ARTICLE III: STATEMENT OF FAITH 

Sunrise Bible Fellowship accepts the Scriptures as the inspired Word of God, and as the sole authority in matters of faith and practice.  Its understanding of Christian truth as therein contained is expressed by the following declaration of faith:

 1. We believe that the Bible in the original manuscripts, is the verbal plenary inspired Word of God, that it was written by men moved by the Holy Spirit, and that it is the supreme infallible authority in all matters of faith and conduct.

 2. We believe that the Godhead eternally exists in three Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; and that these three are one God having essentially the same nature, attributes and perfections, and worthy of the same homage, confidence, and obedience.

 3. We believe in God the Father, perfect in holiness, infinite in wisdom, measureless in power.  We rejoice that He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of men, that He hears and answers prayer, and that He saves from sin and death all who come to Him through Jesus Christ.

 4. We believe in Jesus Christ, that He is the eternal and only begotten Son of God, conceived of the Holy Spirit, virgin born, sinless in His life, making atonement for the sins of the world by His death.  We believe in His physical resurrection, His bodily ascension, His age-long intercession, and His pre-millennial return.

 5. We believe in the Holy Spirit who came forth from God to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment.  He regenerates the repentant sinner, immerses the repentant sinner into the body of Christ, indwells the believer, sanctifies, comforts and instructs those who believe in Jesus Christ.

 6. We believe that all men are by nature and by choice sinners, but that "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."  We believe therefore that those who accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord will rejoice forever in God's presence, and those who refuse to accept Christ as Savior and Lord will be forever separated from God in an eternal hell.

 7. We believe in the Church, a living spiritual body of which Christ is the Head and of which all regenerated people are members.  We believe that a local Church is a company of believers in Jesus Christ, immersed upon a credible profession of faith, and associated for worship, work, and fellowship.  We believe that to these local Churches were committed for perpetual observance, the ordinances of immersion and the Lord's Supper, and that God has laid upon these Churches the task of proclaiming to the Lost world the acceptance of Jesus Christ as Savior and the enthroning of Him as Lord and Master.  We believe that all true human betterment and social improvement are the inevitable by-product of such a gospel.

 8. We believe that it is the privilege, not only of some, but of all who are born again by the Spirit through faith in Christ as revealed in the Scriptures, to be constantly assured of their salvation from the very day they take Him to be their Savior; and that this assurance is not founded upon any concept of personal merit, but wholly upon the testimony of God in His written Word, exciting within His children filial love, gratitude and obedience.

 9. We believe that we are called with a holy calling to walk, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, and so to live in the Spirit, that we should not fulfill the lusts of the flesh; but the flesh being still in us to the end of our earthly pilgrimage needs to be kept constantly in subjection to Christ, or it will surely manifest its presence to the dishonor of His name.

10. We believe that the physical return of the Lord Jesus Christ is imminent and that it will occur before the Great Tribulation, at which moment all true believers, both dead and living, will be glorified and caught up to meet the Lord in the air. We believe that after the Great Tribulation, the Lord will return to this earthly scene with His saints to destroy Anti-Christ and bind Satan in the Bottomless pit after which He will execute judgment upon ungodly people and establish His Millennial Kingdom, restoring the nation of Israel to its land and filling the earth with the knowledge and glory of the Lord.

11. We believe that every human being is responsible to God alone in all matters of faith: that each Church is independent and autonomous and must be free from interference by any ecclesiastical or political authority, that therefore, Church and State must be kept separate by having different functions, each fulfilling its duties free from the dictation or patronage of the other.