Statement of Faith
The Inspiration of the Bible
We believe the Bible is the verbally inspired Word of God.
Amplification:
We believe the writings of the Old and New Testaments are
fully God-breathed to the extent that the very words were chosen by God
from the human
writers vocabulary so that the Bible is the very word of God, inerrant
in all its
assertions and teachings. The Bible is, therefore, the only infallible authority
for both doctrine and life. Since this is true, it is the special revelation
of God to man and the only basis for true Christian unity.
2 Timothy 3:16,17 – 2 Peter 1:19-21 – Matthew 5:18 – Hebrews 4:12 – Acts 1:16 – Mark 12:36 – John 10:35; 16:12,13; 17:17
The Person of God
We believe God is supreme in His Person, eternal in His being, absolute in His attributes, and glorious in His Perfection. We believe in the Trinity.
Amplification:
We believe in one Triune God, the creator of heaven and
earth. We believe that in the unity of the Godhead there are
three distinct persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, equal in power
and glory. God is personal, spirit, omniscient, sovereign, perfect, immutable,
eternal in His being, holiness, love, wisdom, and power. We believe that God
is absolutely
separate and above the world as its creator, yet everywhere present in
the
world as the sustainer of all things. God
is self--existent and self-revealing in His relationship with His creation.
Genesis 1:1 – John 1: 1-3 – Matthew 28:19 – Romans 1:2-4 – Deuteronomy 4:35; 6:4; Ephesians 4:3-6 – 1 Corinthians 8:6
The Person of Jesus Christ
We believe in the virgin birth of Christ, His Deity, and sinless life, His vicarious death, along with His bodily resurrection and ascension and in His personal, premillennial return.
Amplification:
We believe the Lord Jesus Christ is the second person of
the Godhead, God in the flesh, virgin born as no other man has
ever been born nor ever will be born. He lived an absolutely sinless life
and became the sinner's voluntary substitute on the Cross by His vicarious
death for man's sin. Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the third day,
giving eternal
assurance of redemption's full payment and the satisfaction of God's righteous
indignation toward sin. He ascended bodily into heaven and He will come
to rapture
His saints to be with Himself. His coming for His saints is imminent
and will be personal, pretribulational, and premillennial.
Isaiah 7:14 – 1Thessalonians 4:16 – Matthew 1: 18 – Luke 1:35 – John 1: 1; 14:3 – 1 Peter 2:22; 3:18
The Person of the Holy Spirit
We believe the Holy Spirit is the executive of the Godhead. We believe that He executes the Plan of God for our conviction and salvation. Christians are partakers of the Holy Spirit and empowered for service by Him.
Amplification:
We believe the Holy Spirit is a person possessing all the
attributes of Deity. He convicts the unbelieving world of
sin, of righteousness and of judgement. He regenerates, seals, indwells,
fills the believer and bestows gifts upon believers for service. He teaches
the
believer and sets him apart for a holy life. We believe the Bible repudiates
the charismatic emphasis upon the experiential oriented tongues and ecumenical
practices as any ministry of the Holy Spirit. We believe the Holy Spirit
is the Commander-in-Chief of missions and that His testimony is not of
Himself but Jesus Christ and the redemptive truths centered in Christ.
John 14:16,17; 16:8 – Ephesians 1:13,14 – 1 Corinthians 3:16 – Romans 8:9 – Acts 5:3,4
The Fall of Man
We believe that man was created in the image of God and by choice fell into sin and death. Hence, every person is sinful and under condemnation to eternal judgement.
Amplification:
We believe that man was created by a direct act of God in
the image and likeness of his Creator. By disobedience to
the revealed will of God, man forfeited his reign over the earth and
fell from his created state and standing with God. Therefore, all men
are universally
sinful
both by nature and choice and devoid of the righteousness required
by the law. All men are thus alienated from the life and family of
God, without excuse, under the righteous judgement and wrath of God,
and have
within himself
no possible means of salvation.
Genesis 1:27 – Romans 3:23; 5:12-19 – Isaiah 53:6 – Ephesians 2:1-3
The Salvation of Sinners
We believe that the salvation of sinners is wholly of grace, and that Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation.
