The Holy Spirit

We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine person who is co-equal with the Father and the Son and also of the same substance and nature.  He convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, bears witness to the truth, and is the agent of the new birth.  He seals, guides, teaches, witnesses to, sanctifies, and helps the believer.  He baptizes the believer into the body of Christ at the very point of salvation, indwells him permanently from that day forward, seals him until the day of redemption, bestows spiritual gifts on him, and enables him for service as he is yielded to Him.

We believe that certain gifts of the Holy Spirit (such as apostleship and the apostolic sign gifts listed in Mark 16:17-18) were temporary and were needed only in the infancy of the church to confirm the message of the early believers.  We believe that these gifts gradually ceased and are not for our use today. 

We believe that the Holy Spirit testifies concerning Jesus Christ and never leads any person at any time contrary to the teachings of the Bible.  (John 3:8; 14:16; 15:26-27; 16:7-15; Acts 5:1-4; Romans 12:6-8; I Corinthians 12:4-13, 28-31; 13:8-11; 14:1-28; II Corinthians 12:12; Ephesians 2:19-22; 4:11-16, 30; 5:18; Hebrews 2:3-4)