The following statement of faith represents the viewpoints ascribed by Solid Ground Church, its teachers, ordinands, elders, and leadership.
1. God
We believe in the Triune God, consisting of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Three eternal, equal persons of one perfect God (Matt.28:19 Cor. 13:14, 1 Peter 1:1-2).
A. God the Father
God the Father, YHWH, created the heavens and the earth, is infinite, eternal, and beyond our comprehension. He is awesome in power and majesty. In fact God is so great that He chose to send His Son into the world so that through Him we might begin to understand how loving, kind, and generous He is. Though we cannot fully understand who God is, the Bible gives us glimpses of the wonder and power of the living God.
Omniscient: God knows everything, His knowledge is complete. (Isaiah 40:28, Job 37:16, John 3:20, Romans 11:33)
Omnipresent: God is present in all places at all times. (Proverbs 15:3, Jeremiah 23:23-24)
Immutable: God is unchanging. He has always been the same, is now the same, and will always be the same. (Psalm 90:2, Malachi 3:6)
Holy: God is set apart from us in majesty, splendor, and character. (Psalm 99:9, Habakkuk 1:13)
Righteous: He is above doing wrong. He hates evil. (Exodus 9:23-27, Psalm129:4; 145;17, Jeremiah 12:1, 1 John 1:9)
Just: He can and will judge between right and wrong, and will administer justice according to His standards. (2 Thessalonians 1:6-9 Romans 3:25-26)
Sovereign: God is all powerful and in complete control. (Genesis 1, Ephesians 1:11, Psalm115:3, Romans 8:28)
Love: God’s love is so great that He gave up His Son that we might spend eternity with Him. (John 3:16. Psalm 52:8, Romans 8:39)
Merciful: God does not give us what we deserve. (Deuteronomy 4:31, Psalm 103:8, Luke 15:11-31)
B. God the Son
Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man. He was conceived of the Holy spirit, and born by Mary, a virgin (Luke 1:26-35, 1:20-23). He was born without sin and lived a perfect sinless life (1 Peter 2;22, Hebrews 4:15, 2 Corinthians 5:21). His ministry lasted approximately three years during which He preached, taught without error, and proclaimed the kingdom of God (Matthew 5:3, Matthew 25:31-34, Mark 4:30-33). He taught about God’s wonderful love (John 3:16, Luke 15:4-7), forgiveness and repentance (Matthew 5:23-24, Luke 6:37, Luke 13:3, Luke 15:17-20). He also performed many miracles (Luke 8:43-48, Matthew 9:27-31, John 4:48-53, Matthew 9:32-33).
After betrayal by a disciple, Judas He endured a mock trial at the temple court, and was then sent to Pontius Pilate who gave in to the desires of the crowd to crucify Him (Matthew 26:47-50, Matthew 26:59, John 18:8-19:16). He willingly submitted Himself to death on a cross, shedding His blood as the only acceptable sacrifice for our sin (Isaiah 53:5). On the third day He rose from the dead, and was seen by His disciples and others (Mark 16:9-14). After forty days He ascended into heaven and now sits at the right hand of God the Father (Mark 16:19). He is coming again to reign on the earth and give life to those who are His (Revelation 13:8, 21:27).
C. God the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is coequal with God the Father and God the Son (Matthew 28:19, 2 Corinthians 13:14). The Spirit has been mentioned since the beginning of Scripture (Genesis 1:1-2, 2 Chronicles 24:20, Judges 3:10, 6:34, 14:19). The Old Testament also foretold the moving of the spirit on the day of Pentecost and then later in the dreadful day of the Lord (Joel 2:28-32). This promise began its fulfillment at the inauguration of the church on Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came to indwell believers (Acts 2:4).
He is the fulfilment of the promise of Jesus Christ to send a comforter to be with us and in us (John 14:16-17). He is the one who convicts the world of sin, righteousness and and judgement (John 16:7-11). He guides, guards, instructs and gives spiritual gifts within the body of Christ, empowering the believer for godly living and service (1 Corinthians 12:4-11, 12:28 Titus 2:12 2 Timothy 3:16). By Him we are brought into the body of Christ, and by His power we are to be a functioning part of that body (1 Corinthians 12:12-30). We believe that all the gifts of the Spirit are available today at the Spirit’s choosing, and we see no scriptural evidence to the contrary.
The Holy Spirit regenerates (John 3:5-8). He glorifies, reveals, and testifies of Christ (John 16:12-15). He teaches us to pray (Romans 8:26-27, Jude 20). He bears witness that we are the children of God (Romans 8:16). He anoints for ministry (Acts 13:2-3). He seals us to the day of redemption (Ephesians 1:13, 4:30). He transforms us to the image of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18). And He gives us access to the Father (Ephesians 2:18).
2. The Bible
We believe the sixty-six books comprising both the Old and New Testaments to be, in their original manuscripts, the fully inspired word of God. The Bible is inerrant in all that it reports, teaches, and affirms. It is the final authority for all matters in the Christian life, church polity, and human practice (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Through it people may know exactly what God expects of them and how they should live their lives (John 6:67-69). The Bible’s teachings were given by God through human authors and contain timeless divine wisdom that is relevant to life throughout the ages (2 Peter 1:21).
