What We Believe

The following are the core beliefs of Gospel Light Baptist Church | Malvern, AR based on the foundational truths taught in the bible. All of our teaching and ministry is rooted in and flows out of these biblical doctrines.

We believe in the infallible, inspired Word of God. We accept the Textus Receptus manuscript as the foundational material from which we derive the King James. The Old and New Testament scriptures were written by human authors divinely inspired and edited by the Holy spirit, preserved unbroken and passed down to us today. The Holy Bible is inspired both verbally (every word) and plenary (completely) without error.
2 Timothy 3:16  I  Psalm 119:89  I  2 Peter 1:20-21  I  Matthew 24:35   Matthew 5:18

We believe the Genesis account of creation, and that what you believe about your origin will determine your philosophy of life. We believe creation was a direct act of God, in six literal, twenty-four hour days, instantaneous, and miraculous. We believe that man was created in the image of God and all reproduction was "after their kind."
Genesis 1:1  I  Colossians 1:16-17  I  Job 26:7  I  Psalm 33:6-9  
  John 1:3  I  Exodus 20:11

We believe God is a person, eternally existing. One true God, but in the unity of the Godhead. There are three eternal and co-equal persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, the same in substance but distinct in subsistence. One Godhead made up of three persons who are the same in attributes, power, characteristics and desires.
Hebrews 1:8  I  Acts 5:1-3  I  Matthew 28:19  I  1 Corinthians 8:6   Colossians 2:9  I  Matthew 3:16-17

We believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God because of His character, His miracles, His influence, His power to forgive sins and to set people free from Satan. Jesus Christ was God in the flesh because He claimed to be, died making this claim, and arose victorious over death. We believe that He has existed from all eternity, co-equal with the Father.
Matthew 26:63-66  I  John 14:9  I  John1:1  I  John 10:30

We believe that Jesus Christ was conceived of the Holy Ghost and in a miraculous manner; born of Mary, a virgin, as no other person was ever born or can ever be born of a woman. He is both the Son of God and God the Son.
Matthew 1:20  I  Luke 1:30-35  I  Isaiah 7:14

Jesus took the saved sinner's place, bore his sins, met the penalty, through a substitutionary death for all men. Jesus satisfied the law, becoming our accepted substitute; His righteousness, His right-doing, is imputed to us by faith and so we through Him have kept the law. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses, instead of merely covering the sins of man.
Isaiah 53.5  I  2 Corinthians 5:21  I  1 Peter 3:18

The sacrifice made by Jesus is the only basis of salvation, the only means of reconciliation, and the only ground of justification. We hold and believe many important truths, but the most important thing to every individual is the personal salvation of his own soul. God's order is salvation first, then works.
Acts 4:12  I  Romans 10:9-13  I  Ephesians 2:8-10  I  Titus 3:5-8

We believe that Heaven and Hell are real, literal, physical places. Heaven is a place of indescribable beauty and glory, just as Hell is a place of indescribable torment and punishment. So throughout all eternity, Heaven is the final eternal dwelling place of the saved, and Hell is a place of eternal punishment of the lost and total separation from God.
Matthew 6:20  I  Luke 10:20  I  John 14:2  I  Matthew 25:46  I  Luke 16    2 Peter 2:4  I  Revelation 20:14-15

Genesis 3:6-19  I  Ecclesiastes 7:20

The Holy Spirit is not the author of confusion, especially concerning the tongues movement of this church age. We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine person; equal with God the Father and God the Son; that He was active in the creation; that He convicts, seal, indwells, guides, teaches, witnesses, sanctifies and helps the believer. Therefore, these ministries of the Holy Spirit happen instantaneously to the believing sinner at salvation.
1 Corinthians 14:33  I  John 14:16-17  I  John 16:7-15  I  Acts 1:8    Matthew 28:19  I  John 15:26-27

1 Peter 2:9  I  2 Corinthians 5:17  I 2 Timothy 2:19

The Lord Jesus Christ Himself is coming in the air at any moment to catch up those who have received Him. Those saved of all ages will stand at the Judgment Seat of Christ; following is the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. We believe in the personal, bodily, visible, premillennial return (second coming) of Christ. The Lord's second coming is literal, imminent, pretribulational, and premillenial. Those left behind will go through a period called the Tribulation, after which Christ Himself shall return to the earth visibly in body to set up His kingdom for one thousand years of righteous rule; after this the unbelievers of all ages will stand at the Great White Throne to be judged and cast into the Lake of Fire, separated from God forever, while the believers spend eternity in the fullness of joy in Heaven with the Lord.
Acts 1:11  I  1 Thessalonians 4:16-18  I  Revelation 19:11, 20:15  Matthew 24:42

We believe there are two ordinances of the local church: Baptism and the Lord's Supper. Spiritual baptism is the immersion in water of believers, in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, administered by the authority of a New Testament church, and is prerequisite to the privileges of a church relation and to the Lord's Supper. The Lord's Supper is a memorial ordinance of the local church members. The members of this local church, by the sacred use of unleavened bread and the fruit of the vine, grape juice, are to commemorate together the dying love of Christ. This is a local church ordinance for the members of the local New Testament church.
1 Corinthians 11:17-34  I  Acts 8:38  I  Mark 1:9-10

1 Peter 5:8  I  Revelation 20:10  I Isaiah 14:12-15

We believe in the bodily resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that He arose bodily the third day, according to the Scriptures, from the tomb, and ascended bodily into Heaven. Through His resurrection, a sure hope of immortality and everlasting life is given to all who have been saved by His grace. He is at the right hand of God as our "Mediator, merciful and faithful High Priest, and advocate."
1 Corinthians 15:12-28  I  Luke 24:1-7  I  Hebrews 9:24  I  Acts 1:9-10  I  Romans 8:34

We believe in the eternal security of all believers in our Lord Jesus Christ. When a person is born again he has everlasting life, which cannot be taken away from him. God's children are kept by the power of God through faith unto eternal salvation and sealed unto the day of redemption.
John 10:27-30  I  1 Peter 1:5  I  Ephesians 4:20  I  Romans 8:35-39  John 5:24  I  Philippians 1:6  I John 6:37-40

We believe that the Great Commission to evangelize the world was given to the church by our risen Lord and that this evangelization is the mission of the church. The Great Commission was given to the local church was commanded to "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." Christ commanded His church to "teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
Matthew 28:19-20  I  Mark 16:15  I  John 20:21  I  Acts 1:8

We believe that sanctification is a personal separation from things that are unclean to things that are holy, clean, and sacred; that it is a progressive work that is begun in regeneration; that it is carried on in the hearts of the believers by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. The sanctification of the believer will be complete at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then, and only then, will we be sanctified wholly: body, soul, and spirit.
1 Thessalonians 5:23, 4:10  I 1 Corinthians 6:11 I  2 Peter 3:18  Romans 8:5  I 2 Corinthians 3:18  I 2 Thessalonians 2:13

Acts 20:17-20  I  Ephesians 3:21