Our Faith | Wayside Baptist Church Lake Wales

Scripture/Bibliology

We believe that both the Old and New Testaments are verbally inspired by God and are inerrant in the original writings. Through the providence of God, the Scriptures have been preserved and are the supreme and final and adequate authority in faith and life (Ps 19.7; 2 Tim 3.16; 2 Pet 1.21).

God/Theology Proper

We believe that both the Old and New Testaments are verbally inspired by God and are inerrant in the original writings. Through the providence of God, the Scriptures have been preserved and are the supreme and final and adequate authority in faith and life (Ps 19.7; 2 Tim 3.16; 2 Pet 1.21).

Jesus Christ/Christology

We believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, begotten by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, that He shed His blood on Calvary as a vicarious substitute, was buried, rose again bodily, and ascended to the Father according to the Scriptures (Isa 7.14; Matt 1.18-25; 1 Cor 15.3; Heb 4.15).

Holy Spirit/Pneumatology

We believe that the Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity, very God, co-existent with the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit is the chief agent in the regeneration, the chief convictor of sin, and the chief comforter of the believer. Simultaneous with regeneration, the Holy Spirit baptizes the believer into the body of Christ (Matt 28.19; John 16.7-11; Acts 5.3-4; Rom 8.9; 1 Cor 12.12-14).

Sin/Hamartiology

We believe that man is the direct creation of God–body, soul, and spirit–and is not in any sense the result of evolution but is made in the image of God. Adam, the first man, sinned by disobedience. This act resulted in the fall of mankind and incurred both physical and spiritual death for all (Gen 1.26-27; Rom 3.10,23; 5.12).

Salvation/Soteriology

We believe that all who, in faith, receive the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior are born again by the Holy Spirit and thus become the children of God. Salvation involves redemption, regeneration, sanctification, and glorification (John 1.12; 3.3; 17.17; Rom 8.29-30; Eph 2.8-9; 4.30; Tit 3.5). We believe in the priesthood of all believers so that every Christian has direct access to God in prayer through Jesus Christ, our great High Priest, and that there is no mediator between God and man other than Jesus Christ (Heb 4.16; 1 Tim 2.5; Rev 1.6). We believe that salvation is not only a gift from God but also is sustained by the Lord. The Holy Spirit permanently indwells the believer and seals him in salvation for all eternity. Therefore, since salvation is wholly of the Lord, apart from the works of man, we hold that the believer shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto eternal salvation (John 10.28; 14.16-17,26; 1 Cor 2.9-14; Eph 1.13; 2.8-9; 1 Pet 1.5; Jude 24-25).

Second Coming/Eschatology

We believe in the literal, visible, personal and pre-millennial return of Jesus Christ for His Church. At this event the dead in Christ and living believers will be translated to meet Him in the air. Christ will visibly descend with the saints to establish His earthly millennial kingdom (Acts 1.11; 1 Thes 4.13-18; Rev 20.1-6).

Satan/Angelology

We believe that Satan was originally created a perfect being. He rebelled against God. As a result, he became depraved, the Devil and adversary of God and His people, and leader of a host of angels who fell with him. Satan has been judged and defeated at the cross and awaits his ultimate doom at the at the end of the millennium. of Jesus Christ (Isa 14.13-14; Ezek 28.13-17; John 16.11; 1 Tim 3.7; Rev 20.10).

Heaven/Hell

Heaven is a literal place of conscious bliss to which all saints go upon death and from which the Lord Jesus Christ will come to receive those saints who are alive at His coming. To depart and be in heaven is to be “present with the Lord” and so is “far better” than to remain alive on earth, but the eternal blessedness of heaven is only for those who possess eternal life through faith in the atoning work of Christ (Heb 12.22-24; John 14.1-3; 2 Cor 5.1-10; Phil 1.23, 3.20-21; 1 Thes 4.16-18; Rev 21.1-22.5; John 14.6). Hell is a place of judgment created for the devil and those angels who followed him in his rebellion against God. In the final state, the devil and his demons will spend eternity banished from the presence of God in the Lake of Fire. This same final punishment also awaits all unredeemed people who refuse to believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Scriptures declare that the torment of all the inhabitants in the Lake of Fire lasts forever. (Rev 20.10; Matt 25.41; Mark 9.43-48; Rev 14.11; 20.10, 15; Luke 16.19-31; John 5.29; Rev 20.11-15).

Creation

We believe the triune God created the universe apart from pre-existing materials and without any evolutionary process. We believe in the historicity of the first eleven chapters of Genesis (Gen 1.1; Matt 19.4; John 1.1-3; Rom 1.20; Col 1.16-17; Heb 11.3).

Church/Ecclesiology

We believe that the New Testament church is a local body of baptized believers with Christ as its head and the Holy Spirit as its guide. New Testament churches promote God’s work by cooperating together for missions and many other joint efforts. The local church is to be governed independently of outside persons, bodies, groups, or authorities (Matt 28.16-20; Acts 1.6-8; 6.3; 1 Cor 12.12-14; Eph 1.3-6, 22-23; 1 Thes 4.16-18).

Our Faith: What We Believe