The Scriptures
We believe that the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments
are verbally inspired by God, and that the original writings are inerrant. We
embrace all matters that the Biblical authors address, and we believe that they
are the supreme and final authority for faith and life.
II
Timothy 3:16, 17; II Peter
1:19-21
God
We believe in one, true, living God; an infinite, all
knowing, all powerful, ever present Spirit, the Creator and Supreme Ruler of
Heaven and earth, inexpressibly glorious in holiness and worthy of all possible
honor, confidence and love and that in the unity of the Godhead there are three
Persons. These three are the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, equal in every
divine perfection and executing distinct but harmonious offices in the great
work of redemption.
Genesis 1:1,2; Proverbs 30:4; Matthew 28:19; Mark 12:29; John 1:1-4; Acts 5:3,4; II
Corinthians 13:14
Jesus Christ
We believe that Christ is absolute Deity, that He is both
human and divine, both true God and true man, and that He existed from eternity
and is co-equal with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. We believe that He
was born of a virgin and lived a sinless life, that He provided a
substitutionary atonement for sinful man, and that He died on the cross, was
buried, arose bodily from the grave, that He ascended bodily into Heaven. We
believe that He intercedes now for the saints, and that He will return literally
to earth after the Tribulation to set up His millennial reign.
Matthew 1:20,21,28; Mark
16; Luke
1:26-28, 24; John 1:1,2,14, 10:30; Acts 1:11; I
Corinthians 15:4; II Corinthians 5:21; Philippians
2:5-8; Hebrews 4:15, 9:26; I John 5:20.
Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit is a Divine person, equal
with God the Father and God the Son, that He was active in creation, and that
He convicts of sin, righteousness, and judgment. We believe that He is the
agent in the New Birth, that He baptizes all believers into the body of Christ
at conversion, and that He indwells, seals, endures, guides, teaches,
witnesses, sanctifies, fills, and helps the believer. We believe that the Holy
Spirit gives gifts to believers, but that the sign gifts of the Holy Spirit are
completed and not applicable to the work of the Holy Spirit in this age.
Psalm
139:7-12; John 14:16-17, 16:13, 14; Romans 8:9; I
Corinthians 6:19
Devil and Satan
We believe in the reality and personality of Satan, the
Devil, and that he was created by God as an angel but, through pride and
rebellion, became the enemy of his Creator, that he became the unholy god of
this age and the rulers of all powers of darkness and is destined to the
judgment of an eternal justice in the lake of fire.
Matthew
4:1-11; II Corinthians 4:4; Revelation
20:10
The Creation
We believe in the Biblical account of Creation, including
angels, physical universe, and man, that is a literal, historical account of
the direct, immediate, creative acts of God, without any evolutionary process.
Genesis 1:26, 27, 2:7-9, 16, 17, 3:1-19
Fall of Man
We believe that man, created in the image of God, was
innocent, but that he voluntarily sinned and thereby incurred not only physical
death, but spiritual and eternal death which is separation from God, and that
all human beings are born with a sinful nature and are sinners in thought,
word, and deed.
Genesis 3:6; Romans
1:18-32, 3:10-19, 5:12-19
The Virgin Birth
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ was miraculously
conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, and that He is both true
God and true man.
Isaiah 7:14; Matthew
1:18-25; Luke 1:26-35; John 1:14; Philippians
2:6-11
Salvation
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice
and rose again for our justification. We believe that all those who believe in
Him are justified on the grounds of His shed blood and are saved by grace
through faith wholly apart from human merit and works.
Acts 13:39, 16:31; Romans
3:21-28; Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 3:3-8
Grace and New Birth
We believe that in order to be saved, sinners must be born
again, that the new birth is a new creation in Jesus Christ, that it is
instantaneous and not a process, and that in the new birth the one dead in
trespasses and in sins is made a partaker of the divine nature and receives
eternal life, the free gift of God. We believe that the new creation is brought
about in a manner above our comprehension, not by culture, not by character,
nor by the will of man, but wholly and solely by the power of the Holy Spirit
in connection with divine truth, so as to secure our voluntary obedience to the
Gospel, that its proper evidence appears in the holy fruits of repentance and
faith and newness of life.
John 1:12, 13, 3:3, 6-8; Acts
16:30-33; Romans 6:23; II
Corinthians 5:17,19; Galatians 5:22; Ephesians 2:1, 5:9; Colossians 2:13; II Peter 1:4; I John 5:1
Justification
We believe that the Justification is the judicial act of
God, in which He declares the believer righteous because of the imputed
righteousness of Christ, and that it is given not because of works but only
through faith in the Redeemer’s shed blood.
