At SouthPointe we are dedicated to providing a truly Christian educational program by teaching the Christian faith. Our doctrine is related to a scriptural foundation. We firmly believe that it is possible to provide members excellence in teaching and training within a scriptural framework and in a Godly, spiritual atmosphere. The study of the Bible is of fundamental importance for every member and attender of SouthPointe. Christians should know what they believe and why they believe it from a Biblical perspective.

GOD - There is but one living and true God revealed in three distinct persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one God, equal in power and glory. God is a spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. God is separate and distinct from all that He has created, has sovereign dominion over His entire creation, and governs it by His perfect will for His own glory. (2 Corinthians 13:14; Psalm 115:3; Genesis 1:1; Psalm 90:2; Matthew 28:9; 1 Peter 1:2)

JESUS CHRIST THE LORD - The Lord Jesus Christ is the one and only Redeemer of God’s elect. He is the eternal Son of God, He became man, and therefore was and shall forever continue to be both God and man in one person. He became true man when He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the virgin Mary and born of her, yet without sin. As our Redeemer, Jesus Christ executes the offices of Prophet, Priest, and King on our behalf, both in His humiliation and His exaltation. As our Prophet, Christ reveals the Father to us and His will for our salvation. As our Priest, He once and for all offered Himself a sacrifice for sin to satisfy divine justice, reconciled us to God by the shedding of His blood, and makes continual intercession for us. As our King, Jesus Christ subdues us to Himself, rules and defends us, and restrains and conquers all of His and our enemies. Jesus Christ was born in a low condition, made under the law. He underwent the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the cursed death of the cross. He died, was buried, and continued under the power of death for three days. But He also rose from the dead, ascended to heaven, is sitting at the right hand of the Father, and is coming again to judge the world at the last day.

All power has been given Him in heaven and earth by the heavenly Father: He is Lord of heaven and earth. He is the Savior of individual sinners and the governor of the nations. The world, the flesh, and the devil will never successfully oppose Him or thwart His sovereign will.

THE HOLY SPIRIT - The Holy Spirit is the One who effectually applies the redemption which Jesus Christ has purchased to God’s elect people. He does this by working faith in us, calling us, and uniting us to Christ. The Holy Spirit calls us by convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ and His Gospel, giving us the desire and will to believe, and persuading us and enabling us to embrace Jesus Christ as He is offered in the Gospel. He is the one who regenerates, justifies, adopts, and sanctifies God’s elect people. He abides within God’s children, fills their hearts with His joy, empowers them for Christian service, and will continue this work until the Lord Jesus returns.

GOD'S WRITTEN WORD - The Bible is God’s inspired, infallible, inerrant, and indestructible Word. The Word of God, which is contained in the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the only rule that God has given mankind to direct us how we may know, glorify, and enjoy Him. They principally teach what we are to believe concerning God and what duties God requires of us. The scriptures are profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness. By them our faith is strengthened and we are equipped to rightly serve God and His kingdom.

THE CHURCH - The Church is the body and bride of Christ - the visible society of all who profess true faith in Jesus Christ and live in obedience to God’s Word. The Church has the privilege of being under the special care and government of God. She is protected and preserved by God in all ages regardless of the opposition of her enemies. Her members enjoy communion with one another; the ordinary means of grace for her enjoyment, sustenance, and growth; and the fellowship, power, and guidance of God needed to carry out His will. By virtue of her relationship to God and her stewardship of His Word, she is the repository of all truth, holds the answers for the world’s problems and needs, serves as God’s embassy on the earth for those who desire refuge and sanctuary from the world, and, as God’s army, is engaged in spiritual warfare until the end of the age. Because she is the body of Christ, He is her one and only Head. She can serve no other master or lord, neither can she submit herself in any way to the jurisdiction of any other. (1 Corinthians 12:7,11,13; Ephesians 4:7-8; Romans 12:1-8; 1 Corinthians 13; 1 Peter 4:10-11)

SIN - Sin is any want of conformity to or transgression of God’s law. God views the thoughts, words, and deeds of unregenerate, unbelieving mankind as sinful and abhorrent. Since the sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve, by which they fell from their original state of innocence, all men everywhere and throughout all ages have been born in sin, abide under its curse, and are doomed to remain its slave and die under its power apart from divine intervention on their behalf. Every sin deserves God’s wrath and the curse of death, and those who die in their sins will forever abide in death and endure God’s wrath. The principal source of sin in every man, woman, and child is the evil heart of unbelief. The continuance of a life of sin is the universal demonstration of mankind’s native depravity, allegiance to Satan, and enmity toward God. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is God’s only remedy for the terminal plague of sin that rests upon all of mankind. (Genesis 1:26-27; Romans 3:22-23; Romans 5:12; Ephesians 2:1-3; Ephesians 2:12)

SALVATION - To escape the wrath and curse of God which we deserve for our sins, God requires us to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, repent of our sins, and follow on to know the Lord. Men have no innate goodness or righteousness with which to earn or elicit the favor of God. Because of his depravity, man is helpless and incapable of meriting salvation or of saving himself. Nevertheless, God, in His mercy, love, and grace, provided the way whereby sinners can be justified, forgiven, reconciled, and brought into fellowship with Himself - that is, the death of Jesus Christ on the cross and the shedding of His blood. Man’s only hope of salvation and eternal life is to personally receive the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, which may only be done by God’s grace through the gift of faith. God commands all men everywhere to repent of their sins and believe the Gospel. Unless they do, they will not be saved. The offer and the invitation to receive God’s great salvation is universal, but only those who accept His offer will be saved. Salvation is of the Lord, and those who are truly redeemed can never be snatched from His hand — they are eternally saved.

