April 10, 2018admin

SOVEREIGN GRACE CHURCH

Sovereign Grace Church –Pastor Gideon Richards. Jacintoville, Belize, Central America

(Sovereign Grace Church is not affiliated with the NEAB or Council of Churches)

**DOCTRINAL STATEMENT AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE**

Sermons can be heard on your radio dial at LoveFM every Sunday from 3-4pm (Belize time) or online globally at www.LoveFm.com

9am Sunday School

10am Sunday Worship

6:00pm Wednesday Prayer/Bible Study

Sundays 3-4pm on LoveFM

PHONE: 652-6130

EMAIL: g_richards7@yahoo.com

DIRECTIONS: https://goo.gl/maps/kKACL1mFXn52

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/Christian-Life-Center-Church-769411859865809/

What We Believe

  1. We believe the Bible to be the inspired, infallible, authoritative, and inerrant Word of God
    (2 Timothy 3:15-17, 2 Peter 1:21).
  2. We believe there is one God, eternally existing in three persons: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Genesis 1:1, Deuteronomy 6:4, Matthew 28:19, John 10:30).
  3. We believe in
  4. We believe
    • In the absolute necessity of regeneration by the Holy Spirit for salvation because of the exceeding sinfulness of the human nature
    • That all are justified on the single ground of faith in the shed blood of Christ
    • That only by God’s grace through faith alone are we saved

    (John 3:16-19; 5:24, Romans 3:23; 5:8-9, Ephesians 2:8-10, Titus 3:5).

  5. We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; those who are saved unto the resurrection of life, and those who are not unto the resurrection of damnation (John 5:28-29).
  6. We believe in the spiritual unity of the believers in our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 8:9,
    1 Corinthians 12:12-13, Galatians 3:26-28).
  7. We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by Whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life (Romans 8:13-14, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19-20, Ephesians 4:30;
    5:18).
  8. We believe that we as Christians are examples of the love of God in this world. It is this (agape) love that we desire to possess and without which we have no right to call ourselves Christians (1 John 4:16-17).
  9. We believe it is the mandate of the whole Church to go into the whole world and to preach the Gospel to every living creature. (Mark 16:15, Matthew 28:19-20)

