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