Amplification:
We believe in the salvation of man by grace through faith
in the finished work of Christ on the Cross. We believe
that salvation is the free gift of God, neither merited nor secured
in part nor in whole by any virtue or work of man, but received only by personal
faith
in
the Lord Jesus Christ in Whom all true believers have as a present
possession the gift of eternal life, a perfectly righteous standing,
sonship in the family of God by a new birth. We believe that the Cross of
Christ is redemptive, substitutionary, propitiatory and the only basis
of reconciliation
for all lost men who believe and that there is no possible salvation outside
of Jesus Christ and His shed blood.
John 3:3-6,16; 10:28,29 – Acts 16:31 – Ephesians 2:8-10 – 1 Timothy-2:5,6 – 1 Peter 1:18-23
The Freeness of Salvation
We believe that the blessings of salvation are made free by the Gospel, that nothing prevents the salvation of the greatest sinner but his own inherent depravity and voluntary rejection of the Gospel.
Amplification:
We believe that salvation was accomplished on the Cross
by Jesus Christ and is extended to all men as a gift to be
received by faith. The basis of this salvation is totally the grace
that provided the Cross. Although all men are responsible to receive the
gift of salvation in Christ, only those who do respond to the ministry
of the
Spirit of
God in the presentation of the Gospel will be saved. Salvation
is the
free and completed gift of God to all who will believe.
John 1: 12; 3:16; 5:24; 12:46 – Acts 16:31 – Romans 10:11-13
The Security of the Believer
We believe that those who receive Jesus Christ as Savior are eternally secure. Our security rests on the finished work of Jesus Christ. As a result, we have assurance.
Amplification:
We believe that the true believer is forever secure as a
redeemed possession of God. This security is founded on the full payment
of the
believer's sin by the Cross of Christ in His substitutionary atonement
and God's
proof of receipt of that payment in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The sole
condition
of salvation is faith in Jesus Christ and His redemptive work.
This positive expression of faith has as its negative side repentance
and rejection of any other basis of salvation. Therefore, the security
of the
believer is not conditioned upon his circumstances, nor emotional
experiences, nor strength but it is an acceptance of that basis of reconciliation
which has already been accepted by God. The believer is
in the
possession
of God, which is the opposite of lost. He is secure because
God has taken the responsibility for His own.
John 10:27-30 – 1 John 2:1-2 – Romans 8:31-34, 38-39 – 1 Corinthians 6:19 – Hebrews 2:10
The Doctrine of the Church
We believe that the visible church is a congregation of baptized believers, practicing New Testament Principles, believing its doctrines, observing its ordinances, and exercising its autonomy.
Amplification:
We believe that a local church is an organized body of believers
immersed upon credible confession of faith in
Jesus Christ, recognizing only two offices (filled by
pastor and deacon), sovereign in polity, and bonded together for work,
worship,
mutual
edification, observance
of the ordinances and the worldwide proclamation
of the Gospel. The church is distinct from Israel in the
Old Testament, autonomous, with Christ as its head.
Matthew 28:19,20 – Ephesians 1:22,23 – Acts 2:41-47 – Ephesians 4:11-13 – 1 Corinthians 12
The Doctrine of Heaven and Hell
We believe in the eternal blessedness of the saved in Heaven and the eternal punishment of the lost in Hell.
Amplification:
We believe in the bodily resurrection of both the saved
and lost secured by the bodily resurrection of Christ.
The spirits of the saved at death go immediately
to be with Christ in Heaven, their lives and works shall be evaluated at
the
Judgement
Seat
of Christ
for the determination of rewards which will take place
when
Christ comes for His own in the rapture. They will experience the
blessedness of God's presence for all eternity. The spirits of the unsaved
at death descend
immediately
into Hades where they are kept under punishment until
the Great White Throne Judgement. At this time,
their
bodies
shall be raised
from the grave and be cast into the eternal lake
of fire, the place of final and everlasting punishment.
John 5:28,29; 14:2 – Revelation 20:14,15; 21:4 – Matthew 25:46
