Our Beliefs

The following are the essential doctrinal beliefs of the Christian faith.

I. God
There is one and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personalities, but without division of nature, essence, or being. He is perfect in His many attributes of holiness, love, power, knowledge, justice, and mercy. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience.

A. God the Father
God, as Father, reigns over His entire universe with providential care according to the purposes of His grace. He is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and all wise. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. He is fatherly in His attitude toward all men.

B. God the Son
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man without ceasing to be God, having been conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful man. He accomplished this redemption by voluntarily giving Himself as a sinless, substitutionary sacrifice on the cross, thereby satisfying God’s righteous judgment against sin. After fulfilling the requirements of the law, He was victoriously raised from the dead with a glorified body, He appeared to His disciples, He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of His Father, where He intercedes on behalf of those who trust Him. He will return again someday to earth in power and glory to reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

C. God the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. Through illumination He enables men to understand truth. He exalts Christ. He convicts men of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He calls men to the Savior, and effects regeneration. At the moment of regeneration He baptizes every believer into the Body of Christ. He cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and bestows the spiritual gifts by which they serve God through His church. He seals the believer unto the day of final redemption. His presence in the Christian is the guarantee that God will bring the believer into the fullness of the stature of Christ. He enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship, evangelism, and service.

 

II. The Scriptures
All Scripture is God breathed, which means it was written by men divinely inspired and is God's revelation of Himself to man. Therefore, all Scripture is the absolute, authoritative, infallible (totally true and trustworthy), living Word of God. The holy Scriptures are able to make men wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. It reveals the principles by which God 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.

 

III. Man
Man is the special creation of God, made in His own image. He created them male and female as the crowning work of His creation. In the beginning man was innocent of sin and was endowed by his Creator with freedom of choice. By his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. All humans have an inherited nature inclined toward sin. Therefore, as soon as they are capable of moral action, they become transgressors and are under condemnation. Only the grace of God can bring man into His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God.

 

IV. Salvation
Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. Salvation is by grace through faith; it is a gift from God and is not obtained by works, so that no one can boast. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord. Every person who is truly saved is eternally secure in the Lord Jesus Christ and will spend eternity with God, while those who die in their sins will spend eternity in hell. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification.

A. Regeneration
Regeneration is the 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 turning from sin toward God.
• Faith is the acceptance of Jesus Christ and commitment of the entire personality to Him as Lord and Savior.

B. Justification
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.

C. Sanctification
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.

D. Glorification
Glorification is the culmination of salvation and is the final blessed and abiding state of the redeemed.

 

V. God's Purpose of Grace
Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which He regenerates, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners. It is consistent with the free agency of man, and comprehends all the means in connection with the end. It is the glorious display of God's sovereign goodness, which is unchangeable. It excludes boasting and promotes humility.

All true believers endure to the end. Those whom God has accepted in Christ, and sanctified by His Spirit, will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall persevere to the end. Believers may fall into sin through neglect and temptation, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their graces and comforts, and bring reproach on the cause of Christ and temporal judgments on themselves; yet they shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.

 

VI. The Church
A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the two ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes. In such a congregation each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord.

The New Testament speaks also of the church as the Body of Christ which includes all of the redeemed of all the ages, believers from every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation.

 

BAPTIST BELIEFS

The following are beliefs of Fortified Hills Baptist Church.

I. BAPTISM
Baptism is an ordinance of the church and is an illustration—a symbolic act. Baptism by immersion best illustrates the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ on our behalf and our subsequent faith in Him. It is not necessary for salvation, but is strongly associated with salvation as it best illustrates our new identity with Jesus Christ.

We believe in believer’s baptism. A person must first exercise faith in Jesus Christ, believing that He died for their sins, was buried, and rose from the dead. An infant or person who does not understand God’s plan of salvation cannot make that kind of commitment. The Scriptural order is belief first followed by baptism. Baptism is limited to those who have personally believed in Jesus Christ as Savior.
(Matthew 3:13-17, 28:18-20; Mark 1:9-11, 16:15-16; Acts 8:12; Colossians 2:12)

 

II. THE LORD’S SUPPER
The Lord’s Supper is an ordinance of the church. It was instituted when the Lord had the Passover meal before His crucifixion. We observe the Lord’s Supper on a regular basis in remembrance of Jesus Christ atonement for our sins. It is a proclamation of His death and an assurance of His second coming. We ask only those who have made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ to participate in the Lord’s Supper. The elements of bread and grape juice are used as symbols of Christ’s body that was broken and His blood that was shed for the remission of our sins.
(Matthew 26:29; I Corinthians 5:11-13, 11:21-32)

 

III. THE PRIESTHOOD OF THE BELIEVER
Each person is able to come to God for himself or herself through the work of the Holy Spirit. All believers are ministers and servants of God. Therefore the church does not have a distinctive class of priests. All members are made “priests unto God” by the death of Christ. The church is a holy priesthood chosen by God to offer up spiritual sacrifices. There is only one mediator between God and man and that is Jesus Christ.
(Romans 12:1; Ephesians 4:11-12; I Timothy 2:5; I Peter 2:5; Revelation 1:5-6)

 

IV. GOVERNMENT
Fortified Hills Baptist Church is an autonomous church operating under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. It is subject to the control of no other ecclesiastical body, but it recognizes and sustains the importance of mutual counsel and cooperation, which is common among Baptist churches. We are a cooperating member of the Noonday Baptist Association, the Georgia Baptist Convention, and the Southern Baptist Convention.