Doctrinal Statement

Dr. Hensley fully supports the 1963 and the 2000 updated version, of the "Baptist Faith & Message" as his doctrinal statements. These express the core of our Christian faith, which are commonly held among Southern Baptists.

 

God - There is one and only one living and true God. The eternal God reveals Himself to us as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.

 

The Scriptures - The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is the record of God's revelation of Himself to man. It is the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and opinions should be tried.

 

Man - Created by the special act of God, in His own image. By his free choice, man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. Only the grace of God can bring man into His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God.

 

Salvation - Involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense, salvation includes regeneration, sanctification and glorification. God's purpose of grace is to receive all who come to Him by faith in Jesus Christ. Those whom God has accepted in Christ, and sanctified by His spirit, will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall persevere to the end.

 

The Church - A New Testament Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is a local body of baptized believers, who are associated by covenant, in the faith and fellowship of the gospel. The Church is also the body of Christ, which includes all the redeemed.

 

Baptism and the Lord's Supper - Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer's faith in a crucified, buried and risen Savior, the believer's death to sin, the burial of the old self, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Jesus Christ. The Lord's Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby believers, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.