What We Teach
Central to our teaching at Fulkerson Park are these core convictions:
The Authority and Sufficiency of Scripture
The Bible is the God-breathed Word which is foundational to all that we believe, teach, and do (2 Tim. 3:16-17). But far from being just the foundation of our creed, we believe the Scriptures are meant to be our daily spiritual food (Matt. 4:4; Jer. 15:16). The Word is God’s chosen instrument for bringing transformation, wisdom, delight, and purity into believer’s lives. It warns and protects us from evil and when cherished and obeyed brings great reward (Psalm 19:7-11).
The Greatness and Goodness of God
We believe that God, who exists as Father, Son, and Spirit is great and mighty, sovereign and supreme in all things (Eph. 1:11; Rom. 11:33-36) from the fall of a sparrow (Matt. 10:29) to the rise and fall of nations (Dan. 4:34-35). We also believe that God devotes all of His power and wisdom to securing the good of those who love Him (Rom 8:28). Therefore, our confidence in life and death, joy and sorrow, triumph and trial, is that everything comes to us through the fingers of God’s sovereign goodness (Lam. 3:21-41; Job. 1:21; Gen. 50:20).
The Person and Work of Jesus Christ
We believe that the Son of God was incarnated in the person of Jesus of Nazareth (John 1:1-14; 1 John 1:1-4), who was born of a virgin (Matt. 1:18-25), lived a perfect life (Heb. 4:15), died a shameful death as a substitute for sinners (1 Pet. 3:18; 2 Cor. 5:21), physically rose from the dead three days later (1 Cor. 15:1-11; Matt 28:1-10), ascended to the Father (Acts 1:9-11), and will someday return to the earth, visibly and physically, to bring joy to the righteous, and justice to the wicked.
Salvation by Grace Alone through Faith Alone
Falling in line with the historic teaching of the Reformers, Puritans, and early Baptists, we believe that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone for the glory of God alone (Eph. 2:8-19). We affirm both the sovereignty of God in salvation (Rom. 8:28-39) and the responsibility of man to respond to the free offer of the gospel (Rom. 10:9-21). We believe that salvation is all of grace and that true saving grace is so powerful that it sets us free from the power of sin (Rom. 6:1-14) and transforms us into Christ’s image-bearers (2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 8:29).
The Joy of Holiness
We teach that the pursuit of holiness is essentially the pursuit of happiness (Matt. 5:5, 8), because holiness is the air that happiness breathes and no true satisfaction can be found in sin and worldliness. In fact, sin is the source of all human misery and Christ is the source of all human joy (Isa. 55:1-2). Sin is a broken cistern that holds no water, while Christ is the Fountain of Living Waters from whom we delight to drink (Jer. 2:12-13). And the only way to effectively overcome the power of sin is to be so satisfied in Jesus that sin ceases to be attractive (Heb. 11:24-26). Therefore, we are deadly serious about both purity and pleasure, holiness and happiness, righteousness and joy.