with the utmost dependence upon the Holy Spirit to lead, rather than on fleshly promotion or worldly wisdom. The Lord has given the church two ordinances which are to continue until He returns — adult baptism by immersionand HolyCommunion.Waterbaptismisnotnecessaryforsalvation,andcannotremovesins,butisapictureof the salvation already received by the believer. We believe the only true basis of Christian fellowship is Christ’s sacrificial agape love, which is greater than any secondary differences we possess, and without which we have no right to claim ourselves Christians.
9.Biblical Orthodoxy
No one can worship God for you, you must worship God yourself. Worship of God occurs when you submit your whole self, “Body, heart, mind, and emotions” to God. Body, heart, mind, and emotions are the essence of a being and we must bow all we are before all who God is in order to right glorify him and that is worship. This is Biblical Orthodoxy. John 4:23-24 is a perfect example for this.
10. Worship
WebelieveworshipofGodshouldbespiritual.Therefore,weremainflexibleandyielded to theleadingof theHolySpiritto direct our worship. We believe worship of God should be inspirational. Therefore, we give great place to music in our worship. We believe worship of God should be intelligent. Therefore, our gatherings are designed with great emphasisupon the teaching of the Word of God that He might instruct us how He should be worshiped. We believe the worship of God should be fruitful. Therefore, we look for His love in our lives as the supreme manifestation that we have been truly worshiping God in spirit and truth.
11. Christs Return
We await the pretribulational rapture of the church and the second coming of Christ which will be physical, personal, visible,andpremillennial.Thismotivatesustoevangelism,holyliving,heart-feltworship,committedservice,diligent study of God’s Word, and regular fellowship.
12. Eternity
We believe those who are saved by Jesus Christ will spend eternity with Christ in heaven in a conscious state of blessedness,reward,andsatisfaction;thatthosewhodonotpersonallyreceivethefinishedworkofChristbyfaithwill spend eternity separated from God in a state of conscious torment.
13. Satan
Webelievethereisarealpersonaldevilofgreatmalevolence,cunning,andpower,whoseekstodeceive,tempt,kill,steal and destroy, yet his power is limited by God to only what God permits him to do; that the devil has been defeated positionally at the cross of Christ, and will be defeated practically at Christ’s glorious second coming which will eventuatein the permanent quarantine and punishment of the Devil, Beast, and False Prophet, in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone.
14. We Reject
(1) The belief that true Christians can be demon possessed and are helpless against the craft and wiles of the Devil; (2) any philosophy or theology which denies that human freewill can be exercised in the receiving of Christ’s free gift of salvation;specifically,werejectthebelief thatJesus’atonementwaslimited initsextent,instead,webelievethatHedied 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 theassertionthat God’s wooing grace cannotbe 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; (3) “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); (4) human prophecy that supersedes or is contrary to Scripture; (5) 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; (6) “Open Theism” or “Freewill Theism” which reducesGod’stimeless, unchanging, dynamic nature,andexhaustiveforeknowledgeof future freedecisions,to creaturely modes of being and operation; (7) the “Emergent Church” movement insofar as it departs from the historic orthodox Christian doctrines in favor of postmodernism, and (8) the overemphasis of spiritual gifts, experiential signs and wonders to the exclusion of biblical teaching