10 Distinctives of Sovereign Grace Church

We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ, truly God and truly man, risen from the dead and now seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty as King of all (Eph. 1:20-21), is worthy of a healthy church in Jacintoville, Belize, C.A.. We believe taking these ten distinctives together sets us apart as a local church in the location where God has planted us. These distinctives do not exhaust all of our beliefs as a body, but they are a non-negotiable part of who we are as a local church. We hold these truths according to the Bible for the purpose of the good of one another and our community and ultimately for Christ’s honor and glory.
1. Biblical Sufficiency –
We believe the Bible is enough to reveal to us the triune God and how we are to live in response to all He has done for us in Christ and His gospel (2 Pt 1:3). The Bible is our highest authority, having been breathed out by God Himself (2 Tim. 3:16), so to disbelieve or disobey the Bible, or to fail to trust its sufficiency in all manner of godly living is an insult to God.
We look for no further word of God than that which has already been revealed in the Scriptures (the 66 canonical books of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation) with Christ Himself, and by extension, the ministry of His Apostles and their close associates, being God’s final Word to His people until the consummation of all things (Heb. 1:2). The Bible is enough to teach us to live for Christ, to order His church, to teach us how to reach every generation with the gospel, to counsel, to make disciples, and to know everything God requires His people to know in order to live a holy life pleasing unto Him.
Above all other ministry in the church, we prize the ministry of the Word. We preach the Word on Sundays. We teach it in Sunday School and on Wednesday Nights. We hide it in our hearts. We talk about it with one another. It is the Word of God that brings about reformation and revival and shows us every way a local church must go (Psalm 19:7-14). A church must constantly check itself according to the Word of God and always be reforming according to the Scriptures. In all that we do, we must always seek to be biblical.
2. Biblical Holiness –
We believe that God really and truly saves the vilest of sinners by His marvelous grace through the righteous life, prophetic fulfillment, vicarious death, and victorious resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Those who are truly born again persevere in grace and holiness (Jeremiah 31:33). We acknowledge the sad reality of false converts in our day (Matthew 7:21-23) and teach and preach against false assurance, i.e., those who say they are Christians but display no demonstrable love for Christ, His Word, His ways, the local church, and His mission. We believe that genuine Christians desire to be a holy people (1 Peter 1:14-16) and, because they follow Christ, will ultimately be hated by the world (John 15:18-21). Holiness is defined by God’s Book (Jeremiah 6:16, John 17:17).
3. Biblical Preaching –
We believe the mainstay of our preaching is to be expository sermons through books of the Bible. We believe the biblical text itself must drive the sermon.
We believe sermons ought to be both weighty in theology and application. We believe the ultimate goal of every sermon is the exaltation of Christ our King. We believe there are appropriate times to preach topically, but the desire of the people of God must be to receive the full counsel of God’s Word (Acts 20:27). While we do not put a time requirement upon sermons, we believe that healthy exposition requires sufficient time and, therefore, the sermon ordinarily takes up the majority of our Sunday morning gatherings.
4. Biblical Leadership –
We believe local churches are to be led by qualified, godly men who are able to teach (1 Tim. 3:1-7). In the Scriptures these men are referred to as Elders/Pastors/Bishops/Overseers (Titus 1:5, Eph. 4:11, Phil. 1:1). These different titles make up the one office ordinarily referred to as “Elders” or “Pastors”. In the New Testament, each local church had a plurality of Elders (Acts 14:23) who were responsible for shepherding God’s flock (Acts 20:28, 1 Peter 5:1-3). As churches are able, they ought to have a plurality of Elders as well. These pastors are equal in oversight over God’s church, but each is gifted differently so that the main preaching duties will ordinarily fall upon one man (1 Timothy 5:17), particularly in smaller churches.
We believe the only other office besides pastors in the local church is that of deacons (Phil. 1:1, 1 Tim. 3:8-13). All church members ought to serve the church, but the office of deacon is particularly designed by God for qualified men to assist elders with the physical needs of the church so as to help free the pastors for labor in the ministry of the Word & prayer (Acts 6:4).
5. Biblical Membership –
We believe that membership in a local church is a biblical and precious privilege. Membership in the local church is limited to regenerate persons, i.e., believers (1 Cor. 1:2), who have been baptized as believers by immersion upon a credible profession of faith (Acts 2:41).
Membership in the local church includes a covenantal commitment to weekly assembly with the body (Heb. 10:25), as well as covenanting to watch over one another in holy love (Gal. 6:1-2), to discipline one another when necessary (Matthew 18:15-17, 1 Cor. 5:12-13), and to contribute financially to the needs and mission of the church (Acts 2:42ff, 1 Cor. 16:1-2).
We believe all church members, both men and women each having various gifting, must serve the body of Christ for His glory and the advancement of His Kingdom (1 Cor. 12:14). No church will be successful in the eyes of the Lord without both holy men and holy women committed to the cause of Christ.
6. Biblical Worship –
We believe that our triune God alone determines how He is to be worshiped (Deut. 12:32) and has expressly set forth in His Word how He would have His local churches worship Him (John 4:24). We, therefore, seek to follow the regulative principle of worship. This means that we believe that only what God has expressly commanded His church to do in worship should be done.
