Bucksport Bible Church

We believe in one God eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (Matthew 28:19)

We believe that Jesus Christ ever existed as the Son, with the Father and the Holy Spirit and that in His incarnation was begotten by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary and is true God and true man. (John 1:1-19; 1 Timothy 3:16)

We believe that man was created in the image of God; that he sinned and thereby incurred not only physical death but also spiritual death which is separation from God; and that all human beings are born with a sinful nature, are totally depraved and are sinners in thought, word, and deed, and that they must be born again to be accepted of God. We further believe that no man is capable of, or desires to seek God, but that God by His own sovereign will draws men to Himself whom He has chosen before the foundation of the world. (Romans 3:10,23; 5:10; John 3:1-21; Ephesians 1:4)

We believe that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice, and that all who believe in Him are justified on the grounds of His shed blood. We believe that He arose bodily from the dead on the third day. We also believe that our Lord ascended into Heaven; that He is now seated at the right hand of the Father and is our High Priest and Divine Advocate with the Father. We believe that by His finished work on the cross and His unceasing ministry of intercession in Glory that Jesus Christ has procured for every believer Eternal Redemption, Eternal Salvation, and Everlasting Life. (Mark 16:19; John 3:16; 20:27; Romans 5:9; 1 Corinthians 15:3,4; Hebrews 5:9; 7:25; 8:11; 9:12; 1 John 2:1)

We believe that the Holy Spirit is a person; that He convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, that He regenerates the sinner by the word of God, that He permanently indwells the church, and the body of each believer, that He seals, enlightens, instructs, and guides every born again person, and that He is the power for Godly living, Christian service, and spiritual worship. We believe that the Holy Spirit exercises sovereignty in the bestowment of a spiritual gift, or gifts, upon every believer for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. We believe that some of the gifts which were intended for authenticating signs, such as “speaking in tongues” and public miraculous healings, have ceased. (John 3: 5-7; 14:16,17,26; 16:7-15; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11; 13:8-10; 2 Corinthians 12:12; Ephesians 4:7-13,30; I Peter 1:23)

We believe that the Church of Jesus Christ was begun at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended from Heaven and came into the Church; that it is composed solely of born-again people, having been called out from among the Jews and Gentiles to become the Body and Bride of our Lord. Christ glorified in Heaven is its Head, and the Holy Spirit on earth is the active agent of the God-head Who ever seeks to bring about within its ranks, conformity and obedience to the word and the will of God. The one body unites believers to each other, and all to Christ; and its chief purpose of existence is to glorify God by its worship, practice and testimony. We believe that the church was commissioned by Jesus Christ to evangelize the world and be completed through the winning of lost souls to Christ. (Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8; 2; 15:14; Romans 1:16; 1Corinthians 12:12,13; Ephesians 5:23,24)

We believe that Christians are commanded to observe two ordinances, namely, water baptism and the Lord’s supper. While recognizing that water baptism has no saving merit, it is our conviction that after one is saved, baptism is the next step in order to portray to the world the believer’s union with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. It is our conviction that the scriptural method of water baptism is immersion. We believe that Jesus Christ instituted the Lord’s Supper to commemorate His death “till He come.” We further believe that water baptism by immersion is observed but once, and is a sign of identification, and a testimony to newness of life, but the Lord’s Supper is commemorative and is to be observed often as a memorial of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. We also believe that the Lord’s Supper testifies to the unity of the Body of Christ. (Romans 6:4; 1 Corinthians 10:16,17; 11:23-33; Colossians 2:9-13)

We believe in the Blessed Hope, the personal premillennial and imminent return of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is known as the Rapture of the Church. At the rapture, the physical bodies of all who have died “in Christ” will arise from their graves incorruptible, to be reunited with the soul and spirit. The bodies of those believers who are “alive and remain” will be changed, and made incorruptible, like unto the body of Christ. All will be “caught up, together with Christ” in the air and will return to heaven with Him until His physical return to the earth. We further believe that the rapture is pre-tribulational, meaning that it will occur at or before the start of Daniel’s 70th week, the seven year period commonly known as the tribulation. We also believe in the personal, visible, and glorious return of Christ to the earth with His Saints at the end of the Great Tribulation. This phase of His coming is known as the Revelation of Jesus Christ. When He returns to earth with His Saints, we believe that Jesus Christ will establish His millennial Kingdom and will reign for a literal one thousand years. (John 14:3; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17; Titus 2:13; Revelation 19: 11-21; 20:1-6)

