Our Beliefs

We Believe, We Preach, We Teach the GOD of the Bible

Our Theme
“Holiness Unto The Lord” Exodus 28:36

Our Mission
– Hold fast to the truth of the Word of God. Eph. 6:14
– Live a holy life as being true lights in a dark world. Matt. 5:14; Eph. 1:4
-Committed to Discipleship. Matt. 28:18-20; Col. 1:23-29

The Scriptures
The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God’s revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. The Bible is the Word of God. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It reveals the principles by which God saves us, judges us, and therefore is and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.

Our Belief on GOD
There is one and only one living and true God.  The very essence of God’s being is Spirit. God is Sovereign. That simply means that He can do what He wants to do; when He wants to do it; to whom He wants to do it and how He wants to do it. God is self-existent, self-sufficient, unlimited, infinite in holiness and all other perfections. God is all powerful and all knowing; and His perfect knowledge extends to all things, past, present, and future, for He is eternal. He is the Creator of the heavens, the earth and all therein. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. The eternal triune God of the Bible reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personhood attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being. In other words, the one God is three-persons, existing all at the same time and enjoying a personal relation with each other. God’s New Testament name is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14; 1 Peter 1:2). This three-in-oneness concept of God distinguishes Christianity from all other religions. The term “Trinity” is used to describe this three-in-oneness, though the term is not in the bible.

Man
First of all, man was created by God. He is not, therefore, the evolutionary product of blind chance. Man is the special creation of God, made in His own image. Scripture teaches that God created them, male and female as the crowning work of His creation. The gift of gender is thus part of the goodness of God’s creation. In the beginning man was innocent of sin and was endowed by his Creator with freedom of choice. By his free choice man (Adam, who is the federal head of the human race) sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. Through the temptation of Satan, man transgressed the command of God, and fell from his original innocence whereby his posterity inherited a fallen nature in a fallen environment, captive in the bondage of sin. Only the grace of God can bring man into His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God. The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God created man in His own image, and in that Christ died for man; therefore, from our human perspective, every person of every race possesses full dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love.

Salvation
Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man and is offered freely to all who believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.
– Regeneration or the new birth, is a work of God’s grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace. Repentance is a genuine sorrow of personal sin and turning from sin toward God. Faith is believing in Jesus Christ and commitment of the entire personality to Him as Lord and Savior.
– Justification is God’s gracious and full acquittal upon principles of His righteousness of all sinners who repent and believe in Christ. Justification brings the believer unto a relationship of peace and favor with God.
– Sanctification is the experience, beginning in regeneration, by which the believer is set apart to God’s purposes, and is enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual maturity through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. Growth in grace should continue throughout the regenerate person’s life.
– Glorification is the culmination of salvation and is the final blessed and abiding state of the redeemed..

Total Depravity
Because of the fall, man is unable, in his own natural condition, to come to a saving knowledge of God. The sinner is dead, blind, and deaf to the things of God; his heart is deceitful and desperately corrupt. His will is not free, it is in bondage to his evil nature; therefore, he will not–indeed he cannot–choose good over evil in the spiritual realm. Consequently, it takes much more than the Spirit’s assistance to bring a sinner to Christ–it takes regeneration by which the Spirit makes the sinner alive and gives him a new nature. Faith is not something man contributes to in order to effect salvation but is itself a part of God’s gift of salvation–it is God’s gift to the sinner, not the sinner’s gift to God.

Unconditional Election
God’s choice of certain individuals unto salvation before the foundation of the world rested solely in His own sovereign will. His choice of particular sinners was not based on any foreseen response or obedience on their part, such as faith, repentance, etc. On the contrary, God gives faith and repentance to each individual whom He selected. These acts are the result, not the cause of God’s choice. Election therefore was not determined by or conditioned upon any virtuous quality or act foreseen in man. Those whom God sovereignly elected, He brings, through the power of the Holy Spirit to a willing submission to Christ. Thus, God’s choice of the sinner, not the sinner’s choice of Christ, is the ultimate cause of salvation. 