OBEDIENCE - God requires that men live in obedience to His revealed will - a requirement which they cannot fulfill apart from faith and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Those who are truly saved by God’s grace will, by that same grace, turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to the dominion of God. Jesus Christ becomes their Lord. If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation - the old ways and affections pass away and everything becomes new. God has not called His elect people to a life of spiritual, moral, and ethical compromise or uncleanness but to victory and holiness. Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep my commandments,” and “Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.” The children of God are no longer under Satan’s power, no longer in love with the world or the things of the world, and no longer servants of the flesh. The obedience of the Christian encompasses every aspect of life; no thought or behavior is exempt from the concern or outside the jurisdiction of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Christian’s life of obedience can be achieved only by the powerful inworking of the Holy Spirit and will be pleasing to God only if it springs from faith.

THE RESURRECTION - At the end of the world there will be a physical resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust, at which time their bodies shall be reunited with their souls. The just shall, by the Spirit of Christ, be raised in power, spiritual and incorruptible, and glorified like Christ. The unjust shall be raised in dishonor before Christ as their offended judge. Following the resurrection will be the final judgment from which no one will be exempt. The wicked shall, with irrefutable evidence and the full conviction of their own consciences, have the just sentence of condemnation pronounced upon them and be forever cast out from the favorable presence of God into hell to be punished in body and soul. The righteous shall be openly and gladly acknowledged and acquitted by Christ and shall join Him in judging the wicked. They then shall be received into heaven where they shall be fully and forever freed from all sin and misery, filled with inconceivable joys, made perfectly holy and happy in both body and soul, receive the fulness of their promised inheritance, and forever enjoy the perfect and full communion of God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.

THE GOSPEL - The Gospel is God’s glad tidings to mankind - His announcement that the blessings and benefits of His promised salvation have been finally and completely secured for those who receive it on His terms.

The Gospel is the declaration of God’s rescue of man from his sins and their consequences.

The Gospel is the declaration of man’s reconciliation to God and His kingdom.

The Gospel is the declaration that God’s eternal love, approval, guidance, protection, presence, and victory are guaranteed for His redeemed people - they will never be overpowered by their enemies, abandoned by their heavenly Father, or snatched from His loving embrace and providential care.

The Gospel is much, much more than a plan, a message, or a way. The Gospel is a Person - the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the perfect embodiment of everything that God is and everything that God represents (Colossians 2:9).

For the Christian, every aspect of life is subordinate to the Gospel and is conscripted into its service.

The Lord Jesus Himself defined the Gospel in terms of His own arrival in Mark 1:14, 15: Jesus came . . . preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

He also drew the line dividing life and death, salvation and damnation, in terms of the Gospel,
that is, men’s acceptance or rejection of Him:

Go ye into all the world,
and preach the gospel to every creature.
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved;
but he that believeth not shall be damned.
Mark 16:15, 16

While the Gospel had been promised and described in the Old Testament era, it came with Jesus Christ. The Christ-event is the Gospel. And His death and resurrection brought the Gospel into its sharpest focus and made it more explicit than ever before. (I Corinthians 15:1-8)

Paul spoke of the Gospel coming with power (I Thessalonians 1:5), but he also asserted that the Gospel is the power of God (Romans 1:16) wherein His righteousness is revealed and His salvation is declared.

The Gospel is the sacred trust of every Christian (I Timothy 1:11), and we are under divine compulsion to proclaim it (I Corinthians 9:16). Because the Gospel is truth (Ephesians 1:13), it will be opposed but never defeated. It is to be proclaimed boldly, plainly, and universally; nevertheless, it will always be hidden (unrevealed) to unbelievers who demand supernatural verification or rational proof. The Gospel’s full impact comes to us by God’s sovereign revelation (Galatians 1:11, 12), but its benefits are secured by the response of faith (Hebrews 4:2).

ETERNAL SECURITY - Because God gives us eternal life through Jesus Christ, the believer is secure in salvation for eternity. Salvation is maintained by the grace and power of God, not by the self-effort of the Christian. It is the grace and keeping power of God that gives this security. (John 10:29; 2 Timothy 1:12; Hebrews 7:25; 1 Peter 1:3-5; Hebrews 10:10,14)

SECOND COMING - There will be a literal second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The day of His return is unknown to man. His coming will be at a time known only by the Heavenly Father. (2 Corinthians 15:51-58; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Matthew 24:27-39; Revelation 20:1-15)

MINISTRY AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS - We believe that God is sovereign in the bestowing of spiritual gifts to the church. However, it is each believer's responsibility to develop their gifts. Certain gifts are not essential nor do they prove the special favor or presence of the Holy Spirit, nor are they an indicator of a deep spiritual experience. (1 Corinthians 12:7,11,13; Ephesians 4:7-8)