What We Believe

Bible Church of Lake Shore is a member of the Independent Fundamental Church Association (IFCA).

Learn More

Our Purpose

The function and ministry of this shall be:

  1. To aggressively disseminate the Gospel of the grace of God to the end that God be glorified in the salvation of lost sinners.
  2. To maintain a regular program for teaching the Word of God, that believers might be edified thereby.
  3. The promote Bible-centered, Christ-honoring missionary efforts at home and abroad through evangelism, education, medical work, etc.
  4. To provide regular services for public worship, prayer & praise.
  5. To uphold and defend the Christian faith as set forth in the Holy Scriptures (King James Version) against all its enemies, both religious and secular.
  6. To cooperate with such other Christian activity as in harmony with the Word of God and the letter and spirit of this Constitution.
  7. To trust the Lord to supply its temporal needs, and to be individually faithful in contributing as the Lord may prosper. To avoid the unscriptural and worldly methods that some have employed to raise money for the support of the Lord’s work, such as entertainment, socials, suppers, bingo and other games, etc.
  8. To abstain from all appearances of evil, and reckon yourself to be dead unto sin but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Our Statement of Faith

This church has been founded upon and pledges to preach and teach the following doctrinal truths, believing them to be the expression of truth as found in the Word of God and requires that each member subscribes to them without any reservation, to become and remain a member.

1. The Holy Scriptures

We believe the Holy Bible is the inspired Word of God consisting of sixty-six (66) books of the Old and New Testament. This verbally inspired Word of God is inerrant in the original manuscripts, infallible. It is the supreme authority and final rule in life and faith. (II Timothy 3:16-17; II Peter 1:20-21; Isaiah 8:20; John 16:12- 13).

2. The Godhead

  • a. We believe there is one only living and true God eternally existing in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the same in substance, equal in power and glory. (Genesis 1:1; John 10:30; Deuteronomy 6:4; II Corinthians 13:14).
  • b. We reject, however, the modernist and liberal teaching that God is the Father of all, and that all are brothers. We believe that He is the Spiritual Father only of those who are born again and brought into His household. Only those who have been redeemed through his blood, having forgiveness of sins are our brothers. (John 3:3; Ephesians 4:18; John 1:12; John 8:44).

3. The Person and Work of Christ

  • a. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Eternal Son of God, became man, without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful man. (John 1:1-2; John 1:14; Luke 1:35).
  • b. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to heaven, and is now exalted at the right hand of God, where as our High Priest, He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor and Advocate. (Acts 1:9; Hebrews 9:24 & 7:25; Romans 8:34; I John 2:1-2).

4. The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit

  • a. We believe that the Holy Spirit is a Person who convicts the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment; and He is the Supernatural Agent in regeneration, baptizing all believers into the Body of Christ, indwelling, and sealing them unto the day of redemption. (John 16:8-11; I Corinthians 12:13).
  • b. We believe that He is the divine teacher who guides believers into all truth and all saved ones are exhorted to be filled with the Spirit. (John 2:20; John 16:18; Ephesians 5:18).

5. Total Depravity of Man

We believe that man was created in the image and after the likeness of God, that he sinned and thereby incurred not only physical death but spiritual death which is separation from God; and that all human beings are born with a sinful nature which is enmity against God, and in the case of those who reach moral responsibility, become sinners in thoughts, word and deed. (Genesis 1:26-27; Romans 3:22 & 5:12; Ephesians 2:1-3).