This also means that we believe only qualified men may preach or publicly lead in the singing, bible reading, and praying that occurs when the church is corporately gathered in our Lord’s Day main assembly (1 Tim. 2:8-15).
We prize the first day of the week, Sunday, as our day for worshiping God corporately (Acts 20:7). While there will be times of providential hindrance, we prioritize our meetings on this day, setting aside this day as sacred for worship and fellowship with the body of Christ. We believe that biblical worship is for all ages and that the entire church body and every family ought to worship God together. We, therefore, do not provide separate spaces for children’s classes during corporate worship (Matthew 19:14).
7. Biblical Missions –
The missions’ organization and sending agency of the New Testament is the local church (cf. Acts 13:1-3). Local churches should, as providence and the light of nature dictates, partner with other likeminded local churches to co-labor in missions and send out missionaries. Every local church is required to care about missions (cf. Matthew 28:18-20). Missions in the New Testament is not only “centered” in the local church, but in many ways is also about the local church. That is, the primary focus of missions’ giving ought to be for planting churches and helping local churches faithfully align themselves with the Word of God (cf. Acts 13:1-14:28, 15:36). Local churches ought to know the who, what, and why of their missions’ giving. Mission enterprises, missionaries, evangelists, etc., are all accountable to the local churches.
8. Biblical Evangelism –
We believe that before the foundation of the world, God elected a people for salvation out of the fallen mass of humanity (Eph. 1:3-14, Matthew 1:21). We believe it is the church’s great honor and obligation to proclaim the gospel – the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ for sinners – to the nations. All persons regardless of ethnicity, gender, or sinful behaviors, must be told of the gospel of our Lord Jesus and offered a real opportunity of pardon from our gracious King (2 Cor. 5:20, Ezekiel 33:11). Those who do call upon the name of the Lord in saving faith and repentance will be forgiven, justified, adopted, sanctified, and eventually glorified, even as only God Himself in His sovereign grace is the very reason for their trust in Him as He has first drawn them to Himself and given them life (John 6:44, 6:63) – salvation from beginning to end belongs to the Lord! (Jonah 2:9)
Since we believe in the complete and gracious sovereignty of God in salvation, we believe we ought to be of all persons, the most evangelistic. God really and truly saves (cf. Heb. 7:25)! And He desires His church to proclaim His offer of pardon to all as it brings glory to Christ (Psalm 96:1-13). We believe, therefore, qualified men in the church should publicly preach the gospel to lost persons as providence grants opportunity even in the face of rejection and hostility (2 Tim. 4:5, Acts 17:22-34). We believe that every church member is responsible to speak the gospel to their friends, neighbors, coworkers, and relatives (Matthew 28:18-20). To pass out tracts or write letters. To pray for and support those from the church who are engaged in evangelistic preaching.
Salvation is not achieved by a Sinner’s Prayer, Baptism, or any other work of man. Salvation is all of sovereign and unmerited grace, planned by the Father, accomplished by our Blessed Redeemer, and applied in time by the Holy Spirit. A person is saved when the gospel is proclaimed and the Spirit works through that proclamation in such a way that He moves the sinner from death to life, “turning on the light” so to speak. Only then can a person see his or her sin (the breaking of God’s Law) and turn from it in repentance. Only then can they, by faith, trust in Christ alone as their only suitable and all sufficient Savior. It is the church’s privilege to take this message to the world.
9. Biblical Homes –
We believe that God’s design for marriage is between one man and one woman for life (Mark 10:1-9). We believe that the home ought to be a place where Christ’s reign is recognized and rejoiced in and where family worship happens frequently (Deut. 6:7).
We live in a society that hates biblical masculinity. We believe men must be the leaders of our homes (1 Cor. 11:3). We reject today’s idea that gender is fluid, and that men and women’s roles are interchangeable. God’s design for the home consists in godly husbands loving their wives as Christ loved the church. In submissive wives seeking to follow their husband’s godly leadership. In children submissive to their parents. (Eph. 5:22-6:4, 1 Peter 3:1-7). We desire to order the home the way Christ would have us.
We disciple men to prize the Scriptures. To prize learning theology. To prize growing in the faith. To prize humbly and graciously leading their families to do the same. To learn from and disciple other men (Proverbs 27:17). We disciple women to prize the Scriptures and learning theology. To tangibly prioritize children and the home. To love and respect their husbands. To learn from and disciple other women (Titus 2:3-5). We disciple families to have regular times of family worship in the home (Joshua 24:15).
10. Biblical Fellowship –
A local church is not merely something one “goes to” like going to a football game. A local church is a family with bonds more lasting than those of our blood relatives (Eph. 3:6, 4:25). We believe local church members must intentionally and joyfully cultivate time together outside of our regular Sunday meetings as providence allows. We believe prioritizing time with one another will result in giving up other things at times, but that such fellowship is for the good of the church and the glory of Christ (John 13:35). This time together with other church members is not only for the enjoyment of one another’s company in the Lord, but also for spurring one another in holiness (Hebrews 3:13).
CONCLUSION: All that we do as a church, our constitution, bylaws, policies, procedures, focus, everyday lives, interactions, affiliations, and who we join in ministry and fellowship with are filtered through these ten biblical distinctives. These distinctives represent our very heartbeat. Soli Deo Gloria. Christ is King!

