What We Believe

The following are the  beliefs of Pine Valley Baptist Church. These truths are  foundational truths taught in the bible. All preaching and teaching will align with these beliefs and be based on texts from God's word.

We believe that the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, are the inspired, infallible Word of God, without error in the original writings. We believe that this inspiration extends equally and fully to all parts of the Scriptures, and that they are the complete revelation of God's will for the salvation of men, and are the supreme and final authority in every area of faith and life. We further believe that, whereas there may be several applications of any given passage of Scripture, there is but one true interpretation. The meaning of Scripture is to be found as one diligently applies the literal, contextual, grammatical-historical method of interpretation under the illumination of the Holy Spirit.
(2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21; James 1:22-25; Psalm 119:105; John 7:17 & 16:12-15; 1 Corinthians 2:7-15; 1 John 2:20 & 27)

We believe that there is one God eternally existing in three persons (the Trinity): the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, each having precisely the same nature, divine attributes, and perfections, and worthy of the same worship and obedience.
(Deuteronomy 6:4-5; Matthew 28:19-20; John 1:1-4; 2 Corinthians 13:14)

We believe that God the Father, the first person of the Trinity, orders and prepares all things according to His own purpose and grace. He is the only absolute and omnipotent (all-powerful) ruler of the universe, Who has decreed for His own glory all things that come to pass. He is sovereign in creation, providence, and redemption. He has graciously chosen from eternity past to redeem those He would have as His own.
(Psalm 145:8-9 & 103:19; 1 Corinthians 8:6: Romans 11:36; Ephesians 1:3-12)

We believe that Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, is fully God and fully man with indivisible oneness with God the Father. He is eternally coexisting with the Father, conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary and became flesh and dwelt among us as God incarnate. In his incarnation he laid aside his right to the full prerogatives of coexistence with God and took on an existence appropriate to a servant to humankind never divesting his divine attributes, assuring in his humanity his impeccability and his immutability.

(Philippians 2:5-8; Colossians 1:15-17; Hebrews 4:15 & 13:8; Luke 1:35; 1Thessalonians 4:14-16; Acts 1:9-11)

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, as the prophesied Messiah, performed miracles while on earth, died on the cross as the only sufficient substitutionary sacrifice for the sins of all mankind, that his crucified body was buried and raised from the dead, and He appeared to many before ascending into heaven where he is seated at the right hand of God the Father as our High Priest, Advocate, and Mediator. We also believe in the imminent return of Jesus Christ for His church. The Lord Jesus Christ is the one through whom God will judge all mankind.
(1 Corinthians 15:1-4; 1 Peter 1:18-20; Hebrews 8:1, 9:28, & 10:10-14; 1 Timothy 2:5; 1 John 2:1; Acts 1:9-11;1 Thessalonians 1:9-10; John 5:22-23; Revelation 20:11-15)

We believe that the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, eternally active, began a unique work in the world on the Day of Pentecost, when He came as promised by the Son to initiate and complete the building of the body of Christ, the Church universal. His activities include convicting the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment; regenerating, indwelling, sanctifying, instructing, giving spiritual gifts, and transforming believers into the image of Christ thus glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that at the moment of salvation every believer is indwelt and filled with the Holy Spirit. As a result every believer is responsible to yield to the control of the Holy Spirit, so that he may experience the filling of the Spirit for direction and empowerment for service.
(John 14:16-17, 15:26, & 16:7-15; Acts 1:5, 2:4; Romans 8:9-11, 29, & 12:6-8; Ephesians 1:13, 2:22, 4:7-16, & 5:18;1 Corinthians 12:4-11 & 13; 1 John 2:20 & 27; 1 Peter 4:10)

We believe that Satan and his demonic servants viciously oppose the work God performs in and through His people. God, who by His nature is infinitely more powerful than Satan, will in due time have complete and total victory over Satan.
 (1 Peter 5:8; Genesis 3:1-7; Ephesians 6:12; 1 John 4:4; Revelation 20:1-10)

We believe God chose to create the heavens and the earth in six literal twenty-four hour days, and all that is in it to reveal His glory, divine nature, eternal power, infinite wisdom, and supreme authority. Before the heavens and earth were created, God was.
(Genesis 1; Exodus 31:17; Psalm 33:6-9; Acts 17:24; Hebrews 11:3; Colossians 1:16; Isaiah 43:7; Psalm 19:1-2; Jeremiah 10:12; Romans 1:20; Revelation 4:11)

We believe that man (male and female) was created in the image of God for the glory of God and for eternal fellowship with God. However, man sinned, thereby severing fellowship with God and incurring God's enmity, wrath, and curse on all creation, resulting in physical and spiritual death. All human beings are born with a sin nature, are sinners by choice, are totally depraved, and man's only hope is found in the grace of God through the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
(Genesis 1:27 & 3:1-24; Isaiah 43:7; Romans 3:23, 5:12, 19, 6:23, 7:18, 8:7-8, & 19-22; Colossians 1:16; Ephesians 2:1-3 & 14-16; 1 Corinthians 1:9, 2 Corinthians 13:14; John 3:3-7, 36)