Limited Atonement
Christ’s redeeming work was intended to save God’s elect and secured salvation for them. His death was a substitutionary atonement for the penalty of sin in the place of elect sinners whose names are written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world. In addition to putting away the sins of His people, Christ’s redemption secured everything necessary for their salvation, including faith which united them to Him. The gift of faith is infallibly applied by the Spirit to all for whom Christ died. 

Irresistible Grace
God has ordained that the gospel must be preached. The human vessel does not know whom God has elected for salvation, so the gospel is to be preached to everyone. In His sovereignty, God, through the power of the gospel and the workings of the Holy Spirit, extends to the elect a special inward call that inevitably brings them to salvation. The general summons (which is made to all without distinction) can be, and often is, rejected; whereas the effectual call cannot be rejected, and it always results in conversion. By means of this special call the Spirit irresistibly draws sinners to Christ. He is not limited in His work of applying salvation by man’s will, nor is He dependent upon man’s cooperation for success. The Spirit graciously causes the elect sinner to cooperate, to believe, to repent, to come freely and willingly to Christ. God’s grace, therefore, is invincible; it never fails to result in the salvation of those to whom it is extended. 

Perseverance of the Saints
All who were chosen by God, redeemed by Christ, and given faith by the Spirit are eternally saved. They are kept in faith by the power of Almighty God and thus persevere to the end. 

VI. The Church
A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers. So, the Mt. Zion Baptist Church is an autonomous body of believers. A church is not simply a conglomerate or assembly of people. It is an assembly of people who believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. The first church was made of those “that gladly received His word” (Acts 2:41), those “that believe” (Acts 2:44) and those “who are saved” Acts 2:47).  In Paul’s writings to the churches, he addressed them as “the called of Jesus Christ” (Rom. 1:6), “them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus” and who “call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Cor. 1:2) He calls them “saints” (1 Cor. 1:2; Eph. 1:1), “the faithful brethren in Christ” (Col 1:2). All these expressions indicate that the churches were made up of people who believed in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. This is our creed at Mt. Zion Baptist Church. Additionally, the church is a spiritual organism, not merely an organization. This implies that as a church we march to the beat of a different drummer. Our methods, practices, and policies will in many cases differ from the norms of our worldly society.    Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ. In such a congregation each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord and to each other as brothers and sisters. If one looks with spiritual eyes one can see the essence of the “cross” in the fiber of the very intent of the church, vertically and horizontally. The scriptural officers of the church are Pastors / Elders and Deacons. At Mt. Zion Baptist Church we hold to this biblical teaching.

VII. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his/her faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Baptism is not necessary for salvation as some believe.  Baptism is an outward representation of an internal reality.  The Gospel is what saves.  For someone to insist that baptism is necessary for salvation is to, in fact, be adding a work to the finished works of Christ. The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming. This is commanded by our Lord to do this in remembrance of Him.

VIII. The Lord’s Day
Every day is a day that the Lord has made in which we can and should honor and worship God.  However, following New Testament teaching, the time set up as the day that the local body assembles for the purpose of corporate worship is the first day of the week.  It is a Christian institution for regular observance. It commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and should include exercises of worship and spiritual devotion, both public and private. Activities ofhe Lord’s Day should be in keeping with Christian conscience under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

IX.  Last Things
God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to its appropriate end. According to His promise, and according to the sequence given in scripture, Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly and in glory. According to God’s Sovereign order, the dead will be raised; the righteous in their resurrected and glorified bodies will receive their reward and will dwell forever with the Lord; and Christ will judge all men in righteousness. The unrighteous will be consigned to Hell, the place of everlasting punishment. 

X. Evangelism and Missions
Firstly, the church has a mission to the world. Here the church’s primary mission is the proclamation of the gospel in evangelism as dictated by the Great Commission (Matt 28:19-20) Secondly, the church has a mission to itself. This mission is that of edification of one another.  It refers to the building and developing the members in the life and faith (Eph. 4:16; 1 Cor. 14:26). Every individual member has a responsibility or part to play in edifying the whole body. This is done through, teaching, exhorting, encouraging, and comforting one another. This concept is clearly pointed to in our Theme, Church Purpose, Mission and Vision in Article I.

For More Information on our Church, please download our handbook