OUR BELIEFS

Sanctuary is an interdenominational church in network with the Louisiana Assemblies of God and the LaSalle Ministerial Alliance. Whether you are Baptist, Pentecostal, Methodist, or Assembly of God, you are welcome to worship and serve with us.
Sanctuary exists to provide Christian fellowship for those of like faith, while showing tolerance for one another in love. Secondly, we exist to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Third, we exist to make and equip disciples for the building up of the Body of Christ. Our scriptural goal is to attain the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God (Ephesians 4:1-13).

While Sanctuary members may differ on secondary truths, our pastoral staff, elders, and board hold to a list of fundamental truths for the sake of clarity and Christlike unity.

The Old and New Testaments are the inspired, infallible, and authoritative Word of God and rule of faith.

There is one true God who has distinctly revealed Himself in perfect unity as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and has fully revealed Himself through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Jesus of Nazareth is the Word of God made flesh. He is One with the Father and is also His begotten Son. He is Son of God and Son of Man; fully God and fully man. He was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, worked mighty wonders, died on a cross as a substitute for our sin, rose from the dead, was resurrected and exalted to the right hand of God, and is soon returning for His Church.

Humanity by voluntary transgression fell from right relationship with God and incurred physical and spiritual death, which is separation from God. Sin is the source of all evil, sickness, suffering, disease, and death in the world. All have sinned and are destined to the judgment of Hell, which is eternal death and torment.

Humanity's only hope is redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ. Our salvation is received through repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. We receive God's grace through our faith in Christ's complete work on the cross. Then, the Holy Spirit regenerates and renews our hearts and we receive the hope of eternal life through His internal witness. This internal witness also produces a growing outward witness of righteousness and holiness.

Water baptism by immersion and the Lord's Supper are the two ordinances of the Church commanded by Christ. They are outward signs shared with others that remind us of our identity with Him.

All believers are entitled to and should earnestly seek what Jesus called the promise of the Father, which is the baptism in the Holy Spirit. This experience is distinct from and subsequent to the experience of salvation. As part of the grace of God, the Spirit continually provides an enduement of power for life and service, spiritual gifts, an overflowing fullness, and deepened reverence for God. The baptism and continual filling of the Holy Spirit was the normal experience of all in the early Church and was first evident by speaking in other languages and/or prophesying as the Spirit gave the ability. 

Sanctification is an act of separation from that which is evil and a dedication unto God. Sanctification is both initial and progressive. The Holy Spirit makes believers holy by their faith, yet also gives believers power to obey the commands of God in order to live an increasingly holy life. 

The Church is the Body of Christ with a divine Great Commission, of which all believers are an integral part. Thus, the church exists to be an agency of God for evangelizing the world, to worship God, to build up the saints in the image of Christ, and to demonstrate God's love and compassion to all the world.

Divine healing is an integral part of the Gospel. Jesus demonstrated that salvation and deliverance from sickness are provided in His Atonement and are free gifts He is willing to give to all who believe on Him. Likewise, scripture calls for the elders of the Church to pray in faith for sick believers seeking healing.

Those dead in Christ will be resurrected and caught up in the air with those who are alive in Christ, at the soon and unexpected coming of the Lord; this is our blessed hope.

The second coming of Christ is the visible return of Christ with His saints to defeat man's kingdom and reign on the earth for one thousand years. Through tribulation and deliverance, He will fulfill His promise of the salvation of Israel and establish universal peace. 

Following the millennium, there will be a final judgment in which the wicked dead will be raised and judged according to their works. Those not found in Christ's Book of Life, together with the devil and his angels, the antichrist and false prophet, will be sentenced to eternal punishment in the Lake of fire, which is the second death.

God will create a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells and believers will reign with Christ forever.