We believe salvation is the work of God where sinful man is delivered from condemnation and receives eternal life. It is accomplished by God's grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone and cannot be earned or maintained by human effort. It results in a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ when a person repents of their sin and believes in the sinless life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as sufficient payment for their sin. Those entering into this relationship by faith are eternally born-again, justified, and have become children of God.
(Ephesians 2:8-10, 1:13-14, 4:30; Romans 3:21-28, 5:1, 6:23, 8:16, 10:8-13, 14:9; John 1:12-13, 3:5-6, 16, 10:27-28, 17:3, 20:30-31; Acts 2:36, 4:10-12; James 1:19-27, 2:14-26)

We believe that a local church is made up of born again believers, who have declared their faith through baptism. We believe every Christian is called to be vitally connected and committed to the local church, so that they can minister according to his or her spiritual giftedness and to practice the "one anothers" as commanded in the New Testament for the building up of the body in love, while maintaining the unity of the Spirit. We hold that the local church has the absolute right of self-government, on all matters of membership, of polity, of discipline, and of giving.
(Acts 2:41-42; I Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 1:22-23; 4:11; Acts 20:17-28; I Timothy 3:1-15; Colossians 1:18; Acts 15:13-18; Ephesians 5:23-24.)

The chief purpose of mankind is to glorify God by loving Him with the entire heart, soul, mind, and might. All believing men, women, and children are to glorify God and thus fulfill the purpose of their existence. Worship glorifies God through adoration, praise, prayer, thanksgiving, and a complete yielding to Him. Worship declares His worth, pays Him homage, and celebrates Him in a life of devotion. We seek to worship the Lord in spirit and in truth.
(Deuteronomy 6:5; Isaiah 43:7; Matthew 22:37; Psalm 95:6; Psalm 99:5; Daniel 6:10-11; Nehemiah 12:46; Romans 12:1; Exodus 15:1-21; 2 Samuel 6:14-16; Psalm 5:7; John 4:23-24; Revelation 4:11; 5:12)

We believe that there are only two ordinances to be observed by the Church: Believer's Baptism and Communion. We believe that water baptism is an outward testimony of God's work in the believer, and it portrays the believer's union with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection, which is demonstrated best through immersion. We believe that Jesus Christ instituted Communion to commemorate and proclaim His death until His return. Neither ordinance is a means of earning or maintaining salvation.
(Matthew 28:18-20 & 26:26-30; Acts 8:36-39; Romans 6:3-4; 1 Corinthians 11:17-30; Mark 15:16; Ephesians 2:8-9)

We believe that civil government is a divine appointment, for the interests and good of human society; that magistrates are to be prayed for, conscientiously honored and obeyed, except in things opposed to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only Lord of the conscience, and the coming Prince of the Kings of the earth.  
(Romans 13:1-7; II Samuel 23:3; Exodus 18:21-22; Acts 5:20; 4:19-20, 23:5; Matthew 22:21; Daniel 3:17-18; 1Timothy 2:1-2.)

We believe in the personal, imminent pre-tribulational coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to rapture His Church, who subsequently will be rewarded at the Judgment Seat of Christ. We also believe in Christ's premillennial return to earth, following the Tribulation, with His saints to establish His Millennial Kingdom in fulfillment of the Davidic and New Covenants, in which they will reign for a literal 1000-year. We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men, the saved to eternal life and the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment. Whereby, the souls of the redeemed are, at death, absent from the body and present with the Lord, as they consciously await the first resurrection, when spirit, soul and body are reunited to be glorified forever with the Lord. In addition, the souls of the unbelievers remain, after death, in conscious misery until the second resurrection, when with soul and body reunited they will appear at the Great White Throne Judgment, and then will be cast into the Lake of Fire to suffer everlasting, conscious punishment.
(1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 & 5:9;Hebrews 9:27-28; Revelation 19:11-16, 20:1-15, & 21:1-8; Luke 16:19-28;Matthew 25:41-46; John 14:1-3; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Titus 2:11-15; Jude 6,7)

by assigned gender at the time of birth). All sexual relations must therefore be reserved for that union. Christian marriage is a representation of Christ's relationship to His church. We also believe that children are a blessing from the Lord. Thus all human life is sacred and worthy of protection from the moment of conception.
(Genesis 1:26-28 & 2:24; Psalm 127, 128, & 139:13-16; Matthew 19:1-10; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; Ephesians 5:22-33;Hebrew 13:4)

We believe that tongues was used extensively during the apostolic led church, however we believe that the use of tongues,  as displayed by the charismatic movement, is not the normative of how the Holy Spirit works today. Anyone who holds the view that tongues is normative for today and seeks to propagate or use tongues in the church will be referred to the Elder team for a decision. If they refuse to abide by the decision made they will be dismissed from membership.

We believe that God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as fully male or fully female. These two distinct, complementary genders together reflect the image and nature of God (Genesis 1:26-27). Rejection of one's biological sex is a rejection of the image of God within that person. This rejection is sinful and offensive to God.

We believe that any form of sexual immorality (including adultery, fornication, homosexual behavior, bisexual conduct, bestiality, incest, and use of pornography) is sinful and offensive to God. (Matthew 15:18-20; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10).