Our Beliefs

What We Believe

While the King James Bible itself is our official document of faith, the following statements should help you understand those biblical precepts that fundamentally identify the Living Water Independent Church. Our core beliefs are Christ centered and and are supported by Scripture.  What follows is a summary of what we believe. 
 

• We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be verbally and plenary inspired of God. The Scriptures are inerrant, infallible and God breathed, and therefore are 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. The King James Version of the Bible shall be the official and only translation used by the Church. (II Timothy 3:16-17, II Peter 1:20-21)    

• We believe in one Triune God, eternally existing in three persons--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each co-equal in being, power, and glory; and are co-identical in nature, having the same attributes and perfection. (Deuteronomy 6:4, Matthew 28:19, II Corinthians 13:14, John 14:10)       

• 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. (Isaiah 7:14, 9:6, Luke 1:35, John 1:1-2, II Corinthians 5:19-21, Galatians 4:4-5, Philippians 2:5-8)  

• We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through his blood which he shed in 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, Romans 3:24-25, I Peter 2:24, Ephesians1: 7, I Peter 1:3-5)  

• We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to Heaven, and is now exalted at the right hand of God, where as our Great High Priest, He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate. (Acts 1:9-10, Hebrews 9:24, 7:25, Romans 8:34, I John 2:1-2)  

•  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, Romans 8:9, I Corinthians 12:12-14, II Corinthians 3:6, Ephesians 1:13-14, Ephesians 4:30) 

• 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. (Ephesians 1:17-18, 5:18, I John 2:20,27)  

• 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 assembly in order that they can do the work of the ministry. (Romans 12:3-8, I Corinthians 12:4-11, 28, Ephesians 4:7-12)  

• We believe that the sign gifts of the Holy Spirit, such as speaking in tongues and the gifts of healing were temporary. We believe that speaking in tongues was never the common or necessary sign of baptism or filling of the Holy Ghost and that ultimate deliverance of the body from sickness or death awaits the consummation of our salvation in the resurrection, though God frequently chooses to answer the prayer of believers for physical healing. (I Corinthians 1:22, 13:8, 14:21-22, James 5:14-15)  

• 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. (John 1:12, Ephesians 1:7, 2:8-10, I Peter 1:18-19)  

• We believe that the local church, which is the body of Christ and the espoused bride of Christ, is solely made up of born-again believers. (I Corinthians 12:12-14, II Corinthians 11:2, Ephesians 1:22-23, 5:25-27)  

• We believe that the establishment and continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament Scriptures. (Acts 14:27, 20:17, 28-32, I Timothy 3:1-13, Titus 1:5-11)  

• We believe in the autonomy of the local church, free of any external authority or control. (Acts 13:1-4, 15:19-31, 20:28, Romans 16:1, 4, I Corinthians 3:9, 16,5:4-7, 13, I Peter 5:1-4)  

• We recognize only water baptism and the Lord’s Supper as the scriptural ordinances of obedience for the church in this age. (Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 2:41-42, I Corinthians 11:23-26)  

• We believe in the “blessed hope”, the personal, imminent return of Christ who will rapture His Church prior to the seven-year tribulation period. At the end of the Tribulation, Christ will personally and visibly return to the earth with His saints, to establish His earthly Kingdom, which was promised to the Nation of Israel. (Psalms 89:3-4, Daniel 2:31-45, Zechariah 14:4-11, I Thessalonians 1:10, 4:13-18, Titus 2:13, Revelation 3:10, 19:11-16, 20:1-6)  

• We believe that Satan is a person, the author of sin and the cause of the fall of Man; 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 1:6-7, Isaiah 14:12-17, Matthew 4:2-11, Matthew 25:41, Revelation 20:10)

• We believe that God created the universe in six literal 24-hour days. We reject evolution, the Day-Age Theory, and Theistic Evolution as unscriptural theories of the origin. (Genesis 1 & 2, Exodus 20:11)  

• We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity should be engaged in outside of marriage between a man and a woman. We believe that any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery and pornography is a sinful perversion of God’s gift of sex and must be totally abstained from. (Genesis 2:24, Genesis 19:5, 13, Genesis 26:8-9, Leviticus 18:1-30, Romans 1:26-29, I Corinthians 5:1, 6:9, I Thessalonians 4:1-8, Hebrews 13:4)  

• We believe that marriage is a divine institution whereby God joins a man and a woman together in the bonds of Holy Matrimony, thus making the two become one. The marriage of a man and a woman originated in the heart of God with God Himself joining together the first man (Adam) and the first woman (Eve) in the Garden of Eden. We believe that marriage is the foundation of home life and social order and must remain so until the end of time. We believe marriage is to be the free choice of both the man and the woman he is marrying. The Lord Jesus sanctioned marriage by His presence at the marriage in Cana of Galilee. The Bible adds more sacredness to marriage by using marriage as the symbol of the future relationship of Christ and the church. Since the marriage of a man and a woman is the only type of marriage taught in the Scriptures, we reject any and all same-sex marriage. (Genesis 2:18-24, Matthew 19:4-6, John 2:1-10, Ephesians 5:25-27, Revelation 19:7-9)  

• We believe that human life begins at conception and that the unborn child is a living human being. Abortion constitutes the unjustified, unexcused taking of the unborn human life. Abortion is murder. We reject any teaching that abortions of pregnancies due to rape, incest, birth defects, gender-selection, birth or population control, or the mental well being of the mother are acceptable. (Job 3:16, Psalms 51:5, Psalms 139:14-16, Isaiah 44:24 Isaiah 49:1, 5, Jeremiah 1:5, 20:15-18, Luke 1:44)  

• We believe that God has given the Church a Great Commission to proclaim the Gospel to all nations so that there might be a great multitude from every kindred, tongue, people and nation redeemed by Grace through Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. As Ambassadors of Christ we must use all available means to go to the sinners at home and abroad with the Gospel and not wait for them to come to us. (Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15, Luke 24:46-48, John 20:21, Acts 1:8, II Corinthians 5:20, Revelation 5:9)  

• We believe that every Christian, as a steward of that portion of God’s wealth entrusted to him, is obligated to support his local church financially. We believe that God has established the tithe and offerings as the basis for giving, that every Christian should tithe and also give in the offerings sacrificially and cheerfully to the support of the Church, the relief of those in need, and the spread of the Gospel around the world. We also believe that the Christian relinquishes all rights to direct the use of these tithes and offerings once the gift has been made to the Church. (Genesis 14:20, Proverbs 3:9-10, Acts 4:34-37, I Corinthians 16:2, II Corinthians 9:6-7, Galatians 6:6, Ephesians 4:28, I Timothy 5:17-18, I John 3:17)