Holy Spirit

 

We believe that the Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Godhead, equal with God the Father and God the Son and of the same nature; that He has been active from eternity; that He is God’s agent in the world today; that relative to the unbelieving world He restrains the evil one until God’s purpose is fulfilled; that He convicts of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; that He bears witness to the Truth of the Gospel in preaching and in testimony; that He is the agent in the New Birth; that He indwells, seals, baptizes, endues, guides, teaches, witnesses to, sanctifies and fills the believers. (Genesis 1:1-3; Matthew 28:19;3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 1:35; John 14:16, 17, 26; 15:26,27; 16:8-13; 3:5,6; Acts 5:30-32; 11:16; Romans 8:14, 16, 26, 27; Ephesians 1:13-14; 2:18; 5:18; II Thessalonians 2:7, 13; Hebrews 9:14; I Peter 1:2)

 

We believe that the Holy Spirit sovereignly bestows spiritual gifts on believers for the purpose of glorifying Christ, evangelizing the lost, and edifying believers. We believe that the apostolic sign gifts were for the purpose of authenticating the Gospel message in the early church, and were temporary gifts. Thus we reject the authenticity of the modern Pentecostal and charismatic movements. (Romans 12:4-9; I Corinthians 12:4-11; 13:8-10; II Corinthians 12:12; Hebrews 2:3,4)