Romans 3:24, 4:5, 5:1-9; Galatians 2:16
Sanctification
We believe that Sanctification is the divine setting apart
of the believer unto God, accomplished in a threefold manner; first, an eternal
act of God based upon the redemption in Christ, establishing the believer in a
position of holiness at the moment he trusts the Savior; second, a continuing
process in the saint as the Holy Spirit applies the Word of God to life; third,
the final accomplishment of this process at the Lord’s return.
John 17:17; I
Corinthians 1:30; II Corinthians 3:18; Ephesians
5:25-27; I Thessalonians 4:3-4, 5:23-24; Hebrews 3:1, 10:10-14; I John 3:2; Jude 23, 25; Revelation
22:11
Separation
We believe in personal separation from all practices and
influences of the world which hinder a Spirit-filled life. We believe in
biblical separation from all forms of ecclesiastical liberalism, apostasy, and
compromise. We acknowledge the freedom and responsibility of each autonomous
local church to apply these separation principles according to its
understanding of Scripture.
Romans
6:1-14, 12:1; I
Corinthians 6:14, 7:1; Galatians
5:16-25; Colossians 3:1-17; James 4:4; I John
2:15-17
Security of the Saints
We believe that all who are truly born again are eternally
kept by God.
John 10:28, 29; Romans
8:35-39; Philippians 1:6; Jude 1
The Local Church
We believe that the local church is an organized body of
immersed believers, associated by covenant, observing the ordinances of Christ,
having the offices of pastor and deacon, exercising the gifts, rights, and
privileges and responsibilities given them by the Word, and that it has the
absolute right of self government, free from outside interference and is
directly responsible to God. We believe that the church, which is His body,
includes all New Testament believers from Pentecost to the Rapture. We believe
the mission of the church is to glorify God, edify believers, and seek to
evangelize the lost.
Matthew
18:15-17, 28:19,20; I Corinthians
1:2, 7:17, 10:31, 11:16, 12:28; Ephesians 1:12,22,23, 2:14, 15, 4:11,12, 5:23-32; I Timothy
3:1-15
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
We believe that baptism is the single immersion of a
believer in water to show forth his identification with the crucified, buried,
and risen Savior, through Whom we died to sin and rose to a new life; that
baptism is to be performed under the authority of the local church, and that it
is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership. We believe that the
Lord’s Supper is the commemoration of His death until He come, and should be
preceded always by solemn self-examination.
Matthew 3:16, 28:16-20; John 3:34, Acts 2:41, 42, 8:36, 38, 39; Romans 6:3-5; I
Corinthians 11:23-28; Colossians 2:12
Righteous and Wicked
We believe that there is a radical and essential difference
between the righteous and wicked; that only those who are justified by faith in
our Lord Jesus Christ and sanctified by the Spirit of our God are truly
righteous in His esteem; while all such as continue in impenitence and unbelief
are in His sight wicked and under the curse, and this distinction holds among
men both in and after death. We believe in the bodily resurrection of all dead;
the saved to a life of eternal glory and blessing in Heaven with God; but the
unsaved to eternal judgment of conscious suffering in the lake of fire.
Genesis
18:23; Proverbs 14:32; Malachi 3:18; Matthew 7:13, 14, 25:34-41; Luke 9:21, 16:25; John 5:28, 29, 8:21, Romans 6:17, 18, 23, 7:6; I John 5:19; Matthew 10:28, 18:8, 9, 25:41-46; Mark 9:43-49; John 5:28, 29; II
Thessalonians 1:6-9; Revelation 10:6, 11-15, 21:1-8
Civil Government
We believe that civil government is of divine appointment
for the interests and good order of human society; that magistrates are to be
prayed for, conscientiously honored and obeyed. However, we believe that civil
government has no right to legislate or seek to control matters of religious
faith or practice.
Exodus
18:21, 22; II Samuel
23:3; Psalm
72:11; Daniel 3:17, 18; Matthew 10:28, 22:21, 23:10; Acts 4:19, 20; 5:20, 23:5; Romans 13:17; Philippians
2:10, 11; Titus 3:1; I Peter 2:13, 14, 17; Revelation
10:16
Future Events
We believe in the imminent “Blessed Hope,” the Rapture of
the church before the Tribulation, when “The Lord shall descend from heaven” to
catch up His bride to meet Him in the air and to participate in the Judgment
Seat of Christ and the Marriage of the Lamb in Heaven; that the Tribulation
will begin on the earth simultaneously, culminating in the literal return of
Christ to earth at the end of the Tribulation, the setting up of His millennial
reign which is followed by the eternal state, including the new heaven and the
new earth.
Isaiah 7:14, 9:6; John 14:1-3; I
Corinthians 15:42-58; I
Thessalonians 4:13-18; Revelation
1:5-7, 19:11-16, 20:1-6