What We Believe

Last Watch — Core Beliefs

What We Believe

Our core beliefs are centered on Jesus Christ and the fullness and authority of Scripture. We hold true:

The Bible, both Old and New Testaments, is the inspired, infallible, and authoritative Word of God—the revelation of God’s truth and love to humanity and the rule of faith and conduct.

  • 1 Thessalonians 2:13 [KJV/NIV]
  • 2 Timothy 3:15–17 [KJV/NIV]
  • John 3:16 [KJV/NIV]

There is one God, eternally existent in three Persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is the Creator, Redeemer, and Lord over all.

  • Matthew 28:19 [KJV/NIV]
  • John 10:30 [KJV/NIV]
  • Ephesians 4:4–6 [KJV/NIV]

We confess Jesus Christ as the eternal Son of God: truly God and truly man; born of the virgin Mary; sinless in life; mighty in works and miracles; crucified for our sins; bodily raised; ascended; and returning personally in power and glory.

  • Matthew 1:23 [KJV/NIV]
  • John 1:1–4, 29 [KJV/NIV]
  • Acts 2:22–24; 1:11 [KJV/NIV]
  • Romans 8:34 [KJV/NIV]
  • 1 Corinthians 15:3–4 [KJV/NIV]
  • 2 Corinthians 5:21 [KJV/NIV]
  • Philippians 2:5–11 [KJV/NIV]
  • Hebrews 1:1–4; 4:15 [KJV/NIV]

All have sinned and face God’s judgment. Salvation is only through Jesus Christ. By grace, through repentance and faith in Christ, we are forgiven, justified, and regenerated by the Holy Spirit. God grants eternal life to the redeemed and eternal punishment to the unrepentant.

  • Luke 24:46–47 [KJV/NIV]
  • John 14:6; Acts 4:12 [KJV/NIV]
  • Romans 3:23 [KJV/NIV]
  • Ephesians 1:7; 2:8–9 [KJV/NIV]
  • Titus 3:4–7 [KJV/NIV]
  • 2 Corinthians 5:10–11 [KJV/NIV]

We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit, whose indwelling enables a life of holiness and power. We believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We believe the ongoing evidence of the Spirit’s work is a Christ-like life—responsive to God’s Word, experiencing and exhibiting the fruits and gifts of the Holy Spirit. We seek the Spirit’s fullness while walking in love and unity with all who confess Jesus as Lord.

  • John 3:5–8 [KJV/NIV]
  • Acts 1:8; 2:1–4; 10:44–46; 19:1–7 [KJV/NIV]
  • Romans 8:9, 14–16 [KJV/NIV]
  • 1 Corinthians 12–14 [KJV/NIV]
  • Galatians 5:16–18, 22–23 [KJV/NIV]

All true believers are united in Christ and are members of His Body, the Church—the dwelling place of God through the Spirit. Every follower of Jesus is called to evangelize and make disciples, in word and in Spirit-empowered deed.

  • 1 Corinthians 12:12, 27 [KJV/NIV]
  • Ephesians 1:22–23 [KJV/NIV]
  • Matthew 28:18–20; Acts 1:8 [KJV/NIV]
  • Romans 10:9–15; 1 Peter 3:15 [KJV/NIV]

We believe in the practice of water baptism for believers and the Lord’s Supper as commands of Christ and means of testimony and remembrance until He comes.

  • Matthew 28:19; Mark 1:9–10; John 3:22–23; Acts 8:36, 38 [KJV/NIV]
  • Luke 22:17–20; 1 Corinthians 11:23–26 [KJV/NIV]

Sanctification is separation from sin and dedication to God, realized through union with Christ in His death and resurrection and by the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit. We believe we are to live as Christ in a lifestyle set apart from the world as a pursuit of holiness and as a witness to the world.

  • Romans 12:1–2 [KJV/NIV]
  • 1 Thessalonians 4:3, 7; 5:23 [KJV/NIV]
  • Hebrews 12:14; 13:12 [KJV/NIV]
  • Romans 6:1–11, 13; 8:1–2, 13 [KJV/NIV]
  • Galatians 2:20; Philippians 2:12–13 [KJV/NIV]

Divine healing is an integral part of the gospel. Deliverance from sickness is provided for in Christ’s atonement, and is the privilege of all believers.

  • Psalm 103:3 [KJV/NIV]
  • Isaiah 53:4–5 [KJV/NIV]
  • Matthew 8:17 [KJV/NIV]
  • James 5:14–16 [KJV/NIV]
  • 1 Peter 2:24 [KJV/NIV]

The blessed hope is the imminent return of Jesus Christ. The dead in Christ will be raised and living believers will be caught up to meet the Lord; Jesus will come again in glory to reign.

  • 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17; Titus 2:13; Romans 8:23; 1 Corinthians 15:51–52 [KJV/NIV]
  • Zechariah 14:5; Matthew 24:27, 30; Revelation 1:7; 19:11–14; 20:1–6 [KJV/NIV]

God will raise both the saved and the lost: the saved to eternal life and the lost to judgment and eternal punishment.

  • 1 Corinthians 15:51–57 [KJV/NIV]
  • Revelation 20:11–15 [KJV/NIV]

We uphold the sacredness of human life from conception and the biblical design of marriage as a covenant between one genetic man and one genetic woman. We seek to love our neighbors in truth and compassion.

  • Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:5–6; Mark 10:6–9 [KJV/NIV]
  • Romans 1:26–27; 1 Corinthians 6:9 [KJV/NIV]
  • Psalm 139:13; Isaiah 49:1; Jeremiah 1:5 [KJV/NIV]
  • Matthew 22:37–39; Galatians 6:10 [KJV/NIV]