6. Salvation

  • a. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice; that all who believe in Him are justified on the ground of His shed blood and righteousness. (Ephesians 2:8-10; John 1:12-13; Ephesians 1:7; I Peter 1:18-19).
  • b. We believe in the resurrection of the crucified body of our Lord, His ascension into heaven and His present life there for us, as a High Priest, Advocate and the only Mediator between God and man. (Acts 1:21-22; 2:24; 4:33; 29:32; I Corinthians 15:15)

7. The Eternal Security and Assurance of Believers

  • a. We believe that all the redeemed are kept by God’s power and are secure in Christ forever. (John 6:37- 40; 10:27-30; Romans 8:1;8:38; I Corinthians 1:4-8; I Peter 1:5; I John 2:19)
  • b. We believe the saved should rejoice in a personal confidence of a present salvation which rests in the manifestation of the indwelling Christ and veracity of the Word of God. (John 5:11-13).

8. The Second Advent of Christ

We believe in the “Blessed Hope” the personal, imminent, pre-tribulation and pre-millennial coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for His redeemed ones; and in His subsequent return to earth, with His saints, to establish His Millennial Kingdom (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Zechariah 14:4-11; Revelations 19:11-16, Revelations 20:1-6; I Thessalonians 1:10; 5:9; Revelations 3:10).

9. The Natures of the Believer

We believe that every saved person possesses two natures, with provision made for victory of the new nature over the old through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, and that in this life all claims to the eradication of the old nature are unscriptural. (Romans 6:13; Romans 8:12-13; Galatians 5:16-18; Ephesians 4:22-24; Colossians 3:10; I Peter 1:14-16; I John 3:6-9).

10. Separation

We believe that all the saved should live in such a manner as not to bring reproach upon their Savior and Lord; and that separation from all religious apostasy, all worldly and sinful pleasures, practices and associations is commanded by God. (II Timothy 3:1-5; Romans 12:1; Romans 14:13, I John 2:15-17; II John 9-11; II Corinthians 6:14; 7:1).

11. Missions

We believe that it is the obligation of the saved to witness by life and by word the truths of Holy Scripture and to seek to proclaim the Gospel to all mankind. (Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8; 11 Corinthians 5:19-20)

12. The Personality of Satan

We believe that Satan is a person, the author of Sin and the cause of the fall, that he is the open and declared enemy of God and man; and that he shall be eternally punished in the lake of fire. (Job 1:6; Isaiah 14:12-17; Matthew 4:2-11; Matthew 25:41; Revelations 20:10).

13. Sanctification

We believe sanctification in two aspects, that God sanctifies, that He sets us apart, at the time of our personal acceptance of Christ as Lord and Savior. (1 Corinthians 6:11;John 1:12; Colossians 3:26). We experience sanctification by the degree we yield to God, separate from sin and grow in wisdom, knowledge, experience, and grace. (Romans 12:1; Psalms 119:11; 11 Corinthians 3:18).

14. The Eternal State

  • a. We believe in the bodily resurrection of men, the saved to eternal life; and the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment. (Matthew 25:46; John 5:28, John 11:25-26).
  • b. We believe that the souls of the redeemed are at death, absent from the body and present with the Lord, where in conscious bliss they await the first resurrection, when Spirit, Soul and Body are reunited to be glorified forever with the Lord (Luke 23:45; Revelations 20:4-6; 11 Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23; Philippians 3:21, Thessalonians 4:16-17).
  • c. We believe that the souls of unbelievers remain after in conscious misery until the second resurrection, when with soul and body reunited they shall appear at the Great White Throne of Judgment, and shall be cast into the Lake of Fire, not to be annihilated, but to suffer everlasting conscious punishment (Luke 16:19-26; Matthew 25:41-46; 11 Thessalonians 1:7-9; Jude 1:6-7; Mark 9:43-48; Revelation 20:11-15).

15. The Church

We believe that the Church, which is the body and the espoused bride of Christ, is a spiritual organism made up of all born again persons of this present age. (Ephesians 1:22-23; Ephesians 5:26-27; I Corinthians 12:12- 14; II Corinthians 11:2).

16. The Ordinances

  • a. Baptism
  • b. Lord’s Supper

Both are divinely enjoined upon all Christians. Without merit in themselves, they provide an expression of faith regarding the believers’ identification and fellowship with Christ.