We believe in the bodily resurrection of the just at the Rapture and of the unjust at the end of the millennium. (I Thessalonians 4:16; I Corinthians 15:51-57; Revelation 20:11-15; John 5:28,29)

We believe in a Heaven and a Hell. Heaven, the place of eternal conscious joy for all who receive Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. Hell, a place of eternal conscious punishment in the lake of Fire for all who reject Jesus Christ and die in their sin. (John 14:1-6; Psalm 16:11; Philippians 1:21-23; Psalm 9:17; John 8:24; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9; Revelation 20:10-15)

We believe that Satan is a personal being, a fallen angel, prince of demons, the god of this age, the great enticer and deceiver, the adversary of Christ and His people, the accuser of the brethren, whose end is the Lake of Fire. (Isaiah 14:12-15; Ezekiel 28:12-19; 2 Corinthians 4:3,4; I Peter 5:8: Revelation 12:9,10; Matthew 25:41; Revelation 20:10)

We believe that the Scriptures clearly teach non-conformity to the world for every believer; that born-again people should be separated from the world unto Christ; that it is clearly commanded of God to all believers to live lives of separation from all worldly and sinful practices and to be holy as He is holy. We further believe that the scripture teaches that believers must separate from other believers who are guilty of blatant sin, heresy, false or divisive teaching, or who refuse to submit to the revealed will of God in His word. (Colossians 3:1-4; 2 Corinthians 6:14-17; Titus 2:14; I Peter 1:14-16; Colossians 1:13; Hebrews 10:14; 2 Corinthians 7:1; 3:18; 2 Peter 3:18; 1 Corinthians 5; Titus 3:10; 1Timothy 6:5; 2 Timothy 3:5; 2 Thessalonians 3:6,14)

We believe that positional sanctification occurs at the moment of regeneration and that practical sanctification is to be progressive throughout the entire life span of a believer here on earth. God’s provision for holy living is in the believer’s identification with Christ in His death, resurrection, and ascension; the indwelling person and power of the Holy Spirit and the believer’s yieldedness to Him; and by the powerful word of God. (Romans 6:1-14; Ephesians 1:15-2:6; I Corinthians 6:19,20; Galatians 5:16-23; John 17:17; Hebrews 4:12; Ephesians 5:25-27)

We believe in the plurality of leadership in the local Church. The apostles appointed elders in each of the Churches that they had established. We believe that the pastor is one of the elders and is to share the responsibility of leadership of the local assembly with his fellow elders. (Acts 14:23; 15;6; 16:4; 20;28; Philippians 1:1; Proverbs 11:14; 15:22)

We believe that it is normal for the heart of the believer to express itself in song. We further believe that the music with which we teach and admonish one another should glorify God in both style and lyrics. In style, so that the attention is drawn to God, not to the flesh, and in lyrical content so that the message of the song is doctrinally correct. (Colossians 3:16,17,23; Psalm 103:1; 1 Corinthians 6:19,20)

We believe that when the scriptures are interpreted in their natural, literal sense, they reveal divinely determined dispensations or rules of life, which define man’s responsibilities in successive ages. These dispensations are not ways of salvation, but rather divinely ordered stewardships by which God directs man according to His purpose. Three of these, the dispensations of law, grace and millennial rule of Christ, are subjects of detailed revelation in Scripture. (John 1:17; 1 Corinthians 9:17; 2 Corinthians 3:9-18; Galatians 3:13-25; Ephesians 1:10; Colossians 1:24,25; Hebrews 7:19; Ephesians 3:1-7; Revelation 20:2-6)