3. The Human Race
We believe that mankind, both male and female, were created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26). The very breath of God was breathed into man, and made him a living being (Genesis 2:7). Mankind fell into sin by listening to the serpent and disobeying God (Genesis 3:1-7). Because of this we have all inherited a sinful nature. Mankind is depraved and by our own strength, and cannot be saved based upon our works alone (Isaiah 53:6, Romans 7:15, 2 Thessalonians 1:9 Jeremiah 17:9). All mankind is made to for fellowship with God, and is loved by God (Psalm 139:14, Psalm 148:13, John 3:16)
God has a plan to restore humanity to Himself, by the blood of the Lamb, our Lord Lord Jesus Christ (John 6:35, Romans 5:38, 2 Corinthians 5:21).
4. Marriage
We believe the Scripture teaches that marriage is to be between one man and one woman (Matthew 19:5). Marriage is God’s design and within this lifelong covenant God joins the two individuals into one (Genesis 2: 20-25, Mark 10:9). We believe and the Bible teaches true marital bliss can only come by following the biblical design for marriage (Ephesians 5:22-23, 1 Corinthians 7:1-16). We also believe that God has created sex to be between one man and one woman in marriage and that anything outside of this constitutes sin (1 Corinthians 7:1-2, Ephesians 4:19).
5. The Sanctity of Life
We believe that all human life is a gift from God and that all human life is sacred, from the time of conception until to the time of natural death (Genesis 2:7, Job 33:4, Psalm 51:5-6, Psalm 139:13-16, Jeremiah 1:5, Acts 17:25, 1 Timothy 6:13). Consequently we reject abortion, i.e. the taking of the life of an unborn child before the time of natural birth. We believe that the taking of any human life is murder, and is against God’s will (Exodus 20:13).
6. Satan
We believe there is an actual adversary of our souls- commonly referred to as Satan (Matthew 4:1-11). Satan was once a high ranking angel who became so full of pride that he thought could sit on the throne of the Most High God. He instigated a rebellion against God, and as a result he was thrown out of heaven along with his followers who are now demons (Isaiah 14:12-14, Luke 10:18, Ephesians 2:2). Even though Satan has some freedom to do evil to those who love God, He is limited and still humbled before God (Job 1:1-2:8). Satan is not the opposite of God, which would indicate that he has powers like God, but he has limited powers and is against God. (Ezekiel 28:12-17). The power of Satan was defeated by the power of the cross when Jesus cried,”It is finished”, indicating He had completed the work that God the Father had sent Him to do (John 19:28-30, Matthew 28:18, Colossians 1:13). Satan’s influence will be completely abolished in the day of the Lord, when he is cast into the lake of burning sulfur, to be tormented day and night forever and ever (Revelation 20:10).
7. Sin
Sin is any action, deliberate or undeliberate, that goes against God’s plan for creation. God has set boundaries for humanity in his word and in our hearts that when crossed constitute sin (Romans 7:12-14, 1 John 3:4). Sin if untreated by God’s intervention corrupts, ensures, entangles, and eventually kills (Romans 6:16, 23).
8. Salvation
Salvation is being saved from God’s righteous judgement of sin and being brought into new life in Christ. It is not based on anything that we do, but rather on what God has done for us (John 3;16). We have all sinned and none of us deserve salvation (Romans 3:23, Ephesians 2:8-9). We are justified and reconciled with God by our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5: 1-11). There is no other way to be saved except by the power in the blood, and name of Jesus the Christ (Romans 10:11-13, John 14:1-7, Romans 5:9, Hebrews 10:19).
9. Ordinances of the Church
An ordinance is a practice prescribed by Jesus and practiced by the church. We recognize only two ordinances in the Christian Church- baptism and communion. Both of these are very important in the church, but neither of them are a means for salvation.
Believers baptism, comes from the greek word baptizo’ (bap-tid’-zo) which means to completely submerge or plunge under. It is a believer’s clear response to faith in Christ (Acts 2:41, 8:12, 8:38, 9:18, 10:48, 16:15, 18:8). As such we view baptism as a choice made by the believer and see no evidence in the Scriptures for the practice the baptizing infants. Our preferred practice for baptism is immersion, signifying the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:19, Acts 2:38, Galatians 3:27).
Communion, the Lord’s supper, is the joining together of the people of the church in remembrance of the broken body (the bread) and the spilled blood (the wine), the price that Jesus paid for our sin (Luke 22:19-20, Matthew 26:26-28, 1 Corinthians 11:23-28). When Christ spoke of communion we believe He was being symbolic and that the elements in themselves do not contain the spirit or the literal body and blood of Christ.
10. The Church
The greek word ekklesia (ek-klay-see’-ah), simply means a gathering of people or a congregation (1 Corinthians 12:27-28). We believe that the church is a gathering of people who by God’s grace have come to saving faith in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9). They have been and continue to be regenerated by the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5, 2 Corinthians, Acts 2:38, Philippians 2:12), and are united together as a body under His headship (Colossians 1:18, Ephesians 5:23).
11. Resurrection and Judgement
We believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:3, Luke 24:39). We believe that Jesus will return and that believers will be resurrected to be with Him forever (Romans 16:52, John 5:24-25, Revelation 21:3-7). The unbeliever will rise to judgement, and everlasting punishment in the lake of fire (Revelation 21:9).
12. Hell
We believe in the existence of a literal Hell. The Scriptures teach that Hell is a place of eternal torment, created for Satan and his demons, destined for all who reject the lordship of Jesus Christ (Matthew 13:42, Matthew 25:46, 2 Thessalonians 1:9, 2 Peter 2:4, Jude 1:7, Revelation 21:8).
13. The Great Commission
We believe that we have a responsibility to evangelize the world, thru missions, our testimony, and living a righteous life (Matthew 28:16-20, Acts 1:7-8).