About First Baptist Church
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No matter what your story is, at First Baptist Church we believe that with God as the foundation, everybody can write a story of hope and success. Meet other believers from in and around Highland Park in Illinois and make friends so you can enjoy the journey together. "The believers shared a common purpose, and every day they spent much of their time together in the Temple area. They also ate together in their homes. They were happy to share their food and ate with joyful hearts." Acts 2:46
We believe the Holy Spirit empowers spiritual gifts as God wills to His children. These gifts are designed to testify to the presence of the Kingdom and distributed to equip the saints for worship and ministry to build up the body of Jesus Christ (Romans 12:6-8; 1 Corinthians 12:8-11; Ephesians 4:11-12). The miracles and revelatory gifts dispensed to the apostles and prophets of the early church are active today. The use of spiritual gifts is for the purpose of edification within the body that it would be built up in Christ (1 Corinthians 14:12). We believe that God uses these spiritual gifts to display His glory and anointing in individual saints for the work of His ministry established in the timeless message of the Bible (Acts 2:1-4).
About The Holy Spirit : The Holy Spirit is the third member of the Trinity, equal to the Father and Son. He is present in the world to make mankind aware of our need for Jesus Chris. He indwells every Christian from the moment of salvation as the Divine Helper, empowering him or her to live a victorious life and fulfill the Great Commission, given by Christ. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is an empowerment for service that takes place in the life of the Christian (Acts 2:5,8).
About Separation of Church and State: We believe that each local church is self-governing, and must be free from interference by any external ecclesiastical or political authority; that every human being is ultimately responsible to God in matters of faith and life; and that each person is free to worship God according to the dictates of his/her conscience. We further believe that governments are established by God; that Christians, as good citizens, should be subject to governing authorities insofar as possible, recognizing our greater allegiance to God and His kingdom in matters wherein human authorities conflict with clear, biblical mandates.