The Gospel is the good news of how God has acted to save the lost. This was done through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ the son of God. In Jesus's life, death, and resurrection all people who put their faith in him will have life.
1. We believe that the words of the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments were inspired by God and in the original writing contained no errors. These books are the final authority in determining what we believe and how we should live.
Scriptural Basis: II Timothy 3:16 -17; II Peter 1:19-21; Heb.6:18; Proverbs 30:5-6;
Deuteronomy 17:19; Psalms 119:9.
2. We believe that there is only one true God and that He exists eternally as three persons; Father, Son (Jesus Christ), and Holy Spirit. These three are equal yet distinct in personality and role. We believe that God made the entire universe as it is described in Genesis. He made it from nothing and created it in the form He intended it to be.
Scriptural Basis: Exodus 20:2-3; Matthew 28:19; I Corinthians 8:6; John 15:26; Genesis 1:1-31; Exodus 20:11; Colossians 1:16-17; Hebrews 11:3
3. We believe that Jesus Christ, is God the Son, and that He became a man when He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of Mary, a virgin. He is true God and true man. We believe in the resurrection of the crucified body of our Lord, in His ascension into heaven, and in His present ministry there as High Priest, mediator and advocate.
Scriptural Basis: John 1:1,14; Luke 1:35; Isaiah 7:14; Galatians 4:4; Matthew 28:1-7; Acts 1:8-11; Hebrews 4:14-16; I Corinthians 15:4-9
4. We believe that the Holy Spirit convicts people of sin and draws them to Christ; that He provides those who believe in Christ with a new and pure life, baptising them into the family of God at the time of their regeneration, and confirming it with his on-going presence. It is He who empowers and fills believers, producing spiritual fruit in them that they might walk worthy of Christ. The Holy Spirit helps believers to understand God’s word and gives gifts of service to them for the purpose of building up His Church. While we believe that a miracle working God can do anything that he chooses in any time period, we believe that many of the current manifestations of the gifts are not in line with Biblical teaching, and so are not practiced at Suburban.
Scriptural basis: John 16:7-8; 3:5-6; Eph. 1:11-14; I Corinthians 12:13; Romans 8:9,11;
John 16:13-14; Ephesians 5:18; 4:11-12; Romans 12:6-8; Hebrews 2:3-4; Ephesians 2:20;
I Corinthians 12-14; II Corinthians 12:12
5. We believe that Satan is evil and the "unholy god” of this world. He commands the powers of evil and wages war against the kingdom of God. We believe he is destined to be judged by God and banished into the lake of fire for eternity.
Scriptural basis: Mark 1:13; John 12:31; II Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:2; Revelation 20:10
6. We believe that people were created in the image of God. However, this image was marred when people first sinned. A result of this was physical death and separation from God, which is spiritual death. Since this time all people have been born with a sinful nature and show it by what they think, say and do. In addition, God being a morally righteous God, will one-day call all people to account for their sin and banish those found guilty to the lake of fire for eternity.
Scriptural basis: Genesis 1:26-27; 3:1-24; James 1:5; Romans 5:12;19; 3:10-23; Hebrews 9:27;
Revelation 21:8
7. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ sacrificed His perfect life for all people. Acting as a substitute, He took on their sins and accepted God’s sentence of punishment on their behalf. While His death is sufficient to save all people, it is effective only to those who become children of God. We believe that all who receive the Lord Jesus Christ by faith are born again of the Holy Spirit and become children of God. This new birth is a gift given by God and cannot be earned.
Scriptural basis: Isaiah 53:4-11; II Corinthians 5:14-21; I Peter 3:18; I John 3:5; John 1:29; Hebrews 9:28; John 1:12-13; 3:3-17; Acts 16:31; Romans 8:16-17; Ephesians 2:8-9
8. We believe in the eternal security of the believer. It is impossible for one born into the family of God to be lost because he is forever kept by the power of God.
Scriptural Basis: John 6:39-40; John 10:28-29; Rom. 8:35-39; Jude 1; I Peter 1:5; Ephesians 4:30
9. We believe that God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to its appropriate end. According to His promise, Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth. In that end time we believe in the bodily resurrection of everyone, the eternal salvation of believers in a literal heaven with God, and the eternal punishment of unbelievers in a literal hell. We believe in the literal fulfillment of the prophecies and promises of the Scriptures.
Scriptural Basis: Titus 2:13; John 14:1-3;I Corinthians 15:51-58; IThess. 4:13-18;
II Thess. 2:1-13; Matthew 25:31-46; Luke 16:19-31; Revelation 21:1-8;
I Thess. 4:13-18; Mark 9:44; II Cor. 5:11; Rev. 21:22; John 14:1-6 &48; Matt. 28:33
10. We believe that the Church, which is the body of Christ, consists of all born again believers. The local church is a group of believers in a geographical area organised according to the New Testament pattern, and is the agency through which God has chosen to accomplish His work. The purpose of the local church is for believers to live holy lives and be obedient to God while on mission for Him. The local church is self-governing and autonomous with a leadership structure consisting of Pastors/Elders and Deacons who are accountable to Christ and to members. We believe that baptism is the immersion of a believer in water to show symbolically our death to sin and rising to new life in Christ. We believe that the Lord’s Supper is the commemoration of the death of Christ and should be preceded by solemn self-examination. Both are practiced in obedience to Christ.
Scriptural Basis: Ephesians 1:22-23; I Corinthians 12:13; Acts 2:41-47; 9:31; Matthew 28:18-20; I Timothy 3; I Peter 5:1-3; Ephesians 1:22-23; II Corinthians 6:14-17; I Timothy 6:3-5; Acts 8:36 - 39; John 3:23; Romans 6:3-5; Matthew 3:16; Colossians 2:12; I Cor. 11:23-28; Romans 12:1-2; James 4:4; I John 2:15-17;II Corinthians 6:14; Colossians 3:1-17; Galatians 5:16-25