One Thirst Ministries

Our Doctrinal Statement

We believe the Bible is God’s written revelation to man. It is verbally inspired in every word, and absolutely inerrant in the original documents. We affirm the infallibility, sufficiency, and complete authority of the Scriptures.

We believe that there is but One living and true God, an infinite, all-knowing Spirit, perfect in all His attributes, one in essence, eternally existing in three Persons—the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who are co-equal, co-eternal, and each equally deserving of worship and obedience.

We believe that God the Father is completely sovereign over the affairs of men including salvation in that He chose from eternity past those whom He would redeem and bring to Himself. This act of election does not conflict with God’s command that all men repent and come to Christ for salvation nor will anyone who comes to Christ for salvation be turned away.

We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ who, being completely God and completely man, is God the Son. We believe in His virgin birth, His sinless life, His miracles, His vicarious and atoning death on behalf of the elect, His bodily resurrection, His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and His, yet future, personal, visible return to earth in power and glory.

We believe that the Holy Spirit, as a co-equal and co-eternal member of the Trinity, is the supernatural and sovereign agent in salvation as well as the member of the Godhead who baptizes all believers into the Body of Christ upon the moment of salvation. The Holy Spirit, in addition to convicting the world of evil also restrains evil as well as indwells, sanctifies, instructs, seals, and empowers (fills) believers.

We believe Satan is a personal spirit being who possesses intelligence, emotions, and a will. He is treated by God as a morally responsible person, not a thing. Before his fall he was an angel, created perfect by God. He sinned of his own volition through his prideful attempt to usurp God’s authority. Consequentially, Satan was barred from his original position in heaven and is destined for eternal destruction. Satan’s avowed purpose is to thwart the plan of God in every area and using every means possible. Whereas, we do not believe Satan or his demons can possess believers it is possible for believers to be oppressed by satanic forces. Believers, therefore, need to be alert to Satanic and demonic attacks as Peter warns in 1 Pet. 5:8 and put on the whole armor of God in order to experience victory over Satan (Eph. 6:11-18).

We believe that man is the direct and instantaneous creation of God. We also believe that man was created in God’s image and likeness for the ultimate purpose of glorifying God and enjoying Him and His fellowship forever, but that through willful sin man subjected himself, his descendants, and creation to sin and the authority of Satan. We believe that this fallen condition, referred to as radical and total depravity, which has been transmitted to all men, causes all people to be spiritually dead in their trespasses and sins and therefore unable to merit salvation or contribute anything to their salvation.

We believe that salvation is a gracious and unmerited work of God, which is free to anyone who comes to Him, by faith, through the person and saving work of the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Salvation is wholly of God by grace alone through faith alone. We affirm that whereas salvation is freely granted to whosoever will come to Christ, no one will or can come apart from God’s elective choice in eternity past. We also affirm that until regenerated by the Holy Spirit no one will repent or place faith in Christ. We believe that the salvation of any person is instantaneously and permanently accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit when that person responds in repentance and faith to the Gospel. No one can be saved apart from the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We believe salvation is eternally secured to and for all true believers, and that this assurance is theirs from the very moment of salvation. All true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ will persevere until the Day of Christ Jesus and not be lost. We also believe that those who have genuinely responded to the gospel for salvation will bear fruit that gives evidence to that profession of faith.

We believe in believer’s baptism in which a person is baptized in water by immersion upon his or her profession of faith in Christ as an act of obedience and a symbolic picture of the believer’s union with Christ into His death and resurrection.

We believe that the true church, which is the Body of Christ, is composed of all true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe this universal invisible church is manifested visibly through local assemblies or churches made up of true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. A New Testament church is a local body of baptized believers who have covenanted together in the faith and fellowship of the gospel of Jesus Christ and who are committed to His Word and exercising their spiritual gifts and responsibilities in accordance with His Word. The local church’s purpose is to glorify God by revealing and reflecting God’s character by being a body of believers in which, Jesus is Lord, worshipped, loved, at work, and is entrusting people of all stages of spiritual growth so that they may be discipled and equipped for life and a lifetime of ministry. In order to fulfill this purpose the church must be devoted to:

Teaching God’s Word
Discipleship & Equipping Believers
Individual & Corporate Prayer
Christ-centered Worship
Local & worldwide Evangelism & Missions
Fellowship & Friendship
Relevant & Sacrificial Ministry

We believe that the church is to be led by godly and scripturally qualified pastors (elders) who are assisted in their leadership and ministries by godly and scripturally qualified deacons.
We do not believe the church is to water down or otherwise dumb down the teaching and preaching of the Word of God to accommodate or attract unbelievers. The gathering of the church, the local Body of Christ, is for the purpose of edification through the worship of God by believers, the fellowshipping together of believers, and the hearing of God’s Word taught to believers. This is not to suggest that unbelievers cannot or should not be ministered to in a church’s worship service or cannot witness the believers’ participation in worship. It is to affirm that the worship service is primarily a time for believers to come before the Lord corporately in order to worship Him in spirit and truth.

We believe that it is incumbent upon every believer to live worthy of his calling as a child of God by walking in the Spirit, putting to death the sinful deeds of the flesh and pursuing holiness in every area of life. We also believe that Christian character and spiritual fruit is produced in the life of the believer through the power and work of the Holy Spirit as the believer submits himself to the Word of God.

We believe that the rapture of the church, in which believers are caught up in the air to meet the Lord and forever be with Him is imminent and precedes the period of time known as the Tribulation. We also believe that Christ Jesus will return to the earth a second time at the end of the seven year Tribulation period in order to establish His millennial kingdom. This second return of Christ will be physical, visible, personal, and victorious.

We believe in the bodily resurrection of both the saved and the unsaved. We believe that at death every believer passes into the presence of Christ and there awaits the resurrection of his glorified body. We believe that the unbeliever, upon death, will remain under condemnation and punishment until the resurrection of the body, whereupon he will stand before Christ at the Great White Throne Judgment and ultimately be consigned into the Lake of Fire forever.

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One Thirst Ministries 2009