Doctrinal Statement

THE SCRIPTURES. The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were given by inspiration of God and are the only sufficient, certain, and authoritative rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience.

GOD. There is but one God, the Maker, Preserver, and Ruler of all things, having in and of Himself all perfections, and being infinite in them all; and to Him all creatures owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience.

THE TRINITY. God is revealed to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.

PROVIDENCE. God, from eternity, decrees or permits all things that come to pass and perpetually upholds, directs, and governs all creatures and all events; yet not in any way as to be the author or approver of sin, nor to destroy the free will and responsibility of intelligent creatures.

ELECTION. Election is God’s eternal choice of some persons unto everlasting life – not because of foreseen merit in them, but of His mere mercy in Christ – in consequence of which choice they are called, justified, and glorified.

THE FALL OF MAN. God originally created man in His own image and free from sin; but, through the temptation of Satan, man transgressed the command of God and fell from his original holiness and righteousness; whereby his posterity [i.e. descendants] inherit a nature corrupt and wholly opposed to God and His law, are under condemnation, and as soon as they are capable of moral action, become actual transgressors.

THE MEDIATOR. Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, is the divinely appointed mediator between God and man. Having taken upon Himself human nature, yet without sin, He perfectly fulfilled the law, suffered, and died upon the cross for the salvation of sinners. He was buried, rose again on the third day, and ascended to His Father, at whose right hand He lives forever to make intercession for His people. He is the only Mediator; the Prophet, Priest, and King of the church; and Sovereign of the Universe.

REGENERATION. Regeneration is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit, who makes alive those who are dead in trespasses and sins, enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the Word of God and renewing their whole nature, so that they love and practice holiness. It is a work of God’s free and special grace alone.

REPENTANCE. Repentance is an evangelical grace, wherein the Holy Spirit makes a person aware of the manifold evil of his sin, so that he humbles himself with godly sorrow, detesting sin, and abhorring [i.e., hating] self, with a purpose and endeavor to walk before God so as to please Him in all things.

FAITH. Saving faith is the belief, on God’s authority, of whatsoever is revealed in His Word concerning Christ; accepting and resting upon Him alone for justification and eternal life. It is wrought in the heart by the Holy Spirit, is accompanied by all other saving grace, and leads to a life of holiness.

JUSTIFICATION. Justification is God’s gracious and full acquittal of sinners who believe in Christ from all sin, through the satisfaction that Christ has made. It is given not for anything wrought in them or done by them; but, on account of the obedience and satisfaction of Christ, they receive and rest on Him and His righteousness by faith.

SANCTIFICATION. Those who have been regenerated are also sanctified by God’s Word and Spirit dwelling in them. This sanctification is progressive through the supply of Divine strength, which all saints seek to obtain, pressing after a heavenly life in cordial [i.e., willing] obedience to all Christ’s commands.

PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS. Those whom God has accepted in the Beloved and sanctified by His Spirit will never totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere to the end; and though they may fall through neglect and temptation into sin, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their graces and comforts, bring reproach on the Church and temporal judgments on themselves, yet they shall be renewed again unto repentance and be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.

THE CHURCH. The Lord Jesus is the Head of the Church, which is composed of all His true disciples, and in Him is invested supremely all power for its government. According to His commandment, Christians are to associate themselves into particular societies or churches; and to each of these churches, He has given needful authority for administering the order, discipline, and worship which He has appointed. The regular officers of a church are Bishops (or Elders) and Deacons.

BAPTISM. Baptism is an ordinance of the Lord Jesus, obligatory upon every believer, wherein he is immersed in water in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, as a sign of his fellowship with the death and resurrection of Christ, of remission of sins, and of his giving himself up to God, to live and walk in newness of life.

THE LORD’S SUPPER. The Lord’s Supper is an ordinance of Jesus Christ, to be administered with bread and wine and to be observed by His churches till the end of the world. It is in no sense a sacrifice, but is designed to commemorate His death; to confirm the faith of Christians; and to be a bond, pledge, and renewal of their communion with Him and of their church fellowship.

THE LORD’S DAY. The New Testament Church gives the example of assembling on the Lord’s Day [i.e., Sunday] for the reading and teaching of the Word of God, worship, prayer, and mutual encouragement – stimulating one another to love and good deeds. It is fitting to view the Lord’s Day as a celebration of Christ’s resurrection and the redemption of His people.

LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE. God alone is Lord of the conscience; and He hath left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men, which are in anything contrary to His Word or not contained in it. Civil magistrates being ordained of God, subjection in all lawful things commanded by them ought to be yielded by us in the Lord, not only for wrath’s, but also for conscience’ sake.

THE RESURRECTION. The bodies of men after death return to dust, but their spirits return immediately to God – the righteous to rest with Him; the wicked, to be reserved under darkness to judgment. At the last day, the bodies of all the dead, both just and unjust, will be raised.

THE JUDGMENT. God has appointed a day wherein He will judge the world by Jesus Christ, when every one shall receive according to his deeds: the wicked shall go into everlasting punishment; the righteous, into everlasting life.

We would also identify with the London Baptist Confession of 1689