MISSIONS

Our church believes strongly in supporting not only local evangelistic missions work but we support missions activity on a much broader scale as well. We currently support 34 missionaries serving in countries and regions all around the globe. They are doing the same sort of things that we are doing here at the home base.

Missionaries we partner with engage in various outreach ministries as well as aggressive soul-winning efforts. All of the missionaries on our team in one way or another are helping with the starting, strengthening, and building of local New Testament churches. The sun truly never sets on the ministry of First Baptist Church of Ocoee.

We support our missionaries through faith promise missions giving. For more information, feel free to call Pastor Harris at 407-782-4591.

THE HOLY SCRIPTURES

We believe the Old and New Testament Scriptures are the verbally and plenarily inspired Word of God. The Scriptures are inerrant, infallible, and God-breathed and are, therefore, the final authority for faith and life. The sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments are the complete and divine revelation of God to Man. The Scriptures shall be interpreted according to their normal grammatical-historical meaning, and all issues of interpretation and meaning shall be determined by the pastor. The King James Version of the Bible shall be the official and only translation used by the church. To be clear, we believe in the Divine Inspiration of Scripture as well as the Divine Preservation of Scripture and that the Word of God is Divinely preserved for the English-speaking world in the Authorized King James Version.

(2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 1:20-21)

THE GODHEAD

We believe in one triune God, eternally existing in three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—each co-eternal in being, co-identical in nature, co-equal in power and glory, and having the same attributes and perfections.

(Deut. 6:4; Matt. 28:19; John 14:10, 26; 2 Cor. 13:14)

THE PERSON AND WORK OF CHRIST

(1)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 men.

(Isa. 7:14; 9:6; Luke 1:35; John 1:1-2, 14; 2 Cor. 5:19-21; Gal. 4:4-5; Phil. 2:5-8)

(2) We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through His death on the cross as a representative, vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice, and that our justification is made sure by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead.

(Acts 2:18-36; Rom. 3:24-25; Eph. 1:7; 1 Pet. 2:24; 1 Peter 1:3-5)

(3) 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 1:9-10; Rom. 8:34; Heb. 9:24; 7:25; 1 John 2:1-2)

THE PERSON AND WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

(1) We believe that the Holy Spirit is a person who convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; and, that 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; Rom. 8:9; 1 Cor. 12:12-14; 2 Cor. 3:6; Eph. 1:13-14)

(2) We believe that He is the divine Teacher who assists believers to understand and appropriate the Scriptures and that it is the privilege and duty of all the saved to be filled with the Spirit.

(Eph. 1:17-18; 5:18; 1 John 2:20, 27)

(3) We believe that God is sovereign in the bestowal of spiritual gifts to every believer. God uniquely uses evangelists, pastors, and teachers to equip believers in the church to do the work of the ministry.

(Rom. 12:3-8; 1 Cor. 12:4-11, 28; Eph. 4:7-12)

(4) We believe that the sign gifts of the Holy Spirit, such as speaking in tongues and the gift of healing, were temporary. Speaking in tongues was never the common or necessary sign of the baptism or filling of the Holy Spirit. Ultimate deliverance of the body from sickness or death awaits the consummation of our salvation in the resurrection, although God frequently chooses to answer the prayers of believers for physical healing.

(1 Cor. 1:22; 13:8; 14:21-22)

THE TOTAL DEPRAVITY OF MAN

We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God; but that in Adam’s sin the human race fell, inherited a sinful nature, and became alienated from God. Man is totally depraved and, of himself, utterly unable to remedy his lost condition.

(Gen. 1:26-27; Rom. 3:22-23; 5:12; 6:23; Eph. 2:1-3; 4:17-19)

SALVATION

We believe that salvation is the gift of God brought to man by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, Whose precious blood was shed on Calvary for the forgiveness of our sins. We believe that all sins, except blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, are forgivable.

(Matt. 12:31-32; John 1:12; Eph. 1:7; 2:8-10; 1 Pet. 1:18-19; 1 John 1:9)

THE ETERNAL SECURITY AND ASSURANCE OF BELIEVERS

(1) We believe that once a person is saved, he is kept by God’s power and remains secure in Christ forever.

(John 6:37-40; 10:27-30; Rom. 8:1, 38-39; 1 Cor. 1:4-8; 1 Pet. 1:4-5)

(2) We believe that it is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God’s Word, which, however, clearly forbids the use of Christian liberty as an occasion to the flesh.

(Rom. 13:13-14; Gal. 5:13; Titus 2:11-15)

THE CHURCH

(1) We believe that the local church, which is the body and the espoused bride of Christ, is solely made up of born-again believers.

(1 Cor. 12:12-14; 2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 1:22-23; 5:25-27)

(2) We believe that the establishment and continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament.

(Acts 14:27; 20:17, 28-32; 1 Tim. 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-11)

(3) We believe in the autonomy of the local church free of any external authority or controls, and any affiliations, societies, organizations, associations, or agencies this church affiliates with to further the objectives stated in the Purpose Statement are not authoritative in matters of church practice or belief.

(Acts 13:1-4; 15:19-31; 20:28; Rom. 16:1, 4; 1 Cor. 3:9, 16; 5:4-7, 13; 1 Pet. 5:1-4)

(4) We recognize water baptism by immersion and the Lord’s Supper as the Scriptural ordinances of obedience for the church in this age. This church practices what is commonly referred to as Close Communion.

(Matt. 28:19-20; Acts 2:41-42; 8:36-38; 1 Cor. 11:23-26)

CREATION

We believe that the Genesis account of creation is neither allegory nor myth, but a literal, historical account of God’s creation of the universe in six literal, 24-hour periods. We reject evolution, the Gap Theory, the Day-Age Theory, and Theistic Evolution as unscriptural theories of origin.

(Gen. 1-2; Ex. 20:11)