STATEMENT OF FAITH
We state our doctrinal beliefs below not as a litmus test that must be passed in order to be a part of Saved by Grace, but for a basis of understanding of our views. The people of Saved by Grace are to cooperate with the Holy Spirit to care for the poor, orphans, and widows, sharing the gospel in its fullness, while healing the brokenhearted, proclaiming liberty to the captive
s and freedom to the prisoners. Therefore, even if there are a few doctrinal differences on the part of some, the following reflects the views of the Pastors, James and Shirley Dudley. WE BELIEVE God is the Eternal King. He is infinite, unchangeable, Spirit, perfection, holiness, wisdom, goodness, justice, power and love. He exist as the One Living God in three persons of one substance, equal in power and glory: The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. WE BELIEVE that in the fullness of time, God honored all His covenants with Israel and His prophetic promise of Salvation by sending His only son Jesus into the world. Conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, as fully man in one person, He is humanity as God intended us to be. Jesus was anointed as God’s messiah and empowered by the Holy Spirit, inaugurating God’s Kingdom reign on earth, overpowering the reign of Satan by resisting temptation, preaching the good news of salvation, healing the sick, casting out demons, and raising the dead. He reconstituted God’s people as His, dying for the sins of the world. Jesus was raised from the dead on the third day fulfilling the covenant of blessing given to Abraham. He ascended into heaven and rules at the right hand of the Father, and all authority and power in the heavens and on earth have been given to Him. He is the eternal Messiah King, advancing God’s reign throughout every generation and throughout the whole world today. WE BELIEVE that the Holy Spirit was poured out on the church on the evening of the resurrection when Jesus breathed upon his disciples and told them to receive the Holy Spirit. This was the experience of receiving the indwelling Spirit bringing “zoe,” life to them. The baptism of repentance is when this is continued in the history of the Church. This is the one baptism referred to in 1 Corinthians 12:13, baptizing believers into the body of Christ. These disciples and others would later receive the “Promise of the Father”: the mighty baptism with the Holy Spirit when He would come upon (“epi”) them. This was the experience of the disciples (who had earlier received the Spirit when Jesus breathed upon them and said, “Receive the Spirit“) on the Day of Pentecost. Whereas the receiving of the Spirit on the evening of the resurrection was for life, at Pentecost the Spirit came upon them in power and released the gifts of the Spirit to them. The Holy Spirit brings the permanent indwelling presence of God to us for spiritual worship, personal sanctification, building up the Church, gifting us for ministry, and driving back the kingdom of Satan by the evangelization of the world through proclaiming the word of Jesus and doing the works of Jesus. WE BELIEVE in the present ministry of the Spirit and in the exercise of all biblical gifts of the Spirit. We practice the laying on of hands for the empowering of the Spirit, for healing, for impartations of gifts of the Holy Spirit, and for recognition and empowering of those whom God has ordained to lead and serve the church. We also recognize that another of the two ways recorded in the Bible that God empowers people is through individual or corporate prayer and waiting upon God, and in this latter scenario there is no laying on of hands. We value both of these ways of receiving impartations and empowering experiences from God. WE BELIEVE that the Holy Spirit inspired the human authors of the Holy Scripture so that the Bible is “God-breathed.” We receive the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments as our final, absolute authority and the only infallible rule of faith and practice. WE BELIEVE that God's kingdom has come in the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ, that it continues to come in the ministry of the Holy Spirit through the Church, and that it will be consummated in the glorious, visible, and triumphant appearing of Christ: His return to the earth as King. After Christ returns to reign, He will bring about the final defeat of Satan and all of his minions and works, the resurrection of the dead, the final judgment and eternal conscious punishment of the wicked, and the eternal blessing of the righteous. Finally, God will be all in all in His new heavens and new earth, recreated by His mighty power, in which righteousness dwells and in which He will forever be worshiped.
