What We Believe






The Scriptures & Revelation

  • We believe that "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God" (2 Timothy 3:16) by which we understand the whole Bible as it appeared in the original manuscripts was divinely inspired (2 Peter 1:21; Romans 15:4), in the sense that holy men of God were moved by the Holy Spirit to write the very words of Scripture.  
  • We believe that all scripture centers about the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hence, no portion of Scripture, even the Old Testament, is properly understood until it leads to Him (John 5:39; Romans 15:4).
  • We also believe that all Scriptures were designed for our practical instruction (2 Timothy 3:16).

Trinity

  • We believe in one God, eternally existing in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These three are one God (Matthew 28:19; 3:16-17) having the same nature, attributes and perfections (2 Corinthians 13:14) inexpressibly glorious in holiness (Exodus 15:11) and worthy of all honor, confidence, love (Mark 12:30) and obedience (Acts 5:29). 
  • We believe that Jesus Christ is the "only begotten Son of God" (John 3:16) conceived by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:20), born of the Virgin Mary (Matthew 1:23), and is true God and true Man (Philippians 2:5-11; John 1:1-4; Luke 1:35).
  • We believe that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead (Acts 5:3-4), whose ministry to the world is to convict of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment (John 16:7-11). His ministry to the believer includes regeneration (Titus 3:5), baptism (I Corinthians 12:13) into Christ, indwelling (I Corinthians 3:16), filling (Ephesians 5:18), and sealing "unto the day of redemption" (Ephesians 4:30).

Satan

  • We believe that Lucifer, having sinned through pride, became Satan and under the permission of God, led our first parents into transgression, accomplishing their moral fall. He now rules as the "god of this world", the "accuser of the brethren", and having been judged at the cross will ultimately be cast into the lake of fire to be tormented forever and ever (Isaiah 14:12-15; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Revelation 12:10; 20:7-10).

The Fall

  • We believe that man was created in the image of God, that he sinned, and thereby incurred not only physical death, but also that spiritual death which is separation from God; that all human beings are born with a sinful nature; and that all are sinners in thought, word, and deed (Genesis 1:27; Romans 5:12; Ephesians 2:1-3).

Salvation

  • We believe that God, in His sovereign grace and in His eternal purpose, has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4).
  • We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice and that all who believe in Him are justified on the basis of His shed blood (I Corinthians 15:3; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Romans 5:9).
  • We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ arose from the dead on the third day, according to the Scriptures (I Corinthians 15:3-6; Mark 16:1-14); that He ascended into Heaven (Acts 1:9-11); and is seated at the right hand of God (Hebrews 1:3) as the believer's High Priest (Hebrews 4:14; 7:25) and Advocate (I John 2:1-2).
  • We believe salvation is by grace through faith, not of works, that all who receive by faith the Lord Jesus Christ are born again of the Holy Spirit, thereby becoming children of God (Ephesians 2:8-9; John 1:12; 3:3,7).
  • We believe that all the redeemed are kept by God's power, and are thus secure in Christ forever (John 5:24; 6:37; 10:27-30; I Peter 1:5).

Sanctification

We believe that sanctification, which is setting apart for God, is threefold:

  1. Positionally, believers are eternally set apart for God by redemption, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once (Hebrews 10:9-10; I Corinthians 1:2).
  2. In experience, the believer is being sanctified progressively by the work of the Holy Spirit through the Scriptures (John 17:17; Ephesians 5:25-26; I Thessalonians 5:23).
  3. The believer's complete sanctification awaits the appearing of the Lord, when "we shall be like Him" (Ephesians 5:27; I John 3:2).

The Lord's Return (Our Hope)

  • We believe in the imminent, personal return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, which is the "blessed hope" set before us, for which we should be constantly looking (Titus 2:13; John 14:1-3; Acts 1:11; I Thessalonians 4:16-17).

Eternity

  • We believe that the souls of those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation do at death immediately pass into His presence, and there remain until the resurrection of the body at His coming, when soul and body, reunited, shall be with Him forever in glory (Philippians 1:23; 3:20; 2 Corinthians 5:5; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; I Corinthians 15:35-37; John 17:22-24).

The Church

  • We believe that the Church is composed of all those who truly believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. It is the body and the bride of Christ, of which He is the head; that every believer, whether Jew or Gentile, is baptized into the body of Christ by the Holy Spirit, and having thus become members one of another, we are responsible to "keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace", rising above all sectarian prejudice, and loving one another (Ephesians 1:22-23; 2:19-22; I Corinthians 12:12-27; Romans 12:4-5; Ephesians 4:3-6; Philippians 2:1-5; I Corinthians 1:10).
  • We believe that the local visible church is a company of believers in Jesus Christ, associated together for worship, service, and fellowship (I Corinthians 12; Acts 2:42-47).

The Family

  • We believe God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society. It is composed of persons related to one another by marriage, blood, or adoption. Marriage is the uniting of one biological man and one biological woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. It is God’s unique gift to reveal the union between Christ and His church and to provide for the man and the woman in marriage the framework for intimate companionship, the channel of sexual expression according to biblical standards, and the means for procreation of the human race. (Genesis 1:26-28; 2:15-25; Ephesians 5:21-33; 6:1-4)



Ordinances

  • On Baptism: We believe that Christian baptism is most accurately pictured by the immersion in water of a believer to show forth in a solemn and beautiful emblem our faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Savior, and symbolizes our death to sin and resurrection to a new life (Acts 8:36-39; Matthew 28:19).]
  • On the Lord's Supper: We believe that the Lord's supper is the ordinance in which all believers, by the sacred use of bread and wine, commemorate together the broken body and shed blood of Christ, "till He comes" (I Corinthians 11:23-24).