Our purpose and beliefs
Our purpose
The purpose of Sweetwater Baptist Church is to:
Exalt the name of Jesus Christ through individual and corporate worship means;
Equip the saints for the works of the ministry through instruction means so the Body may grow in the knowledge of the Son of God, to become mature disciples, and to fulfill the measure of the stature, which belongs to the fullness of Christ;
Edify one another through fellowship means of encouraging one another and building up the Body into a unity of faith;
Evangelize our community, state, country, and world through evangelism means which proclaim the Word of God and calls people everywhere to respond to Jesus Christ through faith;
Enable the Body to fulfill this ministry purpose, through the use of wise stewardship means that enhance and protect the numerous resources that God has so faithfully entrusted to this Body of Believers.
What we believe
We are a Southern Baptist Church that affirms “The Baptist Faith and Message – 2000” adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention. We as a church believe …
The Bible:
The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God’s revelation of Himself to man. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It is the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. The Bible is alive and relevant to live by today.
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God:
There is only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. God is holy and perfect in all aspects. God is all powerful and all knowing; and His perfect knowledge extends to all things, past, present, and future. God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
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Jesus:
Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. During His life on earth, Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will of God, living His life fully without sin. He suffered and was crucified on a cross as redemption for mankind’s sin. He was raised from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His disciples as the person who was with them before His crucifixion. He ascended into heaven and is now eternally exalted at the right hand of God. He will return in power and glory to judge the world and to consummate His mission to redeem from sin those who believe in Him.
Matthew 1:23; Luke 1:35; John 3:16; 1 John 1:9
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The Holy Spirit:
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures. Through illumination He enables men to understand truth. He exalts Christ. He convicts men of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He calls men to the Savior. When we accept Jesus as our Savior, He comes to dwell within us through the person of the Holy Spirit. He seals the believer unto the day of final redemption.
Ephesians 1:13-14; 2 Peter 1:21; 1 John 4:13
Man:
Man is the special creation of God, made in His own image. He created them male and female as the crowning work of His creation. In the beginning man was innocent of sin and by his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. By his nature man is born sinful separated from God. Only the grace of God can bring man back into a relationship with God. God has made this possible through the person, life, death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ.
Genesis 1:26-30; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23
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Salvation/Grace:
God makes salvation from sin possible solely through His grace. Due to our sinful nature, mankind can do nothing to earn God’s favor or salvation, other than accept Jesus as Savior. By faith, man accepts the free gift of salvation from sin that God has made available through His Son, Jesus. God’s grace is a glorious display of His love for man and the forgiveness He makes possible. Those whom God has accepted in Christ will never fall away from their state of grace and forgiveness. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.
Ephesians 1:7, Ephesians 2:8-9
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The Church:
A New Testament church is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers that come together for the purposes of worshipping God, ministering to the needs of others, seeking to be more like Christ, growing in fellowships with other believers and seeking to lead others to know and accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
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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 giving us the perfect picture of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Being a church ordinance, it is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord’s Supper.
The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.
Matthew 3:13-17; 26:26-30; 28:19-20; Mark 1:9-11; 14:22-26; Luke 3:21-22; 22:19-20; John 3:23; Acts 2:41-42; 8:35-39; 16:30-33; 20:7; Romans 6:3-5; 1 Corinthians 10:16; 1 Corinthians 10:21; 1 Corinthians 11:23-29; Colossians 2:12.