What we believe
As a followers of Christ, here at Vienna Baptist Church, we affirm the following:
Authority of the Bible: We believe the Bible, composed of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments as originally written, is the inspired and infallible Word of God and is our supreme and final authority in faith and life.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17
God: We believe the God of the Bible is the only true God, existing eternally in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Genesis 1:1; John 1:14; John 6:27; Acts 5:3-4; James 2:19
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Deuteronomy 6:4
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. 2 Corinthians 13:14
I and the Father are one. John 10:30
Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. John 14:10, 26
Jesus Christ: We believe Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit to the Virgin Mary, that He is truly God and truly man, and that His death, burial, and resurrection enable Him to be the only mediator between God and humanity.
For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. Colossians 2:9-10
For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. 2 Timothy 2:5-6
Holy Spirit: We believe in the personality of the Holy Spirit who reveals truth to humanity, transforming and empowering believers to become like Christ.
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. John 16:13
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. Acts 1:8
To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 1 Corinthians 12:7
Sin: We believe that sin is disobedience to God and failure to live according to His will. Romans 1:18-32; Romans 7:12-14
Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 1 John 3:4
Humanity: We believe that all people are loved by God and are created in His image, but that without Christ we are separated from relationship with Him because of sin.
As it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one” Romans 3:10
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23
Salvation: We believe a person comes into a right relationship with God by His grace, through faith in Jesus Christ, securing that relationship with God for eternity.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9
I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. John 10:28-29
The Church: We believe the Church consists of true believers in Christ and that it is God’s primary way to accomplish His purposes on earth.
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20
Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. Ephesians 4:15-16
In addition, in regard to the church, we believe there are two ordinances of the church:
o Water baptism - which speaks of the believer’s identification with the crucified, buried, and risen Lord - via immersion subject to the limitations of the believer. Romans 6:3-4, Matthew 28:19
o The Lord’s Supper which is the sacred use of the bread and cup to commemorate the death of Christ and to express our glorious hope of His imminent return to receive His bride, the church. 1 Corinthians 11:23-29
The local church is completely independent and autonomous, yet serves God together through voluntary association with other churches of like faith and order. Acts 2:40-47
Satan: We believe Satan (the Devil) is a spiritual being who was created by God, but was cast out of heaven with his angels for rebellion against Him. He is the father of all lies, has sinned from the beginning, he is the tempter and accuser of believers, determined to destroy the faithful, but will be ultimately and finally defeated by Jesus Christ. Matthew 4; Revelation 20
You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. John 8:44
Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:8
Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 1 Peter 5:8-9
Eternity: We believe there is a heaven and a hell, and that Jesus Christ is returning to judge the earth and to establish His eternal kingdom. Further, we believe in the bodily resurrection of the just and the unjust, in the eternal and conscious glorification of the just, and in the eternal and conscious punishment of the unjust.
Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Matthew 25:34,41
Family/Human Sexuality: We believe that God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society. It is composed of persons related to one another by marriage, blood or adoption. We believe that the only biblical expression of marriage is a relationship in which one man is united with one woman in a sacred covenant of extraordinary love and care that is intended to be permanent and sexually exclusive. It is the only appropriate pattern for intimate companionship, sexual expression, and the means for procreation of the human race. Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord. Genesis 2:18-25; Malachi 2:14-16; Ephesians 5:21-33; Joshua 24:15; Psalms 139:13-16; Mark 10:6-12; 1 Corinthians 7:1-16; Proverbs 17:6; Proverbs 18:22; Proverbs 22:6; Matthew 5:31-32
He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” Matthew 19:4-6
Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. Hebrews 13:4
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. Psalms 139:13-16