17. Evolution

With the prevalent teaching of evolution, either theistic or atheistic, there is a definite denial of the record of
creation as given literally in Genesis 1, 2. We therefore reject godless evolution and all that evolution declares
We believe that the flood, recorded in Genesis 7,8 was a world-wide flood and not localized. As a result, all human life, with the exception of Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives were destroyed. All land animals, except those preserved on the Ark were destroyed; therefore, all animal and human life on earth today descended from those on the Ark.

We acknowledge that there can be change within a species, by “selective breeding”, as observed in Gregor J. Mendel’s law regarding genes (see encyclopedia).

We believe God created the material universe and the earth and all that is in them in six (6) literal 24 hour days, including the angelic hosts and the first humans, Adam and Eve. (Genesis 1, 2; Exodus 20:8-11, Isaiah 45:18; Ephesians 3:9; Colossians 1:16; Revelation 4:11; 10:6)

18. Israel

God’s call to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3) is the beginning of the Hebrew people and the history of the nation of Israel. It is through Israel that all the nations are to be blessed. That is because through Israel, the Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, was to come. Throughout the Old Testament, God promised and re-confirmed those promises of His blessing and plan for national Israel. (Genesis 15:18-21). Many of those promises and blessings have been literally fulfilled. (Genesis 5:13-16; 17:5, 15-19, 21:1-3). Many are yet to be fulfilled (Daniel 7:13-14) and will find literal fulfillment, especially during the tribulation period and the millennium when Christ will return and will sit upon His throne in literal Jerusalem.

A teaching has arisen which denies the literal fulfillment of those promises to Israel and transfers them to be fulfilled spiritually by the church. We reject such teaching and believe every promise not yet literally fulfilled, will be literally fulfilled by God. Though Israel is at present blinded and set aside, as the Gospel goes to Gentiles and fulfills His purpose for the church, that nation will have that blindness removed and will realize God’s purpose for them.

Basically we maintain that Israel is Israel and the church is the church.

[If you have a Scofield Reference Bible, please read the notes on the various Covenants.] (Genesis 13:14-
17; 15:1-6; 18-21; 17:4-8; Deuteronomy 30:7; Isaiah 14:1,2; Joel 3:1-8; Revelation 20:1-6; 21:22)

19. Marriage

The definition of marriage is primarily a Biblical and moral concern rather than a civil or social or political issue and Scripture defines marriage as a man leaving his mother and father and being joined to his wife (Genesis 2:24,25; Ephesians 5:31; Matthew 19:4-6) and several U.S. states and some in our present culture seeking to redefine marriage, we as a local church reject same sex, homosexual attempts to be recognized as being married and will not be involved in performing any ceremony that seeks to recognize such marriages.

The Bible Church of Lake Shore likewise rejects the anti-biblical practice of polygamy (having many wives) and stands firm that marriage is the union of one man and one woman.

Covenant

Having been led, as we believe, by the HOLY SPIRIT, to receive the LORD JESUS CHRIST as our SAVIOR and to be one of the members of this assembly of believers, we promise, GOD helping us, that as strangers and pilgrims we will abstain from fleshly lusts that war against the soul (1 Peter 2:11); that we will put away from us all bitterness, wrath and anger, clamor and evil speaking, and will be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as GOD, for CHRIST’S sake has forgiven us (Ephesians 4:31, 32); as we have opportunity we will do good unto all men, especially them that are of the household of faith (Galatians 6:10); we will not have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but will reprove them (Ephesians 5:11); we will remember them which have the rule over us, who speak unto us the Word of God (Hebrews 13:17); we will regularly attend the services of the Church (Hebrews 10:25); we will cheerfully give of our substance (II Corinthians 9:7); we will be doers of the Word and not hearers only (James 1:22); we shall entrust our children and make our home a testimony for CHRIST (Ephesians 6:4); and desire that in all things CHRIST shall have the pre-eminence (Colossians 1:18).