Port St. Lucie Bible Church | Distinctives/Core Values

Distinctives

Christian Tradition

As a Bible church you will discover we celebrate a rich tradition of Christians who were devoted to Holy Scripture including Saint Augustine, Jonathan Edwards, and Charles Spurgeon. At the same time we also appreciate the contributions of modern Bible expositors and scholars the likes of John MacArthur, Charles Swindoll, Alistair Begg, and Albert Mohler.

The Scriptures

We recognize the Holy Bible to be the inspired and inerrant Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16). As such it is the sole source and measure for all matters of faith and practice for the Christian. Scripture is sufficient to meet every spiritual need of the believer pertaining to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). We affirm the Bible should be interpreted literally unless there is valid reason to believe the writer intended to communicate otherwise in figures of speech, poetry, or prophetic language, etc.

The Church

The Church is described in the Bible as the Body of Christ (Ephesians 4:12, 1 Corinthians 12:12). Just as a physical human body has only one head but has many individual parts that perform different functions, even so the Body of Christ (the Church), has one Head but is made up of many individual members. The “Head” of the Church is Jesus Christ. He is the directing and guiding influence of His Church. His body (made up of eyes and ears and hands and feet) reflects the diversity of individual Christians. Believers are specifically gifted by the Holy Spirit to perform specialized functions in the Church so that the Church operates in a healthy manner.

Theological Distinctives

Theology is the systematic and rational study of how God relates to man as revealed on the pages of Holy Scripture. Overarching biblical principles are recognized through careful and repeated examination of God’s Word, meditation, and prayer. These theological principles provide clarity of understanding and offer a harmonious biblical framework through which the members of the congregation can grow in unity as they combine their energies to build Christ’s Church.

This being said, Port St. Lucie Bible Church is:

Autonomous: We acknowledge that Christ’s Church is comprised of born-again believers crossing denominational and theological traditions. As to the local church, however, we believe each congregation is best governed locally by biblical principles discerned from the pages of Scripture and reaffirmed by local pastors and elders as guided by the Holy Spirit (1 Peter 5:1-6, Titus 1:5-9, Acts 14:23). Port St. Lucie Bible Church is therefore self-governing and does not submit to any synod or belong to any denomination.

Dispensational: In a broad sense, dispensationalism views Scripture as revealing that God historically has related with man in differing ways throughout different ages. This does NOT propose that man was saved in different ways at different times. Man has always—in every age—been saved by grace alone through faith alone (Eph. 2:8-9, Hebrews 11). We reject extreme views known as hyper- or ultra-dispensationalism. Our view of dispensationalism acknowledges a clear distinction between Israel and the Church and we anticipate future prophetic fulfillment for Israel and a millennial reign of Christ. (Revelation 20:1-6). We also embrace the consistent use of the literal/historical/grammatical interpretation of Scripture.

Reformed: We believe the Protestant Reformation was instrumental in broadly restoring Scripture to it's rightful place in Christian faith and practice. The Bible, however, has always been the sole authority for guiding the life of the genuine believer through every age of the Church. By describing our church as Reformed we mean to acknowledge the Bible places a strong emphasis on the sovereignty of God in historical events and salvation.

Premillennial: The Bible refers to events which were future at the time they were written. In the New Testament a significant number refer to future events yet to be fulfilled. These passages are generally understood as referring to the End Times. Two of the most significant end-time events yet remaining to be fulfilled are the physical return of Jesus Christ to the earth (the Second Coming), and the establishment of His literal reign on earth for a thousand years (The Millennium; ref. Revelation 20:1-7).

Non-charismatic: The New Testament describes the Holy Spirit as granting individual believers with spiritual gifts for service of the Church. Among the spiritual gifts described in the New Testament, some were more observably supernatural manifestations of the power of God. We believe some of these gifts were intended to be temporary for the founding of the Church and to authenticate the ministries of the Apostles previous to the completed Canon of Scripture. Other gifts were intended to be permanent and have been present in every age of the Church from the First Century forward. By non-charismatic we mean to indicate that we do not elevate expressions of emotion or individual experiences over faith, doctrine, and reason. Additionally, we do NOT recognize personal visions, individual experiences, or other sources of extra-biblical "revelation" as prophetic or authoritative for the Church today (Col. 2:18-19).

Core Values

Bible Exposition: We value faithful, accurate, and relevant teaching and preaching of the Scriptures as being essential to the spiritual vitality of our church (2 Timothy 4:1-2, Acts 2:42, Psalm 119:1-8).

Prayer: We acknowledge and recognize our desperate need for God to guide, equip, and empower Christians and the Church through prayer (Psalm 5:3, Acts 2:42, Ephesians 6:18).

Missions: We accept and understand our church’s responsibility to support and train ministers to spread the gospel locally and worldwide (Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 1:8).

Discipleship: We are convinced each person in our church is called to follow Christ wholeheartedly and to equip and encourage others to do the same (Titus 2:1-8, 2 Timothy 2:2, Psalm 119:9).

Christian Sacrifice: We anticipate that all servants of Christ will realize "worldly loss” to some level as a representative of Jesus Christ (Luke 9:23-26, John 15:18-23).

Evangelism: We are passionate of the need to reconcile estranged sinners to God through Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:18-21, Matthew 28:18-20).

Financial Responsibility: We accept and understand that sharing our wealth with other Christians and giving to the work of the Church is the joy and privilege of every believer (1 Corinthians 16:1-2, 2 Corinthians 8:1-5; 9:5-14).

Compassion: We are fully aware of God’s call upon our church to meet the various and pressing needs of the poor and dejected (James 1:27, Isaiah 1:17).

Ministry of the Saints: We recognize our greatest ministry aspirations will only be realized through equipping every believer for the works of ministry (Ephesians 4:11-13, Titus 2:3-5, 1 Peter 2:9-10).

Community: We appreciate that individual spiritual growth and overall church health is facilitated through genuine and transparent relationships (Proverbs 27:17, Ecclesiastes 4:11-12, Acts 2:46).